WATCH What a CEO looks for in your job interview

WATCH What a CEO looks for in your job interview When interviewing for a new position, nothing can be more beneficial than knowing beforehand what you need to do to be successful during your initial time with your prospective employer.Daily Fuel sat down with an expert on the subject and one of the leading marketers in the United States, HelloWorld CEO Peter DeNunzio, who details what he looks for most when interviewing potential additions to his team. Source: [Daily Fuel]

Reasons You Can Be Denied a Firearm Transfer

Reasons You Can Be Denied a Firearm Transfer Since the passage of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1993, anyone who purchases a firearm in the United States must submit to a background check to determine if they are eligible to buy and possess a gun. Licensed gun dealers must check each person who tries to buy a firearm through the FBIs National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). When a prospective buyer wants to purchase a firearm, they must first provide the dealer with photo identification and a completed Firearms Transaction Record, or Form 4473. If the buyer answers yes to any of the questions on Form 4473, the dealer is required to deny the sale. It is a felony,  punishable by up to five years in prison, to lie when completing the form. If the buyer qualifies, the dealer will then request a NICS check. The NICS has three business days to either approve or deny the sale. If the three days pass without a NICS determination, then the dealer can process the sale of the firearm (depending on local laws) or wait until the NICS responds. On average, only about one percent of firearms transfers are denied by the NICS system, mainly because most convicted criminals already know they are not eligible to own a gun. Prohibitive Criteria for Firearm Transfers Under federal law, there are specific reasons that a firearm transfer can be denied. If you have had a firearm transfer denied, it is because you or someone else with a similar name or descriptive features has ever been: Convicted of a felonyConvicted in any court of a crime which is  punishable by a term of more than one year or a misdemeanor punishable by more than two years. This is the number one reason why requests for firearm transfers are denied.Indicted for a crime punishable by more than one yearA fugitive from justiceA user of illegal drugs or an addictInvoluntarily committed to a mental institutionAn illegal alienDishonorably discharged from the armed forcesRenounced your U.S. citizenshipSubject to a restraining order for threatening a family memberConvicted of domestic violenceUnder an  indictment, but not convicted, of a crime carrying a possible year-long prison sentence State Prohibitions The NCIS can also deny a firearm transfer based on any applicable state laws. For example, if your state has a law prohibiting the possession of a specific type of firearm, the NICS can deny your transfer even though possession of that firearm is not prohibited by federal law. The Brady Law was designed to make sure that only law-abiding citizens can purchase and own firearms, but critics claim that the law only created a huge black-market demand for illegal guns sales to criminals. NCIS Accuracy In September 2016 the Department of Justices Office of the Inspector General performed an audit to check the FBIs quality control of NICS transactions. They selected 447 denied transactions and found that only one transaction was incorrectly denied, which resulted in a 99.8 percent accuracy rate. Next, the auditors looked at records that the FBI had denied the transaction within three business days. Out of 306 records chosen randomly, 241 were processed by the FBI appropriately. However, six of the transactions were denied internally by the FBI, but the denial was not communicated to the dealers from one day to more than seven months after the denial. Auditors also found 59 transactions which the FBI approved, but should have denied. The FBI’s quality control checks caught and corrected 57 of these errors as a part of its internal controls. Appealing a Firearm Transfer Denial If you try to purchase a gun and you  receive a firearms transfer denial during the background check, you  can appeal that denial if you do not meet any of the above criteria and you believe a mistake has been made. Approximately, one percent of firearms transfers are denied and many times it because of mistaken identity or incorrect records at NICS. Therefore, many firearms transfer denial appeals are successful. Source U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Criminal Justice Information Services Division. Guide for Appealing a Firearm Transfer Denial.

International Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

International Marketing - Essay Example Product and product line The company deals with consumer product goods. Its consumer product ranges from beauty products to household care products. Beauty products includes skincare products-creams, lotions, perfumes; hair care products- hair oil, shampoos, conditioner; Household care products includes packaged food, detergent powder and liquid, dish washer and toilet papers. The company has been investing a good amount of money in innovations and in Research and Development department. The company plans to expand into Central American country because of the growing opportunity and to create a global presence for itself. Therefore the product that the company would export is packaged food or so called ready to eat food. The reason for choosing this product is that Central America has a tremendous growth opportunity in the retail food segment especially for ready to eat foods. The company can export its packaged food items and try to capture a reasonable market share in the retail fo od segment. Packaged food items would include breakfast’s cereals, fresh fruits and vegetables, dairy products and snack foods. Proposed Export Country The country where the company should export is Central America. The reason for choosing Central America is that the country is experiencing a growth in the consumer products and it would sound profitable for the company to invest in a growing economy. The Central America includes seven states and they are United States, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras. There is a huge opportunity in the consumer product category especially in the ready food products. The company product line includes packaged foods; therefore it would help the company to expand its business in Central America. But the country has a preference for US products and the importers also prefer doing business with the exporters from US and consider them reliable and trustworthy. The US product has a better brand image th an the local products in Central America (Food Export Association, 2011). The company can take this challenge as an opportunity and let the consumers of Central America experience a different brand, a brand from Hong Kong. The demographics of Central America states that the total population of the country is about 41,739,000 out of which Guatemala comprising the highest population of about 14,027,000 and least population with 307000 in Belize. Spanish is the dominant language of the country and official language in six countries. The culture of Central America is said to be rich despite of its small geographic area. Central America has a diverse culture especially in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala (Moving to Central America, 2011). The retail sector of Central America is expanding rapidly; the hypermarkets and the supermarkets are expanding into multiple markets in the region. The local touch is important for the people of Central America as they find it personal and reliable. The consumer products have been forecasted to have a positive growth rate especially for ready foods such as breakfast cereals, snack food, pancake mix, dairy products to name a few (Food Export Association, 2011). Entry strategy When a company plans to enter the international market, it is essential for a company to choose an entry strategy in

