Discuss the Aphorism “Small Firm Growth Being the Only Measure of an Entrepreneur’s Success”.

INTRODUCTION Business growth is a good goal for most firms in general and is given great weight by the society. This could be seen with the list conjured up by the media, such as ‘Forbes Fast-Growing Companies’ and ‘Inc Fastest Growing Companies’ lists (Hupato 2011). The reason small firm growth has been prioritised by policy makers and the society is mainly due to its contribution to the economy (Bridge, O’Neill & Martin 2009). Small firm and entrepreneurship have so often been linked together, and it has become common to acknowledge that all small firms are established by entrepreneurs.Hence, the terms such as growth, success and performance are often linked in the research of entrepreneurial success (Reijonen & Komppula 2007). However, if entrepreneurship is defined as creation of new economic activity, the aspect of firm growth is already defined the moment the entrepreneur introduced new products or services (Davidsson, Achtenhagen & Naldi 2010). In other words, growth is not an aspect of entrepreneurship if growth is measured solely on volume expansion of existing products or through acquisitions of existing business.Schumpeter has also mentioned that one can be entrepreneurial without being self-employed and vice versa (Utsch, Rauch, Rothfufs & Frese 1999). Entrepreneurship remains an enigma till date and the assumption that all small firms are creations of an entrepreneur is arguable. Davidsson, Achtenhagen & Naldi (2010) has described, even a superficial reading on the complexity of small firm growth literature could easily leave the reader confused. Thus, the aphorism of small firm growth being the only measure of an entrepreneur’s success should be looked upon from different perspectives.The dimensions of small firm growth and also the perspectives of entrepreneurial success will be analysed to see the degree of its correlation and to judge how true the mentioned aphorism is. What is small firm growth? Generall y, growth of a business occurs in phases in a small business life cycle. A business venture would normally encounter three-stage development process, namely the ‘seed’ stage, the ‘start-up’ stage and the ‘expansion’ stage (Mukherjee 1992).The ‘seed’ stage brings a well-conceived idea into existence, while the ‘start-up’ stage included employment and accumulating business capital, and the ‘expansion’ stage involves manufacturing or service capacity increment (Mukherjee 1992). On the other hand, Bridge, O’Neill & Martin (2009) has suggested five stages of small firm growth, namely ‘existence’, ‘survival’, ‘success’, ‘take-off’ and ‘maturity’. Helms & Renfrow (1994) has supported the concept of the five stages of various developmental growth stages when they conducted a research in United States.Bridge, O’Neill & Martin (2009) defi ned the five stages as the following: the ‘existence’ stage is similar to the ‘seed’ stage explained previously, while the ‘survival’ stage involves customer familiarisation with the firm’s product or service. The ‘success’ stage is when there are options for further growth, thus the ‘take-off’ stage where the owner opted to grow the business larger. The business will reach the ‘maturity’ stage when it displays the characteristics of a large company.However, the mentioned researchers have concluded that it is difficult to clearly define the business development stages clearly during throughout the business cycle (Bridge, O’Neill & Martin 2009). Despite the challenging task to categorise growth, researchers would still generally use the small business growth as indicator of success since it is common parlance to suggest that success requires growth, to stand still is to die (Geneste & Weber 20 11). There are enormous literatures on theories of growth and are most commonly associated with generation of jobs.In the early years, entrepreneurship has been the main focus due to its significant employment opportunities that was created. This reason remained strong today thus gaining the attention from policy-makers in each country. In fact, the number of employees a firm has become an important factor for classifying a small firm (Helms & Renfrow 1994). Research shows that young high-growth firms (also commonly known as ‘gazelles’) generate a large share of all new net jobs (Roper 2012).Robbins, Pantuosco, Parker & Fuller (2000) has also confirmed in their research that a state with large quantity of small business has lower rates of unemployment compared to other states that has little quantity of small businesses. The reason employment rates are valuable in measuring growth is because each firm will grow until they reach the optimal size that corresponds to minim um average cost (Hart 2000). Thus, each firm will continue to employ during its growth stage until it reaches the efficient scale or natural decay.However, other research has proved that it is difficult to measure small firm performance by employee growth. This is due to moderating variables such as outsourcing activities, productivity changes and replacement of employees with capital investments (Fitzsimmons, Steffens & Douglas 2005). When business grow in this the rapid changing modem world, many production and service functions has been contracted out (Bridge, O’Neill & Martin 2009). In other words, a business can grow without having any increase in employment rate.Several academicians argued that sales precede other yardsticks for business growth, as pointed out that it is the increase in sales that necessitates the increase in the number of employees hired (Davidsson, Achtenhagen & Naldi 2010). Sales revenue performance is used as small firm’s growth because it mi rrors the consumer’s demand for the product or services provided by the firm (Fitzsimmons, Steffens & Douglas 2005). In this world of constant returns, the consumer’s demand for the product or services determines the limit on the firm’s growth.Sales figures easily reflect both short-term and long-term changes in the firm, hence measuring the growth and performance. However, there are two reasons that deviate sales as business growth yardstick. Firstly, the typical downward sloping demand curve is not applicable in practice. Just as a habitual entrepreneur starts more than one business, a firm can also have product differentiation (Hart 2000). Hence, it is difficult to determine the demand and cost curves in imperfect competition market condition.Secondly, sales are not an accountable measure during first few stages of the business cycle. During the seed and the start-up stage, employment and assets may grow more extensively before any significant sale has been d one (Fitzsimmons, Steffens & Douglas 2005). In this context, assets are in the form tangible ‘fixed’ assets and intangible assets such as of entrepreneur’s knowledge asset, the reputation of the firm (Bridge, O’Neill & Martin 2009) and quantity of registered patents. Hence, business growth could not be measured by sales alone.Looking from another dimension, a firm’s profitability could be suggested as an important measure of growth for the simple reason that a firm is unable to sustain without profits. The difference between maximised sales and maximised profit is that the marginal revenue is zero when sales are maximised but the marginal revenue is positive when profits are maximised (Hart 2000). A firm’s growth on profitability can be considered in term of the net profit margins, return on assets (Fitzsimmons, Steffens & Douglas 2005) or return on equity (Durguner & Katchova 2009).High profit margins, return on assets and return on equity p rovide more confidence for shareholders and potential investors to invest in the firm, enhancing business growth. However, growth rates are highly volatile over duration of time and research has shown that there is no evidence of a relationship between growth and profitability (Fitzsimmons, Steffens & Douglas 2005). In accordance, many articles have reached a conclusion that financial measures alone are not sufficient as business growth and performance measure for small firms (Reijonen & Komppula 2007).This is due to the fact that, just as entrepreneurship, small business sector is hardly homogeneous, and not all of these businesses are operating in the same direction. Some research has even shown that not all small firms are even capable or willing to grow (Papadanki & Chami 2002). What is entrepreneurial success? The capability and willingness to grow of small firms are directly influenced by the business owners’ intention to grow and their self-perception of success.In oth er words, the growth of small business is not a self-evident phenomenon, but it is actually driven by the business owner’s motivations and intentions (Morrison, Breen & Ali 2003). Most business decisions are made by owners, and their own personal judgement will impact on the business growth orientation (Geneste & Weber 2011). Consequently, it can be considered that the role of the entrepreneur should be emphasized as the dominant factor of growth (Reijonen & Komppula 2007). An entrepreneur’s motivation