Connection Between Substance Abuse and Crime Research Paper

Connection Between Substance Abuse and Crime - Research Paper Example Most importantly, however, is the fact that; when the net is cast widely, then it will trap everybody since if it is not addicted to alcohol and drug abuse, then, it is the resultant violence and crime associated with alcohol and substances abuse. Therefore, the interest in analyzing the subject of Substance Abuse, Alcohol, and Crime is derived from the fact that it is a social problem that has refused to go away for the longest time. Further, the need to study this subject emanates from the fact that it is a problem for all, and since everybody is affected by this subject, it important to engage it widely, since the existing laws and policy regulation framework does not seem to be effective in addressing the problem, creating a need to engage alternative means of addressing the problem. However, while substance abuse, alcohol, and crime is a serious menace for the nation, the specific area where the issue needs to be addressed is in the issue of alcohol and substance use by teens and young people, which results to juvenile crimes, while also affecting every aspect of their lives, such as their personal health, education, safety and security, relationships and addition (Musto, 1999). Nevertheless, the major risk is the connection that exists between alcohol or substance abuse and crime. The legal risks emanating from alcohol consumption and substance abuse by young people is high, and the chances of destroying the whole life ahead of the young people are high. The legal and policy framework in relation to the subject of substance abuse, alcohol, and crime is not favorable for deterring the access of alcohol and substances, and their consequent illegal use. The legal and regulatory framework has illegalized the possession, production, and distribution of drugs and sub stances, while the actual problem is not licensing, but the fact that such drugs and substances are available and accessible for use (NCADD, 2013).

The communication method (or channel) that you select should depend on your message Essay Example for Free

The communication method (or channel) that you select should depend on your message Essay Interactive or static should your communication be one-way or two-way? Interactive means a back-and-forth conversation; static means delivery of a message. What does your message require? Brainstorming and questioning require interactivity. Updates can be static. ï‚ · Personal or impersonal Personal means face-to-face, or on the phone. Impersonal communication is in writing. Does your communication require you to hear or see your customers or colleagues? Are you trying to build relationships? Will the tone of voice be important for this particular message? Are the ideas potentially confusing? Put some thought into whether your presence is a vital component of your message. 1. Assess what kind of audience you are communicating with. Keeping in mind all of the differences among specific audience and the various manners in which they perceive your messages – you must realize that the use of all communication channels is not desirable at all times. For example, when speaking to a CEO, provide him with relevant and short information. When speaking to employees with the lower status, feel free to explain what you have to say in more detail. When you need to be convincing, try to communicate personally. 2. Assess the real value of the message you want to communicate. You should never overload your audience with information of little relevance that seems important only to you because you will lose their support and they will start perceiving you as a nuisance who rarely has something important to say. By avoiding this rule you risk becoming irrelevant. 3. Check the cost level you can bear when selecting communication channels. You should be aware that indirect communication, for instance, becoming involved in various events or charity activities, requires the greatest investment. On the other hand, established interpersonal communication channels are much less expensive. 4. Assess whether your choice of a ​​communication channel is justified. For instance, why should employees in your organization learn new standards of operations through mass media? On the other hand, it is more worthwhile to plan certain stories in a targeted and controlled manner with journalists than to â€Å"drag† them through all media. 5. Assess the long-term sustainability of selected communication channels. It is not the same if you establish a successful long-term manner of communication that is recognized by the target audience and the one that receives positive feedback from the public or if we constantly communicate in the manner that you receive feedback from two people or one medium. Do not forget that in this manner you are developing your long-term public relations! When all of the stated factors are taken into consideration, you will easily arrive to conclusion that different audience responds to your message in different ways so they always must be considered separately and, often, communicated to differently and through differing channels and tools. Message customized for the audience The title of this section probably best summarizes the wisdom of selecting a right communication channel – communication must be conducted differently with various audiences. It is good to note that communication and PR activities should not be directed to the ‘general public’. They are aimed at carefully selected groups of people who are subdivisions of the vast general public – for example, stakeholders, shareholders, employees, customers, suppliers, distributors, opinion makers, trade unions, institution representatives, Government members, media and many others. In terms of good communication with your key audience, it is preferable to become more â€Å"discriminating† towards your selection of desired audience. That means that communicating certain kinds of message only to selected audience is less wasteful and more successful. For the above-mentioned reasons, the usual methods of communication must be more and more adapted, which requires a greater use of tactics. Why? Simply because it is becoming increasingly challenging to transfer the message to specific section of the public from which we have concrete benefits and which can benefit from us. Everything else can be considered as a loss of our precious time.

