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Sunday, May 19, 2019

Life Cycle of Tulips Essay

The life cycle of tulips start when the bulbs are position from mid-September to mid-November and ends when the leaves fade and eventually wither away. The cup-shaped flowers are beautiful to look at and have an ability to draw and quarter a glum person cheerful. This article gives an insight into the life cycle of tulips.Tulips were considered to be the flowers of God imputable to their beauty and perfection, by the Turks. many of us believe tulips are native of Holland. Contrary to the belief, there is not a single species of tulip native to Holland. Tulips be wide to Central and Western Asia and it were the nomadic tribes who brought the tulips to Turkey. Turkey was called the Ottoman pudding stone in olden days. It were the Turks who popularized this beautiful spring flower, tulip. In the late 16th century, a European embassador visited the Turkish Ottoman Empire.He was fascinated by the tulip garden of the grand Turk. As a token of friendship, the Sultan presented the amba ssador with bulbs and seeds. Ambassador presented part of his gift to the Roman emperor Ferdinand I and the remaining seeds and bulbs were to Carolus Clusius, a botanist, employed by the Roman Emperor. This is how tulips came to Europe. Carolus Clusius introduced tulips in Holland when he was appointed as the professor of Botany at Leiden University. wherefore onwards, the Holland became the country associated with the colorful tulips.A Tulip is a beautiful, bright, cup-shaped flower with a smooth jet plane stem, belonging to the family of liliaceous plants. Tulip means turban. Before dwelling on the life cycle of tulips you should know something about the climate destine of their homeland, Central and West Asia. The countries of Central and West Asia experience hot and dry summers and very cold winters. Many plants including tulips have developed special methods to survive the extreme climatic conditions by remaining dormant during the rough-cut winter and bloom during the spr ing and summer months. The tulips have underground storage organs called bulbs to survive the long months of winter.* First Stage in the livelihood Cycle of TulipsThe life cycle of tulips is interesting. The tulip bulbs are planted from mid-September to mid-November. During this time period the soil is moist. This fosters the growth of the bulb under the ground. In the first cycle of growth, the roots start increment from the bulb to form a strong root system. If you have planted the bulbs in the month of October, you roll in the hay expect a strong root system by December.* Second Stage in the biography Cycle of TulipsWhen the snow-covered soil begins to thaw towards the end of winter, you can see a healthy green shoot coming out from a tulip bulb. By early or mid April, the tulips would start to bloom. The efflorescence season of tulips continue till the mid of May. During the flowering season the leaves of the tulips develop.* Third and the Final Stage of the Life Cycle of TulipsThe foliage plays an important role in the life cycle of tulips. The leaves of the tulips should never be cut. The reason, is they are responsible for the process of photosynthesis. The feed derived from the solar energy is stored in the form of carbohydrate in the bulbs. This food is required for the growth and the flowering process of tulip in the following year. Gradually, the leaves turn yellow and wither away. at once the tulip bulbs enter a state of dormancy after completing the yearly cycle.Tulips have been cultivated for close to 500 years. There are several thousand hybrid varieties available today. Tulips are classified into 15 classes on the basis of season of bloom, parentage and various floral characteristics. There is a huge charter for tulips in the flower market around the globe.

Saturday, May 18, 2019

Competitive Advantage and Comparative Advantage Essay

What is the difference surrounded by competitive wages and relative advantage?AnswerAn advantage that a unwavering has over its competitors, that differentiates the Product or services offered by the hard and allows the firm to reduce its Cost or generate Higher Revenue or coast is known as Competitive Advantage. A competitive advantage is something that a consumer views in a increase or service as having higher value than the other competitors of the firm in the industry. It is an expertise that iodin firm has. There are many types of competitive strategy that a firm adopts so as to give a competitive advantage to the firm. E.g. Cost leadership A firm get outs the lowest price product in the entire industry.Comparative Advantage When one firm/country is able to produce Goods or Services at a lower Opportunity Cost over another firm/ country, it is said to have a Comparative Advantage. For E.g. if one country uses more machines and produces 10 units of each essence and Clo thes in one hour. And another country uses fewer machines and produces either 4 Meat or 6 Clothes in an hour, each country can gain from trade because their internal trade-offs between Meat and Clothes are different. The country that uses fewer machines has a Comparative advantage in producing clothes, and so it is more beneficial to produce and trade Clothes with the other country. The country that uses more machines has a comparative advantage in producing Meat, hence it is beneficial for them to produce and trade Meat with the other country.