for business growth has to be complemented by his or her willingness to grow and assume risks.The risks involved are such as willingness to delegate control functions to others and the uncertainty to produce more output. The researchers found that due to the risks, small business owners are reluctant to grow and perceives profit-maximisation as only one of the motives for business growth (Papadanki & Chami 2002). This argument draws down to the psychological theories of motivation. The McClelland’s theory of needs defined ‘need for achievement’ as â€Å"the drive to excel, to achieve in relation to a set of standards, and to strive to succeed† (Robbins, Judge, Millet & Boyle 2011).Hence, characteristics of the business owners are linked to the business growth aspirations. In other words, each entrepreneur has their own perception of success depending on their own standard for ‘need for achievement’. To understand the business growth aspirations deeper, the owner’s clusters of traits and behaviours which affect the way they engage in their business activities are examined. The characteristic of the firm owner can be divided into three broad categories, namely ‘life-style’, ‘comfort-zone’ and ‘growth’ (Bridge, O’Neill & Martin 2009).The ‘life-style’ owners are defined to be those who establish the business to provide them a level of income and ha ve no intention for business growth. Geneste & Weber (2011) has identified owners that are not keen to expand their business due to deliberate ‘life-style’ choice, such as the small business atmosphere that engenders comradeship and job satisfaction. The ‘comfort-zone’ owners establish the business and focus on the benefits it can provide for the comfort he or she wants in life and the business growth will be stagnant once the desired comfort level has been achieved.The ‘growth’ owners are the almost ideal business person who maximises the earning potential and continue to grow the business further for the future. Clearly again, the intrinsic motivation of the owner should be examined further in order to understand what entrepreneurial success is. There are many studies that have been conducted to explore an entrepreneur’s intrinsic motivation for his or her business. One piece of research conducted was to compare the start-up motivation s and growth intentions between African-Americans (titled as ‘black’ by the researchers) and Americans (titled as ‘white’ by the researchers).Edelmen, Brush, Manolova & Greene (2010) has conducted a research to investigate new venture among black and white nascent entrepreneurs. In their research, they have discovered three important findings related to business growth. Firstly, nascent entrepreneurs do not associate business establishment outcomes with business growth intention. Secondly, entrepreneurs are motivated to start ventures to fulfil a need for self-realisation. Lastly, it is found that whites are more strongly motivated by the desire for financial success while blacks had higher levels of personal self-confidence.Hypothetically, the findings of this research suggested that blacks inherited the ‘life-style’ motivations while the whites are ‘comfort-zone’ motivated. This research has proved that expected financial outcome s are not as important as noneconomic concern in determining the entrepreneur’s attitude towards growth. The entrepreneurial success is not related to the growth of the firm but for intrinsic satisfaction instead; hence small firm growth should not be the only measure for the entrepreneur’s success.In another piece of research, (Utsch, Rauch, Rothfufs & Frese 1999) has investigated the rapid emergence of entrepreneurs and small firms in East Germany. During the research, the role of personality traits has been clarified and the researchers found an encouraging convergence result in two areas, namely the need for achievement and need for autonomy. In other words, entrepreneurs with high need for autonomy will be more motivated to begin small-scale business ventures and will develop the business further only if they have high need for achievement as well.In parallel to that, Lee & Tai (2010) has conducted a research to investigate the motivators and success of small busi ness in Kazakhstan. Empirical evidence has suggested the entrepreneurs are motivated to achieve financial independence and also to obtain social recognition. This is due to the fact that entrepreneurial endeavours are considered as honourable and also an upgrade on social-status activities. This theory is shows that entrepreneurs in Kazakhstan are more aligned towards the ‘comfort-zone’ characteristics.The mentioned researchers have also concluded that the success of some small firm growth is contributed by the creativity and commitment of all the entrepreneurs. From these two pieces of research, it is further confirmed that entrepreneurs have their own perceptions of success but each individual has different intrinsic motivation to achieve his or her goal, albeit from different geographic locations. Another aspect to consider on perception of entrepreneurial success should be the gender of the owner. Research shows that there are differences across entrepreneur’ s gender on perceptions of success.Male and females entrepreneurs differ in the way they measure their extrinsic and intrinsic dimensions. Previous study has verified that male entrepreneurs tend to emphasize on quantitative measures and economic values while female entrepreneurs emphasize on qualitative measures and social values (Justo, Cruz, de Castro & Coduras 2006). Hypothetically, male entrepreneurs describe success in term of achieving goals while female entrepreneurs define success in terms of doing something fulfilling. The research has also iscovered that the motivation for business success is moderated by the parental status of the entrepreneur. Female entrepreneurs are more motivated venturing into self-employment if they have dependent children under their care and perceived success when they are able to fulfil the need of independence. This hypothesis has been confirmed by Ahmad (2011) when he conducted a research on female entrepreneurs in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In this piece of research, female entrepreneurship has proved to be influenced by the female entrepreneur wanting to spend more quality family time.For these female entrepreneurs, the perception of success was when the desire for autonomy, independence, self-fulfilment and wealth has been achieved. In short, the gender status of the entrepreneur significantly impact on the perceptions of entrepreneurial success where female entrepreneurs depict more on social values as success. Conclusion In conclusion, the dimensions of small firm growth and the perspectives of entrepreneurial success have been discussed to judge how true the aphorism of entrepreneurial success can only be judged by small firm growth.The different stages of business cycle have been identified and the growth of the business occurs in almost all the phases in the five stages of small firm growth in their own way. Growth is included in many aspects, such as growth of the idea, or the growing numbers of customers, or gene rating more returns from the business. Generally, the measurement of growth is mainly based on quantitative values such as employment rate, business sales and profitability among other yardsticks. However, research shows that small firm growth could not be measured on financial and economical terms only.The rate of employment becomes insignificant as the business can grow without hiring any new employees, while sales do not account for the first couple stages of the business cycle and there might be owners who deviate from the main product or service line. Research has also shown that there are no relationship between profitability and growth. Therefore, the entrepreneur’s perception of success should be moderated to measure small firm success. Three types of small firm owner’s characteristics has been identified, namely the ‘life-style’, ‘comfort-zone’ and ‘growth’.From the few pieces of research that has been examined, most of t he entrepreneurs are found to be ‘life-style’ and ‘comfort-zone’ and rarely the ideal ‘growth’ motivated characteristics. The gender of the entrepreneur will also affect the measuring manner of small firm growth success. Each attribute shows the willingness and capability of each owner to further grow their business. Hence, the entrepreneur’s intrinsic motivation plays a vital role in judging and predicting the small firm success.In this context, the intrinsic motivations are such as the need for achievement, autonomy and self-realisation are more important than business growth intentions. In a nutshell, it can be concluded that small firm growth can be a way to measure entrepreneurial success, but it should be based on the standard or level that the entrepreneur has placed emphasis on instead of strictly on monetary values only. REFERENCES Ahmad, SZ 2011, ‘Evidence of the characteristics of women entrepreneurs in the Kingdom of Sa udi Arabia’, International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 