Managerial economic Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Managerial economic - Assignment Example The prices of goods and service we purchase in the marketplace can have an elastic or inelastic demand. Three items I recently purchased are coffee, premium ice cream, and a ticket to watch an entertainment event. The first product coffee has an inelastic demand because its demand is not affected by price. The other two products have elastic demand. If the Ice cream or the entertainment ticket would have been too expensive it would have been possible that I would not have purchased the items. Price discrimination occurs when one customer is charged a different price for the same product at the same store. For example universities are participants of price discrimination. International students get charged a higher price for education than American citizens. The Avatar 6:00 P.M. example also qualifies as price discrimination. The people that enter the first movie run which starts prior to 6:00 P.M. get charge at times less than the people that go to the theater in the

Business Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 1

Business Strategy - Essay Example This is more important in the present day business scenario in which business organizations are breaching geographical boundaries in an attempt to capture a share of market. This calls for the need to ensure greater competency and efficiency in their business operations. Hence is important not only to generate a brand image but also to create competitive advantage in the present competitive market. The business strategy is driven by certain significant factors. One major influential factor is the competence of the enterprise to drive the business strategy. The ultimate goal of the organisations is to identify one exclusive core competence which can help them to differentiate from the competition. However, this is not easy to do as the evaluation of own capabilities may not be so effortless; it demands honest assessment with an appropriate understanding of the customer requirements. Favourable business strategies are those that are evolved by using the capabilities of the firm to addr ess the consumer requirements in a way leading to sustainable competitive advantage. The competitive advantage is required to be addressed logically by a careful analysis of the business processes of the organization. Any business strategy should define the foundation of competition, the stage for changes to happen and the way the competitive strategies would be built upon this changing business environment. The aspect of sustainable competitive advantage has been a matter of debate among the strategists and management thinkers alike. When one thinks back in the 1980s, the top executives were judged on their ability to reorganize, and reform their corporations. Then in the 1990s, they would be assessed on their ability to identify, encourage and take advantage of the core competencies promoting the organisational growth (Prahalad & Hamel, 1990, p.1-2). However, with the changing business environment, the management must re-evaluate the core competencies of the organisation to fetch success in the long run with a sustainable growth rate. In short run, an organisation’s competitiveness relates to the present performance of the company’s products and services. However, in long run, the competitiveness would be derived from the ability to develop with cost effectiveness and rapid pace using the core competencies initiating introduction of wide range of products. A company can have various sources of competitiveness including human resource, operational processes, management ability and technology. In most of the cases, the key sources of competitive advantages are found in the ability of the organisation’s management to consolidate the wide spread technologies and organisational production skills into the firm competencies which would allow the individual business organizations to adapt successfully with the turbulence in the business markets. This makes it essential for management strategists to rethink their claim regarding the inability to establish the core competencies. It may be tough for the large corporations to build up one core competency, but that may not impossible given that the core competencies can be established in the individual business units. The business units are required to be strongly established with nourishment, sustenance and stability in the core competence. Core competency is a highly specific term and is widely different among different organization depending on their business process. The core

Missiongoalobjective Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Missiongoalobjective - Essay Example Process/Administration: The daily working of the institution consists of a non-conventional setting, wherein patients are not only made to undergo treatment, but are also provided with opportunities to grow spiritually. The treatment provided is on par with global standards, as numerous big names of the world of medicine have a tie up with us, in providing low-cost services. Learning : Patients are firstly provided with the complete picture of the disease and their health condition. We believe in taking the patient into confidence and in helping them, by letting them help themselves as well. During this phase, we also provide them with opportunities to strengthen themselves and face with situations with positivism and optimism. Action / Behavioural: In order to bring about an optimistic outlook and increase confidence levels, patients are provided with yoga training, are made to attend interactive seminars and are also presented with opportunities that entertain them, while still educating them and imparting them the resilient spirit required. Program: Ultimately, the objective fo the institution is to increase the quality of life and accentuate what the Lord has bestowed upon

