Stem Cell Advocacy Paper Stem Cells - 1123 Words

Stem Cell Advocacy Paper Introduction Stem cells are basically the building blocks of life. Some type of these cells can be engineered into any type of cell in the human body. There are three types of stem cells currently. Adult or somatic stem â€Å"cells can generate replacements for bone and muscle cells that are lost through injury, disease or normal wear and tear.† Another type of stem cells are embryonic stem cells. Embryonic stem cells â€Å"are â€Å"starter cells† that can be coaxed into becoming any of the specialized cells of the body, meaning they are â€Å"pluripotent.† The final type of stem cells are induced-pluripotent stem cells. Induced pluripotent stem cells â€Å"are adult stem cells that have been genetically altered to behave like embryonic stem cells†(National Institute of Health). Due to the advancement in medical technology scientists and doctors alike are now able to use stem cells for a variety of reasons like research and also in patient care. The benefits of this research can lead to the cure of diseases like diabetes, some cancers, and even neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s Disease and spinal cord injuries. The controversy behind stem cells lie from where these stem cells come from. The source of stem cells are plentiful. Some stem cells can come from human embryos that are a few days old. Stem cells can also be engineered in a laboratory setting using the cells from human embryos. Also there are certain stem cells that can be harvested from adults andShow MoreRelatedThe Debate Of Embryonic Stem Cell Research931 Words   |  4 Pages Embryonic stem cell research is the study of stem cells derived from the undifferentiated inner mass cells of a human embryo. For many years now, the ethics of embryonic stem cell research has been argued. A recent advance in this line of research is the ability to clone the embryonic stem cells, which allows for researchers to create a completely compatible embryonic stem cell to the individ ual’s tissue type. Though this new science may be very beneficial, not everyone can agree on the ethics ofRead More Embryonic Stem Cells Research Essays2785 Words   |  12 PagesEmbryonic stem cells research is a very conflicting subject in the United States. Some people think that it is morally and religiously incorrect as they are killing a human life at the first stage of life. While some think it is ok because the human life to them starts at the stage of the fetus. 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Comment [JB6]: These sentences are lifted from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy on foundationalist theories of justification. The source of these sentences appears in your reference list. However, in your paper, you are presenting these sentences as your own. Comment [JB7]: These sentences are lifted word for word from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on foundationalist theories of justification. emotionality or even the â€Å"gut feeling†, ourRead MoreThe Importance Of Blood Relations Towards Men902 Words   |  4 PagesThis paper examines the Canadian Blood Service’s (CBS) current one-year deferral policy towards men who have sexual contact with other men (MSM). Homosexual or bisexual men can donate blood and blood products only after not having any form of sexual contact with other men for one year (Canadian Blood Services, 2016). This paper studies how this policy contributes to stigma against MSM. This paper also aims to address this social inequity by promoting an advocacy that focus on donors’ risky sexualRead MoreChildhood Cancer Essay example1626 Words   |  7 Pagesmillions of living cells. Normal body cells grow, divide, and die in an orderly fashion. During the early years of a person’s life, normal cells divide faster to allow the person to grow. After the person becomes an adult, most cells divide only to replace worn-out or dyi ng cells or to repair injuries. Cancer begins when cells in a part of the body start to grow out of control. There are many kinds of cancer, but they all start because of out-of-control growth of abnormal cell (American CancerRead MoreAnalysis Of Mary Shelley s Frankenstein3500 Words   |  14 PagesJustine Josue WRT 102-76 Research paper Responsibility One major fault in humanity is the controversy and conflict over who claims responsibility when things go wrong. Elaborate and often dysfunctional court systems have been established over time to offer legal answers to the questions of responsibility however, even these are insufficient and controversial. In her gothic novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley utilizes mystery and horror to chronicle the story of a creator and his responsibilityRead MoreThe Ethical And Legal Dilemma2044 Words   |  9 Pagesand they are believed to be common law rights. However, in certain circumstances, those rights can be negotiable especially when an individuals’ religious beliefs interferes with a healthcare provider’s ability to implement proper treatment and advocacy for vulnerable patients. Jehovah’s witness’ are a clear example where religious beliefs interfere with appropriate and adequate healthcare from doctors and nurses. This is because their beliefs ar e often in stark contrast with a doctor or nurses’Read MoreEssay on Medical Marijuana Ethical Issues1907 Words   |  8 Pagesinformation from the external world in a utilitarian theory claims: one should always do the greatest good for the greatest number of people. When one has the motivation to reach goals for the benefit of one’s self it is known as ethical egoism. In this paper we shall consider a brief history of cannabis, the parallels of legalizing medical marijuana and prohibition of alcohol in the 1920’s with regard to ethical egoism and utilitarian theories. The earliest record of mans use of cannabis comes fromRead MoreGoogle, Inc. : Personal Organizational Ethics2439 Words   |  10 Pagescompany. Ethical concerns give employees, consumers and investors a view and presentation on how the company acts within their moral practices and business ventures. Without appropriate ethics, businesses can crumble under societal scrutiny. For this paper, we will be reviewing the for-profit company as Google, Inc. It is fascinating to discover that this company began with two college students from Stanford University in 1996 for a research project. These two students were Larry Page and Sergey Brin

Big Data for Biopharmaceutical Industry - myassignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about theBig Data in Manufacturing for Biopharmaceutical Industry. Answer: Introduction The big data analysis can enhance the business operations irrespective of industry and the industry size. The impact of big data is enhancing day by day and the industries like IT industry, the biopharmaceutical industry is gaining the profit. The report will highlight the big data effects, will showcase how the managers can handle the business operations with much ease, ten revolutionary ways by which the big data can bring in the revolution will be detailed along with the case study of the semiconductor industry. Advancement of the incorporation of IT services, operational systems and the Industrie 4.0 technology The Industrie 4.0 is a technology adopted by the Government of Germany and they have a plan to fully automatize the factories of Germany. Big data is utilized to optimize the production schedules and this production is based on the supplier, clients, cost constraints and the availability of machines (Lee, Kao Yang, 2014). The German suppliers and the German manufacturers are planning to use the Industrie 4.0 for the embellishment of their company. Big data analysis can increase the productivity; can ease the manufacturing procedures as all the manufacturing units will work digitally. Showcase the demand of the product, the productivity and overview of plant performance on multiple metrics and catering service and support to customers The finding from the latest survey of LNS Research and MESA International demonstrates that the big