123-143.Bridge, S, O’Neill, K & Martin, F 2009, Understanding enterprise: entrepreneurship and small business, 3rd edn, Palgrave Macmillan, Hampshire. Davidsson, P, Achtenhagen, L & Naldi, L 2005, ‘Research on small firm growth: a review’, 35th EISB Conference, Barcelona. Durguner, S & Katchova, AL 2009, ‘Measure of small business financial performance from a lender and a borrower perspective’, The Business Review, vol. 13, no. 2, p. 24. Edelman, LF, Brush, CG, Manolova, TS & Greene, PG 2010, ‘Start-up motivations and growth intentions of minority nascent entrepreneurs’, Journal of Small Business Management, Vol. 8, no. 2, p. 174. Fitzsimmons, JR, Steffens, PR & Douglas, EJ 2005, ‘Growth and profitability in small and medium sized Australian firms’, AGSE Entrepreneurship Exchange, Melbourne. Geneste, L & Weber, P 2011, ‘Relatin g small business growth with success: some findings from the 2008 Western Australian small business benchmarks survey’, 8th AGSE International Entrepreneurship Research Exchange, Melbourne. Hart, PE 2000, ‘Theories of firms’ growth and the generation of jobs’, Review of Industrial Organization, vol. 17, no. 3, p. 229.Helms, MM & Renfrow TW 1994, ‘Expansionary process of the small business: a life cycle profile’, Management Decision, vol. 32, no. 9, p. 43. Hupalo, PI, TiE Islamabad, 2012, ‘Measuring success in small business and entrepreneurship’, TiE Islamabad, 12 October 2012,< https://islamabad. tie. org/article/24/measuring-success-small-business-and-entrepreneurship>. Justo, R, Cruz, C, de Castro, J & Coduras, A 2006, ‘Entrepreneurs’ perception of success: examining differences across gender and family status’, IE working paper, Instituto de Empresa Business School.Lee, JW & Tai SW 2010, ‘Motivators a nd inhibators of entrepreneurship and small business development in Kazakhstan’, World Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development, vol. 6, no, p. 61. Morrison, A, Breen, J & Ali, S 2003, ‘Small business growth: intention, ability and opportunity’, Journal of Small Business Management, vol. 41, no. 4, p. 417. Mukherjee, TK 1992, ‘Financing the three stages of the small business cycle: a survey’, Journal of Business and Entrepreneurship, vol. 4, no. 1, p. 33.Papadanki, E & Chami, B, Industry Canada, 2012, ‘Growth determinants of micro-business in Canada’, Government of Canada Publications Ottawa, ON, viewed 12 October 2012, . Reijonen, H & Komppula R 2007, ‘Perception of success and its effect on small firm performance’, Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, vol. 14, no. 4, pp. 689-701. Robbins, DK, Pantuosco, LJ, Parker, DF & Fuller, BK 2000, ‘An empirical assessment of contribut ion of small business employment to U.S. state economic performance’, Small Business Economics, vol. 15, no. 4, p. 293. Robbins, SP, Judge, TA, Millet, B & Boyle, M 2011, Organisational Behaviour, 6th end, Pearson Australia, French Forest, NSW. Roper, Stephen 2012, Entrepreneurship : a global perspective, Routledge, Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY. Utsch, A, Rauch, A, Rothfus,R & Frese, M 1999, ‘Who becomes a small scale entrepreneur in a post-socialist environment: on the differences between entrepreneurs and managers in East Germany’, Journal of Small Business Management, vol. 37, no. 3, p. 31.

Describe how the body responds to stress Essay

Acute stress causes the arousal of the autonomic nervous system (ANS). The ANS comprises of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) which prepares the individual for ‘fight or flight’ and the parasympathetic branch, which returns the individual to their original state of relaxation. Part of the SNS response is the sympathetic adrenal system (SAM), this system along with the SNS is collectively called the sympathomedullary pathway. The SNS is activated when the neurotransmitter noradrenaline is released and travels to the organs of the body preparing them for rapid action. Common responses to this would be increased heart rate, increased pupil size and metabolic changes such as a release of glycogen into the blood stream. In conjunction with the SNS, the SAM is also activated by an acute stressor causing adrenaline to be released into the blood stream, allowing the body to prepare for fight or flight. The SAM is regulated by both the SNS and the adrenal medulla. The adrenal medulla, which can be found in the adrenal gland near the kidneys, has two distinct zones, the adrenal medulla in the middle and the adrenal cortex around the outside. Neurons from the SNS travel to the medulla, so that when it is activated it releases adrenaline into the bloodstream. This adrenaline then has widespread effects on the physiological systems in the body e.g. boosting the supply of oxygen to the brain, and suppressing non-emergency bodily processes such as digestion. The parasympathetic nervous system will become active once the stressor has passed in order to relax the individual again and to re-start bodily functions that may have been repressed during the stressful period. The body deals with more long-term stress differently as it could not function long-term if it were to constantly be in the aroused via the ANS. The body uses the pituitary-adrenal system to regulate chronic physical or emotional stress, a process that takes about 20mins to complete. Once the body has identified the stressor as being chronic that information stimulates the hypothalamus which is responsible for controlling the body’s hormonal systems. Activation of a particular region of the hypothalamus, the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) leads to the production of a chemical messenger, corticotrophin-releasing factor (CRF), which is released into the bloodstream in response to the stressor. On arrival at the anterior lobe of  the pituitary gland, CRF causes the pituitary to produce and release adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH). From the pituitary, ACTH is transported in the bloodstream to its target site in the adrenal glands, located on top of the kidneys. ACTH then causes the adrenal cortex to release cortisol which has several effects on the body. Primarily it gives the individual a burst of energy and lowers their sensitivity to pain, however it also impairs cognitive performance, increases blood pressure and lowers the immune system. The pituitary-adrenal system is self-regulating with both the hypothalamus and pituitary glands using receptors to regulate the amount of CRF and ACTH in the body to maintain an appropriate level of cortisol in the bloodstream. Outline and evaluate research into life changes as a source of stress (6+6 marks) Rahe et al (1970) – wanted to study normal people (i.e. not ill people) to see if the number of life changing events was positively correlated with illness. They used a military sample of 2700 naval men aboard 3 US Navy ships. They were all given a questionnaire (the SRE) just before they started a tour of duty which was based on the SRRS that Holmes and Rahe had originally devised. The questionnaire asked them about all the life events they had experienced over the previous 6 months. After about 7 months of duty they were given an illness score which was calculated based on the number, type and severity of all illnesses recorded during the tour of duty. Rahe et al found a positive correlation of +.118 between the life changing units (LCU) score they received from the SRE before going on tour, and the illness score they received following the tour. A high LCU score shows that the individual had b een through significant amounts of stress (either positive or negative), and so a positive correlation with their illness score would suggest that experiencing stressful life changes does lead to more problems with health. Michael and Ben-Zur (2007) – studied 130 men and women, half of whom had been recently divorced and half recently widowed. They looked at levels of life satisfaction and unsurprisingly found that in the widowed group there was a higher satisfaction before their bereavement than after their loss. However, in the separated group they found the opposite, that individuals in fact reported more life satisfaction following their divorce than they had had before the separation. There are  several ways to explain this as it may be the result of a more positive outlook now they felt more in control of their lives instead of being ‘restricted’ by a partner, or perhaps they were now dating or living with someone new who made them feel happier. The SRRS suggests that any life-changing event has the potential to be harmful to health; however critics like Jones and Bright (2001) claim that in fact it is the quality of the event which dictates its impact. Undesired, unschedule d and uncontrolled events seem to be the ones which cause greatest negative effect. The key flaw in the SRRS is that it ignores individual differences, as different people will view the same life event as creating different levels of stress for them based on their situation, personality etc. For example the death of a partner may be devastating for one person but a blessed relief