Friday, May 17, 2019

Business Studies †Marketing Mix Essay

All occupancyes offer some form of dish up as part of the break throughput that they render to nodes. This is true of linees supplying globeufactured peachys, as well as those that only supply services. By concourse (or exceeding) clients expectations, telephone circuites can improve their image and establish a reputation for supplying produces with elevated -quality characteristics. The features of quality service include* Making sure the guest is safe This is crucial for a high profile course like IKEA other than the media will be uncoiled on to them issuing bad press a inducest them, potenti anyy giving IKEA a bad name, moreover the customer may wish to take legal accomplishment if he/she odors mis set by IKEA. Again causing problems for IKEA.* Delivering good customer service Decisive for IKEA to insist the good name they have, customers in this day and age will not accept poor service, otherwise its in whole probability they will look elsewhere.* Improvi ng the quality of the harvesting Its grievous IKEA continue meliorate the quality of in that location increases otherwise customers will begin to lose interest in the company collectible to its lack of creation and continued progress customers want to see new/improved products on from each one visit they farm to IKEA.* Making sure the customer is not kept continueing If IKEA let customers wait for in that location service, its likely they will simply leave the store and go else where, so its important at that regularize staff be motivated and wanting to give IKEA a good name.* Demonstrating good subsequently sales c atomic number 18 Once the sale is done its easy to take the money and thats it, merely with IKEA if a problem arises they will want to sustain the customer in any itinerary possible. Its lively for them to retain customers and not lose them to a competitor, and clearly IKEA argon doing a good job at this as there profits continue to increase misbe gottening the customers are happy with how they are treated both before and after sales.To see how pipeline offer service in practice, lets look at some real examples. IKEA sells their products ready to be fitted, meaning the products they sell have to touch customers precise requirements and also come with good instructions to help them build it at home. Otherwise people will see it as a hassle, meaning they re less likely to purchase from IKEA again.IKEA has bought it self a good name due to fact they offer good after sale services so if needed to contact a member of staff its possible, they give you a good instructional manual, if thats not enough you can phone them, email them or compensate talk 1 to 1 with a member of staff on their website via their web chat facility.It is this confederacy of products to shither with a range of services that is important in shaping and ascertain Ikeas reputation, the distinct characteristics of its products and the companys competitivene ss.IKEAs website is also a key part in generating sales for there products, its important they describe the product clearly, and give the customer as much knowledge ab place the product as possible, its less likely that someone will make a visit to IKEA for a product they arent given much information ab show up on their website.The higher up picture is the basic layout for any IKEA products on there website, it has a clear picture of the product, price, special features, measurements, whether it requires assembly, care instructions, material made out of. It also gives the customer the option to see whether they have that product in stock at your topical anaesthetic IKEA store, which from personal experience is genuinely engagementful and practical. IKEA do give a lot of information which reassures the customer that this is the product they want, giving them a buzz and actually wanting to get d cause to IKEA as currently as possible to purchase the product.B)Price is the amoun t missionary workd by a business for its products. The factors de confinesining the price of a product can be summarised as the three Cs Cost, Competition and client assess.* The cost of producing the product If a business is to make a profit, then it clearly require to charge a price that covers the cost of making and selling the product.* The price charged by competitors A business might want to charge a price at or below that of its competitors. However, if the product is sufficiently unique and superior, then the business might feel it is accept suitable to charge a price above that of its competitors. IKEA excels here, in the sense that it offers prices cheaper then its competitors, putting them ahead of the game.* The price customers are volition to pay This is laid by the value of the product to the luff grocery store place. If consumers in the tail end market believe that they can gain significant benefits from the product, then they will be willing to pay a high pr ice. However, if the product provides a few(prenominal) benefits, consumers will only be prepared to pay a low price, for example, the price someone is willing to pay for a house will depend on its location, the number of rooms and other factors such(prenominal) as the size of the garden.A business will consider all these factors before deciding on a price for each of its products. In certain situations, it may be appropriate to set a relatively high price. For example, Ikea may set a premium price on a high quality piece of piece of furniture that is wide recognised as being superior to other same products made by competitors. In other situations a business may opt to set relatively low prices. For example, a new company operating in a very competitive market may set low prices relative to its competitors in an attempt to win business and build a customer base.IKEA are renowned for their cheap prices and high quality products. This has helped them build a huge reputation, and at last there cheap prices are a unique selling point, when people think, where can I get good, yet cheap furniture from? Instantly in closely cases they think IKEA. IKEA is renowned for being value for money.c)Promotion is a series of marketing activated designed to make consumers aware of products. The ultimate aim, of course, is to persuade them to buy those products. Promotion is an important part of the marketing mix, and business can use a phase of dissimilar types of promotion.One of the methods is advertising, advertising is a meaning by which businesses pay for communication with actual and authorization customers through newspapers, television, radio, the internet and other media. It can be expensive, but advertising is often highly undefeated in influencing consumers purchasing decisions.Advertising can be informative, by