Skoda UKs management Essay Example

Skoda UKs management Essay This case study focuses on how Skoda UKs management built on all the areas of the strategic audit. The outcome of the SWOT analysis was a strategy for effective competition in the car industry. The audit provided a summary of the businesss overall strategic position by using a SWOT analysis. SWOT is an acronym which stands for: * Strengths the internal elements of the business that contribute to improvement and growth * Weaknesses the attributes that will hinder a business or make it vulnerable to failure Opportunities the external conditions that could enable future growth * Threats the external factors which could negatively affect the business. INTRODUCTION Skoda is a global brand offering a range of products in a highly competitive and fragmented market. The company must respond positively to internal and external issues to avoid losing sales and market share. A SWOT analysis brings order and structure to otherwise random information. The SWOT model helps managers to look int ernally as well as externally. The information derived from the analysis gives direction to the strategy.It highlights the key internal weaknesses in a business, it focuses on strengths and it alerts managers to opportunities and threats. Skoda was able to identify where it had strengths to compete. The structured review of internal and external factors helped transform Skoda UKs strategic direction. The case study shows how Skoda UK transformed its brand image in the eyes of potential customers and build its competitive edge over rivals. By developing a marketing strategy playing on clearly identified strengths of customer happiness, Skoda was able to overcome weaknesses.It turned its previously defensive position of the brand to a positive customer-focused experience. The various awards Skoda has won demonstrate how its communications are reaching customers. Improved sales show that Skoda UKs new strategy has delivered benefits. In 1895 in Czechoslovakia, two keen cyclists, Vaclav Laurin and Vaclav Klement, designed and produced their own bicycle. Their business became Skoda in 1925. Skoda went on to manufacture cycles, cars, farm ploughs and airplanes in Eastern Europe. Skoda overcame hard times over the next 65 years. These included war, economic depression and political change.By 1990 the Czech management of Skoda was looking for a strong foreign partner. Volkswagen AG (VAG) was chosen because of its reputation for strength, quality and reliability. It is the largest car manufacturer in Europe providing an average of more than five million cars a year giving it a 12% share of the world car market. Volkswagen AG comprises the Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda, SEAT, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, Lamborghini, Bentley and Bugatti brands. Each brand has its own specific character and is independent in the market. Skoda UK sells Skoda cars through its network of independent franchised dealers.To improve its performance in the competitive car market, Skoda UK†s m anagement needed to assess its brand positioning. Brand positioning means establishing a distinctive image for the brand compared to competing brands. Only then could it grow from being a small player. To aid its decision-making, Skoda UK obtained market research data from internal and external strategic audits. This enabled it to take advantage of new opportunities and respond to threats. To work on the strengths, Skoda UK carried out research. It asked customers directly for their opinions about its cars.It also used reliable independent surveys that tested customers feelings. For example, the annual JD Power customer satisfaction survey asks owners what they feel about cars they have owned for at least six months. JD Power surveys almost 20,000 car owners using detailed questionnaires. Skoda has been in the top five manufacturers in this survey for the past 13 years. In Top Gears 2007 customer satisfaction survey, 56,000 viewers gave their opinions on 152 models and voted Skoda t he number 1 car maker. Skodas Octavia model has also won the 2008  Auto Express  Driver Power Best Car.Skoda attributes these results to the business concentrating on owner experience rather than on sales. It has considered the human touch from design through to sale. Skoda knows that 98% of its drivers would recommend Skoda to a friend. This is a clearly identifiable and quantifiable strength. Skoda uses this to guide its future strategic development and marketing of its brand image. Strategic management guides a business so that it can compete and grow in its market. Skoda adopted a strategy focused on building cars that their owners would enjoy. This is different from simply maximizing sales of a product.As a result, Skodas biggest strength was the satisfaction of its customers. This means the brand is associated with a quality product and happy customers. Skoda UKs analysis showed that in order to grow it needed to address key questions about the brand position. Skoda has on ly 1. 7% market share. This made it a very small player in the market for cars. The main issue it needed to address was: how did Skoda fit into this highly competitive, fragmented market? Perceptions of the brand This weakness was partly due to out-dated perceptions of the brand. These related to Skodas eastern European origins.In the past the cars had an image of poor vehicle quality, design, assembly and materials. Crucially, this poor perception also affected Skoda owners. For many people, car ownership is all about image. If you are a Skoda driver, what do other people think? From 1999 onwards, under Volkswagen AG ownership, Skoda changed this negative image. Skoda cars were no longer seen as low-budget or low quality. However, a brand health check in 2006 showed that Skoda still had a weak and neutral image in the mid-market range it occupies, compared to other players in this area, for example, Ford, Peugeot and Renault.This meant that, whilst the brand no longer had a poor im age, it did not have a strong appeal either. - Change of direction This understanding showed Skoda in which direction it needed to go. It needed to stop being defensive in promotional campaigns. The company had sought to correct old perceptions and demonstrate what Skoda cars were not. It realized it was now time to say what the brand does stand for. The marketing message for the change was simple: Skoda owners were known to be happy and contented with their cars.The car-buying public and the car industry as a whole needed convincing that Skoda cars were great to own and drive. Opportunities occur in the external environment of a business. These include for example, gaps in the market for new products or services. In analyzing the external market, Skoda noted that its competitors marketing approaches focused on the product itself. Many brands place emphasis on the machine and the driving experience: * Audi emphasizes the technology through its strapline, Vorsprung Durch Technik (adv antage through technology). * BMW promotes the ultimate driving machine.Skoda UK discovered that its customers loved their cars more than owners of competitor brands, such as Renault or Ford. - Differentiation Information from the SWOT analysis helped Skoda to differentiate its product range. Having a complete understanding of the brands weaknesses allowed it to develop a strategy to strengthen the brand and take advantage of the opportunities in the market. It focused on its existing strengths and provided cars focused on the customer experience. The focus on happy Skoda customers is an opportunity.It enables Skoda to differentiate the Skoda brand to make it stand out from the competition. This is Skodas unique selling proposition (USP) in the motor industry. Threats come from outside of a business. These involve for example, a competitor launching cheaper products. A careful analysis of the nature, source and likelihood of these threats is a key part of the SWOT process. The UK ca r market includes 50 different car makers selling 200 models. Within these there are over 2,000 model derivatives. Skoda UK needed to ensure that its messages were powerful enough for customers to hear within such a crowded and competitive environment.If not, potential buyers would overlook Skoda. This posed the threat of a further loss of market share. Skoda needed a strong product range to compete in the UK and globally In the UK the Skoda brand is represented by seven different cars. Each one is designed to appeal to different market segments. For example: * Skoda Fabia is sold as a basic but quality city car * Skoda Superb offers a more luxurious, up-market appeal * Skoda Octavia Estate provides a family with a fun drive but also a great big boot. Pricing reflects the competitive nature of Skodas market. Each model range s priced to appeal to different groups within the mainstream car market. The combination of a clear range with competitive pricing has overcome the threat of th e crowded market. Environmental constraints The following example illustrates how Skoda responded to another of its threats, namely, the need to respond to EU legal and environmental regulations. Skoda responded by designing products that are environmentally friendly at every stage of their life cycle. For example:- * Recycling as much as possible. Skoda parts are marked for quick and easy identification when the car is taken apart. Using the latest, most environmentally-friendly manufacturing technologies and facilities available. For instance, painting areas to protect against corrosion use lead-free, water based colours. * Designing processes to cut fuel consumption and emissions in petrol and diesel engines. These use lighter parts making vehicles as aerodynamic as possible to use less energy. * Using technology to design cars with lower noise levels and improved sound quality. Benefits of the analysis Skoda UKs analysis answered some key questions. It discovered that: * Skoda c ar owners were happy about owning a Skoda The brand was no longer seen as a poorer version of competitors cars. However: * the brand was still very much within a niche market * A change in public perception was vital for Skoda to compete and increase its market share of the mainstream car market. The challenge was how to build on this and develop the brand so that it was viewed positively. It required a whole new marketing strategy. - Unique selling proposition Skoda UK has responded with a new marketing strategy based on the confident slogan, the manufacturer of happy drivers.The campaigns promotional activities support the new brand position. The key messages for the campaign focus on the happy customer experience and appeal at an emotional rather than a practical level. The campaign includes: * The Fabia Cake TV advertisement. This showed that the car was full of lovely stuff with the happy music (Favorite things) in the background. * An improved and redesigned website which is e asy and fun to use. This is to appeal to a young audience. It embodies the message experience the happiness of Skoda online.Customers are able to book test drives and order brochures online. The result is that potential customers will feel a Skoda is not only a reliable and sensible car to own, it is also lovely to own. Analyzing the external opportunities and threats allows Skoda UK to pinpoint precisely how it should target its marketing messages. No other market player has driver happiness as its USP. By building on the understanding derived from the SWOT, Skoda UK has given new impetus to its campaign. At the same time, the campaign has addressed the threat of external competition by setting Skoda apart from its rivals.