for another and yet both people would be given the same LCU score. Therefore it is not suitable to use a standard method of categorising individual stress levels when everyone is different. There is an issue of reliability in life change research as it is retrospective meaning reports may not be accurate or consistent as they are based on memory which can prove unreliable. Brown (1974) suggests that people who are unwell may feel the need to provide an explanation for their illness, and therefore are more likely to report stressful events than those who are not ill. Indeed Rahe’s research of Naval personnel relied on the participants accurately recording life events prior to their tour of duty but some may have forgotten events, while others may have over-elaborated, which would have ultimately affected their scores. Discuss two explanations of why people conform (4+4 marks) Normative Social Influence – deciding to comply through conformity without adopting that viewpoint. This may be as a result of feeling pressure from a majority and not wanting to be rejected from a group by dissenting as humans strive to develop and maintain social companionship. Therefore dissenting behaviour would risk social rejection and may damage relationships so we avoid it by conforming. Informational Social Influence – Conforming to others due to a genuine belief that they are right. This would involve not just compliant behaviour but also a change in our own thought processes to align with those of the majority thinking. This is most likely to happen when a situation is ambiguous, a crisis, or we believe others to be experts. Normative social influence is particularly effective when a group has low quality inter-personal relationships. Garandeau and Cillessen (2006) found that people in these types of groups may be manipulated by a skilful bully so that victimisation of another child provides the group with a common goal. This suggests that the effectiveness of normative social influence is dependent on the type of relationships within the group. Informational social influence may explain the development and maintenance of social stereotypes. Wittenbrink and Henly (1996) found that participants exposed to negative comparison information about African Americans (which was presented as the majority view) later reported more negative beliefs about a black target individual. This suggests that we can be persuaded to alter our viewpoint permanently that we will continue to stick to the new view even in other contexts. There is evidence to support the idea that we seek information from other in ambiguous situat ions in order to form our own opinion. Fein et al (2007) found that political opinions of individuals shifted after showing them the reactions of others while watching a political debate. This suggests that when a situation has no obvious answers we look to others to help us create a judgement. Outline and evaluate research into obedience (6+6 marks) Following the execution of Adolf Eichmann in 1963 for his part in the murder of Jewish people during the Holocaust, Milgram was interested to see whether Adolf’s defence that he was ‘only obeying orders’ had any real truth to it. He advertised for male volunteers to take part in a study into the how punishment affects learning. He offered all of the 40 participants who took part $4.50 and told them they would receive their payment even if they didn’t complete the full study. In addition to the participants there were also two confederates who were playing the role of the experimenter (an authority figure) and the learner. On arrival the participant and confederate were asked to draw straws for who would be learner and who would be teacher but this was rigged so that the participant was always the teacher. The participant was then told that he would be asking the learner a series of questions and if he got the answers wrong then the participant would give hi m an electric shock by pressing a the appropriate level button which would administer the shock to the learner in the next room. The shock  machine consisted of a range of buttons all labelled with voltage and a brief description of what that voltage level means e.g. 300v Intense Shock. The participant was also shown that the machine worked by being shown the learner receiving a mild shock. Initially Milgram had prepped the learner to get most of the questions wrong and told him to receive his shocks silently up until 300v when he was to bang on the wall and give no response to the next question. The learner was told to then repeat this at 315 volts, and from them on say and do nothing in response to the shocks. Milgram had also asked the experimenter to give prods to the participants if they asked to stop e.g. ‘It is absolutely essential that you continue’. Before the experiment Milgram had asked psychiatrists, college students and colleagues to predict how far they thought participants would go before refusing to obey. Consistently they all predicted that very few would go beyond 150 volts and only 4% would reach 300 volts. They also predicted only a pathological fringe of about 1 in 1000 would go up to 450 volts. In fact, 65% of the participants in his initial experiment continued to 450 volts and all of them went up to 300 volts with only 12.5% of them stopping at that point. One of the major criticisms of the Milgram study is related to the ethical issues it raised. Milgram deceived participants by lying about the purpose of the study which means true informed consent was not given. However, Milgram argued that the experiment would not have worked if they had known its purpose. Secondly, although he offered them the right to withdraw it can be argued that this was cancelled out by the prods that the experimenter gave to the participants, which may have made them doubt whether they could discontinue the experiment. Baumrind (1964) also attacked Milgram’s research saying that he had placed the participants under great emotional strain, causing psychological damage. Milgram responded by saying he couldn’t have predicted the level of strain the experiment would cause and he fully debriefed participants after the experiment and again a year later and in fact found that 74% felt they had learnt something of personal importance from the experience. Milgram’s experiment was lab-based which meant it was not a true test of whether obe dience would occur in real-life. Hofling et al (1966) conducted a study on nurses to see if they would follow an order from a doctor that contravened hospital regulations. They found that all but one of the 22 participants did as they were told and obeyed the  order they were given, suggesting that even in a real-life setting obedience levels are similar to that of Milgram’s findings. However, Jacobson (1975) conducted a similar real-life study but used a well-known drug and allowed the nurses to consult with each other before making a decision (which is a more realistic representation of hospital practices). He found that the obedience level dropped to just 11%, suggesting that people in real-life aren’t actually as obedient as Milgram’s lab results showed. Discuss the role of minority influence in social change (6+6 marks) Minority Influence – Moscovici (1976) believed that it was not only majority influence that led to groups being able to exert pressure on individuals. He said that without an outspoken minority advocating a different way of doing things, we would have no innovation or social change. This suggests that an individual who is exposed to a persuasive argument under certain conditions, they may change their own views to match those of the minority. There are four conditions necessary for social change to come about via minority influence 1) Drawing attention to an issue – when an issue is drawn to our attention via a minority it creates a conflict of views which we become motivated to reduce through various resolution methods which in turn draw further attention to the issue making it more likely to gain further exposure. 