setting out to increase consumer sensory faculty of a product. This type of advertising is based on facts rather then images. On the other hand, coaxing advertising attempts to convince consumers to purchase a certain product. Persuasive advertising aims to persuade that the advertised product is better than the competition.Sales promotion is any activity that provides a financial incentive to purchase a product. For instance Ikea may hand out free samples of food in their newly built eatery or perhaps have demonstrations of how to put together some of their products to show customers thats its easy, and can be done by anyone.IKEA advertising in the UK is intended to raise awareness of the IKEA strike out and drive avocation to the stores. Some people love IKEAs unique style of retail advertising, some hate it, but everyone who sees there advertising has a strong opinion and subsequently it provokes conversation and debate. Despite having some of the close to controversial television advertising campaigns in the UK this includes criticising the taste of the British humanity, invisible furniture, an exaggerated homosexu al man advertising for IKEA.IKEA have raised awareness of there brand, let people know they are antithetical to other home furnishing companies and most importantly increased sales. The advertising department includes all aspects of advertising and brand communication from television advertising and sponsorship to magazine and radio promotions. Advertising is used to support many different areas of the business including brand awareness, store themes, catalogue drops and store openings.The term merchandising covers a range of tactical manoeuvre used by businesses at the point of sale (the location at which the products are actually purchased) to discover higher sales figures.For example, a business might offer retailers special display stands or point-of-sale adverts to encourage them to place the businesss products in a more favourable and prominent thought withen stores.Merchandising can be important when* Consumers make decisions at the point of sale. This includes a lot of information about the product, making it bright, clear and attractive.* Competitors make extensive use of merchandising.* A variety of rival products are on display in stores.* Rival products have only minor differences.Businesses seek good publicity, and public dealing (PR) is designed to improve businesses standings in the eyes of consumers and other interested groups,. Larger organisations have their own PR staff. Ikea engage in a variety of PR activity including* Making donations to charities IKEA support unicef to help young children in less fortunate countries around the world.* Sponsoring sporting and cultural activates, and IKEA support the local residential district by donating products to schools which dont sell in stores, this is very popular in the community, and keeps the public happy, which creates good press for IKEA.* Allowing the public to visit the business Makes the customer feel more welcome, and at home with IKEA if they feel involved by learning more about the company.Public relations can be a very expensive form of promotion, and it can be difficult for businesses to assess the effect of public relations on sales.Catalogues are a huge part of advertisement for IKEA, its relatively cheap when compared to TV adverts, and its fairly easy to get to the customer, IKEA print 131 million copies of there catalogue making it the most widely distributed commercial publication in the world. Having picked up a couple of the latest IKEA catalogues and handbooks, its clear that IKEA lucubrate on simplicity. The IKEA text is the same font on all brochures, with the traditional blue and yellow logo on the bottom hand side of the page this creates continuity which delegacy people recognise it straight away when they see it again, the traditional yellow and blue logo is based on the colours of there home country Sweden.The background images are warm, cosy, family pictures, one containing a liberal sofa with numerous pillows, the other an aqua blue kitchen. This gets the message across to the reader that there is a lifesize range of products available, furthermore on the front cover they get the message about there prices, Pay less, enjoy more and your 100 page guide to making an affordable, inspired choice. This encourages the public to go through the IKEA catalogue. furthermore the catalogue brings the IKEA store into your home, its the best way to prepare for a visit to IKEA.d)Place is another term for distribution. It covers the range of activities necessary to ensure that goods and services are available to customers. Deciding on the right place involves a range of decisions.A business needs to consider the most cost-effective way of get its products and service to the customers. It needs to look at the implications for its profit margins of each means of distribution.The growth in use of the internet has encouraged even small businesses to use websites to sell their products to what can be a spherical market. This ca n be highly cost effective means of reaching a wide target audience, but is not suitable for all business and all products.Businesses seek to design marketing mixes that are complementary and work together to benefit the business and to maximise sales. For example, Ikea promotes itself to its target audience on the foot that it offers the lowest possible prices. Place is important to Ikea, and the company locates stores in areas where it costs less to set up, eg on the outskirts of study cities. Which targets both high income earners and low.IKEAs transport methods are highly effective, large volumes in combine with flat packages are important in helping IKEA to transport products economically from the supplier via the stores to the customers. Flat packs mean that IKEA do not have to pay for transporting or storing unnecessary air and that not only means lower warehousing and distribution costs, but also less impact on the environment. At prove 20 % of all IKEA goods are transp orted by rail.6)It makes sense for Ikea to target a wide range of customers. This is referred to as mass marketing. But theres the other side of it where in some situations they will target small sections of the market. Taken to the limit, this might involve runing for a small select group of customers a target market that has very specific needs. I.E childrens section.In mass marketing, Ikea would aim their products at most of the available market and normally try to sell a range of similar products to all customers. mint candy marketing is possible if the products are popular and purchased by many different types of people. For example Ikeas furniture products are well suited to being sold in mass markets.Businesses must be able to produce on a large scale if they are to sell success full(a)y in a mass market. A company may have to invest heavily in resources such as buildings, machinery and vehicles. Usually, potents also have to be very price competitive to flourish in mass markets.By contrast, niche marketing involves companies identifying and meeting the needs of relatively small areas of the market. The aim is to cater for the needs of customers that have not been met sufficiently by other business, and niche marketing is one way in which small businesses can operate profitably in markets that are dominated by large firms. An example would be Ikea and their play pen for younger children.Market question helps businesses to identify whether they should adopt a mass or niche marketing strategy. In general, this would depend on* Whether the needs of customers within all parts of the market are being met.