Week 3-Individual small Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Week 3-Individual small - Assignment Example nvolved in the creation of Affordable Care Act mainly include reviewing whether there lays the necessity of making any sort of change in the current health insurance plans and identifying the new subsidies that may help in providing any sort of financial assistance among others. In contrast, the steps followed in the generation of Clinton Healthcare Reforms generally included making healthcare coverage plans that are affordable to all, making quality improvements in treatment procedures and bringing simplicity in the procedure among others (Cannan, 2013). It can be affirmed that the step of communicating the Americans about the message about the affordability of effective healthcare insurance plans eventually contributed in making the failure of Clinton Healthcare Reforms. Conversely, the step i.e. modernizing as well as upgrading the existing healthcare system in the US eventually emerged as one of the success factors of Affordable Care Act (Cannan, 2013). The stakeholders of both Clinton Healthcare Reforms and Affordable Care Act can be ascertained as corporate leaders, industry shareholders along with centrist academics and most vitally the community members prevailing within varied societies in the US (Cannan, 2013). The Institute for HealthCare Consumerism. (2014). What is the difference between Obama and Clintons health care plans? Retrieved from

Walmart Case Essay Example for Free

Walmart Case Essay Walmart has thrived in a very competitive industry by building on its founding principles and developing arguably the industries best supply chain. It has integrated its sales to its suppliers, streamlined order fulfillment and driven down its costs, which is one of its key founding principles, â€Å"Our purpose is helping our customers save money so they can live better† (Grant text, 5 walmart core 5 values). Walmart has had great success in North America, but its cultural values have not translated well in other parts of the world. Great sales growth has not translated into significant margins. Walmart has incurred losses on its international operations. Carrefour (founded in France) and Walmart both retreated from Germany. Some of the key issues facing Walmart include adapting their founding 5 core principles to vastly different cultures; the drive to cut costs clashes with treating the employees as part of family (which part of the family has more value? Is treated with integrity? ); the drive to cut costs has been driven far down the supply chain to a myriad of suppliers, sub-suppliers and sub-sub-sub suppliers†¦. how can Walmart audit or control these suppliers†¦standards imposed by Walmart? Current Situation Brief History Walmart has grown over the past 50 years from a local ‘general merchandiser’ with 15 stores in Arkansas to become the largest in the world with over 10,000 stores world-wide. Wal-Mart’s six market segments are: groceries; fashion clothes; pharmacy; health clinics; financial services; and music downloads. Its main North American competitors are Target, Dollar General and Costco. Walmart has four formats plus on-line that it has adapted to its international expansion. These formats have not always been successful, especially in their foreign expansion with retreats in Germany, South Korea and losses in Japan. The formats are: The smallest are neighbourhood formats averaging 42,000 square feet Traditional Discount store averaging 102,000 square feet Sam’s Clubs averaging 127,000 square feet Super Centers averaging 187,000 square feet No matter who we are or where we come from, our values pull us together and keep us together. They constantly push us forward to become a better and stronger company. Mike Duke, Walmart President CEO Sam Walton drove this growth founded on five(5) core principles with its roots in small town US family values: Integrity: Be Trustworthy and honest in all your business activities (Sam valued Honor) Opportunity: If, you work hard and do a good job, you will be promoted (approx.. 