The Arabian Peninsula Country and Sovereignty Essay

The Arabian Peninsula Country and Sovereignty - Essay Example Israel remains the only separate country on the Peninsula. The new APC has over 25% of the world’s known oil reserves in its territory. The new country is flexing its muscle and claiming its sovereign rights over the water and in the exclusive zone that overlap into other nation’s areas in the Persian Gulf, the Arabian Sea into the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. The APC has restricted the use of the airspace it is claiming to all western nations and threatens to shoot down any aircraft whether military or commercial that flies into its airspace. Further, fearing western satellites spying on its territory from space, the APC claimed territorial sovereignty above its country into space and threatens to shoot down any satellites that fly over its territory. It is unclear if the APC has the technology to fulfill this threat but there are missile exports from Russia and China that may be able to knock out a satellite in orbit. The APC has announced plan s to increase its standing army to over 50,000 troops and is beginning construction of a deepwater naval fleet to project its influence in the region. 2.0. Statement of the Problem Some of the fundamental issues pertaining to the situation are as follows. First, can the APC claim sovereignty after Yemen, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria sought to consolidate themselves into a single nation to be known as the APC? Second, what will be scope and limits of the claim on sovereignty if this is the case? Third, up to what extent can the APC claim sovereignty over its airspace and into space? Finally or fourth, what are the threats posed by the APC on the United States of America? 3.0. Proposed USA Position: Sovereignty and History/Scope in International Law Jean Bodin first systematically analyzed the doctrine of sovereignty in 1576 in the work, Six Livres de la Republique (Shaw, 21). In the Bodin notion of sovereignty, sovereig nty is only â€Å"subject to the law of God and of nature† as the â€Å"state was regarded as above the law† (Shaw, 21). In the age of enlightenment and as the early theories were influenced by the ideas of Thomas Aquinas who maintained that â€Å"Natural Law formed part of the law of God, and was the participation by rational creatures in Eternal Law,† the notion of state sovereignty may have been subject to reason or what were considered â€Å"reasonable† (Shaw, 22). Later that time, â€Å"elements of both positivism and naturalism† appeared in the work of Vattel (1714-67), a Swiss lawyer, who â€Å"introduced the doctrine of the equality of states into international law, declaring that a small republic was no less sovereign than the most powerful kingdom† (Shaw, 26). At the same time, the idea of natural laws gave way to the concept of natural rights (Shaw, 26). Shaw asserted that international law is based on the concept of the state tha t in turn â€Å"lies upon the foundation of sovereignty, which expresses internally the supremacy of government institutions and externally the supremacy of the state as the legal person† (487). Sovereignty â€Å"is founded upon the fact of territory† (Shaw, 487). Thus, according to Shaw, â€Å"without territory a legal person cannot be a state† (487). Shaw emphasized, â€Å"A state is deemed to exercise exclusive power over its territory† (Shaw, 487). The principle of territorial integrity is the foundation of

Cloud Computing Assignment Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Cloud Computing Assignment - Research Paper Example According to a theoretical viewpoint, the terms ‘cloud’ indicates the abstraction of resources, technology, and its location which are significant in establishing the incorporated infrastructure of computing which comprises of systems, networks, and applications. Most of the information technology experts view the concept of cloud computing as a model instead of technology. According to them, this model is used by the customers to plug into the â€Å"cloud† to access IT resources which are priced and provided â€Å"on-demand†. Essentially, IT resources are rented and shared among multiple tenants much as office space, apartments, or storage spaces are used by tenants (David, 2010). The concept of cloud computing is a substitution for the service providing or the data centre through the delivery of an internet connection. At the basic level, the concept of cloud computing relies on shared services and very broad infrastructure convergence. A very precise def inition of the model states that it is a computing system based on the internet technology where the software, platform, infrastructure, devices and other resources are provided by the virtual shared server on pay-as you- use basis. Therefore, all such information which is provided by the digitized system in the model is the cloud computing. These services can be accessed by users with the help of ‘internet cloud’ even if the users do not have any prior knowledge on the resource management. Thus, this technology can enable them to focus more on the basic business functions and processes instead of wasting time on gaining the knowledge on the resource management of the business processes. The usage of cloud computing does not require the ownership of any type of infrastructure. In this way they are able to avoid huge expenses. They only use the resources and pay for it and most of the infrastructure of cloud computing comprises of the services which are built on servers and delivered with the help of common centres. These types of data centres permit the business organizations to introduce their applications and make them more efficient and faster with an ease of maintenance and manageability. Moreover, they also make the Information Technology able of adjusting the resources quickly in order to meet the varying and uncertain business demands (Luit Infotech, 2012). History The fundamental concept of cloud computing originated in the 1960s, with John McCarthy giving his opinion that the concept of computation needs to be established as a public utility some day. Then, Douglas Parkhill's , in his book, The Challenge of the Computer Utility, published in 1966, thoroughly discovered almost all the advanced features of cloud computing, which include elastic provision, the usage of the private, public, community and government forms and the comparison to the electricity industry. There were other scholars and researchers too, during 1950s, who worked upo n the features, operations and feasibility of the cloud computing model. The real term "cloud" has been taken from the telephony in the companies of telecommunications, which had continued to offer the customers point-to-point data circuits until 1990s. Then, they began offering Virtual Private Network (VPN) services which lead the IT

