State of the Union 2011 Essay Example For Students

State of the Union 2011 Essay The State of the Union address is the speech the President makes to a join session of Congress at the beginning of the legislative session. This address is in accordance with the Constitution, which provides that the President shall ?from time to time give to Congress information of the State of the Union?. For 221 years, our leaders have fulfilled this duty. On January 25, 2011, President Obama delivered the annual address to a join session of Congress from the House Chamber at the U.S. Capital. He gave a report on the financial condition of our Nation under the new divided government. Since the Republicans won back control of the House and increased their number in the Senate last November, getting support from them will be a big challenge for the President of the United States. He was talking about the past two years being as that as anything the Nation has been threw since the Great Depression. But we are in a different condition today. The economy is growing, there was more than million jobs created last year, stock market is going up, and Corporate Profits are healthy. Even though President Obama stresses that there is so much more to do, there are so many Americans still struggling every day when the costs of living are still going up. Obama accentuates that as a Nation we need to make sure we are competitive and that we are consistently growing. He proposed five ?pillars?:?Innovation?Education?Infrastructure?Deficit Reduction?Reforming GovernmentBarak Obama?s principle focus is on creating more jobs and thereby strengthening the economy. His focus is on making sure that the economy is working for everybody, for the entire American family, making sure that people have decent jobs and benefits. We will write a custom essay on State of the Union 2011 specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now Obama is also proposing on cutting expenses for the next five years. He understands that dealing with deficits and debts needs to be done in a responsible way. He emphasizes on reforming the government and finely making sure to keep America safe. In conclusion, President Obama is promising to work hard to make sure that the American Dream is obtainable to anyone who wants to work for it. He understands that this will take a lot of work and a lot of challenges, but he believes that anything is possible as long as we will come together as people, Republicans, Democrats and Independents. ?As long as we focus on what binds us together as people, as long as we want to find common ground, that what its going to take to built the future ?.

Definition and Examples of Panegyric

Definition and Examples of Panegyric In rhetoric, panegyric is a speech or written composition that offers praise for an individual or an institution: an encomium or eulogy. Adjective: panegyrical. Contrast with invective. In classical rhetoric, the panegyric was recognized as a form of ceremonial discourse (epideictic rhetoric) and was commonly practiced as a rhetorical exercise. Etymology From the Greek, public assembly Examples and Observations Isocrates Panegyric at the Panhellenic FestivalNow the founders of our great festivals are justly praised for handing down to us a custom by which, having proclaimed a truce and resolved our pending quarrels, we come together in one place, where, as we make our prayers and sacrifices in common, we are reminded of the kinship which exists among us and are made to feel more kindly towards each other for the future, reviving our old friendships and establishing new ties. And neither to common men nor to those of superior gifts is the time so spent idle and profitless, but in the concourse of the Greeks the latter have the opportunity to display their prowess, the former to behold these contending against each other in the games; and no one lacks zest for the festival, but all find in it that which flatters their pride, the spectators when they see the athletes exert themselves for their benefit, the athletes when they reflect that all the world is come to gaze upon them.(Isocrates, Pane gyricus, 380 B.C.) Shakespearean PanegyricThis royal throne of kings, this scepterd isle,This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,This other Eden, demi-paradise,This fortress built by Nature for herselfAgainst infection and the hand of war,This happy breed of men, this little world,This precious stone set in the silver sea,Which serves it in the office of a wall,Or as a moat defensive to a house,Against the envy of less happier lands,This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England . . ..(John of Gaunt in William Shakespeares King  Richard II,  Act 2, Scene 1)Elements of Classical PanegyricsIsocrates may have been the first to give a specific name to speeches given at such gatherings by naming his famous appeal for Hellenic unity Panegyrikos in 380 B.C.E. This was Isocrates most famous composition and may well have popularized the use of the term generically to refer to festival speeches . . ..[George A.] Kennedy lists what became the traditional elements in such speeches: A panegyric, the t echnical name for a festival speech, consists normally of praise for the god associated with the festival, praise of the city in which the festival is held, praise of the contest itself and of the crown awarded, and finally, praise of the king or officials in charge (1963, 167). However, an examination of panegyric speeches prior to Aristotles Rhetoric reveals an additional characteristic: early panegyrics contained an unmistakeable deliberative dimension. That is, they were openly political in orientation and aimed at encouraging the audience to follow a course of action.(Edward Schiappa, The Beginnings of Rhetorical Theory in Classical Greece. Yale Univ. Press, 1999) Amplification in Classical PanegyricsOver time, moral virtues came to be seen in Greco-Roman political philosophies as canonical, and panegyrics in both languages were regularly founded on a canon of four virtues, usually justice, courage, temperance and wisdom (Seager 1984; S. Braund 1998: 56-7). Aristotles main rhetorical recommendation is that the virtues be amplified, that is, expanded, by narrative (of actions and achievements) and comparisons (Rh. 1.9.38). The Rhetorica as Alexandrum is less philosophical and more practical in its advice; amplification remains the key ambition for the panegyrist, in an attempt to maximize the positive and minimize the negative content of the speech; and invention is urged, if need be (Rh. Al. 3). Thus from democratic and monarchic contexts, Greece left a substantial and varied endowment of panegyrical material, in prose and verse, serious and light-hearted, theoretical and applied.(Roger Rees, Panegyric. A Companion to Roman Rhetoric, ed. by Wi lliam J. Dominik and Jon Hall. Blackwell, 2007) Cicero on PanegyricsCauses are subdivided into two categories, one that aims at giving pleasure and a second that has as its goal the demonstration of a case. An example of the first type of cause is the panegyric, which is concerned with praise and blame. A panegyric does not establish doubtful propositions; rather it amplifies what is already known. Words should be chosen for their brilliance in a panegyric.(Cicero, De Partitione Oratoria, 46 B.C.)Fulsome PraiseThomas Blount defined panegyric in his Glossographia of 1656 as A licentious kind of speaking or oration, in the praise and commendation of Kings, or other great persons, wherein some falsities are joyned with many flatteries. And in fact panegyrists strove for a double goal, working to popularize imperial policy while hoping to restrain the abuses of power.(Shadi Bartsch, Panegyric. Encyclopedia of Rhetoric, ed. by Thomas O. Sloane. Oxford Univ. Press, 2001) Pronunciation: pan-eh-JIR-ek