Egyptian Music essays

Egyptian Music essays There are no specific words to describe the beauty of Egyptian music. Although I have lived there all my life, I only took notice of the ingenuity around two years ago; when I started playing the guitar. Egypt is located in the heart of the Middle East. It has always been the doors from Africa to Asia and vice versa, therefore, a strategic point on the map. From this, Egypt has been under constant invasion throughout her millennia life, for both her strategic point and wealth. However, it also brought in different cultures into the existing one, and blended in perfectly. So, in time Egyptian culture became a mix of different backgrounds, and that affected its music greatly. Being the latest occupants of Egypt, music from the vast Arabian Desert is probably the main style and influence in music today. If you listen to Egyptian music today, you will hear a distinctive beat that is almost in every song, sort of like the 16 beat of western music. Conversely, it does not mean that Egyptian music is based upon rhythm; it is actually the melody that is most important and professionally done. One can only describe the melody as an arabesque painting. In arabesque, there are many fine delicate curves that branch out and are interwoven through each other, but if you look closely, you will find a centre to the picture where all the curves seem to originate from. To understand melody, one must know about scales and instruments used. Though traditional Western music uses only whole-step and half-step intervals, Arab melodies often incorporate quartertones to create such intervals as quartertones, three-quarter tones, five-quarter tones, and one-and-a-half tones. By combining a number of these intervals to form scale like segments, and further combining these formed segments, a type of melodic mode may be created on which Arab improvisations or compositions are based. To implement this on an instrument, especially a stringed one, it has to be ...

