Friday, October 11, 2019

The Happiest Experience in My Life

I have gained many experiences . There were good and bad experiences . All these experiences have made me more matured and wiser . The most exiting experience I gained was when my father brought my family to Egypt to further his studies . We lived there for six years. During our stay in Egypt, there were many happy experiences. When I arrived in Egypt ,I was seven years old and I couldn’t speak even a word of Arabic . My mother comforted me by saying everything was going to be alright and I would able to assimilate . My father sent me and my siblings to school everyday in our first and second year there . My school was just a walking distance from my home, but we had to cross a busy road . It took us about fifteen minutes to reach the school. My siblings and I went to school without any knowledge of the Arabic language . The first day in school was a miserable day . Everything was different . I could not communicate as I could not undestand Arabic . The girls were friendly but some of them were rough and tough . My first week of school was filled with tears as I was always being bullied by them . As the day passed and my Arabic got bhetter ,the girls who always bullied me became my best friends . There were three of them , Yasmin , Heba and Nada . Actually they were all very kind . We were in the same class from year one to year five . The three girls were very clever ,they easily got full mark or 98% marks for their Mathematics and Arabic language ,but not me . Most Egyptian students work really hard in their studies . I found it difficult to compete . On our third until sixth year in Egypt,my siblings and I went to school by bus . It was also the most exiting experience . The bus was cramped with students ; all like sardines in a tin . Vis was transported back into time when the pharoahs of Egypt ruled the land . The pyramids were enormous and certainly deserved being crowned as one of the seven wonders of the world . The green sea and huge waves of the Maditerranean sea felt like heaven on earth . It was such bliss to be building sandcastles on the white sand . Living in Egypt for six years was really wonderful . Each holiday was spent visiting historical sites and places around Egypt . We have even been to the top of mount Sinai to witness the rise of the morning sun . The view was spectacular and humbling. The beauty of the moment will forever be etched like a drawing in my mind . I will always remember the six years I spent in Egypt fondly in my mind . The moments were the best I ever experienced and I will always treasure them .