Challenges for Military Organizations in Peacetime and Wartime Essay

Challenges for Military Organizations in Peacetime and Wartime - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that the questions that arise are whether innovations in military organizations are required during peacetime or must they be made during the course of a war. Military innovations refer to conceptual changes in operations of specific combat arms and mutual relation between different combat arms. The idea is to pave the way for a new mission by abandoning traditional missions. Such innovations define war in a new way and restructure the relationship between different factors of the military organization and the enemy. The operations are designed so that they are consistent with the new ideas. Innovations focus is on major military activities based on which war plans are made. Military innovations are subjected to various challenges. The general belief that defeat in war provides an incentive for military innovation is not technically correct. The complexities in the bureaucratic system during peacetimes make innovation extremely difficult. T here are many cases where military innovations have taken place after victory in a war, and not defeat. When officers are incorporated in the army they are prepared to follow orders without question. They become so habituated with the existing concepts that with the passage of years the ideas get deeply embedded within their minds so much so that no amount of reasoning or argument can make them abandon the established ideas. Only by studying the nature of military organizations, the need for innovations can be explained.

Leadeship in Clinical Practice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Leadeship in Clinical Practice - Essay Example Nurse-doctor communication results in safe and effective care of patient. Similar to that nurse-supporting staff relation also affects the patients because they are the one who are responsible for taking care of patient in relation to medicines, food, clothing, cleanliness etc. So these two factors play a key role in managing a clinic performance. This relation can be made efficient only on the basis of effective leadership and communication skills (Armstrong, 2005, Chiarella, 2002). 1.2 Theories of communication Communication can be understood in various ways, as human nature also differs depending on one’s personality and nature. There is diversity in it because it is a broader concept of discipline. There are many theories of leadership and communication such as CBS model, situational theory, contingency theory etc. In accordance to the situation of the discussion paper two communication theories will support the present condition of staff members who assist nurses. They ar e situational and contingency theories (Woodward J, 1965). Situational leadership theory This theory believes that there is not a one single best style of leadership. In fact, leading will be effective only if it is related to specific tasks. It is the style of maturity. It will not only help in the accomplishment of tasks and jobs, but will also influence the group performing the job (Hersey P, 1969). This theory is related to various clinical areas, mostly towards the relationship of nurse-supporting staff because the followers are less skilled. They need full guidance and supervision. This can be done by assigning them task in groups on the basis of specific situations. Each group will be given task on the basis of his or maturity level. The result of which will be increased knowledge and experience through mutual coordination in a group. It will help to motivate the task as well as relationship behavior of the followers. Contingency theory This theory believes that leadership ef fectiveness is mainly based on two factors i.e. situational control and leadership style. It emphasize on the fact that there is not a single way of leading, similar to that of situational theory. It believes that an organization success depends on both internal as well as external factors. In a clinic perspective, business will be successful only if it’s both, the external factors such as clients, image etc., and internal factors such as doctors, nurses, supporting staff etc., are considered and dealt efficiently. Organization should focus more on organizational structures and management styles (Lawrence P, 1967). Managers should make the organizational structure friendly in order to educate its supporting staff. Management styles should be less formal because they are fresh graduate’s one need to be at their level to promote efficiency. Clinics should have open systems in order to satisfy their internal needs of supporting staff and make them prepare to deal with cha llenging situations (Turner C, 2002). There is not a single way of organizing things. All depends on the nature of task provided to the working staff. Nursing managers should clearly explain the task or jobs to the staff. They should find a good fit among staff and jobs. This means that jobs should be assigned on the basis of capability of a person. Different techniques should be used in various departments of a clinic (Fred Lutans, 2011). 1.3 Communication in clinical areas

Optimization of Macromolecular Crowded Culture Dissertation

Optimization of Macromolecular Crowded Culture - Dissertation Example These cells handle the synthesis of the extracellular matrix as well as collagen. The cells will redifferentiate into two states namely, the activated state and the less active state. The resultant less active cell plays a role in the metabolism of the tissues and its maintenance. Despite the cells own ability to replicate, therapies on the cell have grown to produce various substitutes not only for the skin.Also, for the lungs, and blood vessels through an extracellular matrix of their tissue.There was interference with the structure when initial attempts were made to use seeded scaffold cells on collagen. That was due to the remodeling of the tissue, and its functioning. These limitations greatly contributed to the establishment of a mechanism for cell recreation that is independent of the structure. These methods are either self-assembly or scaffold-free tissue engineering. The previous uses a cell to cell contact to come up with a contiguous cell sheet fabrication. Also, ECM is e ndogenously produced through this process. Â  There are various clinical and preclinical methods that have already been commercialized especially due to extremely long duration needed for cultures of ex vivo (Dityatev, 2010). As a result, there have been many trials made to achieve tissue-engineering of varied tissues, cartilage, bones, liver and other organs. Among these, some of the most successful constructs of tissue engineering include bladder, airway, and the artificial skin. The process of having completely functional constructs is however faced with the challenge of increasing complexity in the nature of tissues. Â  The proposal uses a new approach called macromolecular crowding to create similar issues as the products of ECM.

