Ann Frank :: essays research papers

Ann Frank was a bright happy 13-year-old Jewish girl. She was born in Germany. Ann lived with her Father, Mother and Sister. Her father owned his own business. He sold herbs and spices until 1940, when Hitler came into power. Ann’s father Mr. Frank was a kind man. He did not want to see his family go to a prison camp or be murdered because they were Jewish. Mr. Frank decided to take his family into hiding. He had a friend named Mipe, who hid his family in the annex of the building she had a business in. Mr. Frank also invited another Family the Van Dann’s to go into hiding with them. The Van Dann’s had one son. His name was Peter.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ann Frank was an average looking girl. Her hair was short and dark. She loved to play outside, ride her bike. She had friends at school. Ann was sometimes annoying to her family because she was so full of energy. She talked a lot and always stated her opioion about things even when her opinion was not asked for. Sometimes Ann would hurt her mothers feelings because she did not listen. Ann said she didn’t mean to be bad or hurt her mother. She felt like the good Ann was inside her.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ann was compassionate she cared about other people’s feelings. She wanted to make Hanukkah special during their time in the annex. Ann had no money so she had to use her imagination to come up with special gifts. She thought about each person individually and made a personal gift for each one in her family and the Van Dann’s family. They were all very surprised and treasured the gifts because they realized it came for Ann’s heart.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ann Frank was a special person. She made the best out of a bad situation. She was trapped in the annex of a building for a very long time. She couldn’t do the simple everyday things, like go for a walk, listen to the radio, smell the air outside or even go to the bathroom when she needed to. She made life very interesting for the people in the annex with her. Weather they realized it not she brighten their days and made things exciting with her outgoing personality. The fact that she wrote in her diary each day shows that she had a caring soul and she wanted to remember and share her experiences.

Puente Hills

Puente Hill Toyota Puente Hills Toyota (PHT) is a large Toyota dealership which is owned by the corporation Hitchcock Automotive Services. PHT is situated in city of industry, California, about 25 miles east of Los Angeles. PHT offers a wide variety of new and used cars (this is unique in the industry). Furthermore they offer Toyota incentives, service specials, and Toyota parts savings. The annual profits of PHT totaled about $1. 8, with annual sales of $ 85 million. PHT had a total of 145 employees. The employees are very valuable to PHT due they are the ones who have to advise the customer, sell the vehicles and repair them.But it is hard to keep them al motivated. As said by Howard Hakes; â€Å"It's people who give us our biggest successes as well as our biggest challenges†. The most important is to get all the employees in the same direction, to reach the companies goals. For PHT there are two important things, that both the manufacturers and the customers are happy. PHT is divided in five departments, who are reporting directly to the dealership manager, namely: a sales department, and service department, a body shop department, a parts department and a Finance and Insurance department.The departments are managed as profit centers. Within this profit centers there are different performance measurement and incentive systems. First the performance measures and incentive systems that apply to all the departments will be discussed. Than the Sales and Service department will be discussed separately. All the bonus plans within the sales department start from one. At PHT, most employees’ variable incentive pay increases linearly with performance, however performance is defined; that is, the higher the performance, the larger the bonuses that are paid.In most large companies, however, particularly at managerial levels, no bonuses are paid until a minimum level of performance, such as a budget goal, is exceeded. An advantage hereof is that managers w ill not so fast engage in earnings management; ‘save sales' for a future period to reach their targets. Or ‘take a bath', they make results (look worse) in bad times to get an advance on better results in the subsequent period (Merchant & Van de Stede, 2007 p. 187).An disadvantage for PHT could be that an manager could be satisfied with an certain amount of bonus and will not work as hard as he did before anymore, due there isn't a real target. Goal-setting doesn't seem so important for PHT. But also goal setting can have negative impacts. An example is that the pressure for the managers and employees can be too high. p. 30 In short, we think it is a good way to motivate the employees, because the managers will not ‘take a bath' or ‘save sales'.At the other hand we think that employees always want to increase their bonus because they are self interested so they will be motivated. The other performance measures are CSI and ESI, but it's vague how this performa nce measure are used. They could be used in a positive sense, to provide â€Å"discretionary† bonuses or in a negative sense to limit the amount of the bonus. We think this has to change because of two reasons, first of all it is not clear how it influences the bonus of the employees. Secondly, there isn't a group reward within