Analyze a company's supply chain Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Analyze a company's supply chain - Essay Example This paper will provide an analysis of Walmart’s supply chain. Walmart is a retailing public, multinational corporation based in the United States and has several branches in different countries all over the world. In its branches, Walmart operates large warehouse stores and departmental stores. It is one of the largest public corporations in the world and employees more than 2 million workers worldwide. The multinational corporation was founded in the year 1962 by Sam Walton. Walmart was created on the basis of discount retailing, and this gave it advantage at a time when there was stiff competition. In 2008, Walt-Mart, rebranded to Walmart. The following are different stores operated by Walmart Supercenters, Neighborhood Markets, Express Stores, Marketside and web-based Walmart.com. Components of supply chain Production When it comes to supply chain, production is the first, essential component in Walmart. Walmart as an organization has based its strategic decisions pertaini ng to production on quality, capacity, customer needs, volume of goods and demand from the market. Problems that are present during the process of production are using raw materials of low quality, new technology and customer’s change in preferences and tastes. ... Walmart as an organization has emphasized on quality products, flexible prices and the development of velocity aimed at determining supply of raw materials, which will maintain low cost of production. A potential problem to Walmart in relation to supply is the issue of price consideration and supplier. The management of Walmart can solve this problem through developing flexibility, velocity and quality during the process choosing its suppliers. Managing this problem will ensure that production cost remain at a lower cost (Hugos, 2011). Inventory Through this component from the supply chain, the management of Walmart can determine the suitable level of inventory in the organization beneficial in increasing competitiveness. The inventory is effectively managed by Walmart’s Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology. Through this technology, day to day stocks are monitored, and daily remaining stocks are tracked. Problem in the management of inventory through the (RFID) tec hnology comes as a result of a lot of traffic in the network. A lot of traffic leads wrong interpretation of the processed information. Walmart can solve this problem through increasing the number of server bases and continuous advancement of (RFID) technology (Hugos, 2011). Location The physical site to which an organization has been located is crucial for the prosperity of an organization. The locations Walmart selects to put up its stores are determined by customers’ demands and satisfaction. Walmart ensures that an identified location for its production facilities and stores are close and convenient to the consumers. The problem with this component

B.F. Skinners theory of punishment Essay Example for Free

B.F. Skinners theory of punishment Essay When you think of punishment and reward you think of a reaction; but man has come up with theories of why we do the things that we can do. Conditioning and learning is defined as change in behavior, which is resulted by different types of practices and experiences. In this report the main topics will be classical conditioning, operant conditioning, cognitive-social learning, and neuroscience and evolution. Every time we do something good or bad the outcome determines our reactions in future situations. This learning process that is associated between environment stimuli and behavioral responses. Breaking down the rewards system you come along reinforces and reinforcement. Both are good ways to get a conditioned response. First we primary rein forcers, this increases the chance because it satisfies a need for sex, food, and water. Secondary rein forcers increase the probability of a reaction because of value, money, and possessions through learning. Positive reinforcement is a reward that adds stimulus to increase chances of responses. Positive reinforcement would be a paycheck for a job well done. Negative reinforcement is the exact opposite removing or taking away stimulus of the action not occurring again. The two types of conditioning we are covering is classical and operant. Conditioning is learning through repetition of exercises of rewards or punishment to get a response. The pioneer scientist in classical conditioning is Ivan Pavlov. Classical conditioning is also known as a Respondent or Pavlovian conditioning. Classical is also involuntary which is one of the major differences from operant conditioning. Classical conditioning happens when an unrelated response through association with a stimulus that already makes a similar or related response. An example of classical conditioning is for some people when you hear the sound of running water you need to use the bathroom. The other types of conditioning are Operant, also called Instrumental and Skinnerian conditioning. In operant conditioning the punishment, reward, or in other words outcome is important. That adds to the probability that the act will be repeated or not. Operant conditioning is where consequences of a  particular behavior are described on the repetition of that same behavior. B.F. Skinners experiment of operant conditioning was a cat in a puzzle box. The only way the cat could get out was to pull on a rope; at first the cat did it by mistake. As the experiment went on the cats behavior became more and more purposeful. Soon the cat learned that the door opened immediately for his food. Skinners theory of reward was called positive reinforcement, and his theory of punishment was known as negative reinforcement. Reinforcement always increases the strength of the preceding behavior. Skinner was credited with the law of affect meaning an action will be repeated if it is rewarded. Another type of operant conditioning is called, Extinction. Extinction is a particular behavior that is weakened by the consequence of not experiencing a positive condition or stopping a negative condition. So far this report has broken down stimulus and observable reward and punishment behavior. Overall, some scientists believe the behavior cannot be explained by these theories alone. So next we come to cognitive social theory. Unlike Skinners black box theory, German psychologist Wolfgang Kohler wanted to look deeper inside the box. Kohler believed that solving a complex problem was responding to the stimuli in a trial and error statement. One of his experiments was with using a chimpanzee to try and find his way out of a cage and luring to reach a banana from the ceiling by using its insight to grasp the banana. Kohler tried the experiment again with another chimp placing him in the cage with two sticks this time and placing the banana farther then its grasp. The chimp lost interest in the banana when it was farther but then realized he could use the two sticks to extend his reach, allowing it (the chimp) to obtain the banana. Kohler called this a, learning insight. To wrap up this report we learned that the different types of conditioning are based on reward and punishment and they all have their own different theories and they are still being tested and experimented today.