data has the capability to provide the quality service that is capable to benefits the manufacturing industry. Integration of advanced analytics across the Six Sigma DMAIC DMAIC driven improvement program has the capability to furnish the manufacturing industry aspects from all sides (Lee et al., 2013). The program highlights the production workflow, can facilitate the customers to great extent. Greater visibility accuracy in detecting the performance of the suppliers timely The big data analysis techniques can help to get an overall on sight of all the business procedures, the employees can get an overview of the workflow so that can help them to keep track of every bit of data flow (Hazen et al., 2014). The big data analysis can help them to maintain the product quality, can help to manage the accuracy in delivery of the products, and can help to accomplish the goal or complete the products within the stipulated time. Measurement of traceability and compliance to the machine level Due to use of the sensors, the operation management team can get a general overview of all the operations currently being undertaken by the enterprise (Jagadish et al., 2014). The advanced analytics can enhance the quality; can enhance the workflow of the production center. Selling off most profitable customized configurations of products that enhances profitable services For the complex manufacturers, the well-customized product orders can cater them the enhanced production process (Dubey et al., 2016). With the aid of advanced analysis of the big data the manufacturers can sell their products with the minimum impact to the prevalent production schedules to the shop floor level, machine scheduling and the staffing. Break down of compliance systems and quality management With the aid of big data, the manufacturers can get more strategies to advance their business process can enhance the quality of the project or the product they deal with (Zhong et al., 2017). The managers and the management team can get rid of the soiled quality management; they can even get rid of the compliance systems. Daily production impacts on financial performance Big data together with the advanced analytics can unite and facilitates the productivity of the enterprise (Tao et al., 2017). The management team can detect the machine level if they get to know the factory floor plan is executing with full efficiency or not, based on that they can take the best strategic decision to scale the business activities of their enterprise. Strategic service and a contribution to customers goals The manufacturers can detect the customers shopping behaviors or the shopping patterns, with the aid of big data, the managers can keep track of the wish list of the employees, all these aspects can help the enterprises to learn the latest market trends and the customers demands and in this way the big data can facilitate both the customers and the organizations (Noh Park, 2014). Augmentation of the efficiency, productivity of biopharmaceutical production The IT services can facilitate the biopharmaceutical production and in this way, the purity of the ingredients can greatly flourish. The IT aspects and big data mining make the entire production simple and easy and thus the employees of the enterprise can increase the productivity of the products, even they can analyses the parameters well (Venkatesh, Delgado, Patel, 2017). Based on the analysis the vaccines yield can get increased by 50%. The heavy expenses can cut down due to the advent of the IT services and the big data mining. Case Study: Case Study based on Big Data Analytics to enhance Smart Manufacturing and its role in Semiconductor Manufacturing Smart Manufacturing (SM) is the term basically used to enhance the business operations via linking physical capabilities along with the cyber capabilities and integration of various aspects of the system. SM with the aid of big data can embellish the business operations to the next level (Chen Zhang, 2017). The enhancement is not limited to a specific industry but it covers all the industries and semiconductor manufacturing is one of them. The semiconductor industry is portrayed in the report by the following parameters that are by precise processing prerequisites, highly complicated procedures and the problems associated with manufacturing the data quality (Yin Kaynak, 2015). The analytical solution deployment showcases that the SME is needed to identify the robust solutions. By incorporating SME the faults within can be detected and possible solutions can be suggested to mitigate and the faults occurrence. Various me3thods involving the data quality improvement along with SME inc orporation can enhance and facilitate and ease the productivity and these vital components of the analytics roadmap for SM (Bi Cochran, 2017). Thus Smart Manufacturing can embellish semiconductor manufacturing procedures to a greater extent. Conclusion It can be concluded from the above discourse that the big data analysis can enhance every sector of the business organizations, can solve all the faulty issues occurring within, it can facilitate the biopharmaceutical industry as well as the chemical industry in semiconductor manufacturing; the Smart Manufacturing concepts have been highlighted in the report to support the big data benefits. The big data can aids the organizations can keep track of the customers' data, their wish list can be well traced, thus the shopping behavior and the shopping patterns can be analyzed, thus the enterprise can learn the customers' demands and the current market scenario. The big data mining can help in accessing the data really fast with ease and simplicity and big data can help to fully automatize the system of the enterprises. All these aspects of big data in manufacturing have been highlighted and have been explained in details. References Bi, Z., Cochran, D. (2014). Big data analytics with applications.Journal of Management Analytics,1(4), 249-265. Chen, C. P., Zhang, C. Y. (2014). Data-intensive applications, challenges, techniques and technologies: A survey on Big Data.Information Sciences,275, 314-347. Dubey, R., Gunasekaran, A., Childe, S. J., Wamba, S. F., Papadopoulos, T. (2016). The impact of big data on world-class sustainable manufacturing.The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology,84(1-4), 631-645. Hazen, B. T., Boone, C. A., Ezell, J. D., Jones-Farmer, L. A. (2014). Data quality for data science, predictive analytics, and big data in supply chain management: An introduction to the problem and suggestions for research and applications.International Journal of Production Economics,154, 72-80. Jagadish, H. V., Gehrke, J., Labrinidis, A., Papakonstantinou, Y., Patel, J. M., Ramakrishnan, R., Shahabi, C. (2014). Big data and its technical challenges.Communications of the ACM,57(7), 86-94. Lee, J., Kao, H. A., Yang, S. (2014). Service innovation and smart analytics for industry 4.0 and big data environment.Procedia Cirp,16, 3-8. Lee, J., Lapira, E., Bagheri, B., Kao, H. A. (2013). Recent advances and trends in predictive manufacturing systems in big data environment.Manufacturing Letters,1(1), 38-41. Noh, K. S., Park, S. (2014). An exploratory study on application plan of big data to manufacturing execution system.Journal of Digital Convergence,12(1), 305-311. Tao, F., Zhang, L., Nee, A. Y. C., Pickl, S. W. (2016). Editorial for the special issue on big data and cloud technology for manufacturing. Venkatesh, M., Delgado, C., Patel, P. (2017). Mitigating Supply Chain Risk for Sustainability Using Big Data Knowledge: Evidence from the Manufacturing Supply Chain.World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology, International Journal of Environmental and Ecological Engineering,4(5). Yin, S., Kaynak, O. (2015). Big data for modern industry: challenges and trends [point of view].Proceedings of the IEEE,103(2), 143-146. Zhong, R. Y., Lan, S., Xu, C., Dai, Q., Huang, G. Q. (2016). Visualization of RFID-enabled shopfloor logistics Big Data in Cloud Manufacturing.The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology,84(1-4), 5-16.

