Italian Surname Meanings and Origins

Italian Surname Meanings and Origins Surnames in Italy trace their origin back to the 1400s, when it became necessary to add a second name to distinguish between individuals with the same given name. Italian surnames are often easy to recognize because most end in a vowel, and many of them have been derived from descriptive nicknames. If you think your family name may have come from Italy, then tracing its history may yield important clues to your Italian heritage and ancestral village. Origins of Italian Last Names Italian surnames developed from four major sources: Patronymic Surnames - These last names are based on a parent’s name (e.g. Pietro Di Alberto - Peter son of Albert)Occupational Surnames - These surnames are based on the person’s job or trade (e.g. Giovanni Contadino - John the farmer)Descriptive Surnames - Based on a unique quality of the individual, these surnames often developed from nicknames or pet names (e.g. Francesco Basso - Francis the short)Geographical Surnames - These surnames are based on a person’s residence, usually a former residence (e.g. Maria Romano - Mary from Rome) While Italian last names come from a variety of sources, sometimes the spelling of a particular surname can help focus the search on a specific region of Italy. The common Italian surnames Risso and Russo, for example, both have the same meaning, but one is more prevalent in northern Italy, while the other generally traces its roots to the southern part of the country. Italian surnames ending in -o often come from southern Italy, whereas in northern Italy they can often be found ending with a -i. Tracking down the sources and variations of your Italian surname can be an important part of Italian genealogical research, and unveils an interesting look into your family history and Italian heritage. Italian Surname Suffixes and Prefixes Many Italian surnames are basically variations on a root name, made different by the addition of various prefixes and suffixes. Especially common are endings with vowels enclosing double consonants (e.g. -etti, -illo). The Italian preference for diminutives and pet names is the root behind many of the suffixes, as seen by the large number of Italian last names ending in -ini, -ino, -etti, -etto, -ello, and -illo, all of which mean little. Other commonly added suffixes include -one meaning big, -accio, meaning either big or bad, and -ucci meaning descendant of. Common prefixes of Italian surnames also have specific origins. The prefix di (meaning of or from) is often attached to an given name to form a patronym. di Benedetto, for example, is the Italian equivalent of Benson (meaning son of Ben) and di Giovanni is the Italian equivalent of Johnson (son of John). The prefix di, along with the similar prefix da may also be associated with a place of origin (e.g. the da Vinci surname referred to someone who originated from Vinci). The prefixes la and lo (meaning the) often derived from nicknames (e.g. Giovanni la Fabro was John the smith), but also might be found attached to family names where it meant of the family of (e.g. the Greco family might become known as lo Greco.) Alias Surnames In some areas of Italy, a second surname may have been adopted in order to distinguish between different branches of the same family, especially when the families remained in the same town for generations. These alias surnames can often be found preceded by the word detto, vulgo, or dit. Common Italian Surnames - Meanings and Origins RossiRussoFerrariEspositoBianchiRomanoColomboRicciMarinoGrecoBrunoGalloContiDe LucaCostaGiordanoManciniRizzoLombardiMoretti

Race and gender econ Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Race and gender econ - Essay Example e other hand, if they have altered – then men and women began to have more flexible understanding and perceptions about their roles and family duties. Communities and Africa were based on hunting and gathering. Traditionally, the role of men and women had different dimension in comparison with the rest of the world. Early theories had focused on the social and biological development in people and referred to men as hunters and meat providers, whereas the women were taking care of the children and gathered wild fruits. Woman gathered also roots, nuts, honey, grains and men were hunting to provide the meat and fur (Gender roles and sexuality, 2002). Women are assessed as caregivers and mothers and men are perceived as protectors and hunters. These roles correspond to the passive roles that women had and their social placement. Women were subordinated and men dominated. These culturally and socially stereotyped gender roles interpret males not only as hunters, but also as active invaders and guardians. Therefore the hunting-gathering societies were patriarchal focused and male-centered. Females as gatherers had decentralized role within the community. What is more because of their reproductive functions women were less mobile and their economic role less viable (Dahlberg, 1981). Horticulture is the first evidence of sedentary lifestyle and anthropologists have called such groups Horticulturists. Horticultural societies depended on cultivating fruits, plants and vegetables. During horticulture period men were the ones to plow, dig or hoe the land in order to cultivate it. In general men were responsible to cleaning the land, while women plant, crop, harvest and stored the production. Also during this period men continued to hunt, however, they were less productive in their hunting and societies started to domesticate animals. The role of men and women changed, because men had to trade the crops and because groups began to settle down. Kinship played an immense

Business ethics issues in WorldCom Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Business ethics issues in WorldCom - Essay Example It is believed that these unethical issues were primarily not checked upon by anyone because the CEO of the company himself was involved in the fraudulent activities. These unethical issues and different management techniques recommended to improve the corporate governance of WorldCom would be outlined in this essay (Backover 2002; Crawford 2005). There were three major problems with the corporate culture and their style of working. The first one was the way they grew through aggressive acquisition of companies, second was the strategy of senior executive loans and the third and foremost was the way in which they did business which was against the code of corporate governance and had exposed them to threats related to fair and arm’s lengths transactions (Kiron et al 2004; Securities and Exchange Commission 2003) Business Ethics form an important part of the culture of the businesses. They are very important when it comes to the normal functioning of businesses in this world. The company had made almost 65 acquisitions or mergers in only 6 years. Integrating is a lengthy process, time consuming and a very challenging exercise as there may be people who may resist these changes and create problems. The second aspect is to integrate financially by the use of the generally accepted accounting principles. It is believed generally that because of these practices of integration WorldCom was successfully able to hide its practices. The unethical issues in the company arose when the company started to face problems from the decreasing demand of telecommunications. It is then believed that the senior executives of the company were involved in fraudulent activities. (Kiron et al 2004; Worldcom Website 2010; Securities and Exchange Commission 2003) The unethical activities at WorldCom were such that the difference between moral good and bad was forgotten. Leaders are important when it comes to the ethics of a company (Mendonca 2001). But here at WorldCom

