Analysis Is Euro Zone An Optimal Currency Area Economics Essay

Does euro zone tantrum what is described in the literature as an Optimum Currency Area. An Optimum Currency Area theory was for the first clip developed by Robert Mundell, in â€Å" A Theory of Optimum Currency Areas † ( September, 1961 ) . The chief thought was to specify until what extent some states ( EZ states, for case ) should give up from their independent pecuniary policy, in order to derive from micro and macroeconomics benefits of a shared currency. These benefits can be briefly referred as â€Å" decreased dealing costs, riddance of currency hazard, greater transparence and perchance greater competition because monetary values are easier to compare †[ 1 ]. Still, the chief issue is a pure inequation which tries to mensurate if the positive side of a common currency in EU is higher than the negative 1. In this reappraisal I will non concentrate merely in a remarkable parametric quantity of this equation because so it would connote a loss of the nucleus significance of the different beginnings. I will alternatively analyse the overall sentiment of different beginnings and refer to specific standards when it seems plausible.2. Critically annotated literature huntBeginning 1: Francesco Paolo Mongelli, Senior Advisor for Monetary Policy, European Central Bank ( ECB ) , â€Å" † New † positions on the optimal currency country theory: What is EMU stating us? â€Å" , Working Paper No. 138, April 2002 Francesco Mongelli has followed the euro advancement over the old ages and he strongly contributed to different analysis published under ECB cast. In his reappraisal he does non clearly take a place about the euro country. However, he seems to be more positive about the conditions of Europe for a common currency. Particularly after the euro acceptance, he states that â€Å" the members of the European Union that have removed all trade and fiscal barriers among each other and portion a individual market † due to the common currency enjoyed a steady addition in â€Å" mutual trade † which allows them to see stable growing. He does non disregard the alleged â€Å" † Krugman specialization hypothesis † † , which implies that the acceptance of euro will take member states to fall in an utmost specialised degree, taking to farther deficiency of variegation and it will go forth these states would be worse off. However, he clearly emphasizes that this is â€Å" a paradox as this is non what is observed in world † ( mentioning to Frankel, 1999 ) . With this debate Mongelli puts the euro country in the same side of the US States in the OCA graph sing two chief issues which for him are decisive ( see Graph 1 ) . This means, even though non every bit much as US States, the EZ states â€Å" draw net benefits from ( aˆÂ ¦ ) the euro † When confronting the critics from the general literature to the optimum conditions for a common currency in EU, Mongelli supports the other side of the literature stating these reappraisals might be biased since â€Å" they are chiefly rearward looking † . As he states: â€Å" Some writers believe alternatively that the OCA trial could be satisfied antique station even if it is non to the full satisfied ex ante † . In amount, this ECB adviser seems to back up the thought that â€Å" for the group of states now organizing the euro country this has brought considerable benefits but has besides required a long period, although some states that joined the procedure subsequently than the others caught up really quickly with the remainder. † This led him to believe the euro country might be suited for a common currency because, even though there are some structural differences among states, they can be managed overtime and optimum conditions can be achieved. Further analyses besides reported by Francesco Mongelli[ 2 ]on the Eve of the planetary fiscal crisis refer that in the last old ages at that place was a clear betterment of the euro country members or even its campaigners. He points out as chief betterment signals: â€Å" no ever-rising rising prices derived functions and inflationary outlooks † , â€Å" alterations in fight within the euro country are happening at a sustained gait † , and that â€Å" the hazard of pro-cyclicality of financial policies is under control † . Once once more, he stills believe that â€Å" all in all the balance seems positive: the benefits outweigh the costs † . Still, his chief point continues to be based on future outlooks and non truly on discernible facts. Beginning 2: Paul Krugman, â€Å" Retaliation of the Optimum Currency Area † , The New York Times, June 24, 2012 Many tried to analyse if dazes were symmetric or asymmetric in the interim of euro currency execution, although there is likely another ground which led to dazes ‘ dissymmetry. Despite the fact that European states could be already in an asymmetric place when following the euro, Krugman emphasizes that this dissymmetry tends to increase over the old ages among EZ states. He argues that most of the political power around EZ â€Å" chose to believe that asymmetric dazes would be a comparatively minor job † . Therefore Krugman identified another daze which is every bit of import as the others that existed earlier. This daze was, â€Å" in a acrimonious sarcasm, caused by the creative activity of the euro itself. † â€Å" In kernel, the creative activity of the euro led to a perceptual experience on the portion of many investors that the large hazards associated with cross-border investing within Europe had been eliminated. In the 1990s, despite the absence of formal capital controls, capital motions and therefore current-account instabilities within Europe were limited. After the creative activity of the euro, nevertheless, there was monolithic capital motion from Europe ‘s nucleus – chiefly Germany, but besides the Netherlands – to its fringe, taking to an economic roar in the fringe and significantly higher rising prices rates in Spain, Greece, etc. than in Germany. † In Krugman ‘s sentiment this deficiency of loads among euro country states led to the creative activity of more asymmetric dazes which states were non able to pull off. Especially states in the fringe, since they abdicated from their independent pecuniary policy, they could non utilize unfastened market operations to cover with such jobs like higher rising prices. Even though those states could do force per unit area on taking establishments in order to accommodate their policy to those state of affairss, they would confront opposition by â€Å" EuropeA?s nucleus † states. Therefore, this force per unit area would non be turned into any positive result for the fringe. Beginning 3: Martin Feldstein, Professor of Economics, Harvard University, â€Å" Optimum Currency Areas † , Cambridge, MA, 2008 Surely we can non avoid the economic differences among European states, although we might non merely concentrate on economic issues. Feldstein credited portion of the euro related jobs to political issues, alternatively of simply economic jobs such as daze dissymmetries. Feldstein has a broad background as academic and political associate in US, this allows him to hold an external position of the euro state of affairs and the single force per unit areas exercised by single states. The political result identified by Martin Feldstein, as described below, could be straight related with the dazes created by euro execution program as argued by Krugman ( see Source 2 ) . â€Å" Not all EMU states will be affected every bit by the development of the European economic system or by the policies of the ECB. ( aˆÂ ¦ ) Because of a limited willingness to do forfeits for the benefit of other EMU states or for the EMU as a system, some of those authoritiess or politicians may seek to go out the EMU or may endanger that they will make so unless policies are changed. † This position shows another attack on the OCA issue which might be against the thought that there are optimal conditions in the EU for a common currency, nevertheless non for the most frequent grounds referred in the literature. We can state that Martin Feldstein is chiefly presenting a political dimension into treatment, which sometimes can be the most decisive 1. Beginning 4: Huseyin Mualla Yuceol, â€Å" Why European Union is non an optimum currency country: The bounds of integrating † , Ege Academic Review, Mersin University, 2006 Besides mentioning many of the points that are mentioned in the literature back uping Krugman ‘s position ( see Source 2 ) , in which, he is chiefly placing that â€Å" there is a widespread incredulity environing the long-term practicality of the EMU. † This well-known Turkish faculty member besides refers another of import issue related with the OCA argument that sometimes is forgotten. Harmonizing to him, even though the European Commission was cognizant of macroeconomic disagreements, there was a clear deficiency of enforcement in order to cut down these existent dissymmetries. â€Å" Therefore, the so called EMU â€Å" convergence standards † are more concerned with analyzing ephemeral cyclical motions in fiscal indexs, instead than concentrating upon cardinal convergence in existent economic system. However, analyzing the extent to which EU member provinces have really met the MCC since 1990s, a period including both a recession and roar, makes dissatisfactory reading for protagonists of European pecuniary integrating. † The grounds shows that the deficiency of enforcement of the â€Å" convergence standards † led to an unsustainable macroeconomic state of affairs in the EZ. This unsustainable state of affairs implies that the EZ is non an optimum currency country and it besides means it is more hard to accomplish these conditions. â€Å" This is because, the accomplishment of convergence depends on peculiarly certain institutional and structural characteristics and the grade of development of market mechanisms. † Yuceol besides refers that there are likely two different groups among euro country states. One that would most likely tantrum in a common currency and the fringe which will confront strong barriers to maintain at the same gait without the pecuniary tools lost for the pecuniary brotherhood. â€Å" Therefore, EMU will split Europe because no mechanism exists for accomplishing existent convergence between national economic systems. †3. Tentative decisionsFrom the parts of the literature referred in this reappraisal it is easy to understand that both places in favour or against the OCA conditions in the euro zone can be argued. It is of import to underscore that most of the surveies on this affair are really concentrating in the same vectors, as mentioned before. However, they come up with rather different consequences. It is non straightforward which side is deducing misdirecting decisions. We can chiefly place two different political orientations: the one shared by the European Commission and other European establishments ( e.g. : ECB ) and the resistance which is chiefly referred in the literature as the Krugman ‘s position. From reading the different beginnings we can briefly province that the EC defends that higher integrating among states would increase the chance of the OCA standards being satisfied, while the other position provinces that higher integrating would take to a over specialisation job which would go a negative daze itself. Therefore, my probationary decision would be that the statements against the optimum conditions for a common currency in the euro zone are stronger than the others. The chief ground to indicate this out would be that most portion of the statements in favour of OCA conditions in EZ are based in frontward looking outlooks. Therefore I should hold that one of the chief jobs with the euro country was that it was established under future outlooks. This premise led states, like the 1s from the fringe, to be integrated in the EMU and they really did non hold conditions to make so. The demands established by the theory, such as the symmetricalness of dazes, labour market flexibleness and so on, are right so. I would state the misleading job was non a theoretical job. It was alternatively an out of clip phasing-in procedure carried out by the EMU which is non over yet.4. AnnexsGraph 1 – Two Key Optimum Currency Area Properties Beginning: Francesco Paolo Mongelli, † † New † positions on the optimal currency country theory: What is EMU stating us? â€Å" , European Central Bank ( ECB ) , Working Paper No. 138, April 2002