Thursday, October 10, 2019

Employment and Staff Essay

Motivating staff is essential to a business, because if the staff are motivated that means they’re happy, and are happy to do the job and are more likely to do a better job than someone who’s unmotivated and unhappy. To motivate staff, business can use one of the motivational theories, researched by theorists such as Taylor, McGregor, McClelland, Vroom, Herzberg, Maslow and Mayo. Mayo’s research found that after a number of experiments testing incentive schemes, rest period, hours of work, and changes in lighting and heating whatever changes were made, output continued to rise. This motivated the staff, and Tesco uses this theory to motivate their staff. All of their staff gets breaks, so when they are tired of the job, they can go to a canteen to get some food, or just sit down and rest. Also nowadays a lot of people smoke, and if a person has been smoking for a while, they tend to get stressed easily, and they need a cigarette to calm themselves down, so Tesco lets people to have cigarette breaks when people get stressed out. Also the conditions of work will help to motivate the staff, for example in summer when it’s really hot all of their stores have air conditioning, so all the staff and their customers are cool, because people tend to work better and are happier when they are cool. Tesco also uses Maslow’s theory, which suggests that the staff needs to be ranked into hierarchy, so for example the bottom of the hierarchy will have basic needs, when the top of the hierarchy will have greater needs. So someone who works in a store stocking shelves, their needs will be to have a break when they’re working, to get a new uniform etc. Where the area manager for example will have greater needs, for example because they have to travel a lot from store to store they will want to get a car for them to be able to travel, also the petrol to be paid for. Also because their role involves a lot of responsibility they will expect to get paid more for doing the job than someone who works in a store and their only responsibility is to make sure that all of the shelves are stocked up. If all of their staff needs are unsatisfied, then it means the staff will be unhappy and unmotivated which will reflect in their performance. Tesco also uses McGregor’s theory, which suggests that all employs should be punished if they did a bad job and rewarded if they did a good job. For example if an employee does a bad job they will be threatened and get a disciplinary, which means if they do it again they might lose their job. If a person does a good job, they will be recognised, and their manager might have a chat with them to reflect on their performance and make sure that they are aware that they did a good job and the person is in a higher position, such as a manager, they will get a bonus.  M3) Performance indicators Business have many ways of measuring their staff performance, for example they can use time periods for measuring, for example ASDA might measure their employees performance by how many customers they’ve served in one hour. This method does not work for all businesses, for example clothes manufacturer might not use this method because they need quality not quantity, and if they push t heir staff to make shirts faster they might make them poor quality or they might not fit. This helps develop their staff because they set themselves a target and this motivates people because people like challenges, and they are clear on what they need to do for the day. Also by achieving their target they might get a reward for it so it motivates them. Goal theory Another method of measuring performance is setting their employees goals. The best goals are when the employee and the employer both agree on what’s important and working together to achieve that goal. Clear and challenging goals can motivate their staff. For example ASDA might use this method on people who are stocking up the store. For example the manager might say that today they need to move couple shelves somewhere else and stock them up and they have 2 hours to do it. This help the staff to develop, because they know what’s their performance, and what they can do to improve it next time. SMART Targets SMART is a technique used to work out how useful a set of objectives are. All the targets needs to be specific, they should have a focus and not be vague. They need to be measurable, so they should include something that can be measured. They also need to be achievable, so if staff do not think they can achieve their targets they will be demotivated. Also it needs to be realistic in relation to both the resources and skills available, and the overall goals of the organisation and it needs to have a time-bound, so it must have an end so that success can be measured. This helps to develop staff because using SMART technique the staff are clear about the objective and they are sure that it is achievable, because if staff thinks that it is unachievable they get demotivated. Benchmarking Benchmarking can be used to measure organisations performance by comparing themselves to other organisations and matching or exceeding their performance. For example ASDA will compare itself to all big supermarkets in UK such as Sainsbury’s, Morrison’s, and Tesco etc. This help to develop staff because they compare themselves to their competitors and it is very clear on how they are doing, and this helps to improve the business, because if other business is doing better then they need to figure out what they are doing wrong and how to change it. Probation Pretty much all businesses will have a probation period for new employees. This means that they will be closely monitored for a certain period of time and their performance will be measured so the business is