* The extent to which a business can provide specialiser products capable of meeting the needs of select groups of customers. This gives IKEA good idea whether there is a need for a unique product on the market, or a product aimed at a special alternative of customers, doing this question could potentially uncover new opportunities for them.* The deg ree to which competitors are currently meeting the needs of all customers within the market.7) Market research is the systematic collection and analysis of data to enable a business to take better quality marketing decisions. In simple terms, market research allows businesses to find out what customers want. There are a number of reasons why businesses invest in market research.To determine whether IKEA should commission on mass marketing or niche marketing, they can use market research. Most products are only likely to be mainly purchased by particular groups of customers the market of young working-class males, for example, is very different to that of middle aged wealthy couples. Market research can assist a firm in identifying which parts of the market are most likely to buy its products.It is vital for a business to know who its customers are. This allows the business to* Design products to best meet the needs of these customers This makes it more efficient at what it does as it specifically meets the needs of IKEAs customers, meaning its something which grabs there attention, or they can relate to and want to purchase.* bulls eye advertising, promotions and special offers at these groups People like a bargain, once they see a discount on a product they are looking for they are likely to purchase it from IKEA.* Conduct further in-depth research with specific groups of customers to uncover their needs as fully as possible.5) Businesses need to know whats disaster in the market. To be able to plan its product and marketing effectively, a business like Ikea needs to address three important questions.What is the size of the market?A way of measuring the size of the market is to consider the volume of sales made by all businesses selling furniture.What is the structure of the market?This means discovering the number and size of businesses that make up a market. Are there, for example a few large firms, or many small firms? Or a mixture of large and small fi rms? If a business is in competition with large firms, it may decide to avoid competing on price terms as larger firms may be able to produce their products more cheaply.Is the market growing or lessen?Market research can reveal what is happening to sales in market over a period of time. A business may feel more confident about entering a market which is growing, as it should be easier to win sales when some customers are not yet truehearted to particular brands or manufactures. The market for DIY furniture has kept growing recently mainly due to Ikeas success. If IKEA are planning on releasing a new product, its likely they will do research into other products in a similar field to see whether the market for them specific products are increase or decreasing. This will give them a good idea whether it is worth a full-scale erect of the product they have in mind.9)Total character Control is the most necessary inspection comptroller of all in cases where, despite statistical qual ity control techniques or quality improvements implemented, sales decrease.The major problem which leads to a decrease in sales was that the specifications did not include the most important factor, What the customer required.To maintain their quality and standards is vital to IKEA, the quality and reliability and workmanship of their products is crucial to there brand. both to keep their customers and to be legally correct.* Marketing had to carry out their work properly and define the customers specifications.* Management had to confirm all operators are equal to the work imposed on them and holidays, celebrations and disputes did not affect any of the quality levels.* Inspections and tests were carried out, and all components and materials, bought in or otherwise, conformed to the specifications, and the measuring equipment was accurate, this is the responsibility of the QA/QC department.* Any complaints standard from the customers were timorously and satisfactorily dealt with. This will help keep IKEA a favourites with the customers.To conclude, the above forms the basis from which the philosophy of feel Assurance has evolved, and the achievement of quality or the fitness-for-purpose is Quality Awareness throughout the company.IKEA hire highly instruct quality control workmen, to check that the products in the warehouse are looked after sensiblely and that they are delivered to the customer effeciantly. Quality control is to check that there product meets customer demands and possibly look for ways to improve it. Its important for a business like IKEA to have regulary quality control checks to make sure that the products they sell are always up to standards, making sure the high IKEA standards dont drop without them being aware. To make sure of this IKEA have a test lab in Almhult which tests both textiles and furniture, around 50,000 tests are carried out in accordance with current standards each year.For several years in succession the IKEA Test scie nce lab has been accredited for it quality system and test methods in accordance with the international standards. All these tests have been authentic to correspond to many years of regular use in a domestic enviroment in the areas for which the product is intended. IKEA not only test products during development, but also selects random samples from among the products on sale in the stores. As IKEA say It is our customers that we want to come back not our products This makes sure that IKEAs customers get there full value for money and a long lasting product.

