The Electronic Hallway Snow Removal

The Electronic Hallway Snow Removal This case study focuses on the public admistration and issues covered in this case study were centered on the snow removal activity within the city and the fact that all residents in the city deserved equal treatment from the public offices no one place was more important than the other. As observed regularly snow storms have paralyzed the everyday activities in many states.Advertising We will write a custom assessment sample on The Electronic Hallway: Snow Removal specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Snow removal is an activity that is mandated on the local authority administration, whereby as the bylaws dictate, the City council has an obligation to provide the services efficiently without bias to all residents of the city. However in carrying out its obligations, the Manhattan public authority, which was in charge of the exercise failed to do so in a number of ways (Cheshire 1997). First as indicated above, the Authority failed to prov ide services equally to all residents according to Le May (2006), a public Authority ought to carry out its mandate without bias to the public, however the administration failed to do this whereby, in reference to the â€Å"electronic hallway case study on snow removal†, the theory of public administrations is to give and provide equal services to all citizens and residents affected by the snow storm, but the practice is that some parts of the city are favored and given preferential service while the rest of the city is left to suffer and the citizens are left and forced to fend for themselves. Thus as the case study indicates, Manhattan was highly favored during the snow removal exercise at the expense of the whole city. As a result of this biasness, the residents of the other cities, Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Staten Island accused Mayor John Lindsay for misusing the city’s snow removal reserves and showing preferential treatment towards Manhattan at the cost o f the rest of the city. Personnel Administration and Unionism in Public Administration Apart from that where the city local administration displayed open bias, there are other issues that touch on Personnel Administration the Public body undertook various activities that were in contradiction to personnel administration these include: less staff which resulted to in adequate labor to tackle the snow removal process however the city administration resulted to hiring more personnel after an outcry fry various stake holders so as to have enough personnel to fight the snow. Another issue was that the snow removal equipment was also always breaking down but it was proposed that more mechanical staff to be hired to keep the equipment in use in perfect condition for such situations.Advertising Looking for assessment on public administration? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In addition, the snow removal equipment was not eno ugh for the whole city so more equipment was suggested to be bought, and hiring of private owned snow removing equipment when an urgent situation concerning snow arose. This was however solved as the Mayor and the relevant authority authorized for the purchase of more equipments hence showing according to Le May (2006) that public administration bodies should be autonomous in order to deliver its services and mandate without external political, economical and social pressures, nevertheless, they should a Bureaucratic process that ensures that services are delivered without bias or exploited by corrupt individuals in the administration. The actors who were concerned in this activity were the public administrators who were supposed to carry out the snow removal activity in the whole of the city. The city Mayor was to make sure that all the city residents got equal attention and service by the service providers. Some city residents were affected by the snow storm and could not get to t heir respective places of work or school. The personal forces in this case study include the decisions the mayor made that showed prejudice to the rest of the city as only Manhattan was being serviced. The fact that most of the snow removal equipment was faulty and there was less personnel working shows that this was a personal force on the mayors side and also the employees themselves in that the equipment was not serviced regularly so that it could perform the work it was supposed to without problems on the employees side some of them could not make to work as the snow hindered their way. From the above there are various public administration concepts that the Administration failed to address when carrying out its mandate in the city. First, the administration failed to balance its values according to importance and preference as needed by any public body, instead in undertook activities like removing snow in some cities while totally neglecting the other areas which were in dire need of the same services (Le May 1996). Also when it comes to balancing of values in the administration of the city, from the case study, one can note that, the city is divided into three sections that are primary, secondary and tertiary that is attended to in terms of priority. Primary and secondary sections are intended to allow police station, fire station and hospital vehicles to proceed to at least one or two blocks of an emergency in a tertiary street.Advertising We will write a custom assessment sample on The Electronic Hallway: Snow Removal specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The theoretical perspectives that help us to understand what happened in the case are the carrying out a research on the city’s ability in such a snow crisis was carried out to categorize and eradicate the main weaknesses in snow removal program. The use of the US Weather Bureau statistics showing the patterns and amount of average snow fall, statis tics on snow build up rates, the precedence plan invented to clear out major streets first. According to exhibit 5 the primary streets are the ones that are regarded as major traffic arteries, or highways, parkways, expressways, drives or bridges: feeder roads to bridges, tunnels, ferries, airports, bus routes, all street with areas which have food, treatment, amusement, shopping, streets with important facilities like police and fire stations, fuel stations and transport terminals. Secondary streets are regarded to have convincingly traffic example: all alternative routes to primary streets, major shopping streets, access streets to industrial or commercial areas. Tertiary streets on the other hand are all the other streets not covered by the primary and secondary streets. According to the United States National Research Council (1999), the case discloses that the Department of Sanitation assesses its snow removal path yearly, making notes of changes in routes of buses, directions of streets and major changes in the areas so as to facilitate effective snow removal mechanisms when need arises. The assessment facilitates for effective snow removal and disposal activities and problems that may arise for each district since each district has its own planned program for spreading salt, plowing and hauling snow. Snow removal is much easier on weekends as compared to weekdays. During weekends traffic is light and this allows snow vehicles to easily penetrate the streets to clear the snow. Parked cars however bring about a hindrance when it comes to the removal of snow from the streets as these vehicles are heavy and they can hit a parked car as they are turning so employees who operate the snow removal machinery are instructed not to penetrate in streets where parked cars could bring about a problem.Advertising Looking for assessment on public administration? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The snowplowing activity is however the last resort when it comes to snow removing in the city. According to the case, a total of 1,760 collection and flusher trucks with plow blades attached on them can be used to clear snow from path of moving traffic, bus stops, at intersections and near fire hydrants. Snowplowing is carried out according to precedence levels of streets apart from an emergency call in the case of police, ambulance or fire as these emergencies take priority over everything else. Snow plows work efficiently in snow that is about eight inches deep, if the snow is mainly thick, then the plow may not be able to move. Traffic affects the speed of the plow, at rush hour; the plow is generally slower when compared to the times of the day when there is no rush. In reference to the case, snow removal equipment is examined in September to pinpoint the areas that need repairs, these repairs are then carried out in later in the month and the equipment is tested in November. D uring these tests, the equipment is scrutinized at frequent intervals of the snow removal activity to determine whether the equipment is alright and can perform well during the snow removing activity. Vehicle failures are however associated with vehicular age and storm duration as compared to equipment maintenance. A spreader lasts between ten to fifteen years and their damages are usually minor that do not require a lot of time to fix. According to the case, the Department of Sanitation has over 9,000 employees who can run the 2,800 department’s snow removal apparatus. This department also offers services for whole inhabited city all year round. The Sanitation Department makes sure that it is ready for snow fighting operations by: employing mechanics on September 15th in all garages on a snow contract basis to service and ensure that the snow removing machines are in good shape and that they will not breakdown quickly, the swapping of employees and equipment from day to day and night waste collection on the 15th of November, an analysis by sanitation district supervisors of each district by 15th November, the analysis is to ensure that there are enough workers working on each shift, to ask other city departments to supply additional workers top carry out activities including snow removing mainly, hauling snow, training to employees from other city departments about the duties of their assignments. The employees during the winter period have three shifts in which they can work, from 8am to 4pm 1500 employees working, 4pm to midnight 900 employees, 12 midnight to 8am nearly 300 employees on duty. On Sunday there are about 300 employees on duty from midnight to 4pm on Sunday between 12am and 8am there are no employees on duty at 8am on Monday all employees return to their assigned duties. During a storm or in anticipation of a storm the Department of sanitation chooses from the following three options; to depend on the employees that are on duty that part icular time, to prolong the shift on duty at that certain time or to call in additional employees. Such decisions rely solely on the weather forecast for the day. Communication for the snow removing exercise is advanced and there is a hotline that is directly connected to the U.S. Weather Bureau’s New York forecaster that is used for relaying information between the two organizations at frequently, any signs storms are relayed across as soon as they are spotted. On top of this the Sanitation Department has eighteen weather surveillance stations on the city’s outskirts from which the beginning of precipitation, depth of snow, temperature rates, and speed of buildup of snow are relayed every half an hour to the Headquarters. In reference to the case the Chief of Operations is in charge of the decisions and operations carried out to combat the situation. When a storm occurs the department under the orders of the Chief of Operations, informs the districts supervisors and t heir respective offices and officers through a teletype alert system. A forecast of two or three inches receives the same amount of primary action as a serious blizzard until weather forecasts predict changes in the weather conditions, furthermore the department is on duty twenty four hours a day. As the snow storm worsens chosen commands from previous storms are used to ease the current situation. The nature of the policy system and the policy making process in snow removal exercise is dependent on previous snow storms and the depth of the snow. The depth of the snow determines which procedure is to be used when removing the snow from the city. Preparation of the snow removal activities depends on the weather forecast predictions and the mechanical state of the vehicles and equipment’s to be used in the procedure not forgetting the man power needed to operate and service the machinery needed. According to the case, the administrative ethics were not carried out as expected a s majority of the city dwellers raised complaints about the mayor giving orders that favored Manhattan at the expense of the whole city. All city dwellers should be given equal treatment as the snow affects all and not just one part of the city. The city dwellers have accepted the method of dividing the city into districts and streets so that each area may get the same service as the other despite the economic differences that may be imminent. This division should ease the clearing of snow and make the process go smoothly without mishaps such as preferential treatment. The administrative ethics in this case is questioned. Public offices are meant to serve and provide service to the public without any strings attached or discrimination towards one part of the people the office is meant to be giving service to, unlike in this case where services are offered unequally. Therefore, case study highlights various public administration concepts are parting efficient running of public admini stration. As indicated the department of sanitation failed in a number of concepts which were supposed to be used especially in removal of snow. The mayor for instance failed to balance the needs of the city by undertaking to remove snow from one city while ignoring the others due to political and economic values as he was facing a re-election. In addition, him being a public official, he acted unethically due to his selfish decisions hence making the whole snow removal process a political issue. Nevertheless, the public administration bodies should be allowed to run independently as seen in this