Differentiated Instruction Teaching Learners with Varying Abilities Research Paper

Differentiated Instruction Teaching Learners with Varying Abilities - Research Paper Example Teachers who adopt differentiated instruction often give children choices. They are flexible in the way they deliver content and exhibit creativity within the classroom. Availability of choice is only possible through an understanding of the knowledge that is needed to complete tasks. The educator must combine this knowledge with the children’s ability to develop and process skills and concepts. Catering to the needs of students with divergent abilities is at the heart of this teaching strategy. Historical summary of literature Differentiated instruction is nothing new in teaching circles. It has been in practice from as far back as the 1970s. However, at the time, educators that implemented the model had not identified a universal name for it. They were simply catering to the needs of their students. Therefore, the literature on the subject during this decade mostly focuses on the learning theories that support differentiated instruction. Some educational theorists wrote a lo t about the need for differentiated instruction. One such individual was Lev Vygotsky, who established the zone of proximal development theory (Logan, 2012). It was his work that formed some of the theoretical foundations of this teaching practice today. Vygotsky, in 1978, states that every learner has a zone of proximal development. At this level, the child will experience learning in a manner that is challenging but not too difficult for the child. An educator who meets the child at their zone of proximal development will promote teaching in the most effective way. They will provide instruction in a context that matches the readiness level of the child. Writers in the subsequent decade also examined the plausibility of differentiated instruction. Some looked at its effects while others counterbalanced this with a number of arguments. In 1987, Slavin highlighted the dangers of grouping students according to their ability. He studied analyses done in various schools and found that r egrouping of math students led to poorer achievement in schools that maintained the practice. The debate over differentiated teaching was just picking up momentum in the 1980s. During the 1990s, most literature on the subject revolved around proving that differentiated instruction can work. Sternberg and Grigorenko carried out a study to assess the impact of differentiated instruction in 1999. The investigators used students’ grade performance to determine whether this teaching model was effective. In order to sufficiently assess whether differentiated instruction had taken place, they looked at whether teachers attempted to match thinking styles with content. The two authors explained that a student could belong to one of three thinking styles. They could be practical thinkers who thrive in active-forms of delivery. Alternatively, creative thinkers require a different approach because they tend to look for hidden meanings. Thirdly, a student could be an analytical thinker wh o can find solutions in a seemingly complex set of variables. Matching instruction to these individuals’ thinking styles is what made the difference in their learning outcomes (Watts-Taffe et. a.l., 2012). One of the most influential theorists in this field is Carol Tomlinson. Differentiated instructions were spreading throughout various schools in the 90s.  It was necessary to look at the obstacles to implementation, which this writer studied intensely.     Ã‚  

Cyber attack why and how Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 1

Cyber attack why and how - Research Paper Example ernet governance is subjected to various political and economic difficulties along with lack of opportunities for assessing different regulatory policies (Shackelford, 2014, p.3). Those who engage in cyber attacks are taking advantage of the fact that any kind of cyber security is far from foolproof. It is possible to exert attack on any secured computer network providing the attacker has the time and resources. This paper will focus on the reasons and process of cyber attacks. Human beings are today increasingly becoming dependent on the Internet with purposes as varied as basic browsing for garnering information to business and monetary transactions. This has no doubt emphasized the expanse of cyberspace and with it enhanced cyber security against potential cyber threats which has been described as â€Å"criminal acts committed using electronic communications networks and information systems or against such networks and systems† (Lagazio et al., 2014, p.59). There are typically three categories of cyber attacks. First, unauthorized intrusions which means the attacker enters another computer system by hacking techniques. Second, viruses or worms that can be transmitted through emails in order to disrupt or delete all data in another computer. Third is denial of service attacks which destroys the functionality of another computer by inundating it with communications (Howitt & Pangi, 2003, p.221). The ubiquity of the Internet has opened avenues for c riminals to execute cyber crimes and use cyber space as their criminal den. When organizations and individuals perform their personal and business activities on the Internet, they remain unaware that the same cyber space is also becoming grounds for criminals to base their cyber attacks. Although this is an indisputable fact that cyber space needs to be protected from such criminals, it is at the same time true that computer engineers have yet to fully comprehend the extent of cyber crime and its consequences. This lack