certain that this person is capable of doing the job and is a right candidate. Business such as Tesco will have a short probation period because the job doesn’t require a high skill and it doesn’t take long to find out if the person is right for the job, but jobs like teachers or doctors will have longer probation periods, because it takes some time to find out if the candidate is capable of doing a job, and their probation period will be around 9 months but can be longer. Also when people are on probation period this gives the right to the employer to fire them for no reason. Probation period helps to develop staff because if they are on a probation period, they are under more pressure and makes them more focussed about understanding the business and doing their job at their best ability. Appraisal Appraisal is another method of measuring performance in a business. This means that at the end of the year the employee and employer will sit down and review the year, the employee will say what he thinks he’s done very well, and the employer will say what they think they’ve done well and what  they need to work on. This is helps to develop staff because the employer tells the staff on how they are performing and what they have been doing very well and what they have been doing not so well, and gives them advice on how to improve or change it. Supporting employees There’s couple ways of how you can support employees. One of them is me ntoring, this means that someone in the workplace will help them that is just above their positions and has been in their position previously, so they can pass on some of their knowledge and explain the job. There’s two types of mentoring; formal and informal. Formal mentoring means that the mentor will have paper work with them and will monitor them and will write everything down. Informal mentoring means that the mentor will only have a chat with them or help them but wouldn’t write anything down. Also another way to support the employees is buddying up. For example in ASDA a new employer will be partnered up with someone that is on the same level as them but has been working for a long period of time and knows their job very well, so the new employer can work with them for couple of days to get to know the job and the other person can help them if they get confused or stuck. This helps to develop staff because people get demotivated and getting support from other staff or the manager helps to improve their performance, because some people get stuck and are not sure how to do a job they’ve been given, and some help from the manager can sort that out, also just having a chat with them might also help because some people just need to know that someone cares about them and how they’re getting on. Occupational Health People are human beings and can get stressed when they are pushed to work hard, so the employers need to think about how to release that stress. For example they could put some plants in the office, because plants produce oxygen which helps people to relax. Also if the office is very warm think about putting an air con to cool it down, because when people are hot they tend to get very stressed out. For example all Tesco stores have air con, so all of their employees are cool and don’t get stressed out as much. This helps to develop staff because for example, if the working conditions in Tesco are very hot the employees might not work very well, and they will get very stressed, but if they install air conditioning and make the store cool, the staff will work a lot better and will be a lot happier, because they are not hot and they’re comfortable. Managing workloads People get very stressed out when they are under pressure and have a lot of things to do, so it is very important for a business to balance it out, and spread workload equally, for example Tesco will divide people into section and give the same amount of shelves to stock up, so it’s fair on everyone. This helps to develop staff because giving them a lot of workload will demotivated them and sometimes even push them into leaving the job because they are stressed and lose motivation, so by reducing workload and sharing the workload equally, this will release the stress and staff will have more motivation. Delegating authority and responsibility By giving more authority and responsibility can motivate employees but it is very important to monitor how it is working, in order to avoid errors and costly mistakes, which can affect employer in terms of money and reputation, also it might lead to dismissing the employee. For example Tesco manager will be responsible for hiring new people and they might hire someone that is not capable of doing the job which might cost Tesco money. This will help to develop staff because they will feel like they are trusted, so they will be more focussed and will try to prove to their employer that they are capable of doing the job. Capacity Capacity relates to the amount of work or products that can be produced or is being produced. Using as much capacity as possible should lead to lower costs for the business, so employers need to ensure that employees are performing well without putting them under so much pressure that they suffer with stress and then become ill. Linking rewards to performance Giving rewards to people for doing a good job or achieving or exceeding a target motivates people to work harder. For example Tesco manager will get a bonus for achieving or exceeding the stores targets. He then might share it with the team, to keep them motivated. This helps to develop the staff, because everyone loves getting a reward if they do a good job, because it shows that their employer cares about them and also gives them a sense of achievement, and makes themselves feel good, because they did a good job.