Backup Criteria Essay

A company should have backup files of anything important and pertinent to their business. Any data and files that are stored on their computer should be backed up. I would suggest a full backup which includes all files whether they have been changed or not. I would have 8 datasets which includes User Acquisition Costs, Abandoned Carts, Visitor Value, Lifetime Value, Traffic, Lead Source ROI, Purchase Funnel and Percentage of Mobile Visits. I would use a File History back up. Before you start using File History to back up your files, you need to first select where your backups are saved. You can select an externally connected drive, such as a USB drive, or you can save to a drive on a network. There are other choices, but these two provide the best options to help protect your files against a crash or other PC problems. File History only backs up copies of files that are in the Documents, Music, Pictures, Videos, and Desktop folders and the OneDrive files available offline on your PC. If you have files or folders elsewhere that you want backed up, you can add them to one of these folders. The data should be taken offsite every night. Data backup is extremely critical to the survival of your business. There are numerous potential hazards that threaten your data. Equipment failures, crashes, theft, fire and flood are just a few examples of the dangers. Your company needs a solid plan in place to assure that all of your important data is retrievable. If a crash occurs, you can such utilities as fdisk, dinit, chkfsys, and spatch to detect and repair any damage that happened to files that were open for writing at the time of the crash. In many cases, you can completely restore the filesystem. Sometimes the damage may be more severe. For example, it’s possible that a hard disk will develop a bad block in the middle of a file, or worse, in the middle of a directory or some other critical block. Again, the utilities provided can help you determine the extent of suc h damage. You can often rebuild the filesystem in such a way as to avoid the damaged areas. In this case, some data will be lost, but with some effort, you can recover a large portion of the affected data. When backing up your data, you need to decide whether to back up each file and directory separately, or in an archive with a collection of other files. You also need to decide  whether or not to compress your data to reduce the storage requirements for your backups. The time lost to compression and decompression may be offset to a degree by the reduced time it takes to write or read the compressed data to media or to transfer it through a network. To reduce the expense of compression, you may choose to compress the backup copies of your data as a background task after the data has been copied, possibly days or weeks after to reduce the storage requirements of older backups while keeping newer backups as accessible as possible. You should back up often enough so that you can recover data that’s still current or can be made current with minimal work. In a software development group, this may range from a day to a week. Each day of out-of-date backup will generally cost you a day of redevelopment. If you’re saving financial or point-of-sale data, then daily or even twice-daily backups are common. It’s a good idea to maintain off-site storage.

Barilla Case Study: The Underlying Factors In Operation Management

case analysis| MGSM890 Operations Management| | Thursday 9 AM class | Term 3, 2012 Deepika Choudhary | 42621186 | | | Question 1. What underlying factors are driving the distributors order patterns to look the way they do in Exhibit 12, and the DC sales, inventory and stock-out levels in Exhibit 13?The underlying factors that are driving the distributors order patterns to look the way they do are primarily due to extreme demand fluctuations where it was week to week variation in distributors order patterns due to which Barilla suffered increasing operational inefficiencies and cost penalties.The major reasons that speak for demand fluctuation are –excessive promotional activities, volume discount, transportation discounts, no limit in order quantities from distributors or worked out ordering strategies for retailers, product proliferations, poor customer service rates, poor communication and lack of sophisticated forecasting techniques or analytical tools at distributors end. The method adopted to curb this demand fluctuation was in two ways; one with excess FG inventory to meet distributors demand and second additional inventory at distributors warehouses. However this method adoption led to impact in – overburdened manufacturing and logistic operation, poor product delivery, thinning of retailers/distributors margin, increased inventory carrying cost, unanticipated demand, and bull whip effect in the entire supply chain.Whereas the causes for bullwhip effect was due to inaccuracies in demand forecasting, long lead times, inflated orders in high estimated demand scenarios, and, price fluctuation due to promotional activities and order batching (to reduce ordering costs, to take advantage of transportation economies such as full truck load, sales incentives and forward buying due to promotional activities to get benefit from lower price).Thus to counteract the bull-whip effect four strategic options became crucial, which are, to: reduce variabilit y (every day or year around low pricing), reduce lead times (information lead times: EDI and order lead times: Cross Docking), reduce uncertainty (POS, sharing and centralizing demand information) and strategic partnerships (quick response, continuous replenishments and vendor managed inventory (VMI)) The other factors are as follows: Orders placed once a week – most distributors (GDs and Dos) checked the inventory levels and placed orders with Barilla once per week which was not inlined with the pace of demand variation * Average lead time ten calendar days – order once placed would be shipped by Barilla to the distributor over the course of the week that started eight days after the order was placed and ended fourteen days after the order was placed; which was recognized as a bottleneck for distributors * Usage of simple periodic-review inventory systems – distributors placing orders on a weekly basis for those products whose levels fell below a specified reor der level, which made their ordering system obsolete * Computer-supported ordering systems – which all of the distributors possessed but lack of sophisticated forecasting systems or analytical tools for determining order quantities for future demand * Holding huge current inventory levels – distributors and retailers carrying huge current inventories followed by requests from Barilla (manufacturing and logistics personal) to carry additional inventory (to hold goods bought on any type of promotion, including quantity discounts, truckload discounts and canvas period discounts) to dampen the fluctuation in distribution orders; this incurred additional costs to their operating systems * Retail inventory pressure – retailers realizing space crunch in their stores and warehouses to carry very large inventories; limited shelf space in retail outlets; continuous launch of new products and attain best shelf display; which reinforced distributors attitude and felt simila r pressure to increase inventory of items they already stocked and to add items they currently did not carry to their product offerings * Lack of good service from distributors to its retailers – Exhibit 13 (in case study) depicts the huge stockouts that Dos experienced in 1989 despite holding a couple of weeks of inventory.This reflects lack of Dos efficient job servicing to its retailers * Plant has high product change over costs because Barilla has either inefficient production or excess finished goods inventory * Utilization of central distribution is low in terms of workers and equipment’s Question 2. How might they be addressed? Will the proposed JITD system solve the problem? The underlying factors in the traditional approach of order fulfillment had a direct impact on manufactures and retailers in the form of thinning margins. Thus, to address these factors an alternative approach of product delivery was crucial and also to take costs out of distribution channe l without compromising service.This was introduced by Brando Vitali’s JITD (Just-In-Time-Distribution) proposal, which focused solely on dry products to be sold through distributors. This approach was also expected to radically change the way in which Barilla’s logistics managed product delivery with JITD bringing in its two key concepts of: replacing sequential optimization with global optimization and eliminating some of the â€Å"false† economies that drive traditional ordering processes. The major challenges of the traditional and rhetoric logistics and distribution channel were: * Extreme demand fluctuations – Barillas dry products often swung wildly from week to week creating extreme demand variability in distributors’ order patterns and also for Barilla’s manufacturing and logistics operations (since 1980s). Distributors sales volumes variation – to manage demand and supply amongst small distributors order and large distributor s order by forecasting and keeping a check on what is required and where it is required and when it is required * Pressures to manufacturing in terms of production lead-time and perishability of product * High Inventory Carrying Cost & manufacturing cost due operational inefficiencies * Unacceptable Cycle Service Levels (CSL)–inadequate product availability * Distributors’ inability to carry large number of SKUs The proposed JITD system will help to, first, determine the quantities and delivery schedules and assist to improve the operations for Barilla and its customers. Second, ship products only when they are needed and what products are needed, rather than building enormous stocks in Barillas’ facilities. Third, Barilla will reap an indirect advantage by reducing its own distribution costs, inventory levels, and ultimately manufacturing costs, by not responding to the volatile demand patterns of the distributors.Fourth, Barilla will be able to manage the much -needed and important capability to achieve â€Å"flexibility† to respond to the demand from end-consumer, which manages the input filter to produce the orders. Fifth, Vendor Managed Inventory Concept. Sixth, using point-of-sale data from retailers (but this is a limitation of Barillas given distribution channel and lack of bar-code scanner and computer linkage at most grocers in Italy). Seventh, ultimate authority to determine shipments is Barilla SpA. Eight, distributors will provide POS data (current) stock level of all SKUs. Hence, expected benefits for Manufacturer are: * Reduced manufacturing cost * Reduced inventory cycle Increased supply chain visibility will lead to better relationships with distributors * High bargaining power over distributors * Increased distributors dependence on Barilla * A planned production planning is possible * Improvement in manufacturing planning using objective data Expected benefits for distributors are: * High service level–addit ional services to retailers without incurring extra cost * Improved fill rates to Retail store with a quick response * Reduced inventory carrying cost Question 3. What conflicts and barriers does implementation of the JITD system face? The implementation of the JITD system does experience some conflicts/resistance and barriers. The conflicts/resistance experienced are internal and external as follows: Internal Sales representative feared reduction in responsibilities and flattening of sales levels * Risk of failing to adjust shipments sufficiently quickly to changes in selling patterns or increased promotions * Firms distribution unit not prepared to handle such a sophisticated relationship * Free space in distributor’s warehouses will give competitors an advantage to acquire more shelf space * Inability to quick shipment or disruption in supply process may lead to stock-out of product * Inability to run trade promotion * Lack of sophisticated infrastructure to handle JITD * Skepticism about cost reduction External * Unconvinced distributors Distributors were not willing to share their warehouse data * Distributors got impression that they were not handling their inventories well * A strategic move by Barilla to justify their long delivery cycle * Perceived transfer of power to Barilla * Lack of faith in Barillas current inventory management * Distributors were skeptical about the effectiveness of the system Question 4. How would you address these? Barilla should focus in external context on implementing the JITD in a staged fashion where it starts to target one of its largest distributors with whom its relishes excellent and elongated relationship. The resistance could then be handled by running experiments at Dry Product Depots where top management is involved actively to reinforce Barillas strategic vision of the company to adopt JITD as a company wide effort and not just as logistics program.By doing so, the qualitative and quantitative implication of performance improvements can be made public (like, average inventory level drop down, increase in service level to retail stores, drop in stock out rate, existing warehouse to accommodate the increased requirement and thus saving on substantial investment on expansion) to share with other distributors. In doing so, such experiments will help establish the credibility of JITD system. Also, other benefits highlighted will add substance to the JITD implementation, such as: better demand forecasting using JITD that ensures robust supply chain; insulate from the excessive demand fluctuations that leads to increased average inventory level, poor USL and recurrent stock-outs; Centralized information to reduce bull-whip effects and enhance inventory management system; ease to make strategic decisions amongst â€Å"push† or â€Å"pull† based systems; customers to be convinced with the vision of win-win concept.Following which Barilla can showcase the real results of running such experiments with JITD to other distributors and approach them with confidence. This will buy-in vote of confidence from all of Barillas distributors to implement JITD by adapting to different distributors where Barillas team develops capacity to translate customer’s standards into internal standards. During the implementation process people from all levels (top management to implementation managers) from both parties to get involved along with a neutral party which is trusted by both groups. After implementation of the JITD, Barilla team could analyze daily shipment data of the distributors and create a database of its historical demand pattern. In addition, Barilla should stimulate shipments with JITD in place.Following which it can develop a protocol which could be used to communicate with all of Barillas customers. To ease the process of identification, each SKU can be identifies with three product codes – Barillas code, customers code and EAN (European article numbering system) barcode. This coding system will facilitate the information reception through any code and will significantly improve data sharing. This will significantly increase Barillas interactivity with all its customers where they are linked by electronically to Barillas headquarters and can exchange information on a daily basis for: * Customer code number to identify the customer Inventory for each SKU, carried by DC * Previous day’s â€Å"sell through†: all shipments of Barilla’s products out of DC to consumers on the previous day * Stock outs on previous day, for every Barilla SKU carried by DC * An advance order for any promotions that the customer plans to run in the future * Preferred carton size of the delivery Internal address Links https://www. google. com. au/search? q=Barilla+case+study&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org. mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=fflb http://www. slideshare. net/himadrisingha/barilla-spa-a-case-on-supply-c hain-integration http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=PQgBY5wn0aE