Case Study Of Johnson And Johnson Commerce Essay

Case Study Of Johnson And Johnson Commerce Essay For many Chinese people, they could buy some foreign products since 1980s, because many foreign companies have set up in China at that period, and huge amount of imported products were sold in Chinese market, which means the effect of the globalization can be seen in our daily necessities. In 1982, the first Johnson Johnson operating company was opened in China, then a series of products of Johnson Johnson entered Chinese market. Why Johnson Johnson would like to enter other foreign market, especially in developing country like China? This report will examine whether Johnson Johnson is an international corporation or a global corporation through two concept, corporate structure and geographical expansion. Although in previous studies, there is no sole definition of internationalization and globalization, this report will analyze Johnson Johnsons characteristics to support that it is a successful example of global corporations. Contents Introduction In todays competitive business environment, there are a lot of multinational enterprises. Like Johnson Johnson, it could be found in every country. However, in some studies, there is no clearly concept or explanation on whether the corporation is international or global. Many international corporations have been influenced by globalization where they would turn into global corporations. Therefore, the aim of this report is to analyse whether Johnson Johnson is an international firm or a global firm, and discuss what global characteristics it possesses. In order to do a case study of Johnson Johnson, its corporate structure will be described and geographical expansion will be analysed. To summaries when and how did Johnson Johnson become a global corporation? By using a corporate geography perspective, this report will include the analysis of whether geographical expansion is a good way to enhance firms scale or not and if it could change international corporations into global cor porations. However, globalisation might be constrained somehow. Globalisation might also bring corporations more challenges, which could be seen in long run. In the world economy, the use of globalisation might be exaggerated. Internationalization and Globalisation There is no unequivocal definition of what is globalization. According to David DeBry (2001, p. 42), who pointed out that internationalisation is like creating a round-toed shoe that fits people with all types of feet. It is not as comfortable as a perfectly fitted shoe and doesnt fit snugly, but can be worn by many people. Whereas globalization refers to the trend of a more integrated and interdependent world economy. Dicken, P. (2011) mentioned that the concept of globalization became familiar gradually in the past 30 years. Globalization is the method to solve the worlds economic issues (Dicken, 2011). Globalisation might influence the form of companies, which leads to the changing from trade to Foreign Direct Investment (Dicken P. , 2003). Trade volume has increased by the progress of globalisation (Dicken P. , 2011), for example, Chinese people could barely purchase foreign products in China before 1980s until the government approved the reform of Chinese economy approaches. Whi lst the volume of import and export of China reaches a really high amount. Figure 1 Source from Dicken P. 2011 table 2.1 Figure 2 Source from Dicken P. 2011 table 2.2 Nowadays, people witness the establishment of international corporations and global corporations. The worlds largest 500 corporation are usually being classed multinational enterprises (MNEs). An example of global brands is Johnson Johnson. However, how to identify the difference between international corporations and global corporations? First of all, being international corporations, the quantity of branches and subsidiaries are limited, it could be in only one country. But global corporations have many branches and subsidiaries among all over the world. International corporations have some investment in at least one country, they search profitable opportunities, whereas global corporations use the world as an opportunity. For most global corporations, they need to build a global brand, a successful reputation built should link the name, products and logo to many people. For instance, people could hardly find substitute for many Johnson Johnson products, and the majority people have heard this name. According to Giorgio et al. (2002), there are two reasons to why a company should change from international to global company. On the one hand, a company could open its market worldwide. On the other hand, the company could lower its cost. Dicken (2003) demonstrated that a global corporation would be a firm that has the power to coordinate and control operations in a large number of counties (even if it does not own them), but whose geographically dispersed operations are functionally integrated, and not merely a diverse portfolio of activities. The background of Johnson Johnson The concept of corporate structure is the arrangements whereby the firm motivates, coordinates, appraises, and rewards the inputs and resources that belong to its coalition (Caves, 1980:66). Many successful corporations would establish famous branded products and develop different type of products (Caves, 1980). A firms corporate structure is depended on many issues. For example, when one company start up for only 5 years, its corporate structure would be less complex than company which founded 50 years ago. In Johnson Johnson, their board of directors is a group of people who