Quality Management Tools & Techniques Research Paper

Quality Management Tools & Techniques - Research Paper Example This is what has necessitated then implementation of the quality management tool and technique. These tools play a very critical role in ensuring that the products that are produced are of high quality. At the same time they play a key role in management of the performance of the organization. The quality management tools Quality in production is very necessary to ensure competitiveness in the market. This is the basis for the seven management tools and technique. These techniques were first developed in Japan in the year 1960 and their application so the improvement of quality in production and ensure consistency in the products produced. The tools uses statistical techniques to make sure that what comes out of the production house meets the end users need and requirements, as mention the tools are six in number. These tools are basically used to collect data then arrange it and finally do an analysis to the data. In doing so the information collected is organized in a way that is e asy to understand and this makes it possible to identify problems in the system (Hakes, C 203). Check sheet pareto chart Cause and effect diagram Histogram Scatter diagram Charts Check sheet This is a kind of sheet that is used to show variations over a period of time. The variations are analyzed and can easily show the performance over that period. These charts can enable the organization to identify the problems before implementing new system because it is used at the end of a particular period or when there is need for change of system. Therefore it can play a very critical role in ensuring that the new system does not have the same problems as the other system had. This has been used in my case the footwear industry in the analysis of its production after every end of a year. The records are analyzed and the necessary decisions taken to improve production. In my analysis of the records I find out that at most cases the production increased after the implementation of new systems . Here is an example of a check sheet Pareto chart This is a chart that prioritizes issues. It is used to analyze problems by basically showing the most frequent issue. In this type of a chart the issue that has the most appearance comes first in the chart then the other issues follow in that order to the list. The chart can be very critical in an organization since it can be used to identify what problems are occurring in the organization frequently, and as such seek for the solution to this problem. The chart does not only show the problem but it also shows the cause of that problem so in an organization it can be used to tackle some of the frequently experienced problems that the organization face from time to time and seek a solution to them. Just looking at my case, an interview with the Footwear industry management on how they have found this chart important amazed me. I found out that for the period of the ten years they have been applying this chart to identify the problems in their production and they have found it very effective. Below is an example of a Pareto chart. The cause and effect diagram This chart is also popularly known as the fish born. This arises from the way the diagram is designed that is, the diagram has the main bar then there are line

Business case for Franchise of McDonalds

Business case for Franchise of McDonalds This business case is mainly designed for planning about the franchise of Mc Donald Company while this company has been franchise from 1955 and the franchise of this company brings the success in many times. Mc Donald considers franchise is one of the predominant ways of doing business. At present, the Mc Donalds franchise is one of the greatest food service retailers which have 30,000 restaurants placed in more than 100 countries. For purchasing Mc Donalds franchise I have to purchase existing restaurant of franchise. By purchasing this, I can save 15% of the cost because initially I have to come up with 25% costs for existing one where new one purchasing cost will be 40% that means the profit of 15% can be gained. Mc Donald never provides the financial support for franchise and fund must be gained from the non-borrowed personal source. And the statistical figure might be come up to about $3, 00,000. The key objectives of taking the plan of Mc Donald franchise to achieve profitability. Because the brand image of Mc Donald is already existed in market and it is more recognized. So, I can expand the market easily and profit can be achieved. Business opportunity: There is the opportunity to operate own individual or more than one store. For this reason, I choose the place for establish the franchise of Mc Donald i.e. in Ilford station. Near to this station, any branch of Mc Donald is not placed. Not only this, there is the potentiality of huge customers and highest profitability because the product or menu of Mc Donald are already recognized to the whole world. Benefits: For Mc Donald franchise, there is no need to think about new menu and the cooking employees are already extremely efficient and used with all tasks. In Mc Donald franchise, risk is reduced to set up my own business where division of labour and turnover intensity of fixed menu grants for appropriate economies of scale. Another benefit is that any new products are no need to develop and dont require to conduct any kinds of market analysis. And also no need to think about brand name or image. Costs: The franchise cost of Mc Donald might be  £3, 00,000 where I have to provide 25% of the worth which is considered as unencumbered finance and the rest 75% will be collected from the bank as a loan in order to favourable funding terms. Another cost is one-off franchise fee of  £30, 000 and franchiser training program fee is  £5, 000 which is returned