Respond to the article Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Respond to the article - Essay Example Some address problems by acquainting themselves with the nature of the difficulty before coming to grips with it. Others seek external professional assistance, whereas others ignore the problem with the expectation it will go away (Cohen 2). In relation to want I found interesting in this article, I learnt that it is recommendable for young children particularly those in kindergarten to be taught on how to cope up with challenges associated with adversities so as to help them when under pressure. Some of the coping skills that I learnt to be crucial include the model â€Å"BASIC Ph†. In relation to this model, I learnt that it is important to inform young children about what we believe as a society, encouraging the expression of children’s feelings through pictures, and allowing children to take part in the social roles. Additionally, I learnt that transforming a frightening condition into an adventure, explaining to children what they need to know in addition to keeping children occupied during emergencies will aid them cope with pressures associated with

Chapter 4, 5 assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Chapter 4, 5 - Assignment Example The techniques used for this model are simple series moving averages and weighted moving averages where data from past periods are summed and divided by the number of time periods. The only difference between simple and weighted moving averages fall on more weights being placed on more recent data for the latter technique. Finally, the cause and effect model assumes that factors are related to demand and that relationships between cause and effect are used to estimate future demands. Techniques for this model are simple and multiple regressions where distinguishing factor depends on the number of variables. For simple, there is only one variable; while for multiple, the demand is dependent on more than one variable. The appropriate forecasting technique or model considers varying factors, to wit: current situation, time and funds available, and accuracy of the technique. As initially proffered, the judgmental approach is most appropriate for the introduction of new product were no historical data is available. For example, a global organization seeking to expand in a new market, with no previous experience, could use judgmental forecasting. Should the organization opt to conduct a survey to establish the possible demand for a new product, the company must consider time, money and efforts for doing so. Another forecasting issue is determining the accuracy of the forecast. For the analog technique, the company requires using a similar product or service to project the future demand of their own product. For example, a company planning to market bottled water uses the performance of a competitive product of the same qualities to establish demand. Some factors could be similar but the company must consider location of the target market, as well as other environmental factors that could influence demand. The following product characteristics influence packaging and materials handling: physical characteristics,

