Abortion Freedom Of Choice Essays - Abortion, Fertility

Abortion: Freedom Of Choice Since 1973 abortion has been an important controversial issue to the United States. The problem begins should it be a womans choice whether or not to terminate her pregnancyor should it be the goverments choice. This is where a woman looses her rights as a person. If abortion is not remained legal woman will start performing them illegaly. One third to one half of all pregnacies in the United States end in abortion,2,500 of these abortions will be performed illegally. Although some oppose abortion for being used as a form of birth control,Abortion should remain legal because it is a womans choice and protects the privacy of an individual. Some teenagers and woman abuse abortion as a form of birth control. Many woman have used legal abortions as a drastic form of contraception, due to carelessness or ignorance of better methods. Abortion should remain legalized for the fact that if it's not kept legal many women perform illegal abortions. This is such as self abortion methods wich are even more dangerous; these included are lye, lysol, iodine douches, as well as self inserted catheters, knitting needles and goose quills. When women lose their right to choose abortion they may start performing them illegally. This may do serious harm to the mother and her body. Aborton is a woman's choice. Woman accepted the definition that a womans prime role was as wife and mother and control of ones own body. Once they had choices about life roles, they came to feel they had the right to choose abortion to run their own lifes. Any woman should have the ability to choose when to have a child in their marital and sexual freedom. Many woman feel if they didnt have the right to choose an abortion in there life they would have passed by many opportunities to create a better life for themselves. For men, or state or the physicians who hold control over whether pregnancy should take place and the woman to suffer alone the consequences that the decision would be best for their careeres, education, or social status came to see wrong and cruelly oppressive.

What Everyone Should Know About the Vietnam War

What Everyone Should Know About the Vietnam War The Vietnam War was the prolonged struggle between nationalist forces attempting to unify the country of Vietnam under a communist government and the United States (with the aid of the South Vietnamese) attempting to prevent the spread of communism. Engaged in a war that many viewed as having no way to win, U.S. leaders lost the American publics support for the war. Since the end of the war, the Vietnam War has become a benchmark for what not to do in all future U.S. foreign conflicts. Dates of the Vietnam War: 1959 April 30, 1975 Also Known As: American War in Vietnam, the Vietnam Conflict, Second Indochina War, War Against the Americans to Save the Nation Ho Chi Minh Comes Home There had been fighting in Vietnam for decades before the Vietnam War began. The Vietnamese had suffered under French colonial rule for nearly six decades when Japan invaded portions of Vietnam in 1940. It was in 1941 when Vietnam had two foreign powers occupying them, that communist Vietnamese revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh arrived back in Vietnam after spending 30 years traveling the world. Once Ho was back in Vietnam, he established a headquarters in a cave in northern Vietnam and established the Viet Minh, whose goal was to rid Vietnam of the French and Japanese occupiers. Having gained support for their cause in northern Vietnam, the Viet Minh announced the establishment of an independent Vietnam with a new government called the Democratic Republic of Vietnam on September 2, 1945. The French, however, were not willing to give up their colony so easily and fought back. For years, Ho had tried to court the United States to support him against the French, including supplying the U.S. with military intelligence about the Japanese during World War II. Despite this aid, the United States was fully dedicated to their Cold War foreign policy of containment, which meant preventing the spread of communism. This fear of the spread of communism was heightened by the U.S. domino theory, which stated that if one country in Southeast Asia fell to communism then surrounding countries would also soon fall. To help prevent Vietnam from becoming a communist country, the U.S. decided to help France defeat Ho and his revolutionaries by sending the French military aid in 1950. Soldiers of the French Foreign Legion at Dien Bien Phu in north-west Vietnam, the site of a major battle between the French and the Vietminh in 1954. Ernst Haas/Getty Images France Steps Out, U.S. Steps In In 1954, after suffering a decisive defeat at Dien Bien Phu, the French decided to pull out of Vietnam. At the Geneva Conference of 1954, a number of nations met to determine how the French could peacefully withdraw. The agreement that came out of the conference (called the Geneva Accords) stipulated a cease-fire for the peaceful withdrawal of French forces and the temporary division of Vietnam along the 17th parallel (which split the country into communist North Vietnam and non-communist South Vietnam). In addition, a general democratic election was to be held in 1956 that would reunite the country under one government. The United States refused to agree to the election, fearing the communists might win. With help from the United States, South Vietnam carried out the election only in South Vietnam rather than countrywide. After eliminating most of his rivals, Ngo Dinh Diem was elected. His leadership, however, proved so horrible that he was killed in 1963 during a coup supported by the United States. Since Diem had alienated many South Vietnamese during his tenure, communist sympathizers in South Vietnam established the National Liberation Front (NLF), also known as the Viet Cong, in 1960 to use guerrilla warfare against the South Vietnamese. First U.S. Ground Troops Sent to Vietnam As the fighting between the Viet Cong and the South Vietnamese continued, the U.S. continued to send additional advisers to South Vietnam. When the North Vietnamese fired directly upon two U.S. ships in international waters on August 2 and 4, 1964 (known as the Gulf of Tonkin Incident), Congress responded with the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. This resolution gave the president the authority to escalate U.S. involvement in Vietnam. President Lyndon Johnson used that authority to order the first U.S. ground troops to Vietnam in March 1965. President Johnson Announces Retaliation for Gulf of Tonkin Incident.   Historical/Getty Images Johnsons Plan for Success President Johnsons goal for U.S. involvement in Vietnam was not for the U.S. to win the war, but for U.S. troops to bolster South Vietnams defenses until South Vietnam could take over. By entering the Vietnam War without a goal to win, Johnson set the stage for future public and troop disappointment when the U.S. found themselves in a stalemate with the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong. From 1965 to 1969, the U.S. was involved in a limited war in Vietnam. Although there were aerial bombings of the North, President Johnson wanted the fighting to be limited to South Vietnam. By limiting the fighting parameters, the U.S. forces would not conduct a serious ground assault into the North to attack the communists directly nor would there be any strong effort to disrupt the Ho Chi Minh Trail (the Viet Congs supply path that ran through Laos and Cambodia). Life in the Jungle U.S. troops fought a jungle war, mostly against the well-supplied Viet Cong. The Viet Cong would attack in ambushes, set up booby traps, and escape through a complex network of underground tunnels. For U.S. forces, even just finding their enemy proved difficult. Since Viet Cong hid in the dense brush, U.S. forces would drop Agent Orange or napalm bombs, which cleared an area by causing the leaves to drop off or to burn away. In every village, U.S. troops had difficulty determining which, if any, villagers were the enemy since even women and children could build booby traps or help house and feed the Viet Cong. U.S. soldiers commonly became frustrated with the fighting conditions in Vietnam. Many suffered from low morale, became angry, and some used drugs. Troops Fighting during the Tet Offensive in the Vietnam War. Bettmann/Getty Images Surprise Attack - The Tet Offensive On January 30, 1968, the North Vietnamese surprised both the U.S. forces and the South Vietnamese by orchestrating a coordinated assault with the Viet Cong to attack about a hundred South Vietnamese cities and towns. Although the U.S. forces and the South Vietnamese army were able to repel the assault known as the  Tet Offensive, this attack proved to Americans that the enemy was stronger and better organized than they had been led to believe. The  Tet Offensive  was a turning point in the war because President Johnson, faced now with an unhappy American public and bad news from his military leaders in Vietnam, decided to no longer escalate the war. Nixons Plan for Peace With Honor In 1969,  Richard Nixon  became the new U.S. president and he had his own plan to end U.S. involvement in Vietnam.   President Nixon  outlined a plan called Vietnamization, which was a process to remove U.S. troops from Vietnam while handing back the fighting to the South Vietnamese. The withdrawal of U.S. troops began in July 1969. To bring a faster end to hostilities, President Nixon also expanded the war into other countries, such as Laos and Cambodia- a move that created thousands of protests, especially on college campuses, back in America. To work toward peace, new peace talks began in Paris on January 25, 1969. When the U.S. had withdrawn most of its troops from Vietnam, the North Vietnamese staged another massive assault, called the  Easter Offensive  (also called the Spring Offensive), on March 30, 1972. North Vietnamese troops crossed over the demilitarized zone (DMZ) at the 17th parallel and invaded South Vietnam. The remaining U.S. forces and the South Vietnamese army fought back. Representatives from the four factions of the Vietnam War meet in Paris to sign a peace agreement. Bettmann/Getty Images The Paris Peace Accords On January 27, 1973, the peace talks in Paris finally succeeded in producing a cease-fire agreement. The last U.S. troops left Vietnam on March 29, 1973, knowing they were leaving a weak South Vietnam who would not be able to withstand another major communist North Vietnam attack. Reunification of Vietnam After the U.S. had withdrawn all its troops, the fighting continued in Vietnam. In early 1975, North Vietnam made another big push south which toppled the South Vietnamese government. South Vietnam officially surrendered to communist North Vietnam on April 30, 1975. On July 2, 1976, Vietnam was reunited as a  communist country, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

