Business Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Business Report - Essay Example The paper begins with an introduction of technological trends adopted by various renowned supermarket brands. Self-service checkouts have been selected as the centre of discussion. Next, a number of influences of self-service checkouts on labor need and customer satisfaction gives an insight of the importance of this system. In addition, a mixed difference opinion by several customers relating to the usage of self-service system has been given. The research paper concludes with presenting a few implications that retail businesses can imply to enhance their operations and build the customer loyalty that represents the success of their business. These systems are not adopted by businesses to reduce the costs but to enhance their customer relationships by providing easy shopping experience. Introduction To be waiting in the checkout line is one frustrating fact of shopping; however, people are now adopting offline shopping with the induction of self-service checkouts, which allow them t o evaluate their products and scan for billing. Technology has played a vital role in enhancing purchase and sales. The process has been improved further with regard to fulfilling purchase orders before time and making quicker sales in fewer periods. The food retail market is also benefiting with this technology to make the service easier for its customers who avoid spending time on long checkout queues. According to a survey conducted by Supermarket News reports, food retail sector has adopted latest technology to enhance its customer preferences by a greater margin than any other industry in this world. Consumers believe that this industry most implements technology for better customer experiences and introduces new ways and techniques to enhance their services quickly. The largest supermarkets of USA such as Wal-mart and Target have been working extensively to improve the customer experience of their supermarkets and they have successfully introduced technology as a part of their establishment to this day. Wal-mart is one renowned retail brand that adopted self-service checkouts for their stores. Customers begin to deal with the checkout process more efficiently by doing the job themselves. The response on this adoption of technology was positive and many customers were relieved of wasting time at long checkouts. According to NCR, Kmart introduced self-service checkouts with the installation of about five thousand systems at its thirteen hundred stores in year 2011. These systems managed to make sales for Kmart up to 22 percent per year, which achieved a close target for their sales (Bird, 2012, pg. 1-3). Supermarket Guru Phil Lempert proposes that supermarkets must cater to their consumer’s preferences since grocery shopping is not what they like to do the most. Particularly, 53% of consumers have been reported to avoid grocery shopping while 14% dislike grocery shopping due to the processes at retails. Knowing the preferences of customers is the ke y to introduce technology that can help bolster the retail systems. Trends that need to be adopted by retails must focus on this perspective and bring innovations to improve the way customer shops. A customer needs to have full information of what he is going to buy therefore trends must be adopted in briefing

Computer Retail Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Computer Retail Business - Essay Example In order to determine the ability of the company to generate a profit the managers of the organization have to analyze the operations of the firm based on the costs and expenses that the company will incur during its initial start up phase and the variable and fixed expenses that the company will incur in the future (Weygand, Kieso, Kimmel, 2002). When the company decided to choose the corporate business structure the first costs the company incurred were the legal and governmental fees to incorporate. The firm spent $1,500 to incorporate the computer business. An estimate of the costs the company will incur is necessary to start a business. The company will purchase $30,000 in computers to be sold in the retail market. The markup on these computers is 40%. In order to complement the store the company sells other devices such as tablets, MP4 devices, and smartphones. The markup on these electrical devices is 50%. The company will invest an additional $10,000 in other electronic merchandise. In terms of computer parts the firm will invest $5,000. The original restoration of the lease rented as the retail outlet cost is $7,500. A start-up capital cost table of the company is illustrated below: The company needs $54,000 start up capital, but there are other expenses that the company must consider prior to starting the business. The $54,000 is the money needed to set up the business, but once the business starts the owners and managers have to consider a series of other operating expenses that will affect the financial outcome of the company. The administrative expenses of the firm are $2,000 a month which accounts for the salary of the manager. The company will run on three employees at all times in the floor. The salary of these employees is $7.25 an hour. The store is open twelve hours a day, thus the daily direct labor expense is $783 a day. The rent is $2,700 a month and