2) The role of conflict – when a minority view cannot be easily dismissed as obviously abnormal it forces us to examine their arguments more closely. This may not cause a complete shift to the minority view but it will cause an individual to re-examine and perhaps have a more balanced view of a given situation, which may in turn weaken the majority view over time if the minority view continues to spread 3) Consistency – If arguments are presented consistently by a minority then they will be taken more seriously, as the assumption is that the view holder must really believe that what they a re saying is true 4) The augmentation principle – If it is risky to hold a particular viewpoint and yet a minority still does then they will be taken more seriously by others in the group because they appear willing to suffer for their views. This will then lead to the impact of their position on other groups members to be increased or ‘augmented’ which may make them more influential in bringing about social change. The suffragettes are a classic example of how minority influence can bring about social change. All four of the necessary conditions needed for social change to occur via minority  influence can be seen in the way they campaigned for rights for women. They drew attention to their issue by employing educational, political and occasionally militant tactics. The role of conflict was seen when members of the majority started to move their views in line with the new way of thinking that the suffragettes were proposing. The suffragette message was consistent regardless of the attitudes of others over a 15 year period and even when they were jailed for civil disobedience. The suffragettes also showed that they were willing to suffer for the cause by risking imprisonment and even death from hunger strike, causing people from the majority viewpoint to start to augment their views with those of the campaigners. As a general rule, most people will go along with the crowd and maintain the status quo which puts minority groups at a distinct disadvantage as they lack social power and are seen by the majority as ‘deviant’. People will often avoid agreeing with a minority view as they then risk being seen as different themselves which has a negative connotation. This suggests that minority influence is latent, creating the potential for change rather than actual change. Describe one research study that has investigated the duration of STM (6 marks) Peterson and Peterson in 1959 aimed to conduct a piece of research which would study the duration of the short-term memory. They created a lab experiment which they believed would allow them to monitor how long a piece of information could be held in the STM without rehearsal. They used an opportunity sample of 24 students from the university that they worked at in the US and tested their recall using an independent measures design. The research began the test by saying a consonant syllable (nonsense trigram) followed by a three-digit number e.g. WJF 872. They were careful to ensure that the consonant syllable had no obvious meaning which would make it easier to remember e.g. BBC. As soon as the participant had heard the three-digit number they had to start counting backwards in threes from that number until told to stop. The idea behind this difficult counting task was to stop the participants being able to rehearse the consonant syllable, thus keeping it in their STM for longer and aiding recall. Each participant was given two practice trials to get used to the experiment and then 8 trials where the results were recorded. On each of the trials the retention  interval (time spent counting backwards) increased: 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 or 18 seconds. The Peterson’s found that when the retention interval was only 3 seconds, about 90% of the participants could accurately recall the consonant syllable but when the interval was 18 seconds only about 2% could recall it. The conclusion made by the Petersons was that STM lasts for approximately 20 seconds without rehearsal before the information is lost from the store. Outline one strength of using a case study to study memory and one weakness of using a case study to study memory (6 marks) Strength – One strength of using case studies to study memory is that they allow researchers to gather lots of rich data over a long period of time (that is both quantitative and qualitative) about a specific unique case of brain damage. In the study of HM, researchers were able to gather information about all aspects of HM’s memory problems allowing them to draw conclusions about STM and LTM that may not have been possible from simply studying ‘healthy’ brains. This suggests that being able to study brains that have been damaged and so don’t work properly allows researchers to make conclusions about how a healthy brain works. Weakness – One weakness of using case studies to study memory is that they are often focused on someone who has suffered a trauma leading to brain damage which affects their memory. The problem with this is that it does not allow researchers to gain data from before the trauma making comparisons difficult and therefore it is harder to draw conclusions. In the case of KF who had suffered a motorcycle accident which affected his STM the researchers could not establish whether the level of trauma he had experienced, the actual brain damage he had suffered, or simply KF’s memory ability prior to the accident, were the cause of his STM problems. This suggests that the results of case studies on memory lack internal validity and so cannot be generalised to a wider population. Outline and evaluate the multi-store model of memory (6+6 marks) The Multi-store model of memory (MSM) was proposed by Atkinson and Shriffin in 1968 and aims to illustrate how information is processed in our brains in order to form memories. The model states that information enters the sensory memory store (SM) from the environment via the 5 senses. The SM has a large capacity but a very limited duration meaning that information is almost  immediately forgotten unless it is paid attention to. If attention is paid then the information will move into the short-term memory (STM) which is another temporary store, although the duration is slightly longer than the SM as information will remain for about 20 seconds before being forgotten. However, if maintenance rehearsal is used (repeating the information over and over either out loud or in your head) then information will remain in the STM for longer. The STM generally uses acoustic encoding due to the process of rehearsal and it can hold roughly 5-9 chunks of information at any one time. If the information is then added to by using elaborative rehearsal to make the information more meaningful then it will move into the long-term memory (LTM). The LTM has an infinite capacity and duration and tends to use semantic encoding. Once information has been stored in the LTM it can be retrieved for later use via the STM. There is also research evidence to support the concept of there being separate unitary stores within memory. Beardsley (1997) and Squire et al (1992) studied the brain using brain scanning techniques and found that when the short-term memory is being used for a task then the prefrontal cortex is active and when the long-term memory is being used for a task then the hippocampus is active. This suggests that there are indeed different stores for memory and that separate parts of the brain are active when they are being used . There is evidence to suggest that STM and LTM are not in fact unitary stores. Shallice and Warrington (1970) studied KF, a brain damaged patient, and found that he struggled to process verbal information in the STM but had no impairment with processing of visual information in this store. This suggests that the STM is in fact not one single store but may be made up of multiple components which undermines the MSM’s proposal of unitary stores. There is also evidence to suggest that the STM and LTM are not in fact separate stores but may work together to process information. Ruchkin et al (2003) found that the brains of participants recalling lists of real words more active than the brains of those recalling pseudo-words. He concluded that this was because the real words were being processed using previous knowledge and experience from the LTM whereas the pseudo words (which have no meaning) were only processed by the STM. This suggests that the linear relationship between STM and LTM in the MSM is not accurate and that in fact the STM may actually be part of the LTM. Outline and evaluate the working memory model (6+6 marks) The Working Memory Model (WMM) was proposed by Baddeley and Hitch (1974) they aimed to explain how information is processed in the bit of the memory that is used when an individual is working on a complex task. The basis of their model was that the STM was not just one single store but in fact is made up of several components. This was based on the fact that people seem to be able to perform two taks with equal accuracy simultaneously unless similar types of processing are required (e.g. two visual tasks at the same time). The first element to their model is the central executive (CE) which coordinates all the information the memory working memory system receives. It decides where to send incoming information which is received from the senses or the LTM and has to do this efficiently as it has limited capacity. There are three slave systems which operate under the CE, one of which is the Phonological Loop (PL). The PL was further subdivided by Baddeley in 1986 to form the phonologica l store (PS) and the articulatory process (AP). The PS stores any information which the individual hears, like an inner ear, while the AP uses the inner voice to silently repeat the information the individual has heard or seen (maintenance rehearsal). Another slave system is the visuo-spatial sketchpad which is used for planning spatial tasks and temporarily storing visual or spatial information. The final slave system is the episodic buffer which was added to the model in 2000 by Baddeley as he realised that the model lacked a general store which could hold