Thursday, October 31, 2019

Compare and contrast competition in beer market with competition in Essay

Compare and contrast competition in beer market with competition in tablet devices - Essay Example Steverman from Bloomberg business (2010) reports that the dismal performance of beer market in the recent times could continue because with escalating cost of production, the competitive pricing is taking a heavy toll on the companies’ financial performance. While the import has significantly come down, the adverse impact on market of the premium brands like Coors, Sub-Miller, Anheuser-Busch etc is also significant. Trends show that in the present times, people increasingly prefer cheaper brands at home and institutional sales to hotels, bar etc have come down. Thus, the market conditions for beer have become very tough and beer companies must come up with highly differentiating products and innovative market strategy to meet the challenges of time. The tablet market, on the other and has been most enthusiastic with wide range of differentiating products within tablet digital products. The technological advancements have seen some amazing innovations in the field of communicat ion and data handling. The tablet digital products are the latest craze amongst the technology savvy huge customer base across the globe.

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

United Airlines Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

United Airlines - Essay Example In the United States, the term 900 pounds gorilla is usually utilized to refer to the most dominant player in the industry in terms of shares or market capitalization. UA have undoubtedly referred to as the 900 pounds gorilla because of its high level of market capitalization. Being formed out of many mergers and the Air Mail Act of 1934, this air carrier had already started big. The company is further strengthened because its operation embraces air mail carriers and air craft manufacturers aside from its air passenger services.Its flock includes Boeing Air Transport, Pacific Air Transport, and the Pratt and Whitney Engine Company, Ford Motor Company, Stout Air Services, and Varney Air Lines. It should also be noted that among the Big Four or the four largest air lines in the United States, United Airlines became recognized as the most dominant. The terms capital, labor, and consumer can be regarded as the most important variables that airlines should consider in order to ensure the success of their business operations. In the explanation of Adam Smith, these three are like the legs of the three legged stool. In this simple connotation, it can be seen that if any of the legs is shortened, lengthened, or modified, the whole stool collapses. Thus, the operation of an airline should be strongly favorable to these market forces. However, it is also recognized that the current market is not as efficient as it should be because of the imbalance in labor, capital, and consumer. In the simplest sense, capital can be referred to as the human made machines or equipment which business organizations use in their operations. For an airline, the aircrafts undoubtedly represents the highest investment in capital. Nowadays, technological advancements like online ticketing and booking are also considered capital. The ownership of capital gives power to business organizations especially if these resources are not readily available for individual customers. As airlines are generally profit maximizing, they view capital as a way to raise income often at the expense of their employees or the customer. Attributing high value to capital, airlines can undervalue labor and pass on a high price to consumers. Labor is contribution of the human resource to production. In the airline industry, labor represents the services of the flight attendant, pilot, and mechanics. At the extreme, it is advocated that labor should be on top of the production system. However, putting much on labor can be detrimental to the business organization and consumers. Consumers are the market that business organizations serve. Nowadays, the profitability of an airline is strongly linked with its ability to satisfy its consumers through the goods and services it provides. As we can see, airlines should strike a balance between these market forces. They should invest in capital in order to improve their products, value their employees and compensate them according to their worth, and deliver value to customers. 3. What is the effect of economic regulation and the effects on industry "market rationalization" Economic regulation is the participation of the government in order to correct the failures in the market. In the airline industry, government intervention is warranted to bring about economic efficiency, ensure safety, protect the environment, and regulate interstate and foreign commerce. Economically speaking, regulations are used in order to balance market forces. It should be noted that as businessmen do not see things the way consumer does, this necessitates the intervention of the state in order to protect the interest of the consumers. Through this way, market rationalization or the efficiency of market forces are ensured. The Airline Deregulation Act is an example of how the government intervenes in order to bring about efficiency in the airline indu

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Roles and Responsibilities of The Qualified Nurse