Correspondence packet Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Correspondence packet - Article Example This social group has proved to constitute the bulk of our consumer audience (which isn’t surprising as the clothes produced by our company are orientated on youth), and we need to sense their needs and tendencies in their behavior accurately in order to increase our benefit. Thus, as marketing researches show, the internet has become virtually the main tool for advertising and promoting goods among a very wide category of consumers. Thus, our target audience tends to use the internet the most among all other media, and it is the area where we need to display our significant place in fashion clothing industry. Our surveys show that about three quarters of our target audience tends to use internet daily. On the other hand, popularity of television has dropped considerably in the recent years. This tendency, as you can clearly see, has a profound impact on our industry, too, as we currently focus our major efforts on the outdoor advertising and TV commercials. DIVERSE clothes, Inc. must shift focus from TV advertising to the Internet advertising using all its means like banners, pop-ups and e-mail ads. Changing our strategy will allow us to reach the greater number of our potential consumers who are young adults. The World-Wide-Web provides a valuable platform to place ads with the aim to reach millions of consumers around the world (Hamel). Again, surveys indicate that such websites as Google, Facebook, Yahoo!, Twitter and YouTube are among the top 10 most visited websites. This gives us a hint about where our efforts should be concentrated therefore. If we shift focus from radio and TV advertising to the popular Internet sites, we will increase popularity of our company and achieve much success in promotion of our products. And, obviously, the rate of sales is likely to increase considerably. Concerning the financial aspect of the issue, I would like to suggest simply redirecting

Prescription Drug Costs in Primary and Secondary Care UK Dissertation

Prescription Drug Costs in Primary and Secondary Care UK - Dissertation Example the negative value of the mean indicates that generally, the NHS drug tariff prices for the generic drugs are substantially higher than the prevailing retail market price for the branded drugs. The results of the paired samples t-test also showed that there were no significant difference on the costs of generic drugs based on the prices indicated in the NHS drug tariff and the prevailing retail market prices for the branded drugs. This result is absurd because in majority of the drugs considered in this t-test, the generic prices are generally higher than the branded medicines. This finding, however corroborates the results of Kanavos (2007) that the NHS is reimbursing the pharmacies significantly higher than the actual acquisition cost dispensed by the pharmacies. 16 Table 5. Distribution of Branded NHS Drugs with no Generic Equivalent 17 Table 6. Distribution of Generic NHS Drugs with no Branded Equivalent 17 4.4. Comparison of free prescriptions between England and Wales 23 4.5. T he issue of over-prescribing by UK General Practitioners 26 4.7. Wastage of prescription drugs 31 5.0. Results and Implications 33 5.1. Summary of findings 33 5.2. Implications for health care 35 While over-prescribing of drugs appear to be forced choices by physicians who are limited to prescribing only drugs approved for inclusion in the designated PCT formularies, the ramifications of the practice are brought to bear not only on the national coffers, but also on the risk of patients’ illness progressing in severity either because they are overwhelmed of the multiplicity of their medications or simply choose not to adhere to the regimen for whatever reason. Overprescribing also leads to drug wastage. Another implication of overprescribing is becoming more dangerous for large populations... Any drug has its own benefit – risk ratio. As enunciated by Brekenbridge. It is high time that people realise that medication is not all on the benefit side, as â€Å"there is no such thing as a free lunch with drugs† (Brekenbridge, as cited in Laurance, 2011. Drugs need to be taken as instructed, no more, no less. Over-prescribing is definitely out of the question. It should be all academic at this point that over-prescribing catalyses many repercussions, including higher risk of more serious illness, drug wastage, draining the NHS budget, illegal drug trade, and worst, morbidity and mortality. In this regard, continuing professional education for doctors, especially in drug pharmacology should be a fixed installation in the human resources development programme of NHS. Meanwhile, generic substitution seem to be a promising option for doctors to help save on drug expenditures. However, block decisions for generic substitution of branded medication should not be resorte d to. This matter is not a one-size fits all. Decisions should always be evidenced-based and done with the best interest of patients in mind. While there are cases where generic drugs are comparable in efficacy with their branded precursors, there are also generic drugs which compare poorly with branded medicines. Physicians who prescribe generics should always be on the lookout for non-performing substitutes.

Business Law and Ethics Final Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Business Law and Ethics Final - Essay Example Treating workers fairly and equally is important. Making them feel that they are fairly treated is even more vital. Perhaps, the freedom for employees, and by extension, for Americans is the greatest contributing force towards the continued country’s prosperity and development. Indeed, our very founding can be traced back on the yearning of equality and freedom. As the economy continues to soar, the labor force and working patterns are also constantly changing. Besides, more enterprises are becoming multinational, and, as a result, more Americans are working abroad. In the light of this, the discussion in this paper explores more on the principles of freedom and equality. As a prelude to the understanding on how the principles of freedom and equality have been applied in American companies in overseas, it is critical to define some of the major terms that constantly feature in the paper. By definition, the term freedom refers to the power to think or act without restraint or hindrance (Pollock, 2003). It stems from the word free, which means not been under the control of anyone or been able to act as one wish. However, one peculiar definition of this term is that freedom is never free. Basically, this means that freedom comes at a cost. For instance, in colonial days, people fought for freedom. On the other hand, equality ensures that individuals (workers) are treated fairly without any discrimination on the basis of sex, race, gender, religion, age, or disability. Harassment, victimization, and bullying are considered as diversity and equality issues (Callinicos, 2000). Freedom is the foundation of our society. In the workplace, giving workers the chance to voice their objectives can be a solid move towards attracting and retaining top talents. Managers should value employee’s freedom and flexibility in the workplace. Freedom in the

Just in Time for Starbucks Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Just in Time for Starbucks - Case Study Example This paper seeks to analyze Starbucks Operations Management in the lights of broad and diverse academic resources. Recent research conducted in the market suggests that Starbucks has been unsuccessful in meeting expectations of consumers in the customer satisfaction domain. The organization needs to devise and implement a strategic plan in order to generate revenues as well as improving customer satisfaction. Market research suggests that Starbucks was considered to be the biggest coffeehouse in the United States as well as in other countries. It concentrated on younger, lower income, customers. At the same time, it is not meeting the demands of customers in the customer satisfaction domain (Thompson & Martin, 145). At Starbucks, the Senior Management is responsible for analyzing the outcomes of the market research so that it could understand the factors which led to customer dissatisfaction in order to devise plan to meet their demands and increase revenues and sales. In recent times, the demographics of conventional Starbucks have changed. Now days, younger, low income and less educated customers visit the coffee house. Research suggests that traditional customers in the past were considered to be white collar customers aged between twenty five and forty (Zeithaml, 50). Although several factors were identified which had made an impact on customer satisfaction, the speed of service and overall service have been acknowledged as the most important. The company has spent and invested huge amount of money of employee benefits in order to maintain speed of service. Competition Research suggests that Starbucks was ahead of its competitors in operations and profitability. In the United States, Starbucks have competed against several coffeehouse chains. Its competitors include Caribou Coffee, independent specialty coffee outlets, Dunkin Donuts, etc. Company Strategy and Objective The aim and objective of Starbucks is to establish itself as the most popular and famous coffee brand in the world by concentrating on expansion of retails and introducing new products. At the same time, it concentrates on creating a memorable experience around coffee consumption and to accomplish it, they have expanded and operated an experimental branding approach. Customer service was integral part of this approach. Context As mentioned earlier, Starbucks strives for innovation and keeps on investing on new products in order to generate sales and profits. The recent market research indicates that customer service was deemed as unsatisfactory because customers viewed Starbucks as a giant corporation which concentrates on making profits and expanding it self. This indicates that using customer snapshot scores were ineffective in determining the service performance (Hammonds, 245). Consequently, the senior management is worried and needs to devise a plan in order to address the issue of customer satisfaction. By investing more than forty million dollars on additional labor hours is uncertain and risky because this strategy would only concentrate on improvement of speed of service. Recommendations The company needs a wide ranging diverse and broad strategy, which concentrate on customer service. This strategy should concentrate on understanding the needs of the customers and improving their experience. With the improvement in customer satisfac