case study whereby the department has categorized how the process should be carried out and even zoned the areas. Due to this automy the department can effectively address issues as they arise without following the rigorous and bureaucratic channels that are stipulated. For instance in cases of emergencies, the department can prefer to remove snow from a place that was classified as a low p riority area hence enabling swift delivery of services (LeMay, 2006). In addition the department has adopted effective public administration mechanisms whereby they undertake to hire personnel and snow removal machines during the winter period. By so doing, the department will be increasing the manpower required to tackle this issues on a need to need basis while at the same time cutting down on the expenses that would have been incurred during the non- snow periods. This also in-cooperates the concept of decision making process of the department. As indicated by the case study, during the snow periods the department undertakes decision on how to tackle the snow removal process using a certain process which is all subject to the budget available. Thus to be able to make wise decisions, the department relies on various other departments and professionals to come up with a final decision that takes care of all issues for example relying on the metrological department to come up with a precise chart on the weather patterns. Another important concept is the communication system that is in place in the department. It is noted that â€Å"the Department of Sanitation has an elaborate communications network for updating forecasts, mobilizing resources, and reporting on snow conditions. The Department maintains close liaison with the U.S. Weather Bureaus New York forecaster on a telephone hot line established between the two agencies during the snow season. This line is used for obtaining weather information at regular intervals, and storm warnings are transmitted on it as soon as they are foreseen and/or develop.† Also the department takes into consideration clientele pressure and government policy that are in place. For instance, during the bias removal of snow in Manhattan while sideling other cities resulted in a public outcry that resulted in the Mayor acting fairly and delivering services to all. Also there was pressure from other stakeholders who were req uesting the department to hire new members of staff and work all around during winter and also for the purchase of new equipments to tackle the snow removal and sanitation in the area References Chesire, L. (1997) How Snow Shovel, will Travel. All About Snow. Retrieved from: https://nsidc.org/ LeMay, C. (1996). The Electronic Hallway: Snow Removal. Hallway.org. Retrieved from https://www.hallway.org/ LeMay, M.C. (2006) Public Administration: Clashing Values in the Administration for Public Policy. New York: Cengage Learning. United States National Research Council (1999). Winter Maintenance Technology and Practices-Learning from Abroad. United States National Research Council. Retrieved from: https://international.fhwa.dot.gov/Pdfs/RsrchrResultsDigest.pdf

Restaurant Procedures Purchasing, Receiving, Storage, Preparation, Assignment

Restaurant Procedures Purchasing, Receiving, Storage, Preparation, Selling And Service - Assignment Example Starting a restaurant business comes with its challenges though it can be a paying job. Before starting a restaurant, it is wise research on the restaurant service and location. This will assure that are doing the correct thing and offer a satisfaction that your restaurant will be a successful. Trust is necessary to your produce or service as it may consume your time, particularly during the start-up period. There are common matters to consider such as principles, financing, handling your business, promoting, and taxation. Working in the restaurant and learning the essentials is significant first step to becoming a proprietor. Knowing your target market will help solidify the menu, determine the locality, design and the overall atmosphere of your restaurant. A restaurant will need a brief business strategy. This strategy should include: concept and goal of your restaurant; definite financial information and estimates; an n account of your target market; an advertising and marketing p lan; your menu and pricing and a potential exit strategy. Make sure the menu is striking to your target market, affordable within your budget, and matches your restaurant's design concept. Site is important in the restaurant world. It is important to find a location that has a convenient parking and is in proximity to other businesses particularly if you are catering to the lunch customers. When designing your kitchen, reflect about what's on the menu in order to fix what is needed for the food preparation area. Identify a suitable

New Kind of e-Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

New Kind of e-Business - Essay Example 2 Nature and Purpose of Business The nature of this business will be to go beyond dog training. Many people have dog trainers or have experience them and they teach everything from traditional training to Cesar Mellan techniques. However, there are no DVDs that go beyond this typical training to doing creative calisthenics with the dogs. The purpose of the business would be to keep dogs fit without having to walk them everyday or run them everyday. Just as humans become bored with routine, the DVDs would insure that dogs not only were exercised, but they would be exercised in a creative way. The individual pet owner could do these simple calisthenics with their jobs or they could hire a certified trainer in this method to come to their home and give the dog a workout. Many people hire dog trainers and they expect their dogs’ behavior to improve through training. Often this helps, but there are dogs with so much energy that they need to have more than one way to expend this ene rgy. According to Liz Palika, author, there are many benefits of training your dog. Some of these benefits include: a better behaved dog, bonding between human and dog, it can be fun for both the human and the dog (especially if the dog learns how to do tricks). Although Palika talks about traditional dog training, these same benefits can be used to help people understand how to do doggie calisthenics. 