Roles and Responsibilities of The Qualified Nurse VANITHA RAMAN INTRODUCTION A qualified nurse is central to the provision of safe, high quality nursing care and the backbone of the healthcare system. Qualified nurses are individually accountable for their own practice and have a personal responsibility to maintain their competency and meet professional standards in order to maintain their licence to practise. The role of the registered nurse has evolved with changes in advancing technology, newly defined client needs and changes in the way healthcare is delivered. In this way, it is not unreasonable to expect that the role of the registered nurse will continue to evolve and change. Qualified nurses are expected to develop their analytical problem solving and decision making skills throughout their nursing career (NMC, 2010) Benner (1984) proposed that nursing knowledge develops through research and integration into clinical practise and experience. Importantly, experience is not a time based activity but can only develop in the context of education and knowledge acquisition. Characteristics acquired throughout the registered nurse professional career contribute towards a sustainable profession through role modelling, clinical leadership, mentoring and coaching, supervision, teaching and research. The health reform environment will create opportunities for nurses to work in new models of healthcare delivery that provide quality health services to individuals, families and communities and enable nurses to practise to their full professional potential (North Hughes 2012) Clinical Governance The term clinical governance became prominent following the publication of New Labors first White Paper on health, The New NHS: Modern, Dependable (1997) and subsequently Quality in the New NHS (1998). According to Scally and Donaldson (1998) clinical governance is a ‘system through which organizations are responsible for continuously improving the quality of their services and safeguarding high standards of care by creating an environment in which excellence in clinical care will flourish. Clinical governance will not replace professional self-regulation and individual clinical judgement, concepts that lie at the heart of health care in this country, but it will add an extra dimension that will provide the public with guarantees about standards of clinical care (Sam Gilbraith 1998) In another word, it can be summarized that clinical governance is a way to increase managerial control of health professions (Flynn, 2004). Clinical Governance is composed of the following elements, Education, Clinical Audit, Clinical Effectiveness, Risk Management, Research and development and Openness. These elements are underpinned by the recognition of Communication, Teamwork and Leadership (Chambers et al. 2007). Flynn (2002) suggests that the proliferation of mixed metaphors (umbrella, model, framework, culture and mindset) indicate that there is an inherent ambiguity about the precise nature of clinical governance. While Travaglia et al. (2011) map the development of clinical governance as a mobilising concept in healthcare, we contribute to the literature by deconstructing prior definitions to clarify what is meant by the umbrella term â€Å"clinical governance†. The elements of clinical governance is composed of the following elements : Education. Clinical audit. Clinical effectiveness. Risk management. Research and development. Openness. Good clinical leadership is required to engage the entire practice team in a commitment to excellence. Education A good teacher not only imparts key pearls of wisdom, but also acts as an exemplary role model and has non-cognitive qualities such as the ability to inspire students in the learning process (Sutkin et al., 2008) and reflect on his/her teaching practice. Accountability Accountability is known as the key element for professional practice which is closely linked with delegation (NMC, 2010). A qualified nurse failure to comply with the issues of accountability such as accountable to the patient, her professional body, criminal law, employer through a contract of employment, and society generally through the NMC. The code: Standard of Conduct, Performance and Ethics for Nurses and Midwives (NMC, 2008a) As a nurse-leader, qualified nurses are professionally accountable to all the issues/problems that occur in their ward ( ICN, 2010). They further explained that as autonomous practitioners, nurses are accountable for their own action/practice. Simply, accountability can be referred as accepting ownership for all aspect of their practice and must be able to justify