Practice Enhancement role of the Mentor on the facilitation of Essay

Practice Enhancement role of the Mentor on the facilitation of learning in your current place of work - Essay Example An example of this case is the "Nursing" profession. Whereas in the latter case, the mentee decides to seek the mentor's guidance because the mentee wishes to take up that particular profession solely out of interest or need. The process of mentoring is in fact so vast that it is offered as a course and therefore, has got many sub-themes attached to it. But two of the topics that will be critically analyzed in the present essay are: The essay is set in the backdrop of an outpatient wing of a local hospital. Within this specified work area, the essay focuses on the role played by the mentor in applying the relevant theories connected to the two themes mentioned above, and aims to critically analyze the outcomes of the application of all such theories in the work area. As is inherent, the mentees in this essay will be trainee nurses, on whom all the proposed practices will be implemented. Everyone cannot become a successful mentor even if they aspire to become one. It turns out that many of them possess the inherent qualities that are necessary for blossoming into effective mentors, but fail to become one because of the lack of having the ability to implement the knowledge that they possess or communicate their ideas and guide the people under them in an effective manner. It has also been found that many of them consider the outlined procedures of mentoring to be a farce, which is absolutely not the case. The experiences of successful mentors have shown that most of them stuck to the basics as outline by the theories of mentoring, and went on to yield outstanding results.Mentoring is highly dependent on a one-on-one relationship between the mentor and every mentee. But this is not possible most of the time as there are irregularities in almost every case. As such, it is the duty of the mentor to instill confidence into the trainee and this can be achieved by motivati ng him/her as also encouraging and not deploring him in case the trainee has done some mistake. The implementation of this principle demands a great deal of perspiration and patience on the part of the mentor. Therefore, it is necessary to outline the various modes, which are adopted by a mentor in order to affect the basic objective of training the mentees under him (Richard Luecke, 2004): Mentors share their own experiences with the mentees. This includes successes as well as failures. This gives the trainee an insight on what must be adopted and what must be avoided. Mentors are supposed to instill a sense of professionalism into the mentee, which can be initiated by modeling the requisite professional behavior. Mentors guide the trainees under them by training them on various aspects that cannot be taught in college. Mentors provide complex cases for trainees to solve and

Hotel service operation management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Hotel service operation management - Essay Example SWOT analysis of the Web based training and development in this hotel helps us to carve a niche in the market. The marketing plan based on the hotel has to be designed and implemented to achieve the goals of business. It also provides knowledge regarding the strengths and the weaknesses of the business. By recognizing and analyzing the marketing strategic plan, the hotel can overcome its difficulties smoothly. The management and operation team of the Hotel solved the problem of worker turnover by increasing the expense of training and salary. For future strategic action plan, report recommended that room for conferences must be constructed at first rather than in the last year. The financial analysis of the Seaside Hotel includes the Total hotel revenue and total hotel net income, Rooms department revenue and rooms net income, Food & beverage department’s revenue and food & beverage net income, Occupancy, average daily rate (ADR), and REVPAR, Refurbishment spending and extra f acilities built analysis, Short term and long term stability ratios, Staff turnover and EMS spend and activities. This plan could attract more businessmen and raise hotel competitiveness. The report also provides information regarding the effectiveness of Web based training and development method in the Hotel business. Appendixes of the report include Current Balance Sheet, Statement of Income for 3 years and Monthly indicator report for the three years. Report also includes aims, objectives, strategy, and formulation of program feedback and control of the study. Report shows the proper implementation of promotional mix could raise the market share and develop business growth in the face of strong competition. HOTS report also shows client satisfaction and loyalty through employee training and development program, by way of increasing profitability and development of the hotel, which was formed by satisfied, faithful, and productive workers. Finally the report shows that the proper