PHT.By making the CSI an collective measure system a few things improve. The most important is the communication of expectations and mutual monitoring (social control). Evidence suggest that group rewards can have a positive effects on motivation and performance (Mercheant p. 89). Thus they should adapt the survey that customers have to fill in that the final result is an mark. If the average of the marks given by the customers is 7 or higher, the bonus of all the employees who have contact with customers and the managers who are responsible for these employees will increase.If it is lower than 7 the bonus will decrease (see figure 1 for an example). I n this manner group awards could be achieved. Employees will correct and support each other to serve the customer in the best way possible because it could increase or decrease their bonus. At this moment some of the salesman are fraudulent with the customer surveys. For this reason the survey should be done by an independent company. This doesn't only give the management more useful management information, but provides them also with a good performance measure.Thereby could this independent company also randomly pick some customers who are willing to make a second survey. This survey is focused on the as we call it ‘aftercare'. In this way the follow-up actions of the salesman and the service advisors can be monitored CSI RatingChange in bonus 1| -11 %| 2| -9 %| 3| -7 %| 4| -5 %| 5| -3 %| 6| -1 %| 7| +1 %| 8| +3 %| 9| +5 %| 10| +7 %| Sales department In the sales department it is all about one thing, sales of vehicles. For the employees of this department two things are impor tant, profit made on a sold car and customer satisfaction (already described).We can make a distinction between five different bonus plans. First the Salesmen and the assistant sales manager they earn respectively 20% and 7% of the gross profit of every deal. It is good that this measure focus on gross profit and not on how many cars sold. Due this reason there is no behavioral displacement, there are no side effects that will deliver extra indirect costs. When they for example should give a fixed bonus for each car sold, sales man will do everything to sell a vehicle and lower the prices in the bargaining process as far as possible.Now the salesmen and the assistant sales manager are motivated to sell as many cars as possible but with a good margin. Secondly the desk sales managers en de general sales manager and the vehicle sales manager get a bonus based on a percentage of departmental profit after overhead expenses before tax. The general sales manager gets a bonus of 2,5%, the sales desk manager gets a bonus of 1,2-1,5% and the used vehicle sales manager gets 5% but this is only from the used vehicle department. It is good that the bonus is based on the departmental profit after overhead expenses.Because in this manner you create an entrepreneurial way of thinking. The better you do your job, the higher your income will be. This for example can also reduce ‘on the job consumption' because, if the expenses are high net income will be lower and this will influence the bonus of the managers. In our opinion it is good that managers get an entrepreneurial way of thinking. They should have the idea that they own the company a little bit. Service departement: Service technicians salary are based upon flag hour. Flag hours are standards set by the manufacturer to complete a specific task' They receive $ 10-23 per ‘flag hour'. Average Technicians at PHT need about 45 minutes to do one flag hour of work, but the top technicians could it do much quickerà ‚  As said in the case service technicians are paid but the job and so they incentives to ‘cut corners'. By completing the task in less minutes then is set standard they receive more salary. Control mechanism: 1. If time spent on the task was very low, the technicians must explain the divergence 2. Monitoring the number of re-checks.Re-checks occur when problems are nog fixed right the first time ( 1% re-check is considered as good) We would recommend no changes in the incentive system for the service technicians. There are incentives for the service technicians to cut corners but this controlled by the PHT management. For example the current re-check percentage of PHT (0. 006%) is far below the 1% that is considered as good in the industry. We agree with the statement of Hakes that this percentage must be significant higher if the service technicians actual are cutting corners.Service Advisors Service advisors at PHT receive a fixed salary of approximately $ 2000 per month. I n addition they receive the following bonus: * 8% commission customer paid labor * 6% commission manufacturer paid labor (under warranty)   * 6% commission part paid on labor internally at PHT So the bonus he could receive are paid on commission, so their earnings are depending on their sale skills. This typically used method for automotive service advisors. We think there a disadvantage of this system that is based n turnover: advisors could also receive bonuses even if the department are not making profits. Bonuses’ that rely on profit don’t have this problem. The service manager: The service manager receives a fixed salary of $ 3000 per month and in addition a bonus based on a percentage of the service department gross profit (before overhead expenses). If he gross profit is above the $ 195. 000 the service manager receives a percentage of 4% and if the gross profit was 195. 00 or lower the manager receives a percentage of 3. 