Abortion In The United States Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Abortion In The United States - Essay Example Statistics suggest that 50 percent of all women opting for abortion, in the United States, fall in the age group of below twenty-five years of age and 66 percent of all abortions are performed on women who have been never-married. Women under the age of twenty-five or even younger are far less likely to have sufficient means to sustain themselves much less, have the resources to look after their yet unborn child. Giving birth further increases the burden on the mother to provide for the child and in the absence of adequate financial and social means, the life and well-being of both - the mother and the child could be threatened thus causing more harm than good in the long run. The debate on abortion is subject to a range of philosophical as well as constitutional deficiencies, which often threaten to push the subject into a potential gray market of even more complex choices. The advocates of equal rights for both the genders suggest that equal rights include the right to choose and m ake decisions concerning their own health and safety, which in case of women includes abortion. Graber suggests that preventing women from making such choices that may directly affect their well-being amounts to preventing them access to basic civil rights. It is similar to preventing a section of society from accessing education, or a certain type of food of their choice. For some, relinquishing the food of their choice may be an easier alternative than having to debate over choices that directly affect their own health.

Themes of Incredibly Close and Extremely Loud Essay Example for Free

Themes of Incredibly Close and Extremely Loud Essay There are many different themes in this novel but they all seem tie into one major theme which is loss and closure. The little themes would be family/friends, grief/mourning. Loss and closure is definitely the main theme in this book. Almost every character has lost something in some sort of way. For example Oskar has lost his father, Thomas has lost his first love Anna along with his unborn child which also lead to is capable of speech and the grandmother has lost her husband, parents, sister and her son. Not all of the characters in this book end up receiving closure but they all attempt to in different ways. They all spend their lives trying to find out why these things have happened which in return would help lead to closure. All the character deal with their loses differently. We see how different people react and how they mourn in different ways. Oskar deals with his grief by reliving a game he used to play with his father. Oskar mourns this way believing it will help him to stop missing his dad. Thomas mourns in a way that helps him connect to his first love Anna. *** he does this by marrying the grandmother and living with her. This helps him remember her and is his way of mourning. The grandmother finds her closure through Oskar. She loves him unconditionally with helps her deal with the grief of all the loves ones she has lost. Family is a theme that connects to all of this because we see how family can be a huge factor of dealing with losses. In the book family is seen in many different ways to help deal with this. Oskar helped to bring closure to his grandmother with all of he loses of loves ones. Oskar’s mother also helped Oskar on his journey to find closure with his father, without Oskar’s mother he would not have been able to do all that he need to deal with the grief of losing his father.

Graduation Speech -- Graduation Speech, Commencement Address

Most graduation speeches are about unity and how close we've become as a class. I don't think that this applies to us. Instead, I think we've all become close as individuals, not because of some imaginary entity we all belong to, but because of who we are. But that is what's important. In 10 years, we won't be chanting "Senior Power"; we'll be remembering the individual relationships we all had. I remember after our eighth grade graduation milling about the courtyard, hugging each other and crying for what would become of us. We were scared of high school - this time it's the real world. And later in life, we will face much bigger obstacles that we will overcome, and high school graduation will be fondly remembered. As we approach this real world, it's important to remember the many people who have helped us along the way as leaders, advisers, peers, and friends. I stand before you as the last of three valedictorians to speak. But valedictorians and academies alone do not make up our class. Each person brings a part of themselves. Our talented musicians have enhanced many...