Wednesday, October 9, 2019

Indian Book Retail Industry Essay

The Indian book retail industry is estimated to be over Rs 3,000 crore, out of which organised retail accounts for only 7 per cent.The industry is expected to grow by approximately 15 per cent a year.Book retail contributes only about 1 per cent to the overall retail industry. Text and curriculum books account for about 50 per cent of the sales. Second-hand books are also a big chunk of the book retail market. In the past few years, several large format book store chains have come up, such as Landmark, Crossword and Om Book Shop etc . More than 75 per cent stores of these large chains are in top eight cities. These Organized Book retailers are focusing on improved customer experience. Many book stores have also introduced coffee shops and provide a library-like atmosphere where customers can sit and read, while sipping coffee. Besides this online channel is also significant with players like Flipkart, Indiaplaza, Infibeam etc. With the printed word considered an endangered species in much of a rapidly digitizing world, India now represents one of the best book markets in the world. â€Å"There has definitely been a huge jump in the size of the industry in terms of book sales and the number of books being published,† said Mita Kapur, the founder of Siyahi, a literary agency, who says the number of books published in English is growing by 30 percent a year. Vikrant Mathur, associate director of Nielsen Book, India, said the volume of book sales grew by 45 percent during the first half of 2011. For the entire year, Nielsen, a global information provider, documented English-language book sales of 3.28 billion rupees – about $62 million – from more than 12 million books sold. And that is probably only a fraction of true total sales, since Nielsen only measures about 35 percent of the total market. â€Å"Where physical books are concerned India right now is a very, very big market,† said Priyanka Malhotra, director of Full Circle Publications. â€Å"There is a whole younger generation coming up from BPOs who are starting to read in English, which is where a lot of new demand is coming from.† Online retail have also spurred growth in the industry. To summarize India’s book retail industry is broadly divided into 3 sectors : 1. Organized 2. Unorganized 3. Online The organized sector has big names such as : crosswords, OM book shop , landmark etc to name a few. On the other hand unorganized sector is huge and highly fragmented, with shops spanning from local book stores to road side book shanties to red light book sellers etc. This sector is also filled with piracy and pirated copies of original books (which is a serious threat to the sales of organized sector) Online sector is the newest of them all and has just started to takeoff in sales since last 3-4 years. The major advantage of such a format is the wide variety of offerings under one roof and ease of access for the users. Thus this is the fastest growing sector among all of them. The prominent players in this category are Flipkart.com, Infibeam.com etc. Unorganized sector (Golden book depot) Golden book depot is a typical book store among many in the unorganized sector of the india book retail industry. This store is loacated in the vicinity of our target organized sector store ( OM book shop) i.e. Ber Sarai ( adjacent to IIT) in south Delhi. As can be seen in the photograph, this is a small shop , almost 1/10th of the size of om book shop and most of the products are available behind the counter, with only magazine stand placed just outside the store. As magazines as a category has most no of impulse purchase. On an average around 50-70 customers come to this book store, and this tore has a footfall conversion of over 85% which is very high as compared to the organized sector (OM book shop) . The reason for this behavior is that most of the products in these kind of shops are behind the counter and it doesn’t provide the luxury to the customer to stroll around and search and read a book as in the case of organized sector. Therefore almost all of the customers coming to these shops like golden book depot are aware of what they want and demand that directly from the shop keeper who then searches the book in the shop and hands over to the customer. Besides having a smaller area , less variety of books and behind the counter selling, the sales (in terms of no. of books sold) is still higher in golden book depot as compared to OM book shop . The reason for that being : 1. Availability of educational books , i.e. educational course materials and  competitive exam preparation books. These books constitute the majority of the portion of these book shops in unorganized sector. These kind of books , especially course materials for various courses such as MBA, B.Tech, BCA etc . are not available at book stores like OM book shop. As they (Organized) focus more on selling of novels and leisure read books. 2. Many of the popular shops in unorganized sector offer a facility to bring the old books and exchange them with the new books at a discounted rate or return the old books at a discounted rate in form of cash return. This is a major reason why price conscious middle class Indian customers prefer unorganized sector over organized sector. 3. Perception in the minds of Indian customers that these small shops will offer the same product at cheaper rate than the organized sector shops, which have flashy interiors and huge shop floor. This perception is true also upto some extent as these shopkeepers in these small shops have the control over their margins and not guided by any company policy ( as in the case of OM book shop) that means these shop keepers can even squeeze their margins from around 10% to as low as 1-2% to attract or retain a customer by offering them the cheapest bargain. Organized sector (OM BOOK SHOP ) About Om Book Shop Retailer and Publishing House: Om Book Shop is a part of Om Books International, a leading English language trade publisher in the subcontinent, and is a prominent player in the Indian book industries. The book retailing chain has a significant presence across the Delhi-NCR region. Besides stocking books, movies, magazines and CD ROMs, Om Book Shop is also a major distributor of books of many leading international imprints. OBI began publishing in 1993. Collection: With a strong focus on children books and coffee-table books, the store has a diverse collection including books on Lifestyle, Nature and Wildlife, Fashion, Bollywood, Heritage and Culture, Management, Health & Fitness, Cookery, Architecture and Interiors, pictorial books for children etc. Children section is a major thrust area for the company and OBI publishes children’s titles under the Om Kids imprint: illustrated