75%.We recommend no changes here All i nterdepartmental transfers were done at market prices. So if the department used vehicles are served in the PHT shop, the sales department paid full retail price for parts and labor. They could give a discount to the sales department or transfer it at cost. In this way you shift profits from the one department to another department. Because each department in PHT is managed as profit centre we think you shouldn’t change the policy of market prices In the whole company incentive pay is used. In our opinion pay for performance plans can be truly effort inducing. 1 ) Individuals tend to improve their work performance when a strong performance pay linkage exist (2) incentives can help make employee behavior consistent with the organizations goals (3) Assessing the performance of each employee individually helps the firm achieve individual equity (otherwise they may leave or reduce effort). Of course there are also some disadvantages of pay for performance plans; for example, Empl oyees may be tempted to do only what they get paid for, ignoring those intangible aspects of the job that are not explicitly rewarded.Cooperation and teamwork may be damaged if individual merit pay is too strongly emphasized. Individual merit systems assume that the employee is in control of the primary factors affecting his or her work output, an assumption that may not be true. In the (Narotama, 2000 , p. 257-286) HOE verwijzen. In the case of Puente Hill none of these problems are discussed and the overall performance of Puente Hill is quite well. Therefore we tend to conclude that the pay for performance plan at Puente Hill are quite effective. Conclusion We have a few recommendations for PHT introducing CSI as performance easurement in order to (maybe) improve communication, motivation and performance. Second, introducing more subjectivity in performance measure. And third, the bonus plan of the service advisor can be changed from turn-over based to profit based so there will n ot be a bonus if the department has no profit. Further we would recommend more non-financial performances measure. In could be useful to introduce more subjectivity. In some cases employees have no influence on the profit or revenues (crisis) although they are judged on this measures and so going backwards on salary.For example by introducing a committee that keeps track of these sort situations this can be prevented. Bonuses are paid on monthly basis. So employees are aware whether they perform well or not and so have motivation to improve their tasks or continue their current tasks. Bonuses at PHT are based upon measures that mostly can be influenced by the employees (positive) in cases they can’t influence, we proposed a committee that can judge of the situation occurs. Altogether we think the current measurement and incentive system is quite alright. Evidence therefore is that PHT had won many awards for excellent performance. ReferencesMerchant, K. A. and Van der Stede W . A. (2012). Management Control Systems. Prentice Hall (Third Edition), expect to be rewarded for their personal accomplishments and contributions. Unfortunately, the more closely pay is tied to particular performance indicators, the more employees tend to focus on those indicators and neglect other important job components that are more difficult to measure. By creating pressure to produce and to â€Å"keep score,† incentives may induce employees to engage in undesirable behaviors, to cut corners, deceive, misinform, hide negative information, take more credit than they deserve, and the likeFor instance, employees may withhold information from a colleague if they believe that it will help the other person get ahead. Those who are receiving less than they feel they deserve may try to â€Å"get back† at those who are receiving more, perhaps by sabotaging a project or spreading rumors. Internal competition may set off rivalries that lead to quality problems or even cheat ing. If employees do not consider the system legitimate and acceptable, it may have negative rather than positive effects on their behavior.A big part of the problem is that, to defend their egos, employees who receive lower performance-related payments than others tend to blame management rather than themselves. Unless an effective performance appraisal and feedback system is in place (see Chapter 7 ), incentive programs are unlikely to produce the expected results. Pay-for-performance systems may lead to greater productivity but lower job satisfaction. 20 Some research suggests that the more pay is tied to performance, the more the work unit begins to unravel and the more unhappy employees become.Pay-for-performance programs may push employees to the point of doing whatever it takes to get the promised monetary reward and in the process stifle their talents and creativity. Thus, an organization that puts too much emphasis on pay in attempting to influence behaviors may reduce empl oyees’ intrinsic drives nog gevonden op internet: Regarding performance measurement : The departments are profit centers, but not all costs are allocated to them. They are more like â€Å"gross profit centers. † The salespeople are held accountable for gross profit on the deals they initiate, so each salesperson is also a little profit center.The service advisors are paid on commission, so each advisor is a revenue center. The service technicians, though, are paid for work accomplished. It is useful to discuss why some seemingly uncontrollable indirect costs are allocated to departments (see Exhibit 3). These allocations are mandated by Toyota, so that they can compare dealership departments on a common basis that treats each department more or less as a standalone business. Allocating the costs also gives the department managers information as to what services are†¦