“Khalil Gibran poem ‘a lover’s call”

Khalil Gibran a major pioneer of modern Arabic literature, as the best selling American poet of the twentieth century, and as a Middle Eastern modernist whose intellectual life is documented in meticulous detail. He was an Arab who wrote for the most part in Arabic. It was not until his thirties that he ventured to write for publication in English, and even then he seems often to have written first in Arabic and then translated his story or poem into English.Gibran poem ‘A Lover’s Call’, narrates the plight of a lover separated from his beloved. According to him, his lady love posses’ ethereal qualities of an angel. The poet mentions that they have been separated from each other on this earth for earthly reasons. They have parted a long time ago but the lover remembers her as if it was yesterday. He is worn out with his unrequited love for his dear lady. He remembers their time together and craves for her love, affection and companionship.The tone of the po em is sad and serious and above all passionate. The words of the lover in the poem are the cry from his very soul. His words also show the depth of his love for his dear lady. The language is simple, colloquial language and avoided the complex language and metres of traditional Arabic poetry. Gibran is primarily a painter and writes like he is painting. His images have visual qualities and touch the heart at a pre-rational level. He used the flamboyant rhetoric acceptable to Arabic canons of taste, not the cool, detached style of modern American poetry.Many critics think that Gibran’s poetic genius predominantly lies in the use of metaphor. Gibran indeed creates beautiful images that are charged with emotions and that expand the reader’s vision and imagination. There are many vivid images in the poem. The poet uses the image of ‘a mother’, god’s spirit, ‘companion of his soul’, ‘other self’ to compare his belovedHe is also a poet prophet. An emotional strobe designed by him, light momentarily illuminates an aspect of our experience, leaving us with a picture burned onto our emotional retinas. Thereafter, we see that aspect of our experience with different eyes. What we do get from his writings is the extraordinary force of Gibran's moral seriousness turned on various aspects of life.The poem ‘A Lover’s Call’, gives us a glimpse of the love which is above the social bonding. Gibran is an advocate of romantic love against the oppression of society. The lady love of the lover in the poem is separated from him due to earthly barriers and he knows that they may not unite on this earth. But there love is greater than any earthly bonding. Their love is the joining of two souls and after death, together they will reach God.In the poem, ‘A Lover’s Call’, a lover calls his beloved and conveys his love and sorrow through the breeze in the air, through the spirits in the ai r and through the angels. The poem starts with the question: ‘Where are you, my beloved?’This line suggests that the lover is separated from his lover. As the poem proceeds we realize that they have been parted from each other for an indefinite period of time.Next the man wonders where she can be at that hour. In the first eight lines he says, she can be in the garden watering the plants, which look upon her as a mother because by watering the plant and taking care of it she is performing the role of a mother. She can also be in her chamber, her private room. She is the embodiment of virtue but in attaining this position she has sacrificed the lover’s heart and soul. Or she is reading books to gain human knowledge when she is replete with divine wisdom.In the next eight lines he compares her to the companion of his soul. Their love is spiritual love, which is characterized by the union of two souls. He wonders if she is in the temple praying to the gods or she is in the field calling nature which is a refuge of her dreams. May be she is with the poor people in their hut consoling with encouraging words. She has a good heart so she may also give them money so that they can meet their needs. He compares his lady love to God’s spirit. She has the essence of God and so she is everywhere. She is stronger than the ages as she is God’s spirit. She will remain for ever.In the proceeding lines, the lover retrospects the memorable moments in his past. He remembers the day he met his dear lady and the time which he has spend with her. He addresses her and asks if she remembers the day they met for the first time. It is noteworthy that his lady is not physically present in from of him. It can be inferred that the conversation is taking place between their spirits. He remembers that the radiance of her spirit surrounded them. He farther says that the angels of love moved around them and praised the activities of their souls. As if the God wanted them to fall in love.He recollects their sitting in the shade of the branches which hid them from the glances of passer- by.   The branches sheltered them from humanity ‘as the ribs in the body protect the secret of the heart from injury‘. He also remembers the long stretch of time they have spend together walking along side each other in the forest. They walked hand in hand on the trails of the forest and they heads leaning towards each other. Probably their head was leaning against each other as they were engrossed in conversation or they were totally involved in looking at each other. They were totally lost in each other and were unaware of the world around them.The lover in the consecutive lines of the poem tells not only of spiritual love but also of physical love. He wants his beloved to remember the hour he said goodbye to her and the maritime kiss she placed on his lips. By ‘maritime kiss’, he may mean that probably he was taking a voyage to sea for a certain period of time and his beloved kissed him goodbye. Her kiss taught him that union of the lips is also a manifestation of love. Her kiss showed him a glimpse of heaven and all the wonders in it.The act of kissing revealed to him the heavenly secrets which tongue cannot express. He farther says that the kiss perpetuated a great sigh of relief and fulfillment. He journeyed to the spiritual world because his soul was glorified with her love which she has showered on him. He felt heavenly bliss. Their love was not only physical union but also union of the soul. He adds that her kiss made him continue feeling this heavenly love until they meet again. In other words he remained in the state of heavenly joy till the time he see his dear love again.In the proceeding lines, he recollects their parting and also accepts the same. He remembers the day when she kissed him again and again while tears rolled down her cheeks.   