Strategic Environmental Assessment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Strategic Environmental Assessment - Essay Example Strategic environment assessment in general is defined as a, systematic and proactive process which helps in evaluating the policies and programs and comes out with the possible consequences on the environment. While assessing the impacts a considerate view is also taken of its economic and social considerations as well. It is worthwhile here to mention that strategic environment assessment (SEA) takes precedence over the EIA i.e. project environmental impact assessment (UNECE, 2003). A number of water tributaries merging into a main stream with the help of an area of land called watershed holds key to the availability of water for the that region. Watershed management calls for maintaining an eye on the quality and quantity of water resources and initiating proactive efforts for preserving these resources for longer durations. It essentially involves planning the efforts, collecting the data from different sources, assessing and evaluating the data, development of requisite strategies and then implementation of the strategies. Watershed management strategies differ from region to region depending upon the topography of the terrain and availability of the resources. If due attention is not accorded to the watershed region, situation may go out of hand in due course. For example, inflows into the Saguling reservoir in Indonesia have been decreasing over a period of time. Due to watershed degradation the dry season flow into the reservoir was found to be around 38 percent of the average annual flow between 1986 and 1991. This percentage went further down to 36 percent between 1992 and 1997 and to 34 percent in 1998 (ADB, 2006). Therefore SEA helps in preparing an early warning system for taking care of the environmental concerns. With an effective environmental policy and legislative framework in place, Thailand has been paying due attention towards its environmental requirements and focusing on environmental and energy concerns at the national and provincial levels. But, the environment management faces a stiff challenge in view of the rapid industrialization in the country. The country is mainly divided into 7 river basins with further sub-division into 25 drainage areas1. In order to manage the watershed region, the river basins and drainage areas have to be kept in good shape so that the charging system of earth is not blocked. Thailand has forestland stretching over 2000 kilometers from north to south with varied climatic conditions and a coastline. The clear and muddy waters too lap productive mudflats (Datamonitor, 2009). The Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is therefore meant to serve as a promotional tool for expanding the adoption of policies towards preserving the watershed areas. Thailand shares three rivers with its neighbors Myanmar, Malaysia and the Lao People's Democratic Republic. The strategic environment assessment calls not only for assessing the status of watershed areas, but it also requires the experts to consider the management of all the relevant stakeholders. Some of the key stakeholders in this venture include landowners, local businesses, Farmers, industries, city officials, environmental activists etc. The diversity of these groups and their interests often creates a situation where it becomes very difficult to carry out the maintenance of the land, vegetation and water resources of the drainage basin. If the strategic policies are