classics, mythology, folk tales, encyclopaedias etc. Loyalty programs and other salient features: Other salient features Om Book Shop currently holds about 50 thousand registered customers with the Om Book Privilege Loyalty Programme which offers points, discounts & other offers to its loyal customers. OBS aims to popularize the Gift -a- book idea across its stores and delivers services like Dial-a-book which allows the customers to shop from their homes; and the efficient and helpful staffs in the book stores assists them in finding the right book or the right gift for the right occasion. Overview: Product, Category and Store Product Category: ‘Books’ Retail Format: Category Specialists Customer segments: In terms of demographics, the Om Book shop customer can be a child/adult from any age group, gender, income class (reasonably well off) etc. Store: Om Book Shop is located in DLF Promenade Mall in Vasant Kunj. The store is located on the 2nd floor of the mall and the floor plan is provided in Figure1. The store is strategically located in a way that it falls on one of the 2 ways to the food court and movie theatre. Figure 1: Floor Plan of Om Book Store STORE PHILOSOPHY * Layout * Ambience/dà ©cor * Sale program * Loyalty Store layout structure Om book store has a very functional and efficient physical layout. Mall sq. foot area is very expensive so there seems to be an effort on part of the book store to utilize as much area as possible. Hence the layout may be a bit crammed for some customers. The bird’s eye view of the layout is as follows: The front view of the store is a transparent glass window through which a passerby can easily see into the store. The poster’s on display from the  front view are only of â€Å"OM publisher’s† in different categories like kids books, cook books, and biography (Amir Khan’s â€Å"I’ll Do it My Way†. The most popular and eye-catchy book categories are positioned near the entrance of the store. The largest selling categories, Children’s books, Fiction, and New Arrivals are placed in shelves that a customer encounters as soon as he enters the store. These sections also have the largest impulse buy and are therefore kept at the forefront. Om book’s self published books in the kids category is displayed in big piles on the ground straight in the line of path of a customer who walks into the store. Since the child often runs about choosing his/her own story books and activity (colouring/mask) books and heavily influencing the purchase decision of the parent so the children books of the OM publisher has been strategically kept within reach of the child on the ground to woo the him/her. Other publications in the same Children’s category have been kept on the shelf and in â€Å"sideway† display to decrease their exposure to the child/parent. Om Publication’s in any other category when placed on the shelf have been given a frontal full display to encourage sales. Management books being the next most popular category, they have been placed right after the popular categories when comparing in terms of â€Å"distance from entrance†. Categories pertaining to work or hobby like gardening, travelling, cooking etc / or specific topics of interest like astrology, philosophy, poetry, etc have been grouped towards the end of the store, furthest away from the entrance. This is because these categories can usually not create impulse purchase and so every customer need not pass through these segments/aisles. People who do buy these books are targeted shoppers and will anyhow walk to the back end of the shop to pick up his/her book. These categories are not as popular as the others and have loyal customer following. The impulse buy accessories are lined along the passage on either side from the entrance to the cash counter. It is further seen that the counter is placed at the other end from the entrance to ensure that a customer has to walk through all the impulse purchase offerings before he/she can buy the book. The products on offer in this so called â€Å"impulse accessory† shopping segment are: pens (parker and waterman), magazines, cookbooks, horoscope books, key rings, bookmarks, marble-paper/wrapping paper, and bestsellers in each category. It can further be noticed that the best seller section just prior to the cash  counter is dedicated solely to Om publication. Additional aspects of the Store Layout The layout is no doubt very functional keeping in mind the profit maximization philosophy of the store and the main agenda of pushing its own publication to the shopper. However the spacing of shelves is crammed with little walking space, hardly any sitting space (only 2-3 stools), and only 1 book stand. The entire focus is on 1 product offering i.e. books. Unlike competitors in the organised sector like Landmark, it is not focussing on the entire shopping experience, (no coffee, no other items on offer like stationary etc, no sitting space). Store Ambience and Decor The bookshelves were made of engineered wood like particle wood. This created a unique and rich traditional effect. Plastic or metal bookshelves were not used since they do not look expensive and give a modern feel, which was not something the book store wanted. Furthermore the particle wood was coloured a light shade of brown to give a bright and roomy/spacious look to the store. However the bookshelves were placed too close and for a particular section of customers who prefer the comforts of abundant seating arrangement, coffee facility, and walking space (as provided by Landmark), the sheer functional design of the store might be interpreted as a crammed. This might not work well for a particular segment of customers whose involvement with the shopping experience is as high as, if not higher than the involvement with the product itself. Furthermore the store works on the philosophy that it will focus on selling books alone and not encourage customers to spend hours just reading in the store. This is unlike some of its contemporaries like Landmark that encourage customers to sit and read inside the store. Hence at OM book stores some customers may complain that the staff hover close to them and make them feel uncomfortable if they stay too long. The store plays light and slow English instrumental music to suit the taste of the higher-strata of people who usually visit the Promenade Mall and create a relaxed atmosphere in the store. Instrumental music is  played since a song with wordings would disturb the concentration of a customer reading the epilogue/back-cover of a book. This gives a contemporary feel to the store. Store Sale Programs The store’s maximum profit comes from its Children’s section. Hence the sale period coincides with the summer and winter vacation in schools in Delhi. December to Mid-January and May to