Strategy and Strategic Management

Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Strategy and Strategic Management specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The Twelve Olympians by Monsiau, circa late 18th century Introduction There is no unanimity among scholars and practitioners on the meaning of strategy. Texts on the subject discuss strategy from different and sometimes contradictory perspectives. The only issue, over which there is little debate, is the origin of the term strategy. â€Å"In its original sense, strategy (from the Greek word, Strategos) is a military term used to describe the art of the general (Harvard Business School, 2005, p. xi). This art is about plans for troop deployment in battles to win wars. Many writers acknowledge that the concept of strategy has military origins, with Sun Tzu’s â€Å"Art of War† being one the oldest treatise on strategy. Businesspersons seem to enjoy using military analogies to conceptualize the running o f businesses in the modern world. Indeed, the pressure of keeping a business afloat amidst a very volatile operating environment that the world has become can feel like war. It is the goal of this paper to seek to uncover the essential components of strategy and the process of formulating a coherent organizational strategy in the context of the built environment. Amid the differences that exist as to what strategy is, it seems more beneficial to embrace a wide-angled view of since each of the viewpoints has merit and contributes to the overall understanding of the concept. It is the approach that Mark, (2004, p. 11) advocates for in the context of business when he states, â€Å"One of the greatest benefits of a comprehensive approach to strategy is the surfacing and exploitation of multiple sources of attractive growth†. However, this growth should give due considerations the internal resources availability for now and for the future.Advertising Looking for essay on busi ness economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Essential Components of Strategy The first essential component of strategy is action. The Harvard Business School (2005) states, â€Å"Strategy is about doing the right things† (p. xi). Actions reveal an organizations strategy. A deliberate strategy informs its actions. However, actions not based on a defined strategy still qualify for consideration as part of organizational strategy. Secondly, strategy refers to a plan. Henderson (1991) states, â€Å"Strategy is a deliberate search for a plan of action that will develop a business’s competitive advantage and compound it† (p. 5). This plan informs the actions undertaken when the strategy is deliberate. Henderson (1991) assumes that all strategy must be formally planned. In the context of strategy, it is not the formalization of a plan but the deliberate choices a business puts in place that counts. Another view f orwarded by the Harvard Business School (2005) about strategy is that it is a resource control and utilization plan meant to protect the central interests of an organization. These resources include finances, physical infrastructure, and human resource. This view accomodates the lack of a deliberate centralized conventional business strategy made through a formal process. It simply refers to the arrangement of those resources in a sensible manner towards certain ends. Competitive advantage is the motive behind strategy. Robert (2005) succinctly states, â€Å"Strategy is about winning† (p. 4). This view is supported by Porter (1991) who states, â€Å"the essense of strategy formulation is coping with competition† (p. 11). The idea expressed reveals the intentional use of a plan to out-perform business rivals using unique traits of the organization in order to survive, and hopefully thrive. In this case, strategy answers the need to be the best among competitors. The fif th essential component of strategy revealed by Robert (2005) is organizational identity. He states, â€Å"At the most basic level, strategy making extends beyond questions of resource deployment and market positioning to address fundamental questions such as: what is our business? What are we trying to achieve? What is our identity as an organization?† (Robert, 2005, p. xi). This approach requires the organization to understand itself first before venturing out into the market with a clear direction. Wall (2004) agrees with this approach showing that strategy provides an organization with a â€Å"coherent sense of direction†, which is yet another essential component of strategy (p. 4).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Strategy and Strategic Management specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This coherence makes it possible for all members of the organization to act in a coordinated fashion, which is essent ial for the success of a business. This holds true for small firms as well as large corporations. The final essential component of strategy is context. Successful strategy is very contextual. â€Å"As soon as we move beyond general notions to more precise definition, then these depend upon the type of arena within which strategy is being deployed† (Robert, 2005, p. 7). This element accounts for the disparities in the views on strategy since some of the viewpoints are highly contextalized. Increasingly, in this era of multinationals and globalization, context is more difficult to delineate especially geographically, yet to ignore context when developing strategy is to court disaster. Towards a Unified View of Strategy Based on the viewpoints above, Mark (2004) seems to have developed the most comprehensive definition of strategy. He states, â€Å"Strategy is about raising and allocating resources, setting priorities, directing organizations, and demonstrating through decisive behaviour what will be done – and what will not – in the pursuit of a larger vision, goal, mission, or high level set of objectives† (Mark, 2004. p. xv). His definition is broad enough to capture most of the essential elements of strategy thereby avoiding the problem of high contextualization. It is also wide enough to cover the specifics of strategy that are valid in the strategic management of all organizations. This makes it useful in understanding the concept of strategy. Its other strength is that it leaves room for looking at strategy as either deliberate or consequential. The elements defined here do not require a centralized approach to strategy development but even if it is there, it does not disqualify it. Its major weakness is its lack of enviromental cognisance. It does not account for environmental factors that greatly influence the preparation and execution of strategy. This goes to demonstrate that the process of developing a unfied view of strate gy is a work in progress, and still requires effort to sysnthesize the essential elements into a comprehensive definition of strategy. This preferred view must include the nine essential componenents identified above and in addition it must allow for both the deliberate and consequential nature of strategy.