their decisions (NMC, 2008c). Mooney (2007) highlighted how ward managers’ expectations of newly qualified nurses were unrealistic, suggesting that pressures of the ward environment, being able to adapt and integrate quickly, and the added responsibility of accountability were particularly overwhelming. Maben and McLeod Clark (1998) also noted inconsistencies in preparation for management, suggesting that while the theoretical context was adequate, the practical aspects, such as drug administration, prioritising, decision making and clinical skills were variable. Caulfield (2005) states that maintains the patient’s trust in the individual nurse is important for professional accountability. Similarly, Ormrod and Barlow (2011) described explicitly that every nurse is responsibility to explain or answerability to offer justification of practice. The NMC (2010) code of conduct helped me how the laws and policies are set up to ensure safe and effective delivery of care given to service users under a patient group direction. Problem 1 Staff nurse A B were on night duty together with an assistant nurse. All three were working in the ICU. Suddenly one of the ICU patients went into a cardiac arrest. Staff nurse A announced a code blue .Four staffs from other units responded to the code blue. Staff A B started the resuscitation process. While this happened all four respondents stood idle as they were unaware of what to do. Solution for problem 1 Teamwork Teams and teamwork help to promote deep learning that occurs through interaction, problem solving, dialogue, cooperation and collaboration (Johnson Johnson,1995). Teamwork is defined by Scarnati (2001, p. 5) â€Å"as a cooperative process that allows ordinary people to achieve extraordinary results. Training must given to all qualified nurses and ensure that they understand the concept of teamwork so that they can build a strong team. In nursing, teamwork is essential for effective management and achieving positive results (Toofany, 2007). She further elaborated that NMC stressed all nurses must act to reduce errors and provide quality patient care by being part of healthcare team. A strong foundation which consists of creative leadership, clear goals and objectives (Clevenger, 2007) and trust (Blyth, 2006) determines success of a team. Team members must be flexible enough to adapt to cooperative working environments where goals are achieved through collaboration and social interdependence rather than individualised, competitive goals (Luca Tarricone,2001). Cipriano (2010) maintains that delegation is an underdeveloped skill among nurses which is difficult to assess as it relies on personality, communication style and mutual respect between the registered nurse and the healthcare assistant. Munn, Tufanaru, and Aromataris (2013), propose that there is a lack of clarity about the role of healthcare assistants complicates delegation processes. In order to build a good communication staff can be sent for team building courses so that can enhance their team work skills. According to Arnold B(1990), Team building is an effort in which a team studies its own process of working together and acts to create a climate that encourages and values the contributions of team members. Delegation can help others to develop or enhance their skills, promotes teamwork and improves productivity Sollivan.E.J et al (2009). When delegating, the delegator remain responsible for that care if he/she do not delegate appropriately as stated by NMC (2008) Heap (1996) affirms that the crux of the team building approach is love and spirituality which results in mutual respect, compassion, and humanity to work. West (1994) emphasised that organisations need to provide teams with adequate financial resou rces, administrative and technical support and professional education. Leadership Hershey and Blanchard (1977) life cycle theory explains that the leadership behaviour translates to the characteristic of the follower. Table below shows Hershey and Blanchard’s leadership behaviours and resultant leadership style: Task Relationship Leadership style High Low Telling Defines the task . Gives time frame for completion. One way communication High High Selling- balances concern for goal accomplishment with values. Leader in control but seeks input Low High Participating- getting the group to work together to accomplish the task Low Low Delegating Leader takes a low profile. Available for consultation Morse and Reimer (1956) suggest that different style of leadership is needed in different situation thus the concept of situational leadership. Vroom (1960) seem to agree with Hershey and Blanchard by suggesting that the leaders should modify their leadership style to suit the people they lead. In this situation, given that the four staff nurse that responded would have basic knowledge on performing CPR, the ICU nurse should have delegated the task. This given both task and relationship would have ranked low on the Hershey and Blanchard chart above. Delegating would have allowed the ICU nurse to assume the role of team leader to make major decision. Sarcevic, A., et al. Leadership structures in emergency care settings: a study of two trauma centers. [Erratum appears in Int J Med Inform. 