He could see that she was very sad as she was parti ng from him for ever. They had to separate for earthly reasons. She explained to him that many human beings have to part for earthly reasons, they part because the world wants it.   The lover consoles him that though they are physically separated from each other, they are spiritually together.No worldly force could separate their souls. And after death, the joined soul will reach God. The lover accepts his love’s departure. He says that love has chooses his beloved as her delegate. She will spread the message of universal love and they will remain united in love even in separation. He says to his dear love that her love shall always remain with as his comforting groom, in his memory and also as an eternal wedding. It is noteworthy that the lovers are married for ever even if their love has not been accepted by this world.In the following lines, he again laments the loss of his love. He asks: â€Å"Where are you, my beloved?† He wonders if she is awake at this hour of night when all around everything is silent. He wants the clean breeze to convey his every heart beat and his affection to his beloved. He wants the breeze to be his messenger of love for his dear lady. Next he expresses his miserable condition due to his disconnection from his love. He asks his love whether she is fondling his face in her memory.He says to his dear love that he is not the same person he was before they parted. Sorrow has dropped its veil on his happy face of the past. He is not a happy man anymore because he has lost his love. He farther says that his eyes which reflected her beauty, now has shrunken with crying and his lips has been dried which his beloved used to sweeten with kisses. Again the lover calls for his beloved. He asks her whether she can hear his weeping from beyond the ocean. The lover means to say that his dear love is far away, there is a distance of a ocean between them but still he has not forgotten her.His love for her has not decreased with pas sage of time and space. He still needs her love and affection and wants to convey this longing to her. He also wants to ask her whether she can understand the greatness of his patience. Through this .line, he means to say that he has endured lot of pain and suffering because of the loss of his love. In the next few lines it will be clear to the readers that he is complaining to his beloved about his pitiable condition. He becomes desperate as he thinks that some spirit of the air may be able to communicate to his love that his spirit is dying and that also in his youth. He speculates that there must be secret communication angels which will communicate to his love his grievance.In the last seven lines of the poem, the lover tells us what can cure his terrible plight. He calls his love again and again. He calls his beloved as beautiful star and says that obscurity of life has cast him upon its bosom. Life has become unintelligible to him; it has no meaning for him. He says that grief has dominated him i.e., he is totally grieve- stricken. He continues that if his love’s smile sails through the air to him, it will imbibe him with life. If he can breathe her fragrance in the air, it will nourish him. Lastly he addresses his dear love says how great is love and how small is he. He understands that he is much smaller in status that ‘love’ which is universal, eternal and all encompassing. He is a human being so he will die sometime but love will remain for ever.The poem is the contrast between the happy state of being of the lover when he and his lady love was together and the painful condition of the lover after he was detached from   her because of some earthly reason. The tone is of fulfillment and happiness when the lover praises her as God’s spirit. When he remembers the time they have spend together and the contentment they have felt in their company. The contentment was both physical and spiritual: â€Å"Recall you the hour I bad e you farewell, /And the Maritime kiss you placed on my lips? /That kiss taught me that joining of lips in Love/Reveals heavenly secrets which the tongue cannot utter!† (Lines 26-29).The tone is sad when he recollects the day his love departed from his life for ever with tears in her eyes. Near the end of the poem, the lover reveals his pathetic condition and here the tone is poignant: â€Å"Are you fondling my face in your memory? That image/Is no longer my own, for Sorrow has dropped his/Shadow on my happy countenance of the past./Sobs have withered my eyes which reflected your beauty/And dried my lips which you sweetened with kisses†, (Lines 49-51).The tone is desperate when he wants his beloved’s smile and fragrance to sail through air to revive him: â€Å"Where are you, my beautiful star? The obscurity of life/Has cast me upon its bosom; sorrow has conquered me. /Sail your smile into the air; it will reach and enliven me!/Breathe your fragrance into the air ; it will sustain me!†, (Lines 59-62). In the last three lines, the tone is of realization: â€Å"Where are you, me beloved? /Oh, how great is Love! /And how little am I!† (Lines 63-65).As with Gibran’s writings, the language is simple and colloquial. The poet uses day-to-day words to give a picture of the sadness of a lover in his separation from his dear love.   