2.1 Why Doggie Calisthenics The word calisthenics means to do small exercises that are geared to develop muscle tone and overall physical well-being. When this definition is applied to dogs, it means creating interesting small exercises that will help to increase the dog’s overall health. Obviously many people use running and walking their pets as the way to keep them healthy, but dogs need other types of exercise to insure they are keeping muscle tone and not turning into those pudgy animals that begin to have health problems. Doggie callisthenic DVDs would be perfect for high energy dogs and small toy breeds that have lots of energy. Some examples of these exercises are playing fetch, cycling with your dog (although the dog must be well trained as well), gym workouts (with treadmill or obstacle courses in a gym), or stair climbing. All of these are examples of calisthenics that are easy to do and that can be done with anyone. Of course, all pet owners should have their dog checked at the vet before starting any exercise program. Doggie calisthenics would not be done to take the place of walking or running, but they would be used in addition to these other methods of training. They would be used as a warm up exercise or they could be used when the individual pet owner was not able to get their dog outside for a walk or a run. The DVDs would promote a 10-15 minute workout which could be done along with the pet owner’s workout. The DVDs would show step-by-step how to get the dog interested in the exercise, how to monitor their heart and pulse and it would provide safety tips to show how easy it is to keep a dog healthy and make sure they are fit. There would also be a list of dog breeds that came with the package that would tell which dogs were more prone to need more exercise. 3 Competitive Advantage There are several competitive advantages that this business would have as an e-business. The pet owner would be able to either purchase DVDs or the various programs or they would be able to

The International Globalization Vs Local Brands Fashion Essay

The International Globalization Vs Local Brands Fashion Essay Introduction: Globalization is an inevitable phenomenon that is leading the entire world towards becoming one market, a global village. With the world becoming a single market, globalization has had a major contribution in enabling the organizations worldwide to step out of the restricted domestic markets and to set up their operations across the globe with confidence. This has largely led to a decline in the importance in national borders and a greater emphasis on what the consumers actually demand; be the consumers located in the very country in which the organization exists or an entirely different part of the world. Globalization has had a huge impact on the branding strategies of international companies. Since the early 1990s many multinational companies, such as Unilever have moved from a multi domestic to a global marketing approach including global branding strategies (Schuiling and Kapferer 2004). Increased consumer knowledge and awareness have played an important role towards this globalization of markets and escalating the power of global brands such as Pepsi, Apple etc. As the competition in global arena increase, organizations find it important to serve international consumers along with local ones to achieve competitive advantage. However for some products and services the tastes and preferences of consumers in different nations are beginning to converge on some global norm (Holt 2002). From a consumer perspective, however, reactions to the prevalence of global brands seem to vary among the different customers. On the one hand, consumers seem to value and admire global brands and regard such brands as a status symbol. On the other hand, global brands are often criticized for threatening the local differences and leading to a loss of cultural identity. Since the trend of consumption by our people is changing, people are becoming more prone to buying the international brands rather than the local ones. Consumers feel proud in purchasing imported goods and this has increased the power of international brands. Apart from just focusing on where the product has actually been produced, consumers consider various other factors when making purchasing decisions. It has been noted that consumers are reluctant to buy goods made in less developed countries as they perceive them to be low in quality. Brands have also been perceived as being a status symbol and this thinking is most common in young people. Literature review There have been a number of researches done on brands. A definition of a brand by The American Marketing Association (AMA) in the 1960s (Keller, 1998) is â€Å"a name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them, intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and differentiate them from those of competitors.† Research has proven that consumers use brands to help them make decisions about the product they choose (Ger et al., 1993). De Chernatony and McWilliam (1989) stated that successful brands, be it domestic or international, will have some unique proposition that is satisfying consumer needs. Powerful branding will also have a positive impact on consumer franchises. As Kolter et al. (2002) suggests that powerful brands command a strong brand loyalty from their consumers where these consumers perform in a repeated buying and ignore alternative brands that may be at lower prices. Recent researches suggests that influences on foreign product evaluations may be considerably complex, resulting from an interaction of various different factors such as ethnocentrism, price, perceived quality, country of origin, status, fashion consciousness, advertising campaigns etc. Ethnocentrism Research by Kinra (2006) states that ethnocentrism, which is a psychological construct which a makes a product more favorable in the minds of the consumers simply because bit is made in their own country. Ethnocentrism is when consumers think their culture to be superior to other cultures (Summer, (1906:13). Highly ethnocentric individuals tend to accept things culturally similar and reject things culturally dissimilar (Crawford and Lamb, 1981; Heslop et al., 1998; Wang and Lamb, 1983). In a study conducted by Lantz and Loeb (1996) which focused on the relationship between consumer ethnocentrism and imported/international products, also found out that consumers who are highly ethnocentrism have more positive attitudes toward products from countries with similar cultures. Highly Ethnocentric consumers believe that purchasing local brands promotes patriotism and they accuse foreign brands of being a potential threat to countrys economy and employment level. They also prefer local brands because of their better understanding of local needs. Quality Quality is a trait which is very hard to define, because it is a very subjective term. Perceived quality is the perception of a consumer about a products excellence. Research proves that most consumers perceive international brands to be of higher quality and greater prestige.