after finishing the training program. Miscellaneous cost: rent which will be paid monthly on premises related to profitability and sales will 12%. A fee will be paid for use of the Mc Donald system-5% of sales. National marketing expenses contribution-4.5% of sales. Returns: in a year, a cash flow will be made where the cash inflow and outflow will about  £70, 000 to  £98,000 per year. But this statement will not certain because it will be made before debt repayment. The return can be more. The return on investment will currently about 10% which shows the profitability rate of this business. Implementation plan: Paid initial franchise fee: 26th March 2010 Franchiser training program: 27th March 2010 (start) Go down payment to Mc Donald: 28th March, 2010. Service providing will be started from 1st April, 2010. Task 2: 1.2 Literature review: The report is mainly done on the business plan of Mc Donald franchise. I take the business plan of franchise of Mc Donald, because of several reasons. Todays business world are very much competitive and its become tougher and tougher for successful in the business market. If a person want to start his business as an entrepreneur it may be impossible to become profitable in the business market. Because establishing the new business or enter the market as a new, it is quite impossible to set up his business or become successful. But if we take the plan of establishing the business as a franchiser then it will be easy to achieve profitability in our business. Because, in franchise business, a recognized brand is already existed and all thing are readymade in before. Just spend some money to buy it and start the business. Franchising can be defined as the exercise of using another companys brand image and their successful business model. Through this kind of business, we can avoid investment and liability over a chain. The key factors of adopting franchise the business are that we can get the business with a good track record of profitability and that business is easily imitated. Here, for making business plan, I adopt the Mc Donald franchise because I want to be my own boss in my business, can trade a well established and high quality of product, continuous support, benefits from national marketing carried out by Mc Donald and they receive excess to business forecast information. The best example of franchising is the brand franchising of Mc Donald. Mc Donald allows peoples to establish their own business as Mc Donald franchiser and grant the rights to set up their business. Under the Mc Donald franchise, the franchisee purchases the equipments, fittings and the permission to run the franchise for 20 years. All franchisees of Mc Donald use standardized branding, menus, design layouts and administrative systems of Mc Donald. The Mc Donald franchisees also use the same standards and operating methods or manufacturing and maintain the quality of products. Any company, when they bring new products or service in the market they have to consider about the customer demand and their choice. They have a huge number of options of spending their money and places to spend it. However, McDonalds places considerable importance on the improvement of their menu in order to customer need. For this reason a market survey are conducted for analysing the customer demand. Thus, customers demands change time to time. Therefore, Care is not only taken to impact negatively the sales of the option of one by recognizing the new option, which will cannibalise sales from the old one (trade off). McDonalds knows that items on its menu will vary in popularity. Action of marketing undertaken and the resources invested will be different depending on the stage a product as reached. For example, a new product launch will typically relate to television and other advertising support. In any time a company will have a products portfolio, where each in a different stage of its cycle. It is accepted that Big Mac are now in the stage of maturity where the options Mc Donald are increasing towards the popularity. Task 3: Information about market Mc Donald is recognized as the one of the best known brands around the whole world. Branding is the term which formulated an image of an organization, service or product. The image of the brand focuses on the customers view on the organization. Brand image is mainly used while an organization shows their loyalty towards their customer through their products or services. A brand can be recognized by marketing communication methods such as: promotion and advertising which is used for developing the designs, colours and images. Similarly, Mc Donald is popular by its most familiar logo- the Golden Arches. The brand image is a significant factor for franchising. Because without strong brand image, it is impossible to become successful in franchising business. Mc Donald faces competition from other forms of businesses in all its market. In addition, there are some factors such as: economic, legal and technological changes and social factors and many other ingredients may affect the success of Mc Donald. Mc Donald franchising marketing consists of identifying the needs and requirements of customers and tries to meet theses demand in a better way than its competitors and by this the company can get loyal customers. Mc Donald has some competitors which are Burger King, KFC, Subway, Star Bucks etc. But among them Burger King is the main competitor. And in my new Mc Donald franchising place, these entire competitors branch are existed. If we focus on Mc Donald and Burger King then we can see the first difference between these two is that the Big Mac and the Whopper. But both are concentrating on customer health and taste. Mc Donald creates the achievement place for children. From this sector, Mc Donald earns a get percentage of their profits. And it is seen that children are requested to their parents to take them to Mc Donald, while Burger King doesnt give any response to this. They are used to have a sad kids clubs with B-grade promotion, where Mc Donald shows promotional activities through the childrens hit such as: Mattel, Disney and Barbie. Another strategic difference between these two is adult advertising. Mc Donald mainly advertises their salads shows to pacify the mothers who bring their kids in the sign of Golden Arched restaurant where Burger King uses other promotional strategy that is the advertisement of Stacker Sandwich which is made with the layer of cheese and meats which is stacking up to four burgers high. Sub way provides 265 calories in its meal, while Mc Donald provides a gluttonous 1230 calories. Mc Donald promotes the healthy side of foods by providing salad and water; they are still promoting the Big Mac and Pounder, that doesnt really help the matter. On other hand, Subway promotes the fresh salad and 5 a day veg. Subway provides