Managerial accounting techniques to help them thrive

Managerial accounting techniques to help them thrive Globally Hotels operators and managers are relying on managerial accounting techniques to help them thrive in the highly competitive and economy recession. The critical aspect of focusing on increasing revenue, minimise cost, align incentive to performance, maximise profits level without decline in the quality of services rendered by Hoteliers are becoming evolving issues in the hospitality industry. The essence of this project is uncover how management accounting is use to provide specialised internal information to the Managers in Lagos Airport Hotel, Lagos Nigeria that are responsible for directing and controlling operations within the hotels. The types of information provided by management accounting information systems and how it help the management in their strategic planning (Short or Long term), measurement performance, attained the organisational strategic objectives of increasing the owners wealth. SECTION 1- DESCRIPTION OF COMPANY: LAGOS AIRPORTS HOTELS LIMITED Lagos Airport Hotel Limited, is a subsidiary of Odua Investment Company,The hotel began operation in 1942 under the ownership and management of Joseph Harold, a Brition . The hotel name was then Grand Hotel which was later changed Ikeja Arms was incorporated in 1961, having started business as an owner managed hotel with 5 rooms in 1942 under the name Grand Hotel, Lagos.with 5 rooms. It was renamed Ikeja Arms Inn in 1956 acqiured in 1959 by the Government of Western region of Nigeria comprises of Oyo, Ogun, Ondo, Osun and Ekiti States in 1959 and incorporated as Lagos Airport Hotel in 1961. As at today the hotels had grown from 5 rooms in 1942 to 277 rooms consist of of , presidential suites , Monarchical Suite, Executive Suites, Presidential Suites, Executive/Business Suites, Standard/Executive Double, six conference halls well-secured car parks, two international Restaurants four Bars and an Olympic-sized Swimming Pool. The hotel under the leadership of Alhaji   Adebayo Jimoh , has over five hundred highly professional staff with additional two subsidiaries hotels namely Lafia Hotel and Premier Hotel Ibadan. The hotel strategic vision is to be the preferred choice for customers in the Nigerias hospitality industry. and mission statement is to passionately deliver efficient and catering services at competitive and affordable prices. In Peat survey 2009 the Airport is rated among the best top hotels in Nigeria and among the first leading hospitality companies in Lagos State. is rated among the best top 20 hotels in Nigeria. SECTION 2 COST BEHAVIOUR ANALYSIS HOTEL BUSINESS OPERATION AND COST BEHAVIOUR ANALYSIS HOTEL ACCOUNTING STRUCTURE AND LAGOS AIRPORT HOTEL EXPERIENCE The hotel business operation globally is characterised with a number of different cyclical sales revenue cycles which includes daily operating cycle, weekly , seasional cycle and general business cycle(Reccession). The Lagos airport hotels is not expempted from the above cyclical business patterned. Significantly, these various cyclical operation in hotel create a unique difficulties in forecasting revenue and cost. Secondly , hospitality operation are People oriented and people- driven, it is more difficult to effectively automate and control cost than it is on other non hospitality business sector 2.1 COST BEHAVIOUR AND ANALYSIS Lagos Airport Hotel operations tend to be highly departimised with separate operating division/unit that provide accommodation/lodging, Restaurants Bar services, Conference Banquest, Etc . Consequently the hotel accounting systems are designed to allow an independent evaluation of each operating department or division. To this end, cost directly traceable to a department are identified as direct cost, typically major direct cost in hotels includes cost of sales(foods drinks), salary wages, operating supplies e.g Soap, Toilet tissue paper etc . After direct costs are determined they are deducted from revenue to isolate contributory income which represent the depts or division contribution to support undistributed general overheads. As in their practice indirect cost are not easily traceable to a department and referred to as undistributed costs One of the arguments in favour of allocating indirect expenses to department is that aithough department managers are not responsible for controlling those costs, they should be aware of what portion of them is related to their department since this could have an impact on departmental decision making such as establishing room rates, foods and other service selling prices at a level that covers all costs not just direct cost. When this type of Full -cost accounting is implemented in a responsibility accounting system , it allows a manager to know the total minimum revenue that must be generated to cover all costs even though the control of some of those costs is not their responsility. Nevertheless there are mistake as regard the direct costs, controllable costs, indirect costs and non controllable cost. The assertion that say direct costs are generally more easily controlled than indirect costs but (Salome 2009) argued that in the long run all costs are controllable by someone at sometimes 2.2 RELEVANT NON RELEVANT COST CONCEPT AND APPLICATION IN HOTEL The theory of relevant and non relevant cost is widely used in hospitality cost management( ) the application is use for variety of decision making. A relevant cost is one that affect decision and such a cost must be in the future and different between alternatives. For example The Lagos airport is considering to introduce online booking with ATM Payment portal, the relevant cost would be the cost of web solution, ATM Machine, the cost of training employees on the new solutions and any change in maintenance and material supply costs on the new solution/machine. As long as no change is necessary in the number of staff required, the hotel labor cost would not be relevant cost and it would make no difference to the decision On cost behaviour Most hotels have a high proportion of fixed cost which are not expected to change in the short run of an operating period og a year or less and will not vary with increases or decrease in sales revenue, examples are management salaries, insurance or committed cost of an advertising campaign ,So this type of costs are not relevant for decision making Variable cost on the hand change in direct proportion to a change in sales revenue for example the more foods and drink sold, the more cost of sales incurred The usefulness of relevant cost , non relevant cost, fixed , variable, sunk cost etc in hotel business help the managers in making the following types of decision Allocation of indirect costs to revenue unit/dept Which types of equipment should they buy Whether to sell below total cost? Whether hotel should be close during off season? As the cost of low -activity characterises hotel sectors Which investment/business should they buy Make or buy decision making Alot more In the airport hotel activity -based costing is not broadly used while target costing has squat adoption level. But standard costing is most popular costing used in the hotel 2.3 MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING SYSTEM AND DECISION MAKING IN HOTEL A RELATIVE ILLUSTRATIVE STUDY OF LAGOS AIRPORT HOTEL The business success of the business depends to a very large extent upon the capacity of top management to develop the appropriate strategies in a number of issues which conform to the business corporate strategic goals The hotels have typically diverse level of decision making. Management at each level takes decision that are within its capability and responsibility For each level of decision making management accounting system has been found to provide appropriates information required for management decision making. To be specific the management accounting information system was found to be helpful to the hotel management to formulate and execute Strategies concerned with volume and capacity Strategies for assessing the relative profitability of division/ department or revenue area Strategies for pricing in condition of hotel space capacity Strategies for selecting product/service range where there are capacity or other constraints. Marginal costing is used by the hotels for cost structure and pricing decision. The marginal costing is mainly used for short-term planning, while activity based costing is the favoured costing method for long term strategic planning. The cost -volume -profit approach to decision (e.g Breakeven analysis) are widely produces to assist management in decision making . this assist them in evaluating current and future events regarding sales revenue inflow and cost outflow Cost volume profit analysis(CVP) cost are separated into variable and fixed componenets. They are then used to make informed and rational decision TABLE SHOWING Break even sales Break even sales equitation for Loding unit for 2009(See Financal hilghlight week6 project outline) The fixed costs(FC) are N197,702 , sales revenue N568,900 and variable cost (VC) are N63,968 .what is breakeven sales revenue? The break