Exploring Swot Analysis And Competitive Advantage Strategic Management Business Essay

Exploring Swot Analysis And Competitive Advantage Strategic Management Business Essay The study by Helms and Nixon (2010) identifies that SWOT analysis has grown as a key tool for addressing complex strategic situations by reducing the quantity of information to improve decision making. SWOT is short form of four words which is strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It can simply understand as the examination of an organizations internal strengths and weaknesses, and its external environment which is opportunities and threat that provides the foundation for realization of the desired alignment of organization variables or issues. Therefore, an understanding of all external and internal factors is assists in forming a vision of the future. According to Helms and Nixon (2010), SWOT is a general tool designed to be used in the beginning stages of decision making and as a precursor to strategic planning in various kinds of applications. In summarized, a person is allowed to do something in condition he or she is known strengths and weaknesses and understand the opportunities and threats his or her has currently. In addition, all organizations are hope to gaining competitive advantage. It can be gain through offering consumers greater value, either by providing lower prices or by providing greater benefits or services that justifies higher prices. The aim of much of business strategy is to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage that could increase the business profitability and brand image. SWOT ANALYSIS A SWOT analysis was systematically applied at a national level when preparing the afore-mentioned long-term strategy. However, it is clear that only the quality performance of a SWOT analysis will form a suitable strategic structure. Therefore, the organization environment will much influence organization performance now and in the future. The detail of SWOT analysis is explained in following sections. Internal Environment Internal environment are an internal factors within an organization in many areas such as management, staff, finance, research and development, operational efficiency and capacity, technical frameworks, culture, and organizational structure. Internal environment consists of strengths and weaknesses in organization, those viewed as a result of factors and variables that can be controlled within organizations. Strengths Strengths are represents the organizations internal power and strong points of view that an organization possess to compete against its competitors. It also can be view as organizational capabilities and internal positive attitudes that enable organizations possess strategic power to achieve organizational goals. It also can define as skills and abilities that enable organizations set out and implement their strategies in order to do better than their competitors. Weaknesses Weaknesses are represents the organizations negative impact of product and service value with regards to customers or competitive environment. It also can define as shortages in internal capabilities that make organizations unable to achieve their goals or lose their competitive advantage. This may allow their competitors to do better than the organization performance. Thus, it should be determine and acknowledge earlier in order bitter reality without procrastination. External Environment External environment is contains all changes that take places outsides the organizations boundary such as customers, suppliers, economic, political, cultural, and technological changes. External environment consists of opportunities and threats of an organization. Opportunities Opportunities are defined as a set of conditions suitable for achieving goals at the right time. Rousan and Qawasmeh (2009) states that opportunities can be divided into three types those are added, supplementary, and explosive. Added opportunity is using the available resources to expand their benefits, so the revenues in this category are limited. Then, supplementary opportunity is where the organizations have to acquire new knowledge. Where explosive opportunity requires organizations to invest capital in RD to make large changes in organization standards and attributes. Threats Threats can define as a challenge caused by a negative attitude inconsistent with the organization common norms. Besides, it also can be viewed as any improper event of force in the external environment that causes harm to the organizations strategy. In addition, threats are a set of conditions, resources and capabilities that organizations need to pressured, but cannot influence or control over it, means which is out of our control. Why Use SWOT Analysis? SWOT analysis is use to develop a plan or find a solution for an organizations problem. This is because that takes consideration in many different internal and external factors which is maximizes the potential of the strengths and opportunities while minimizing the impact of the weaknesses and threats of an organization. When to Use SWOT Analysis? SWOT Analysis is uses when needs to developing a strategic plan or finding a solution to a problem. These tasks are performed by managers, designers or by the entire project team. Teamwork is particularly effective in providing structure, objectivity, clarity and tends to focus further discussions about strategy that might otherwise tend to wander. SWOT Analysis Usage SWOT analysis has been used by countless practitioners, marketing researchers, and is a familiar and popular tool for business marketing and strategy areas. This tool is used to assess alternatives and complex decision situations. It can be constructed quickly and can benefit from multiple viewpoints as a brainstorming exercise. There are three steps to use the SWOT analysis which is firstly analyses the internal factors and then analyses the external factors, and finally create a worksheet. First and foremost, internal analysis is examine the capabilities of an organizations strengths and weaknesses. The planner might list down ideas from projects that both successful and unsuccessful completely in the top row of the SWOT grid. Second step is external analysis known as environmental analysis Here have to analyses the opportunities and threats or obstacles to organizations performance that place at the bottom row of the