After the Neolithic Revolution Essay Example for Free

After the Neolithic Revolution Essay After the Neolithic Revolution, civilizations began to form around art, religion, social structure, government, and writing. For example the earliest civilization was Samaria. Samaria helped us form a lot of the things we use today. The second civilization was the Indus River Valley. The Indus River Valley is now modern day Pakistan. The third and final civilization is the Israelites. The Israelites were different because their religion is the bases for all their laws and culture. There are many similarities and differences to these civilizations. First are the differences. One difference between these civilizations is the religion. The Israelites have a very unique religion. Their religion is monotheistic. This religion is when you believe only in one god. This is now known as Judaism. The rest of the civilizations had a polytheistic religion. Polytheistic religion is the belief of many gods. The second difference is the writing. The writing for the Indus River Valley was pictographs. Pictographs were very hard to make and look like they took a lot of skill. The writing for the Israelites was Hieroglyphics. These writings were very hard to read and have not yet been figured out. The third difference of these civilizations was the art. The art for the Indus River Valley was bronze weapons, artwork, and silk. Some of the similarities are the geography. All of these civilizations are located next to rivers. These rivers are common in every civilization. A lot of civilizations are located next to rivers for many reasons. When a river floods it brings fertilized soil to all there land which helps grow fresh fruits and veggies. Another reason is because of transportation and food. Another similarity is that they both have some kind of ruler. For The Indus River Valley, there ruler was an emperor handed down to their sons. For the Israelites, the ruler was a god or a priest. Even though all these civilizations are very different, they all use basic rules about art, religion, and much more. As I showed here, all these civilizations have many similarities and differences. All civilizations are different and similar in some ways.