June are the respective winter and summer sales. The store is also receptive to mall trends in sale. Since almost every other shop in the mall had a sale in July, so the store too announced a sale to cash in on the increased footfall to the mall during the sale-period. There was no Flat Sale offer. Discount amounts were graded on the basis of demand. Books with high demand had low sale; New Arrival, Top 20 Fiction/Non-Fiction, general Fiction, and bestsellers had only 10% discount. The store felt that irrespective of the price these books would sell and so gave negligible discount on them. However on the kids section the discount was higher, around 20%, and even higher discounts on children’s books published in-house by Om Publications. This is because the store believes that parents during the sale period buy in bulk and a higher sale would induce them to buy more and yet it would not affect your margins. Furthermore parents are price conscious when buying for little kids since the books cannot be added to a collection later on and mostly become irrelevant in a short time after the child has outgrown them. The sale on OM publication was the highest because they already had the highest margins on it due to the absence of a middleman, and therefore could easily afford a large discount on those books. By touting the large discounts they aim to attract consumers to their publication and yet make the largest profit on the same sales. The books with the largest discounts (say more than 50%) were displayed in piles on the floor. This was due to the belief that even if the books weren’t displayed at eye-level, even then the mammoth sale amount would encourage the shoppers to make the effort of bending down to pick up the book. To publicise the sale big red stickers were pasted on the glass walls of the store which can be viewed by the casual shopper passing by the store. Inside the store the discount for each section was  mentioned separately through stickers and pointers. Store Loyalty Program A book is generally a product category where the consumer’s involvement with the product (i.e. the book itself) is much higher than his involvement with the store. Even if a person might have store preferences, yet his/her loyalty lies with the book and not with the store. Hence a consumer would not really care much as to whether he bought his/her book at OM Book stores or at Landmark, which is a stones throwaway. Thus in order to boost retention of loyal customers Om book stores has come up with a loyalty program, a privilege card holder concept which is as follows: * 1 point for every Rs.10 purchase. * Minimum points for redemption are 500 points. * 1 point equals Rs 1 reduction in bill amount. 60-70% of walk-in customers were privilege card holders and the store already has 4500 privilege card holders. The scheme is a moderate success. Store Timings | 11 A.M to 10 P.M ( For Mall)11 A.M to 8 P.M ( For standalone shop not the store we studied)| Working days| All 7 Days of the week| Peak days| Saturday and Sunday| Peak hours| Evenings post 6:00 pm| Staff| 10-12 members including the manager. Manager stands behind the counter at one of the two cash registers. He is accompanied by 2 staff members whose work is to: 1. Use the second cash register for quick transactions during peak hour to prevent long queuing period 2. To get a book for a customer if he/she directly comes to the counter and asks for a specific book.| Floor Staff responsibilities| * Taking care of the specific three to four sections assigned to them. * keeping a track of inventory * Filling the requisition form for the replenishing of stock * Guiding the customers if required * Sticking the barcode behind each new book before placing them on the shelf.| Shifts| There are no shifts; each staff member works throughout the day from 11:00 AM -8:00pm (fixed) and from  8:00pm-10:00pm (variable) depending on the rush. Hence post 8:00 pm the retained staff is paid on overtime basis.| Showrooms (strategic positioning)| NCR – 5 in malls and 2 stand aloneMumbai – 1 stand aloneThe store we studied was in the Promenade mall beside DT cinemas movie ticket counter on the 2nd floor.| Revenues| 1.5 to 2 Lakhs on weekdays3 to3.5 Lakhs on weekendsChildren, Fiction – highest selling category (80% of sales)| CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOUR The product category is such that it involves Limited-Decision Making by the customers. The reasons for purchase of a book from the store can be: * Buying for self- Leisure * Buying for self Knowledge * Buying for Others- Regular * Buying for Others- Situational The greater the motivation to make an optimal decision, the more likely an attribute-based choice will be made. Thus, attribute-based processing is more likely for an expensive book purchase than it is for an inexpensive magazine. The easier it is to access complete attribute-by-brand information, the more likely attribute-based processing will be used. A variety of situations influence which choice approach is most likely. A book bought with the intention of a gift purchase is assigned more importance than a purchase for oneself. Thus, gift purchases would be more likely to produce attribute-based decision processes. Time pressure is a major determinant of choice process used, with increasing time pressures producing more use of attitude-based decisions. Thus, we can identify 3 major clusters of customers that visit Om Book Shop. Category I: DEDICATED READER This is the kind of person who feels complete with a book in his hand. For him, the behaviour is governed by his choices alone and it is solely his decision. He is always trying to find the time to get back to his book. He is convinced that the world would be a much better place if only everyone read more. His primary information search happens within the store only. Category II: LITERATE GOOD CITIZEN This is the kind of person who usually buys a book after reading it review by a critic or an expert. Such a person does more information search before coming to the store. For our respondent group, the most dominant sources for this information were reviews and Bestseller lists published in newspapers, magazines or online blogs and sites likes Amazon.com. Category III: FAD READER This is the kind of person who only reads the popular books/ latest bestsellers so he can be up to date on what other people are talking about and be seen by others as someone who is well read. He often reads for the social credit he can get out of it. His primary information search is more through his friend circle or his group of colleagues from whom he might hear the latest ‘fads’ in terms of books. Such a person could also go in for information search in popular newspapers/magazines or the shares on social media websites.