(e.g., Nguyen, Barrett and Miller 2005; Steenkamp, Batra and Alden 2003). If a brand is perceived as globally available, consumers are likely to attribute a superior quality to the brand, since its international acceptance is seen as a sign of its high quality. (Han 1989) According to Iglesias and Guillen (2004), consumers pass five phases of purchase process and the first phase is that the consumer perceives the product with the consideration of its availability, quality, price and the marketing activities. The consumers will make a comparison between brands to other alternatives and then make a decision. This will then either leads to the action of purchase or not to purchase that certain product from a certain brand. Country of origin he country of origin will also have a deep impact on the consumer preferences. The country of origin effect has been defined as influences, be it positive or negative, that a products country of manufacture may have on consumers decision (Elliott and Cameron, 1994). It is related to different stereotypes which are attached to a countrys product by consumers. Majority of the studies have supported a strong direct relationship between the â€Å"made -in† label and perceived quality of the product.. The findings indicate that consumers hold stereotyped images of certain countries and that these images affect their perceptions about the country. These stereotypes vary from country to country. Products from developed and highly industrialized countries are evaluated more positively than products from developing countries. Moreover, attitudes and perceptions of consumers toward brands and products will depend on categories, for instance, electronic goods from Italy may be perceived as a poor quality but Italian clothing would be perceive as fashionable and high quality (Bikey and Nes, 1982). This would be differently perceived with Japanese brands as Japanese electronic goods would be perceive with positive attitudes and Japanese clothing will be negatively perceived. Price Price is considered one of the most important factors affecting the consumer perceptions of a brand or product (Hansen, 2005). Researchers found out that once consumers perceive a price difference between local-owned and foreign-owned brands, price dissimilarities begin to affect their preference for local-owned brands. Therefore it is imperative that we test the impact of price against consumers ethnocentric tendencies to determine at what point price becomes more important to consumers than all the other factors mentioned. Consumers need a reference price as a cue for evaluating the price of an observed product/service. There are two forms of reference price an internal one that resides in consumers memory (e.g. past purchase) and an external one that is formed during the purchasing process (e.g. price comparison between brands while shopping) (Mazumdar and Papatla, 2000). If consumers perceive the local-owned brand as more expensive than the foreign-owned brand, but its quality i s similar to the foreign-owned brand, they should prefer the local-owned brand less because they perceive a higher loss with the local-owned brand. In other words, the price difference between local-owned and foreign-owned brands acts as a moderator between perception of brand ownership and purchase intention of local-owned brands Social status Authors have stressed that consumers may prefer global brands because of associations of higher prestige or because the ‘elite class use it (Schuiling Kapferer, 2004; Steenkamp, et. al., 2003). Global brands may have a higher prestige than local brands due to their relative scarcity and higher price. Critical review of the key literature In todays world, consumers are faced with an overwhelming amount of brands available for the same product category. More than hundreds brands, both local and international, may be available for products like clothes, automobiles etc. When consumers are making their purchase decisions, they may evaluate brands on different factors such as variables like price, quality, and country of origin, ethnocentrism, and social status. Price and quality are sometimes perceived to be correlated. A high-priced product may be perceived of being high in quality and this may be because of such image created by manufactures through advertising. Similarly, a global brand may perceive to be of superior quality as quality is believed to be a prerequisite for international acceptance. Consumers today are increasingly aware of products made in both developed and developing economies. Goods from third world countries may perceive to be of lower quality standard. Consumer perceptions and opinions may also depend on the product category for e.g. Italian clothing is generally perceived to be more fashionable (Bikey and Nes, 1982), while automobiles produced in country like USA may be perceived as of better quality than an Indian manufactured automobile. However, sometimes consumers believe that local organizations have a competitive edge over the foreign competitors as they have a better understanding of what consumer wants which are shaped by their cultures. While other patriotic consumers believe that buying foreign brands may hinder the growth of their local organizations. Brands like Apple, Sony, Pepsi have empowered consumers and these brands are capable of evoking associations and feeling to an extent that they have now become an important part of our lives. Due to increasing peer pressure, these foreign brands have now become a necessity for every young person. Wearing Nike shoes may be considered as fashionable and trendy in universities. So the need to be accepted by a particular social group may compel young people to buy international brands even when local brands are available at the same price. Research Question Q) Why do consumers prefer international brands to local ones? Independent variable: Price Quality Country of origin Consumer ethnocentrism Social status Dependent variable: Consumer preferences Research methodology This study is a descriptive study and more of a qualitative nature and was conducted to identify and evaluate all the factors considered by consumers that make international brands more favorable to them. The sample for this research included the 200 consumers whose ages ranged from 16-24 years. Convenience sampling was used for this study. Questionnaires were used to collect primary data. The questionnaire comprised of closed ended questions and Likert scale is used in most of them. We classified our population according to gender. Frequency distribution and bar charts have been used to evaluate the results. In addition to this, the means of different factors that influence consumers preferences of the local and global brands were used to determine which factors are considered the most by consumers when purchasing different brands. Limitations As the data was gathered through convenience sampling, the results cannot be generalized. There is also a possibility that the respondents might answer the questions dishonestly or half-heartedly, leading to biased findings. Apart from these limitations of our study, the fact that the data was only collected through questionnaires provided us with the frequencies as to how many people would purchase the global or the domestic brand and what factors are rated as the most important by these people, but the reasons behind their buying patterns and preferences remain unknown because these people were not further interviewed. Findings and Discussion Question 1 Do you use international brands products? According to the data collected, 72.5% of the people used international brands of which 60 were male and 85 were females. 