even point(BEP) = Fixed cost (Sales revenue Variable cost) = 197,702 (2053-230) BEP = 108 Rooms per day. Fig2: Break even revenue FC / 1-(variable cost/sales revenue) 197702/ 1- (N63,968/N568,900) 197,702/88.7% = N222,888 CVP analysis is a logical extension of breakeven analysis in hotels business it is used to make the following decision among others. At what level of sales revenue will operating income be TARTGETD INcme may be 700,000,000 How much must sales revenue increase to cover a new fixed cost If room rates are changes, what will be the effect on rooms sold? Whether to give bulk discounts or not? New investment decision SECTION 3 BUDGETING PROCESSING REVIEW BUDGETING AND BUDGETARY PROCESS OVERVIEW IN HOTEL INDUSTRY The objectives of organisation will be faciliatated by the implementation of an efficient budgeting, this because the whole essence of budgeting is to ensure that the allocation of resources is palnned to avoid waste and promote profitability For hotel managers to make meaningful decision about future, a manager must look ahead(Budget) Antril. P Mclaney.E (2009) Martin Micheal (2004) argued that for hotel or restaurant operators or manger the budget might be no more than looking ahead to tomorrow, estimating how many guests per night , estimating how many customers will eat in the restaurant etc Budgets not expressed in monetary terms could involve numbers of guest to be served, number of rooms to be occupied, number of employees required, or some other unit as opposed to monetary value Agara(2007), Martin Micheal (2004) identified the three main purposes of budgeting in hotels business To provide organised estimates of future unit sales, sales revenues, expenses, net income, staffing requirements or equipment needs, broken down by operating period and department To provide management with long-term and short term goals. To provide a method of control so that actual results can be evaluated against budget plans and adjustments, if necessary can be made The budgetary cycle or process is a five part process that involved the follows Establish attainable goals or objective Plan to achieve these goals or objectives Compare actual results with those planned , and analyse the difference(variance) Take corrective action required Improve the effectiveness of budgeting The starting point in budgeting is to forecast sales revenue, in hotel operation in forecasting the mnager usually considered past actual sales revenue and trends, current anticipated trends and the economic, competitive and limiting factors. Once the sales revenue had been forecast, direct operating expenses can be calculated based on anticipated sales level and undistributed expenses allocated or deducted to arrive at the net income. The various types of budgets include fixed, flecible, capital budget, operating , departmental,master budget etc Zero based budgeting (ZBB) this budget is found useful for controlling and controlling hotel operation, as the name implies no expenses can be budgeted for or incurred unless they are jusitified in advance. ZBB requires each department head to jusitify in advance the entire annual budget froma zero base. The department manager responsible for the cost prepare the analysis. After each department or division is anakysed , management ranks all decision unit and the final budget is allocated according to this ranking The variance analysis is useful tools for budgetary control as it is used for isolating the cause of difference between budgeted and actual figures. SECTION 4: FIRM PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS4.0 LAGOS AIRPORT HOTELS FINANCIAL STATEMENT AND PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS The financial report present merely a stewardship report . if the information is to have real meaning both to the management and other users of the report, it must be subjected to a process of analysis and interpretation. To do this, various stastics yardstick or analytical tools like ration analysis, comparative analysis, common size vertical analyisi , trend analysis/ percentage can be used. Ratio analysis is concerning with expressing relationship between inputs and output, the objective of ratio analysis is to construct a framework of such relationship which are important for the success of the company. One part of this framework bring together all these aspect of the business which contribute to profitability both fot the company and owners, another part of the framework assesses the liquidity of the hotel, the remaining part reflect the hotels standing or viability for the future. Table : Lagos Airport Hotel financial performance Anaysis for 5 years 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 Profitability Ratio Gross profit Ratio or Margin 63.5% 46.5% 51.8% 68% 67.6 Net profit ratio or margin 17.2% 1.3% 4.3% 17.4% 15.7% Return on Capital employed 63.7% 3.9% 12.3% 43.1% 61.1% Liquidity / Investment Ratio Current Ratio 1.2:1 1.3:1 1.34:1 1.37:1 2.05:1 Gearing Ratio 103% 91.4% 91.7% 93.5 49% Total Debt to shareholder fund 193% 169% 171% 166% 156.8% Earning per share 2.47 0.14 0.42 1.5 1.25 Comments: Gross profit ratio which indicates the gross margin on sales in a period is steadly show a sign of improved 2009 from downward slope that occurred between 2008 2007, however the gross profit ratio needs improvement The net income ratio and return on capital which indicates a relative efficiency of the hotels business and overall profitability of the business is worrisome even with 17.3% for net return 63.7 ROCE for 2009 the performance is still far below expected returns level and it glaring that the hotel has been performance in term of profitability badly. For the hotel to remain operation for the nearest features it must be profitable and liquid. The strategy to adopt here is for the hotels managemenet to reduce its operational cost, improve revenue per guests,rates of occupany and innovate a new products or service that can improve revenue and profitability stream. The liquidity position of the hotel is far below ratio 2:1 recomended for healthy company, liquidity ratio measure the ability of a firm to meet its short -term obligations and reflect short term financial strength of the firm while the gearing ratio is extremely high as the company operation is funded from debts and depend on borrowed fund for expansion which is very vulerabilty to earning of shareholders and poses a possibility of take -over or bankcruptcy. The overall trend analysis for the hotel(see apendix2) provides uselful insight into some of the factors that might contributed to this aweful financial position Interestingly, many individual operating ration are specifically available for hospitality industries which focus on internal operation like rooms/accommodation, Foods Beverage analysis and decision making. Some of these analysis includes but not limited to income per guests for each division, costs per guest by items, foods and or beverage cost percentage, labor cost percentage average foods or beverage dollar/Naira by meals period and by revenue areas, seat turnover by meals period etc In the rooms or lodgimg division average rate per occupied room, revenue per available room (REVPAR) , Occupancy percentage, annual revenue per room, labour cost percentage etc The internal analysis of the above influenced the management decision making in term of improve sales level, directing efforts into selling higher priced rooms rather than lower priced, increasing rate of occupancy percentage or average room rate. On the impact of success critical factor(CSF) on the financial performance, the monetary indicators, grosss operating profit per available room was used SECTION 5 : CAPITAL INVESTMENT ANALYSIS 5.0 CAPITAL BUDGETING TECHNIQUES IN HOTEL INDUSTRY The largest investment that hotel or food seervice business has to make is in the land and building (Martin Micheal 2004) . The hotels management also make frequent investment decision for items such as equipment, furniture purchases and replacement. Due to elongated life time and colossal of capital outlays entail for capital investment, management espoused a more pragmatic approach and use appropriate capital investment control methodology to ensure right capital investment decision making There are hazard in making capital investment, the hazards can be seldom be eliminated but there are techniques available that allow the manager to reduce some of the quesswork The Lagos Airport hotels use Payback period and net present value, rn as a tools to guide investment decision A Case study of capital investment decision making in Lagos Airport Hotel A typical capital investment decision techniques is the Lagos airport hotel was contemplating of improve the restaurant services and planning to purchase a new type of oven and other modern kitchen apparatus. Or invest in Cinema or Casio Opertaion The hotel management is provided with two alternative investment option to choose from with their annual net cash inflows over the five -year investment period Year Otption1- Restaurant Improvement Option2- New Cinema Casio Centre 1 1,200,000 630,000 2 1,290,000 870,000 3 1,320,000 1,275,000 4 1,230,000 1,725,000 5 615,000 