The Benefits Of Implementing Effective Hse Policies Commerce Essay

The Benefits Of Implementing Effective Hse Policies Commerce Essay This report highlights the benefits of effective health and safety policies and practises. It presents a case study company that outlines the importance of implementing a good and effective HSE policy which can be initiated in other small to medium sized oil companies. The major result of the case study is that the case study company believed that improving health and safety was vital to operational risk management and business growth and as such went further to implement it. The key motivator for this initiative was the cost incurred by the company involving an oil spill incident in 2004. It was also discovered that the case study company did not keep a systematic nor comprehensive record of the costs or benefits of the companys operations prior to the 2004 incident. This prompted a change of HSE policy that benefited the company in terms of increased productivity and reduction of employee absence. 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 Personnel absent due to ill health and injuries % 35.00 32 28 20 10 Hospital bills incurred by company $ 55,000 50,000 42,000 30,000 20,000 Company productivity% 55 58 62 69 74 The implementation and constant supervision of HSE practices within an organisation will always be of benefit to the management and stakeholders as seen in the case of the CNC Oil Company; the case study company for this report. NOTE The CNC Oil Company, which is the case study company in this report, DOES NOT EXIST. This company was made up to highlight the benefits of implementing an effective HSE policy, demonstrating that good HSE practices are essential to the growth and productivity of businesses involving small to medium sized oil companies. ABBREVIATIONS SMOCs Small to Medium sized Oil Companies HSE Health, Safety and Environment SMO Small to Medium sized Oil ASSUMPTIONS ALL FIGURES AND TABLES IN THIS REPORT WERE ASSUMED FOR THE PURPOSE OF THIS REPORT. 1.0 INTRODUCTION Operational risks are associated with our everyday business lives in the oil and gas industry. Sometimes we take risks knowingly and other times, unknowingly. The likelihood of operational harm and disasters are influenced by the attitude to risk taken by employers and employees alike. BACKGROUND This case study have been prepared to help promote the responsibility for health, safety of lives and environment within the small and medium-sized oil companies (SMOC). The report will be taking a look at some of the positives that result from good and effective management of health and safety in the workplace. This report cuts across- The necessity to raise a case for health and safety improvements in order for the present day SMO companies around the world to become aware of the benefits in putting in place good and effective health and safety management Reaching a whole lot of other small to medium-sized oil companies, making them aware that health and safety is infact good for business. It is as important to see and plan for accidents, work related ill health and environmental hazards and destruction, as well as enjoy the benefit of effective health and safety management. Many oil and gas companies classified as small to medium sized fail to see this because they think it is too high leveled and are mainly concerned about the cost of risk management and prevention. Owing to this factor, there is a tendency to see a handful of fully worked up examples of cost and benefits of health and safety within the small to medium sized oil or gas companies. AIMS AND SCOPE OF THIS REPORT The aim of this report is to produce a case study that emphasizes the benefits of implementing health and safety policies and practices to small and medium sized oil and gas companies. A persuasive case study is subsequently put in place to highlight the management of specific risks and improved employee involvement in SMOCs. 2.0 DISCUSSION It is extremely important to establish a business case for managing health and safety standards both for policy and practical purposes. Publishing clear business cases would very much make other companies try to implement and keep up safe and desirable working conditions. Looking at most major accidents occurring with the small to medium sized oil companies (SMOC) it is visible that these accidents happen due to ignorance of HSE policies and procedures and due to the low priority given to health and safety issues in these SMOCs. In Nigeria, the major cause for alarm is the increasing rate of poor occupational health and environmental hazards. These companies tend to neglect the importance of preserving the environment and turn their eyes from the effect this will have on the health of personnel and locals alike. Highlighting the oil spill in a village called Oloibiri, in the Niger Delta region which occurred in June 2004 spilling approximately 20,000barrels of crude it shows clearly how much importance is given to this sector. The village of Oloibiri and its surrounding neighborhood have yet to recover from this spill which was actually an abandoned project of a major oil company but subcontracted to CDC oil company; a smaller contractor oil company for well shut-in (name of major oil company with-held for security reasons). The CNC Oil Company had failed to make use of standard shut in equipments and they had failed to carry out maintenance on their project neglecting simple HSE practices thereby subjecting this entire village and its surrounding neighborhood to this catastrophic condition. During investigation into the cause of the spillage, it was discovered that the subcontractors failed to use standard piping materials and also failed to carry out regular maintenance on the operation. The Niger Delta region is constantly under incessant oil spill threat resulting from rusty sub-standard pipes that are being used by the contractor companies all in order to make more profit while neglecting their responsibilities in the department of health and safety and the June 2004 incident highlights this. While the negative impact caused by CNC Oil Companys lack of responsibility is very visible, it is important to take note that there was not a committee that kept the company in check. It is either they did not exist or their Authority and power was perhaps, greatly undermined. Operational and industrial accidents create a lot of distress and grief to all parties involved, from huge financial costs to negative publicity to which the subcontractor company can testify to. The suppliers, managers, local residents, shareholders employees and all other stakeholders are all interested and concerned when these industrial accidents occur since the oil company has to strike a balance between the different interests of these stakeholders. Lessons are sometimes learnt the hard way. It may take a lot of reduction in employee work rate, increase in recorded absentees from work, reduction in clients, and bad publications to ring the wakeup call for the implementation of effective HSE policies which was the case with the subcontractor company. 