SWOT grid. This has to carefully examine the market in which you intend to launch the product and analyze what the status of the competition. In addition, there have to make a worksheet by creating four quadrants which one each is strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats as shown on table 1.1. This allows planners better understand how strengths can be leveraged to realize new opportunities and understand how weaknesses can slow progress or magnify organizational threats. Then list specific items into the column correctly. But each column is limit to ten or fewer points per heading to avoid over generalizations. If there are more items are thought of, and then have to prioritize them so that only 10 top items for each category. Table 1.1 Quadrants for SWOT Analysis Positive Negative Internal Strengths 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 5 6 6 7 7 8 8 9 9 10 10 External Opportunities 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 5 6 6 7 7 8 8 9 9 10 10 Source: Adopted from Strategic Management: Concept and Cases, 2nd ed. (2006) Finally, the person has to know whether the strengths owned enable to take advantages from the opportunities. Besides, whether the strengths owned is able to overcome the threats that have been identified. Moreover, here also can overcome the identified threat by minimize the weaknesses. COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE The comprehensive or idea concept of competitive advantage is defined in The Free Encyclopedia of Wikipedia (2010) as a position of a company in a competitive landscape that allows the company earning return on investments higher than the cost of investments. Competitive advantage also is a theory that seeks to address some of the criticisms of comparative advantages, and it should be relevant, unique, and sustainable. Competitive advantage occurs when an organization acquire or develops an attribute or combination of attributes that allows it to outperform its competitors. Besides, it is a gain of attributes and resources in perform at a higher level than others in the same industry or market. There are two basic types of competitive advantage which is cost advantages and differentiation advantages. Cost advantage is refer to an organization is able to deliver the same benefit as competitors but at a lower cost. However, cost and differentiation advantages are known as positional advantages since they describe the firms position in the industry as a leader in either cost or differentiation. The figure 1.1 shown the combination of the resource based and positioning views to illustrate the concept of competitive advantage. ResourcesFigure 1.1 A model of Competitive Advantage Value Creation Cost Advantage Or Differentiation Advantage Distinctive Competencies Capabilities Source: Adopted from QuickMBA.com According to figure 1.1, the firm must have resources and capabilities that are superior to those of its competitors. Without this superiority, the competitors simply could replicate what the firm was doing and any advantage quickly would disappear. Resources are use to creating a cost or differentiation advantages. The resources include patents and trademarks, proprietary know-how, installed customer base, and brand equity. Besides, the organization also has ability to utilize its resources effectively which refers to capability of the organization. Distinctive competencies are consisting resources and capabilities. Then the organization process value creating activities, the organization operate in upstream suppliers and downstream channel members. Competitive Strategy The four strategies relate to the extent to which the scope of a business activities are narrow verses broad and the extent to which a business seeks to differentiate its products. Competitive strategy consists of moves to attract customer, hold up competitive pressures, and strengthen organizations market position. It purposes are to earn a competitive advantage, cultivate clientele of loyal customers, and knock the sock off rivals, ethically and properly. For information, competitive strategy is narrower in scope than business strategy. This is because it focuses on managements plan to compete successfully. The four strategies are shown in the figure 1.2 in following. Degree of product differentiationFigure 1.2 Five Generic Competitive Strategies High Differentiation Focus Differentiation Best-Cost Provide Cost Focus Cost Leadership Low Broad Narrow Scope of Business Activities Source: Adopted from tutor2u.net According to figure 1.2, low cost leadership striving to be the overall low-cost provider in industry. Besides, broad differentiation is striving to build customer loyalty by differentiating ones product offerings from rivals products. Low cost focus has to concentrating on a narrow buyer segment, out-competing rival on basic of lower costs. In addition, high differentiation is offering niche members a product or service customized to their needs. Some more, best cost provider strategy is striving to give customers more value for the money by combining an emphasis on low cost with an emphasis on upscale differentiation. Competitive Dimensions The organizations are care about the customers needs and wants. Therefore, the organizations apply the competitive dimensions which are transformed such needs and wants into targeted areas. These competitive advantages are consisting of four factors which are cost, quality, time, and flexibility as defines as following. Cost Organization must make some kind of compromise between the cost and the characteristics of their products and services. Basically, most of organization will choose to control the cost of material and employee compensation rates attempt to achieve higher levels of productivity. Quality Quality can be achieved by adding unique attributes to products to enhance their competitive attractiveness so as to benefit customers in the final stage. Quality can be achieves in two ways which is quality of design and quality of conformity such capability of organization to transform inputs to conformable outputs. Time Time is the most important factor to compete among each others. For example, delivery time can be a source of competitive advantages. This can be achieving through reducing the period f time between receiving and accepting customer orders and then delivers products or services to customers. Otherwise, the