Business Plan For Hot Dog Mania Marketing Essay

Business Plan For Hot Dog Mania Marketing Essay Being one of the most popular food type in the world, hot-dogs are sold in enormous quantities worldwide. In the US alone, people eat around 16 billion hot-dogs every year. Because of the high demand on this type of food, companies are created every year with the purpose to satisfy the people need to eat a very simple, but fast and tasty food. Hot Dog Mania is a start-up company that will be entering the Romanian food-service industry with a worldwide known product that is not used by any of the ten big companies in this industry the hot dog. The competitive advantage of this product is that it will use different culinary recipes from famous hot dog countries and it will offer its customers the possibility to customize their own hot dogs from scratch, while being able to taste different world flavors. A French company named Gira Foodservice (Ionescu, C. (April 22, 2009), Radiografia pieÃ…Â £ei foodservice din Romà ¢nia [Radiography of the Romanian food service market], http://www.foodandbar.ro/actualitatea/1481-radiografia-pieei-foodservice-din-romania, Retrieved January 05, 2010) published a Romanian country report regarding the food-service industry, in which it stated that the market revenue for 2008 is approximately à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬3.4 billion, and it predicts that the market will increase annually with a two-digit percentage. The domestic market of the company is Romania, and in the future, after a country development to at least five major cities, it will address to other Balkan countries like Bulgaria. The primary customers of the hot dog products are people living in the urban areas, which have a high value for time and mobility, and prefer to eat fast food in order to be able to spare time for other activities. Other customers that will be targeted by HDM will be people who will visit large touristic resorts in the country. The last customer type that HDM targets is the one that is keen on social events like concerts, various exhibitions, fairs, and sport games, and would like to have a snack during a short break. The main priority of this business plan is to set up a fast-food company that will establish various outlets, starting with one on the seaside, with my personal equity. Later on, between three to six months, there will be a further development, were other business partners will be required. Company Description The company name will be Hot Dog Mania, and it will be a registered trademark together with the company logo and slogan at the Romanian State Office for Inventions and Trademark. The internet domain name will be http://www.hotdog-mania.com and it will have numerous links that will redirect customers to it, depending on the country. For example, the Romanian customers will access the website http://www.hotdog-mania.ro and they will be instantaneously redirected to the .com site, with the Romanian language interface. Hot Dog Mania will be a privately held company, registered as a Limited Liability Company, with myself as a sole shareholder. Upon further development to other countries, when the brand will become a franchise, the company will be a franchisor and will have franchisees as partners in other locations. We will focus on selling mainly hot dogs and drinks. The hot dogs will have different variations from the original Frankfurters and Wieners to the hot dogs eaten in various counties in the US like Alabama, New York State or in Seattle Washington, or even the Patsos from Turkey. Besides the predetermined hot dogs, the customers will have the opportunity to customize their own hot dogs from scratch, by choosing the sausage, the bun type, the condiments, vegetables, and spices. The drinks will vary from the well knows juices, mineral water, and some beer assortments. HDM will also have a small merchandise activity, where it will offer its customers hats, badges, T-shirts or various hot dog clothing, in order to remain in the customer attention at all time. Besides the products, the company will try to provide the best quality services in the fast food industry, using the Just in Time method in order to always serve its customers as they make an order. Our main objective is to provide the high quality tasty food to our customers faster than a regular fast food. This mission is sustained by some values like: highly trained professionals, quality food, and faster than fast. The staff will be initially trained for two weeks, and then the store managers will permanently supervise the staff in order to make them provide the best services. These managers would have a higher success rate in the supervising activity because there are a few staff members necessary to run a location. The quality food will be assured by the suppliers, which will be chosen by annual auctions, so the suppliers with the best food quality will be selected. Faster than fast the generic service name that HDM chose for representing the Just in Time food preparing strategy, used by McDonalds. This way, there will be calculations of food demand depending on some factors like location, month, date, hour, events or Holidays, and media. The Just in Time method implies that every employee will have its own activity, and it will be perfectly related to the other employees activity, in order to have no time loss between product preparing and supplying. When there will be high customer queues, one member of the staff will use a Palm PDA to collect orders from the queue, and it will automatically send it to the food processing display, so other employees will be able to make the food before the clients arrive to the cash register, in order to make the waiting time lower. The mission of the HDM company providing high quality tasty food to the customers faster than a regular fast food, will be accomplished by this three main activities. The initial management activity will be conducted by me, and after the opening of another location, two of the staff members will be promoted as store managers one for each location. This means that in the first months I will need to work a little harder in order to both manage the first location, and the company as a whole. After undertaking an ambitious expansion plan, there will be area managers, which will supervise five different management locations in order to assure the correct operations between store managers and employees. Possible management positions will be added later after development, when it will be indispensable to have a Marketing Manager, a Sales Manager, a Store Operation Manager, Human Resources Manager, and Purchasing Manager. Regarding the personnel plan, each location will have two cooks, two cashiers and one store manager that will handle every situation required. Hot Dog Mania locations will be represented by medium and large caravans, that are both mobile and space sufficient for this kind of activity. The first location will be at the seaside, targeting a large number of potential customers, closest to the beach as possible. The fact that the company is using caravans offers the high mobility, which allows us to create new locations in just a few hours. One day the store can be at the seaside, and the other day at a concert event in Bucharest. The location will use large LCD screens to display the products and menus, and it will have its own originality in displaying the tasty hot dogs. We will equip the stores with modern technology, and we will aim for maximum cleanliness in order to attract the customers to maintain it. Another facility is to equip the store with umbrellas and tall bar tables, to allow them to eat the food just in front of the store. The mobile locations will be settled with priority to major events, like soccer games, concerts, exhibitions, fairs. There will also be seasonal locations, on the touristic areas, and fixed locations in the major cities, close to downtown. The initial funds will be covered from my own capital, and it will reach and approximate investment of à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬50,000. The start-up funding necessary is shown in the table on the next page: Start-up Funding Start-up Expenses to Fund 800 Start-up Assets to Fund 43000 Total Funding Required 43800 Assets Non-Cash Assets from Start-up 0 Cash Requirements from Start-up 43800 Additional Cash Raised 5000 Cash Balance on Starting Date 48800 Total Assets 48800 Liabilities and Capital Liabilities Current Borrowing 0 Long-term Liabilities 0 Accounts Payable 0 Other Current Liabilities 0 Total Liabilities 0 Capital Planned Investment 50000 Additional Investment Requirement 0 Total Planned Investment 50000 Loss at Start-up 800 Total Capital 48800 Total Capital and Liabilities 48800 Total Funding 50000 The milestones and timelines of the company have been made on a five-year time interval, and they represent objectives of the company. They are shown on the table below: Task Timeline Milestone Make a sales volume high enough to reach the break even 1 month Reach break even Acquire the necessary licenses to set locations on events 3 months Obtain location licenses Set up the second location of hot dogs 6 months Acquire second location Set up the third location of hot dogs 12 months Acquire third location Expand the company to fixed locations in other major cities 3 years Develop in other cities Create a franchise to the company to have franchisees countrywide 3 years Create a Romanian franchise Expand the company to other countries in the Balkans area 5 years Expand abroad Industry Analysis and Trends The main characteristics of the fast-food industry are the following: Low cost in comparison to a traditional restaurant; The mobility that it offers to its customers, having them the opportunity to eat the food as they go; Specific demographic identities for customers: usually young people, sometimes families, driven by children; living in urban areas, and having medium or lower medium income, although recently young people with high income have developed a sympathy for this kind of food; Faster times in the food preparing, up to a few seconds after the order has been taken; Development in many locations, which are very important for this kind of activity; High competitiveness among companies, based on the fact that customers are not always loyal to a brand, and will consume the products based primarily on the location of the establishment; The fast-food industry in Romania has developed sensitivity to seasonality. In this respect, the industry cycle has fluctuations especially during the Holidays. For example, at the end of December, during the Christmas Holiday, the Romanians have developed a food cult, when they prepare specific Romanian dishes, which they eat for approximately two weeks. During this time, the fast-food industry suffers a dramatic sales drop. The same phenomenon occurs during the Easter Holiday, when Romanians have a highly valued religion holiday. Although these industry cycles are occurring every year, the companies in the market are aware of it, and they are not very affected by it, having time to prepare for these seasonality cycles. The industry life cycle has not yet reached the maturity stage, being in a constant growth for the last ten years. This is happening because the young people, like students, prefer to eat fast food in order to associate to a social trend. Afterwards, even if they have matured and have jobs, they still feel attracted to this food because of the high mobility that it offers. Nevertheless, the state will have a high influence on this trend in the years to come, since they have various campaigns against fast food. Future regulations will impose a vice tax to boost the fast-food prices, and the Ministry of Health is working together with the Ministry of Finance to increase the VAT for this economic sector. Since now, no law like such has been approved in the Romanian Parliament, and it will need the consent of the European Commission. The Romanian fast-food industry is having an accelerating rate of increase, according to a survey made by Euromonitor International (Stoica, A. (May 24, 2007), Fast-food-urile inghit doua miliarde de euro [The fast-foods are eating two billion euros], http://www.romanialibera.ro/bani-si-afaceri/a96203-fast-food-urile-inghit-doua-miliarde-de-euro.html, Retrieved January 05, 2010). According to them, the average growth rate is about 26% every year, and in 2005 the industry reached total revenues of $2 billion, and in 2007 it reached more than à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬2 billion. Bucharest is the Romanian city with the highest revenue in this market. The fast-food industry is consisted on many types of food, from the well-known hamburgers, to chicken, pizza, fries, hot dogs, and the Turkish kebab, called Shaorma in Romania. There are a total of more than 900 fast-food outlets in Bucharest alone, so there is a fierce competition. According to a local newspaper called Romania Libera (TOP 10 fast-food-uri in Bucuresti [Top ten fast-foods in Bucharest] (November 10, 