Should Regulations for Home Schools be Changed Essay

Should Regulations for Home Schools be Changed - Essay Example These tests have the purpose of not only ensuring that the guidelines laid out by the appropriate authorities are being met but also the secondary intent of being able to measure unique and dynamic changes in the student body at the regional and state levels. Due to the fact that no such analysis of homeschoolers is performed at the federal level and no benchmarks are set or analyzed, there is practically no knowledge of how this group effects the overall realization of educational development and achievement within the United States. Although many might argue that there is no need for government to interfere with this process due to the fact that it would be more regulation of otherwise private lives, one can also view the alternative argument relating to the fact that the government of the United States is not only responsible for educational development and achievement for its population but also for the development of a skilled and well balanced workforce to meet the key market n eeds that the 21st century provides (Kunzman, 2009). In this way, one can quickly realize that although certain topics such as reading, literature, and mathematics may be taught by a well skilled and educated parent or care-taker, the fact of the matter is that upper level biology, math, and/or lab sciences require resources and facilities that are not available to the average homeschooler. This creates a fundamental problem. Due to the fact that these lab sciences and upper level studies are not able to be taught by the average home school teacher, they risk being glossed over or not taught at all. This further complicates the educational process due to the fact that there are no preparatory life sciences that can... This essay approves that due to the fact that these lab sciences and upper level studies are not able to be taught by the average home school teacher, they risk being glossed over or not taught at all. This further complicates the educational process due to the fact that there are no preparatory life sciences that can adequately be taught within the home school environment. Naturally, if one takes the path that there should be a higher degree of federal regulation of home schooling, there is the problem of the fact that this level of regulation necessarily impedes many rights and privileges of the private citizen. Although the result may be a net positive, the fact of the matter is that the level of infringements on the personal rights and privileges to the private citizen would be multiple. Moreover, the final issue which this analysis will discuss is perhaps something that is the greatest overall concern with respect to the current economic climate that the nation is faced with. This report makes a conclusion that one can see that a powerful argument exists for the regulation of home schooling as a means to ensure that a high quality of educational attainment is made available to each and every child within the United States. However, due to the key concerns over civil rights and the cost of pursuing such a path, it is the opinion of this author that the situation is small enough at this point to warrant the reaction of a federal authority charged with overseeing and regulating the practice.