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More A definition that meets the above criteria will still be somewhat incomplete since there is still the problem of universality versus contextualization. The following is an attempt to redefine strategy to meet this criteria presenting a wider understanding of the concept. Strategy is a set of actions, planned or otherwise that influence resource acquisition and allocation, deployed for the express purpose of attaining competitive advantage based on a clear organizational identity expressed in terms of its place, power, problems and potential, which informs its direction and actions within its environmental context. This definition captures all the essential elements identified but its rather cumbersome. It is long and may not appeal to the wider audience who actually need a concise definition to capture the essence of strategy. Probably, the sensible thing to do is to settle for a simplified global definition, while providing working definitions for each field, as writers have alread y done. The Strategy Process As expected, there is no universality in the recommendation of an ideal process for strategy development. There are different views on it. â€Å"Henry Mintzberg and his colleagues at McGill Unversity distinguish intended, realized and emergent strategies†. (Robert, 2005, p. 14). Intended strategy is the one the organization deliberately plans and positions itself to implement. Emergent strategy is the one which developes unwittingly as an organization responds to evolving issues. When these two strategies interact, the result is the realized strategy which is the strategy the organization finds itself implementing. These three strategies are the result of three concurrent processes and they demonstrate the organic nature of strategy. Strategy therefore is not a static process but a dynamic one that evolves and requires regular refitting. There is much concurrence though when looking at strategy as a process. In fact, there is a deliberate encourag ement that organizations should take an active role in the developement of their strategy, other than waiting for one to emerge as they undertake their daily business. The Harvard Business School (2005) states, â€Å"strategy creation and its implementation should be approached as a process† (p. xvi). The school proposes a five level process for strategy development that is useful in understanding the strategy process. The steps in the process are developement of a mission, followed by identification of organizational goals. Thirdly, there is the actual strategy development succeeded by the strategy implementation process. The final level is performance measurement. The first level of strategy development is mission. â€Å"Strategy creation follows from the mission of the company, which defines its purpose and what it aims to do for customers and other stakeholders† (Harvard Business School, 2005, p. xvi). Mark (2004) underscores the importance of mission when he says that the identification and action upon a particular set of issues determines the success of a business. When the organization is clear about its priorities, then it can sucessfully engage in determining what is essential to its operations for success. The mission sets the rules governing its key relationships and functions. The next level is the identification of goals. â€Å"Strategy creation typically begins with extensive research and analysis and a process through which senior management zeros in on the top priority issues that the company needs to tackle to be sucessful inn the long term† (Harvard Business School, 2005, p. xvii). There is a difference in opinion as to the direction of flow of the process, and whether it is the top management that is best placed to set organizational goals. They have the tools and the authority but they lack in understanding of frontline issues that are key in implementation. Frontline staff on the other hand have clear views on what is not working for them but they lack the organizational overview. Probably, a middle line where the management gets input from the frontline is the best way around this challenge. Once the goals are set, strategy creation takes place. It involves determining the internal and external forces followed by the identification of the choices that the organization has to achieve its objectives. Many tools are used to examine the organization’s capacity to settle on a particular organizational strategy after an environmantal scan. While The Havard Busienss School advocates for SWOT as a method of conducting an enviromental scan, Robert (2005) feels that this approach is difficult to implement in practice and he advocates for a two way analysis of the environment, looking at internal and external factors. He contends that its not the four way classification but the â€Å"rigor and depth† in the analysis of these factors that counts (Robert, 2005). Another popular tool worth menti oning used to conduct an evironmental scan is the Porter’s Five Forces Analysis. This tool is useful when the organization’s bottom line is the impetus driving the organization’s effort in undertaking a stategic planning process. There is lesser contention on who developes organizational strategy. Many writers agree that â€Å"the job of creating an organization’s strategy over time falls to senior managers† (Walker, 2004. p4). The forth step in the strategy process is implementation. â€Å"A strategy that is formulated without regard to its implemetation is likely to be fatally flawed.† (Robert, 2005, 14). In pushing the case for more frontline involvement, Daughtry and Casselman (2009) state, â€Å"Vision and strategy, critical though they are, are virtually useless without consistent execution right down to the frontlines† (p. 1 ). This requires good communication along the ranks of the organization. They add that â€Å"Strategy h as to be translated into the language and actions appropriate to each level in the organization† (Daughtry Casselman, 2009, P.5). The final level in the strategy process is performance measurement. This lacks in organizations that do not have deliberate strategy. They do not know what to measure since they have not categorically stated what their goals are. This five-step process is more useful as a conceptual model than as an actual implementation process. Wall (2004) warns that things do not work out this neatly in the real world where forces shift suddenly and without warning. Perhaps it is best to look at strategy development as â€Å"an iterative process that begins with a recognition of where you are and what you have now† (Henderson, 1991, p. 6). New information and circumstances feed into the old circumstances forcing us to change and adapt our methods. The role of strategic management is to ensure that the changes in the environment do not adversely affect the organization’s long term view, but that the organization prepares in advance to take advantage of these changes. Application of Strategy-Strategic Fit and Strategic Foresight Just like other organizations, construction companies exists within a certain environment defined broadly by the natural environment, demographic structures, social structures, legislative processes, technology, and economy. This environment has an immediate impact on their interest’s interests and influences everyday decisions. In addition, they have their own unique internal environments defined by organizational culture, resources outlay such as level capitalisation and expertise, and business processes defining how they find and execute construction contracts. The internal environment influences the realization of their aspirations and the momentum they sustain towards their realization. Certain other forces much larger in dimension constitute the business climate of