meet a set of General Criteria for membership and are elected to the Board by our shareholders each year. We currently have 14 Board members, 12 of whom are independent under the rules of the New York Stock Exchange. (Johnson Johnson, 2012). Many large corporations tend to have the same corporate structures. It includes about five departments, which are Marketing, Finance, Accounting, Human Resource and IT. Usually corporate structure are four types as following (Dicken P. , 2011): Figure 3 (Source from Dicken P. 2011 Figure 5.8) It can be seen that global corporates structure is more complex than international corporates structure. For Johnson Johnson, the executive committee is the main management team, which is responsible for the operations. The corporate governance is formed by accounting controls, independent auditor, audit committee of their board of directors and business results. Figure 4C:UsersREDesktopConcept2.jpeg This figure shows the board of directors of Johnson Johnson. (Johnson Johnson, 2012) 3.1 A strategy of Johnson Johnson The reason why Johnson Johnson achieves such great success is that it has strict operating mode. (Johnson Johnson, 2012) 1. Market penetration Johnson Johnson has improved the share of market by increasing the quality of products, meanwhile, offering discount is an appropriate way to influence consumers habits and purchasing. 2. Market development It developed new markets to provide the same products for consumers who have the same requires in different countries. 3. Product development It developed new products to old consumers, which would expand popularity. 4. Diversification It provide new products to new markets. 5. Consolidation This step is to retain its stable relationship with consumers. Chandler stated that a firms growth is always through three strategies as following (Chandler, 1962): 1. Expansion is to widen the existing line to the same kinds of consumers. 2. New markets and sources of supplies are very important factors. 3. Developing a wide range of new products for different types of consumers As one of the largest and most comprehensive health care corporation in the world, Johnson Johnson has experienced vital growth in recent years. Johnson Johnson was founded by Robert Wood Johnson with two brothers in New Jersey in 1886. With the expansion and development of its business needs from the 1920 of the 20th century, Johnson Johnson has set up a lot of branches and acquired many companies among Europe, Asia, Australia and Africa. By today Johnson Johnson has established and acquired more than 250 branches and companies in over 57 countries, and has about 129,000 employees. Johnson Johnson is Ranked 42nd in fortune 500 list in 2012. (Johnson Johnson, 2012). In 1924, the first overseas operating company was set up in the United Kingdom, which indicated Johnson Johnson has started its foreign company period. In 1944, Johnson Johnson joined the New York Stock Exchange. (Johnson Johnson, 2012). Revenues of JJ has increased from only $7 billion in 1987 to more than $65 b illion in 2012. Profits increased at an even faster rate, from $329.5 million in 1987 to $9672 million in 2012. (FORTUNE 500, 2012) 3.2 Corporate Structure of Johnson Johnson For every MNE, as key driver of globalization, has its unique corporate structure on a wide variety of market, which influence the corporations management in marketplace. The main sector is the number and size distribution of sellers and buyers, height of barriers to enter and exit (Caves, 1980). Why Johnson Johnson can be called a global corporation is that it has complicated structure. It depends on the development and innovation, because Johnson Johnson has three business divisions: 3.2.1.. Consumer products Baby Care Skin and Hair Care Wound Care and Topicals Oral Health Care Womens Health Over-the-Counter Medicines Nutritionals Vision Care Online store The consumer products chain retail outlets are widespread all over the world, these products are sold to general public and both to wholesalers and directly to individuals, while Pharmaceutical products and Medical device Diagnostics are depend on acquisition of other companies. 3.2.2. Pharmaceutical products Janssen RD LLC Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc. Janssen Healthcare Innovation Janssen Diagnostics Veridex, LLC These products offer medicines that treat widespread diseases. 3.2.3. Medical device Diagnostics Advanced Sterilization Products Animas Corporation Cordis Corporation DePuy Synthes Companies of Johnson Johnson Ethicon,  Inc. Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. Johnson Johnson Vision Care, Inc. LifeScan, Inc. Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics, Inc. These products might be used in professional fields, such as physicians, nurses, hospitals, and diagnostic laboratories. It has gained the competitive advantage through knowledge of recognition and integration in the world, and achieved implementation and operation. With the development of Johnson Johnson, it has shaped a very complicated company. There are approximately more than 200 different type of products are formed in three departments. To what extent the success of Johnson Johnson could achieve is depends on the relationship between three departments and other business departments. In the past 10 years, Johnson Johnson has purchased more than 60 small firms. It focus on managing the knowledge. Usually, corporation has the following ways to grow: internal expansion, exporting, licensing, franchising, mergers and acquisitions, and geographic expansion. (Bruce R. Barringer, Daniel W. Greening, 1998). These