2011 Aug; 80(8): e48]. International Journal of Medical Informatics. 80(4): p. 227-38. When leaders delegate responsibility appropriately, team members become more confident and autonomous in their work (Capko 1996). Kane (1975) suggested that leadership be allocated to the team member with the most expertise, rather than being linked to professional groups. Tan (2006:p.3) stated leadership as â€Å"influencing followers to do what is necessary to achieve organizational goal or vision†. So, to be a successful leader, leadership and management skills are combined to achieve a common goal (Tan, 2006). Capella, J, et al states that roles of the extra members need to be clearly defined to ensure optimum patient safety. Capella, J., et al. Teamwork training improves the clinical care of trauma patients. Journal of Surgical Education. 67(6): 439-43.PMid:21156305 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jsurg.2010.06.006 (Blegen, 1993, Irvine Evans, 1995) share that changing the staffing mix can impact the quality of supervisory relation and influence staff outcome. This if had been implemented would have allowed better relationship to be forged between the ICU staff and the wad staff , which would have resulted in the situation been better managed. Teaching and Learning Some studies have shown training does help define roles during resuscitation. Dagnone, J.D., et al. Interprofessional resuscitation rounds:a teamwork approach to ACLS education. Medical Teacher. 2008; 30: 49-54. PMid:18464132 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01421590701769548. This would have helped when the ward staff responded to the code. Such training not only improves knowledge but also help define the roles and responsibility in the advent of such situation. Bradley, P., S. Cooper, and F. Duncan, A mixed-methods study of interprofessionsl learning of resuscitation skills. Medical Education. 2009; 43: 912-922. PMid:19709016 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2923.2009.03432.x One notable theory to consider is, David Kolb’s Experiential Learning Model (ELM).According to Kolb (1984, p.41) Learning is the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience. Kolb seek to argue that learning can exist without a teacher and merely through personal and environmental experience. Sabet (2005) recommended centralised, decentralised and mixed staffing system. As such having the staffs rotated at critical areas will allow them to get used to the practices and locations of item when handling an emergency situation. Solution. Leadership Mock code simulation training helps to improve registered nurses and first responder It should include reflections on incidents and situations and what you have learned from them. A good model of reflective practice that can be used is that of Gibbs (1988). Find out what happens if a member of staff is not performing as they should or is giving cause for concern A good model of reflective practice that can be used is that of Gibbs (1988). This teaching strategy enhances learning, skills and knowledge retention, and subsequently improved advanced cardiac life support outcomes (Scherer, Bruce, Graves Erdley, 2003). Wannan and York (2005) report that students’ knowledge could be acquired either by watching a video or through role play. Supervision on the staff during the code and give feedback for their improvement Doing statistic on improvement of resuscitations References Gordon, J. (2002) Team building. Journal of American Academy of Business, 2(1), 185-189. Tuckman, B. (1965). Developmental sequence in small groups. Psychological Bulletin, 63(6), 384 399. VanZile, J. (2002). Team building. In Corporate and incentive travel. Retrieved February 16, 2004, from http://www.corporate-inc-travel.com/CIT/Archives/stories2002/stories-jan2002.htm#five Bateman, A. (1990), Team building: Developing a productive team, In Nebraska Cooperative Extension CC352. Retrieved February 16, 2004, from http://ianrpubs.unl.edu/misc/cc352.htm