18.5% of the people questioned claimed to use international brands occasionally, whereas, 9.1% of the people claimed not to use global brands at all. As indicated in the pie charts above, 18.5% of the people who used the global brands sometimes included 28 males and 9 females, and those who did not use the global brands consisted of 12 males and 6 females. Question 2 If the price of a foreign brand and local one is the same, which brand would you prefer? The purpose of this question was to evaluate and discover how important a factor such as price is in determining whether the consumers would go for the domestic brand or stick to the global one if both the products were in the same price range. The results found out that 76% of the consumers would go for the international brands whereas 24% would still purchase the domestic ones. Question 3 How important is the country of origin, of the product, to you? This question was asked to discover how much importance the youth lay on the country of origin as a factor when making a purchase. The results revealed far different results compared to what had been stated by the review of previous researches done. As indicated in the graph, the youth was found to be mailnly ignorant of the country in which the brand was manufactured. Majority of the consumers (76% males and 88% females) did not consider it as significant a factor as to affect his or her purchase decision. Question 4 Do you consider the quality of the product when purchasing a good? A good quality product indicates durability, reliability as well as good appearance and featuresThe review of the existing literature suggested that quality of the product and its price were rated by consumers as the most significant factor in purchasing decisions. This was supported by our empirical findings that showed that 87.5% people on average considered the quality of the brand above all the factors. This included 83 males and 92 females. The rest of the people, according to our research findings, did not place that much emphasis on the quality of the product alone. Question 5 Do you think that the purchasing patterns depict the social status of a person? Question 6 It is said that people buy international products so that they can be accepted in a particular social group. Do you agree? The results to these two questions confirmed the general perception that exists in our society, that is, the global are purchased as a status symbol. The youth mainly bought foreign branded products to be able to fit in a particular social group. This occurs largely because peer pressure tends to be high at this age, and most of the people find themselves being victims of inferiority complexes. The results to the first of these questions indicated that on average 75% of the youth (71 males and 79 females) purchased the international and local brands as a status symbol. These results were further enhanced by the results to the next question, which showed that 72% of the males and 68% of the females did, infact, believe that the people purchased the international brands to be able to fit in a particular social group. Question 7 Do you consider current fashions and trends while purchasing a good? Owing to education and information disseminated through the media, consumers in our soceity are becoming increasingly aware of the current fashions and trends prevalent even in other parts of the world. Following the current fashions and trends have become a norm in our society. Consumers now make their purchases according to the ongoing fashions,and this assumption has been supported by our findings, which shows that 92% of the females and 85% of the males considered fashion and trends when making a purchase. There was not a single female in our sample who did not pay attention to the trends and styles when going for a purchase. Moreover, these results also indicate that females are more fashion conscious than their male counterparts. Question 8 Do you think buying international brands affect unemployment in our country? The purpose of this question was to take the point of view of consumers as to whether the existence of foreign brands affect unemployement rate in our country. The results revealed that on average 80.5% of the consumers believed that the businesses are affected by the international brands and that unemployment increases as a result. This figure included 88 males and 73 females. However 10.5% of the people, on average, believed that this case only occurs sometimes, whereas 9% of the people did not believe that unemployment is related to the existence of foreign brands. Question 09 If an international brand is not easily available, would you go for the domestic brand? As the above graph indicates, the answers to this question represent differences in the opinions of the males and the females as to their willingness in substituting the domestic brand with an international brand in the case of non- availability of the international brand. The results revealed that whereas 57% of the males respondents claimed that they would go for the domestic brand if the global brand is not accessible, 78% of the females claimed not to compromise and do with the domestic brand, even if the international brand of their choice is not available. This may be indicative of the level of brand loyalty that females possess. In addition to this, only 16% of the respondents, on average, claimed that they would sometimes opt for the domestic brand in the case that the international brand is not accessible to them. Mean number of people ( in percentages) Yes Sometimes No Price of the product 76% 16.5% 7.5% Country of origin 4.5% 13.5% 82% Quality of the product 87.5% 7.5% 5% Status symbol 75% 15.5% 9.5% Current fashion and trends 85% 10% 5% Ethnocentrism 60% 20.5% 19.5% The table above compares the means of the different factors considered by consumers when selecting global brands over the local ones. Conclusion After researching on the preferences of consumers for the global and foreign brands, and finding out what factors are considered the most important by consumers when making their choices, it has been concluded that consumers do purchase the global brands and give preference to them. Consumers gain increased knowledge about international products by television. Our findings show that quality was the foremost factor that affected consumers decision about a product, with fashion and trends being second and price was rated the third most important factor in influencing consumer choice. Moreover, a foreign brand is usually regarded as a symbol of prestige and social status and as a means of being accepted in a particular group. Because of this extreme peer pressure at this age, the youth often views the use of such a foreign brand as a necessity rather than a want. Because of this extreme peer pressure at this age, the youth often views the use of such a foreign brand as a necessity rathe r than a want. Consumers were also hardly aware of how global brands affect the local economy and country of origin, as a factor in influencing consumers choice of the brand was hardly a significant factor. However, in spite of the fact that for some products the local brands are now available in the relevant price range, and quite well meet the quality standards too, nevertheless the consumers of our country find some sort of inner satisfaction in spending money on the global brands. For reasons termed brand loyalty, and even for the reason of social status, our locals continue to regard and look up to the foreign branded products.