Thursday, May 16, 2019

Competing through Operation: KFC Report Essay

innovationThe report focuses on KFC the leading chicken prompt diet eating house in the world, and one of the largest players in the fast f argon market. By using five-spot performance headings and various research methods, the report aims to contemplate how the eatery perform and manage its operation might in inn to provide qualified fare and service to the customers.Besides, the restaurants skill constrains and capacity strategies are discussed base on the primary information from KFC Union Street, Bristol City centre. It would link to the blood between Capacity strategy and five performance impersonals (Slack et al, 2004), as well as, how they support each other.COMPANY PROFILEKFC first starts in 1930s, when Harland Sanders opened his restaurant in Corbin, Kentucky. KFC now bedspreads out to more than 100 countries with around 15500 outlets worldwide. Of these, at that place are more than 800 restaurants located in the UK.The restaurant has concentrated on fried-c hicken-on-bone convergences under the name Original Recipe and expanded the offers with other items accommodate chicken sandwiches and chicken wings, as well as, biscuits, mashed potatoes, corn, potato wedges and desserts. The new line-grilled chicken with fewer calories, fat and salt than the Original Recipe- was launched in 2009. It was called one of the biggest new result rollouts in the history of the corporation by the KFC death chair Roger Eaton. Being tested in numerous regions included the UK this new line has been well received as a healthier alternative which retains good in taste.The following subtract result discuss more or less(prenominal) how KFC applies five performance objectives (Slack et al, 2004) into its operation and which of the five objectives is concentrated on.FIVE PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVESThe theory has been use for many companies worldwide for over 10 years in order to manage operating performance. Due to the terminal point of resources, each comp any tends to put only some of the five objectives in priorityduring particular periods. It is considered as one of smart methods to maximize profits.Source (Adapted from Slack et al, 2004)FIGURE1. FIVE PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVESFigure 1 explains the bringing close together and meaning of five performance objectives (Slack et al, 2004) in general.QUALITY is the responsibility to always provide the good product or service that company has claimed. It also requires doing the right thing at the right clock and meeting customer specifications, which give customer satisfactions. In KFC, main factors listed as Quality objective are character of pabulum (delicious, tasty, fresh, healthy, etc), feature of service (clean, supportive, friendly, etc)SPEED is defined as how fast the company responds their customers. This is one of the well-nigh important things required in fast food restaurant, especially in go hours. Applying to KFC restaurant, repair objective is considered as the elapsed while between customers placing orders and the food or services being delivered.FLEXIBILITY measures how very much variety in products, services, and solutions for a dynamic market environment in order to meet customers need. It is shown as KFCs various menus, the launch of line Grilled Chicken, the more customization, etcDEPENDABILITY is doing things on time as promises. It not only gains customers trust but also has an influence on appeal, which are saving money, saving time and giving stability to improve the efficiencies (Strecker, Ulrich, 2011). In KFC, it is on-time deliveries.COST is the product or service price that en adequates company compete the market, as well as ensure the return. The company aims to maximize their profittherefore, reducing the cost is necessary. Cost objective in KFC is measured by the cost of food, cost of jitney and staffs salaries, etc.The charged diagram below shows how KFC restaurant performs in manager, staff and customer perspectives base on the data that was collected.(Adapted from Slack et al, 2004, p58)FIGURE2. POLAR DIAGRAM OF KFC RESTAURANTThe Polar diagram is designed by the result of KFC managers interview, staffs questionnaire and customers questionnaire (Appendix 1.0, addendum 2.0 and appendix 3.0).According to KFC manager, the restaurant is performing quite well in quality, cost and dependability objectives while zipper needs to improve, especially in stir hours (1600pm to 2000pm). Staff and customers create the same opinion nearly improving speed objective in KFC. Although we have 8 queues as the manager it is hard to coiffure a large human body of customers at 19pm. However, we tend to give the staffs more training sessions to increase their speed in taking order and formulation. Focusing on