The Costco Wholesale Corporation Marketing Essay

The Costco Wholesale Corporation Marketing Essay Costco Wholesale Corporation is the largest membership warehouse club chain in the United States with an aim to offer low prices on the selective and specialty brands in the wide range of products. Costco opened its first warehouse in 1983 and since has grown to become the fifth-largest retailer in the United States and seventh-largest retailer in the world. Currently headquartered in Issaquah, Washington, Costco has 614 warehouses with 67.4 million members and 160, 292 employees worldwide. Costco began its journey in Seattle, Washington with its business model similar to that of Price Club. Price Club was founded in 1975 by Robert Price and has been considered the pioneer of the warehouse stores. Its membership was only available to business customers and certain groups such as employees of local businesses, nonprofits, or government. Shoppers paid a membership fee to the company to buy bulk products at discounted prices in a no-frills warehouse setting. Costco was founded on the ba sis of the same concept; however, it started to expand customers to non-business members as well to raise their profit. In less than six years, Costco became the first company ever to grow from zero to $3 billion in sales. By the early 90s, it had outperformed its rival club, Price Club. However, Sams Club became successful in surpassing them both. Face with threats of a takeover by Sams Club, Costco and Price Club entered into a partial merger in 1993, creating the nations largest warehouse chain. The newly formed company, named PriceCostco, focused heavily on international expansion. However, the company soon faced a breakup due to disagreements between the two leaders, Jim Sinegal and Robert Price, regarding company direction. Sinegal continued to manage PriceCostco while Prices breakaway company was named as Price Enterprises. In 1997, the company changed its name to Costco Wholesale and all its Price Club locations were rebranded as Costco. SWOT Analysis Strengths Weaknesses No-frills approach Low product and services Tenured management Satisfied employees Membership Loyalty High inventory turnover compared to its competitors Incredible return policy Great membership benefits Private label Not enough warehouses Weak advertising No self-checkout Store hours Contributing to higher carbon footprint and pollution due to bulk-packaged products Opportunities Threats Future expansion Private label growth Costco.com Economic downturn Strong competition Diversification in terms of geography Political, cultural and ethical issues with international expansion Strengths Costcos no-frills approach has helped the leader keep its overhead costs low and in turn offer great prices to its customers. Costco does not let fancy buildings, salespeople, and big advertising budgets get in the way of providing great values. It has been successful at keeping overhead costs low by eliminating costs historically associated with wholesalers and retailers, such as delivery, billing, and account receivable. Costco buys its merchandise directly from the manufacturers and route it either to a cross-docking consolidation point or directly to their individual warehouses. Their depots receive container-based shipments from manufacturers and reallocate these goods for shipment to their individual warehouses in less than twenty-four hours. This allows Costco to eliminate many of the costs associated with traditional multi-step distribution channels by maximizing freight volume and handling efficiencies. Traditional steps generally include purchasing from distributors as oppo sed to manufacturers, use of central receiving, storing, and distributing warehouses, and storage of goods off the sales floor. Costco passes the savings generated from elimination of these traditional costs to the consumers by not marking up its merchandise more than 15%. In comparison, a supermarket may mark up its merchandise by 25% while a markup by department store may be up to 50%. Costcos strategy to offer limited selection of nationally branded products in a wide range of merchandise categories has helped the business generate high sales volume and quick inventory turnover. It carries fewer than 4000 items as compared to 40,000 items at a supermarket and 100,000 items at Walmart. For example, Costco may only carry one size of Aspirin bottle containing 350 pills, whereas a Walmart may carry two or more different sizes of Aspirin bottle. Narrowing the number of options increases the sales volume of each, allowing Costco to squeeze deeper and deeper bulk discounts from suppliers. Because of high sales volume and quick inventory turnover, Costco sells it inventory before it is required to pay many of its merchandise vendors. It can use cash received from selling its inventory to pay it vendors and thus avoiding financing and payment plans. Costcos additional strength lies in its strong managerial ground. Costco believes in a homegrown approach to management by promoting from within the company. The majority of its current home and regional office team members are home grown, which means that they started in their warehouses, depots, and business centers, learned the business and moved up within the company. One great example is its current CEO, Craig Jelinek. He started his career with Costco almost 28 years ago by managing a single warehouse; however, he is now responsible for managing almost over 600 warehouses. In addition, Costco ensures its employees satisfaction by providing them with generous wages and benefits. While this practice may be more expensive for Costco, they have an off-setting cost containment effect. Its turnover rate is unusually low at 17% overall and just 6% after one years employment. In contrast, Walmarts turnover rate is 44% per year, which is close to the industry average. Due to its low tur nover rate Costco saves money spent on recruiting, hiring, and training. It takes cares of its employee, which in turn take care of its members. Smiling employees help make Costco the best shopping experience. In addition to low prices and great service, Costco has a very generous and hassle-free return policy. It offers a 100% satisfaction guarantee on all of its products including food, furniture, jewelry, and electronics. If a member is not 100% satisfied with the purchase, they may return it at any time for a full refund; there are no time limits with the exception of electronics. Electronics, such as televisions, projectors, camcorders, touchscreen tablets, MP3 players, and cell phones, must be returned within 90 days of purchase. However, Costco offers a two-year manufacturers warranty on its electronics free of charge. Perhaps, its the low prices and great shopping experience that Costco has been able to retain its members successfully. In the United States and Canada, it has been able to keep 90% of members, while it retains 86% of members worldwide. This number is even higher for business members at 93.7%. In addition, other great membership benefits offered by Costco contribute t o its success in retaining members. It has formed strategic relationships with outside parties to ensure that its members can be provided great warehouse prices for additional products and services that range from health and auto insurance to five star vacations. Costco has also been very successful with its private label offering, Kirkland Signature. It is now considered a strong private label offering as it competes with many national brands in an ever-expanding range of categories. After 19 years since its launch, the private label products now represent only 15% of the items carried by Costco but generate 20% of its sales dollars. The goal of the company with Kirkland Signature products is to provide equal or better quality at discounted products. It believes that it has the capacity to increase the sales penetration of its Kirkland Signature products to 30% over the next several years, while continuing to provide its members with quality brand name products that will always be part of its product selection. Weaknesses Although strengths exceed Costcos weaknesses, it still needs to address them for the betterment of the companys future. Its warehouse locations are mainly concentrated in urban areas with higher population densities versus their competition Sams club who chooses to place their clubs in the suburbs. It may be very time consuming for someone to shop at Costco who does not live nearby its coverage areas. In addition, long lines at the checkout are the subject of many complaints made by Costco customers. In comparison with BJs, Costco does not have self-checkout lanes while BJs has well managed self-checkout lanes. Their store hours are also a big setback for busy members. Many of the other membership clubs open early for the convenience of business members and stay open late to accommodate busy families. Another weakness of Costcos strategy is that they spend very less on advertising. They generally rely on reputation and word of mouth advertising. However, one of Costcos biggest competitor, Sams Club, spends about 50 million dollars on advertising and direct mail promotions. If Costcos competitors are able to take away its market share due to lack of promotional activities, it may adversely affect Costcos future performance. Since many of Costcos members may purchase too much stuff unnecessarily due to its bulk packaging, the practice may lead to higher carbon footprint and pollution. Costco offers bulk-packaged products to target large families and business owners. However, many of its members are not large families or business owners; they choose to stop at Costco because they like the products and prices. As a result, they end up purchasing more than their needs and create unnecessary waste. It may be seen as a negative because it is against current mainstream green marketing. Opportunities Of the 614 Costco warehouses worldwide, nearly three quarters are located in the United States. Costco can find opportunities to increase international expansion that will help fuel decades of future growth. Recently, India and China have become the choice of retail expansion for big businesses like Walmart. Similarly, Costco can find ways to increase its presence in these markets as well. As more stores open, more opportunities will be created for Costcos private label, Kirkland Signature, products to compete against big brands. Growth of its private label can also be fueled by looking into introducing more margin enhancing products. Growing trend of internet shopping can also open up many opportunities for Costco. Costcos current website, Costco.com, is currently members only. To target members that may not have the privilege to shop at Costco warehouses, it can offer online only membership. This approach can help Costco rapidly expand its market saturation. Additionally, it can lead to improved margins while simultaneously improving revenue growth. Costco can also take advantage of the current economic downturn by finding more high quality products at affordable prices from various vendors that may not have been available before.