companies in the built en vironment. These include the macroeconomic trends, political issues, and global trends. Montgomery and Porter (1991) observe, â€Å"Increasingly, both business units and corporations must compete globally† (p. xv). Dalic (2007) calls it â€Å"the convergence of cultures† (p. 4). The climate has long-term impacts on the industry though it may be a while before a particular company begins to feel the impact of climatic changes. They are a very strong motivation behind the strategy process. Before a construction company develops its strategy, it is beneficial and maybe crucial for it to determine what its environment looks like. This allows it to forecast the impact of its present actions thereby providing it with the range of presently available options and the limits within which it can operate profitably. The application of strategy and the strategy process allows an organization to determine two important contexts in strategic planning and strategic management. These are strategic fit and strategic foresight. Strategic Fit Strategic fit looks at the present. It refers to the process where an organization examines its current position to ascertain whether it is sitting squarely on its best possible footing or whether there is a mismatch, based on its objectives. In the built environment, a company looks at whether its level of staffing and financing corresponds to the available opportunities. The resulting plan from the process is a strategic plan to give the organization a better placement within its business context. Robert (2005) recognizes the need for strategic fit when he states, â€Å"For a strategy to be successful, it must be consistent with the firm’s external environment and with the characteristics of the firm’s internal environment- its goals and values, resources and capabilities, and structure and systems† (p. 14). Construction projects normally take very long from ideation to completion, and it is normal for v ery drastic changes in the business enviroment to occur within the life of the project. By seeking to attain strategic fit, a construction company ensures it takes advantage of the present opportunities which may dissapear because of environmental change. Strategic fit is the result of implementing measures concluded upon after conducting an environmental scan during the strategy process. Strategy and the strategy process may provide organizations in the built environment with the ability to determine their strategic fit to ensure that they are currently using their resources to the best effect. However, due to the dynamic environment in the present business context, for a small outfit such as small to medium enterprise construction industy, the strategy process considerations may pose challenges to them in utilizing their resources to the best outcome as it is somewhat restrictive in terms of time, cost and resource availability. Strategic Focus/Foresight On the other hand, strateg ic foresight, also known as strategic focus, refers to the preferred position of an organization usually at some point in the future. By looking at the medium and long-term opportunities, a construction company may find certain desirable positions they would prefer to occupy at that future date. Strategic foresight considers all the forces acting on the business environment within which the organization operates and seeks to determine their impact on the long-term objectives of the organization. This prepares it to take advantage of arising opportunities and prepares it to handle future challenges. â€Å"One of the biggest challenges facing executive teams is lack of strategic focus† (Daughtry Casselman, 2009, p. 7). Its long-term nature makes it easy to ignore especially for small construction companies with severe resource constraints. The pressure of the present seems to make strategic foresight an unnecessary burden on already overworked executives. By drawing on strateg y and the strategy process, a construction company creates strategic focus on its executives, thereby preparing them to handle the challenges the company will face in the future. It assures the long-term survival of the company. It is tempting to look at the strategy process in terms of strategic foresight without considering the implications of strategic fit on the desired future. Organizations in the built environment need to know that strategic foresight without strategic fit results in â€Å"a plan for the future without a plan for the present† (Wall, 2004, p. 13). On the other hand, strategic fit without strategic focus gurantees the present at the expense of the future. Hence, the outcome should be a balanced strategy where there should be a constant review of the corporate strategy and its implication on present and future resources, and the competitive advantage in the market place. Reference List Bacharach, S.B. (1989) Organizational Theories: Dome Criteria for Evalu ation. The Academy of Management Review, 14(4), 496-515 Bourgeois III, L.T. (1984) Strategic Management and Determinism. The Academy of Management Review, 9(4), 586-596 Dalic, T. (2007) Globalization of Marketing Strategies in Light of Segmentation and Cultural Diversity. Norderstedt: GRIN Verlag. Daughtry, T.C. and Casselman, G.L., (2009) Executing Strategy: From Boardroom to Frontline. Herndon, VI: Capital Books. Harvard Business School (2005) Strategy: Create and Implement the Best Strategy for Your Business. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Press. Henderson, B.D.(1991) Developing Strategy in C.A. Montgomery M.E. Porter, eds. Strategy: Seeking and Securing Competitive Advantage. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Publishing Division. Li. Y and Peng, M.W. (2008) Developing theory from strategic management research in China, Asia Pacific Journal Manage, 25(3), 563-572. Mark, D. (2004) Strategy: A Step by Step Approach to the Developement and Presentation of World Class Business Strat egy. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan. Poppo, L. and Zenger T. (1998) Testing Alternative Theories of the Firm: Transaction Cost, Knowledge-Based, and Measurement Explanations for Make-or-Buy Decision in Information Services, Strategic Management Journal, 19, 853-887 Robert, M.G. (2005) Contemporary Strategy Analysis. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. Smircich, L. and Stubbart C. (1985), Strategic Management in an Enacted World, The academy of Management Review, 10(4), 724-736. Teece, D.J., Pisano, G. and Shuen, A. (1997) Dynamic Capabilities and Strategic Management, Strategic Management Journal, 18(7), 509-533. Toffek, M.W. (2004) Strategic Management of Product Recovery, California Management Review, 46(2), 1-22 Venkatram, N. and Cumillus, J.C. (1984) Exploring the Concept of â€Å"Fit† in Strategic Management, The Academy of Management Review, 9(3), 513-525 Walker, G. (2004) Modern Competitive Strategy. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Wall, S.J. (2004) On the Fly: Executing S trategy in a Changing World. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons. D31BM – Business Management for Built Environment This essay on Strategy and Strategic Management was written and submitted by user Otto Skinner to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

A Guide to Caring for Pet Millipedes