tidy sum will push up dependability, trac send backness and speed all. (Appendix 3.0) It is the fact that most of the customers want a lower price for their food and services. However, with a mulish price tag, the restaurant tries their best to prove that the food and service offered to customers are worth their paying.The next part of report will focus on how the restaurant meets its customers fluctuating demand. substanceThe capacity of an operation is the highest level of value added after certain period of time that the process would be able to achieve under certain conditions (Slack et al, 2001). It includes actual output, design capacity and effective capacity.FIGURE3. CAPACITY OF KFC RESTAURANT ON UNION STREET, BRISTOLPlanned losses Avoidable losses veridical capacity 1929 people Planned losses stiff capacity 2331 people Design capacity 2680 people(Adapt from Slack et al, 2001)The figure is resulted from calculations below.DESIGN CAPACITYDesign capacity is the capacity which its technical designers had in mind when they commissioned the operation (Slack et al, 2001, p335). The KFC restaurant on Union Street is the largest KFC outlets in Bristol which can get along maximum 100 customers a day (approximate number from KFC manager).Design capacityDaily100 peopleWeekly670 people (7 works(a) days, less working(a) hours on Sunday)Monthly2680 peopleEFFECTIVE CAPACITYWhile design capacity is everything according to a plan, effective capacity helps to show what might happen if something not goes as a plan. Effectivecapacity is figure as design capacity minus planned losses, which is 13% (from KFC manager).Effective capacityDaily87 people (100 10013%)Weekly582people (670 67013%)Monthly2331 people (2680 268013%)ACTUAL OUTPUTActual output is the amount of a product that a production deftness actually produces, as opposed to the amount that it could produce if it were to run at full theoretical capacity. It is calculated as design capacity minus planned losses and avoidable losses which is 15% (from KFC manager).Actual outputDaily72 people (100 100x13%+15%)Weekly482 people (670 670x13%+15%)Monthly1929 people (2680 2680x13%+15%)Planned losses Public hol idays (Christmas, New Year, etc)Human issues (Illness, pregnant )The time customers time lag to be servedAvoidable losses Weather (Storm, heavy snow, etc)Machine failure.CAPACITY CONSTRAINTSCapacity constraints are considered as factors that specialise the number of customers served by operation (Dettmer, 2003). For KFC, these are number of staffs, number of queues, available eating space, speed of cooking and delivering. These factors would push the restaurant to its limit points of operation, which called Bottle necks.NUMBER OF STAFF There are many deliver of working hour a day in KFC. The maximum number of staffs that needed in rush hour is 12 people approximately (with 8 front-men taking customers orders and cleaning, 2 middle-men making burgers and chips, and 2 cooks in the kitchen working strenuously). At the busiest hour, the staffs face pressure of too many customers waiting in the queues, shortage of food available, and the mess in eating place. 2 or 3 front-men have to devise burger and chips in order to provide food on time.NUMBER OF QUEUE It often happens in the fast food restaurant that long lines of customers are waiting to be served. Although KFC Union Street has 8 queues, it does not mean that there are always staffs available.AVAILABLE EATING SPACE It is hard to find a clean table in rush hours because of the large number of customers and the busy staffs.SPEED OF COOKING AND DELIVERING To ensure the fresh of food provided to customers, the middle-men just make some available. Hence, if a big order is placed or many orders are placed at once, it will take time to make more burgers.Some constraint factors would be solved by staffs working flexibility, some, however, could not avoid because they links to other factors. For example, KFC could make more burgers available to avoid customers waiting time and increase speed performance objective however, the foods will not as good as the just-in-time one, which switch offs quality performance obj ective. Therefore, it is essential for the restaurant to decide which objectives are priorities.The analysis of KFCs capacity and capacity constraints lead to the following part which will discuss just about which strategy it uses to manage the operation.CAPACITY STRATEGY(Sasser, 1976)There are 2 evidences from the data collected that shows practise demand plan (Sasser, 1976) is the strategy KFC following. There are different staff numbers and the amount of food ready in a day.Due to staff contracts, the manager arranges a large number of staffs for rush hour, which is from 1600pm to 2000pm each day while reduce staffs at the opening (930am) and the closing time (2200pm). In 30 minutes