either sub with a cookie, crips and/ or drink. Where, Mc Donald provides small chips, medium chips, and large chips, drink and a salad which probably is not much healthier than the chips. Mc Donald which is treated as a fast food company also gets competition from Star Bucks. Though Mc Donald has the strong marketing growth in fast food business, but the intention of doing competition against Star Bucks carries some risk. It can shown from the research analysis that Mc Donald restaurant has the slow down services where the Star Bucks serves the customer speedy services. But on the other hand, because of slower marketing growth, Star Bucks stock has lost about half its value since last January. Chances of success: In case of Mc Donald franchising, I have to meet so many competitors like as: Burger king, Starbucks, Subway etc and may be there create tough competition in the fast food market. But as a Mc Donald franchisee, I can say that there is the possibility of huge success and can be got reasonable returns from this business because Mc Donald is already market recognized brands and it also famous for its healthy foods which bring child, young people in the Mc Donald store. Mc Donald franchise business is one that can be beneficial for both franchisor and franchisee. So, while the Mc Donald franchisor is benefited through the brand becoming more and more visible and gets franchise fees from the franchisee, the franchisee that is me, take advantage of working with recognized brand, on there chances of success will be more. Assignment 2: Task 1: Project resources: Mc Donald is mainly recognized for its delicious burgers and milk shakes. In annual, Mc Donald plan to continue expansion. It is considered as a more suitable place for franchising to own. For becoming successful in Mc Donald franchising, I have to take care about franchising business requirement that is its required resources such as: financial resources, human resources, business experience, ongoing fees, training, raw materials, considerations, growth, and equipment etc. These resources are described below: Financial resources: Mc Donald franchising headquarters fixed the financial franchise requirement which should be minimum $ 3, 00,000 of non- borrowed personal resources. It is also said that since the cost of each restaurant does vary, the fee of franchise would also different, but the 3, 00,000 is a standard requirement. Among this requirement, 25% is coming from the franchisee and 75% is coming from bank loan. Human resources: Mc Donald often wants to recruit high experienced people for joining its bandwagon. As a Mc Donald franchiser, I have huge business opportunities but for using these opportunities I need the high skilled and experienced people who are the efficient on managing or owning business units, low level workers who have the experience of serve the customer and also dealing with the customer. Store equipment: In case of Mc Donald franchising, franchisor has to be made a contract with Mc Donald for 20 years. And this contract indicates that building ownership consists the property used for example: equipments of kitchen, seats, decorator, fittings are all possessed by McDonalds and are carried on lease by the franchisee. So, there is no need to spend money on purchasing these equipments because these equipments are already provided by Mc Donald. Budgeting of Mc Donald Franchising Financial Requirements: Liquid assets: N/A Net worth: N/A Franchisee fee:  £ 30,000 Required owner capital: 75,000 (25%) Bank loan: 2, 25,000 (75%) Total investment: 3, 00, 000 Budgeting: Total investment: 3, 00,000 Franchise fee: 30,000 Training: 5,000 Rent: 72,000 Service fee: 30,000 Contribution to national Marketing spend 27,000 _________________________________________ Total cost:  £ 4, 64,000 Total sales per day: number of customer ÃÆ'- per day selling = 200ÃÆ'- 100 =  £20,000 Monthly sales=  £20,000ÃÆ'-30 =  £ 6, 00, 000 N.B: 5 of the 10 people average 50 sales a day, thats over 200 sales per day. If it converted into Pound it would be around  £20,000 in sales per day and  £ 6, 00,000. Here, rent is 12% of sales Service fee is 5% of sales Contribution to national marketing spend is 4.5% of sales. So, profit= total sales total cost =  £ 6, 00, 000- 4, 64, 000 =  £ 1, 36, 000 Task 2: Staff cost: Staff training and development: As a franchisee, I take the existing store of Mc Donald which is placed on Ill ford. So, there is need to train myself as a franchisee and for this purpose Mc Donald provides training to franchisee for being able to run the business efficiently. For becoming a franchisee, every franchisee has to complete a full time training program for which franchisee pays money to Mc Donald after completing the training program this money is refunded to franchisee. This program is lasting for nine months. It is very much important for a franchisee to start work with Mc Donald, wearing the staff uniform and learning all things from cooking and making food to serving customers and also learn cleaning. Training is held on regional training centre focuses on areas such as: leadership skill, team building, business management and handling customer enquiries. The franchisees will have to recruit, train and motivate their work force, so they must learn the skill of human resource management. At the end of the training program, they learn about stock control and ordering, profit and loss accounts and the legal side of hiring, and recruiting staff. As a result, no franchisee of Mc Donald would have to ask a member of his or her staff to do something that they couldnt do themselves. Knowing this can also be powerful motivator of the staff. Mc Donald is not only providing the training to it franchisee, it shows that the success and profitability of Mc Donald mostly connected to the success of the franchisee. An experienced and high skill full professional consultant team offers continuous support on all things from human resources to accounting and IT business controls. These field consultants may become valued partners of business and are a sounding board for ideas. In case of Mc Donald franchising, here for running business, I take the existing store of Mc Donald and in accordance to Mc Donald franchising business, in existing business there is no need to recruiting, selecting and hiring and train the employee. Because the old one store, there is already all staffs are recruited and trained. And these staffs are highly skill full for doing all types of restaurant jobs such as: customer service, cleaning and managing the store also. Because, Mc Donald, whenever recruit staff on its store they at first give 3 or 4 days training to new recruited person so that he will be able to do his work effectively and efficiently and he doesnt face any difficulty in sensitive work that is servicing the customer. Cost of staff training