He uses simple words like ‘hut’, ‘Temple’, ‘poor’, ‘broken-hearted’, ‘field’, ‘night’, ‘forest’, ‘breeze’ and so on. He uses vivid images to give us a picture of the inner turmoil of the lover. We can visualize the lovers sitting in the shade of the tree, hidden from humanity. We get a glimpse of the forest and find the lovers walking hand in hand and totally engrossed in each other. We find the lover bidding goodbye to his beloved and the maritime kiss she places on his lips.We see her bidding good bye to her soul mate with tears rolling from her eyes. The lover disintegrates physically and mentally because of the loss of his love. We see his eyes shrunken with pain and suffering and his lips dry without the love of his beloved. It is a very emotional poem. We can actually feel the desperation of the lover in the following lines: â€Å"Is there any spirit in the air capable of conveying/To you the breath of this dying youth? Is there any/Secret communication between angels that will carry to/You my complaint?† (Lines 55-58).The poet has used figures of speech like similes and metaphors to heighten the state of being. In the beginning of the poem, the poet uses the metaphor of ‘little paradise’ to mean garden. The lover imagines that his beloved is in the garden watering the flowers that is looking upon her as their mother. The sentence: â€Å"†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦the flowers who look upon you/As infants look upon the breast of their mothers?†, (Lines 2-3), is a simile. Here the flowers are compared to infants and the lover’s beloved to a mother. In the lines: â€Å"Or amongst the books, seeking human knowledge, /While you are replete with heavenly wisdom?† (Lines 7-8), ‘among the books’ means library.The lover thinks that his lady love is abounding with heavenly wisdom; here there is an image of heaven because he compares her to a heavenly spirit. He also compares his beloved as a woman with goodness of soul who consoles the poor people with kind words and also with money. The poet uses the metaphor ‘bounty’, to mean money.   The lover calls his lady love as ‘God’s spirit’; it is an image of God. The poet give love the shape of a heavenly being when he: â€Å"Do you have memory of the day we met, when the halo of/You spirit surrounded us, and the Angels of Love/Floated about, singing the praise of the soul's deed?†, (lines 17-19).He compares the branches of the tree with ribs of our body. There is a simile in the following lines: â€Å"Do you recollect our sitting in the shade of the/Branches, sheltering ourselves from Humanity, as the ribs/Protect the divine secret of the heart from injury?† (Lines 20-22), where the lover says the branches protected them from humanity as the ribs protect the heart. The lover compares his beloved’s kiss to ‘maritime kiss’, which is an image of farewell kiss.There is a simile in the following lines: â€Å"That kiss was introduction to a great sigh, Like the Almighty's breath that turned earth into man†, (Lines 30-31), the lover’s sign is compared to Almighty’s breath. His lady love is love’s delegate. The love of his lady is his ’comforting groom’ and his ’Eternal wedding’. ‘Sorrow’ has been personified in the poem: â€Å"Sorrow has dropped his/Shadow on my happy countenance of the past†, (Lines 50-51).There is the image of ‘dying youth’, which express the horrible condition of the lover. Life is also personified in the following sentence: â€Å"The obscurity of life/Has cast me upon its bosom; sorrow has conquered me†, (Lines 59-60), lover says that life has lost its meaning for him without his lady love. There are many interrogative sentences in the poem which shows the inner conflict of the lover. The lover in the poem compares his dear lady ‘my beautiful star’, ‘my beloved’, ‘my other self’, ‘God’s Spirit’ and ‘companion of my soul’.Gibran often wrote about the oppressive of society in respect of the love of men and women. He was a romantic and so always favored country against city. In the poem, ‘A Lover’s Call’, the two lovers had to part from each other because of some ‘earthly purpose’. Their love for each other was true and they were soul partners but his l ady love walked away from him because human society wanted it. In the poem, we find that nature has sustained their love. They have sat under the tree away from humanity and walked in the forest hand in hand. Again, the love wants to complain to his beloved through the breeze and wants the smile and the fragrance of her lady to sail through the air to enliven him.Gibran is first a painter and he uses language to explicate his images. So his images have a visual quality. English speaking critiques do not think Gibran as particularly good or important. This critical condescension is not shared by the Arabic speaking world, where he is universally recognized as one of the key figures of modern Arabic literature. He was criticized because he was very serious in everything he wrote without any sense of humor. There is also limitation on the Arabic side of his work. He was unable to master the complex techniques of classical Arabic Literatures.He wrote almost nothing in the traditional po etic form.   Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬ËœA Lover’s Call’, is a romantic love poem. It is a call from a lover from his soul to the soul of another lover. The simple language and the beautiful images used by the poet charm our senses. It has a universal appeal because lovers of any age will fell the same passion for their beloved. We journey with the poet and the plight of the lover touches our heart. This poem is one of the many poems written by Gibran and remains a treasure of this talented writer.Citation:Khalil Gibran on : A Lover’s Call12 April 2007 ;http://www.poetseers.org/the-great-poets/arabic-poets//gibran-poems/;Using English. Com on: Figure of Speech12 April 2007 ;https://www.usingenglish.com/glossary/figure-of-speech.html;John Walbridge on: Gibran, his Aesthetic and his Moral Universe.