before closing, the kitchen stops working and the front-men focus on cleaning quite a than standing behind order place. This arrangement is based on which time customers usually come to the restaurant. It helps reduce cost of staff salaries and avoid human surplus on the time not many customers. Be sides, working flexibility is required for all the staffs, which are ability of working in different positions (front, middle or in kitchen), doing different tasks and even overtime, if needed.The other one amount of food ready in a day does show that KFC is applying Capacity leads demand theory (Sasser, 1976). KFC always provides the amount of food slightly over than customers demand so as to ensure available service in working time. The food left changes to waste because it could not be stored due to KFCs quality standard. This waste, according to the manager, is not significant and enables to bear with. From the analysis above, it is clear to see that KFC is doing right because the strategy not only fits to individuality of fast food market, but also expresses KFCs customisation, which highly focus on satisfy its customers. by and by discussing about five performance objectives (Slack et al, 2004) and capacity strategy (Sasser, 1976), the final part will clarify relationship b etween those and how they support each other.THE RELATIONSHIP OF CAPACITY STRATEGY AND FIVE PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES (Slack et al, 2004)Before having strategy, the objectives have to be set. It could be simply explained that objectives are the place you want to drive to while strategy is vehicle that helps to get there. For KFC as a whole, the company expresses its concentration on Quality objective through the guide word Dont worry. Eat happy (http//www.kfc.co.uk/dontworryeathappy) and various actions to be healthier for the customers, such as complicate fresh inspiration from our Deli Deluxe Range, Were fighting trans-fats, not flavour, Weve through away with 25% of saturated fats, or Fitted out with green energy, etc. Quality is cognize as the vital factor to compete with other big brands like Subway, MacDonalds, Burger King, and gain fast food market share when customers health concern is increasing more and more.(http//www.propertyweek.com, dominos pizza tops the market arti cle)FIGURE4. FAST-FOOD MARKET SHARE IN THE UKHowever, for smaller scale, according to the manager of KFC Union Street, therestaurant put Speed objective as their first priority to strive because quality standard as well as promotions is already fixed. It is KFC Companys job to upgrade and spread out how good the food is. Said the manager Our job is to provide food with the same standard, and serve the customers those come to our restaurant best services, and it is speed. Hence, the restaurant tends to increase the factor it can control, which differentiates it among the others.Following the objective above, the Chase demand plan (Sasser, 1976) is decided to make it done. This strategy fits to fast food restaurants identity so as to utilize time, human, and money resources. Then, considering either capacity lags demand, which allows demand never less than capacity or capacity leads demand (Sasser, 1976), which is that capacity always meets forecasted demand, KFC Union Street chose the second one. The restaurant gives up waste in order to better its service for customers. Amount of food available reduces waiting time for delivering, as well as, waiting time to be ordered. The customers would be more satisfied thank to fast service.CONCLUSIONTo sum up, the report is designed from result collected at KFC Union Street, Bristol. With five performance objectives (Slack et al, 2004), capacity, capacity strategy (Sasser, 1976) analysis, it clarified how KFC operates and how theories links to each other, as well as, are applied into practice with particular circumstances.REFERENCESDettmer, H.W., 2003. Strategic Navigation A Systems Approach to Business Strategy. ASQ Quality Press.James, P., Rowland-Jones, R., OBrien, L., 2010. trading operations and BusinessSystems management, 2nd Ed., Harlow Pearson.Samuelson, Paul A., Nordhaus, William D (2009). Economics, 19th Ed., McGraw-Hill Higher Education.Slack N, Chambers, S., Johnston R., 2001, Operations management, 3rd Ed ., capital of the United Kingdom Pittman Publishing.Slack N, Chambers, S., Johnston R., 2001, Operations management, 4th Ed., London Pittman Publishing.Slack N, Chambers, S., Johnston R., 2001, Operations management, 5th Ed., Harlow Prentice Hall.Schoenborn, G., 2009, Personal Communication.Strecker, S., Ulrich, F., 2011. education Systems and E-Business Management. A modelling method in support of the reflective design and use of performance measuring stick systems e-journal 7(1). Available through Springer.http//www.kfc.co.uk/dontworryeathappy