First Essay Prompt Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

First Prompt - Essay Example What we see is only our dim reflections on the walls, metaphor for our imperfection and ignorance. There are prisoners in the cave who are chained to the floor in the darkness and unable to move their bodies to see what is happening around them. Under the protection of a parapet there are the puppeteers who display shadows on the walls. The prisoners are disillusioned that this is their reality. The story is told not from the perspective of the prisoners, but rather as a conversation between Socrates and Plato's brother - Glaucon. Plato's idea is that people are governed by the supreme forces of nature and Gods and we are unable to control our destiny and life. Everything is decided upon Gods and they are who captivate us and release us. And because people are under the possession of a higher power, we can not understand. Scharffenberger and Jowett (2004) comment that Plato's work "Republic" is identified mainly with the concept of the good. Plato's philosophy is often written as conversations and dialogues which shows that before reaching some conclusion the readers must be pres ented with all arguments and viewpoints (Scharffenberger and Jowett, 2004). In the "Allegory of the Cave" scene Socrates is the one describing the situation in the cave and he is the one to convey the idea that behind the prisoners puppeteers exist who move objects to resemble the reality. Another important aspect of the story besides our human imperfection and wrong interpretations of reality and goodness is that we often give names to objects to make sense of the world. However, language appears to be the limit of our understanding for the physical objects that surround us, and the invisible remains indecipherable and unreachable for our mind. Our thinking is bound by our imagination and we can think as long as we see and witness existence with our sense. Beyond this, our mind can not grasp other realities. Thus, human knowledge is full of mistakes and too limited. Once the prisoners of the cave are released they face different world - they see the sun, the light, the people around. They realize that these new images are the "truth", the reality. Now prisoners change their perceptions and start to believe that the sun leads their own existence. Scharffenberger and Jowett (2004) remark that this is the climax of the storyline - people regard as good what they are presented with. Then human goodness and knowledge are questionable, since they are not omnipresent and we do not possess them by nature. We have to discover them alone. So goodness and knowledge are controversial, because they depend on individual's reactions and beliefs. And there is no ultimate, supreme notion to unite them for all human beings. Apology is Plato's interpretation of Socrate's speech where they accuse him corrupting the young men of Greece through worshiping gods, which are not recognized by the state. With Apology Socrates defends himself and give reasons for his actions. "The Delphic Quest and the Gadfly are the two poles of Socrates' public self-vindication: the one submissive to the dawning wonder of the complexity of political and moral affair, the other aggressive in the hunt for clarification of this wonder (Newell 98)." Newell (2000) remarks that Socrate's philosophy consists of two dimensions. The holistic - represented by the Delphic Quest in Apology, and the analytical - embodies by the Gadfly. Socrates'

Business Ethics of WorldCom Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Business Ethics of WorldCom - Essay Example The company was declared bankrupt due to the wrong ways that were used to handle the accounts of the company. As earlier stated, when WorldCom was declared bankrupt, the company officials at the time worked nervously to restate the financial status of the company and to reorganize its operations. This shows the extent to which the company had lost a lot due to unethical accounting. The relevance of business ethics in the case Ethical behaviors are considered the important characteristics that are needed by effective leaders. In the case study, WorldCom received destruction that occurred when the corporation was not in the situation to behave ethically. This was mainly for those who were involved in accounting in the company. Ethics in the case also is relevant as it shows the outcomes that were obtained when there was no holding of ethical standards. The fall out that was experienced in WorldCom was important. The competitors learned from the fallout and they were able to improve the ir operation and consider ethical standards in operations. Impact of the ethical problem The fraud that led to the bankruptcy of WorldCom affected the behavior and the lives of individuals and the community that the industry operated. Some individuals who were permanently affected by the fraud were Cynthia Cooper. She participated in uncovering the fraud and this made her win several awards. The fraud that also led to the fallout of the company gave the advantage to the competitors of the company such as Verizon.

Critical Comparison of Websites Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Critical Comparison of Websites - Essay Example The expectations and satisfaction of customers are also of great importance to companies using the Internet for business development. For instance, the quality and effectiveness of Web sites have been associated with customers’ perceptions of the brand as well as their satisfaction and repeat purchase behavior (Chen and Wells 1999). Majority of companies provide extra effort in satisfying customers through the use of Web sites as their perceived quality and satisfaction towards a firm’s Web site have been linked to its productivity and performance within the service industry. In addition, the media has continually reported the role of electronic commerce for both consumers and organizations. In North America, for instance, Internet users were shown to look for online information before purchasing a product (eMarketer 2009) while 51% of them completed the purchase and business transaction online (eMarketer 2010). Although this innovative strategy is viewed to be fundamen tal, the quality of services offered through the Internet remains greatly unpredictable. According to Agarwal and Venkatesh (2002), there is a need for organizations to be aware of and completely understand the barriers and determinants on online purchasing; moreover, they should also be capable of establishing Web sites that can increase the likelihood of visitors to become purchasing customers. This is especially important as customers have been reported to increasingly seek online product information through Web sites although final purchases may not always be completed through the Internet. Nonetheless, Web sites should demonstrate quality in both the offered services and provided information (Parasuraman and Grewal 2000). The current paper will look into the similarities and differences between the Web sites of two fashion brands, H&M and Ralph Lauren. While H&M aims to offer fashion at a good quality along with the most reasonable prices, Ralph Lauren offers luxury through its clothing items. Owing to this difference with regards to the products and prices they offer, this paper will further examine whether they also exemplify variations with regards to their construction and use of Web sites, particularly their quality and effectiveness. Framework (NetQual scale) The use of the NetQual scale will allow the researcher to create a comprehensive view on the Web site quality and effectiveness of the two brands by looking into a number of variables- ease of use, information quality and quantity, visual design, and interaction personalization. Ease of Use The level of usability that is exhibited in a firm’s Web site plays a fundamental role for end-users. If an application is not easy to use and customers experience difficulties in interacting with it, it is most likely that the services and information provided through the Web site will be perceived to be important only by a small number of users. The purpose of usability is to reduce the complexities of Web sites and simplify their interface to ensure that all users are able to have a favorable experience when navigating the site (Welch and Panday 2007). Upon entering the H&M Web site, it was easy to understand the intentions of such application, which is to provide information and offer services, due to the fact that a wide range of specific links were available. For instance, ‘

Boeing Case Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Boeing Case Study - Essay Example It is evident from the study case, that the problem in Boeing was affecting different processes within the company. The whole company was in doubt; the previous admirable performances were ceasing. The stock had previously risen by 6.7%, and it was beginning to fall drastically. The company later began undergoing a series of changes. This was after the company was unable to meet the prevailing demand. It tried its best by doubling it capability, but all was in vain. It got to the extent that the company had stop producing the 747 for 20 working days. This was to the company as it lost a lot of money. From the arguments from the acting president, this was a result a poor organizational structure. Other activities casing the problem are lack of communication. In reference to the culture of the company, it has been doing well through acquisitions, thus forming integration among different companies. The aim of the strategy was to extend its reach, therefore, making the company stronger t hat its opponents. These activities made the company lose the culture. It merged with different organizations, such as the McDonnell Douglas in the year 1997. The step made the company change its operations, as well as, its management trends and centre of administration was transferred to Seattle Chicago. Issues in the management of the company began after the merging action as it lost its culture. McDonnell had a complex culture, based on defense contracts. The merge also came with it, financial issues where $92.5 Million were distributed to shareholders. In the same year, the firm designed new strategies to improve their marketing capabilities. It also hoped that the production would increase the level of production. The firm also employed new strategies to for communication within it. Their stock was also keenly supervised through system. This is evidence that the company, was getting back to its previous position. There was also decentralization of information technology within the firm. This enhanced collaboration between different branches of the company. Toward the end of the month of December 2003, the company had recovered the opportunity to manufacture the 7E7 Jets. From analysis from difference economist, the reason behind the under performance of the company was that it had over promised and under-delivered. It is evident that the plans of the company depend on the producing smaller planes; it also plans to expand its productivity to the extent of purchasing large plans in the future. Market pressure There are diverse pressures that triggered Boeing to effect changes on its operational strategies. A crucial pressure for Boeing was mainly market demand. Market demand markedly increased in 1997, in an attempt to meet all its surplus orders, Boeing instantly doubled its production. Unfortunately, this strategy brought about a severe manufacturing crisis. Worse still, Boeing’s reputation was deteriorating and it called for urgent measures to cur b the situation. It was then that the manufacturing of 747 was abruptly stopped for up to 20 days. Lack of communication within the organization was the main source of the ongoing crisis. However, Boeing termed it as a win at all cost methodology. There has been a series of endless problems at Boeing. Citing a case of the year 1994, shock prevailed among executive managers when Airbus booked more orders than