strategies support corporations to enter new markets, as well as develop corporations resources through different countries or regions. Previous studies have revealed that geographic expansion is a new operation in a different area. (Hsien-Jui Chung, Chun-Chung Chen, Tsun-jui Hsieh, 2007). It might form international supply chains, which firms would purchase components, raw materials and services. It was significant to gain growth and enhance performance when Johnson Johnson has set up the first foreign firm in 1924. Geographic expansion would bring a lot of advantages (Farok J. Contractor, Sumit K. Kundu and Chin-Chun Hsu, 2003) Global market often give more scope for economies of scale, which in this case study, has changed Johnson Johnson into a global firm. As Dicken (2011) mentioned that global economy are connected with geographical and organizational structure. He (2011, p. 96) pointed out closely related to the issues of geographical scale and organizational loci is the importance of territoriality in networks. Findings To sum up, from what is discussed above, Johnson Johnson is a global corporation. As a result of some literature, there would be two measurements to determine whether the corporation is globalised or not, which is from organizational and geographical scale. Firstly, Johnson Johnson has complicated corporate structure, it has executive committee to manage and operate Johnson Johnson. Compared with its geographical scale, Johnson Johnson has more than 250 branches and subsidiaries all over the world. Then corporations earn profits from the globalisation economy, which is why many international company would like to expand their subsidiaries and branches to other different countries or regions. Discussion Globalisation plays an important role, it changes the world economy. Firstly, it increases the trade from one country to another. Apart from that, globalisation makes economy prosperous because it raised foreign direct investment while there might be some limitations. When a company is already a global company, what should be their next steps or strategies? Is globalisation the destination for one company? In accordance to some literatures, globalization is end of geography (OBRIEN, 1992). Increasingly companies have gained more profits from globalization, in other words, the progress of globalization gets advantages for enterprises. Conclusions So far, for many people, it is hard to explain what are international corporations and global corporations, because internationalization and globalization cannot be easily distinguished, but actually there are different. Consequently, they can be differentiated by the geographic scale and corporation structure. Globalized companies often owns similar structures. It is easier to understand from some literatures. In this report, a case study of Johnson Johnson has determined that it is a global corporation by analysing its corporate structure, different product lines and company strategies. In competitive business circumstance, globalisation is an inevitable trend, not only for companies, but for the macro-economy. Globalisation makes the whole world look like borderless, it might boost international business.

Flood of Epic of Gilgamesh and Book of Genesis of the Holy Bible :: Epic Gilgamesh essays

The Flood of Gilgamesh and Genesis  Ã‚   The Epic of Gilgamesh records a story of a world-wide flood and pre-dates Genesis. So some claim that this invalidates the Genesis record. But P.J. Wiseman presents an interesting theory in this regard in his book Ancient Records and the Structure of Genesis (New York: Thomas Nelson, 1985). He believes that Moses did not write Genesis but rather translated it from ancient stone tablets written in Cuneiform script. The tablets each would have been originally written by eye-witnesses of the particular events, or those who received their information from eye-witnesses. He breaks Genesis into parts according to the phrase "These are the generations" (KJV; "This is the history" - NKJV; "This the account" - NASB; NIV; Gen 2:4; 5:1; 6:9; 10:1; 11:10; 11:27; 25:12,9; 36:1,9; 37:2). He compares the use of this phrase and the structure of each section to the stone tablets written in cuneiform script. Many of these tablets have been discovered and they date to the third millenium BC. Wiseman's theory is that Genesis is translated from individual tablets which would have contained the material before each occurrence of the above phrase. So the narratives of the creation of the universe (Gen 1) and of the Garden of Eden (Gen 2) would have been written on one tablet by Adam as these events were revealed to him by the only Eye-witness of the events, God Himself. The narratives of the Fall and subsequent events would have been written on another tablet by Adam as an eye-witness of the events. Adam then passed each of these tablets on to his descendant Seth. Seth then recorded the events of Gen 5 and passed the tablets to his descendant Noah. Noah then recorded the events of Gen 6-9 and passed the tablets to his descendant Shem, and so one until Joseph. Joseph then recorded the final chapters of Genesis and placed all of the tablets in the library of the pharaohs. Moses then, while in pharaoh’s court, would have had access to these tablets. He then translated them into his native Hebrew. The above theory "fits" with various evidences in the Scriptures. For instance, it would explain such passages as Exod 6:3: "I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name, LORD [YHWH], I was not known to them." But the Tetragrammaton appears in Genesis, making for an apparent contradiction.