Friday, October 25, 2019

Gun Control Is Not Crime Control Essay example -- Second Amendment The

Gun Control is not Crime Control Americans are faced with an ever-increasing problem of violence. The streets of America are now a war zone. Teenage gangsters murder one another for drug territory, and innocent victims are caught in the crossfire. However, most recent and most abhorrent, is our children are killing one another. They are killing with extreme prejudice. Our children are killing, exhibiting little or no remorse for lives they have taken. We cannot ignore the carnage our society endures due to the criminal behavior of a minority, obviously lacking the basic moral behavior regarding human life. Nevertheless, we must not be misguided in our efforts to address the problem at hand. To eliminate the right of citizens to own firearms is not a solution. Violent crime is not an issue that has reared its ugly head in the nineties. The prohibition of alcohol was the beginning of what historians considered the most violent time in modern history. Prohibition sparked murderous wars between mob families for the black market alcohol trade. The government in their infinite wisdom made the ownership of fully automatic firearms illegal, as a solution to the increased violence. I do not see any need for anyone to own a machine gun, then, or now. Nevertheless, the ban on the firearms did not curb the violent behavior of the criminal element. The ban created a new black market. It was the repeal of the prohibition of alcohol that ended the massacre. This is a parallel to the drug ...

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Competition in the Movie Rental Industry: Netflix and Redbox

The competitive forces in the movie rental industry are quite strong, as I will explain through the five forces model. There are a vast amount of substitutes for watching a movie. You can go to a play, sporting event, concert, out the lake/beach, go for a run, watch regular television, go shopping; I could go on and on. Also, torrenting or pirating movies is growing increasingly popular. Buyers have a strong presence in this industry mainly because they are picky about how much they will pay to rent or stream a movie.With the amount of substitutes and their pickiness, they make this industry more competitive than what it may seem. Suppliers can make this industry very difficult because there is so much red tape in the movie industry. There are copyrights and restrictions on everything. This gives the supplier a lot of leverage and for the most part, they know that they can demand a price of just about anything. I see the potential and threat of new entrants being moderate to strong. First off; many customers have their loyalties whether it be to Netflix, Redbox or a local hometown movie rental.Secondly; pricing, availability and quality are all key factors. Lastly you have to have a large sum of money upfront in order to get the ball rolling. As I mentioned prior, gaining rights from movie companies is not cheap. The rivalry among the competitors is rather intense as they are battling for the best prices, biggest variety, quickest accessibility for the customer, and quality movies (HD streaming, few scratches and number of blu-rays). With the growing increases in technology and home entertainment, there are major forces pushing for change in the movie rental industry.In addition to this; we now live in a world where people want something and they want it NOW. I work in retail and this â€Å"in the now† era is changing everything and is putting a lot of pressure on almost any company. This has increased the push for expansion of online streaming and or th e ease of access to movie rental kiosks. Also in this new world, there is a huge demand for entertainment. Our generation spends more time in front of the TV and now computers, tablets and smart phones than ever before.The increase in the quality of televisions, surround sounds and filming capabilities is pushing the envelope. People are also always looking for the biggest bargain while maintaining quality. When looking at a strategic map the two variables would be price and how quickly the product can be attained. Netflix and Redbox rank high within each category. On the other hand Blockbuster and Movie gallery would be ranked much lower due to their high prices and the fact that you have to go out of your way to a brick and mortar store.The biggest key success factor to me over the next 3-5 years will be the capability to stream HD content at home. I understand that this hinders on your internet provider due to bandwidth. But I believe that if a customer can stream HD content it w ill save them the cost of purchasing a blu-ray player and blu-ray videos. To stem off of this idea, it’s going to depend upon how quickly the customer can obtain the video. After those two factors, I think that price (low) will then come into play. People want things to be as simple and as user-friendly as possible.Whether this is how it easy is to navigate a website or make purchase at a kiosk machine. Lastly I foresee the variety being a component of success; I don’t know about you but I do miss some of the movies from the 90s. After performing a SWOT analysis of Netflix, the company looks increasingly more popular. First off, lets look at Netflix’s strengths. Overall Netflix has had strong financial stability as they have grown their margins year over year. They definitely have their brand name out on the market; much of this can be attributed to their amount of advertising.You can say that they have alliances given that their videos can be streamed on virtua lly any device (phone, tablet, and computer). This also allows their content to be viewed virtually anywhere. The fact that they teamed up with Oracle to work on their website was a very beneficial move as this gives them somewhat propitiatory technology. I personally enjoy their recommendations and it is obvious that with their next arrival that they have strong logistics. They have a big cost advantage too.If I can stream a whole season of How I Met Your Mother in one day, I feel as though the $8. 