A Guide to Caring for Pet Millipedes If youve never cared for an arthropod pet before, a millipede is a good first choice. Millipedes are herbivorous, so they are easy and inexpensive to feed. Theyre fairly low maintenance pets and can be handled even by young children, with supervision, of course. Many pet stores sell African giant millipedes, which grow to 10 inches or more in length. You can also try keeping millipedes you collect in the wild, but keep in mind that brightly colored millipedes usually secrete hydrogen cyanide, which can cause an unpleasant burning sensation on sensitive skin. Things You Should Know About Keeping Pet Millipedes Before bringing home any live animal, its important to know what to expect. Does a millipede require a lot of care? Can you keep more than one in the same enclosure? Do they bite or sting? Though pet millipedes are a good choice in most circumstances, you should weigh the pros and cons of keeping them before you bring one home. Choosing a Millipede at the Pet Store As with any pet, its important to choose a healthy individual. In general, millipedes have few health issues, and youre unlikely to find sickly millipedes at your local pet store. Still, its good to know how to recognize an unhealthy millipede before you make a purchase, so you can avoid problems once you bring one home. Housing Your Pet Millipede The key to caring for millipedes successfully is to provide them with the appropriate habitat. Millipedes require ample floor space, while the height of the terrarium is less important. You can use a number of different materials for the substrate. An appropriate water source for your millipede is important as well. Maintaining the Proper Environment for Your Pet Millipede Most large millipedes you can purchase from pet stores or science catalogs come from the tropics. They require a higher temperature and humidity level than other arthropods commonly kept as pets. All pet millipedes need adequate moisture, which means you must use a proper substrate and mist the terrarium regularly. Feeding Your Pet Millipede The herbivorous millipede will happily munch on almost any fruit or vegetable you offer, although they do have favorites. They also require calcium in their diets in order to molt and grow properly. Youll need to know how to prepare their food, how to supplement their diet with calcium, and how often to feed them. Handling Your Pet Millipede Even a millipede can feel nervous! You should always strive to keep your millipede feeling secure and comfortable, even when you are handling it. Its also important to know how millipedes defend themselves, in the event your pet millipede does feel threatened in your hands.

Case Analysis-Jet Blue and WestJet Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Case Analysis-Jet Blue and WestJet - Essay Example The relocation called for West Jet agents to encounter complex steps in processing the data, yet the airline had not attained the transfer time needed to transfer the files and had not succeeded to reduce its customer loads on flights that were to operate immediately following the changeover. Numerous bookings for prospected flights that were done prior to the changeover could not be accessed during the file relocation and for some time there after, since Sabre had to regulate the flights by use of the new system, thus customer dissatisfaction and a rarity for the airline. In addition to the high number of customer complaint calls, West Jet customers also expressed their displeasure through the internet sources such as face book. Angry flyers flooded the airline’s website, causing it to crash again. To deal with such customers, West Jet quickly apologized to them via their site by explaining the causes of the technological problem, and ultimately weathered the storm with success and realized its profits as before. Following West Jet’s incident, JetBlue was able to avoid some of the risks before implementing its new reservation system. It experienced problems like increase in call wait times, and not all its ticket printers and kiosks came online immediately. Additionally, Jet Blue was to add some booking functions, though the airline was well prepared to deal with these problems. Jet Blue had also some issues with its customers, due to the failure of the management to realize that their IT infrastructure was not strong enough to handle complex crisis. For instance, in February 2007, the airline attempted to operate flights in a storm when the rest of the major airlines had cancelled the flights. It was a poor decision for Jet blue as the weather conditions could not allow the flights to take off, making the passengers to be stranded

Profit Maximisation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Profit Maximisation - Essay Example The hotel industry (specifically Hotel Intercontinental) falls under tourism business. Profit maximization, in economics, is the process by which a firm determines the price and output level that returns the greatest profit. The total revenue -- total cost method relies on the fact that profit equals revenue minus cost. Management has to find ways to maximize profit without making the standard quality service offered to the general public suffer. We can give the hotel banquet department clients extra food (they call it side dishes or perks) or we could add some soft love music to the common waiting or guest area in the hotel. While the guests are whiling their time tinkering with their busy business portfolios and entertaining the clients' customers and friends in the hotel rooms or banquet or restaurant or even the bar area. Who knows, the swimming pool may be the most crowded area of the hotel. Profit maximization is the presumed goal of firms. In practice, business people often trade off making as much profit as possible against other goals, such as building business empires, being popular with staff and enjoying life. The growing popularity in recent years of paying bosses with shares in their firm may have reduced the costs that arise because. a) As a well respected hotel developer and operator, BDL operates a number of management contracts, where it delivers a range of services for its clients. The services range from standard hotel operations and management contracts based on a percentage of turnover and profit, to full or partial equity participation, development only agreements and/or pre-opening and launch contracts. COMMENT: BDL will maximize profit for its excellent services will increase the number of customers. The disadvantage of reducing costs to maximizing profit is that we may put a later date the expansion or promotional activities so that costs for the current period will not increase. Seminars and trainings for management level employees may be reset at a later date. Thus quality of employee performance may be affected. The morale of the workers will go down. This in turn will result in reduced quality of goods sold. The customers then will transfer to the competitors because of the poor quality of perform ance. b) Corus hotel placed an ad for housekeeping assistant at Maids Head Hotel, Norwich It offers a smart opportunity at Corus hotels with being responsible for helping to achieve the outstanding success of the housekeeping department. They are looking for a dedicated assistant whose super-efficient housekeeping can ensure their bedrooms, corridors and adjoining areas are kept spotless. Providing an enthusiastic service with above par interpersonal skills that adds to the satisfaction of our guests, applicant will prove a valued member of our team. Being honest and knows time management and able to turn out good ideas into realistic