75% of store managers started as associates) Family and Community: Your customers, suppliers and associates are your neighbours. Work with a purpose: Deliver them the lowest costs (EDLP) and their lives will be improved. Responsibility: Make the world a better place These became Wal-Mart Stores 3 core values: The Value Statement: Service to the customer, Respect for the individual and Striving for excellence. From the website: Delivering a seamless shopping experience; Talent is key to success; Benefiting our communities. The Mission Statement: Save Money/Live Better (from the website). There is consistency in Sam’s values and Walmart’s stated values today. Walmart built its US operations using a hub and spoke system. The hub (distribution center) supports the spokes (stores). Each wheel was the launch board to the next hub and spoke as a hub could support growth of sufficient stores to build a new hub. Today Walmart has expanded overseas primarily through joint ventures or acquisitions and then built wheels to support the new regions. Additional distribution models such as Remix and the integration of IT systems have been built to streamline ordering, deliveries and drive costs further down the supply chain. Expansion overseas and growth have impacted margins, at least in the international operations, and affected the ability to centrally control the operations and keep the personal relationships between head office and the individual store managers. Porters 5 forces the resource based approach (C. K. Prahad Core Competencies) to firm analysis The External Environment Porters 5 forces can be termed the outside-in approach to industry and firm analysis. The general merchandising industry is very competitive with few to no barriers to entry, buyers can easily switch among many substitute products with cost becoming the primary factor of choice for buyers. The only strength for a merchandiser is the choice among many suppliers. Barriers to new entrants (Low) Few to none Location and min financing Power of Suppliers (HIGH) Little power; many substitutes Power of Buyers (HIGH) Many alternatives; can price compare; customer service is of minimal concern Substitutes (Low) Most products have many substitutes Industry Competitors Intense rivalry; no obvious barriers to entry; suppliers have little power; the only avenue for uniqueness is internal competencies Based on the porters 5 forces analysis, we found the general merchandise industry is not attractive. We need to use a different model to assess Wal-Marts’s competitive advantage The real competitive advantage for any firm is how it uses its resources, but more importantly its capabilities to create competitive advantages over its rivals. The resource based view as â€Å"popularized by C. K. Prahad†¦. ’The Core Competence of the Corporation† will be used to evaluate Wal-Marts core competencies and its ability to leverage these competencies to create a sustained competitive advantage. Walmart’s Resources and capabilities (The internal environment) Tangible resources: 22-24% debt to total assets has remained stable; ability to borrow Their working capital has remained steady at 0. 9 to 1; pay bills as they come due Major investment in fixed assets at 56-58%; stores and fixtures to support sales growth US Super centres: 3022; 629 US discount stores (declining numbers); 611 US Sam’sclubs; 196 US Neibourhood Markets; 5651 International units†¦lots of stores 23% ROE will allow Wal-Mart to easily raise funds in the equity markets Walmart’s financial strength allows it to finance growth without increasing its leverage. Its debt to equity and working capital has remained stable over the past 10 years with little impact from the financial crisis. This, in combination with the industry’s highest return on equity, means Wal-Mart can borrow at a very low weighted (WACC) average cost of capital (interest costs have averaged less than 5% of long-term debt) or raise capital in the stock market at favorable prices. Its major investments are in inventory and fixed assets. The fixed assets are supported by 93% long-term debt and equity financing meaning part of working capital is supported by long-term financing. This is a conservative approach and explains why Wal-Mart was not greatly impacted by the credit crunch brought about by the financial crisis. Intangible resources Founding 5 core principles: small town values; EDLP; community; responsibility; opportunity Proprietary distribution sw systems- satellite RDFI for logistics mgmtand inventory control Links all stores, to system all the way to suppliers; tracks items Own their own satellite; use EDI with suppliers; POS to suppliers for inventory reorders Store layout Growth through Hub and spoke (distribution) system Cross-docking system: minimal warehousing; goods go immediately from dist pts to stores; minimizes costs Customer satisfaction guarantee program; use of greeters EDLP Decentralized store management: layout,pricing, sales strat by dept mgrs. , product mix within store Use of IT to integrate entire value chain Communication and supervision structure keeps stores close to HO Reg VP? 10-15 Dist Mgrs ? 