Audio spotlight Device

Audio spotlight Device Abstract A directional source of audio sound created using a parametric array, sometimes called an audio spotlight, generates a sound beam that is much narrower than the sound beam generated by a conventional source. It is a very recent technology that creates focused beams of sound similar to light beams coming out of a flashlight. By ‘shining sound to one location, specific listeners can be targeted with sound without others nearby hearing it. It uses a combination of non-linear acoustics and some fancy mathematics. But it is real and is fine to knock the socks of any conventional loud speaker. This acoustic device comprises a speaker that fires inaudible ultrasound pulses with very small wavelength which act in a manner very similar to that of a narrow column. The ultra sound beam acts as an airborne speaker and as the beam moves through the air gradual distortion takes place in a predictable way due to the property of non-linearity of air. Joseph Pompeis Holosonic Research Labs inve nted the Audio Spotlight that is made of a sound processor, an amplifier and the transducer. The targeted or directed audio technology is going to a huge commercial market in entertainment and consumer electronics and technology developers are scrambling to tap in to the market. Audio spot light technology can do many miracles in various fields like Private messaging system, Home theatre audio system, Navy and military applications, museum displays, ventriloquist systems etc .Thus audio spotlighting helps us to control where sound comes from and where it goes! I. Introduction Audio spotlight is a very recent technology that creates focused beams of sound similar to light beams. By ‘shining sound to one location, specific listeners can be targeted with sound without other nearby hearing it, i.e. to focus sound into a highly directional beam. The audio spotlight uses ultrasonic energy to create extremely narrow beam of sound that behave like beam of light. Audio spotlighting exploits the property of non-linearity of air. When inaudible ultrasound pulses are fired into the air, it spontaneously converts the inaudible ultrasound into audible sound tones. like audible sound ultrasound waves, get distorted as they travel through air. The ultrasound waves are breaked into lower frequency, i.e. audible sound waves. so these ultrasound waves can travel along a narrow path, people to left or right of a target remain silence. II. System Requirement A. Hardware Requirement: A transducer(speaker). An amplifier. Coax cable. III. Architecture The ultrasound has wavelengths only a few millimeters long, which are much smaller than the source, and consequently travel in an extremely narrow beam. Of course, the ultrasound, which contains frequencies far outside our range of hearing, is completely inaudible. But as the ultrasonic beam travels through the air, the inherent properties of the air cause the ultrasound to distort (change shape) in a predictable way. This distortion gives rise to frequency components in the audible band, which can be accurately predicted, and therefore precisely controlled. By generating the correct ultrasonic signal, we can create, within the air itself, essentially any sound desired. Note that the source of sound is not the physical device you see, but the invisible beam of ultrasound, which can be many meters long. This new sound source, while invisible, is very large compared to the audio wavelengths its generating. So the resulting audio is now extremely directional, just like a beam of light. Often incorrectly attributed to so-called Tartini tones, the technique of using high-frequency waves to generate low-frequency signals was in fact pioneered by physicists and mathematicians developing techniques for underwater sonar over forty years ago. Through a combination of careful mathematical analysis and engineering insight, the Audio Spotlight sound system has become the very first, and still the only, truly directional audio system which generates low-distortion, high quality sound in a reliable, professional package. IV. System Description The Audio Spotlighting Device consists of a round shaped disc which consists of a transducer, an amplifier and coax cables. Transducer is very discreet, at only 1/2† thick. The transducer comes in two standard sizes 18† round or 24† hexagonal. The cover of the audio spotlight is produced using sublimation printable lycra , this lycra cover can be printed to look like anything that we can take a digital picture of, making integration into an existing display or trade show environment even easier. this lycra cover can be produced with an elastic edge so that it is easily interchangeable. The transducer emits an ultrasound beam. The transducers are driven by small ultrasound amplifiers. The amplifier receives the input signal from a standard audio source such as a computer, CD player or DVD player. The amplifier can currently push the sound signal through the cable 110 long. The amplifier runs on standard 110v or 220v power and is very easily adaptable to European or Asian version of electrical power. Coax cables are used to connect amplifiers to transducers. V. Types A. Direct Audio B. Projected Audio Directed audio can direct sound at a specific target, creating a contained area of listening space which is called â€Å"Direct audio†. Protected audio can bounce can bounce of a sound object, creating an audio image. This audio image gives the illusion of a loudspeaker, which the listener perceives as the source of sound, which is called â€Å"projected audio†. VI. Advantages 1. We can here sounds like music, speeches etc even disturbing others. 2. Army is using this technology which can be very advantageous to security. 3. Creates highly focused beam of sound. 4. Portable. VII. Disadvantages Its highly costly. It can be misused by enemies. Both speaker and amplifier are separate. Maintenance is high. VII. Future Scope Audio Spotlighting really â€Å"put sound where you want it† and will be â€Å"A REAL BOON TO THE FUTURE.† VIII. Conclusion It can be concluded that sound can be forced to make travel in one direction by using the technology audio spotlighting. We can here sounds like music, speeches even disturbing others. References 1. B.PREMLET ,Engineering physics 2. D. Meyer. Computer Simulation of Loudspeaker Directivity, J. Audio Eng. Soc 3. Houghton Mifflin Company,2006 The American heritage Dictionary of English language, 4. J. Eargle, Loudspeaker Handbook, Chapman and Hall, New York 5. J. Proakis and D. Manolakis, Digital Signal Processing, Principles, Algorithms, and Applications 6. M. Yoneyama and J. Fujimoto. The audio spotlight: An application of nonlinear interaction of sound waves to a new type of loudspeaker design, J. Acoustical Society of America 7. P. Hong, IMTC, Georgia Institute of Technology 8. T. Chen, Guest Editor. The Past, Present, and Future of Audio Signal Processing, IEEE Signal Processing Magazine. 9. Universal physics. 10. W.F Dryvestegn J. Garas personal sound, J. Audio eng society. 11. http://www.holosonic.com/ Audio Spotlight Add sound and preserve the quiet.html 12. http://www.spie.org. 13. http://www.imtc.gatech.edu/projects/archives/multimedia/AudioSpotlight.pdf 14. http://www.howstuffworks.com. 15. http://www.abcNEWS.com. 16. http://www.howstuffworks.com 17. http://www.abcNEWS.com 18. http://www.holosonic.com 19. http://www.skads.org 20. http://www.AudioSpotlights.com /audio_spotlight_case_study.html 21. http://www.holosonics.com/ audio_spotlight_case_study.html 22. http://www.audiospotlights.com/directional_sound_intro.html 23. http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/Science-Fiction-News.asp?NewsNum=376 24. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Audio_Spotlightredirect=no 25. http://www.techalone.com. 26. http://www.holosonics.com/brochure/Audio_Spotlight-Museums.pdf 27. http://www.holosonics.com/brochure/Audio_Spotlight-libraries.pdf 28. http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/search/freesearchresult.jsp?history=yesqueryText=(audio+spotlighting)imageField.x=26imageField.y=8 29. www.sciam.com