Amazon: the Brink of Bankruptcy

Since its incorporation in 1994, Amazon’s business model had expanded from offering a simple internet marketplace for books to providing web services to online retailers, storage solutions and a dramatically expanded product line. Nevertheless, despite massive sales the company failed to produce a profit for shareholders and Amazon was on the brink of bankruptcy at the beginning of 2001. If I were a shareholder who received the company’s 2000 annual report, I would have strongly agreed with CEO Jeff Bezos that the company must achieve profitability by year-end 2001. I would recommend that the company accomplish this by cutting costs related to fulfillment and inventory and by increasing revenue by capitalizing on the previous year’s investments in infrastructure. While many expenditures in 2000 were related to Amazon’s efforts to implement its strategy for growth, operating costs had also increased. Amazon’s fulfillment costs were 11 percent of sales in 1997 and 1998, ballooned to 14 percent in 1999, and further increased to 15 percent in 2000. Because e-Commerce was still new and just beginning to establish customer trust, it’s critical that these costs be reduced without negatively impacting quality, speed of delivery or customer service. Because of Amazon’s large scale and repeatable processes, I would recommend a continuous improvement strategy such as lean Six Sigma. Another area of operational cash drain is inventory. After adding multiple new product lines and distribution centers in 2000, inventory management became a challenge for Amazon. In 1999, inventory turnover was 20% that of competitor Barnes and Noble and contributed to negative cash flow in 2000. Amazon would be well advised to use IT technology such as an advanced ERP to better estimate the inventory needed to meet demand without overstocking. In addition to cutting costs, Amazon must increase revenue. While it may be tempting to suggest the company completely abandon some of its less profitable products and international endeavors, I think this would be poor advice. Many of these areas have just been developed and hold potential for future profits in the wake of the past year’s investment. Instead, I propose Amazon focus on their efforts to leverage existing infrastructure. For less profitable verticals such as consumer electronics and home and garden, the company should reproduce the Toys r Us model and partner with established, brick and mortar organizations that can benefit by exploiting Amazon’s ability to handle high volumes while reducing their risks of taking operations online. In return, these companies offer Amazon a stability that other online retailers of the dot-com era lack. It would be critical that Amazon implement these recommendations immediately in order to become profitable in 2001. Amazon. om must prove to Wall Street and investors that it is capable of generating a profit. Through 2000, much of Amazon’s growth was funded by investors and the debt market. The environment generated by the dot-com crash and Amazon’s plummeting credit rating will significantly limit access to new capital. Since the company will almost certainly have to dip into existing cash reserves in the first quarter of 2001 to pay suppliers for 2000 Q4 inventory among other obligations, Amazon must begin replenishing cash reserves through its operations in the next four quarters.

buy custom Wal-Mart Merchandising Strategy essay

buy custom Wal-Mart Merchandising Strategy essay For a company to succeed both in the domestic and international markets, it has to embrace the right merchandising strategies. This is because of the fact that, in the current market situation, the approach of one size fits all cannot work due to increased competition between firms, higher costs of production, different marketing strategies among other factors (Lohman, 2012). Based on this fact, the strategies ought to vary significantly, depending on the category as well as the objective to be achieved by the company for its brand. Therefore, all the strategies must be carefully crafted in order to enable the firm to target certain goals like being able to invite new customers, raise foot traffic among other factors that will increase sales (Lohman, 2012). One of the companies which has perfected this art both in the local and international markets is Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. is a multinational retail corporation based in the United States; it operates multiple chain stores and warehouses across the globe (Wal-Mart Corporate, 2014). Currently, the company has more than 11,000 stores which operate under 55 various banners. As of 2014, the company has been rated as the largest firm by revenue share as indicated by the Fortune Global 500 list (Wal-Mart Corporate, 2014). According to the case study, the firm has leveraged its success due to low products pices and efficient logistical and operation systems. In addition, the company has an effective system of information, which enables it to keep all inventories at a minimum level, thus being able to avoid the aspect of under or overstocking, which in most cases results to reduced profitability (Lyons, 2007). From the case study, it is evident that Wal-Mart has made notable success in expanding its retail shops in the international markets. There are various factors which made it possible for the firm to attain this level of international success. Its competitors, on the other hand, have significantly failed. First, as seen in Mexico in the 1990s, the firm has established a joint venture with the local retail shops. Since expansion to international markets is a rather capital-intensive affair, joint ventures between Wal-Mart and the local firms helped the former to reduce its operational costs, thus making it able to offer its products at lower prices compared to its competitors (Lyons, 2007). The other factor which has resulted to the success of Wal-Mart in the international markets is the ability to understand the culture of the local communities. For instance, in Mexico, the firm learnt that, unlike in the US, the majority of its customers did not have cars, thus they used to buy products in small quantities. The company also tends to hire local managers and othher employees, a factor which enables the firm to understand the local market better (Lyons, 2007). In order to change the shopping habits, the company has been able to educate the locals on the need to embrace the United States merchandising culture; Wal-Mart has already conducted similar practice in Mexico and China. From a thorough analysis of the case study, it is clear that in order to ensure the success of Wal-Mart in international ventures, the firm has to motivate its work force through unionizing its employees as witnessed in 2006 in China. This ensures higher productivity both in the short- and long-term projects. In addition, the firm needs to understand the culture of the local population before engaging in any international venture. For instance, the managements inability of the firm to understand the fact that consumers in South Korea and Germany are attracted by high quality merchandise rather than discounted products made the firm pull out of these two countries in 2006 (Lyons, 2007). In conclusion, it is evident that Wal-Mart could translate its merchandizing strategy wholesale to another country and succeed due to the managements previous experiences. However, the companys leadership should thoroughly study the country it wants to expand its business to, since every market is unique and requires the firm to modify its approach and strategies. Buy custom Wal-Mart Merchandising Strategy essay