8-12 stores; VP visit stores/no offices; data accum M-th; data anal Fri-sat; decision made Sat; Dist mgrs. Contacted sat for following week Wal-Mart’s founding principles as enshrined in its mission and vision give’s every associate right up to the management team a focus and an understanding of where each component of the value chain. fits in this picture and where each of their jobs and duties lie. There is no doubt, nor is there any drift. Each job has a purpose within Sam’s greater vision. Greeting the customer or stocking what is in demand is all part of the â€Å"Customer Satisfaction Guarantee†. The distribution (RDFI), purchasing (EDI) and sales (POS) systems have been integrated in order to control costs at all parts of the value chain. In effect driving costs back to the suppliers. This singular focus on cost has allowed Wal-Mart to pass this savings to its customers. This has been facilitated by minimizing bottle-necks using cross-docking and REMIX and growth with the hub and spoke strategy including regional mega distribution centers such as Shanghai China to support global growth. Decision making at the customer level has been decentralized to the store level allowing store managers and department managers control over layout, input on pricing and products on the shelf. This allows for EDLP (everyday low pricing) to be competitive at the local level in all regions. The weekly meeting is a hallmark of Wal-Mart. It has been changed to monthly, but the weekly gathering of information to facilitate decisions from the corporate to store level remains. The VPs meet with their district managers who visit all their assigned store managers (stores) gathering the intelligence needed to drive the strategy and the tactics. This information is culled to develop ongoing strategies from supplier acquisition or termination to individual store strategies all to facilitate â€Å"Save more, Live better†. Human Resources Empowered sales associates 94% of employees have health benefits With one year or more of service employees are covered by a pension Pay scale is higher than competitors All store managers from around the world participate in a monthly meeting via satellite (formerly the famous Wal-Mart weekly meetings) Wal-Mart’s employees (or associates) are family. They are your neighbours. Associates are empowered and when deserved, promoted . They are given better than average health benefits and wages. All associates are covered by a pension plan. Associates will someday become the VP’s, district managers and managers. They are Sam’s community to be treated with honour and respect, just the same as the clients. Capabilities Corporate Functions Multi-district mgr/VP coordination worldwide to Benton HO Centralized purchasing from Benton HO Management Info Complete integration of sales, inventory and supplier information through sophisticated IT systems to facilitate managerial decision making Eg. The VP/Dist mgr/Store mgr meetings and data gathering Operations Operational efficiency Centralized and proprietary supply chain system allows Walmart to drive down costs at all stages of the supply chain more efficiently than their competitors Walmart is able to use the capabilities of its EDI, POS and other data systems and combine this with the VP’s weekly info gathering exercise to make weekly managerial decisions. This is more sophisticated and faster than the competitions Store design; layout of aisles; and stocking of shelves benefits from the information capabilities REMIX Program: uses 3rd distribution

Siddhartha :: Hesse Siddhartha Essays

Siddhartha    Siddhartha is extremely proud of his ability to think, fast, and wait.   These qualities also allow him to get a job with Kamaswami as a merchant. These are basically Siddhartha's life achievements.   Being able to do these things shows he is intelligent and more than able to do most tasks.   This is probably why he flaunts it, and is proud of these abilities so much.   In this essay I will discuss each of these abilities individually, and show how they apply to his life, what they do to teach him, or show him, and also show how they help him or hinder him in various situations.      Ã‚  Ã‚   The ability to think obviously is something to be proud of.   When a man can think on any topic, give feedback, and reflect on it, they are considered very valuable in any situation or job.   When Kamaswami first meets Siddhartha, he is instantly impressed with his ability to read and write.   We see how this ability to think can gain a man instant respect.   