Gender Bias in Education Essay Example for Free

ï » ¿Gender Bias in Education Essay Sitting in the same classroom, reading the same textbook, listening to the same teacher, boys and girls receive very different educations. (Sadker, 1994) In fact, upon entering school, girls perform equal to or better than boys on nearly every measure of achievement, but by the time they graduate high school or college, they have fallen behind. (Sadker, 1994) However, discrepancies between the performance of girls and the performance of boys in elementary education leads some critics to argue that boys are being neglected within the education system: Across the country, boys have never been in more trouble: They earn 70 percent of the Ds and Fs that teachers dole out. They make up two thirds of students labeled learning disabled. They are the culprits in a whopping 9 of 10 alcohol and drug violations and the suspected perpetrators in 4 out of 5 crimes that end up in juvenile court. They account for 80 percent of high school dropouts and attention deficit disorder diagnoses. (Mulrine, 2001) This performance discrepancy is notable throughout Canada. In Ontario, Education Minister Janet Ecker said that the results of the standardized grade 3 and grade 6 testing in math and reading showed, persistent and glaring discrepancies in achievements and attitudes between boys and girls. (ONeill, 2000) In British Columbia, standardized testing indicates that girls outperform boys at all levels of reading and writing and in Alberta testing shows that girls, significantly outperform boys on reading and writing tests, while almost matching them in math and science. (ONeill, 2000) However, the American Association of University Women published a report in 1992 indicating that females receive less attention from teachers and the attention that female students do receive is often more negative than attention received by boys. (Bailey, 1992) In fact, examination of the socialization of gender within schools and evidence of a gender biased hidden curriculum demonstrates that girls are shortchanged in the classroom. Furthermore, there is significant research indicating steps that can be taken to minimize or eliminate the gender bias currently present in our education system. The socialization of gender within our schools assures that girls are made aware that they are unequal to boys. Every time students are seated or lined up by gender, teachers are affirming that girls and boys should be treated differently. When an administrator ignores an act of sexual harassment, he or she is allowing the degradation of girls. When different behaviors are tolerated for boys than for girls because boys will be boys, schools are perpetuating the oppression of females. There is some evidence that girls are becoming more academically successful than boys, however examination of the classroom shows that girls and boys continue to be socialized in ways that work against gender equity. Teachers socialize girls towards a feminine ideal. Girls are praised for being neat, quiet, and calm, whereas boys are encouraged to think independently, be active and speak up. Girls are socialized in schools to recognize popularity as being important, and learn that educational performance and ability are not as important. Girls in grades six and seven rate being popular and well-liked as more important than being perceived as competent or independent. Boys, on the other hand, are more likely to rank independence and competence as more important. (Bailey, 1992) This socialization of femininity begins much earlier than the middle grades. At very early ages, girls begin defining their femininities in relation to boys. One study of a third grade classroom examined four self-sorted groups of girls within the classroom: the nice girls, the girlies, the spice girls and the tomboys. Through interviews researcher Diane Reay found that nice girls was considered a derogatory term indicating, an absence of toughness and attitude. (Reay, 2001) Furthermore, the girlies were a group of girls who focused their time on flirting with and writing love letters to boys, the tomboys were girls who played sports with the boys, and the spice girls espoused girl-power and played rate-the-boy on the playground. Reays research shows that each of the groups of girls defined their own femininities in relation to boys. (2001) The Reay study further demonstrates how socialization of girls occurs at the school level by tolerating different behaviors from boys than from girls. Assertive behavior from girls is often seen as disruptive and may be viewed more negatively by adults. In Reays study, the fact that the spice girls asserted themselves in ways contrary to traditional femininity caused them to be labeled by teachers as real bitches. (2001) This reinforces the notion that girls misbehavior to be looked upon as a character defect, whilst boys misbehavior is viewed as a desire to assert themselves. (Reay, 2001) A permissive attitude towards sexual harassment is another way in  which schools reinforce the socialization of girls as inferior. When schools ignore sexist, racist, homophobic, and violent interactions between students, they are giving tacit approval to such behaviors. (Bailey, 1992) Yet boys are taunted for throwing like a girl, or crying like a girl, which implies that being a girl is worse than being a boy. According to the American Association of University Women Report, The clear message to both boys and girls is that girls are not worthy of respect and that appropriate behavior for boys includes exerting power over girls or over other, weaker boys. (Bailey, 1992) Clearly the socialization of gender is reinforced at school, Because classrooms are microcosms of society, mirroring its strengths and ills alike, it follows that the normal socialization patterns of young children that often lead to distorted perceptions of gender roles are reflected in the classrooms. (Marshall, 1997) Yet gender bias in education reaches beyond socialization patterns, bias is embedded in textbooks, lessons, and teacher interactions with students. This type of gender bias is part of the hidden curriculum of lessons taught implicitly to students through the every day functioning of their classroom. In Myra and David Sadkers research, they noted four types of teacher responses to students: teacher praises, providing positive feedback for a response; teacher remediates, encouraging a student to correct or expand their answer; teacher criticizes, explicitly stating that the answer is incorrect; teacher accepts, acknowledging that a student has responded. The Sadkers found that boys were far more likely to receive praise or remediation from a teacher than were girls. The girls were most likely to receive an acknowledgement response from their teacher. (Sadker, 1994) These findings are confirmed by a 1990 study by Good and Brophy that noted that teachers give boys greater opportunity to expand ideas and be animated than they do girls and that they reinforce boys more for general responses than they do for girls. (Marshall, 1997) Beyond teacher responses, special services in education appear to be applied more liberally to boys than to girls. Research shows that boys are referred for testing for gifted programs twice as often as girls, which may be