both visual and acoustic information for more than a few seconds. Information from the other two slave systems, the CE and the LTM can be stored in the episodic buffer to create a complete memory which can then be transferred to the LTM for more permanent storage. Evidence from brain-damaged patients supports the WMM’s proposal of different stores for different types of processing in the STM. Shallice and Warrington (1970) studied KF who, following a motorcycle accident , had problems with some aspects of his STM. He seemed to be able to recall visual material quite well but struggled if information was presented acoustically. This suggests that the brain damage KF suffered may have been restricted to his phonological loop, supporting the WMM’s multi-component STM. However, there is also criticism of the CE as some feel that the notion of it being one single store is not accurate. Eslinger and  Damasio (1985) studied EVR who had suffered brain damage during an operation to remove a brain tumour. He still performed well on reasoning tasks but had problems with decision-making. This suggests that only part of his CE was intact and therefore shows that the explanation provided by the WMM of the CE being a single store is not complex enough. A further weakness of the WMM is that much of the research that has been conducted to evidence it comes from case studies. This is a problem as no ‘before and after’ comparisons can be made so it is not clear what actually caused the damage seen. This is evidenced in the case by Shallice and Warrington (1970) of KF who had problems with his STM. It was unclear whether the memory issues KF had were a result of previous memory ability, the trauma of the accident or the damage to his brain. This sug gests that case study evidence lacks validity and so should not be used to evidence the WMM as a general explanation for memory. Evaluate research on cultural variations in attachment (6 marks) The Strange Situation was created by an American psychologist and is based on the US viewpoint of what constitutes ‘normal’ attachment behaviour. Rothbaum et al (2000) claimed that much of attachment theory and research is based in American culture and so using it to evaluate cross-cultural differences is not a fair comparison. This suggests that secure attachment, as outlined in Ainsworth’s research, is not the ideal attachment type to have. This means gaining figures about attachment types from various cultures and labelling them, according to a western viewpoint, is an imposed etic which labels behaviours negatively when actually they may simply fit with the cultural norms of that particular country. There is an alternative explanation for why attachment may seem to have universalities across cultures. Van Ijzendoorn and Kroonenberg (1988) suggested that the similarities in attachment behaviours across cultures may also be explained in terms of mass media promoting an ‘ideal’ perception of parenting. This might suggest that similarities in attachment are not due to innate biological influences but are a result of an increasingly globalised world which is receiving similar messages from the mass media. There may be problems with researcher bias in research that aims to explore cultural variations in attachment. Researchers tend to be studying their own culture e.g. Ainsworth’s Strange Situation research in Baltimore, which can lead to assumptions being made based on the previous knowledge of the culture they are researching. The opposite problem  can occur when a researcher undertakes research in a foreign culture e.g. Ainsworth in Uganda. The problem here can be the interpretation of data by the researcher, especially if there is a language barrier as important details may be lost in translation. This suggests that a major flaw with all attachment research is that multiple cultures can never be studied truly objectively.

Classification of Friends Essay

EEAnyone who has spent time with friends will notice that each one has a special personality all of their own. Friends, have different traits that make up their personalities. A sense of humor, great advice, and honesty are all things that come to mind when you think about a friend. Friends are important to have because they are a backbone when things get tough in life and are always there to love and support. However, anyone who has spent time with friends will notice that each one has a special personality with respect to their honesty, loyalty, and care. There are three major types of friends, which are acquaintances, social friends, and best friends. The first type of friend is simply an acquaintance. This means that you basically only know their name. Not even remembering what they look like. You usually meet these type of friends in school, at work, on the bus, in the gym, or anywhere else you might be. You normally would not mind having a cup of coffee with them, but if anything else came up, you would have no problem parting company. We see many people in the work. Sometimes we speak them compulsorily and we don’t remember even their face. While we are on the bus, we come across some people who get on the bus regulars like us. Therefore we call them as an acquaintance. Someone you know socially or through the business world would be called an acquaintance if you don’t know them well personally. An acquaintance can remain a personal or business contact for you or can become a friend at some point. It depends on the relationship and the people involved. You may have some acquaintances you see over and over throughout your life that you never really get to know. However, they are still good people to know because they can connect you to potential friends. This group includes people who one talks to out of awkward obligation. Observed in their natural habitats of classrooms, bus seats, and the general public acquaintances are random encounters. A person often speaks to this species out of necessity, loneliness, or boredom. For instance, when a person is alone in the bus station with nothing to do, they see a person reading a magazine and decide to make conversation about that magazine. This is not done to bother the other person, and usually both people don’t care but it’s a tool to make a person feel less alone. This  sect of friends does not evolve past a rand om encounter or conversation. Acquaintances include people who one exploits for their own personal gain. The second category of friends is a social partner. One you often meet at social occasions, or one who may accompany you to social gatherings, but with whom you don’t have a personal relationship. This is because they are closer than acquaintances, but nowhere near as close as a true friend. Social partners are usually acquaintances who evolve into â€Å"guest friends† through increased extracurricular activities. You know their name, a little of what they like or dislike, a little of their family history, and usually have several things in common. As the saying goes, â€Å"Birds of a feather flock together,† so too the social partners have to have several things in common with you. No one is going to want to spend any more time than necessary with somebody completely opposite and aggravating to him. Social friends are closer than acquaintances, but nowhere near as close as a true friend. You know much more about each other than you would as mere acquaintances, but much less than if you were personal friends. The last type of friend is the â€Å"best friend.† Normally, you know them the longest and you probably grew up together as children. He or she knows everything about you. Likewise, you know everything about him or her. They are basically like family. You would have no problem if they spent the night at your house. You know each other’s habits and can always tell when there is something wrong. You would not hesitate to share your deepest feelings or thoughts with them. A best friend has no problem correcting you when you are wrong, or being stern with you when you are out of line. They will see you through when others see that you are through. He/she will always be there for you. They are not perfect, but at least they will always look out for you and never do anything intentionally to hurt you. They are there to find national solutions to the many unexpected problems that life presents for us. â€Å"Best friends† are very important to us, because we share with them something which are secrets things that have not be known by anybody. They are very generous people. For example, when we have not enough money, they lend us. When we fall into bad condition, they cheer us up. They support us. In conclusion; we always meet people and classify them in terms of their personalities. There are three types of friends. The first type of friends is simply an acquaintance. The second is the social friend. Finally the best friends. We will always encounter those types of friends in our lives. Every friend has a different type of character. Some friends are helpful while some friends are caring. No matter what traits they have as long as we interest and comfort each other. Friends caneither make or break us.