Natural Resources and Energy Paper Essay Example for Free

Natural Resources and Energy Paper Essay Wind Power and Global Role The world has been using wind energy for over 100 years now to generate power. â€Å"The first known use was in 5000 BC when people used sails to navigate the Nile River† (Alternative Energy, 2008-2012). Beginning in the early 1900’s, wind mills were used to pump groundwater in Midwestern portions of the country primarily. Today, windmill technological advances have brought about the development of powerful wind turbines and sophisticated windmill farms across the country. In many cases, the development of these devises has caused a decline in generating cost resulting in wind energy competitive with several other conventional sources of electricity. Today, wind is one of the leading sources of electricity beating out coal; coal can cause health issues as wind does not. Wind power has been the fastest growing energy source and some people are saying that is the reasoning behind the Global Warming Effect. There is talk already that in the next thirty to forty years the world’s energy will have to come from wind, solar or some other renewable resource. Wind power is used globally and plays several different roles in different areas of the world. Most areas though are using the same types of equipment for the energy resource, which are the windmills and turbines. In these different areas the climate control will control the amount of wind power being produced. In the hotter areas that have less wind are definitely not going to produce the same amo Alternative energy, Capacunts of wind energy as places that are in the windy areas like Seattle and Chicago. So from a geographical stand point, if someone is looking to generate m ass quantities of energy from wind, then being in Arizona is not going to be a good choice. Growing Human Population The population in terms of its affect on wind energy has very little effect on wind power production for one reason and one reason only. That is because winds are a direct result of the `uneven heating of the earth’s surface by solar radiation. So technically they are just another source of solar energy. There are still some major deficiencies of Wind power. Wind is not a constant source of energy at a particular place. Wind cannot be concentrated in one location, so that it will take up an enormous amount of space to create an equal amount of wind energy. And finally, once the energy is produced by the wind storing the energy becomes a major concern, meaning how you disperse the energy gathered effectively to the population. Only recently has wind power spread across the country as a somewhat viable source of power with the global initiatives to create and produce alternative energies. The Wind Farms were primarily used in California and recently spread out across the United States. There are some benefits of this energy such as agricultural, rural land use, pastures as well as farmers to use wind power in land open areas. Winds are probably never going to be the main or considered as a major energy producer for this country or for the world for several reasons. The population uses a huge amount of its energies. Because the way that wind energy is created, it has a role in our energy cycle but is reduced because it does not produce the end product energy. The wind is converted into electricity an d is a secondary source. Wind used with another source of energy, such as fission being the byproduct of another source of energy could generate several other improvements on different energy sources as well as decreasing the amounts of pressure on current energy sources may be a better and cost-effective approach to using wind energy. The problem with wind power and population is that wind power is not as efficient as our typical fossil fuels and has lower thermal dynamic potential to create the energy needed by the growing population. Another reason is as stated earlier the vast amount of space needed to create the power already effects the population. Most wind farms are in land masses that have already been cleared away, which limits the location. There are pluses and minuses to these areas. The land is usually prepared and cleared in advance so it can be used for farming and other industrial uses. At the same time of harvesting the wind power, some of the concerns would be the noise pollution that comes with a wind farm. Any type of populated area would be unbearable to endure. The population effects on wind energy are in reverse. The growing population does not have an effect on the production of wind energy other than the materials needed in its construction, the removal of large amounts of trees, and the loss of birds because of the blades over time. It seems as though we may be doing more damage than good for the return of energy that would be needed to support the population. Risks and Benefits of Renewable Energy Renewable energy resources are sustainable resources that replenish naturally. Such resources are produced from the sun, wind, biomass, tides, and geothermal. The main advantage of renewable resources is that the source is readily available and would never run out. Other important benefits include reducing contributions to global warming and with no polluting emissions. The disadvantages of using renewable energy is the expensive initial cost for setup, the difficulty to achieve the energy requirements needed, and the maintenance on the equipment. Depending on the application, the risks and benefits will vary when using the energy resource. Wind power is an electric energy obtained from surface air currents caused by the solar warming of air. Wind energy is a clean and cost-efficient way for energy. Wind power is placed in rural areas and requires constant wind (at least 15 mph) to operate. The wind turbines are most effective on high grounds where wind speeds are greater. At times, the turbines may kill birds and bats that get in its way. Other risks and disadvantages of wind include the cost, the noise pollution, and the unreliability factor of wind (Clean Energy Ideas, 2012). Solar energy power converts sunlight for heating and generating electricity. Solar power is used in commercial and residential applications. In order for solar power to generate energy, an open area along with sunlight is a necessity to perform properly. The weather, the time of day, and pollution can affect the performance of solar panels. At times, space could be limited and trees would be cut to make room for placing the panels in areas for sufficient amount of energy. Because of lack of space, many solar panels are placed on top of the roof. Some people think the panels make the buildings and property unattractive (Clean Energy Ideas, 2012). Biomass fermentation is plant and animal materials used as fuel. Biomass produces ethanol from different materials such as corn, grains, wood, saw dust and wood chips, plants, and animal wastes. Biomass is easily available where plants and crops are grown. Most of the source is from plants that gather its energy from the sun. In addition, the source is used for heat production, electricity, and fuel for cars. Biomass requires burning of materials, which contributes to air pollution, but it produces less greenhouse gases compared to fossil fuels (EHow, 2012). Hydropower is created as water flows through rivers and streams, the dams convert the energy of water to kinetic energy as the water turns turbines to generate electricity. Hydropower is efficient with 90% of the energy consumed to electricity. The benefits include clean source of energy, availability, and the reservoir can be used for leisure (boating, fishing, and swimming) and irrigation purposes. On the other hand, the risks involve overflow which can destroy the plant vegetation in the process (Benefits of, 2012). Geothermal energy is extracted from the heat produ ced by the Earth’s core. For centuries, many places have been extracting the source for hot springs. Some areas have geothermal power plants to generate electricity. In other areas, ground source heat pumps are used to extract water for the home or business hot water supply, which helps to reduce energy costs. The disadvantage is that a large area is needed to run the piping system (Clean Energy Ideas, 2012). Conclusion As the human population increases, the demand for energy will increase as well. There is much debate for the preferred choice of energy. Wind and other renewable energy resources are a clear alternative if we want to have a sustainable future for our children. Comparing the factors, the advantages with the use of renewable energy outweighs the risks and disadvantages. Although the initial cost will be expensive, the energy used will pay for itself in the long run. Reducing air pollution, contributing less to global warming, and reserving nonrenewable energy resources are just a few benefits with the use of renewable energy as an alternative. References Alternative Energy. (2008-2012). Retrieved from http://www.altenergy.org/ Benefits of (September, 2012). Benefits of Hydropower. Retrieved from http://benefitof.net Clean Energy Ideas (September, 2012). Natural and Renewable Energy Sources. Retrieved from http://www.clean-energy-ideas.com EHow (September, 2012). Advantages and Disadvantages of Biomass Energy. Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com