Planning for a Terrorist Emergency :: essays research papers

Preparing for a disaster at American Universities and Colleges has changed dramatically. Prior to September 11th higher education institutions merely planned for natural disasters. American soil in no longer as safe as it once was. In addition to preparing for tornados, preparing for hurricanes, preparing for earthquakes, and preparing for fires there is need to prepare for a terrorist attack. A natural disaster is an event of nature that takes human lives or destroys property. In contrast, a terrorist attack is a man-made event that takes human lives and destroys property. Terrorist attacks appear in many forms biological terrorism, chemical terrorism, explosive terrorism, nuclear terrorism, and radiation terrorism. Data gathered from FEMA confirmed that the majority of terrorist attacks were explosive. In 2002 there were a total of 199 international terrorist attacks against buildings. Out the 199, 70% of the attacks were bombings (Brown & Lowe 1-16). Since actions taken to plan for explosive attacks are similar to preparing and planning for other types of attacks, explosive attack recommendations and supplies would be sufficient to handle such emergencies. Knoy Hall on the well-regarded campus of Purdue University is emergency planning for a terrorist attack. There are many variable involved that make emergency planning for an explosive attack difficult, including the number of individuals in or around the targeted structure and the tactics used by terrorists to implement an explosive attack. The different approaches to planning will be discussed in depth later in the report. Following the implementation of the recommendations in this report Knoy Hall will be prepared for an explosive attack. Brief Overview Research by U.S. Home Land Security and FEMA has revealed that it’s possible to implement an effective plan for a terrorist based emergency. Several avenues were researched to better prepare for the emergency. The course of action that is selected must be well thought out. Instead of preparing the entire campus, the emergency plan is for the school of technology building, Knoy Hall. There are a large number of students, a large number of Purdue faculty members, and a large number of staff that utilize Knoy Hall. Campus police and fire department may not have ample supplies to handle a large scaled attack. Therefore a number of tasks have to be completed to prepare Knoy Hall for a terrorist attack. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Supplies must be purchased and stored. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A storage facility for emergency items must be purchased and constructed. Planning for a Terrorist Emergency :: essays research papers Preparing for a disaster at American Universities and Colleges has changed dramatically. Prior to September 11th higher education institutions merely planned for natural disasters. American soil in no longer as safe as it once was. In addition to preparing for tornados, preparing for hurricanes, preparing for earthquakes, and preparing for fires there is need to prepare for a terrorist attack. A natural disaster is an event of nature that takes human lives or destroys property. In contrast, a terrorist attack is a man-made event that takes human lives and destroys property. Terrorist attacks appear in many forms biological terrorism, chemical terrorism, explosive terrorism, nuclear terrorism, and radiation terrorism. Data gathered from FEMA confirmed that the majority of terrorist attacks were explosive. In 2002 there were a total of 199 international terrorist attacks against buildings. Out the 199, 70% of the attacks were bombings (Brown & Lowe 1-16). Since actions taken to plan for explosive attacks are similar to preparing and planning for other types of attacks, explosive attack recommendations and supplies would be sufficient to handle such emergencies. Knoy Hall on the well-regarded campus of Purdue University is emergency planning for a terrorist attack. There are many variable involved that make emergency planning for an explosive attack difficult, including the number of individuals in or around the targeted structure and the tactics used by terrorists to implement an explosive attack. The different approaches to planning will be discussed in depth later in the report. Following the implementation of the recommendations in this report Knoy Hall will be prepared for an explosive attack. Brief Overview Research by U.S. Home Land Security and FEMA has revealed that it’s possible to implement an effective plan for a terrorist based emergency. Several avenues were researched to better prepare for the emergency. The course of action that is selected must be well thought out. Instead of preparing the entire campus, the emergency plan is for the school of technology building, Knoy Hall. There are a large number of students, a large number of Purdue faculty members, and a large number of staff that utilize Knoy Hall. Campus police and fire department may not have ample supplies to handle a large scaled attack. Therefore a number of tasks have to be completed to prepare Knoy Hall for a terrorist attack. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Supplies must be purchased and stored. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A storage facility for emergency items must be purchased and constructed.