1,815,000 The initial investment outlay of N4,950,000 NPV is at 12%, Would either of them be a good investment for the hotel? Solution Option 1 -Restaurant improvement Net cash flows Cumulative net cash flows Year 0 Cost investment (4,950,000) (4,950,000) Year1 Net Saving 1,200,000 (3,750,000) (-4,950,000 + 1,200,000) Year 2 Net saving before Dep 1,290,000 (2,460,000) (-3,750,000 +1,290,000) Year 3 Net saving before Dep 1,320,000 (1,140,000 ) (-2,460,000+ 1,320,000) Year4 Net saving before Dep 1,230,000 90,000 (-1,140,000 +1,230,000) Year5 Net saving before Dep 615,000 705,000 ( 90,000+ 615,000) Option 1 Payback period = 3 years, 11 months plus 4 days Option 2 -New Cinema CASINO CENTRE Net cash flows Cumulative net cash flows Year 0 Cost investment (4,950,000) (4,950,000) Year1 Net Saving before Dep 630,000 (4,320,000) (-4,950,000 + 630,000) Year 2 Net saving before Dep 870,000 (3,450,000) (-4,320,000 +870,000) Year 3 Net saving before Dep 1,275,000 (2,175,000 ) (-3,450,000+ 1,275,000) Year4 Net saving before Dep 1,725,000 (450,000) (-2,175,000 +1,725,000) Year5 Net saving before Dep 1,815,000 1,365,000 ( -450,000+ 1,815,000) Option 2 Payback period = 4 years, 3 months The analysis above showed option 1 have a shorter pay back period and logic of using pay back period is that projects that can recoup their cost quickly are economically more attractive than those with longer payback(Antrill Mclaney 2009) so Option 1 is to be selected based on pay period methods. The major drawback o9f pay back period is that it ignore cash flow after the payback period and it does not take time value of money(Effect of inflation/ interest /risk etc) into consideration NET PRESENT VALUE(NPV) Net present value methods of appraisal consider all of the costs and benefits of each investment opportunity and make a logical allowance for the timing of those costs and benefits The NPV is consider better among all other investment appraisal techniques because of cashflow timming recognition, uses of all relevant cash flow and meet the objective of the business which to increase owners wealth LAGOS AIRPORT HOTEL USING NPV METHOD OPTION1 -Restaurant Improvement NPV Option 2 New Cinema Casino centre Time Cash flow N NPV (12%) Cash flow N NPV Year0 (4,950,000) (4,950,00) (4,950,000) (4,950,00) Year1 1,200,000 0.8929 1,071,480 630,000 562,527 Year 2 1,290,000 0.7972 1,028,388 870,000 693,564 Year 3 1,320,000 0.7118 939,575 1,275,000 907,545 Year 4 1,230,000 0.6355 781,665 1,725,000 1,096,238 Year 5 615,000 0.5066 311,559 1,815,000 919,479 -817,333 -770,647 Here we must ask how can management decide which option or project is acceptable, judging by NPV decision which stated that If the NPV is positive the project should be accepted, if it is negative the project should be rejected If there are two (or more) competing projects/options that have positive NPVs, the project with higher (or highest) should be selected. In this case of Lagos Airport hotel non of the two option is Negative and it should be rejected unless management has other non financial benefits attached with options which may still at long run contribute to the actualisation of the hotels strategic goals. SECTION 6: COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS As usual for business environment in the hotel industry is a highly competitvive, and Lagos Hotels Limited found itself in a such competitive based marketing segment with more than 5000 operators in the market. Significantly the hotels has the followings 7 majors/ market leaders to complete with Sheraton Hotels Tower, Pretoria Hotels, Federal Palace Hotels, Lagos Hilton Hotel, Excellence Hotel, PVC Hotels and Reassurance Hotels The core keys advantages of competitors in Comparism with Lagos airport range from their location advantage(Most of them located in Victoria and ikoyi areas of Lagos that accommodation the major businesses in Nigeria) International Operations advantage, 21st century well designed architectural building , modern facilities luxury, Branding, high Price advantages, innovation program (Customer Loyalty Program) etc The major advantages of Lagos airport is strategic location in the ikeja but with old building structures Next to Lagos is Victoria Island, which takes while to get to, about 2hrs, this is because of the amount of traffic and chaos on the roads, also some of the roads are in a bit of a mess, pot holes that can swallow you without trace. Victoria island is modern, and the Hotel Eco is very good, but costs  £250 GBP per night note the Sheraton in Lagos is also modern and costs  £300-350 per night, bottled water in the Eco was  £4, but if you are spending  £250 a night who cares, you must keep drinking water in this heat. These hotels do cost more than a London Hotel, but then there is no where else decent apart from Lagos Airport Hotel. Note the Airport Hotel was  £100 per night, I booked at the desk where ther is a written price sheet on the wall, you will have to put down a security deposit but you do get this back at the end of your stay. SECTION 7: BALANCED SCORECARD APPLICATION OF BALANCED SCORED CARD FRAMEWORK (A CASE STUDY OF LAGOS AIRPORT HOTEL) Balanced scorecard as the name suggested offers a more balanced view of a firms or of a managers performance by intergrating both financial and non financial information in a coherent fashion .This overcomes one of the obvious defects of traditional performance measurement systems which places undue emphasis on historical financial information. For long term effective and efficient performance, especially in hotel enterprise, the information related to service quality, introduction of new products, service, additional supply, entrance on new market, the competitor performance and human capital relation management is vital. Goardana Mateja also empaciated the need for balanced score card application in hotel indsutry The hotels operations are oriented towards people and to that end their financial performance depends on the behaviour and manners of hotels employees, the development of new products and service and as the most important , guest satisfaction In Lagos airport hotel use it to implement strategies of a change/ restructing in management programme undergo in 2009 Apart from using it to create a link between the performance measurement indicators and hotel strategies, Management use it to communicate strategy to both managers and staff. At operational level the Balance scored card are use to align employess efforts with those reuired for successful strategic implementation However, successful implementation of a balanced scorecard is not a trivial matters especially for hotels like Lagos Airport Hotels that is Government owned which make some top management appointment political in nature. Apart from this balanced scored concept is simple but it implementation is found to be time consuming and costly task especially to hotel like Lagos Airport with weak financial resources and manpower to support the practice of this new management concept in the longrun. Table: Lagos Airport Hotel Balanced scorecard Hotel Management Balanced Scorecard Managing the day to day activities of a hotel can be facilitated with the help of KPIs. KPIs, on a BSC are the means to attain the end of Measuring Performance. Such tool can be used when umpteen external and internal forces have a bearing on the organi Perspective Performance Financial Perspective 53.63% Customer Perspective 65.56% Efficiency 29.67% Staff perspective 65.78% Total Performance 54.85% Scorecard includes 4 categories, 17 indicators Strategy tree and scorecard details : Perspective Goal Weight (x of 10) Description Performance (%) Measure unit Target Values Financial Perspective 3 53.63% Wage Costs as a % of total sales 3 It refers to wage cost as a % of total sales of the hotel. 40% % 0% Annual operating profit per room 3 It refers to annual operating profit per room available in the hotel. 10000 $ 25000 Food cost as a % of food sales 2 40% % 0% % increase in labor costs 2 20% % 0% Total Performance in group Financial Perspective 53.63% Customer Perspective 3 65.56% Number of positive feedbacks 3 It refers to number of positive feedbacks received from the customers (on a scale of 1 to 10). 9 Score 10 Number of complaints received 2 It refers to number of complaints received from the customers regarding the services provided by hotel (on a scale of 1 to 10). 3 Score 10 Response rate 3 Metric is not available in trial version 1 minutes 1 Frequent customers as a % of total customers 2 Metric is not available in trial version 30% % 100% Total Performance in group Customer Perspective 65.56% Efficiency 2 29.67% % of room booked through reservation channels 2 It refers to % of room booked through reservation channels maintained by the hotel. 25% % 100% Internet bookings 2 indicates the % of bookings received through internet services. 30% % 100% Room occupancy 2 Metric is not available in trial version 60% % 100% Rate of sales inquiry conversion 2 Metric is not available in trial version 30% % 60% Average length of stay 2 Metric is not available in trial version 2 days 4 Total Performance in group Efficiency 29.67% Staff perspective 2 65.78% Staff turn