Dependent Variables Depression Anxiety Stress Psychology Essay

Dependent Variables Depression Anxiety Stress Psychology Essay Adolescence is a crucial phase in life, during which the teenagers can succumb to conditions like depression, anxiety and stress which can increase chance of mental illnesses. The present study aims at measuring the level of depression, Anxiety and Stress of the 10th std students between the age group of 14-15 years studying in rural and urban High Schools. The sample of the study obtained using purposive sampling consisted of 60 students (30 urban and 30 rural) drawn from two schools one from the metropolitan city of Hyderabad and the other from Nagarkurnool, Mahboobnagar district. In order to carry on the research, the investigator used DAS scale (Depression, Anxiety and Stress) developed by the  University of New South Wales (Australia) 1995 . Adolescence is a transitional stage of physical and psychological human development generally occurring between puberty and legal adulthood. The period of adolescence is most closely associated with the teenage years, although its physical, psychological and cultural expressions can begin earlier and end later. In adolescence, cognitive developments result in greater self awareness of others and their thoughts and judgments, the ability to think about abstract, future possibilities, and the ability to consider multiple possibilities at once. As a result, adolescents experience a significant shift from the simple, concrete, and global self descriptions typical of young children; as children, they defined themselves with physical traits whereas as adolescents, they define themselves based on their values, thoughts and opinions. The competitive nature of present day educational system has great influence on the youngsters. Every student is faced with a high demand to surpass oneself. Fa ilure to do so may often be considered as a mark of the failure of ones existence by the youngster, whose limited life experience does not permit him/her to seek an alternative. Home and school are the centers of these problems. Most of the conflicting issues arise because of the fear of loss of friends, parents. They become entangled in the grip of insecurity. Most of the time they have this fear that if they are not able to meet expectations of their near and dear ones then he or she will lose them. The additional burden of general expectations of parents, friends, teachers etc stresses the youngster and when confronted with failure hurts their self-esteem. Adolescents thus see themselves in highly conflicting situations, as they often expect to perform their best in the academic field. They often get frustrated, anxious and stressed that suicide becomes their only escape. It is important to realize that stress affects memory and the psychological well being of students. Academic stress particularly among students has been assessed as one of the most important causal factors for adolescents depression. The term depression is difficult to define because of the ambiguity inherent in it. Depression as a medical condition in which a person feels very sad and anxious and often has physical symptoms such as being unable to seep etc Inability to do so leads to stress and this begins to wear out people and the result is most often depression. Stress is the major factor influencing depression. Depression is a state of emotional dejection. Extreme feelings of hopelessness, sadness, isolation, worry, loss of interest or pleasure, feelings of guilt or low self worth, disturbed sleep or appetite, low energy and poor concentration are the signs of depression. According to salmons (1997), depression is a state of low mood and aversion to activity that can affect a persons thoughts, behavior, feelings and physical well-being. . The depressed person has negative thoughts, low self-esteem, the feeling of the hopelessness about the future, loss of motivation, change in aptitude, sleep disturbance, an d loss of energy. Depression is closely related to anxiety, most depressed individuals have high levels of anxiety (Mac Leod,Byrne,Valentine,1996) Anxiety is a subjective state of internal discomfort. . It is a normal emotion with adaptive value, in it that acts as a warning system to alert a person to impending danger. Anxiety is a mood -state characterized by negative effects, bodily symptoms of tensions and apprehension about the future (American Psychological Association,1995).psychologists believe that a small amount of anxiety helps to arouse individuals to perform better(Yerkes and Dodson,1908). However, a large amount of anxiety might hinder performance. Anxiety is considered to be a universal phenomenon existing across cultures, although its contexts and manifestations are influenced by cultural beliefs and practices (Good Kleinman, 1985; Guarnaccia, 1997). Generally, more girls than boys develop anxiety disorders and symptoms. Adolescent girls report a greater number of worries, more separation anxiety, and higher levels of generalized anxiety (Campbell Rapee, 1994; Costello, Egger Angold, 2003; Poulton, Milne, Cra ske Menzies, 2001; Weiss Last, 2001). Anxiety is known to affect both learning and performance (McDonald, 2001), no empirical research has explored the relationship between adolescent anxiety and school type, school choice, or mode of instruction. In India ,the main documented cause of anxiety among adolescents is parents high educational expectations and pressure for academic achievement. Stress is a state of mind involving demand on physical or mental energy, a state or circumstance that disturbs the normal, physical and mental health of a person. Stress is a consequence of or a general response to an action or situation that places special physical or psychological demands, or both, on a person. As such, stress involves an interaction of the person and the environment. According to Hans Selye (1974) stress is a response of the body to any stimulus that upset the individuals homeostasis. Any experience that affects ones homeostasis is considered to be stress (Rice, 1992). Hans Selye further defined stress as the nonspecific response of the body to demand made upon it. Stress is a condition and the stimuli causing it called stressors or triggers. Stress can be either positive or negative and can be further divided into two groups which are external and internal (Selye, 2009). Early in the 20th century, it was believed that children and adolescents could not suffer from depression. Later in the century, psychologists changed their minds and accepted that children can get depressed, however many agreed childhood depression is different from adult depression (Clarizio, 1989). A major cause or trigger of depression in the adolescents is thought to be stress. A predisposition to depression may also play a role; nonetheless, the additive stresses of every day adolescent life often appear to trigger depression (Clarizio 1989). There is a complex relationship between depression and suicide. Many depressed patients are suicidal and conversely most but not all suicidal individual manifest depressive mode and symptoms if not depressive illness (Pfeffer, 1989.) Adolescence can be a crucial phase in every ones life. There can be a lot emotional upheaval and stress. Adolescents can experience stress from family discord at home as well as having difficulties with peer relationships at school and academic performance. Adolescence during this period under goes with major changes body changes, change in thought pattern, and changes in feelings. Strong feelings of stress, confusion, fear and uncertainty, as well as pressure to succeed, and the ability to think about things in new ways influence a teenagers problem solve and decision making abilities. Majority of the adolescents undergo stress, whatever the sources may be internal or external it hampers the major functioning of the body. Most of the youngsters face multiple problems in their life. Each individual has to cope with different kinds of pressures laid down by the society and family. On the verge of coping those pressures, an individual himself or herself unconsciously frames a net and is caught in the same. Most of the students are pseudo they keep their own self in a rosy world and when they are confronted with the actual situation, they are unable to handle and thus it throws them to a stressful situation. The present study aim on the level of depression, anxiety, stress in the urban and the rural students. Contemporary views on the structure of negative emotion have largely arrived from the well documented observation that scores from various instruments designed to measure the levels of depression and anxiety tend to be highly correlated. (Clark and Watson 1991), and high rates of co morbidity exist among the anxiety and mood disorders (Andrew,1996). Clark and Watson (1991) proposed a tripartite model of anxiety and depression, which claims that both states are characterized by symptoms of elevated negative affect or general distress (example, distress, irritability),but that anhedonia (low levels of positive effect, eg. happiness, confidence, enthusiasm) is specific to depression and physiological hyper arousal ( autonomic symptoms, example trembling , sweating) is unique to anxiety. An urban area is characterized by higher population density and vast human features in comparison to areas surrounding it. Urban areas may be cities, towns or conurbations, but the term is not commonly extended to rural settlements such as villages and hamlets. Urban areas are created and further developed by the process of urbanization. Measuring the extent of an urban area helps in analyzing population density and urban sprawl, and in determining urban and rural populations. Rural areas or the countryside are areas of land that are not urbanized, though when large areas are described, country towns and smaller cities will be included. They have a low population density, and typically much of the land is devoted to agriculture and there may be less air and water pollution than in an urban area. About 80 percent of the Indian population lives in villages. When travelling through the length and breadth of this subcontinent, one can really visualize the difference between rural and urb an in India. There is a big difference between urban and rural India. One of the major differences that can be seen between rural India and urban India is their standards of living. People living in urban India have better living conditions than those living in the rural parts of India. There is a wide economic gap between rural urban India. Rural India is very poor when compared to urban India. Another difference that can be seen between urban and rural India, is their education. In rural India, the parents seldom educate their children, and instead, make their children work in the fields. Poverty, and lack of sufficient infrastructure, can be attributed to the lack of education in rural India. Methodology Design: The research design used in this study is ex-post facto research design,as it explores the already existing causal conditions between the considered sample groups. The hypothesized the level of depression anxiety stress is higher in the urban school student then the rural school student background.To choose the participants purposive sampling methods were employed Sample The participants consisted of 60 students belonging to the age group of 14-15 years studying in rural and urban high schools. The sample of the study drawn from two schools one from the metropolitan city of Hyderabad and the other from Nagarkurnool,Mahboobnagar district. The students were divided into two groups of 30 each, namely urban and rural. Instruments Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale: In the present study, DASS-42 versin of the perep pencil test was used on the 10th STD students studying in urban and rural high schools. The DASS is a 42- item self report instrument designed by Lovibond and Lovibond (1995), to measure the three related negative emotional states of depression, anxiety and stress. Each of the three DAS scales consists of 14 items divided into subscales of 2to 5 items having similar content to make up a total of 42 items which are placed in a random order in these scales. The depression scales assesses dysphoria, hopelessness, devaluation of life, self-deprecation, lack of interest or involvement, anhedonia and inertia (Lovibond, S.H.Lovibond,P.F.;1995). The anxiety scale contains autonomic arousal, skeletal muscle  effects, situational anxiety and subjective experience of anxious affect (Lovibond et al., 1995). The stress scale being sensitive to chronic non-specific arousal assesses difficulty in relaxing, ner vous arousal, and being easily upset or agitated, irritable or over-reactive and impatient(Lovibond et al.,1995). The items are to be rated on a 4 point Likert Scale of 0 to 3. the option 3 to 0 signify how the sentence applied to the individual with the response ranging in the past week. The rating scale is as follows: 0 Did not apply to me at all 1 Applied to me to some degree, or some of the time. 2 Applied to me a considerable degree, or a good part of the time. 3 Applied to me very much, or most of the time. The option the participant chooses for each item (ie.0,1,2or 3) is regarded as the score for that item and the sum of the relevant items belonging to each one of the three subscales gives the scores for that subscale. These scores are then interpreted to determine the DAS level of the participant. Crawford and Henry (2003) found the internal consistency of the DASS subscales to be high with Cronbachs alphas of 0.94, 0.88 and 0.93 for depression, anxiety and stress respectively. According to Lovibond et al.(1995) the reliability scores of the scales in terms of Cronbachs alpha scores rate the Depression scale at 0.91, the Anxiety scale at 0.84 and the Stress scale at 0.90 in the normative sample. The measns and standard deviations for each scale are 6.34 and 6.97 for depression, 4.7 and 4.91 for anxiety and 10.11 and 7.91 for stress respectively.(Lovibond et al.,1995) Procedure: The test was administered on a one to one basis. Each participant was approached and was briefed about the purpose of the study. The consent was taken before conducting the test and was allowed to withdraw from the study whenever the participant wanted. The questionnaire was given to the subject and was asked to answer the questionnaire carefully based on how many times their parents might have used it. Instructions on paper were read out by the researcher in order to clear all doubts. The participant was asked to work through the items as quickly and as accurately as possible, including a cross mark against the appropriate opinion. Every doubts and any kind of ambiguity that arose in the participants mind were clarified. After the test was accomplished, the researcher expressed her gratitude to the participant for the cooperation. Later the questionnaire was collected and was statistically analyzed by the researcher. The descriptive statistics, Mean and Standard Deviation and the in ferential statistics t-ratio and p-value are used for analysis of the data.