Brian Moore – the Donegal connection

Belfast-born Brian Moore left Ireland a young man, and spent more than fifty years In Canada and the US. However, as Martin McKinley found out (belatedly he had strong links with Dongle. The great Brian Moore and the Dongle connection So I mention to Muriel that I'm doing an article about Brian Moore, the writer, and she says, â€Å"His mother was from Dongle, wasn't she? † It seems that the world has been aware for some time that the man regarded as one of the great Irish novelists had Dongle connections and, even better, Courthouse connections.If only I'd known that when I saw him read in a lecture theatre in Queen's university in Belfast, more than ten years ago. I could have asked him something original, like about the influence of Courthouse on his work. Instead, I asked him if he'd thought about coming back to live in Belfast. I mean, the man lived in Malibu at the time. He died there In January, 1 999, which was a shame for people like myself who waited for his new nove l every two years or so. It was hard to believe there would never be another Brian Moore book. But he had a long publishing career.His first novel, ‘The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearse', from 1955, Is probably still the one he's best known for. Four others were also made into films – The Luck of Ginger Coffey, ‘Catholics', ‘Cold Heaven' and ‘Black Robe'. He won many literary prizes, and was shortlist three times for the Booker Prize. He also worked with Alfred Hitchcock, writing the screenplay for Torn Curtain', starring Paul Newman and Julie Andrews. It's not really regarded as a classic, but Brian liked to take the credit for a particularly drawn-out – and famous – murder scene.He told Hitchcock he had learned from his father, a actor, that â€Å"people didn't always die as quickly as they did in movies. † Hitchcock took him at his word. Dentally Lodge The story of Brian Moor's Dongle connection begins back in another age, 1889, when his mother Eileen McFadden was born outside Courthouse, apparently in the download of Clashes. Her parents were Pat and Grace (nee McGee). She was among the youngest of a large family, and grew up in the family home in Dentally, a little way along the Courthouse to Carrier road.The McFadden were quite a notable family. Linen's grandfather Edward had a corn mill at Dentally. His brother was FRR Hugh McFadden UP Challenge, who died in 1868. He was the priest who accompanied some of those evicted in Terry. ‘each to Dublin on the first leg of their dinner arranged for them in a Dublin hotel. Linen's father Pat had two brothers who also became parish priests in the Arapaho diocese – Dean Hugh McFadden, UP Dongle and Vicar General, who died in 1908, and Archdeacon James, UP Challenge, who was known as ‘James of Glenda'.Eileen Moore attended Loretta Convent in Lettermen. She would have been fifteen when her father Pat died in 1905. As was fairly common in those days , she spent some time living with a relative, n her case Dean Hugh McFadden. It seems that he left her some money when he died and she used this to fund her nurse's training in Belfast. FRR John Silks, the well- known historian and diocesan archivist, recalls his mother Susan (nee McKinley from Boomer in Courthouse) telling of three girls from the parish who went to Belfast and all â€Å"married well†.One of them was Eileen McFadden. In 1915, when she was 25, she married a doctor more than twenty years her senior, James B. Moore, a Bellman man who worked in the Mater Hospital. In the next 12 years she had nine children, with Brian coming in number four on 25th August, 1921. The family lived in no 11 Clifton Street in North Belfast until they were bombed out of the house by the Germans in the Second World War. The house was eventually demolished in 1995, in spite of a campaign to save it because of its associations with Brian Moore.Briar's father also came from a strong Cathol ic background, if it was a bit more unusual than most. James Bi's father, James B. Senior, was a Presbyterian law clerk in Bellman who decided to become a Catholic even before he got married to one, Eleanor O'Hare. Their house was stoned every year on the Twelfth. It seems James B. Enron brought up his family with the zeal of a convert. All in all, it seems hardly surprising that Brian Moore spent a good part of his writing career exploring the whole idea of Catholicism, religion and the question of the afterlife.Holidays in Courthouse Growing up in the ass and ass, Brian spent quite a bit of time on holiday around Dentally and Courthouse. His sister Nun Maguire, who lives in Alular, says he had very fond memories of it. He stayed in Dentally with his mother's brother Jim Pat and his wife Martha. Patricia Craig writes – â€Å"The farmhouse was called Dentally and stood above a glen; it contained a stone-floored kitchen with huge iron cooking-pot; it was pervaded by the punge nt smell of turf-smoke, and not far away was the fifteenth- century Doe Castle, an enticing ruin in those days . † Brian himself wrote – â€Å"l seemed to be in an older Ireland, a place where life was elemental and harsh, yet close to a reality which was timeless and true. I would see a pig slaughtered, its blood running in rivulets in the yard outside the kitchen door. I would see a stallion mount a mare, its hooves scraping at the barrel of her rib-cage †¦ I would be butted by allow-eyed goats, kicked by donkeys