Alcohol’s Effects on Teenagers

The number of teenagers who are into â€Å"alcohol† nowadays is increasingly alarming. The physiological effects, as well as, the physical and behavioral consequences are equally disturbing as well.â€Å"Permanent brain damage, depression, poor school performance, psychological distress / serious behavioral problems, and attention deficit disorder† are some of the physiological effects on teenagers who drink alcohol (The Marin Institute, n.d., n.p.). On the other hand, the physical and behavioral consequences include the following: â€Å"in-denial, self-pity, excessive anger, blaming others, and hurting oneself & other individuals† (Garrett, 2002, n.p.).Physiological Effects Teenagers who are into too much drinking may experience â€Å"permanent brain damage† (The Marin Institute, n.d., n.p.). This claim is backed up by an expert named â€Å"Dr. John Nelson†, a member of the American Medical Association (The Marin Institute, n.d., n.p.).Moreover, according to the â€Å"National Health and Nutrition Survey† girls who drink experience depression â€Å"four times more likely than those who do not engage in drinking† (The Marin Institute, n.d., n.p.).Furthermore, teenagers who drink also suffer from low grades; in fact, according to the â€Å"American Medical Association†, those who drink get lower scores on â€Å"vocabulary, visual-spatial, as well as, memory tests† as compared with those who do not engage in drinking (The Marin Institute, n.d., n.p.).In addition to that, some teenagers who drink develop â€Å"psychological distress†, as well as, â€Å"serious behavioral problems†; this is according to the statistical information gathered by the â€Å"Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration† (The Marin Institute, n.d., n.p.).Last but not least, a study conducted by the â€Å"Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration† confirms that teenagers who are regularly drinking may develop â€Å"attention-deficit disorder† (The Marin Institute, n.d., n.p.).Physical and Behavioral EffectsTeenagers who engage themselves in alcohol drinking may also suffer from the following physical and behavioral effects:First of all, teenagers may develop problems accepting unfortunate occurrences in their lives (Garrett, 2002, n.p.). They may turn â€Å"in-denial† and make use of alcohol as a â€Å"defense mechanism† every time he or she is reminded of the truth especially in cases where he or she gets offended (Garrett, 2002, n.p.).Second, some teenagers may feel pity for themselves while some tend to get excessively angry which may actu ally result in severe drinking (Garrett, 2002, n.p.).Third, some teenagers drinking severely may experience troubles accepting their faults (Garrett, 2002, n.p.). Thus eventually, they blame somebody else for the untoward incidents that occurred to them (Garrett, 2002, n.p.).Finally, some teenagers who drink too much may experience hurting other people or even oneself (Garrett, 2002, n.p.).Summary / ConclusionIndeed, teenagers who engage themselves in drinking alcohol are faced with dangers including physiological and behavioral/physical ones (The Marin Institute, n.d., n.p.). â€Å"Physiological effects† include the following: â€Å"permanent brain damage, depression, poor school performance, psychological distress / serious behavioral problems, and attention deficit disorder† (The Marin Institute, n.d., n.p.). Meanwhile, physical ones include: â€Å"in-denial, self-pity, excessive anger, blaming others, and   hurting oneself & other individuals† (Garrett, 20 02, n.p.).ReferencesGarrett, F.P. (2002). Excuses Alcoholics Make. Retrieved April 1, 2009 fromhttp://www.bma-wellness.com/papers/Excuses_Alcoholics.htmlThe Marin Institute. (n.d.). Physiological Effects of Alcohol on Teenagers.Retrieved April 1, 2009 fromhttp://www.marininstitute.org/Youth/teen_alcohol_use.htm   

Of mice and men presentation †Chapter one Essay

At the start of chapter one the setting is tranquil, there are many animals to show that the humans will not be welcome when they arrive. The animals seem to own the valley. (OHP EXAMPLES OF ANIMALS) * Because the lizard is small it would need to be very quiet and peaceful for it to make a ‘Skittering’ sound. ** The rabbits are obviously very confident with the surroundings, which shows that humans do not go there often. The rabbits are a recurring theme in ‘Of mice and men’ *** Deer are generally very timid animals around humans so, again, like the rabbits it proves the absence of human life and it’s effects on the wildlife. Steinbeck also uses a lot of natural colours that make the setting calm and harmonious. There are ‘Deep greens’ of the trees, ‘Golden foothill slopes’ and ‘Yellow sands’. These colours do not clash with each other and help contribute to the almost utopian environment. Because of a complete lack of human life, the area not only seems safer but also calmer. The trees have been personified to replace the humans. The sycamores were said to have ‘White, recumbent limbs’ When Steinbeck says that ‘Men who have sat on it’ have worn the limb of the sycamore he shows that people can destroy nature and the beauty of the setting. Another example of this is when he talks of ‘A path beaten hard by boys’ This is just before George and Lennie enter the scene so could indicate that they are not entirely wanted. (SEE OHP FOR PICTURES) **** These pictures show the impact of humans In the paragraph when the men enter the novel the scene starts to have a darker