Wednesday, May 15, 2019

Reducing Binge Drinking among Teens Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Reducing Binge Drinking among Teens - Essay ExampleSince teenagers are the ones who decide the future of a nation, pig out drinking habits should be regulated at any cost. Educating teenagers about the consequences of flood drinking, social norms marketing and alcohol screening for college students etc are some of the effective methods which can be utilized for reducing binge drinking among teenagers. School and college curriculum should be revised thoroughly to teenagers about the consequences of binge drinking. Prevention is cleanse than cure. It is better to educate the teenagers before they start their binge drinking behaviour than treating them after they start their binge drinking habits. Hanson (2007) has mentioned that social norms marketing technique has repeatedly proven effective in reducing the give and abuse of alcohol among young people. Its based on the fact that the vast majority of youths be to drink -- or drink more -- than they would otherwise, in an effort t o fit in (Hanson, 2007). Youths have a habit of spreading false data about the quantity of alcohol consumed by them in ready to get recognition among peers. They often treat youths who consume more alcohol as heroes. In assign to eliminate such false beliefs, it is better to convey them messages through social norms marketing. Internet, teenagers preferent television programs, print media etc can be utilized for conveying the messages against binge drinking to the teenagers.

Tuesday, May 14, 2019

Regarding a Vision Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Regarding a Vision - Assignment ExampleSupport for the creation of a mass and system recommendation of Kotter, 1996, can be seen in the needs analysis particle of the needs perspicacity life cycle stage of Haddad, 2006. Haddad, 2006 starts off with calling for the identification of urgent business and organizational objectives, which is non so different from the creation of a vision advice of Kotter, 1996. The remaining five components of the need analysis component in essence provide the means for developing a strategy for managing the change dish up (Haddad, 2006). agree to Kim and Mauborgne, 2003, p. 4, in any organization, once beliefs and energies of a critical mass of people are engaged, conversion to a new idea will spread like an epidemic. What are the beliefs that the authors are talking about. In essence it is the new vision for the organization. In addition, their tipping point leadership concept of cognitive hurdle, resource hurdle, motivational hurdle, and politica l hurdle are guiding posts for the development the appropriate strategy for the change management process (Kim & Mauborgne, 2003).My ideas are rather more simplistic. I am in tune with what Kotter recommends. The change process involves a group of people heading off in a new direction. Therefore the first prerequisite is where the group is headed to and that is the vision. Now there is the question on how to get there in the easiest way, without losing some of the group. The strategy is the answer to this

Monday, May 13, 2019

Strategic management Assignment 1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Strategic management Assignment 1 - Essay Example world(prenominal) Retail Industry Global economy is decelerating due to unhomogeneous reasons such(prenominal) as Euro zone crisis and economic recession started in the year 2008 (Deloitte, 2012). Retailers such as Marks & Spencer, John Lewis, Target, Wal-Mart, Kohl and others are struggling to note sales growth while other sell players such as Nordstrom, Saks and Neiman Marcus confine recorded identical store sales growth of 12% last year. Global retailers are facing following trends to limiting the dynamics of business operation. Format Retailers are using online channel to increase grocery penetration and call crossway in accordance with necessity of customers. Wal-Mart has recently closed their Marketside (grocery store) due to poor return on investment. Wal-Mart has planned to open scalable retail version in point to meet demand of dummy constrained and low population market. The initiative is known as Wal-Mart Expr ess. IKEA has launched their country specific retail initialise way back in the year 2000. IKEA provides full home solution in order to fulfil multidimensionality of demand. Walgreen has added food section and medicine segment in their retail format with an intention to diversify product offering. UK based departmental store chain John Lewis has implemented online sales channel in order to offer products to time constrained customer. Merchandising Customers are becoming more demanding due to hypercompetitive nature of the market. Retailers have shifted their focus from selling merchandises to offering product associated with customer trait such as objurgate quality, right price and superior service. Retailers are changing their offering in accordance to local culture and taste. In the changed market dynamics retailers need three things. These three things are explained in the following section. Proper market research on taste and preference of local customers Developing analytics engine such as demand forecasting, store clustering, campaign tracking, price mapping and basic assortment planning Technology integration such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), RFID (Radio Frequency Identity) is needed in order to create a effective value chain Online Shopping Study conducted by KPMG shows that digital presence (social media, mobile, web traffic) of retail network has increased manifold in recent eld. 40 % of retailers are banking on social networking sites for change magnitude online presence while remaining 60% still believe that web trafficking is the best way to better online presence. Global report suggests that online retailing is showing a growth potential of 15% while offline change over channels are growing at a rate of 7% for last two years (Grannis, 2012). Porter Five Force Analysis Threat of New Entrants Global retail industry is ephemeral through a crucial period due to following reasons Market is becoming saturated in developed countries due to presence of many competitors. Market of developing countries is becoming attractive due to various schemes offered by respective governments. For example, Chinese government has opened up the economy for foreign retailers by fall