Promote communication in Health and Social care Essay

There are a number of services that can help support individuals such as, interpreters they can be used when there are language barriers, signers, translators and advocates. I know in my place of work we have an advocate come in regularly to see if any of our patents want to chat, patients may find it easier talking with a person they are not around 24 hours a day and may feel they can open up more to someone that is there to represent them. For people who have trouble speaking because they have a speech impediment or they are death then they can find access to speech therapist, brail or the correct specialist equipment and signers to help them communicate effectively. Support can also be found through the internet by using a search engine. These days you are able to find almost anything you need by typing what you are looking for into the search engine but be careful as not all information is correct or legit. Individuals can also access extra information from local libraries there are many good books offering lots of different forms of support and advice and for people who feel uncomfortable speaking with others this could be a good source. There’s also many support groups run in communities all over the world for all kinds of causes you can find these perhaps through the internet, adverts and posters. Sometimes that extra support can come from key people in an individual’s life a close friend, family member, career or any person they have a supportive relationship with.

Communication between Men and Women

As everyone knows by now, there is a difference between a man and a womans outer appearance. What some people do not realize is that a man and a woman are also different in communication techniques. Generally speaking, men and women fall into two categories when dealing with communication techniques. When men talk, it is for giving information. Deborah Tannen says this informative speaking is report-talk. Report-talk as defined by Deborah Tannen is public speaking. Women on the other hand, use small talk to communicate. Small talk is a conversation which is usually considered to be short and meaningless. Deborah Tannen states that this communication technique of women is rapport-talk. Rapport-talk as defined by Deborah Tannen is private speaking. This essay will discuss the following: (1) How Deborah Tannen and John Gray are similar in respect to their views on communication between men and women (2) how Tannen and Gray are different in their views on communication between men and women (3) the effects that result from these different types of communication (4) which essay is in agreement with my personal opinion and (5) the suggestions about communication from the essay. Deborah Tannen and John Gray are two authors who have many similarities. One similarity is the fact that both authors notice that men and women do speak differently. Tannen suggests that the way that men and women communicate is something that is learned from the early stages in life. From childhood, men learn to use talking as a way to get and keep attention. So they are more comfortable speaking in large groups made up of people they know less well-in the broadest sense public speaking. From childhood, girls criticize peers who try to stand out or appear better than others. People feel their closest connections at home Both authors realized men and women have different ways of talking. However, their views on the communication techniques are different. Deborah Tannen suggests that For most men, talk is primarily a means to preserve independence and negotiate and maintain status in a hierarchical social order. Deborah Tannen also suggest that women talk when with one or a few people they feel close to and comfortable with John Gray however says To fully express their feelings, women assume poetic license and use various superlatives and metaphors, and generalizations. Men mistakenly take these expressions literally. Because they misunderstandthey commonly react in an non-supportive manner. John Gray believes men use speech as a way of conveying facts. Women tend to look for support when they are talking, but do not ask for it; they feel the request is well implied. John Gray also theorized that when a man is upset or stressed he will automatically stop talking and go to his cave to works things out. Men are unable to express their feelings as well as women and this is why they go into a cave. Also men do not want to worry their partner. Men try to make their partner happy. Men think that their partner will be happy if they do not have to worry about the man. Women tend to believe that you can never abandon a friend who is upset. It doesnt seem loving to abandon someone when they are upset. Women instantly want to support men in the way they want to be supported, her intentions are good but it is counterproductive. Men show love by not worrying.