and development: I already mention that in case of old one store there is no need to recruit, hire, select and train the staff because on that store all things are available in readymade. Not only staff, equipment and store are also placed in right position. And there is the huge possibilities of achieving profit because the cost is only occurred from rent, service fee, franchisee training fee, contribution to national marketing spend. And franchisee training cost is: 5,000 and it is also refundable. Task 3: Sources of resources: Financial resources: An initial investment that is 40% of the total cost in case of a new restaurant and 25% for existing restaurant is needed to be paid to the company where rest of the money being paid in at least 7 years. In order to down payment, there also have to meet some specification. Mc Donald franchising financial resources are coming from non- borrowed and personal resources. It may be including of bonds, securities and debentures; cash in hand; real estate or business equity. In case of financing, Mc Donald doesnt provide any financial support though there is the possibility of getting the benefits of achieve loans at lower rates. In the time of franchise, Mc Donald has to be paid monthly rent and service fees. Source of financial resources: Obtaining finance for a new business is very difficult rather than obtaining funds for a franchising business. The key factors for easily getting funds for franchising business is previous track record of franchise business. Because brand and trademark is already established, therefore Mc Donald franchise is considered a lower risk investment. Franchise Bank Loan: A franchisee can get loan from commercial bank where this type of bank offer loan to franchise business with lower defaulter rate. In fact, most of the franchising industries expand by taking loan from commercial bank at an average rate of 10 to 12 percent per year. Mc Donald franchising is also expanding by taking loan. Here, as a Mc Donald franchisee I also take the loan from commercial bank. If a potential franchisor has enough capital and they think that they have the skill of operate the business successfully, franchisors will naturally assists with financing in any way that they can. Here, in franchising market, there is also seen that some of the franchisor provide loan application packages for helping the franchisee. A good number of franchisors offer financial help to the franchisee either by financing all or part of the franchisee themselves or by helping them in locating another lender. Other financial resources: I can also get financial help from limited partnership, taking loans from friends and family, and second mortgages on existing properties. In end, whatever means a franchisee motivates in financing their franchising, it is necessary to remember that they will need to pertain in making a detailed plan about a new business for showing to prospective lenders how the business will be run. Human resource: After considering about financial resources, I have to think about human resources that are about hiring, selecting and training employees. Without employees, a business operation cant run. Here, Mc Donald offer a limited scope for employee advancement to the level of management which may attract a few motivated persons, most of our work force will be young, inexperienced and just learning about job responsibility. High employee turnover must be expected as employees graduate from high school or college or move on to other work. Good management techniques can make a difference in keeping longer term persuade staff and present continuously. Assignment 3: Task 1: Implementation of the project: Before implanting my project that is Mc Donald franchising in Ill ford, there should be describe about leadership and motivation that is how Mc Donald leads and motivate employees to do their jobs. Leading and motivating employees on Mc Donald: Employees are considered as the most significant resources in Mc Donald. Basically, Mc Donald Company uses three different motivational techniques such as: financial encouragement, non- financial encouragement and social policy. These three factors are mainly described in Maslows hierarchy theory. According to this theory, all kinds of needs must fulfill one after another. The strategy and structure of Mc Donald Company represents that only the simultaneous fulfillment of employees needs will be enhanced an employees performance. In brief, for enhancing employees performance and companys productivity, Mc Donald uses effective motivational system. In order to present situation, Mc Donald administration staff use situational approach. On the basis of motivation theories, Mc Donalds administrators have used particular motivational techniques. Having using the procedure of assembly line in food preparation, Mc Donald has assures the standard of quality and high performance. Basically, ma nagers of different stores use different leadership management technique. But in Mc Donald store, every manager use their own management techniques, some managers are stiff and some are easy. And some use the both the hard and soft techniques of management. In fact, there is the mixture of lay back (laissez- faire) and autocratic styles leadership. Mc Donalds has achieved the status of one of the most recognizable franchises across the globe through a mixture of successful marketing, consistent service and product, and strong leadership. Mc Donald mainly uses the goal oriented and task-focused leadership styles that still exists in the corporation today. Project implementation: List of activities: Assess financial requirements. Meet the experience requirement as a franchisee. Fill up the franchise application form. Pay initial franchise fees and other fees. Make 20 years agreement with Mc Donald. Start the business. These activities are now shown on the critical path analysis: Task completion time Assess financial requirement 25.03.2010 Meet franchise experience requirement 28.03.2010 Fill up franchise application form 30.03.2010 Pay initial franchise fees 04.04.2010 Make 20 years agreement 10.04.2010 Start the business 15.04.2010 3 2 5 5 44 6 Task 2: Marketing strategy: Strategic groups: For becoming successful in Mc Donald franchising, there are some key factors which I have to consider. These key success factors are described below: Price: People can get the facility of food started from breakfast to meal in the price sector. Whenever any person feeds his family to Mc Donald, he first thinks about its cheap price with delicious and healthy items. In case Mc Donald franchising, it should be considered by a franchisor about its competitive price advantage. Quality: Mc Donald is one of the greatest food retailers that has reached new peaks at what can be achieved out of a global business market. The burger and French