9 that I spent was a good investment and yet I still have another 29 or 30 days to go. The two times that I had to deal with their customer service; they quality of service was outstanding and I’ve heard many other wonderful testimonials. When looking at weaknesses, I feel that their inability to provide new releases is a major drawback. In addition to this, they need to amp the selection for online streaming since streaming is expanding rapidly. The issue at hand with streaming i s that it can potentially lead to server crashes if there are too many users on at once.Netflix can also be very enticing to hackers since there is so much personal information stored. I would say that the biggest opportunity for Netflix would to be to make deals with the movie production companies to allow Netflix to offer new releases. To feed off of that, they need to increase their variety; particularly in the selection of indie and international films. With as big as they have become Netflix should try to gain rights to more countries. They could try to test out the video rental industry. This would help them out as gamers can stream Netflix on their consoles.Since they have software to offer recommendations based off of likes, they could look into developing a music streaming service similar to Pandora. Lastly, they need to set up kiosks in high traffic shopping areas. Maybe they could start this by putting up kiosks in each of the 50 towns in which they have a distribution ce nter. I see the biggest threat being the increasing amount of pirating movies and people performing illegal downloads. The supplier has a lot pulling power as they can quote big prices. If other companies began to enter the online streaming idea; Netflix will have to look for ways to distinguish itself.Redbox’s SWOT analysis does not make it look as attractive as Netlfix, however it is still pretty strong. Again starting with strengths; Redbox has its kiosks placed in prime locations. It is much more convenient for a customer to pick up a movie as they are walking out of the grocery store or McDonald’s than it is for them to drive to a physical store location. It is good for both the store and Redbox. I feel that their prices give them a large competitive advantage especially when comparing to the price of a rental from Blockbuster or Movie Gallery.Their smartphone app allows the customer to decide whether or not they can go out and pick up a certain film. I know that many people appreciate the fact that Redbox has many new release films. Moving on to weaknesses; the biggest issue with kiosks is the amount of variety and inventory. There are only 20 to 30 films to choose and I feel that folks enjoy more choices. The other issue with kiosks is that nobody is there to inspect the condition of the disks therefore a customer can potentially rent a scratched up disk.The beauty of Netflix is that your movie will arrive on your doorstep or you can stream it instantly. With the increasing price in gas, it can be seen as somewhat of an inconvenience to drive out to a kiosk. On a positive note, Redbox has many opportunities available to it. They can start off by offering online streaming. Like Netflix, I suggest that they look into tapping into the video game market at their kiosks. After lifting their lawsuits from Universal and Warner bros, they should renegotiating the length of time that it takes to get their hands on new release films.Redbox’s biggest threat would if/when other companies also begin to offer rentals via kiosk locations. The advances in technology may one day lead us away from using discs and virtually everything will be done online. They also face uncontrollable threats such as snow days. It is much easier for the customer to stream a video with Netflix than it is for them to bundle up, clear off their vehicle and risk their lives in hazardous driving conditions. Financially Netflix has been quite sound since its creation.I am rather impressed with how well its gross profit and net income have steadily increased year over year. On the other hand, it does somewhat bother me that their stockholder’s equity has decreased each year since 2005. Recommendation: Netflix: I recommend to Netflix that they look into adding kiosk locations in attempt to drive out Redbox as much as possible. This will pull in any more customers because not everyone enjoys being on a subscription and paying monthly rates. By the time everything turns completely towards online streaming, you will be leaving Redbox in the dust with almost nothing.To further help with pulling customers away from Redbox, Netflix needs to look into gaining access to new release films. With their powerful software, Netflix should look into a streaming service similar to Pandora and or create something like iTunes where customers can purchase and download music. Redbox: Redbox has got to get with the program and offer online content. Along with this, they should offer some sort of subscription service to ensure that they are holding onto their customer base. They could also look into having a rental service via online so that they can offer their customers more variety in movies.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Initiation Planning Executing Monitor & Control Closing Essay

ProXalt@ Student RecallSheetO Project Management Process Groups Initiation Planning Executing Monitor & Control Closing Based on the Feasibility Study conducted and using Project Selection Methods, the project selection committee selects a project. The client Develops Project Charter, Preliminary Scope Statement and the sponsor approves the project charter Based on Project Charter and Preliminary Scope statement, the project team conducts all planning activities and Develops the Project Management Plan Project team involves in Planning and Defining the Scope of the project and Creates WBS Using WBS items, the team Defines project Activities, places them in a Sequence, Estimates Duration and Resources needed and develops a Project Schedule Estimate Cost and allocate that Cost to work packages (Cost Budgeting) Plan Quality standards for the project Create Human Resource Plan Come up with Communications Management Plan Create a Risk Management Plan and Identify all Risks. Analyze them Qualitatively, Quantitatively and come up with Risk Response Plan Plan on how to Acquire goods nd services from outside the organization and Plan on Contracting Direct and Manage Project Execution to ensure that all the planned packages have been executed Perform Quality Assurance to assure that the project team followed quality standards Acquire Project Team members from functional managers