3.0 LESSONS LEARNT AND CONSIDERATIONS FOR THE FUTURE It is never enough to carry out extensive investigations on the safety records of most SMOCs. Many of these small to medium sized oil companies usually adopt general health and safety methods which can only be demonstrated by management systems but cannot be proven due to poor record keeping. They fail to review these general methods and tend not to improve their HSE policies as it affects their companies, or they may just choose to ignore safety standards like the case involving the CNC Oil Company in June 2004. 3.1 NATURE OF THE BUSINESS CASE SMOCs do not generally do full quantitative cost benefit analysis and it is therefore not clear if they need it to be convinced of the case in difficult financial terms (Antonelli, Baker, Mcmahon and wright, 2006). An interesting and significant point that unites the SMOCs and the larger oil and gas companies is that the smaller companies also take risk management very serious. They are motivated to improve the health and safety of their personnel when the benefits are presented before them but are not always in the position to invest heavily towards this. The general key motivating issues are: maintaining good reputation; higher productivity especially reduction in absence of personnel; Containing cost of insurance; Abiding by the HSE laws, hereby preventing the likelihood of local HSE organizations taking any kind of actions against them; Meeting the demands of the clients; Avoiding the cost of accidents and remedial approaches. The case study company operates as a contractor company for larger oil companies. They provide services including well abandonment and shut-in operations. The perception of low health and safety risk in a company can drive clients to other companies with better track record in the HSE department to carry out their operations thereby increasing the need to implement good HSE policies in companies while bearing in mind that adequate time and finance is needed to achieve this in higher standards. The case study company in this report implemented new HSE policies which are regarded by organizations as an appropriate course of action to bring business benefits and health and safety improvement. (See appendix). IDENTIFYING THE BENEFITS AND THE COSTS. In any business, there is need to keep a sound record of company operations and HSE policies, as this is very essential to further improvements and growth of the company. The CNC Oil Company failed to keep this kind of record before the incident occurred in 2004 and were faced with the consequences. Many of the SMOCs in Nigeria do not have a predefined budget for health and safety in their initial stages because they did not feel the need to justify such information. This makes it difficult for them to track back how much have been spent or gained in relation to good and effective HSE practices and how to improve further their reputation in this aspect. The Table below depicts the record of CNC Oil Company after the 2004 accident. 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 Personnel absent due to ill health and injuries % 35.00 32 28 20 10 Hospital bills incurred by company $ 55,000 50,000 42,000 30,000 20,000 Company productivity% 55 58 62 69 74 Table 1. Summarised record of CNC Oil Company in 4years As represented by the table above, CNC Oil Company benefited from the introduction of a new HSE policy and strict adherence to the policy by both the employers and the employees played a vital role in the success they have incurred as at 2009. Therefore, Presenting the financial benefits in terms of reduction in absence rates, business interruption by locals due to accidents and operations that impact negatively to the health and environmental safety of their lands and families, productivity, better reputation, more clients etc, may help alter the attitudes towards health and safety, showing that it is not simply a compliance or personnel welfare issue (Antonelli, Baker, Mcmahon and wright, 2006). CONSIDERATIONS FOR THE FUTURE HSE contractors and departments in various companies must emphasize the importance of improving the health and safety standards of employees and also work out policies to safeguard the surrounding environment in order to contribute to the growth of the company and the community where they are situated. With this in mind, considerations can be given to the following in the future: In the case of the Nigerian oil spill in the Niger delta region, a health, safety and environment governmental body should be put in place and given adequate tools and power to clamp down on companies that do not regard or follow health and safety rules and regulations in their operations inside the Nigerian border; Small to medium sized oil companies should evaluate the impact of the case studies who they work for, who they dont work for and, Baker, why (Antonelli Mcmahon and wright, 2006); Educate and train staff and company contractors about the influence that good or effective and bad or in-effective health and safety practices may bring to the company; Consider the potential for drawing on the extensive knowledge and experience of the health and safety inspectors to identify small to medium sized oil companies who manage health and safety well (Antonelli Mcmahon and wright, 2006); Keep track of the costs or benefits that health and safety has on the operations of the company and try to improve the values from previous years; It is essential that the communities where these companies carry out their operations are well taken care of. The livelihood of the locals usually depends on their environment and health; hence it is essential to take into consideration ways to improve the lives of the people while identifying possible hazards that may harm their lives. 4.0 CONCLUSION SMOCs should operate effective HSE policies to help them meet safety objectives, productivity targets and improve business opportunities. Regular records should be kept to help identify areas of improvement in the company and provide a track record for clients and all shareholders. Investing in effective HSE policies should be one of the major businesses of SMOCs so that they can attain set standards and objectives, and enhance their reputation. There are lots of business benefits associated with implementing effective HSE policies and encouraging strict adherence to these policies. These benefits should be exploited by the SMOCS. REFERENCE A. Antonelli, M. Baker, A. Mcmahon, M. Wright Six SME case studies that demonstrate the business benefit of effective management of Occupational health and safety. Crown, 2006. BIBLIOGRAPHY BOC Operating an effective health, safety and environment policy. Further reading can be found at http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/boc/operating-an-effective-safety-health-and-environmental-policy/conclusion.html#axzz2Cz7sRYST. (Website assessed 18/11/2012) Frank W Bond, Paul E Flaxman, Sharon Loivette A Business case for the management standards for stress. Crown, 2006. H. Hoel, K. Sparks, C.L. Cooper. The cost of violent/ stress at work and the benefits of a violence/stress- free working environment. Geneva: International Labour Organization 2006.