fries of Mc Donald are prepare to look, taste and smell very similar across the globe, despite all the variations in environmental differences. And in Mc Donald franchising, standardization of quality is also important. Location: Location is very important factor for set up the franchising the business. For selecting the location, any franchisor should have to consider its competitor, its marketing environment and consumer forms. For that reason, as a Mc Donald franchisee, I choose place of Ill ford, where the store of Mc Donald are already established and its marketing also going good. Opening hours: Generally, stores opening hour is very necessary for set up a business. But it depends on different stores and different place. Numbers of Mc Donald franchisee stores are 198 and these stores have different opening time and end time. In my Mc Donald stores, the opening time is 8 am. I think this opening time is better because it is the right time of taking the breakfast and on that more customers can come to the restaurant. In case of considering strategic group, Mc Donald is now in group 2 i.e. the main market food retailers- compete on price, offer better ranges and better customer services. Selected marketing strategy: There are several strategies such as: Strategy 1: all unnecessary attributes are removed, leading to lower costs Strategy 2: offer a range of products but change a lower price. Strategy 3: hybrid strategies; combination of differentiation and price based strategy. Strategy 4: the product must be differentiated in a significant way that buyers are prepared to pay extra. Among these strategies, I take the strategy 3 that is hybrid strategy. This strategy is already used in my Mc Donald store and this strategy includes: Successful use of price or differentiation strategy can lead to opportunities to develop other strategy. Superior cost advantage of Mc Donald, which generates profit that are invested in differentiation without destroying the cost advantage. Differentiation may lead to high sales volume, economies of scale, and lower cost. But in Mc Donald, differentiation leads to lower cost. Implementation of marketing strategy: Marketing strategy is basically planned by considering the basis of competition and the standard of quality. Different marketers such as: niche, leader and followers select and implement different strategies in different ways. As a market leader, Mc Donald may choose to consolidate their position in a number of ways to help them achieve competitive advantage. They may: Exploit their superior cost structure. Raise barriers through marketing expenditure, blocking access to distribution channels. Buy competitors and close down their capacity. Among these ways, Mc Donald use the first one that is exploit their superior cost structure. Marketing mix: Product; While providing the option of new menu item, the most necessary thing is to consider that the customer also have more option to choice their demanded product. Generally, they have a lots of options of their money spending and also spending place. However, McDonalds places considerable importance on developing a menu which customers want. Market research establishes exactly what this is. However, customers demands change time to time. The products which are now interesting, fashionable and attractive in present may be through away in future. Marketing continuously consider customers demand. For meeting these changes, McDonalds should bring new menu items and leave out old ones, and will continue to do so. Price Value of customers perception is an important factors of the price charged. What a product is worth customers draw the picture of product on their mind. A product is a physical item and it has psychological connotations for the customer. There are some difficulties of using products low price as a marketing tool is that the customer may feel that a low price is symptom of compromised quality. It is very much important when deciding on the price to be fully aware of the brand and its integrity Promotions It includes marketing communication such as advertising which is conducted on TV, radio, in cinema, online, using poster sites and in the press. Other promotional sectors are sales promotions, point of sale display, merchandising, direct mail, telemarketing, exhibitions, seminars, loyalty schemes, door drops, demonstrations, etc. Marketing communications skill is to develop a campaign which applies several of these methods in a way that provides the most effective results. Place: The most important element of the marketing mix i.e. price is not just about the physical location or distribution points for products. Price gives emphasis on the management of a range of processes involved in bringing products to the end consumer. Task 3: Monitoring controlling: Majority of the chain of franchising are controlling under both the outlet of company- owned and franchised. In previous, a manager was ran the business and in return he got the salary when the chain is the remainder of the profit. After the time change, franchisee keeps the profit after paying the applicable fees to the chain. Thus, when product is decentralized, then franchisee give incentives as a high amount which are very much significant for a large organization. As a franchisee, I have to monitor my franchise business because whether it is new or existing one business, every business should monitor by its owner, whether it is run properly or not, whether it gains profit or not, or whether it can satisfy the customer expectation or not. There also has the reason for monitoring the business. Such as: I have to see whether my business is going according to my plan or not also have to detect and react appropriately to deviations and changes to plans. As an owner of Mc Donald franchising, I have to monitor only its quality and its money. Because, other significant things such as: human resources, machines, materials, space, time, task etc. after monitoring these things, the output such as: progress, costs, job starts, completion, engineering or design changes and variance order also have to monitor. But in case of Mc Donald franchising, there is no need to monitoring the human resources or machines or materials these things. Because, in case of existing store franchising, there all ready all resources and material are ready. For my franchising business, I can visit the store from my head office on logically basis that means on the basis of specific reason. Monitoring technique: There are several techniques through which I can monitor and control the franchising business and these techniques are: Through meetings with clients, parties involved in project (contractor, supplier etc.) For schedule -update CPA, PERT charts, update Gantt chart. Using earned value analysis. Calculate critical ratios. Milestones. Tests and inspections.