Code of Ethics for US Government Service

Code of Ethics for US Government Service   In general, rules of ethical conduct for persons serving the U.S. federal government are divided into two categories: elected members of Congress, and government employees. Note that in the context of ethical conduct, â€Å"employees† includes persons hired or appointed to work for the Legislative Branch or on the staffs of individual Senators or Representatives, as well as those executive branch employees appointed by the President of the United States. Active duty members of the U.S. military are covered by the codes of conduct for their specific branch of the military. Members of Congress The ethical conduct of the elected members of Congress is prescribed by either the House Ethics Manual or the Senate Ethics Manual, as created and revised by the House and Senate committees on ethics. Executive Branch Employees For the first 200 years of U.S. government, each agency maintained its own code of ethical conduct. But in 1989, the Presidents Commission on Federal Ethics Law Reform recommended that individual agency standards of conduct be replaced with a single regulation applicable to all employees of the executive branch. In response, President George H.W. Bush signed Executive Order 12674 on April 12, 1989, setting out the following fourteen basic principles of ethical conduct for executive branch personnel: Public service is a public trust, requiring employees to place loyalty to the Constitution, the laws and ethical principles above private gain.Employees shall not hold financial interests that conflict with the conscientious performance of duty.Employees shall not engage in financial transactions using nonpublic Government information or allow the improper use of such information to further any private interest.An employee shall not, except as permitted ... solicit or accept any gift or other items of monetary value from any person or entity seeking official action from, doing business with, or conducting activities regulated by the employees agency, or whose interests may be substantially affected by the performance or nonperformance of the employees duties.Employees shall put forth honest effort in the performance of their duties.Employees shall not knowingly make unauthorized commitments or promises of any kind purporting to bind the Government.Employees shall not use public offic e for private gain. Employees shall act impartially and not give preferential treatment to any private organization or individual.Employees shall protect and conserve Federal property and shall not use it for other than authorized activities.Employees shall not engage in outside employment or activities, including seeking or negotiating for employment, that conflict with official Government duties and responsibilities.Employees shall disclose waste, fraud, abuse, and corruption to appropriate authorities.Employees shall satisfy in good faith their obligations as citizens, including all just financial obligations, especially those- such as Federal, State, or local taxes- that are imposed by law.Employees shall adhere to all laws and regulations that provide equal opportunity for all Americans regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, or handicap.Employees shall endeavor to avoid any actions creating the appearance that they are violating the law or the ethical standards set forth in this part. Whether particular circumstances create an appearance that the law or these standards have been violated shall be determined from the perspective of a reasonable person with knowledge of the relevant facts. The federal regulation enforcing these 14 rules of conduct (as amended) is now codified and fully explained in the Code of Federal Regulations at 5 C.F.R. Part 2635. Part 2635. Over the years since 1989, some agencies have created supplemental regulations that modify or supplement the 14 rules of conduct to better apply to the specific duties and responsibilities of their employees. Established by the Ethics in Government Act of 1978, the U.S. Office of Government Ethics provides overall leadership and oversight of the executive branch ethics program designed to prevent and resolve conflicts of interest. The Overarching Rules of Ethical Conduct In addition to the above 14 rules of conduct for executive branch employees, Congress, on June 27, 1980, unanimously passed a law establishing the followinggeneral Code of Ethics for Government Service. Signed by President Jimmy Carter on July 3, 1980, Public Law 96-303 requires that, â€Å"Any person in Government service should:† Put loyalty to the highest moral principles and to country above loyalty to persons, party, or Government department.Uphold the Constitution, laws, and regulations of the United States and of all governments therein and never be a party to their evasion.Give a full days labor for a full days pay; giving earnest effort and best thought to the performance of duties.Seek to find and employ more efficient and economical ways of getting tasks accomplished.Never discriminate unfairly by the dispensing of special favors or privileges to anyone, whether for remuneration or not; and never accept, for himself or herself or for family members, favors or benefits under circumstances which might be construed by reasonable persons as influencing the performance of governmental duties.Make no private promises of any kind binding upon the duties of the office, since a Government employee has no private word which can be binding on public duty.Engage in no business with the Government, either directl y or indirectly, which is inconsistent with the conscientious performance of governmental duties. Never use any information gained confidentially in the performance of governmental duties as a means of making private profit.Expose corruption wherever discovered.Uphold these principles, ever conscious that public office is a public trust. Is There a Presidential Code of Ethics? While the elected members of Congress have chosen to adopt their own code of ethics, the President of the United States, as an elected rather than hired or appointed representatives of the people, is not subject to any specific statute or rule governing his or her ethical conduct. While they are subject to civil suit and criminal prosecution for violations of common laws, presidents are generally immune from punishment for conduct related to their official acts. In other words, presidents are generally free to lie or misrepresent facts, as long as they do not intentionally defame any specific person or persons in doing so. In fact, the only the only practical remedies to unethical conduct on the part of the president are the constant vigilance of a well-informed public, congressional oversight, and ultimately the threat of impeachment for â€Å"high crimes and misdemeanors.†