Tuesday, October 8, 2019

Case study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 40

Case Study Example It provides job rotation which overcomes the boredom of overspecialized work. It increases the responsibility, recognition and opportunity of the employees for achievement of their goals or objectives. The employers are able to retain the productive employees by offering flexible working conditions. The employers are able to attract the skilled and talented workers by providing flexible working hours and alternative working arrangement. The employees generally prefer to work with those organizations that provide perks and benefits to the organization. Google is considered as the best company to work for. It facilitates the employees to set their own daily work schedules. It promotes job sharing where more than one employee performs the job. Therefore the flexibility acts as an important element in motivating and retaining talented work force in the organization. Therefore it is beneficial for both the employers and the employees working in the organization (Lincoln and Kalleberg 40-45). Apart from the benefits of the alternative work arrangement, there are various negative consequences, the negative outcomes for the employers are training the employees, monitoring their work progress on a frequent or timely basis, performance evaluation etc. The training time is increased; it lowers the personnel utilization levels, the chance of error will be more. The financial cost also increases due to the changes in the job environment. The alternative work arrangement will encourage the baby boomers to stay in the organization which will restrict the entrance of new talented individual in the company. The flexibility and the benefit provided by the organization will prevent the baby boomers from leaving the organization. Therefore the productivity and the performance of the organization may be negatively affected. The negative outcome

Monday, October 7, 2019

Does diet have an impact on breast cancer recurrence Literature review

Does diet have an impact on breast cancer recurrence - Literature review Example These factors then influence the recurrence of breast cancer. Therefore, improved diet and increased physical activity lead to reduced risk of breast cancer recurrence. Pathophysiology is the study of the changes that occur in the body as a result of the presence of a given disease. One of the diseases that need to be described using through pathophysiology is the breast cancer. The pathophysiology of breast cancer uncovers the development of breast cancer in the body of a human being so that the necessary treatment and prevention strategies can be enhanced (Nelson et al, 2012). Breast cancer results from various personal, environmental and hereditary factors. Pathophysiology on breast cancer indicates that the disease develops due to some damages on the DNA including lesions which often occur as a result of genetic mutations. The immune system may also fail to act on cancerous cells, and lead to the development of the disease. Another cause of the disease is the malfunctioning of a growth factor during cell division and growth of the breast. Breast cancer may also be caused by inherited genetic damages on the DNA (Panjari et al, 2012). Receptors a nd hormones also play a crucial role in the development of breast cancer. Breast cancer cells have some receptors which may bind hormones and trigger changes in the cell compositions. Some of the receptors include estrogen receptor, HER2 and progesterone receptor. According to the World Cancer Research Fund International (WCRF), cancer is the leading type of cancer affecting women in the world and the most common cancer overall in terms of prevalence. There were nearly 1.7 million new cases of breast cancer diagnosis in 2012 (World Cancer Research Fund International 2012). The leading country in terms of diagnosed cases is Belgium. United Kingdom was seventh while United States was ninth. About 3.2 million people with cancer in developed countries still