atmosphere. The shade ‘Climbs’ up the hills. This is not only an example of the personification of the shadow, but it also dims the previously bright setting. This could be because George and Lennie are arriving. Darkness shows evil and although I wouldn’t call George or Lennie evil the animals do not want them there. The way the two men enter seems to be very significant. George walks before Lennie even though there is enough room for them top walk side by side. This shows George’s protectiveness and leadership over Lennie. It also shows Lennie is mentally younger and more simplistic because he is always copying like a child is. (SEE OHP GEORGE AND LENNIE WALKING) Lennie’s simplicity is also graphically portrayed when he is likened to different animals. For example when Steinbeck says: ‘His huge companion dropped his blankets and flung himself down and drunk from the surface of the green pool, he drank with long gulps, snorting into the water like a horse.’ This simile shows that Lennie is not only as strong as a horse but also has manners like one. He is later referred to as bear-like in his actions and features. It is described that he is ‘Dragging his paws’ Obviously, being a human, he has hands not paws but because they are so large and because of what he is doing with them they are called paws. There is a sequence in the first chapter where Lennie imitates George’s exact movements-this show that Lennie needs to copy because he can’t think for himself and he is not confident. (ANDREW COPYS DAN AS LENNIE DOES GEORGE) As you can see I was playing the role of George, the intelligent character and Andrew the slow, simple character. Yet another example of George being the more confident character is when he starts to get angry and begins to shout, complaining about the bus driver. Whilst George is doing this Lennie is very quiet and acts timidly. It is, however easy for the reader to be sympathetic towards George and understand his anger. Because Lennie isn’t very clever, George often has to repeat himself many times. At one point George has to ask Lennie three times to put down a dead mouse that he has got. When they want to eat, Lennie wants to go to the ranch that they are headed towards but George realises that they will have to do more work if they go straight away so he says no. Lennie cannot understand this. This shows that Lennie just wants immediate satisfaction whereas George can look at what will happen in the future. It is also possible to see a kind, caring side through George’s anger and frustration. He often says ‘Aw Lennie’ when his friend gets upset about something and comforts him. The first chapter gives an in-depth impression of what the two main characters’ personalities are like and how they have similarities and differences.

Seiko Go Upmarket

Executive Summary Seiko Watch Corporation and its predecessor had always been innovative in watch technology development and brought many industry firsts to the watch market, and Seiko was very successful before the 1990s. With competitive environment change started in the 1990s, Seiko found it was not in the right segment of the market for growth, this segment is high end watch market. Seiko tried to break into the high end watch segment, but the attempts haven’t been proved successful.Based on detailed analysis of Seiko’s industry environment, competitive arena, and internal issues, conclusion was drawn that Seiko’s past vision, strategy and structure didn’t support its ambition to be an important player in the high end watch market. Countermeasures were then proposed: 1) have a clear and viable vision for future; 2) install a solid strategy of brands differentiation; and 3) match the strategy with organizational structure and resources. * IntroductionTh is case, â€Å"SEIKO WATCH CORPORATION: MOVING UPMARKET†, examined Japanese watch maker Seiko’s history, major technology developments, competitive environment, business expansion, and efforts and challenges to uplift brand image to compete in high end market segment. Seiko’s predecessor K. Hattori was established by 22-year-old founder Kintaro Hattori in 1881. The business was started with second-hand clocks sell and repair, and later on retailing and wholesaling of imported clocks.Hattori then established Seikosha (â€Å"Seiko† means exquisite and â€Å"sha† means house in Japanese) in 1892 to begin to produce wall clocks, launched the first wristwatch in Japan in 1913, and started to use Seiko brand on watches in 1923. Since then, Seiko had been enjoyed rapid growth in domestic market until 1950s when it accounted for 50% of total production in Japan, while Citizen and Orient shared the remaining 50%. Facing pressure from Swiss watch makers, Sei ko started to upgrade its technology to improve accuracy and add features, and managed to be comparable with Swiss products in terms of accuracy in the early 1960s.Around the same timeframe, after dominating the domestic competition in the late 1950s, Seiko started to go abroad. Through advertising initiatives such as being official time keeper of the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games and continued technology focus such as being the world’s first company to introduce quartz wristwatch in 1969, Seiko earned its place in international market: it had become the leading watch brand in most Asian countries and successfully built sales channels in US and European countries by 1970s.Though Seiko was historically accepted by domestic customers as luxury watches producer at top-end of the market in addition to mid-range watches, its several attempts to reposition itself to