Robert W Baird Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Robert W Baird - Essay Example Today, the company has a special place in all the businesses in America, and the Fortune magazine has included the company in a prestigious list of 100 best places to work. Robert W. Baird & Co is an asset management company. Its special focus is on middle market investments, capital markets investment, fixed income investments and provision of a broad range of other services to its clients such as Private Wealth Management, Mutual Funds and a company’s own special fund. The company performed extremely well in the fiscal year ending 2010. It earned $847 million in revenues, a figure which is 18 percent more than in the previous year. The principal competitors of Robert W. Baird & Co are all the investment firms operating in America. The major rivals of the company are Jefferies Group, Inc, Piper Jaffaries Company Inc. and Raymond James Financial. However, RWB&CO has outsmarted its competition in the last few years, and especially in 2010. While other companies downsized and contracted, RWB managed to grow by an impressive figure of eighteen percent. Robert W. Baird & Co does not only have strong presence in the entire United States but is also present in other countries around the world. The company operates extensively in the UK, Greece and India. In these countries, it is involved in the development of risk-averse portfolios and making investments throughout the world. The greatness of the company lies in the fact that despite strong recessionary pressures, the company has managed to grow and within a few years, it has doubled in size in terms of revenue. This achievement puts RWB ahead of its competition. The company is currently an employee- owned business, meaning that the largest shareholders of the company are people working for the organization. It has a flexible structure. Each unit works independently and is controlled by the head of the department. Project teams are developed to sense

Personal Development Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Personal Development Plan - Essay Example It shall also evaluate team building theories and the implications for effective management of practice. Finally, this paper shall justify my managerial style within the workplace. In effect, this paper shall critically analyse the evidence base for the action plan with the application of current management theories. Discussion As stated in the personal development plan, I need to develop my communication skills. At present, my communication skills are limited and they need improvement; more particularly, my English speaking skills need improvement. Communication is an important part of effective management because it assists in my self-improvement and it aids in successful management (Adair, 2009, p. 4). By increasing reading materials, I can improve my reading and writing skills; and by enrolling in private English classes, I can improve my grammar and syntax, as well as my technical writing skills. These methods can help inject confidence into my speaking, reading, writing, and li stening skills (Lehman, 2007, p. 69). Improving communication is a basic need or skill which has to be fulfilled before I can move on to bigger goals. Fulfilling this need is very much in keeping with the theory as set forth by Abraham Maslow and his hierarchy of needs (Outward Bound, 2007, p. 56). There are different theories and motivation and leadership, and these theories affect the management of organizations. According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, people start off fulfilling first their physiological needs and then go on to fulfil their safety, social, esteem, and finally self-actualization needs (Owston, n.d). People therefore can be motivated by their basic needs and also by other more noble goals or causes. For some employees, their motivation in working can start off with the basic need to feed their families (Marchionini, 2006, p. 42). At this stage, they would not look beyond the purpose of their work besides feeding themselves and their family. However, once t heir basic purpose is served, they go beyond that basic goal into higher goals – perhaps, that of saving for their family, and later serving humanity through their work (Marchionini, 2006, p. 42). In my case, my motivation for improving on my communication and eventually my information technology (IT) skills is to maximize use of our organizations’ IT programs. In terms of leadership, the loftier goal for many world leaders has been on the motivation of their armies – with one side insisting that his goal has more moral worth than the others (Owston, n.d). In this case, some leaders may see the need to deliver pain or threats in order to motivate, and others believe that doing so would not be effective ways of motivating people. In other ways, promising more tangible things like money, food, and even excitement can serve better ways of motivating people (Owston, n.d). In managing change, Maslow’s approach to leadership basically welcomes change because a member or even a leader eventually moves up in the hierarchy of needs. Once he fulfils a need, he has to change and move beyond that need on to bigger and better things (Koltko-Rivera, 2006, p. 302). Maslow’s theory therefore, handles and manages change well. McGregor divided human management into the

CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT (MARKETING) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 12000 words

CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENT (MARKETING) - Essay Example Following by that, different theories regarding communication and how celebrities play an important role in framing communication strategies has been clarified. Then four types of celebrity endorsement modes have been explicated in order to understand how different celebrities are associated with different products or services. After that this chapter moves out to understand the major part of literature review i.e. four-variable models which are 1] Source credibility model, 2] Source attractiveness model, 3] Product match up model and 4] Meaning transfer model. Finally, this chapter ends with benefits of using celebrities and the risks attached with celebrity endorsement. Furthermore, research objectives have been drafted at the end of the section. Celebrity endorsement is one of the most popular strategies for marketing communication and advertisers. Customers see advertisements containing celebrities everyday whether they are at home or outside with their friends and family. Varieties of celebrities’ options are available to advertisers today through which companies can decide on celebrities on the basis of their product, target audience, popularity of celebrity and others. For instance, sports product companies like Nike and Adidas approach present celebrities of the popular sports of their target market audience. The choices are not just limited to sports stars of particular sport like baseball, basketball or cricket, but national or international player choices are also available to them. These celebrities are usually paid high sign up amounts and their contract with the endorsing brand has a specific validity period. Celebrities usually earn from their profession, but they can also earn the sign up amount for any endorsement which is usually higher than their average earning for the same time period. According to Forbes.com (2007), in the list of Celebrity 100 the first five celebrities Oprah Winfrey, Tiger Woods, Madonna, Rolling Stones and Brad Pitt

Observations at Roosevelt middle school Essay Example for Free

Observations at Roosevelt middle school Essay I observe at Roosevelt Middle School, which is in River Forest, in Mrs. Brauns sixth grade English class on Tuesdays in the morning. As I have observed, I have noticed that the classroom is student-centered. During computer time, Mrs. Braun focused more on helping the students get into the computer program to start the assignment than on having enough time to get the assignment done. Several times, Mrs. Braun gave helpful comments on how to do things on the computer or in the program, such as how to install automatic spell check. Mrs. Braun was also very patient as she was being asked questions while she was trying to explain the assignment. From what I saw, some students were getting bored, though, while the assignment was being explained and started whispering to each other. However, the whispering did stop when the students had to get started on the assignment. I have also observed that there seems to be a strong set of rules in place in Mrs. Brauns classroom. This is evident through some of Mrs. Brauns subtle, and not-so-subtle, reminders. For example, she gently made an example of a student by pointing out that his decorated pen (with a silly topper on it) was not allowed in class if it was going to be played and not used. She made a general statement that all pens similar to it are not welcomed is they are going to be played with. Overall, the students follow the rules very well, and there have not been any severe disruptions. There has only been whispering occasionally, but it stopped when Mrs. Braun asked. Disciplinary strategies seem to be in place as well, although I have not seen any discipline used while I have been observing the class. There is even a routine in place in the classroom for each period. During period one, first of all, old assignments are collected by Mrs. Braun, and then vocabulary is covered. Then a vocabulary assignment is given with any other new assignments on what is being cover in class. Next the teacher reads or goes over any assigned readings from the book that is being covered in class. This is the same basic routine for period two. The third period is computer time and the routine seems to vary. There is a quick transition from activity to activity during these routines. The classroom environment is that of a basic classroom setting. There are some decorations and other things hanging on the wall. Among the decorations is a hand-made calendar on the wall by Mrs. Brauns desk. There is a history of each students last name on the wall on the other side of Mrs. Brauns desk. There seems to be a controlled temperature and lighting in the classroom and they are set at an adequate setting. The room is arranged with five groups of desks in a circular type shape. In the middle of the room is a cart where new assignments are put and reading journals are kept. There are different locations throughout the room for different supplies. With the layout of the room, it seems there is adequate space to move around and do in-class activities. The physical space also seems conducive to teaching and learning. The physical space, including seating and grouping arrangements, seems to enhance cooperation and learning because there seems to be fewer distractions around them. There seems to be fewer distractions because the students have less people to talk to than if they were seated in rows, though they may still be tempted to talk. This classroom seems to function well as a total environment through its layout. I have observed many things in my first two observations in Mrs. Brauns class. The students do a lot of in-seat assignments, such as handouts. There seems to be a few good projects being done but they are done mostly outside of class. I feel that some time should be spent in class working on the projects, even if it is 10-15 minutes. The layout seems like both a good idea and a bad idea. It seems like a good idea because if one student gets stuck on something, there are others around to help. It seems to be a bad idea, though, because of what I stated before, there is still the temptation for the students to talk when they are not suppose to and distract each other. The only implication I have is that it seems that some old methods are hard to leave behind, such as busy work (hand outs), for more interactive methods (interaction with each other).