Business Analisys of Coca Cola Brand Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Business Analisys of Coca Cola Brand - Essay Example The essay discusses that the Coca-Cola Company started as a beverage business company in 1886 selling the product at five cents a bottle. The initial escalation was unsurpassed and impressive, but more was characterized when the company established a more and powerful system of bottling. This made the brand rise to be the world’s most liked and known brand of today. The sale of Coca-Cola began in Vicksburg by a storeowner called Joseph Biedenharn who started bottling the product for sale in a common bottle termed Hutchinson. The storeowner accidentally sent a sample to Asa Candler who was the owner of the company who merely thanked him and did not implement this aspect. One of Candler’s nephews persisted for his use of the bottle but he ignored and only centered on the fountain proceeds. Two youthful attorneys from Tennessee trusted that they had the competence to build up a business around bottling the brand. They met with the director of the company who later authoriz ed them to bottle the brand in roughly all the parts of the US. The brand now rose to one dollar a bottle. A third party who was a lawyer joined the duo, thus they further vended the bottle rights to confined wholesalers and entrepreneurs. Their endeavors were further heightened by the major a technological advancements that increased efficiency and quality of the product. With this breakthrough, nearly 500 bottling plants were functioning and small-scale businesses and families owned a majority of them. A number of the plants were only opened in the dry spells when the demand was escalated. Since the straight bottle was confusing to the public, an undersized group on behalf of the company asked the public to give ideas on how to improve the bottle so that it becomes unique to the Coca-Cola brand. With the technological advancements eminent in the global economy, those who sold the brand evolved into global chains. These customers merged for reason of tackling the increasing global market (Tung, 2001, 23). The company is an American beverage institution and manufacturer. It has its HQ in Atlanta Georgia and has Muhtar Kent as its present Director. The company also retails and promotes non-alcoholic juices and syrups. The company is best recognized for its pioneer Coca-Cola product invented by John Pemberton in Georgia. Asa Chandler established the modus operandi and brand of Coca-cola in 1889. It features in the NYSE, and is a component of DJIA and the Russell Index. 2. Organizational Design & Strategy The primary competences that provide the association its unsurpassed competitive merit are its powerful name of product and its system of distribution and bottling. Besides its marketing potentials and extensive collection of products, The Company has key competences that are tremendously complicated, if not impracticable to copy. The powerful Coca-Cola product name provides the company a large amount of bargaining influence and advantage. In 1999, Coca-Cola Com pany and PepsiCo were struggling to develop into merchants of juices for the Wendy’s cafe chain. Wendy’s chose to associate with The Coca-Cola Company albeit PepsiCo was presenting a large amount of money. The Coca-Cola brand name enjoys much domination in the market. The Coca-Cola brand has authority on customer preferences. When Company was endeavoring to initiate Diet Coke, they implemented some sightless taste experiments with customers. The customers favored a glass tagged Diet Coke over a glass tagged Tab by 12%, although the fluids in all the glasses were matching. Designing Organizational Structure: Authority &Control The Company presently recruits nearly 94,800 workers. According to a broad managerial graphical representation acquired from the firm’s website, the company has over 5 hierarchical stages at the corporate strategy. For instance, the director of the Canadian region is subordinate to the

Outline what Kant understands by the sublime and the beautiful and Essay

Outline what Kant understands by the sublime and the beautiful and evaluate their usefulness for understanding the aesthetic - Essay Example In this regard, Immanuel Kant, one of the greatest (if not the greatest) modern philosophers has provided a guide with which humanity may be able to understand and explicate visions and experience of beauty in the human world. This paper intends to present an outline of Kant’s understanding of the sublime and the beautiful. And then, the author will determine and evaluate the usefulness of Kant’s discussion of the sublime and the beautiful for understanding the aesthetic experience. In lieu with this, the paper will have the following structure: first part will be the introduction where the intention and structure of the paper is presented. The second part will be a discussion Kant’s concept of beauty. The third part will be on Kant’s concept of the sublime and fourth part will be the evaluation of Kant’s discussion on the beautiful and the sublime. In the end, it is the hope of the author that the understanding gained from this exposition helps in creating a vision of a world that is authentically responsive to the presentations and representations of what it means to be a human person. Kant’s discussion of the beautiful starts with the claim that the judgement of taste is disinterested, â€Å"Taste is the faculty of judging an object or a method of representing it by an entirely disinterested satisfaction or dissatisfaction. The object of such satisfaction is called beautiful.†1 This implies that judgment of taste is impartial of any feelings or emotions since â€Å"We must not be in the least prejudiced in favour of the existence of the things, but be quite indifferent in this respect, in order to play the judge in things of taste.†2 This is the first condition of beauty.3 The second condition is that the pleasure from the disinterested satisfaction should be a universal voice bereft of any personal satisfactions or