Business Essays Company Strategy Business

Business Essays Company Strategy Business Company Strategy Business Your company has a clear goal and a solid strategy you have the right people in the right places you have great ideas and the resources to execute them. So does your competition. Over the past decades, the role of economic organizations in society has been approached from various perspectives and alternative conceptualizations of business have been introduced (Grant, 2005; Skurnik, 2005). The traditional idea of business is that an efficient organization is formed to produce profit (Ansoff, 1965; Drucker, 1958). Lately, the concept of business, including the objectives and strategies of business companies, has been dominated by the idea of profit maximation for investor owners (Grant, 2005). Strategic management researchers have been proponents of the theory that provide support to the relationship between the environment, firm strategy, structure, and performance. Several management researchers of the likes of Dill (1958), Chandler (1962), Lawrence Lorsch (1967), Jurkovich (1974), Miles Snow (1978), Porter (1980, 1985), Bourgeois (1980, 1981), Hambrick (1981, 1983), Dess Davis (1984), Dess and Beard (1984), Mintzberg (1988), Miller (1986), Hamel Prahalad (1991), Kotha Valdamani (1995), and others have directly or indirectly made attempts to theorize the effects of single or multiple constructs, visvis the firm environment, strategy, and structure on firm performance. These efforts have led to the incremental development of the strategic management literature that stress on the relationships between the constructs mentioned above. The levels of strategy, i.e. corporate level, business level, and functional level have been defined by management theorists in order to identify and conceptualize the differences in approach in managing firms across these levels of company hierarchy. Corporate level strategies focus on what businesses should the company invest in, in order to satisfy the interests of the stakeholders and to maximize the value of stockholders investments. The focus here is on issues pertaining to firm growth and liquidity (e.g. Kim, Mauer, Sherman, 1998), which influence stockholders satisfaction. On the other hand, business level strategies entail ways in which a company would seek to attain competitive advantage through effective positioning. It should be noted that these positioning strategies of companies would vary depending on the industry setting (Hill Jones, 1995). In corporate finance, although business level strategies are not defined as positioning strategies, the objectives of these strategies and their effects are considered within the diversification and liquidity concepts of corporate strategies. The objective of functional level strategies is to achieve competitive advantage through strategies directed at improving the effectiveness of functional operations within a company (Hill Jones, 1995; p. 12). Note that in corporate finance the functional level strategies are considered as aggregates reported as part of the financial statements of individual business units, which are then analyzed in connection to the corporate strategies. It should also be noted that the business and functional strategies are impacted by the way in which corporate strategies are formulated. Although it may be argued that a bottom-up approach of defining functional level and business level strategies will not entail the effects of corporate strategies on functional and business level strategies, in reality firms define their resource allocation strategies first by taking into consideration the effects of these strategies on overall corporate performance. Once the resource allocation decisions are formulated at the corporate level, managers at the business level can then identify the appropriate strategies to meet the objectives laid out by managers at the corporate level. Management theorists have suggested that in order to achieve competitive advantage, the firm should achieve a fit between the environment, strategy, structure and controls (Jennings Lumpkin, 1992). Effective strategy formulation and implementation lead to the attainment of performance objectives identified by the stakeholders of the firm. Whereas the concept of fit between the environment and strategy is important in order to achieve competitive success, Hamel Prahalad (1991) suggested that strategic intent is the key to achieving success as compared to strategic fit, the paradigm that most management theorists followed until the late eighties. The authors suggest that strategic intent is about building new resources and competencies to tap future opportunities as opposed to the strategic fit perspective of achieving a fit between existing company resources and current environment opportunities. Hierarchical Levels of Strategy Corporate Level Strategy The corporate level strategy entails decisions made by corporate managers to insure that company stakeholders are satisfied at all times. With this as the goal, the managers at the corporate level of company hierarchy decide to invest in business(es) that result in long-term profit maximization and increased returns to the firms stockholders. Corporate strategies entail two distinct dimensions that include measures pertaining to growth (Zook Rogers, 2001) and liquidity (Kim et al., 1998). Corporate managers decide what businesses to invest in and how liquid the assets of the firm should be to maximize the value of the firm, both in the short and long term scenario. Business Level Strategy Business level strategy applies to the unit level of the organization and is referred to as those strategies that are applied at the strategic business unit (SBU) level. SBU level strategy is formulated and implemented by business level managers, who are also referred to as unit level managers or general managers. While this may be the case in the manufacturing industries, the hospitality industry general manager does not necessarily formulate these strategies, rather they are instrumental in the implementation of the strategy. The formulation of business level strategies is entailed in the corporate strategy when the corporate managers define the positioning of the firm. Since business level strategy is a result of market segmentation and positioning strategies, the generic strategies of cost leadership, differentiation, and focus (Porter, 1980) result from the way corporate managers conceive the orientation and positioning of the product during the time of its inception. This logic also applies to the Miles Snows typology of prospector, defender, analyzer, and reactor. These generic typologies are a result of the corporate level managers positioning strategies, and the budget allocated to the units to pursue that strategy. In this regard, the hospitality industry is different from the manufacturing industry in terms of the distinction between the three levels of strategy. There is an overlap in the decisions made at the three levels, with the corporate level influencing the decisions of the unit level and the functional level. This may not be apparent by scrutinizing the organizational structure; rather, this results from the job responsibilities that are entrusted to the different levels of management hierarchy, especially the business and functional level. Functional Level Strategy Functional level strategies are those strategies that are initiated by the profit /support centres of an organization. These centres are individual functions that result when activities that are similar in their characteristics and objectives are grouped under a given function. Each separate function should have its own goal and objective, and functional managers formulate strategies to attain those goals and objectives. To be competitively superior to other firms, functional level managers strategize to attain superior efficiency, superior quality, superior customer responsiveness, and superior innovation (Hill Jones, 1995). Although hospitality researchers have posited that manufacturing based strategy theory may not be applicable to the hospitality industry (Murthy, 1994), it can be argued that strategies professed by management theorists have been generalized to apply to any given industry. Strategy has been defined very distinctly in strategic management theory. For instance, according to Chandler (1962), strategy is the determination of basic long-term goals and objectives of an enterprise, and the adoption of courses of action and the allocation of resources necessary for carrying out these goals. Hofer Shendel (1978) defined strategy as the match among organizational purposes, resources, skills, environment opportunities and risks. Similarly, Thompson Strickland (1981) defined strategy as the manner in which an organization accomplishes its objectives through the formulation of means, matching and allocating resources, and directing its effort to produce results. On the other hand, Bourgeois (1978) defined strategy in terms of a firms relationship with the environment to achieve its objectives, while Mintzberg (1981) defined the term as a pattern in a stream of decisions or actions. These definitions are important for the literature as it defines the domain of strategy in terms of its literal meaning as well as the direction of research efforts that it influences. Although the above definitions of strategy may differ in literal meaning, the underlying theme common to all is the ability of the organization to meet its objectives by directing its efforts in a resourceful manner, aligning them to the developments in the external environment. Having identified this theme in the definition of strategy, it becomes essential to identify whether each individual research domain within the field is a proponent of this ideology professed by eminent researchers. To do so, it is essential to pinpoint the orientations of the sub-domains in the field of strategy.Strategy, in general, refers to how a given objective will be achieved. Consequently, strategy in general is concerned with the relationships between ends and means, that is, between the results we seek and the resources at our disposal. Strategy and tactics are both concerned with formulating and then carrying out courses of action intended to attain particular objectives. For the most part, strategy is concerned with deploying the resources at your disposal whereas tactics is concerned with employing them. Together, strategy and tactics bridge the gap between ends and means .Strategy of an organization is the roadmap towards attainment of its long term goals and objectives. Organizational strategy consists of planning, organizing, execution, and control activities. Strategic management process facilitates in the operationalization of strategy. Strategic thinking has been much influenced by military thinking about the strategy hierarchy of goals, policies and programmes. Strategy itself sets the agenda for future action, strategic goals state what is to be achieved and when (but not how), policies set the guidelines and limits for permissible action in pursuit of the strategic goals, and programmes specify the step-by-step sequence of actions necessary to achieve major objectives and the timetable against which progress can be measured. A well defined strategy integrates an organizations major plans, objectives, policies and programmes and commitments into a cohesive whole. It marshals and allocates limited resources in the best way, which is defined by an analysis of a firms unique strengths and weaknesses and of opportunities and threats in the environment. It considers how to deal with the potential actions of intelligent opponents. The importance of strategic management for the development of regions is growing, together with the effort of the regional representatives to increase the performance and competitive advantage of their regions. Individual countries, regions, cities, and towns compete among each other especially in the acquisition of economic subjects, which create and stabilize new jobs, thereby influencing prosperity and the standard of living of their residents. Strategy choice is a component of strategy formulation that entails identifying the strategic alternatives in tandem with the firms strengths and weaknesses. Since strategy is about identifying the appropriate courses of action, these alternatives vary depending on the hierarchical levels of the organization confirmed by, for instance, Hofer Shendel (1979), who point out that strategy content varies with the level of organizational hierarchy. The hierarchical levels identified by various management theorists in the strategy domain are functional level, business level, and corporate level strategies (Hill Jones, 1995) . The strategic management model suggests that intended strategy is an outcome of certain distinct actions taken by firms. These actions can be categorized as the product of a firms external analysis and internal analysis (Hill Jones, 1995). The external analysis is about understanding the firms external environment to identify opportunities and threats. This analysis includes analyzing the firms remote environment domain, task environment domain, and industry environment domain in order to identify the forces driving change and their impact on the organization during a given time period (Olsen et al., 1998). On the other hand, the internal analysis entails pinpointing what the strengths and weaknesses of the firm are in order to identify the quantity and quality of resources available to the organization (Hill Jones, 1995). The concept that entails analyzing the firms external and internal environment and subsequently identifying the appropriate strategy comes under the strategy formulation sub-domain of strategy research. On the other hand, the sub-domain that deals with designing organizational systems and structures in order to put the strategy into action is termed as strategy implementation. There are three levels of strategies in the organization viz. corporate strategy, business strategy, and functional strategy. The term strategy proliferates in discussions of business. Scholars and consultants have provided myriad models and frameworks for analysing strategic choice (Hambrick and Fredrickson, 2001). For us, the key issue that should unite all discussion of strategy is a clear sense of an organizations objectives and a sense of how it will achieve these objectives. It is also important that the organization has a clear sense of its distinctiveness. For the leading strategy guru, Michael Porter (1996), strategy is about achieving competitive advantage through being different delivering a unique value added to the customer, having a clear and enactable view of how to position yourself uniquely in your industry, for example, in the ways in which Southwest