2007), http://www.romanialibera.ro/a110940/top-10-fast-food-uri-in-bucuresti.html, Retrieved January 05, 2010), there are ten major competitors on the fast-food market in Bucharest, among them being McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut, Gregorys, Snack Attack, Burger King, Spring Time, and there is a rather new competitor, on a retail store specialized in furniture, Ikea, that offers food at competitive prices. We will make a detailed analysis of these competitors on the following pages. All of these major competitors can offer products that represent substitutes to the HDM hot dogs, but they have some differences. McDonalds represents the most important competitor that can offer substitute products, being the most appreciated fast-food company in Romania. Their products are not similar to hot dogs, but they have many stores all across the country. Their products have a high demand from customers because of the quality of the food and service. The only drawback of this company is that their food is standardized, and they rarely bring new products on the market. Having the nearest prices to the HDM food, and the same delivery speed, McDonalds is the most significant competitor that can offer substitution products. KFC and Pizza Hut are other competitors that can offer substitution products, although their products are completely different from the hot dogs. In fact, they are very different from another, too. One of them offers chicken recipes, and the other one offers pizza. The only main advantage of these products is that they have a very good taste, and they have various options to choose from. Besides that, the service type is different. Their companies offer customers experiences closer to restaurants, taking long times to prepare, and because of the food type, the customers need to stand at a table in order to eat them, and it takes quite some time to do so. Another drawback represents the high prices of their food, being at least three times more expensive than a traditional hot dog. The only reason that we can say that these two companies offer substitution products is the fact that they are major players in the fast food-industry. Gregorys and Snack Attack are two fast-food companies offering cold sandwiches with salami, ham, cheese and some vegetables. They have a few assortments, but their food is cold. The queue time is low, but the prices are considerably higher than a hot dog. Snack Attack has recently developed and is now supplying food to supermarkets, mini markets, and other stores that might have access to events. Ikea has a fast-food division that returns annual revenues worth of à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬5 million. Although they are specialized in another industry, they have created a fast-food in every store to develop a differentiation competitive advantage, and this strategy has proven to be very efficient. Their food is very cheap, and they are the only competitors that can offer a similar product to HDM. Their hot dogs have the most competitive price on the market, with a price of only à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬0.25 per unit. The only reason why Ikea cannot become a very strong competitor is that they only build fast-food outlets inside their stores, and at this time, there is only one store in the country. Spring Time and Burger King are two other competitors that can offer substitution products for the HDM hot dogs. While Spring Time has reached a company life cycle of saturation and decline, Burger King is not appreciated by the Romanian consumers, and thus they cannot develop, as they register constant loss every year. Other fast-food firms that are selling hot dogs are insignificant, having just a small stand in the street, with no strategies and development plans, being managed by only one self employed person in general. After this analysis of the competitors, we can observe that the fast-food industry has multiple market segments. These market segments are shown in the chart below: As shown on this empirical made graph, the hot dog segment in the Romanian fast-food industry is not yet developed, and a strong competitor on this market segment would be able to benefit from this opportunity. McDonalds has had a continuous market share growth because the customers want to eat faster every year, and they were able to provide that. But a hot dog product can be eaten even in another manner, which would not necessary involve fast eating: doing it on the street. As anyone can see in socially developed countries like USA, Germany and Austria, the hot dog products are bought in the middle of the street, and are eaten on the street. This would provide the Romanian customers an even bigger mobility. The product customization will offer them a bigger flexibility. These two advantages combined with the fact that there are no major competitors in the segment, offers to the hot dog product every prerequisite necessary to become a successful brand in the Romanian market. Even if the market trend shows continuous growth every year, the Government regulations might lower the industry growth rate in the upcoming years. But offering a relatively new product in the market, which have not been exploited by other major competitor, will increase the customer interest to it, and will allow a fast development. Country Report Expansion is a problem which every developing company its asking to itself. Because there are various methods of expanding a company, the financial risks are lowering, and thus allowing growing companies to think about such measures. The first advantage that HDM would benefit from expansion is the fact that it will create an economy of scale. By increasing the total number of customers, than it will increase the order volume that it will make from its suppliers, and then the power of negotiation will increase, and thus, the costs with raw material per unit will be lowered. Another advantage that the company will have is a wider access to the customers, through more fast-food outlets. This should be identified as an opportunity, because at this point a marketing campaign would have expected results, attracting more customers to the stores, and creating a public awareness. If the customers are content with the products and services, then they will become devoted to the brand, although in general this happens to a relatively small number of customers. Higher revenues can be efficiently transferred into management budgets, and allow the company to hire professionals to manage activities with broader instruments and more time than one single manager for all the operations. A Marketing Manager, a Sales Manager, a Store Operation Manager, a Human Resources Manager, and a Purchasing Manager will be key positions to create a professional strategy of product improvement and expansion. By accessing a large number of customers, than the revenues will grow, and the profits will be increased as well, allowing the company to have future expansion at higher rate, because of the increasing capital. One other advantage that expansion brings to the company is the access to lower cost workforce, and especially in Bulgaria, lower raw materials. Expansion to more than ten different locations can bring in an optimistic financial hypothesis the possibility to create a production factory, where the company will have complete access to the raw food processing and it will acquire a complete quality control of the food. Besides, a vertical development can considerably lower the company fixed costs. There is a high opportunity to expand a hot dog company in Romania and even in the Balkans, because the markets have not reached their maturities, and being emerging countries, the middle class will expand in the upcoming decade. This way, the product lifecycle will be extended to at least five to ten years. The major opportunity of expansion to Bulgaria is that the country has similar fast-food industry segmentation as Romania, where the major competitors are addressing different segments, while the hot dog segment is only represented by small companies with low retaliation power. Another opportunity of expansion is represented by the fiscal measures regulated in the foreign countries. Bulgaria has lower taxations than Romania, and it will allow Hot Dog Mania to increase its gross profits. Hot Dog Mania will have two different methods to enter foreign markets. The first method is the foreign direct investment which consists in using the companys own capital to expand to foreign markets. The main advantage is that the expansion will have a high profit potential, while it will have a full control of the operations. The disadvantage of using the foreign direct investment is that the company will have higher financial risks than if it had used other expansion methods. In the foreign country, the company will have exposure to political risk, macroeconomic risk, authority abuse risk, and Government regulations. Setting up new headquarters also involves a managerial investment, but with a higher complexity because of two main reasons: if the manager is Romanian, than it will have to become accustomed to the foreign country culture, habit and measures of communication; and if the manager is foreign, then it will probably have a different perspective over the home country vision, which will be adjusted in a large period of time. The other method that HDM will use to enter foreign markets is the franchise. This is a very easy and financial risk free method to enter other countries. HDM will ask for a monthly franchise tax, and will supply the franchisee with the raw materials as a subcontractor, in order to maintain the food quality and higher income. The company will assess the country potential and will obtain know how about the foreign market, which will allow the company to extend to the country with risk free foreign direct investments. Nevertheless, the franchise method also has some disadvantages. Even if it will act as a subcontractor to the franchisee with the food supply, it will still have low margins to allow the franchisee to have competitive prices on the market. These low margins will offer a lower profit than a profit potential of a FDI. Having a franchisee creates dependence with him, because the home company will always need to supervise and check if the quality is maintain at the company standards. Another risk is that the franchisee could learn the know-how of the hot dog company, and create a new company adapted to its market, and act as a competitor. In the first expansion stage, the HDM company will select the franchise method, because its less financial risky than a foreign direct investment, and it will provide every necessary information that will allow the company to create a future FDI. The primary legal issue of HDMs target country, Bulgaria, is that the judicial system is not fully independent. According to the Heritage website, in Bulgaria Weak property rights, lingering corruption, and inefficient bureaucracy hold down the countrys overall economic freedom. According to the same website, The non-salary cost of employing a worker is high, but dismissing a redundant employee is costless. Even if these regulations are negative to the legal aspect of Bulgaria, the Investment Promotion Act offers equal treatment to both foreign investors and local ones. Another regulation that represents a good opportunity to extend to Bulgaria with a foreign direct investment method is the fact that EU members can buy land in this country. This way, opening new locations will allow HDM to have wholly owned subsidiaries. Starting a business in Bulgaria takes approximately 50 days, in comparison to the EU average of 38 days. According to the Heritage website, Bulgarias economic freedom score is 64.6, which is well above the world average. This is primarily because they have high fiscal freedom, with a flat corporate tax of only 10%. The general time lines for going global represent a projected plan, being subjected to different changes in the upcoming years, due to changes that may occur in the financial status. As in the timeline for the company description, I will use some of the milestones in order to project appropriate timelines for the distant future. The first two milestones that will lead to the extension of the company will be the expanding of the company in other major cities of the home country as a wholly own subsidiaries or franchises, to allow our management to gather enough experience and know-how for future, more complex expansions. After expanding to Bulgaria, the Hot Dog Mania will search other potential locations in the Balkans, with similar people patterns, and similar Government regulations. Considering the fact that the start-up year of the company will be in 2012, the expansion to other countries will take place in 2017. This information is shown on the following table and graph, shown bel ow: Event / Name Start End Length Expand in Other Romanian Cities 2014 2015 1 Create a Franchise 2014 2015 1 Expand to Bulgaria 2016 2017 1 Search for Other foreign Countries 2016 2018 2 Expand to Serbia 2018 2019 1 Expand to Slovakia 2018 2021 3