when I tried to climb on their backs. I would see people drink tea, not from teacups as in Belfast, but from large china bowls I nth eighteenth-century manner.I would sit by the hob of the kitchen turf fire watching as floury potatoes were doled out to the men coming in from the fields for their noonday dinner . I would see long white clay pipes and plugs of tobacco laid out near Jugs Jim McFadden, a grandson of Linen's brother Jim Pat, is one of the ol der McFadden, and has a well-known shop in Strange. He doesn't really remember Brian at Dentally, but does recall the McFadden getting ready for the Mores' visits a few times. â€Å"One thing I do remember – Dry Moore smoked cigars.It was a very unusual thing for me to see anybody smoking cigars in those days. † Jim thought that the Mores didn't really feel at home in Dentally. â€Å"It wasn't really what they were used to, although the house was a lot better than most of us had at the time. † It may have been the profits from the McFadden cornmeal which helped the family build Dentally well over a hundred years ago. It was regarded as one of the finest houses in the rear, certainly a cut above the ordinary with its sitting room, bedrooms and an outside toilet.Michael McFadden, who lives in the modern Dentally now with his wife Caroline and their children Bobbie (12), Doran (6) and Michael (5), says wedding receptions used to be held in the sitting room. A coupl e recently returned to mark their golden wedding anniversary by getting their photograph taken in front of the marble fireplace. However, as Brian Moore recalled it in an article in 1980, Courthouse was still a big change from city life – â€Å"Dongle is an extremely wild and rocky-looking place in the west of Ireland. I used to go there when I was a boy, to a farm owned by a poor Irish subsistence farmer.I would move from our middle-class world to an absolutely peasant environment. † Loved the country Jim recalls him going to a farm belonging to an uncle-in-laws brother around Darwinian to help out during the summer. â€Å"l don't think he liked it very well – I think he said they cut the bread too thick! † But Brian Moor's sister Nun Maguire says he had very fond memories of Dentally. â€Å"He loved the country. Going there on his holidays as a child gave him a great sense of freedom. We grew up in a four storey house in Belfast, but we had no garden. The freedom in Dongle appealed very much to him.He could wander about in a way that we wouldn't be allowed to in the city. † Brian Moore left Belfast a young man and traveled around theatres of the Second World War as a civilian working with the British Ministry of War Transport. He lived for eleven years in Canada and became a Canadian citizen. He moved to the United States in 1959, and it was his base for forty years. His writing career began with a series of detective potboilers under various names, which he reckoned sold about 800,000 copies. ‘Judith Hearse' was his first ‘serious' novel in 1955. An early ‘review in the summer of that year came in a letter from his mother.She said about some of the more explicit bits – muff certainly left nothing to the imagination, and my advice to you in your next book leave out parts like this. You have a good imagination and could write books anyone could read. † She added, â€Å"l am glad to find you we re kind to the Church and clergy. † The book was later banned in the Republic. In 1995 Brian and his wife Jean built a house in Nova Scotia, on the coast. He said at the time – â€Å"It's beautiful. It looks out on a bay that looks Just like Dongle. It's very wild He was quite a regular visitor to Ireland over the years, but recognition came fairly late here.This was the man who went into a Dublin bookshop at one point and asked if they'd anything by an Irish novelist Brian Moore. He was told no, but they did have one or two books by a Canadian novelist of the same name. It seems that Brian Moore didn't re-visit Dongle very often, although he and Jean stayed with Brian Fries and his wife at Mobile on at least one occasion. His brother Seam's, a doctor in Belfast who also died in recent years, did keep up contact with the Courthouse connection. Michael McFadden says that Briar's late sister Pebbling, who lived in Manchester, also visited in recent years.Final farewell B riar's final visit to Dentally came with Jean and his sister Nun, she thinks about twelve or so years ago. They visited Challenge Castle, and then went across to Courthouse and over to Dentally. Brian thought the house was â€Å"spruced up† a lot from how he remembered it. He knocked on the door, but there was no one in. Brian went across the road and spent a while looking over the bridge at the spectacular gorge with its trees and fast-flowing water, as he'd done in his childhood. â€Å"He had ere, very happy times there,† Nun said.Both Brian and Jean loved the west coast, and on one of their tours came across a tiny graveyard in Connector. Brian was surprised to find in this beautiful spot the grave of Bubble Hobnobs, a Belfast Quaker, one-time vice-president of Sin Feint, and a good friend of his father and his uncle Neon O'Neill. Later when Brian and Jean talked of where their ashes would end up, they both wrote their choice separately on a piece of paper. The piec es said the same thing – the Connector graveyard. It seems that Brian Moor's remains will finally return to the west of Ireland, which he came to know as a boy.