All Siddhartha's life he has been reading, writing, meditating, and studying.   It is quite evident tat if you or I worked that hard, we would feel the same achievement he has, and try to apply our abilities to anything we do.   Aside from thinking though, Kamaswami is also very impressed with waiting as we see when he says, "Writing is good, thinking is better.   Cleverness is good, patience is better."      Ã‚  Ã‚   As much as Siddhartha thinks, his ability to wait is something that really defines his character even better.   This is also incorporates with fasting, as well as thinking, but by itself waiting is extremely important. I have found, in all my years, myself to be quite impatient.   This will probably harm me later in my life.   The ability to wait also spurs the ability to think, and fast.   Throughout all his studies, Siddhartha had to wait out the array of different teachings he went through to know truly in his heart, that they didn't apply to him.   To wait on something shows wisdom, and maturity.   These are traits that no good businessman can ignore, as Kamaswami realizes.   That is a major reason Siddhartha was hired.      Ã‚  Ã‚   Lastly, fasting is something that once again requires patience, and deep

Michelangelo Buonarroti, the greatest of the Italian Renaissance artists

Michelangelo Buonarroti, the greatest of the Italian Renaissance artists, was born on March 6, 1475, in the small village of Caprese (Today, Caprese is known as Caprese Michelangelo or Tuscany, Italy). Michelangelo grew up in Florence, Italy. His Father was a government administrator and his Mother died when he was only six years old. After the death of his mother Michelangelo lived with a stone cutter and his family in the town of Settignano, where his father owned a marble quarry and small farm. Along with living with a stone cutter (where he learned to handle marble), Michelangelo's influences included da Vinci and Dominico Ghirlandaio. Michelangelo showed no interest in school, he preferred to copy paintings from churches and seek the company of painters. His artistic talents were noticed at a very early age. At the age of thirteen, Michelangelo was apprenticed to the painter Domenico Ghirlandaio. At age fourteen Michelangelo’s father persuaded Ghirlandaio to pay Michelangelo as an artist, which was unusual at the time. Demonstrating obvious talent, he was taken under the wing of Lorenzo de' Medici, the ruler of the Florentine republic and a great patron of the arts. For two years beginning in 1490, he lived in the Medici palace and attended the Humanist academy, where he was a student of the sculptor Bertoldo di Giovanni and studied the Medici art collection, which included ancient Roman statuary. At the academy, both Michelangelo’s outlook and his art was influenced by many of the most prominent philosophers and writers of the day. At this time Michelangelo sculpted the Madonna of the Steps (1490-1492) and Battle of the Centaurs (1491-1492). Lorenzo de Medici, the man who gave Michelangelo the tools and schooling to perfect his artistry, passed away in 1492. Michelangelo decided that it was time to return home to his family, but he continued studying on his own. Although the practice was forbidden at the time by the church, Michelangelo got special permission to study anatomy of the dead at a hospital in the church of Santo Spirito. He used his new knowledge of the human body to create some of his most famous works, including the famous statue of David (1501-1504), the sculptures in the Church of San Pietro, and the Creation of Adam on the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling, which there is a hypotheses that part of it is shaped like the human brain. Michelangelo’s love for sculpture continued to grow, and so did the attention of the world to his work. His demand as an artist grew, and he began creating some of the most famous works of his career. And then there is his architecture, where Michelangelo reordered ancient forms in an entirely new and dramatic ways. Michelangelo was principally a sculptor and always claimed that architecture was not his profession, but, with a sculptor's vision, he saw buildings as dynamic organisms – metaphors of the human body and he designed some of the most impressive architecture in all history. Among his best-known buildings are the Medici Chapel and the Laurentian Library in Florence and he finished the architectural work on St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Michelangelo renewed architectures potential for the next generation of architects, freeing them from