The Legal Classification of Men and Women :: Social Justice Legal Essays

Usually sex classifications were challenged by women who felt they deprived of equal legal treatment, but they were also challenged by men who felt women were given unfair legal protection. Originally, most of the gender specific legislation in the United States was passed because stereotypes regarding women pervaded the mentalities of many of our nation's lawmakers. Slowly the government realized that women had been sealed into the domestic sphere and attempted to reverse this discrimination by giving women special compensations. In some instances the treatment women received was leftover from old notions of role typing, while in others, laws directly tried to remedy harmful effects of the past. In both cases, men claimed their equal protection rights were violated by laws which separated women from men. In Stanley v. Illinois 1972, Peter Stanley challenged an Illinois statute which "automatically conferred custody on a married father and on a mother, married or unmarried, and automatically denied it to an unmarried father" after the death of a parent (Goldstein 196). Stanley claimed that his equal protection right, protected by the Fourteenth Amendment, was violated because other parents who were similarly situated, that is, women and married men, were given a benefit which he was denied. A constitutional law must demonstrate a clear goal of the state, and represent the "least restrictive means to achieve those ends" (Mezey 16). In this case, however, the Supreme Court observed "that the State registers no gain towards its goals when it separates children from the custody of fit parents" (Goldstein 199). Clearly this law is a remnant of the past when women were thought to be the only caretakers of children. The underlying motive for this law was "the theory that an unwed father is n ot a "parent" whose existing relationship with his children must be considered" (Goldstein 198). While it is common for the state to defend their stereotypical legal relics on the grounds of "administrative convenience," the Court now identifies these laws as problematic (Reed v. Reed 1971, Frontiero v. Richardson 1973). "Procedure by assumption is always cheaper and easier than individual determination(,) but when the procedure... explicitly disdains present realities in deference to past formalities... it cannot stand" (Goldstein 200). Thus, the Illinois law which automatically awarded women the custody of their children, but not similarly situated men, was declared unconstitutional, because it was grounded in outdated stereotypes. Leon Goldfarb, in Calfifano v.