A visit to Subir Raha Oil Museum at ONGC Essay

As a part of the curriculum of the programs offered at UPES, the students of first semester MBA Energy Trading and MBA Oil & Gas were taken to Subir Raha Oil Museum, ONGC in Dehradun. Being the students of the petroleum industry, this visit gave us a rich and holistic picture about how oil it is created in the nature, how various methods are used to detected it, the various challenges which the industry faces during its extraction and processing, how oil is refined and finally how it is effectively distributed via various means. Along with all this, the visit also gave us an in depth picture on how an oil industry functions around all these areas. We learnt about the intrinsic details of drilling & refining of oil and also about how the life is in offshore drilling platforms like the â€Å"Jack-Up Rig†, through video films. Accompanied with our faculty Dr. Somya Sharma, Course Coordinator of MBA Energy Trading, the students were very excited to know the details of the oil industry which in this museum, was depicted in innovative ways and with various working models which really grasped our attention. All in all, the visit was enriching and brought us closer to the industry. ONGC is the foremost exploration and production company in India. It is responsible for most of the exploration effort, established reserves and oil and gas production in India. ONGC possesses the fiscal, technical and managerial strength to rank as a world-class oil and gas company. Describing their Museum in detail, it was inaugurated on 14th August 2005. Earlier it was The headquarters of the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited and this was set up in Tel Bhawan also known as Patiala House, at Dehradun in 1956. The place was once the palace of the maharaja of Patiala house and was brought by ONGC for an amount of INR 6 lakhs. The museum is divided into different sectors of the oil industry. First section told us about what oil is and its vast history. It refreshed our knowledge on how oil is formed on earth, the various grades of oil found in different places and how it gets deposited in various traps in the earth’s crust. We also saw a Foucault pendulum which shows the indubitable fact of earth’s endless rotation about its axis. In this section, there were samples of different types of crude oil and several charts explaining their qualities at different temperature and the viscosity  effect they exhibit while transporting the respective crude oil. The second section gave us an insight on the exploration and production of oil. Here we were shown scaled down models of various types of rigs and the ships used by ONGC for the E&P activities. These models were enclosed in aquariums with exotic fishes in it, which really fascinated us. Third section told us about the transportation methods and refining technologies used in this industry. An extensive description was provided about various IT technologies used by the ONCG in every aspect of their activities. After that there were several kiosks set up which explained about the different distillates obtained from the crude oil and the various catalysts used to obtain those distillates. A beautiful working model was also present which depicted the cracking of the crude. After the above technical section, we came across an exhibit which showed the several of the ONGC’s refineries both existing and upcoming, marked on a detailed map of our country. There were also several charts explaining the various safety policies and the extreme measures which the ONGC takes in order to protect their employees and the environment. We were also given an insight into the future plans and goals of ONGC, wherein they are planning to venture into the field of several new fuel types like the coal bed methane, gas hydrates under the ONGC VIDESH LTD program. The rest of the section told us about the infrastructure of ONGC, the vast assets and basins they own and the several services they provide in petroleum industry. There was an attractive display of how the oil industry had influenced the world of philately in various nations. And also, there was an amazing exhibits of fossils from pre historic era and an amazing collection of unique rocks like the flexible rock – â€Å"Itacolumite†. Outside the museum, there was a incredible display of several types of drill bits, a christmas tree, several types of blow out preventer, a coiled tubing unit, a sucker rod pump and a thumper truck. All of this, not only makes this museum, the first compressive museum on oil in the entire nation but also a pioneering ecology of the oil industry in the entire sub-continent. It was a cornucopia of information on oil industry from which the students of the MBA Energy trading and MBA Oil & Gas immensely benefited from.

Preventing Teen Violence Essay - 1054 Words

Violence is defined as the intentional use of force to harm a human being. Its outcome is injury (whether physical or psychological, fatal or nonfatal). Violence among teenagers is on the rise, and has been since the early 1980s. In my opinion this is due to the increase of violence in the media, the astounding availability of firearms and the lack of proper guidance in the home. Northeastern Universitys College of Criminal Justice reports that from 1985 to 1993 murders committed by people over the age of 25 dropped an impressive 20%; meanwhile they increased 65% for people between the ages of 18-24 and an astounding 165% growth for teenagers 14 to 17. According to the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, in 1996, 6548†¦show more content†¦However the society as a whole may be losing some valuable time if we confine our public debates and agenda to the issue of gun control, because that and violence in the media are not the only concerns. The first and foremost responsibility of every person is to be there for his or her family. Today, too many people are not getting to know their children, knowing who their friends are, and all in all making a positive contribution to their childrens development. Kids are making bombs and harboring assault weapons in their rooms, right under their parents noses. Parents need to communicate with their children, know whats going on by engaging them in conversation. Too many people are not the controlling element in their childrens education, however let new technologies do their job for them. Parents allow television, the Internet, and friends to become the driving force in their childs development. What kind of guidance is that? Is that really what people want, an entire generation that has no real attachment to their home and continues the practice of what I like to call, high tech neglect, when they become parents? 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