because, giftedness is seen as aberrant, and girls strive to conform. (Orenstein, 1994) Boys represent more than two-thirds of all students in special education programs and there is a higher the proportion of male  students receiving diagnoses that are considered to be subjective. While medical reports indicate that learning disabilities occur in nearly equal numbers of in boys and girls, it may be the case that, Rather than identifying learning problems, school personnel may be mislabeling behavioral problems. Girls who sit quietly are ignored; boys who act out are placed in special programs that may not meet their needs. (Bailey, 1992) Gender bias is also taught implicitly through the resources chosen for classroom use. Using texts that omit contributions of women, that tokenize the experiences of women, or that stereotype gender roles, further compounds gender bias in schools curriculum. While research shows that the use of gender-equitable materials allows students to have more gender-balanced knowledge, to develop more flexible attitudes towards gender roles, and to imitate role behaviors contained in the materials (Klein, 1985) schools continue to use gender-biased texts: Researchers at a 1990 conference reported that even texts designed to fit within the current California guidelines on gender and race equity for textbook adoption showed subtle language bias, neglect of scholarship on women, omission of women as developers of history and initiators of events, and absence of women from accounts of technological developments. (Bailey, 1992) Clearly the socialization of gender roles and the use of a gender-biased hidden curriculum lead to an inequitable education for boys and girls. What changes can be made to create a more equitable learning environment for all children? First, teachers need to be made aware of their gender-biased tendencies. Next, they need to be provided with strategies for altering the behavior. Finally, efforts need to be made to combat gender bias in educational materials. A study by Kelly Jones, Cay Evans, Ronald Byrd, and Kathleen Campbell (2000) used analysis of videotaped lessons in order to introduce teachers to their own gender-biased behavior. Requiring in-service programs to address gender bias in the classroom will make teachers more aware of their own behaviors: As a teacher, I was struck by the Sadkers research on classroom exchanges and was forced to acknowledge the disproportionate amount of time and energy, as well as the different sorts of attention, I give to male students. (McCormick, 1995) Once teachers have recognized their gender-biased behaviors, they need to be provided with resources to help them change. In their study focusing on how the effects of  a gender resource model would affect gender-biased teaching behaviors, Jones, Evans, Burns, and Campbell (2000) provided teachers with a self-directed module aimed at reducing gender bias in the classroom. The module contained research on gender equity in the classroom, specific activities to reduce stereotypical thinking in students, and self-evaluation worksheets for teachers. The findings from this study support the hypothesis that female students would move from a position of relative deficiency toward more equity in total interactions. (Jones, 2000) This demonstrates that teachers who are made aware of their gender-biased teaching behaviors and then provided with strategies and resources to combat bias are better able to promote gender equity in their classrooms. However, beyond changing their own teaching behaviors, teachers need to be aware of the gender bias imbedded in many educational materials and texts and need to take steps to combat this bias. Curriculum researchers have established six attributes that need to be considered when trying to establish a gender-equitable curriculum. Gender-fair materials need to acknowledge and affirm variation. They need to be inclusive, accurate, affirmative, representative, and integrated, weaving together the experiences, needs, and interests of both males and females. (Bailey, 1992) We need to look at the stories we are telling our students and children. Far too many of our classroom examples, storybooks, and texts describe a world in which boys and men are bright, curious, brave, inventive, and powerful, but girls and women are silent, passive, and invisible. (McCormick, 1995) Furthermore, teachers can help students identify gender-bias in texts and facilitate critical discussions as to why that bias exists. Gender bias in education is an insidious problem that causes very few people to stand up and take notice. The victims of this bias have been trained through years of schooling to be silent and passive, and are therefore unwilling to stand up and make noise about the unfair treatment they are receiving. Over the course of years the uneven distribution of teacher time, energy, attention, and talent, with boys getting the lions share, takes its toll on girls. (Sadker, 1994) Teachers are generally unaware of their own biased teaching behaviors because they are simply teaching how they were taught and the subtle gender inequities found in teaching materials are often overlooked. Girls and boys today are receiving separate and unequal educations due to the gender  socialization that takes place in our schools and due to the sexist hidden curriculum students are faced with every day. Unless teachers are made aware of the gender-role socialization and the biased messages they are unintentionally imparting to students everyday, and until teachers are provided with the methods and resources necessary to eliminate gender-bias in their classrooms, girls will continue to receive an inequitable education. Departments of education should be providing mandatory gender-equity resource modules to in-service teachers, and gender bias needs to be addressed with all pre-service teachers. Educators need to be made aware of the bias they are reinforcing in their students through socialization messages, inequitable division of special education services, sexist texts and materials, and unbalanced time and types of attention spent on boys and girls in the classroom. Until educational sexism is eradicated, more than half our children will be shortchanged and their gifts lost to society. (Sadker, 1994) References  Bailey, S. (1992) How Schools Shortchange Girls: The AAUW Report. New York, NY: Marlowe Company. Jones, K., Evans, C., Byrd, R., Campbell, K. (2000) Gender equity training and teaching behavior. Journal of Instructional Psychology, 27 (3), 173-178. Klein, S. (1985) Handbook for Achieving Sex Equity Through Education. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press. Marshall, C.S. Reihartz, J. (1997) Gender issues in the classroom. Clearinghouse, 70 (6), 333-338. McCormick, P. (1995) Are girls taught to fail? U.S. Catholic, 60, (2), 38-42. Mulrine, A. (2001) Are Boys the Weaker Sex? U.S. News World Report, 131 (4), 40-48. ONeill, T. (2000) Boys problems dont matter. Report/ Newsmagazine (National Edition), 27 (15), 54-56. Orenstein, P. (1994) Schoolgirls: Young Women, Self-Esteem and the Confidence Gap. New York, NY: Doubleday. Reay, D. (2001) Spice girls, Nice Girls, Girlies, and Tomboys; gender discourses. Girls cultures and femininities in the primary classroom. Gender and Education, 13 (2), 153-167. Sadker, D., Sadker, M. (1994) Failing at Fairness: How Our Schools Cheat Girls. Toronto, ON: Simon Schuster Inc.