Sunday, October 6, 2019

Property Law Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Property Law - Assignment Example In some cases, the courts are willing to specifically enforce contracts relating to land is that damages so awarded may not be adequate where the unique assets are concerned. Thus, awarding a specific performance relief is and remains as a discretionary remedy. Alternate deliberations may dictate that it should –exceptionally – be refused, particularly its award would generate severe adversity to the defendant, Virginia. Under UK laws, specific performance is an equitable relief granted through a discretionary order of the court that may compel the defaulting party to execute and complete the contract for the purchase or sale of a land.1 For instance, in Patel v Ali, a vendor’s health was spoiled immediately after the conclusion of the contract that an order of the specific performance was not made available2. In Lazard Bros and Co Ltd v. Fairfield Properties Co (Mayfair) Lt3d, it was held by the court that simple delay without possession of the property is not i tself an impediment to seek the relief of specific performance. In this case, a delay of two years was held to be a bar since the defendant had not been prejudiced by the delay4. Harley, Virginia’s brother can approach the court for granting relief under the â€Å"specific performance† provisions of the Transfer of Property Act 1882 of UK. In case , if Harley has not made the consideration for the purchase the property from Virginia within the time as stipulated in the agreement , then Virginia has every right to sell the property to another party by giving a notice of recession from the agreement to Harley. It is assumed that Virginia might have given such notice of the ground on which the agreement to sell has become not effective to Harley. Answer to B Jack claims that he has been grazing his animals in the paddock for the last 25 years. Courts will acknowledge evidence of a continuous use for at least twenty years as evidence that the grazing rights have been enjoy ed or used. Hence, it is essential to corroborate that the prolonged use of right of grazing for a minimum period of 20 years is essential. Courts will acknowledge evidence of a continuous use for at least twenty years as evidence that the grazing rights has been enjoyed or used and in such cases, the courts will presume that there was a grant5. In Neaverson v Peterborough RDC which dealt with grazing rights and the land owner in this case did not have any right to award any grazing privileges for cattle on the land in question ,but granted so, and those enjoying such privileges claimed easement rights under the cannons of lost modern grant. In this case, the plaintiffs failed as the land owner was not having any right to award such grazing rights. In this case, Virginia is the registered freehold proprietor of Silver House, which consists of a house and a fenced paddock. As the Jack is using the property for grazing for the last two decades and since Virginia is the registered owne r of the property, then it is presumed that Jack is grazing in Virginia’s property with the connivance and approval of Virginia. Hence, Papageno is under obligation to allow the Jack to graze his cattle in the Silver House property for the future period also. Answer to Question C Squatting is the scenario where a stranger occupies unauthorisedly any abandoned or empty property for which the squatter, may not have any right to own the same or as a tenant and without the valid authorisation from the owner of the house. The offense committed by the Toby by refusing to leave the Papageno’s property can be regarded as an offense under trespassing of a property. 6 Further, if Toby refuses to leave the Papageno’s property, then Papageno is eligible to become as a â€Å"

Saturday, October 5, 2019

FedEX company Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

FedEX company - Essay Example The Company also aims to achieve a 10% increase in its operating margin. In order to attain to this long term objective, the Company has set out certain business goals, as laid out below (www.fedex.com): Additionally, the Company also plans to improve its reputation as an environmentally friendly organization, by reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 20 percent by the year 2020. (www.thaipr.net). The central focus of the Company’s plans and goals revolves around its people, i.e., â€Å"people are the wind beneath our wings.†(Frock, 2006:201). In the achievement of its goals, FEDEX has capitalized the vision of its founder, Smith who believed the success of the Company lay in IT(Lappin, 1996) and has implemented IT systems that are geared towards strengthening its e-commerce operations. The realization that information systems could play a vital role in ensuring the success of business has enabled the Company to survive and gain a head start in package delivery (www.garyclarke.com). The Company has made large investments in technology, using tracking software in order to ensure that the current delivery status of a package is always available, through the use of its proprietary network called Cosmos. The Company also sets up computer terminals at its customers’ offices and allows them access to the tracking software as well, so that they are able to generate their own pick-ups and deliveries (www.brainmass.com). Customer tracking of packages is facilitated through the use of the Powership software and terminals (www.informationweek.com). The Company has been using wireless applications for a long time, but the efficiency of its current operations has been achieved by integrating SAP into its tracking system in managing its supply chain. The significant aspect of its technology development is the use of SAP R/3 systems to integrate its tracking systems with its supply chain logistics.