The Importance of Friendship Essay -- Sociology

The Importance of Friendship Although relationships with parents determine in large measure our longer-term preferences, attitudes and values, during adolescence it is often relationships with friends that cause most concern and which pre-occupy the thoughts of young people as they grow up. Friendships are based on a completely different set of structural relationships to those with parents. They are more symmetrical and involve sharing and exchange. Friendships are important to young children but there is a change at the beginning of adolescence -- a move to intimacy that includes the development of a more exclusive focus, a willingness to talk about oneself and to share problems and advice. Friends tell one another just about everything that is going on in each other's lives... Friends literally reason together in order to organise experience and to define themselves as persons. The role of friendships In adolescence friendships normally exist within the larger social structure of peer relationships. In this larger social setting each adolescent has a particular role to play and is usually aware of their own status within the group. Close friendships are not independent of such status. Popular or successful youngsters stick together. Those who are 'in' do not mix as frequently with those on the periphery of what is acceptable to the group. Whereas the standards and styles set by the peer group can set highly influential markers around acceptable and unacceptable behaviours for young people, it is in individual friendships that young people find support and security, negotiate their emotional independence, exchange information, put beliefs and feelings into words and develop a new and different perspective of themse... ... become important points of reference. They provide social contexts for shaping the day- to- day behaviour of adolescents, and encourage conformity to norms and values. Despite much popular mythology about 'the generation gap', such standards are startlingly similar to parental values, though the similarities are masked by different youth styles or expressions. Such groupings clearly have a developmental potential in enabling young people to make the social adjustments necessary for them to operate in adult society. Educationalists concerned with young people have begun to pay much more attention to the concept of 'peer education'--for example, in relation to smoking, drug or HIV education programmes (eg Smokebusters or Fast Forward). How much attention do these programmes pay to the real dynamics of peer group pressures as they ebb and flow across adolescence?

How to Write an Effective Thesis for a Comparative Essay

No matter what your major, there's usually no escape from English literature and composition classes and a compare-contrast essay assignment. Many students get nervous when their professors ask them to write an essay about the similarities and differences between two or more texts or ideas, especially when writing the thesis for the essay; however, writing a thesis for a compare-contrast essay is not as difficult as you may think.InstructionsRead the assignment sheet carefully before you begin so you can follow the professor's instructions exactly. Each professor usually has his own idiosyncrasies, so underline everything the professor expects you to include in the thesis. While writing the thesis, refer back to the underlined notes. 2Make a list of similarities and differences between the texts, ideas or events.Sponsored Links Simple Project TemplateYes. It's easy. Nothing to install. Try it Free! www.smartsheet.comNarrow down similarities and differences to specific ideas to avoid writing a compare-contrast thesis that is too broad. For example the compare-contrast thesis, â€Å"The media depict people in different roles compared to the realities of the general population,† is too general.Begin your statement with words like whereas, while, even though, and although to suggest a contrasting element will follow. For example: Although the media depict most women as housewives and stay-at-home mothers, in reality many women work full time and put their children in daycare.Make sure the thesis for a compare and contrast essay compares and contrasts two or more ideas. One of the most common basic ways to write a thesis statement for a compare contrast essay is as follows: While Jane Austin's novel â€Å"Pride and Prejudice† underscores themes of pride, prejudice and women and marriage, and Mary Shelly's story â€Å"Frankenstein† reveals themes of madness, the sublime, and justice, it is apparent by juxtaposing these two novels that most women during the early 19th century felt trapped in a patriarchal society that restricted the roles of women, especially in marriage. 6Familiarize yourself with literary devices other than theme for compare and contrast essays. Rhetorical devices such as allegory, characterization, climax, symbolism, foreshadowing, figurative language, simile, imagery, irony, metaphor, motifs, personification, tone and other devices can add interest to a thesis statement for a compare-contrast essay.Read more: http://www.ehow.com/how_5012335_write-statement-compare-contrast-essay.html#ixzz2rPnmEClT

Best Swedish Schools to study interior design

Best Swedish Schools to study interior design Studying Interior Design in Sweden Interior design is one of the modern streams within the educational specialization variety. People are interested in living in beautiful and extraordinary apartments. More and more of young people try to fulfill their potential and creativity in developing interior design. Modern materials and settings enable designers to arrange unique and superb design, saturated with varieties of colors and forms, making the house or office a comfortable and aesthetic place for living, working or entertainment. To be an interior designer is not simply to furnish the room and allocate decorative components within the living or working space. To become mature in this sphere, one should have profound skills in drawing, color perception, taste, know interior design styles and be able to embody all this stuff in the practice. Today interior designer can hardly work without knowing corresponding computer programs for creating drafts and sketches for their customers. So as you see, studying to acquire designer degree is rather labor-consuming activity, which requires great effort. Besides your efforts, it is important to select a nice school, which can become your guide into the world of design and provide necessary qualification for your future carrier. In regard to interior design a lot of people trust their training to Swedish schools and universities. Great amount of educational institutions in Sweden with brilliant reputation can become the access for your professional carrier as a designer. Umeà ¥ Institute of Design This university provides training of the specialists in the direction of industrial design and offers five academic programs for its students. To acquire a Bachelor degree at this university one needs to pass the three-year training program. The great advantage is that education in this university is free. The education is provided only in Swedish, which can be considered as a drawback. The university also offers three international programs for obtaining Master degree. Konstfack University College of Arts, Crafts and Design This institution is one of the biggest Swedish schools, which provides training in design, arts and crafts. Almost 900 students come at the university each year to receive Bachelor and Master degrees. This school has great educational and research facilities, numerous workshops, which enable students to develop their practical skills in painting, weaving, ceramics and sculpture. HDK School of Design and Crafts HDK School of Design and Crafts provides great opportunities of training. You can undertake a short or a long term course in the school, according to your needs and circumstances. The school arranges exhibitions all the time, where students can participate. And that is a great opportunity to present your works for the potential customers and to receive first experience while studying. They offer a PhD program in design and arts. All information about start time of the courses and time when you can enroll for them is available at their website. KKH Royal Institute of Art This school has a great number of Swedish students, but it also welcomes the students from other countries. Due to well-equipped workshops, they welcome also the students with disabilities. The institute offers one-year guest program in fine arts, three-year Bachelor program, two-year Master program and PhD program for their student. This school also offers such courses as Restoration Art, Architecture Art and Architecture. The institute directs their students to development of practical skills along with the research work, which is motivated by well-arranged educational facilities. Apparently, Swedish design schools represent a great training opportunity for those, who do not want just to admire beautiful things and pieces of art, but for those, who want to create them. If you want to make your mark within the interior design sphere, do your best to take care of the appropriate education, which will spread your wings of creativity and success.