the need to slavishly imitate models from the past and allowing them to arrive at their own forms of expression. Michelangelo, though best known for his sculpture, was also a poet. He composed over 300 pieces of poetry during his life time including the poem about the hardships of painting the Sistine Chapel ceiling. In his poems he discusses categories pertaining to love, death, evil and good, and beauty. His writing is similar to his art in that every word is carved into the realities of life. Michelangelo's art is his love of male beauty, which attracted him both by the nature of natural beauty and emotionally. Such feelings caused him great anguish, and he expressed the struggle between reality and desire for the male body in his sculpture and his poetry. The sculptor loved many youths, many of whom posed for him. His greatest love was Tommaso dei Cavalieri, who was 16 years old when Michelangelo met him in 1532, at the age of 57. Cavalieri was open to the older man's affection and Michelangelo dedicated many poems to him. Some say Michelangelo’s relationship with Cavalieri was only a deep friendship and not sexual. Even if Michelangelo had homo-erotic impulses, there is no evidence he acted on them. Cavalieri was not the only inspiration for Michelangelo’s poetry. Later in life he fell in love with Vittoria Colonna. She was a widow and friend to Michelangelo in his later maturity. Between Michelangelo and Vittoria Colonna a deep friendship developed, one might almost say an absolutely pure love, inspired by poetry and faith, out of which were to emerge some of Michelangelo's finest lyric poems, overflowing with admiration and devotion. She died at the age of 56 and Michelangelo was deeply affected by her death writing many commemorative pieces in her honor. Michelangelo worked until his death in 1564 at the age of 88. He caught a fever and a few days later he passed away. Michelangelo's revolutionizing artistic techniques altered the artist's method for centuries, and still effect how art is made today. His view on the world and its leaders changed the way artists portray their subjects and how bold they allowed their artwork to be. Michelangelo will always be known as one of the most influential artists the world has ever known. ttp://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Michelangelo www. sparknotes. com Several hypotheses have been put forward about the meaning of The Creation of Adam's highly original composition, many of them taking Michelangelo's well-documented expertise in human anatomy as their starting point. In 1990, an Anderson, Indiana physician named Frank Lynn Meshberger, M. D. noted in the medical publication the Journal of the American Medical Association that the background figures and shapes portrayed behind the figure of God appeared to be an anatomically accurate picture of the human brain. 5] Dr. Meshberger's interpretation has been discussed by Dr. Mark Lee Appler. [6] On close examination, borders in the painting correlate with major sulci of the cerebrum in the inner and outer surface of the brain, the brain stem, the frontal lobe, the basilar artery, the pituitary gland and the optic chiasm. [5] Alternatively, it has been observed that the red cloth around God has the shape of a human uterus (one art historian has called it a â€Å"uterine mantle†[7]), and that the scarf hanging out, colored green, could be a newly cut umbilical cord. 8] â€Å"This is an interesting hypothesis that presents the Creation scene as an idealized representation of the physical birth of man. It explains the navel that appears on Adam, which is at first perplexing because he was created, not born of a woman. â€Å"[9] Michelangelo was both highly literate and plain-spoken. He felt passionate toward individuals, both female and male (Vitoria Colonna and Tommasco Cavalieri in particular. Platonic love suited Michelangelo because the demands of his profession came first. Vittoria, who was independent and highly intelligent, was inaccessible. She was the woman who came closest to being his intellectual equal, and a person characterized by loftiness, nobility and virtue–all of which appealed to the poet. He turned to her for guidance and idealized her through the ecstasy of his religious mindset; Michelangelo was a deeply religious person who believed in prayer and all the accompanying Renaissance religious imagery characteristic of his era. She was a widow and friend to Michelangelo in his later maturity. She died at the age of 56 and Michelangelo was deeply affected by her death writing many commemorative pieces in her honor.