Dunkin’ Donuts: Betting Dollars on Donuts

Once a niche company operating in the northeast, Dunkin' Donuts is opening hundreds of stores and entering new markets. At the same time, the java giant is broadly expanding both its food and coffee menus to ride the trends, appealing to a new generation of customers. But is the rest of America ready for Dunkin' Donuts? Can the company keep up with its own rapid growth? Serving the Caffeinated Masses There's a lot more to a coffee shop. Some 400 billion cups of coffee are consumed every year, making it the most popular beverage globally. Estimates Indicate that more than 100 million Americans drink a total of 350 million cups of coffee a day. But Dunkin' Donuts does, and it's betting dollars to donuts that consumers nationwide will embrace its reputation for value, simplicity, and a superior Boston Kreme donut. Winning New Customers Most of America has had an occasional relationship with the Dunkin' Donuts brand through its almost 5,800 domestic outlets, which have their densest cluster in the northeast and a growing presence in the rest of the country. But the brand has also managed to carve out an International niche, not only in expected markets such as Canada and Brazil, but also in some unexpected ones, including Qatar, South Korea, Pakistan, and the Philippines. The company had 7,306 Dunkin’ Donuts stores in the U. S. at the end of 2012 and plans to double the number in the next 20 years. In 2013, it will add another 330-360 restaurants across the country. In order to accelerate store openings, Dunkin’ is offering incentives to franchisees such as reduced royalty payments during the initial phase. Trefis expects the company to add around 300 new Dunkin’ Donuts stores in the U. S. on average for the next several years. Since most of Dun kin’ Brands restaurants are franchised, the capital requirements to open new restaurants are lower which ensure that the expansion plans do not cause a strain on the company’s fiscal situation. What Would Consumers Think? None of Dun kin Donuts' moves makes much difference unless consumers buy into the notion that the company has the culinary imperative to sell suggests. At one point of time Dunkin Donuts decided to add on to its product line by incorporating the breakfast menu. There was a doubt in the minds of people handling strategic marketing that even when consumer see the line of products expand into what was once solely the realm of the company's competitors, they may be unconvinced that Dunkin' Donuts is the shop to go to for breakfast. For most of its existence. Dunkin' Donuts' main product focus has been implicit in its name: donuts and coffee in which to dip them.  Also you can read about  History of the Culinary Arts. First time customer acquainted with this simple reputation were often overwhelmed by the wide varieties of donuts stacked end-to-end neat, mouthwatering rows. Playing catchup to the rest of the morning market, Dunkin' Donuts has only recently joined the breakfast sandwich game. According to spokesperson Andrew Mastroangelo, Dunkin' Donuts sells approximately one billion cups of coffee a year, for 62% of the company's annual store revenue/ Considering that coffee is the most profitable product on the menu, it's a good bet that those margins give the company room to experiment with its food offerings. Changing Course to Follow Demand Faced with the challenge of maintaining a relevant brand image in the face of fierce and innovative competition. Dunkin' Donuts pursued a time-honored business tradition – following the leader. The company now offers a competitive variety of espresso-based drinks complemented with a broad number of sugar-free flavorings including caramel, vanilla, and Mocha Swirl. Further more, ever-increasing competition in the morning meal market made an update to Dunkin' Donuts' food selection inevitable. The company currently focuses on begel and croissant-based breakfast sandwiches, including its new Oven-Toasted Breakfast line. On Every Corner Starbucks is known for its aggressive dominance of the coffee marketplace. When a competition opens a new store in twon. Starbucks doesn't worry. It just opens a new store across the street, in a vigorous one-upmanship that conquers new ground and deters competitors. But many who have struggled to compete with Starbucks have had to do so with limited resources or only a few franchises. Not so with Dunkin' Donuts, whose parent brand. Dunkin' Brands, also owns Baskin-Robbins. Simple Food for Simple People Dunkin' Donuts' history of offering simple and straight forward morning snacks has given It the competitive advantage of distinction as the anti-Starbucks-earnest and without pretense. Like Craftsman tools and Levi's jeans, the company offers a comforting sensibility appealing to simple, modest, and cost-conscious customers. The Sweet Spot Has a Jelly Center Dunkin' ‘Donuts is trying to grow in all directions, reaching more customers in more places with more products. Although Dunkin' Donuts often partners with a select group of grocery retailers such as Stop ; Shop and Wal-Mart-to create a store within-a-store concept, the company won't set up shop in just any grocery store. ‘We want to be situated in supermarkets that provide a superior overall customer experience,† he said. â€Å"Of course, we also want to ensure that the supermarket is large enough to allow us to provide the full expression of our brand. . . . which includes hot and iced coffee, our line of high-quality espresso beverages, donuts, bagels. muffins, and even our breakfast sandwiches. Furthermore, the outlet's location