Las Dos Fridas (The Two Fridas) – Frida Kahlo Painting

Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo Calderon, or Frida Kahlo, was a painter born in Mexico in 1907 and died in 1954. Her father was German and her mother was Mexican Indian. From her childhood, she was diagnosed with polio, a disease that infects the spine, and the disease left her right leg distorted. At 18, returning from her art school, the bus she was riding in hit a tram and an iron bar pierced her abdomen/pelvis area. Her legs and vertebrae suffered serious damage. The accident was a turning point in her life. In her hospital bed, she installed a mirror above her bed. She painted many works, most of which were self-portraits.In 1928, Frida met Diego Rivera, whom she married a year later. She could not have children with him because of the accident. Frida was a huge part of the surrealism movement, and a good example of this would be her painting, â€Å"Las Dos Fridas† (â€Å"The Two Fridas†). This work was painted in 1939, shortly after her divorce from Diego Rivera. The painting depicts two different personalities, or versions of her, sitting on a bench. The Frida on the left is clad in a Victorian era wedding dress (this depicts the Frida that Diego left), and the one on the right wears a Tehuana, which is the part of Frida that Diego loved and respected.The hearts of the two Fridas are exposed. The one on the left’s heart is broken, and the one on the right’s heart is whole. The fact that she is holding her own hand could suggest that she wants us to see that she is her only companion. The composition of the foreground makes the two women the centre of attention, and the gloomy sky in the background could reflect inner turmoil. Despite the deeper meaning of the portrait, both Fridas look equally as confident and officious.Movement in this portrait is very little, the only thing we can see that is actively moving is the cut artery from her heart which is squirting blood. This is the first thing that caught my attention. I think, pai red with the scissors in her hand, this could imply self-destruction but giving the circumstances one would be right to assume heartbreak. The actual make-up of the painting is very pristine, with her use of oil on canvas. The brush strokes are delicate, precise and give a realistic effect. There’s a lot of depth in the painting, like in the folds of her dresses and the use of shadow.Frida has shown light and dark tones clearly by making herself the lightest and most vibrant subject in the area, which in contrast, is very dark and almost sinister. Despite the contrast, there’s still a sort of darkness all throughout the painting. The portrait gives an overall negative vibe; it makes me feel sympathetic towards her. The use of line is very subtle and is immaculately blended. The most colourful thing in the foreground is the happy Frida on the right, who wears blue, orange, and gold tones. There doesn’t seem to be an obvious colour scheme.Frida in the white dress is very neutral; it complies of subtle tones of olive and lilac, and overall the wedding dress is a blend of harmonious colours. The painting is, in my opinion, half cold tones and half warm tones. The representation of herself in the painting is realistic but her style of painting gives it an almost cartoon effect. I really adore this painting. I like it because it’s obviously something which holds much deeper meaning. It’s symbolic of heartbreak, despair and deceitfulness but, ultimately, is a representation of empowerment and sticking by your side when no one else will.

Michelangelo and the Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel essays

Michelangelo and the Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel essays Without question, the most recognized work of the Renaissance is Michelangelo's, Sistine Chapel. Named for Pope Sixtus IV della Rovere (1471-1484), the chapel is simple in shape. Its measurements repeat those given in the Bible for the temple of Solomon. But, despite the Sistine Chapel's structural simplicity, its ceiling is one of the pinnacle achievements in art history. After more than four years, Michelangelo completed his masterpiece ceiling in October of 1512. On it, he portrayed the nine stories from the Book of Genesis, including its most famous image, God's Creation of Adam. The achievement of this work lies not only in the detail and beauty of the artistry but also in the comprehensiveness of the stories told in the picture. The Italian Renaissance was called the beginning of the modern age. The most obvious changes during Renaissance times are seen in the Chapel's paintings and sculptures. Artists began to experiment for the first time with oil-based paints. They mixed powdered pigments with linseed oil. The paints dried slowly and remained workable for a few months. Stonemasons of the Middle Ages began to be replaced by Artists. They used materials like bronze to make the scenes in their bas-reliefs more lifelike. Perspective and light were introduced into art. A team of computer experts recently proved that background architectural details were perfectly proportioned and positioned about the figures in the foreground of some Renaissance paintings. Many Renaissance works of art showed subjects taken from the Bible. Non-religious subjects from Greek and Roman Mythology were also popular. The painters and artists that lived during the Renaissance changed the way the world looked at art for all time. This was the most frustrating project of his life. Michelangelo spent a year on the gigantic bronze curvatures. Shortly after awarding the contract for the tomb, Julius commissioned the decoration of the ceiling of the Si...