History of the Euro essays

History of the Euro essays It has been a long time in the making, but scheduled plans have marked January 1, 2002 as the date that the new Euro currency banknotes and coins will be introduced in Europe. July 1, 2002 is the designated day that the changeover to a monetary union will be complete. The discussion as to the risks and benefits of this monetary union has been all the talk around the world. This union will have vast and far-reaching effects that will touch not only the countries in the union, but the entire world. There will be a dramatic and radical economic change in Europe. All national currencies will disappear and there will be only one money, the European Currency Unit or ECU. Europes economy was in shambles after the end of World War II. They had invested a lot of money and resources to financing the war. In 1948, The United States Secretary of State George C. Marshall, suggested that the United States should assist Europe in their rebuilding, restructuring, and reconstruction. Offering U.S. capital, resources, and cooperation to the countries of Europe would accomplish this. This was known as the Marshall Plan. This plan was very successful right out of the gates. In just two years Europe was ahead in industrial production (up one hundred and thirty-eight percent) from its last year of peace before the war (Ball pg.138). The United States continued to work with and assist Europe and in 1957, the Treaty of Rome was signed. This created the European Community (EC), or as it is otherwise known as The European Economic Community (EEC). The premise behind this union was that if the countries of Europe were liked and dependent on each other financi ally, there would be less of a chance of them going to war again with each other. The European Community began with just six members. They were Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. Following afterwards were the countries of Denmark, Ireland, United Kin...

The differing notions of power and freedom explored in the Gorgias Essay Example

The differing notions of power and freedom explored in the Gorgias Essay Example The differing notions of power and freedom explored in the Gorgias Paper The differing notions of power and freedom explored in the Gorgias Paper What starts off as a discussion surrounding rhetoric, within the Gorgias, quickly but unsurprisingly transcends into a dialogue concerning the nature of virtuex of which the notions of freedom and power are intrinsically linked. Plato has the dialogue played out between Socrates and four others. Gorgias a famous Sophist and rhetorician, Polus his eager student, Callicles x and Chairephon a friend of Plato who plays little part in the dialogue. This essay shall split the dialogue into three parts, with each part considering Socrates debate with each of the three main protagonists. In each instance, the ideas of each individual regarding power and freedom will be expressed, Socrates response examined and the resulting implications surrounding his personal ideas explored. From this analysis, any overriding ideas throughout the dialogue may then be distinguished. Throughout the dialogues, power is usually the focus of discussion as opposed to freedom but it is fair to conclude that the concepts of power and freedom are so deeply intertwined that it often becomes difficult to disentangle them. Certainly Socrates and the three others seem to have similarly conflicting viewpoints regarding freedom and power. Usually in disproving his opponents views on power, he also, in conjunction, shows their idea of freedom to be faulty. The dialogue first introduces the notion of power via Gorgias, whom when questioned by Socrates declares rhetoric to be the greatest and noblest of affairs. Upon being asked by Socrates why this and not other professions such as medicine are not as noble, Gorgias retorts that a rhetorician can persuade a crowd to their personal line of thought through their oratory skills. In this lies power since they can dictate the desires of the population and bend them to their own device. Gorgias uses an instance of him competing against a real doctor to outline his point, he states that it would for him, as a skilled person in rhetoric, be easy to persuade an assembly or equivalent that it is he who is the expert in medicine and not the doctor. He could then get profit from this by being selected for posts above the real doctor. This is the notion of power that Gorgias believes an orator possesses. Power for Gorgias is the main goal in life and since, through persuasion, he believes he can achieve power, rhetoric becomes the supreme art for him. Gorgias does not dispute Socrates attack on his ideas, in that there is no truth in what a rhetorician can state i. e no real medical knowledge is necessary in order for the orator to convince a crowd that he is the expert. Socrates points out that there is no worth in convincing a crowd ignorant of medicine that you are knowledgeable in the subject. No good will come from this, there is no benefit here for society, nor is there any good for the individual. The orator does not further themselves by continuing on with such flattery, they are merely guessing at true knowledge. Gorgias also claims to be able to last web page Polus enters the conversation on the side of his teacher Gorgias and in particular is shocked when Socrates dismisses rhetoric as being equivalent to cooking in worth and the idea of Despite talk of flattery, Polus maintains that the orator is the most powerful person in a community because he can do whatever he pleases, like tyrants, put to death any man they will is the example he offers. Socrates response to this is simply No, if by power you mean something good for its posessor the ability to do whatever one pleases is not actually power. Wielding power is not good in its own right, there also needs to be some benefit coupled with the power. Plato uses the idea that rhetoricians are not intelligent in their own right to comment that if power is the ability to get what you want then a rhetorician, without any intelligence nor rational expertise lacks power. Platos argument here is not as convincing since he redefines want continually throughout this section. He appears to restrict wanting to cases where it is actual and not just apparent. Some commentators argue that Plato is deepening our understanding of want and not just changing his definition to suit his argument or alternatively highlighting the spurious nature of oratory, there is no real knowledge at the base of rhetoric could be the subtle point he is making. This line of thought though probably affords Plato too much credit in this instance. Polus continues to claim that political speakers have power, to which Socrates paradoxically replies that they have the least power of any in the state. In order to back this up Socrates claims that, although you may be able to do what is best, it is not necessarily true that you can do what you actually want. This is because of the fact that what you want is going to be good for you, while politicians always aim for their own personal good but if they do not appreciate what this good is they will end up doing what they do not. If they are doing what they do not want then they surely have no power. To complete the paradox, the philosopher claims that politicians especially are likely to be led away by others in order to gain approval rather than pursuing there own personal good which would be beneficial for them. The conclusion is that those who apparently have the most power turn out to infact have the very least. More potential chat on Polus Socrates brings up the issue of freedom by insisting on a distinction between doing as one sees fit and doing what one wants i. e negative and positve freedom. Polus has showed that the orator can do as he sees fit, but that doesnt automatically mean that he can do what he wants. Socrates argues, and Polus agrees, that some things are good, some things are bad, and some things are in themselves indifferent but can be either good or bad depending on how theyre used. What we want are the good things, but sometimes we must do the indifferent things (some of which may be very disagreeable, like taking medicine or going on a sea voyage) in order to get the good things. We dont want the indifferent things for their own sake, though; we want them for the sake of the good things. So strictly speaking, its the good things we want. However Socrates in many ways is not really justified in drawing a distinction between freedoms since If, however, we are mistaken about the connection between what were doing and that for the sake of which were doing it, we wont in fact be doing what we want. If I willingly take a bitter medicine in order to attain health, but in fact the medicine wont cure me, Im not doing what I want, even though Im doing as I see fit. In the same way, if I put someone to death or confiscate his property, but doing these things wont actually be for good, then Im not doing what I want, even though Im doing as I see fit. Following Polus acception of Socrates ideas Callicles enters the fray, in this the last section of the book. His arguments go beyond that of Polus, he approves of power over others in order that one can indulge their whims. His philosophy on how one should live is that of might is right citing nature as his justification a very similar line that was ultimately to be taken up by Neit zsche. Socrates points out though that his ideas may leave one vulnerable to an aggressor. Can a man avoid being wronged if it be his will to avoid it is posed as a question by Socrates, intuitively and for Callicles this would appear to be false. To avoid being wronged and hence to have real freedom you need power to protect yourself be it political or otherwise. Since doing wrong is involuntary, a consequence of error, you especially need power to protect yourself from this seemingly inevitable occurance. For Socrates, the problem this idea of power being necessary brings is that it assumes life at any cost is desirable even at a cost of moral corruption. Socrates replies that if life is infact the highest good, then even if rhetoric lead to power and hence the ability to survive one should also consider other examples such as swimming which has the potential to save lives. Even more so the mechanic who may save an entire community through the machines he builds. If mere life is viewed as the highest good, then these are equally as important as power in this respect. This goes a long way in showing that power is not necessay for freedom. It goes against Callicles definition of power being the freedom to do what you wish. In essence we find that Socrates is arguing that power is not an external force but an internal one, power over oneself i. e. self control is more important than power over others. It is this critical idea that seperates Socrates from Gorgias, Polus and Callicles. Socrates links true power inherently to having an ordered, controlled body and soul. Since rhetoric, as shown by Socrates, contains no real knowledge and is simply false knowledge, no agathon or beneficial good is derived for the body or soul and hence this flattery does not provide you with any true power. The use of a dialogue on rhetoric to explore notions of power can be seen as clever on the part of Plato, since the common but false view of power, power over others, like rhetoric, gives out an impressive image but ultimately does little to advance the good and has little real worth. the discipline to act justly, live virtuously, and not need anything. Additional pertinence is carried, when one considers the recent events surrounding the historical Socrates death. Socrates was willing to die if it be the will of the government even though he had the means to escape. This treatment of power becomes all the more significant in light of the events surrounding Socrates actual trial and death. The philosopher was accused of corrupting through false instruction and treason, and convicted and executed because of his refusal to admit having acted wrongly. In light of this event and its close proximity to Gorgias creation, then, the nature of power for Plato takes on crucial importance in that he must prove his teacher died in strength rather than weakness. For Socrates contemporaries, the rampant view of power is the ability to rule over others and to satisfy ones own desires. This position is best expressed by Polus (466-69) and Callicles (490-492). Plato takes great care to debunk this formulation. On the one hand, Socrates argues, those who rule others often must perform actions they do not will in order to benefit the state of which they are in charge. In this sense then, apparently powerful tyrants are often unable to act as they will, and true power is shown to consist of something other than ruling over others. At the same time, those who repeatedly satisfy their desires do not possess real power because this gratification further fuels rather than extinguishes the appetites. A person capable of always satisfying desire is in constant need of more satisfaction, and as such possesses no true power. This point is illustrated in 493b by the metaphor of the leaky jar. Mention of probable proximity of Socrates execution to book and themes this may have inspired. Socrates views freedom for the most part, whether there is anything within that has any element of control. This would include not having any addictions or other strong needs. Ideally reducing ones needs until one is content with what is to hand is best.