That Great Guy: Charles :: essays research papers

Charlemagne was born on April 2, 742, and grew up, illiterate, in a place unknown today. Although Charlemagne was illiterate he did speak old Teutonic, Latin, German, French, Spanish, and understood Greek. Charlemagne is best know as 'Charles the Great'. Charlemagne was 29 when Carloman II, his father, died. Charles then became sole king of France. Two years later he received an appeal for aid against the Lombard Desiderius from Pope Hadrian II. Charles left for was after he received the appeal. When Charlemagne returned to his capital at Aachen he began a series of campaigns designed to round out his empire. This was by conquering and Christianizing Bavaria and Saxony, destroying the troublesome Avars, shielding Italy from the raiding Saracens, and strengthening the defense of Francia against the expanding Moors of Spain. All of the preceding shows what a strong Christian Charlemagne was during his lifetime. Charles the Great also wanted peace and wellness for everyone (no matter who they were). While Charlemagne was king he legislated for agriculture, industry, finance, religion, and especially education. He wanted as many people as possible to go to school and get any sort of an education. Charlemagne was greatly generous toward the Church. Bishops played a leading role in his councils, assemblies, and administrations. Charles called Bishops 'Agents of God'. Charlemagne earned his nickname, 'Charles the Great', because he has been known to be the most powerful king ever. He also started the Hole Roman Empire during his reign. The Hole Roman Empire was one of the most brilliant ideas in the history of statesmanship. It was, altogether, the transformation of Charlemagne's realm into a Holy Roman Empire that should have behind it all the prestige, sanctity, and stability of both Imperial and papal Rome. Charles gave his younger brother, Louis, the privalege of being king in 813.