Free Essays on Machiavelllis The Prince

Fear vs. Love (in Niccolo Machiavelli’s The Prince) The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli is the book that was based on examples of princes and other rulers of Spain, Italy, and other European countries at the time of Renaissance. It is a very interesting work that describes quite a few concepts on how to be a great ruler. To be a great ruler one must in a first place be a good person and according to Machiavelli to be a good person one should have these five qualities: compassion, honor, humanity, integrity, and religion. However, the following question arises, if a prince possesses all those fine qualities that make him a good person how can he be a great ruler who must be mortal and cruel, and according to Machiavelli, â€Å"†¦ no prince should mind being called cruel for what he does to keep his subjects united and loyal.† To help to answer this question I will look at the following passage: "In actual fact, a prince may not have all the admirable qualities listed above, but it is very necessary that he should seem to have them. Indeed, I will venture to say that when you have them and exercise them all the time, they are harmful to you; when you just seem to have them, they are useful. It is good to appear merciful, truthful, humane, sincere, and religious; it is good to be so in reality. But you must keep your mind so disposed that, in case of need, you can turn to the exact contrary." Machiavelly, in the first sentence of this passage shows how important it is for a prince not to have all those qualities that make him a great person but rather to seem like he has them. If prince was to have all those qualities that make him a good person he could not be a great ruler because a great ruler can not be merciful, human, sincere, etc†¦there as he must be cruel, tough, strong as a â€Å"Lion†, and unwilling to stop in front of any barriers that arise on his way of fulfilling his goal and the right to be called ... Free Essays on Machiavellli's The Prince Free Essays on Machiavellli's The Prince Fear vs. Love (in Niccolo Machiavelli’s The Prince) The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli is the book that was based on examples of princes and other rulers of Spain, Italy, and other European countries at the time of Renaissance. It is a very interesting work that describes quite a few concepts on how to be a great ruler. To be a great ruler one must in a first place be a good person and according to Machiavelli to be a good person one should have these five qualities: compassion, honor, humanity, integrity, and religion. However, the following question arises, if a prince possesses all those fine qualities that make him a good person how can he be a great ruler who must be mortal and cruel, and according to Machiavelli, â€Å"†¦ no prince should mind being called cruel for what he does to keep his subjects united and loyal.† To help to answer this question I will look at the following passage: "In actual fact, a prince may not have all the admirable qualities listed above, but it is very necessary that he should seem to have them. Indeed, I will venture to say that when you have them and exercise them all the time, they are harmful to you; when you just seem to have them, they are useful. It is good to appear merciful, truthful, humane, sincere, and religious; it is good to be so in reality. But you must keep your mind so disposed that, in case of need, you can turn to the exact contrary." Machiavelly, in the first sentence of this passage shows how important it is for a prince not to have all those qualities that make him a great person but rather to seem like he has them. If prince was to have all those qualities that make him a good person he could not be a great ruler because a great ruler can not be merciful, human, sincere, etc†¦there as he must be cruel, tough, strong as a â€Å"Lion†, and unwilling to stop in front of any barriers that arise on his way of fulfilling his goal and the right to be called ...

The Price by Arthur Miller Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Price by Arthur Miller - Essay Example Miller’s "The Price" is one of the most entertaining and engaging plays adapted since 1968. Although it was one of Miller’s lesser-known works, it is worthy to have a space in center stage. The play deals with the family’s old wounds and confrontations of consequences of decisions made in the past. It also depicted how people place blame on others when their lives turn off the course. Garry Hynes’ direction of The Price did not deviate from the original script written by Miller. Her choice of well-seasoned actors for the characters is well acclaimed. Her cast includes Sam Robards, John Bedford Lloyd, Kate Burton and Alan Mandell. Sam Robards played the character of Victor Franz who grew up with envy and antagonism towards his brother Walter. He was able to portray Victor’s character very well. His actions were well calculated and with good energy such that in the part where he hit a brick wall that he built by himself. He attacked the character of Victor with resentment in a manner that the audience can really see and feel. He carried the night and became the heart of The Price. John Bedford Lloyd played the character of a successful, wealthy doctor and brother of Victor, Walter Franz. He was very mysterious in character such that the audience cannot clearly point it out if his intentions were selfless or manipulative. He made sure he does prematurel y expose the complications of Walter’s character. He was able to bring out the character in timing rightly. Kate Burton, who played Victor’s wife Esther, moved the character back and forth from being a caring wife and a condescending drinking wife who wants to leave Victor. She was constantly pushing his husband to succeed and stop embarrassing her. Alan Mandell flawlessly portrayed the lovable character of an eighty-nine-year-old appraiser of antique and furniture named Gregory Solomon.  

EHR3007 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

EHR3007 - Essay Example The organizational structure will determine the firm’s ability in distributing the activities and how it coordinates the operations (Maguire, 2003, p.11). The organizational structure and design that is adopted by a given organization will greatly determine the performance and the final achievement of the organizational objectives. The kind of relations that is developed among all the stakeholders of the organization is very essential in ensuring that organizational objectives are set that are aimed at satisfying the needs of the stakeholders. There is need for the top management of a given organization to involve these other stakeholders in the development of policies that govern the operations within the organization. The way in which information is being passed from the top management down the hierarchy to the low-level implementers will influence the effective decision making process within the organization. A structure that has several layers may not allow for easy dissem ination of information between the low-level employees to the top managers. The paper examines the organizational structure that was seen at H.P, a business firm that deals in electronic products in the global market. An analysis is provided for various structural challenges that have been faced by the organization. The poor organizational structure that was seen in the organization in the late 1990s and the early 2000s had various negative impacts on the operations of the organization. The organization was seen to have certain strategies that were not developed according to the competitive nature of the current global market and the needs of some stakeholders. The appropriate organizational structures that can be adopted by the organization to avoid future challenges are also examined. Concepts like corporate governance that have been seen to be behind the successes of various organizations are suggested here as the best measures to be taken in managing the situation at this organi zation. 1. Overview of the organization Hewlett-Packard (H.P) is business firm in the United States that deals in electronic products in a global market. The firm was established back in 1939 by Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard both from Stanford University. The company initially produced a sound electronic device known as an audio oscillator. Various developments have been seen in the types of products produced by the firms and it currently supplies products like laptops and desktop computers, printers, servers and digital cameras (Case Study). The organizational structure at HP is a complex hierarchical one with various management levels. At the top of the hierarchy is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) or the President. This is followed by executive vice presidents serving in different areas of jurisdictions (Hewlett-Packard, 2011). The individuals at this level include the Chief Technical Officers (CTO), Chief Financial Officer (CFO), the Chief Marketing Officer, the Human Resource Manager and others. There is also the level of the senior vice presidents followed by the vice presidents in the hierarchy. There are other managers at different levels like marketing managers, procurement managers, and sales managers down the hierarchy before