high-end segment in international watch market didn’t enjoy much success: in the late 1970s, Seiko bought Jean Lass ale, a Swill watch brand, to form a sub-brand â€Å"Seiko Lassale† to sell luxury quartz dress watches at higher price points in international markets, but this brand was not successful in the US and Europe markets and eventually discontinued; another sub-brand â€Å"Grand Seiko†, once alive in 1960s aiming at the high end of the domestic watch market, was re-launched in the late 1980s to flight with Swiss watch makers in the high end segment, this attempt didn’t meet its desired effect otherwise Seiko would have not taken the third try in 2000s to move upward of the market through the spring drive technology. In 2007, doubt about brand upgrade was casted on Seiko again. * Analysis of the issues The myriad of problems facing Seiko can be traced to below three causes. Industry environment – Strategic context change of the horological industryThe first phase – before the late 1950s / early 1960s, everybody in the watch industry had competed in a pret ty straight forward environment: watches were mainly used for chronometric purpose, watch’s core technology was homogenous (everybody in the horological industry used mechanical movements system), and main objectives for watch makers were to mass produce precise timepieces at competitive cost and sell to everybody needs a watch. Seiko did a nice job in this era. It occupied majority of Japanese domestic market share and caught Swiss rivals up in terms of production facility and product accuracy. The second phase – from the late 1950s / early 1960s through the 1970s and 1980s, technological revolution, mainly application of electronics and quartz technologies, reshaped the horological industry. Every watch shared certain common elements: a movement to measure the passage of time, any energy source, a display, a case, and a bracelet or strap.Electronics altered the stereotype of energy source and display, while more significantly, quartz timekeeping technology broke the tradition of mechanical movement to bring much more accuracy to watch benefiting from its properties of a quartz crystal oscillating at precise frequencies. Comparing to mechanical components, electronics and quartz components could be produced and assembled at more stable, economic, and fashionable way, Watches then could be offered to customers with unprecedented accuracy, lower cost, and fashion statement. To embrace the change or be changed, all players of the industry went through an era of uncertainty and innovation. Seiko was very creative in the time and pioneered many watch technologies to the market. Seiko started expanding overseas and its international brand image was formed during the period. In the meanwhile, Seiko began efforts to setup sub-brand to move up in market.People would not have known ramifications of what they were doing when in process of historical events, but looking back into history, we know today the seed of Seiko dilemma was planted in the 1970s and 1980s under the soil of its success. The third phase – the 1990s was a no name decade for Japanese watch makers including Seiko. Domestic economy was staggering. Watch technology was still in evolution, but there was no break-through invention like quartz could stir up the arena. Low cost economies such as China and Hongkong were arising to take over in mid-priced and low-end watch market. Swiss watch makers firmly seized hold of high-end watch market while fighting back in mid to low end market.Watch Competitors came out from outside of the chronological industry: pocketable digital device made watch no longer a functional necessity for timekeeping purpose. Seiko sales declined in the decade. The fourth phase – after the millennium, prevalence of cell phones further deteriorated watches’ position as personal primary timekeeping accessory. People bought watches not for time telling but for social status and prestige distinguishing. Global demand for luxury goods grew, and high-end segment of the watch market was emerging as the most profitable and the fastest growing sector. Seiko was adjusting itself to the new era, but its brand image had never been perceived as luxury.Competitive arena – Strong Swiss competitors in high end segment, fierce competition in mid and low end segments from LCE (low cost economy) watch makers, domestic rivals, and Swatch group In the high end segment, Swiss watch makers were lost in the 1970s when quartz technology was changing the game. Though painful, a number of Swiss watch companies such as Patek Philippe, Rolex, and Omega chose to stick to mechanical watch making, and they laughed at last. Below quotation could best describe the situation: We worked really hard in the 1980s where everybody was dead. The quartz movement came in the 1970s, so all the other watchmakers threw away everything, both their equipment and their movements. In the 1980s is when we started to redevelop all our complications.At the time, my father [Philippe Stern] had a vision that only one type of watch should remain – the one with a mechanical complication. He believed there would always be people who appreciate fine mechanisms, whether it's manual winding or automatic. And he was right. It's like a nice painting. It's something unique, rare and made with passion. * Thierry Stern, Patek Philippe President, interviewed by Timezone. com in Sep 2012 In the mid and low end segments, Seiko’s attacks were from all around as technologies were easy to duplicate and consumers really cared about money they were spent, thus if you could provide fair quality