time period between product ideas generation till achieving the final design or production is consider as important factor. Flexibility Flexibility is defines as the ability of the processes to switch from one product to another or from one customer to another at least time and lowest cost or impact. Besides, flexibility also can view as the ability to adapt the production capacity to changes in the market demands. RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN SWOT ANALYSIS AND COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE It is not intelligent to think that using organizational strengths to build a competitive advantage does not require through external environment analysis. The fact is whether an organization is strong or weak is a relative measure with comparison to its external environment. It is widely proven that organizations can achieve a competitive advantage by relying on organizational strengths and interacting with the strategic choice so as to make use of opportunities and avoid threats or override weakness or both. STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT Strategy management is the process of specifying an organizations objectives, developing policies and plans to achieve these objectives, and allocating resources to implement the plans. It is the highest level of managerial activity, usually performed by the companys top management as well as executive team. It provides overall direction to the whole organization. An organizations strategy must be appropriate for its resources, circumstances, and objectives. The objective of an overall corporate strategy is to carry out its mission effectively and efficiently. A good corporate strategy should integrate an organizations goals, policies, and action sequences or tactics into cohesive whole. Strategic planning was first brought into practice in the private sector in 1960-1970, followed by the public sector some 10-20 years later. According to Diskiene, Galiniene, and Marcinskas (2008), Strategic planning gives quite a clear description of the use of the SWOT strategy analysis tools. There are also involved several reasons of strategic plans fail where discuss in problem statement section. PROBLEM STATEMENT SWOT analysis usually reflect a persons existing position and view point, which can misused to justify a previously decided course of action rather then used as a means to open up new possibilities. It is significant to mention that sometimes threat can also be view as opportunities, depending on the people or groups involved. Finding from Helms and Nixon (2010) clearly indicate that an optimist is one who sees an opportunity in every difficulty. Adversely, a pessimist is one who sees difficulty in every opportunity. SWOTs can allow companies to take lazy course and took for fit rather than to stretch, they look for strengths that opportunities yet ignore the opportunities they do not feel they can use to their advantage. A more active approach would be to involve identifying the most attractive opportunities and then plan to stretch the company to meet these opportunities. This would make strategy a challenge to the organization rather than a fit between its existing strength and the opportunities (Helms Nixon, 2010). Helms and Nixon (2010) points out that categorization of variables into one of the four SWOT quadrants is also challenging. This is because if the strengths that are not maintained may become weaknesses. Some more, if opportunities not taken in the right time, but adopted by competitors, may become threats. Helms and Nixon (2010) also agrees there is confusing in classifying issues such often threat to a business can be called opportunities but setback and catastrophes are real problems and cannot be classified as opportunities. So the opportunities is a favorable solution to a problem and not problem itself. Besides, criteria to assign a variable to one of the four quadrants may be more difficult to clarity if the methodology is not used for a company but for a country. While SWOT is useful to profile and enumerate issues, it does not provide actual strategies to implement to take advantages of opportunities while leveraging strengths. In short, it is no strategic direction provided. This is because SWOT is only using simple list of words or point form without clear detail may be difficult to interpret. The brief format of the SWOT tool may be an oversimplification of a business situation that is more complex. The SWOT tool does not represent the complete and entire analysis so it may lead to inaccurate results (Helms and Nixon, 2010). Helms and Nixon (2010) states that SWOT is need to use with additional tools of analysis which is combinations with other strategic tools and models in order to get more accurate results. Many researchers suggest that Porters 5-Forces Analysis is a well internal analysis which focuses on the organizations external environment. Hence, 5-Foces analysis is applied more specifically to an organizations competitive environment. According to The Free Encyclopedia of Wikipedia (2010), strategic plans fail is consists of many reasons which can refer to the organization failure to understand the customers wants and needs. Otherwise, organization inability to predict environmental reaction which what is the competitor recently doing. Besides, the organization also over-estimates the resource competence. This can be said that the organization is does not know whether the staff, equipment, and processes can handle the new strategy. In addition, the organization is failure to coordinate, failure to obtain senior management commitment, failure to obtain employee commitment and failure to follow the plain. Finally, the organization might under-estimate of time requirements. In the business arena the grouping of internal and external issues is a frequent starting point for strategic planning. This is a most important starting point for implementing the SWOT analysis. If fail to categories or indentified it, then the whole analysis becomes less accurate for organization. In fact, the organization will lose the opportunities to compete in the market with the competitors. Therefore, the planner or top management have to identified the external and internal factors which strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats carefully in order to getting accurate result. CONCLUSION RECOMANDATION