The Broad Scopes of Human Resources Literature Review

Staff Recruitment The author emphasizes the importance of recruiting experienced staff errors non experienced staff because less training requirements and funding will not apply to get the new staff aligned with company standards. The ability for well-developed recruiters to staff organizations with experienced staff will assist training resources in applying skills to newly hired professionals to transition at a quicker rate than less experienced professional.Recruitment is vital to the success or failure Of an organization because Of the major influence placed on selection process, identifying eligible candidates, and gaining a competitive advantage. Knowledgeable human resources staff has the responsibility for the acquirement process and should always be aware of crucial qualifications and specifications to determine staffing necessities. Recruitment of human resources also takes into account the analysis of the vacancies and projection of labor, because the basic result of these activities, description and the specifications for the job are essential in the recruitment process of the personnel†(Buses, 2009, p 108). Buses identifies the various positive sources of recruitment social media, newspapers, agencies, and references including internal and external used by human resources staff so the reader is not just soused on traditional methods of recruiting.Negative so races of recruitment such as stress testing, high pressure interviews, and case studies are identified as well as provide the equal balance of pros and cons of recruiting. There are numerous competencies linked to knowledge, skills, and abilities that human resources professionals must identify if candidates possess them to determine success in job performance. Four major competencies identified during the recruitment process are prior professional experience, long term success capabilities, behavioral events attached to leadership or management kills, and transitional knowledge.Human Res ources Sustainability Private and public restructuring during downsizing have happened to many organizations in earlier years and most recent times during economical downfalls. There is a great importance in human resource professionals to know how to respond during these times and having the knowledge of which staff to retain during downsizing. The article by Caudate, Jacks, & Savoir discuss the use of statistical analysis in collaboration with productivity to set the standards for productivity levels during restructuring.The study was inducted every month over a 30 month period to determine adequate parameters for estimating the restructure of the organization. â€Å"Our main objective is the organizational level of company sustainability and the fitting of corporate human resources to the real environment needs and capacities† (Caudate, Jacks, & Savoir, 201 2, p 308). The usage of the quantitative study displayed the adage Tate needs for staffing to decrease the need to ov er or under staff in private or public sector.An effective and efficient quantitative method of determining staffing needs was conducted by considering salary and monthly working hours. Previous data was gathered from job descriptions, organizational charts, salary reports, contingency planning, and performance reports to obtain information on restructuring. If employees are selected for downsizing the method used to determine their tenure with the organization is based on lowest proficiency in performance standards.Similar to the literature by Base, the authors for this article identified strengths, weaknesses, and limitations to the study that involved the same participants completing the study being the same individuals with the possibility of being selected as part of the restructure. Job Stresses, Job Performance, and Job Dedication As part of the human resources world there are three aspects that can either help or hurt the employee and have a downward spiral effect to the org anization when conscientiousness is considered.Job stresses are indicators that an employee may have emotional or physical symptoms that are linked to transactional theory. â€Å"According to the transactional theory of stress, people appraise important event they encounter in their daily life. At the primary appraisal, people categorically appraise an event as good or bad† (Lie, Lie, Mills, & Fan, 2013, p 338). Job performances are key roles identified by human resource professional that determine necessary skills for the employee to successfully complete their daily job functions. â€Å"Lupine et al. ‘s (2005) meta-analysis found that challenge factors (e. G. Role demands, time pressure, workload) were positively related to job performance whereas hindrance factors (e. G. ,constraints, hassles, interpersonal conflict) were negatively related to job performance† (Ill, Lie, Mills, & Fan, 201 338). According to Edwards, 2008 the P-Fit theory also suggests that con scientiousness moderates challenge stresses-?job performance relations. Job dedication is the personality that an employee displays to show that they have the tendency to go above and beyond to perform, working hard, staying goal oriented and focused on meeting or exceeding the mission or vision of the organization.The stresses within job dedication are centered on the ability to keep up with other goals or priorities that have been set amongst defeating the battle becoming overworked and a victim to job stresses. The collaboration of all job stresses, job performance, and job dedication in the workforce is used as conscientious for predicting job successors. Because conscientiousness is stably related to job performance, high- conscientious employees are preferred by organizations.However, this group would suffer a great deal when they experience hindrance stresses, such as organizational policies or constraints† (Lie, Lie, Mills, & Fan, 2013, p 338). Conclusion Reviewing all three of the articles provided a diverse level of information about human resources from the level of recruitment, sustainability, performance indicators, and conscientious in relation to workability skills. There were suggestions that implied in each of the authors literature that revises methods were used to obtain information, but with the notion that innovation could improve the study further.