Online Media Has Become A Very Useful Tool Media Essay

Online Media Has Become A Very Useful Tool Media Essay The online media or the New Media has also been a consequence of dynamic communications technology developments and the need of a universal platform that emerges traditional media with the interactive power of computers and the participative aspect of the Internet. I strongly believe that online media has indeed become a very useful tool for citizens to play their role in political and social participation. The reasons are various: Internet is very popular and user-friendly, it give people the opportunity of engaging in civic discussion and there is a common lack of time, interest and proximity issues hinder their willingness in participating, As Margaret Scammell also pointed out in her paper The Internet and Civic Engagement: the Age of the Citizen-Consumer, (anul) the Internet, we hear constantly, will change everything. Thus far, however, the evidence for politics is rather small. We see vastly expanded information sources for citizens, new delivery systems for political institutions, greater opportunities for politics at the margins. But mostly we see the same old electoral and institutional politics with no evidence of huge new communities of participating citizens. What is actually emphasized here is the fact that we expect a greater involvement of citizens in political and social aspects on online media platforms, whereas new media online only endows us with brand new instruments of citizenship performance. Internet, as one of the 20th centurys most important developments, facilitates old and new functions of media, by orientating traditional media, like newspapers and television towards more participation, interactivity, flexibility, real time interaction, experiences and information sharing at a low cost. Politics and political participation of citizens is one of the topics of discussion over the Internet. The basic function of media informing people, is clearly seen in the huge World Wide Web community. Politicians have recently started to be aware of the impact that the Internet has, especially on young generations and therefore have moved online, where they have their own blogs, participate in online political forums, and get in direct contact with their electors. A very good example in this sense is Barack Obamas famous online campaign which helped him engage more with his voters and actually gave them the opportunity of integrating and even creating a political campaign. I think it helped us to access a lot of people by giving them to tools to organize, to create events, to connect with each others and giving them everything that they needed, so that when they had talking points to pass onto their families, videos, events in their area that were happening, community outreach pro grams in their state. Everything that we did was to connect people, because it was a movement that was fundamentally about people. (http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2008/12/04/felesky-rahaf.html Rahaf Harfoush interview) Moreover, even in 2000 American elections, American Online reported that seven of the all-time top ten live online chats were political, suggesting an increase in interest and involvement in the political process (Marlin 1999: 12 in CAROLINE J. TOLBERT AND RAMONA S. MCNEAL, KENT STATE UNIVERSITY). Another essential aspect of online citizenship is the civic engagement. One might argue that civic engagement online is one of the pioneer activities promoted online and which had a tremendous success among both nongovernmental organizations and participants to different online campaigns, petitions, manifestations. Its mobilizing character has had a very good outcome in community volunteer work, environmental causes and protest behavior, as it has engaged people in various discussions on social media platforms or in sharing experiences and thoughts about problems of common interest on YouTube, Blogs, MySpace, Facebook and websites. A very good example of a civic engagement campaign that has attracted many participants is the Greenpeace campaign. Promoting their activities in environmental causes and simultaneously asking for peoples direct involvement online has ensured the success of their campaign. Online medias main advantage that of offering great opportunities of sharing information and experiences to its users can sometimes turn into a disadvantage, because normal people are becoming journalists. This facilitates subjectivism and might sometimes lead to misinforming the other users. Moreover, many organizations, politicians or public figures have sensed the potential impact and success of online campaigns and therefore tend to control certain information flows for their own interest and even manipulate the content of forums, blogging, etc. The Web community facilitates the achievement of different types of citizenship, whether they are political, cultural, social or national. Citizens have often declared themselves dissatisfied with traditional media coverage; due to media concentration, the information and knowledge they get seems most of the times to be influenced by particular view that media moguls try to impose indirectly. Therefore the online media give them the opportunity of expressing themselves without restrictions and engage actively in different knowledge sharing activities and even direct participation to political decisions. Taken all this arguments into consideration, I believe that the new media indeed contribute to a better citizenship by means of more interaction, delivering own experiences and thoughts towards different political topics, being informed and having access to a greater range of knowledge sources. Online media, creates opportunities for all the Internet users to contribute to the main attribute of democracy and that is, being able to take part at political and social decision making process.