watches with lower cost, e. g.LCE watch manufacturers, you could win some share of the market segment; if you could provide good quality watches with comparable cost but more features and fashion styles, e. g. Japanese domestic competitors Citizen and Casio as well as Swatch group from Swiss, you could gain some other share of the segment of this market. Company vision, strategy and structure – Seiko had no clear vision and strategy for the era of watches as prestige symbol, its structure was prohibitive from effective decision making and resources utilization Vision – we know in the 1970s and 1980s, Seiko enjoyed much success and went global as an icon of precise and inexpensive quartz technology.Seiko didn’t foresee that the greater success it appreciated the stronger consumer would tie it to the quartz brand, and fine craftsmanship of mechanical watch making would override in the future. Seiko has always been innovative in technology development, but failed to grasp a watch’s implication to today’s consumer: time is timeless and invaluable; consumers would eventually wish their watches as seen carrier of time are timeless and invaluable as well. Quartz or electronics is perceived by consumers as ephemeral and cheap consumable stuff. Strategy – Seiko made mistakes in brand portfoli o strategy. It launched two sub-brands to go up of the market segment in the years.The â€Å"Seiko Lassale† equipped with quartz movement was launched in the late 1970s and discontinued when it turns out not welcomed in US and European markets. The â€Å"Grand Seiko† featuring mechanical movement was alive from 1960-1975 within Japan domestic market only, and had been stopped for more than a decade in the quartz era until re-launch in 1988 for global market featuring quartz movement, after another decade, the â€Å"Grand Seiko† sluggishly began to shift to high grade mechanical movement. Both the â€Å"Seiko Lassale† and the â€Å"Grand Seiko† were too close to Seiko name and technology of quartz to reverse the quartz image of usually non-luxury items. In addition, it seemed Seiko didn’t have a carefully planned long range brand strategy.High end sub-brands were created and abandoned. The recent example was that Spring Drive, Seiko’s latest breakthrough mechanical movement technology bared management hope to upgrade brand image, first debuted in lower â€Å"Seiko† product line rather than high end â€Å"Grand Seiko† line. Seiko’s another high end brand â€Å"Credor†, though had long history and good acceptance at home, had never been marketed in international markets. Structure – Seiko historically had too complicated structure arrangements: a sales company purchased Seiko watches from its parent company owned manufacturing arms, and the arms were competing with each other and developed into firms with watch as minor business.The good thing was Seiko management realized this point and reorganized the company in 2001 to streamline decision making and focus on branding. * Conclusion and Recommendation Seiko’s vision, strategy, and structure didn’t help the company to gain advantage over its rivals in the competitive environment in recent two decades. Recommendation for Seiko is to build prudent and viable company vision ;amp; strategy, link the vision and strategy together with organization structure and resources, and get the vision and strategy realized. Details are following: Seiko needs to re-think that who are Seiko’s intended, actual, potential, and future customers, and what do these customers value in a watch.Watch collectors and enthusiasts, successful executives, and younger generation of rich families should be target clients for top end watches. These people care about watches’ craftsmanship and uniqueness, aesthetic and intricate style, status and symbol indication, as well as investment and heritage value, much more than superior accuracy and function for daily use. Seiko should take care of the demands of these people. However, Seiko shouldn’t give up the mid to low end market. Consumers of this market segment need a quality watch for money, fashion, function features, and some kind of status symbol will be plus. Seiko needs to have a solid strategy of distinguishable brands to server different segment demands.Seiko can get best practice idea and lessons learned from companies in the watch industry, such as Swatch group, and in other industries, such as VW group in automotive industry and L’Oreal group in cosmetic industry. Though the basic inner technology and formula could be shared across different brands and models, the exterior and style must be different. Different brands should convey clear different messages to customers. It would take too many resources and too long time to move the current Seiko brand up. The â€Å"Grand Seiko† name is no significant different from â€Å"Seiko† name thus is not appropriate to be a top end brand, but could cover the segment in between.The brand â€Å"Credor† is suggested to carry over the high end segment responsibility and needs to expand globally under intensive and well-designed promotional campaign. Seiko made a positive move to centralize and streamline watch company organization; the next step would be to match brand differentiation needs with organizational structure and resources. The â€Å"Credor†, â€Å"Grand Seiko†, â€Å"Seiko†, and other brands could share R;amp;D, production facility, IT, finance, HR and administration. But segmental marketing and sales, brand management, and some other specialized tasks can’t be shared. Each brand should be led by experienced and proved executives and take its own profit and loss responsibility.