Business Plan Electrical Blinds

Description We offer solar powered blinds to both consumer and businesses. Taking part of the green movement, we allow our consumers to utilize direct energy from the sun that can be translated into powering small appliances within houses and corporate buildings. With most large building and houses using blinds we can capitalize on the large un tapped market place. Our goal is to partner with large blind companies and push forward our technology Marketing Plan and StrategyTarget Market Our main focus will be targeting home owners , business and building landlords. Offering our service to this niche market of green conscious building owners will allow us to capitalize on the reneable energy sector. Competitors Our competitors will be large corporation who have already developed solar panels that are able to translate into powering small appliances. These companies will easily be able to enter the market and take market share.Our biggest competitors will be 3M technologies who have alr eady developed small solar panel film that is able to be placed on solid objects. Pricing strategy Partnering with existing blind companies that already have existing contracts with building , home and landlord owners will be our largest attribute in penetrating the market. We will offer them a 8% profit in sales to use their blinds with our technology. In addition we will offer large distirubtion discounts to building owners to be more enticing to purchase our technologies with blinds.Promotion and distribution We will promote our product through government services that promote green movement within the energy sector. Distributing our products with large blind corporoation such as blinds to go will allow us to increase sales dramatically within the industry. Quality target To ensure quality we will have our technology fully certified before distribution. In addition we will * Green , durable , passes all ISO test Technology requirementsOur product will require solar power film tha t can recharge batteries which can power small application. Our blinds will have standard 12V adapters which will allow direct connection of appliances. Service support To keep our clients satisfied with our services we offer a 24/7 direct support line if any products fail during the desired warranty period. We offer 1,3 and 5 year warranty programs. Management Kyle – 10 years of electrical engineering back groundArchuna – 15 years of marketing and sales with a back ground in solar panel construction Shadan – 17 years of R&D at 3M technologies, specializing in solar panel construction. Background in blind sales from Blinds To Go. Organization structure Pyramid style CEO – Director – Employees Intellectual property: Patents – Solar panel film, battery charger, power adapter Copywrite – Solar panel blind architectural design Financial plan Receive funding from angel investors in order to market our solar panel film into the market.We pl an to invest in distribution, marketing our product. We will also invest in R&D to ensure efficiency and effectiveness of our solar panel film. Risk 1. New competitors that are able to replicate our technologies at a lower price. 2. Consumer will not adapt to our technology and will prefer standard blinds 3. Our prices will be for a niche market of consumers , the standard everyday living middle class buyer will not be willing to pay additional cost for our blinds

Papa John’s

Papa John’s Analysis Alex Quiquia 3/19/13 MGMT 4800 Strategic Analysis of Papa John’s Introduction–We already know that Papa John's is a major player in the Pizza industry but what does the future hold for them. One of the business-level strategies that Papa John’s implemented was product differentiation through the use of fresh dough and superior-quality ingredients. John Schnatter believed that other pizza restaurants used inferior ingredients and that he could do it better. This strategy was implemented from the very beginning in the United States.Another successful business-level strategy that focused on product diversification employed by Papa John’s was the use of technology to order pizza. In 2001 they became the first pizza company to offer online ordering. The most significant corporate-level strategy used early on by Papa John’s was mergers and acquisitions. In the late 90s, the company acquired 205 â€Å"Perfect Pizza† resta urants in the UK. They continued aggressively acquiring international restaurants until the early 2000s when they began to focus their acquisition efforts domestically.In just under 30 years since opening its first store, Papa John’s has added over 4,000 stores (papajohns. com). That’s an average of over 140 new stores every year since inception, an incredible pace. They also decided to use the franchisee model. Although this model has its critics, it can be a very useful way to generate revenue without adding to store overhead, etc. The franchisee model has been successful for Papa John’s. Papa John’s was enjoying a 5+ percent average revenue growth rate for the previous five years. The company also boasted one of the highest returns on invested capital in the restaurant category of the markets.Total assets grew steadily from 2003 to 2007 as well. This growth was financed mostly by debt, but debt/equity ratios remained healthy. Apparently Papa Johnâ€⠄¢s holds a competitive advantage in its fresher, higher-quality ingredients. When a customer is looking for a restaurant-quality pizza with ease of delivery, they turn to Papa John’s. External Analysis– During this study, the pizza industry was extremely competitive. Barriers to entry were few and competitors could drive prices for pizza ingredients extremely low, enabling them to easily undercut other competitors’ prices.Food commodity prices also took a 20 percent jump in 2007, which didn’t make the industry any more attractive. One of the attractive features of the industry is that because pizza ingredients are commodities, supplier power is very low. Suppliers cannot dictate prices to buyers, because they can go somewhere else. Buyer power, however, is very high. If someone doesn’t wish to buy a $12. 00 pizza at Papa John’s, they can go across the street to Little Caesar’s for a $5. 00 pizza that tastes almost the same. The two m ajor competitors of Papa John’s are Dominos and Pizza Hut. Both of these companies enjoy a larger market share than Papa John’s.These companies are focused more on price savings than Papa John’s, who is focused on quality pizza. Just like any other sub-section of the food industry, thousands of pizza restaurants are opened each year, which continues to make profits more difficult to obtain. Internal Analysis–The commissary system is an important part of what gives Papa John’s an edge over its competitors. Every Papa John’s restaurant belongs to a subdivided region, and each region has what is known as a commissary. These commissaries send fresh ingredients and cleaning supplies twice per week to all the Papa John’s restaurants within their region.This ensures fresh ingredients and all the supplies needed to clean the restaurants. This also maintains consistency from restaurant to restaurant as all of the commissaries are controlled at the corporate level. By servicing several units from one commissary, labor costs are also driven down. Papa John’s international growth is also an advantage it has over many of its competitors. By taking advantage of all different markets around the world, Papa John’s ensures that business is most likely thriving somewhere at all times. All of these factors create a competitive advantage for Papa John’s.Recommendations Based on this analysis of Papa John’s, the following recommendations are made to help the company continue its profitability. 1. Expand internationally as much as possible. With several stores in diverse locations throughout the world, Papa John’s will be well diversified and able to absorb losses in one area better. 