within the supermarket is critical for a successful relationship. â€Å"We want to be accessible and visible to customers, because we feel that gives us the best chance to increase incremental traffic and help the supermarket to enhance their overall performance. The company is banking on these mutually beneficial partnerships to help it achieve wides pread marketplace prominence. Dunkin' Donuts is a nationally known brand with a long reputation for quality, giving the company the benefit of not having to work hard to earn many customers' trust. But this strategy is not without its risks. In the quest to appeal to new customers, offering too many original products could dilute the essential brand appeal and alienate long-time customers who respect simplicity and authenticity. If Dunkin' Donuts' executives focus too narrowly on franchising new stores, they might not be aware of issues developing in long-standing or even recently established stores. Some older franchises seem long overdue for a makeover, especially when compared to the Starbucks down the block. For the time being, Dunkin' Donuts seems content to continue its methodical quest for continental domination of the coffee and breakfast market. In order to keep up with the latest health concerns, it has reformulated its cookies and muffins to avoid trans fats. The company has even begun shifting its donut production from individual stores into centralized production facilities designed to serve up to 100 stores apiece. Will Dunkin' Donuts strike the right balance of products and placement needed to mount a formidable challenge against competitors in both the breakfast and coffee markets?

Free Essays on Laura Bush

Laura: America’s First Lady, First Mother Antonia Felix Though she was shy and reserved at first, everything changed on September 11, 2001, when the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were crushed by terrorist attacks. In the aftermath, Laura rose to the occasion, providing comfort and reassurance amidst what is perhaps the worst crisis we’ve ever faced-and she has since become a beacon of hope and strength to the nation. Laura, by noted biographer Antonia Felix, is the first profile of this remarkable woman. The author has conducted dozens of interviews-including with Jenna Welch, Laura’s mother-and has produced an insightful, compelling work that finally informs us of the major events in Laura Bush’s life, bringing us closer to discovering what she is really like. In clear, crisp prose, the author tells of Laura’s fascinating journey from her happy childhood in Midland, Texas through her courtship and marriage to dashing National Guard pilot George W., her years as a schoolteacher and librarian, her pass ion for literacy, and her role as mother to twin girls, Barbara and Jenna. At once probing and revealing, Laura shows why Laura Bush is the right First Lady for these uncertain times-helping Americans reassess our priorities after our tragic loss and urging us to hug our children. This important biography will serve as a lasting tribute to a special woman for years to come. Laura Bush grew up in Midland, Texas with her father and mother, and led a content life as their only child. She dreamed of being a teacher, a traditional career for the females of her generation. Laura was raised in a strong home where religion, good ethics, and a strong morale played important roles in her upbringing. The combination of her parent’s influences, growing up in a traditional American culture, and eventually becoming the daughter-in-law to the President of the United States, prepared her well to become the fo... Free Essays on Laura Bush Free Essays on Laura Bush Laura: America’s First Lady, First Mother Antonia Felix Though she was shy and reserved at first, everything changed on September 11, 2001, when the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were crushed by terrorist attacks. In the aftermath, Laura rose to the occasion, providing comfort and reassurance amidst what is perhaps the worst crisis we’ve ever faced-and she has since become a beacon of hope and strength to the nation. Laura, by noted biographer Antonia Felix, is the first profile of this remarkable woman. The author has conducted dozens of interviews-including with Jenna Welch, Laura’s mother-and has produced an insightful, compelling work that finally informs us of the major events in Laura Bush’s life, bringing us closer to discovering what she is really like. In clear, crisp prose, the author tells of Laura’s fascinating journey from her happy childhood in Midland, Texas through her courtship and marriage to dashing National Guard pilot George W., her years as a schoolteacher and librarian, her pass ion for literacy, and her role as mother to twin girls, Barbara and Jenna. At once probing and revealing, Laura shows why Laura Bush is the right First Lady for these uncertain times-helping Americans reassess our priorities after our tragic loss and urging us to hug our children. This important biography will serve as a lasting tribute to a special woman for years to come. Laura Bush grew up in Midland, Texas with her father and mother, and led a content life as their only child. She dreamed of being a teacher, a traditional career for the females of her generation. Laura was raised in a strong home where religion, good ethics, and a strong morale played important roles in her upbringing. The combination of her parent’s influences, growing up in a traditional American culture, and eventually becoming the daughter-in-law to the President of the United States, prepared her well to become the fo...