Relationships and Interdependence in the Works of Kurt Vonnegut Essay

Relationships and Interdependence in the Works of Kurt Vonnegut While on the surface Kurt Vonnegut's works appear to singularly contain the pessimistic views of an aging, black humorist, his underlying meanings reveal a much more sympathetic and hopeful glimpse of humanity that lends itself to eventual societal improvement. As part of Vonnegut's strategy for enhanced communal welfare, the satirist details in the course of his works potential artificial family groups to connect the masses and alleviate the lonely. Through his science fiction tales of misinterpreted, downcast protagonists and outrageous observations of real life, Vonnegut shines a light on America's problems, proposing a widespread cooperation of common decency and interdependence as viable solutions. Whether or not such notions actually augment the quality of relations, Vonnegut's well-reasoned and starkly ironic scenarios entertain, challenge, and enliven his design for relational welfare through synthetic families. Throughout his works Vonnegut's development of artificial families and expression of common decency between characters helps illuminate his universal theme of societal interdependence in family groups and proves that life is only worth living when individuals support each other. Throughout his writings, Vonnegut illustrates man's necessity of family, whether hereditary or artificial, as a vital contribution to his survival and healthy intercourse with society. All relatives, be they naturally procured or synthetically acquired, possess the unique ability, and responsibility, to support, contribute t... ...te. Vol. 25. Detroit: Gale, 1973. 451. Vonnegut, Kurt. Bluebeard. New York: Delacorte Press, 1987. Vonnegut, Kurt. Breakfast of Champions. New York: Delacorte Press, 1973. Vonnegut, Kurt. Cat's Cradle. New York: Dell Publishing Co., 1976. Vonnegut, Kurt. Deadeye Dick. New York: Delacorte Press/ Seymour Lawrence, 1982. Vonnegut, Kurt. Galapagos. New York: Dell Publishing Co., 1985. Vonnegut, Kurt. Mother Night. New York: Dell Publishing Co., 1963. Vonnegut, Kurt. Slapstick. New York: Dell Publishing Co., 1976. Vonnegut, Kurt. The Sirens of Titan. New York: Dell Publishing Co., 1959. Vonnegut, Kurt. Timequake. New York: G.P. Putnam's, 1997. Vit, Marek. Kurt Vonnegut Corner: Kurt Vonnegut Essay Collection. http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/4953/kv_essays.html Relationships and Interdependence in the Works of Kurt Vonnegut Essay Relationships and Interdependence in the Works of Kurt Vonnegut While on the surface Kurt Vonnegut's works appear to singularly contain the pessimistic views of an aging, black humorist, his underlying meanings reveal a much more sympathetic and hopeful glimpse of humanity that lends itself to eventual societal improvement. As part of Vonnegut's strategy for enhanced communal welfare, the satirist details in the course of his works potential artificial family groups to connect the masses and alleviate the lonely. Through his science fiction tales of misinterpreted, downcast protagonists and outrageous observations of real life, Vonnegut shines a light on America's problems, proposing a widespread cooperation of common decency and interdependence as viable solutions. Whether or not such notions actually augment the quality of relations, Vonnegut's well-reasoned and starkly ironic scenarios entertain, challenge, and enliven his design for relational welfare through synthetic families. Throughout his works Vonnegut's development of artificial families and expression of common decency between characters helps illuminate his universal theme of societal interdependence in family groups and proves that life is only worth living when individuals support each other. Throughout his writings, Vonnegut illustrates man's necessity of family, whether hereditary or artificial, as a vital contribution to his survival and healthy intercourse with society. All relatives, be they naturally procured or synthetically acquired, possess the unique ability, and responsibility, to support, contribute t... ...te. Vol. 25. Detroit: Gale, 1973. 451. Vonnegut, Kurt. Bluebeard. New York: Delacorte Press, 1987. Vonnegut, Kurt. Breakfast of Champions. New York: Delacorte Press, 1973. Vonnegut, Kurt. Cat's Cradle. New York: Dell Publishing Co., 1976. Vonnegut, Kurt. Deadeye Dick. New York: Delacorte Press/ Seymour Lawrence, 1982. Vonnegut, Kurt. Galapagos. New York: Dell Publishing Co., 1985. Vonnegut, Kurt. Mother Night. New York: Dell Publishing Co., 1963. Vonnegut, Kurt. Slapstick. New York: Dell Publishing Co., 1976. Vonnegut, Kurt. The Sirens of Titan. New York: Dell Publishing Co., 1959. Vonnegut, Kurt. Timequake. New York: G.P. Putnam's, 1997. Vit, Marek. Kurt Vonnegut Corner: Kurt Vonnegut Essay Collection. http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/4953/kv_essays.html

Assess Different Indicators Used to Measure Development Essay