2. Continue to move more toward the franchisee model even more so than they are currently doing. By furthering this model, overhead and administrative costs at the corporate level are drastically reduced. Papa John’s Papa John’s Analysis Alex Quiquia 3/19/13 MGMT 4800 Strategic Analysis of Papa John’s Introduction–We already know that Papa John's is a major player in the Pizza industry but what does the future hold for them. One of the business-level strategies that Papa John’s implemented was product differentiation through the use of fresh dough and superior-quality ingredients. John Schnatter believed that other pizza restaurants used inferior ingredients and that he could do it better. This strategy was implemented from the very beginning in the United States.Another successful business-level strategy that focused on product diversification employed by Papa John’s was the use of technology to order pizza. In 2001 they became the first pizza company to offer online ordering. The most significant corporate-level strategy used early on by Papa John’s was mergers and acquisitions. In the late 90s, the company acquired 205 â€Å"Perfect Pizza† resta urants in the UK. They continued aggressively acquiring international restaurants until the early 2000s when they began to focus their acquisition efforts domestically.In just under 30 years since opening its first store, Papa John’s has added over 4,000 stores (papajohns. com). That’s an average of over 140 new stores every year since inception, an incredible pace. They also decided to use the franchisee model. Although this model has its critics, it can be a very useful way to generate revenue without adding to store overhead, etc. The franchisee model has been successful for Papa John’s. Papa John’s was enjoying a 5+ percent average revenue growth rate for the previous five years. The company also boasted one of the highest returns on invested capital in the restaurant category of the markets.Total assets grew steadily from 2003 to 2007 as well. This growth was financed mostly by debt, but debt/equity ratios remained healthy. Apparently Papa Johnâ€⠄¢s holds a competitive advantage in its fresher, higher-quality ingredients. When a customer is looking for a restaurant-quality pizza with ease of delivery, they turn to Papa John’s. External Analysis– During this study, the pizza industry was extremely competitive. Barriers to entry were few and competitors could drive prices for pizza ingredients extremely low, enabling them to easily undercut other competitors’ prices.Food commodity prices also took a 20 percent jump in 2007, which didn’t make the industry any more attractive. One of the attractive features of the industry is that because pizza ingredients are commodities, supplier power is very low. Suppliers cannot dictate prices to buyers, because they can go somewhere else. Buyer power, however, is very high. If someone doesn’t wish to buy a $12. 00 pizza at Papa John’s, they can go across the street to Little Caesar’s for a $5. 00 pizza that tastes almost the same. The two m ajor competitors of Papa John’s are Dominos and Pizza Hut. Both of these companies enjoy a larger market share than Papa John’s.These companies are focused more on price savings than Papa John’s, who is focused on quality pizza. Just like any other sub-section of the food industry, thousands of pizza restaurants are opened each year, which continues to make profits more difficult to obtain. Internal Analysis–The commissary system is an important part of what gives Papa John’s an edge over its competitors. Every Papa John’s restaurant belongs to a subdivided region, and each region has what is known as a commissary. These commissaries send fresh ingredients and cleaning supplies twice per week to all the Papa John’s restaurants within their region.This ensures fresh ingredients and all the supplies needed to clean the restaurants. This also maintains consistency from restaurant to restaurant as all of the commissaries are controlled at the corporate level. By servicing several units from one commissary, labor costs are also driven down. Papa John’s international growth is also an advantage it has over many of its competitors. By taking advantage of all different markets around the world, Papa John’s ensures that business is most likely thriving somewhere at all times. All of these factors create a competitive advantage for Papa John’s.Recommendations Based on this analysis of Papa John’s, the following recommendations are made to help the company continue its profitability. 1. Expand internationally as much as possible. With several stores in diverse locations throughout the world, Papa John’s will be well diversified and able to absorb losses in one area better. 2. Continue to move more toward the franchisee model even more so than they are currently doing. By furthering this model, overhead and administrative costs at the corporate level are drastically reduced.

INTERNATIONAL STUDIES IN BUSINESS Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

INTERNATIONAL STUDIES IN BUSINESS - Assignment Example However, the industrialization is an imperative need for England if the government is interested into fulfilling the basics of the country’s population. Taylor guided the managers to promote sameness and integrative objective setting in the organizations. The idea needed the companies to get highly trodden in order to facilitate effective communication. The SMEs have a smaller setup as compared to other larger forms of the organizational structures and therefore, they can provide the perfect venue for the execution Taylor’s philosophy towards organizational culture and structure. The main idea behind International Labor Organization’s definition of child labor is to give children an opportunity to experience growth, nourishment and development before becoming an active part of the workforce. The areas upon which the definition emphasizes are age, safety of children who work and it is strictly against the work that is taken without making appropriate compensation to the less-aged workers. Child labor does not encompass everything that is done by the children and ILO allows organizations to hire youngsters to do the jobs which do not strain them significantly. The current business, entrepreneurial and corporate mindset is looking to minimize the cost of production and they look to save each and every penny at their disposable. The child labor is the cheapest workforce available and the companies always seek cheap labor and therefore, businesses in all parts of the world are hiring children to do their dirty work. However, the developing economies and emergent nations have gotten the worst condition in this regard because of their poor legal infrastructure and framework. Nevertheless, the organizations such as UNO and WTO have to play their due roles in terms of causing the companies to implement modern labor laws until than they remain a set of dream-words. Additionally, the humanistic values are required to

Immigration and LA part 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Immigration and LA part 2 - Essay Example Additionally, when they moved to California, they chased away the Chinese from orchards, as well as grain and vegetable fields. Thus, the concept gave them a superior position in the American society comparable to the white frontiers. Back in the Japanese Empire, Issei pioneer thesis promoted the importance of this group of other teams. Though the white frontiers tolerated the concept of Issei pioneer thesis and Japanese rice to dominance and authority, eventually, Americans failed to agree with some of the actions of the Issei pioneers. For instance, Americans saw the efforts to co-opt immigration as a conspiratorial and subversive agenda. Thus, it created hostile relations between the two groups, which undermined the basic goals of Issei. This created a crisis, which on realizing, the pioneers of Issei recognized the need for adjustment of the Issei pioneer thesis in order to cope with the new situation. As a result, they sacrificed their association with Japan to safeguard their immediate interests in America. In the light of Los Angeles urban history, topography of race can be sued to the transformation of Los Angeles to a city. In the early days, the place was divide in terms of east and west. These two entities represented not only the geographical region, but also the social and economic status of the regions, as well as race. Additionally, the two entities are makers of race, social status, class, and even prosperity. While the east presented the low points of the society, west presented the high points. For instance, to the west were rich and influencing individuals, and the east presenting the regions containing struggling to attain rights. Similarly, the east signified those in poverty and lower social economic state. On the other hand, the west signified luxurious and affluent life. The composition described here is still seen in Los Angeles albeit in modified