The American Constitution Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 1

The American Constitution - Research Paper Example This essay discusses the Robert Morris from Pennsylvania, the "investor" of the Revolution, who began the events with a nomenclature Gen. George Washington for the presidency of the Constitutional Convention. The vote was undoubtedly unanimous. With distinctive traditional humility, Washington articulated his discomfiture at his lack of qualifications to be in charge over such an imposing body and apologized for any errors into which he may plummet in the path of its negotiations. Thus began the majestic ‘beginning’ of the constitution of the greatest economic epicenter of modern day. The Anti-Federalist, played a key role in how the United States was going to function as a Government and the effect the Anti-Federalist paper had on the creation of our constitution. The Anti-Federalist movement, should be given credit in helping to shape our constitution, their cause was a major stumbling block that had to be resolve in order for a more perfect union that protects each in dividual States. The Federalists had more than an innovative political plan and a well-chosen name to aid their cause. The Anti-Federalists were a rebellious alliance of citizens who disagreed with the ratification of the Constitution. In conclusion, the researcher states that no group in the US political history was more dynamic & heterogeneous than the Anti Federalists. Even a brief glance of the concluding vote on confirmation, demonstrates the unbelievable provincial and geological diversity of the Anti Federalist alliance.

Marketing Concepts and Planning-- Apple IPods Assignment

Marketing Concepts and Planning-- Apple IPods - Assignment Example Features and benefits have long been the idea of improving sales and through promotional materials, however in today’s market pricing should be given much more emphasis by making it much more transparent to consumers in a variety of ways. This report identifies these proposed changes. The company’s mission is simple: Apple â€Å"recognizes that by integrating sound environmental health and safety management practices into all aspects of our business, we can offer innovative technological products and services while conserving and enhancing resources for future generations† (Lee, 2008, p.5). The objectives are to improve sales volumes through creative promotion, effective distribution, and to build consumer interest in mass market groups. The strengths of the iPod are in areas of innovation by remaining a step ahead of competition by updating features, memory and other important benefits for consumers. Research and development talent is an internal strength. Fortunately for Apple, competition is considerably weak and this is a major strength for the business! Weaknesses include, though not a fault of Apple, weakened economic conditions both domestically and internationally, posing a potential risk for future iPod (and iPad) sales. Additionally, minimal television advertising, despite the potential cost and time investment, is another weakness in regards to reaching more mass market customers. Threats to the iPod include the sudden resurgence of consumer use of auction websites such as eBay, creating a form of self-competition for budget-minded, mass market buyers as well as failure of retail partners to be more interactive in the sales/promotion process. These are external failures, however they definitely impact sales volume in certain market territories. As identified, segmentation for the iPod begins with identifying specific groups with