Gary Watsons argument psychopaths Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Gary Watsons argument psychopaths - Essay Example In an article titled Psychopathy and Prudential Deficits, Watson uses the story of Howard Dever. Dever had a young life of hustling and petty crimes in New York City before being conscripted into the United States Army in the 1940s. While in the Army, Dever had 14 AWOLs and many incarcerations (Watson 308). He would later be shipped to England where he married an English woman. However, he would abandon his wife and their child and at one time was faced with 15 counts of indictment for forgery, burglary and impersonation in Massachusetts. He could he heard at one time remarking after leaving Florida without telling his wife , â€Å"but I forgot to tell my wife, she didn’t know where I was, but she took me back when I came home† (Watson 308). Another time he was heard remarking after being indicted for burglary, â€Å" hell I didn’t need the money, I would just get an idea and I would go out and do it. Maybe I hurt somebody doing it but I have had fun† (Watson 308). Thus, it is from this story that Gary Watson (309) observes that this sort of thoughtless behavior by Dever causes so much grief, but the psychopath has a blank incomprehension of the moral responses which his inconsiderate and malicious behavior elicits. This is what makes a psychopath so chilling as opposed to people with other anti-social behaviors. The psychopathic profile is characterized by egocentricity and self-centeredness which makes them lack concern. Watson’s argument is based on a thesis that there is the co- occurrence of moral and prudential deficits in psychpathy. As such, there is one striking aspect about psychopaths. They are as careless of themselves as they are of others. Therefore, Watson’s argument is that since psychopaths have a blank comprehension of the moral responses that their actions might elicit on other people, they cannot be held morally responsible for their actions. The

Describe and explain the nature and purpose of a Cathlic School, Essay

Describe and explain the nature and purpose of a Cathlic School, according to documents published by the Catholic Church - Essay Example Catholic schools have been developed with a different aim and have been able to provide excellent education for several decades. The main aim of this paper is to discuss the nature and purpose of Catholic education as per the documents published by the Catholic Church. In order to gain a clear perspective of the nature and the purpose of Catholic Education, a brief background and history has been discussed. Following this, a detailed discussion of nature and purpose has been presented. History of Catholic Education: Catholic schools are ‘Permeated by Faith’. In 1823, the Benevolent Irish Society opened up a school in St John’s to help poor people as a form of charity. This school was originally known as Orphan Asylum School, and went on to be used by Roman Catholics and Bishop Anthony Fleming. One of the major concerns then was the non-support from the Government to provide any form of financial support to the school (From Slate to Chalk, n.d.). Of great concern t o Bishop Fleming was the government’s refusal to help the Orphan Asylum financially, despite the fact that it was the islands largest school and other denominational schools were receiving government support (From Slate to Chalk, n.d.). ... In 1842 saw the development of a new act which was based on dividing the grant for the schools evenly between the Roman Catholics and Protestants (From Slate to Chalk, n.d.). As time passed several changes and improvements were brought about in the schooling systems and by the mid twentieth century, the focus was now on improving the overall facilities in the schools and making them more effective, in terms of provisions like electricity, water supply and convenience for the students (McBrien, 1994). However throughout the improvements that were being made, the main focus of the schools was on discipline and need for well grown individuals. The next section will detail the nature of catholic education. Nature of Catholic Education: As per the Vatican II document – Gravissimum Education, the nature of Catholic schools has been expressed as: â€Å"The Catholic school pursues cultural goals and the natural development of youth to the same degree as any other school. What makes t he Catholic school distinctive is its attempt to generate a community climate in the school that is permeated by the Gospel spirit of freedom and love. It tries to guide the adolescents in such a way that personality development goes hand in hand with the development of the 'new creature' that each one has become through baptism. It tries to relate all of human culture to the good news of salvation so that the light of faith will illumine everything that the students will gradually come to know about the world, about life, and about the human person† (Alberta Catholic School Trustees’ Association, 1996). Clearly, Catholic schools tend to be inclined towards spiritual development as well as intellectual development (Robinson, 1996). As per the document from