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS Essays

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS Essays HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS * Received: 08. 09. 2001Review Accepted: 15. 11. 2001UDC: 658.3 In the paper, the author first presents various approaches to the management and recruitment of employees in subsidiaries that the company has established in different countries. Then, she turns her attention to the basic functions of international human resource management, among them recruitment and selection of new employees, development and training of employees, assessment of work efficiency, as well as remuneration of employees. As the expatriates are often given special attention by their work organizations, she concludes the paper with the description of the additional challanges occurring in the management of these employees. 1. INTRODUCTION In Slovenia, with a population of only two million, we have a lot of organizations doing business successfully, not only in the domestic but also in the international environment. Lek, one of our two pharmaceutical companies; Fructal, which produces juices from various kinds of fruit; SCT, the road construction company and Mura, which produces mens and womens clothes, are some examples of our most prominent firms. In those, as well as in similar organizations that function in the global environment, they can use different approaches to managing employees. How they find employees, pay, train, and promote them varies with culture. They usually attempt to treat their employees equitably, yet in a culturally appropriate manner. When the organization sends its employees to some other country, it takes over the responsibilities besides the basic functions of human resource management. For example, the functions of staffing, training and development are especially emphasized in this organization. They do not deal merely with the selection of the best employees for work in foreign countries but also have to be aware of the needs of the whole family that will accompany the employee to the new cultural environment. A lot of individuals taking on international assignments are unsuccessful since their spouces or families can not adjust to their new surroundings. Hence, it is necessary to organize training in the foreign language for the employee and his family some months before departure. Everything necessary for the journey, including visas, have to be provided for on time. It is also necessary to prepare their residence in the new surroundings, as well as to assure health services and enrolment into schools for the children of the employees. 2. APPROACHES TO MANAGING AND STAFFING SUBSIDIARIES Companies can apply one of the three different approaches to managing and staffing their subsidiaries (Francesco, Gold, 1998): 1.Ethnocentric. The home country practice prevails with this approach. Headquarters from the home country makes key decisions, employees from the home country hold important jobs, and the subsidiaries follow the home country resource management practice. 2.Polycentric. Each subsidiary manages on a local basis. A local employee heads a subsidiary because headquarters managers are not considered to have adequate local knowledge. Subsidiaries usually develop human resource management practices locally. 3.Geocentric or global. The company that applies the global integrated business strategy manages and staffs employees on a global basis. For example, Electrolux (the vacuum cleaner company) has for many years attempted to recruit and develop a group of international managers from diverse countries. These people constitute a mobile base of managers who are used in a variety of facilities as the need arises. In the ethnocentric approach, the cultural values and business practices of the home country are predominant. Headquarters develops a managing and staffing approach and consistently applies it throughout the world. Companies following the ethnocentric approach assume the home country approach is best and that employees from other parts of the world can and should follow it. Managers from headquarters develop practices and hold key positions in the subsidiaries to ensure consistency. AdvantagesDisadvantages Lower labor costs Demonstrates trust in local citizenry Increases acceptance of the company by the local community Maximizes the number of options available in the local environment Leads to recognition of the company as a legitimate participant in the local economy Effectively represents local considerations and constraints in the decision-making process Makes it difficult to balance local demands and global priorities Leads to postponement of difficult local decisions until they are unavoidable, when they are more difficult, costly, and painful than they would have been if implemented earlier May make it difficult to recruit qualified personnel May reduce the amount of control exercised by headquarters Figure 1. Advantages and