Development is a process of change that affects people’s lives, which may involve an improvement in the quality of life as perceived by the people undergoing change. As development is such a wide category, it can be split into social and economic factors as well as simple and composite indicators. To start with, many economic indicators are used to measure a country’s development. GDP (Gross Domestic Product), this is the total value of goods and services produced in a country. GNP (Gross National Product) includes income from investments abroad and PPP (Purchasing Power Parity) takes into account local cost of living and is usually expressed per capita. These are the three main economic indicators. Many advantages appear when using economic measurement as an indicator, such as it is a useful figure for comparing countries and often used to rank countries to establish a fair system of aid payments. Also, each country can be easily compared and calculated so that patterns can be seen quickly. However, this way of measurement does come with a lot of problems. For example, the distribution of wealth is unequal I most/all countries but when studying the indicator results, it shows that supposedly the country has an equal distribution. This results in inequality being ‘covered up’ and a true picture is not shown which therefore makes the result lack in validity. Countries have different currencies, which is an issue within itself but this is enlarged when countries have different currency fluctuations. This makes it hard to then compare each countries results to one another as the values shown have different rates of wealth. Although, this problem is being tackled by converting all the currencies to US$ so easy comparisons can be made, and patterns can be easily shown when comparing countries. Other problems that come from using economic indicators are they can be manipulated by governments who want to appear poor to collect more aid and it does not take into account informal economies which are very important in less developed countries. To try and eliminate the economic problems, social indicators are also used to make the results as accurate as possible. Social indicators are used mainly to give an idea about the peoples quality of life in that country, although this can be significantly hard to actually categorise. The main indicators for the social categories are Life Expectancy (the average lifespan of someone born in that country), Birth Rate (number of babies born per thousand people per year). This allows a clear indicator of a countries level of development, as well as being able to predict the future situation to plan accordingly. BR can be affected by population policies (e.g. China’s one child policy) and figures in LEDCs are not necessarily accurate. Literacy Rate (percentage of the population able to read and write) also has negatives such as when used on its own it doesn’t tell us whether the figure is a consequence of too few schools or the fact that children are having to work. The other issue is that it takes no notice of other skills (agricultural for example) the people may have which are equally valuable (e.g. a good understanding of farming techniques). Literacy rates is used as an indicator because it does show the amount of education on offer and tells us how many children could or couldn’t attend school. Finally, Infant Mortality (the number of children who die before they reach the age of one for every thousand live births per year). An advantage of using these four social indicators to ‘measure’ a country as a general point is that more patterns are shown by comparing economic and social factors. For example, the higher the GDP per person the higher the life expectancy showing a positive correlation between the two. As stated in the opening paragraph, the development of a country can also be measured by using simple and composite indicators. The indicators discussed above in both economic and social categories are classed as simple indicators (excluding GDP). The composite indicator definition is as follows: ‘Composite indicators measures are used when single indicators cannot adequately capture such multi-dimensional concepts. Ideally, a composite indicator should be based on a theoretical framework / definition, which allows individual indicators/variables to be selected, combined and weighted in a manner which reflects the dimensions or structure of the phenomena being measured’. Simplified, composite indicators combine a number of single component indices to give a combined score. A frequent composite indicator that is often used is the HDI (Human Development Index). this combines PPP, life expectancy, adult literacy and average number of years in schooling. Other composite indicators include GEM (Gender Empowerment Measure) and GDI (Gender-related Development Index) to measure gender inequality. Other quality of life indicators could measure a variety of social and economic fac tors. Composite indicators are often considered more reliable as they combine a number of simple indicators to give one average score. The problem with this however is having only an average result. As previously discussed, by having an average score the result lacks validity as it doesn’t show a true picture. In conclusion, the method that gives the most accurate and true representation of a country, in my opinion, is to use a combination of social and economic simple indicators. Many positives and negatives come from using simple and composite indicators, but the key problem with using composite is that it only gives an average. The main point of creating and using indicators is to get the true representation of a countries development, and composite indicators often do no prove this where as simple indicators are more likely to. View as multi-pages