Airlines positions itself in the airline industry and IKEA in furniture retailing, in the way that Marks Spencer used to. To enact a successful strategy requires that there is fit among a companys activities, that they complement each other, and that they deliver value to the firm and its customers. The three companies we have just mentioned illustrate that industries are fluid and that success is not guaranteed. Two of the firms came to prominence by taking on industry incumbents and developing new value propositions. The third was extremely successful and lost this position. While there is much debate on substance, there is agreement that strategy is concerned with the match between a companys capabilities and its external environment. Analysts disagree on how this may be done. John Kay (2000) argues that strategy is no longer about planning or visioning because we are deluded if we think we can predict or, worse, control the future it is about using careful analysis to understand and influence a companys position in the market place. Another leading strategy guru, Gary Hamel (2000), argues that the best strategy is geared towards radical change and creating a new vision of the future in which you are a leader rather than a follower of trends set by others.The idea of strategy has received increasing attention in the management literature. The literature on strategy is now voluminous and strategic management texts grow ever larger to include all the relevant material. Our premise is that a firm needs a well defined sense of its mission, its unique place in its environment and scope and direction of growth. Such a sense of mission defines the firms strategy. A firm also needs an approach to management itself that will harness the internal energies of the organization to the realization of its mission. Historically, views of strategy fall into two camps. There are those who equate strategy with planning. According to this perspective, information is gathered, sifted and analysed, forecasts are made, senior managers reflect upon the work of the planning department and decide what is the best course for the organization. This is a top-down approach to strategy. Others have a less structured view of strategy as being more about the process of management. According to this second perspective, the key strategic issue is to put in place a system of management that will facilitate the capability of the organization to respond to an environment that is essentially unknowable, unpredictable and, therefore, not amenable to a planning approach. We will consider both these views in this text. Our own view is that good strategic management actually encompasses elements of each perspective. Corporate strategy defines the markets and the businesses in which a company will operate. Competitive or business strategy defines for a given business the basis on which it will compete. Corporate strategy is typically decided in the context of defining the companys mission and vision, that is, saying what the company does, why it exists, and what it is intended to become. Competitive strategy hinges on a companys capabilities, strengths, and weaknesses in relation to market characteristics and the corresponding capabilities, strengths, and weaknesses of its competitors. According to Michael Porter, a Harvard Business School professor and the reigning guru of competitive strategy, competition within an industry is driven by five basic factors: Threat of new entrants. Threat of substitute products or services. Bargaining power of suppliers. Bargaining power of buyers. Rivalry among existing firms. Porter also indicates that, in response to these five factors, competitive strategy can take one of three generic forms: (1) focus, (2) differentiation, and (3) cost leadership. Business strategy focuses on how a company competes in a selected industry over markets. The core of the business strategy can be captured in to a question How should we compete? (Grant, 2005: 22-23). Thus, business strategy is closely related to the concept of competitive strategy (Porter, 1987), which is about creating competitive advantage in a chosen industry. Competitive strategy means choosing a different set of activities to deliver a unique mix of value (Porter, 1996, 1987). Corporate strategy defines the breadth of the company in relation to an industry and markets, where it competes; it answers the question What business should we be in? (Grant, 2005: 22-23). According to Porter (1996), deciding which target group of customers, varieties, and needs the company should serve is fundamental in developing a strategy. Strategy can be neither formulated nor adjusted to changing circumstances without a process of strategy evaluation. Whether performed by an individual or as part of an organizational review procedure, strategy evaluation forms an essential step in the process of guiding an enterprise. For many executives strategy evaluation is simply an appraisal of how well a business performs. Has it grown? Is the profit rate normal? If the answers to these questions are affirmative, it is argued that the firms strategy must be sound. Despite its unassailable simplicity, this line of reasoning misses the whole point of strategy that the critical factors determining the quality of current results are often not directly observable or simply measured, and that by the time strategic opportunities or threats do directly affect operating results it may well be too late for an effective response. Thus strategy evaluation is an attempt to look beyond the obvious facts regarding the short-term health of a business and appraise instead those more fundamental factors and trends that govern success in the chosen field of endeavour. Strategic thinking has been much influenced by military thinking about the strategy hierarchy of goals, policies and programmes. Strategy itself sets the agenda for future action, strategic goals state what is to be achieved and when (but not how), policies set the guidelines and limits for permissible action in pursuit of the strategic goals, and programmes specify the step-by-step sequence of actions necessary to achieve major objectives and the timetable against which progress can be measured. A well defined strategy integrates an organizations major plans, objectives, policies and programmes and commitments into a cohesive whole. It marshals and allocates limited resources in the best way, which is defined by an analysis of a firms unique strengths and weaknesses and of opportunities and threats in the environment. It considers how to deal with the potential actions of intelligent opponents. A firm competes with a large number of other firms in the business environment. The firm has a two-fold objective. It has to attain its long-term goals in the most efficient manner. At the same time, the firm has to deliver higher value to its customer as compared to other competing firms to gain a sustainable competitive advantage. The roadmap consisting of a comprehensive plan towards achievement of the aforesaid objectives is known as organizational strategy. Strategy, in general, refers to how a given objective will be achieved. Consequently, strategy in general is concerned with the relationships between ends and means, that is, between the results we seek and the resources at our disposal. Strategy and tactics are both concerned with formulating and then carrying out courses of action intended to attain particular objectives. For the most part, strategy is concerned with deploying the resources at your disposal whereas tactics is concerned with employing them. Corporate identity merges strategy, culture, and communications to present a memorable personality to prospects and customers. The term is closely linked to corporate philosophy, the company s business mission and values, as well as corporate personality, the distinct corporate culture reflecting this philosophy, and corporate image. The main objective of corporate identity is to achieve a favourable image among the company s prospects and customers. When a corporation is favourably regarded this is likely to result in loyalty. If the corporate identity is the self-portrayal of a company, then the corporate image is the perception of an organization by the audience. The closer the corporate image is to the corporate identity; the closer the public s perception of a company is to how the company defines itself, making for superior corporate communication. For example, most companies have access to the same technology. If they want to further distinguish themselves, the strategy must rely on another factor than technology: the user experience. As the audience s focus changes constantly, corporate strategies must move in the same direction as the customer. Products are the most important spokespersons for any brand or company. Therefore, the key to defining your corporate identity resides in how well a company communicates its visions and values by means of the identity and image of its products, always keeping the target audience involvement in mind. There is no one best way of strategy. The planning approach can work in a stable, predictable environment. Its critics argue that such environments are becoming increasingly scarce, events make the plan redundant, creativity is buried beneath the weight and protocols of planning and communication rules. Furthermore, those not involved in devising the plan are never committed to its implementation. The second approach emphasizes speed of reaction and flexibility to enable the organization to function best in an environment that is fast-changing and essentially unpredictable. The essence of strategy, according to this view, is adaptability and incrementalism. This approach has been criticized for failing to give an adequate sense of where the organization is going and what its mission is. Critics speak disparagingly of the mushroom approach to management. (Place in a dark room, shovel manure/money on the seeds, close the door, wait for it to grow!) Inconsistency in strategy is not simply a flaw in logic. A key function of strategy is to provide coherence to organizational action. A clear and explicit concept of strategy can foster a climate of tacit co-ordination that is more efficient than most administrative mechanisms. Many high technology firms, for example, face a basic strategic choice between offering high-cost products with high custom-engineering content and lower-cost products that are more standardized and sold at higher volume. If senior management does not enunciate a clear, consistent sense of where the corporation stands on these issues, there will be continuing conflict between sales, design, engineering and manufacturing people. A clear, consistent strategy, by contrast, allows a sales engineer to negotiate a contract with a minimum of coordination the trade-offs are an explicit part of the firms posture.Rumelt (1988). A strategy is a set of objectives, policies and plans that, taken together, define the scope of the enterprise and its approach to business. Rumelt suggests that three questions are central to the challenge of strategy evaluation: Are the objectives of the business appropriate? Are the major policies and plans appropriate? Do the results obtained to date confirm or refute critical assumptions on which The strategy rests? He further suggests that strategy must satisfy four broad criteria: Consistency. The strategy must not present mutually inconsistent goals and policies. Consonance. The strategy must represent an adaptive response to the external environment and to the critical changes occurring within it. Advantage. Strategy must provide for the creation and/or maintenance of a competitive advantage in the selected area of activity. Feasibility. The strategy must neither overtax available resources nor create insoluble problems. Strategic management represents the collection of methods and approaches that are applicable to the regulation of regional development. This process can include the following: Defining the mission of the development of the region it depends on visions, values and expectations of the key implementing entities. Setting the strategic and performance objectives the objectives might comprise e.g. social development of regions, development of infrastructure, improvement of environmental aspects of the life of the local population, better territorial distribution of economic activities in the region etc. Formulating strategy (determining strategic alternatives, their evaluation assessment and selection) we seek to answer the question of how to meet the future objectives. Also essential is to use the results of both the external and internal environment analyses (situation analysis) Introducing and implementing the selected strategy (strategy implementation) this component is related to the further elaboration of regional development strategies into more detailed programs, measures and activities. The success of the strategy implementation depends to a certain degree on the motivation of all the stakeholders and apart from other things it is also associated with the level of culture in the community Evaluating results and proposing corrective measures (strategic control) it serves to ascertain the success rate of the selected strategy and also signals the necessary changes at whichever stage of its implementation. Basic requirement of this process is to increase competitive advantage of the regions in the long run. We can define the regional competitive advantage as the ability of the region to produce products and services, which will be able to compete on the international market, while securing and maintaining the incomes of its inhabitants. Managing risk at the organizational level is considered to be the key to the longterm survival of firms. According to Busman Van Zuiden (1998) there is a growing recognition that coordinating and financing all facets of organizational risk effectively is critical to maximizing success, whether that success is measured by shareholder value or, in the case of not-for-profit, educational or governmental institutions, by the range and quality of provided services (p. 14). Furthermore, the authors point out that because of the speed at which the organizations external business environment is constantly changing, managers are required to keep pace with this change through effective monitoring of the developments that increase the risk exposure of firms. Bibliography Bourgeois, L. J. (1980) Strategy and environment: A conceptual integration. Academy of Management Review, 5, 25-39. Bourgeois, L. J. (1981). On the measurement of organizational slack. Academy of Management Review, 6, 29-39. Busman, E. R., Zuiden, P. V. (1998). The challenge ahead: Adopting an enterprise wide approach to risk. 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