Management and Motivation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Management and Motivation - Essay Example A. As the workplace structure and workers themselves change, management faces the problem of how to motivate employees (Gerstner, 2002). Gerstner (2002) poses the questions of "How do you pull the levers of motivation to change the attitudes, behavior, and thinking of a population Different people are motivated by different things that may include money, career advancement, and recognition" (Gerstner, 2002). Effectively changing the attitudes, behavior, and thinking of workers demands that a manager knows what levers of motivation to pull in the first place. B. A global executive should provide leadership and direction to management levels according to business goals, mission, and vision. Global leaders and executives have certain characteristics and skills in order to succeed in the globalize world of business (Gregersen, Morrison, & Black, 1998). C. Knowing how to motivate well will enable managers to realize the full potential of each employee. Much literature about theories of motivation and work relate to the subject of inspiring employees to be their best (Gagne & Deci, 2005). D. This report will discuss motivation and how managers can use it for a better, more profitable, efficient workplace. This report will also explore the different theories, concepts, and practices managers can use to motivate employees. E. ... Much literature about theories of motivation and work relate to the subject of inspiring employees to be their best (Gagne & Deci, 2005). D. This report will discuss motivation and how managers can use it for a better, more profitable, efficient workplace. This report will also explore the different theories, concepts, and practices managers can use to motivate employees. E. A leader is a visionary who has the end goal in mind and can see the big picture. A leader is a motivator of his/her followers. There are a variety of leadership styles a leader may holds; what separate a leader from the rest are the traits they posses to succeed and the various background assumptions held true by the . Some of these traits may include intelligence, self-confidence, determination, integrity, and sociability (Cox, 2001). F. Executives are motivated by the goal and fits in the business component. S/he reacts rationally to external conditions and develops new ideas. This person holds superior information in regards to customer needs and company resources. A leader can visualize change and progress as well as the creation process. These leaders have certain characteristics such as creativity, innovativeness, and flexibility, posses certain leadership characteristics as high ethical standards, energy, prioritization skills, commitment, dedication, goal orientation, empathetic, and extroverted. Leaders adapt leadership styles accordingly in order to better create and develop new ideas or reform existing ones (Northouse, 2004). G. A manager's job is to get things done through employees, so knowing how to motivate employees is always a challenge that has never been easy and is not getting

Thomas Paine on Religion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Thomas Paine on Religion - Essay Example His ideas about religion and its impact on social institutions and citizens, Thomas Paine expressed in the book The Age of Reason. The core of his teaching is deism and personal religion: â€Å"My own mind is my own church† (Paine 13). Thomas was born in Thetford on January 29, 1737. His parents lived in the small house on White Hart Street. A photograph of this cottage exists, but the building was torn down in the 1880's. In its place there stands a pretty garden and a fountain. The house had four or five rooms, one of which on the street level was used by Joseph as a shop. His father, Joseph Paine was a commonplace person (Kaye 72). He is described as placid and pious, industrious and poor (Kaye 74). In religious belief and practice he was a Quaker. He lived ten years in France, from 1792 to 1802, took part in the French Revolution and met thousands of Frenchmen, yet he never learned enough French to make a speech in that language, or to say anything at all except the few sentences that were needed in ordering food and commenting on the weather (Great Theosophists: Thomas Paine n.d.). In 1750, he was taken from school to be taught the trade of staymaking. It was a handicraft that required a fairly long apprenticeship. One had to learn the qualities of various fabrics, such as silk, linen and calico. Cutting the cloth was an operation that called for skill, for each pair of stays was an individual product. Tape measurements of the customer were made in the first place, and a pattern was laid out (Kaye 23). After nearly five years in his father's shop Tom Paine ran away. In 1756, he went away again and joined the privateer King of Prussia, commanded by a Captain Mendez. Paine would never say anything about it, but his attitude in respect to this particular exploit is not at all remarkable. He was as reticent about it as about everything that concerned his personal life. On March 26, 1771, he married Elizabeth Ollive. He was then thirty-four and she was ten years younger (Kaye 24). During 1770s, Paine played an active role in the political life of England: he joined officers in Parliament and published his first political article The Case of the Officers of Excise. In 1774, Paine came to America and devoted himself to the revolutionary cause. The most important fact is that Paine was the first author who wrote for the whole American public. During the first six months after its publication about one hundred thousand copies of Common Sense were sold (Larkin 29). His religious ideas and vision of an ideal society Paine expressed in the Agee of Reason. This work consists of three parts appeared in 1794, 1795 and 1807. The first part of the book was written when he was in good health, and without the aid of a Bible; it was meant to shock men into thinking, but compared to the second part it is a model of restraint. It was dedicated to "my Fellow Citizens of the United States," though he was evidently dubious of their enthusiasm for it" (Paine 45). Paine never overlooks an opportunity to humble aristocratic arrogance. He called men to practice the moral virtues, and the belief of one God Larkin 29). Excepting the violent Fundamentalists, no religious person would today be inflamed by reading it. It is ludicrous to suppose that a man of Paine's intense temperament would indulge in flippancy on the brink of eternity (Great Theosophists: Thomas Paine n.d.). The ink had barely dried on his work when the long-expected happened;