Homeless graduates and Joblessness

Homelessness defines a situation in which a person or a family is living without a home to have their privacy. A home is a basic requirement for every individual to live their life comfortably. It is a place where individual’s basic requirements are fulfilled and provide a healthful environment. In USA it must be a legally owned place to have a safe condition for living.  Currently in United States there are many people who are homeless and among them many our graduates and educated people who do not have living. They might be an individual with no other support or a family with not enough resources to rent or buy a house.The term homelessness is not just limited to the meaning of â€Å"without a home†, but it has a very broad meaning covering mostly that population who is without a job, has no living, no support, and might be suffering from health issues.  Such homeless graduates either live on streets or shelters. Such people may suffer from a mental illness or ph ysical illness due to lack of safety health measures and support. They may face a number of psychological and physiological problems.JoblessnessThis is the major cause of homeless graduates. They do not get adequate job and earnings to have their own home. Such guys spend their time on streets, bars, shelters, and many other such places. The one or the other way they just waste their time. Joblessness may be due to their low score at school, any kind of disorder, inability to cope with job and inadequate pay.Mental illnessHomeless graduates might be suffering from mental illness and psychological problems like depression, stress, insomnia, drug abuse, alcohol abuse and criminal activities. According to one study around 40% of these homeless graduates suffer from various mental ailments. A number of studies have shown that suicidal rate is also high in such individuals.Drug & alcohol abuseDrug abuse and alcohol abuse are the two major problems with homeless graduates. As they do not have a job and most of their time is wasted in bars and streets they easily get addicted with drugs and alcohol.Due to increasingly stress for work and pay they become psychologically depressed. The only way they find out is to have some kind of addiction in order to forget their worries. Such graduates when start on drugs and alcohol are usually unaware of its damaging outcomes and health hazards.Hospital and medical expenditureDue to excessive health hazards their expenses for stay at the hospital and medicines are also very high. These expenses are usually bear by the shelters where they live or donation by charity organizations.Marital statusTheir marital status is also at doldrums. As they cannot support their spouse and children, they easily get differences with them.  Strategies to solve this increasing problem of homelessness is first to give them adequate education to improve their grades in college. Every graduate must be assured of a job after they complete their educat ion.  Graduates can be hired as trainee at first to give them proper training after school to get acquainted with their job.  Homeless graduates must have enough support that should cover their health problems. In addition, their environment must be safe enough in order to prevent any health hazards.Educating such people about hazards of drug and alcohol abuse:As they’re not aware of the damaging effects of drugs and alcohol they start consuming them in abundance. Later when they encounter several health problems it becomes really problematic for the shelter supporting staff and the individual himself to manage health issues.  If measures will be taken to inform them about the dangerous effects of drugs and alcohol then heavy costs of treatment can be saved.The reason for writing this letter is to bring to your awareness these problems in homeless people is every growing. It must be noted that if the concerned authorities do not take appropriate measure to stop this pro blem then this situation can become adverse. As more and more people are graduating and homeless kids are reaching their youth this problem does not seem to be ending.  If a homeless person remains jobless and homeless for long period of time then they can become more, dependant, dysfunctional and a burden to a society.It is of utmost importance that some steps must be taken at your earliest to stop ever growing problems of homeless graduates. The first thing is that to enhance their education, bring awareness about hazards of drugs and alcohol, brining health awareness, awareness about exercising and methods to become more useful.  The most important point is that they must participate in any type of activities. Like communal activities, sports activities and volunteer their time in supporting others with handicap.  If a person can become a useful individual of a society in any form then it will be a spiritual satisfaction and a peace of mind for both the individual and the s ociety.ReferencesYesilonis, Bryan. (2007) Report on Homelessness. Retrieved from http://www.bethesda-mission.org/report.htmHomeless Families Program, USA. Retrieved from http://www.valdosta.edu/~clengleh/writingsample.htm

Price Rise

PRICE-RISE This is one topic in which I do not have to think before writing an article. The recent price rise in the essential commodities has hurt the common man where it hurts the most. The prices of onion , tomatoes, pulses have skyrocketed which adds flavor to the otherwise normal lifestyle of below average Indian. The above statement is a sarcasm in itself, but its necessary to show the grave situation which the normal citizens of this country are facing in the normal time.The prices of pulses which is nearly a staple diet for most of the country has risen to a large extent from the last 2 years. This may be due to less area under production for pulses in country or less per hectare yield of pulses or growth in demand. But the apathy is that there is no supportive government policy which could have helped India to raise the pulses production by giving more incentives to the farmers growing pulses, reducing loses to the intermediaries.One more benefit of higher pulses production is it takes less of nitrogenous fertilizers and is essential for regular wheat rice fields. The prices of onion has risen nearly 300% or more in the last month. The first reason is inefficient government policy which do not foresee demand supply situations, since onions are perishable quantities. The recent unseasonal rains in Nasik area has destroyed 10% of the crops, but still the quantum of price rise cannot be substantiated. The major culprit here is no control over the last leg of supply chain i. retailers , they are having the profit margin of more than 50% . They are speculating on the deficient supply and holding the common man on ransom. Moreover in India expert was stopped at a much later stage , which led to the spike in prices for the first instance. The rest and the last reason which is common to all, I would discuss in the later part of the article. There is another factor which is at play in high inflation rates across the commodities and it is ever increasing rates o f petrol and diesel.The common plea given by the government to the people of India during every rate increase is rising international crude prices, But they should first answer why there is double taxation by center and state on sale of petrol and diesel. My first question to the respective governments is why cannot these duties be reduced, so that atleast the transportation cost for the common commodities is reduced. Now let us come to the contentious issue which is common to all the commodities price rise and bone of contention between the government and opposition parties that is forward trading.Now some people will criticize me of knowing very little of the commodity trading, but my only point is why do you need speculative trading on the essential commodities, when you could have such trading on nearly each and every finance vehicle like equity shares, currency exchanges etc. The forward trading increases the speculation in markets and people who are really not in the supply ch ain of these commodities get into it and unnecessarily disrupts the chain leading to disparity in normal price mechanism of these commodities.Similarly prices of milk and other commodities could be discussed singly, but I just want to make a point that a concerted serious action is required for dealing the situation as it is hurting the foundation of common man economics in India. All the arms of government machinery, NGO's, common man should make an effort to discuss this problem and devise solutions which are practical and pragmatic in nature. Well I am doing my part by writing and publishing this article on net, so that our online community is more educated on the topic which is raging in India currently.