Summary of The Pearl :: essays research papers

Kino, a young pearl diver in La Paz, enjoys his simple life until the day his son, Coyotito, is stung by a scorpion. The wealthy town doctor will not treat the baby because Kino cannot pay the doctor's fee, so Kino and his wife, Juana, are left only to hope their child is saved. That day Kino goes diving, and finds a great pearl, the Pearl of the World, and knows he is suddenly a wealthy man. The word travels quickly about the pearl and many in the town begin to plot ways to steal it. While the townspeople plot against Kino, he dreams of marrying Juana in a church, buying a rifle, and sending Coyotito to school so that he can learn to read. Kino believes that an education will free his son from the poverty and ignorance that have oppressed their people for more than four hundred years. The doctor comes to treat Coyotito once he learns of Kino's pearl, and although the baby is healed by Juana's remedy, the doctor takes advantage of Kino's ignorance. He convinces Kino that the child is still ill and will die without the care of a doctor. The doctor then manipulates Kino into unwittingly revealing where he has hidden the great pearl. Kino moves the pearl when the doctor leaves. That night, an intruder comes into Kino's hut and roots around near the spot where Kino had first buried the pearl. The next day, Kino tries to sell the pearl in town. The pearl buyers have already planned to convince Kino that the great pearl he has found is worth very little because it is too large. This way they can purchase the pearl for a low price. But when the buyers try to cheat Kino, he refuses to sell the pearl and plans to travel to another city to sell at a fair price. His brother, Tom Juan, feels Kino's plan is foolish because it defies his entire way of life and puts his family in danger. Kino is now on his own, although he doesn't know it yet. Juana warns Kino that the pearl is evil and will destroy his family, but he refuses to throw it away because it is his one chance to provide a different life for his family. That night, Juana takes the pearl and tries to throw it into the sea, but Kino stops her and beats her.

Burger King SWOT Analysis

Strength: Burger King serves a lot of burgers that is typically not available in other fast foodrestaurant. Some of the examples are, BK Mushroom Swiss which serves beef patty and topped withmushroom sautà ©ed sauce, Grilled Chicken burger which is prepared by grilling the chicken patty andothers. Most of the burgers prepared in Burger King are cooked by properly grilling them over fire. Burger King also serve varieties of side dishes in their restaurants such as mozzarella sticks, apple pie,Hershey's pie and others.Weakness: Burger King does not advertise their products like their competitors do. Muslims who arenot familiar with Burger King would hesitate to try out their burgers as they are not sure whether it ishalal or not. Burger King also could not produce more sales than McDonald's because of lackmarketing strategy which would place them in a disadvantage spot in areas dominated byMcDonald's. Opportunity: Burger King could improve their sales by producing more advertisements on theirproducts. They could also open new branches in major city all around the worlds and some ruralareas.Some of the state in Malaysia doesn't have Burger King in their city so, Burger King could tryand open new outlet which will greatly improved their sales. Threat: Burger King faces threat from other major burger fast food restaurant such as McDonald's andWendy's. McDonald's produced the highest percentage sales among the three which is a threat forBurger King. The cost to produce the burger during inflation and lack of sales puts Burger King in atough spot and other burger fast food restaurant could take advantage to advertise new product andhence raising their sales.Burger King Introduction Burger King is the world’s largest flame broiled fast food restaurant chain. As of 2011, Burger King operates restaurants in 12,300 locations serving over 11 million guests daily in 76 countries and territories worldwide (Burger King , 2011). Burger King’s core competency is its unique flame-broiled burgers. This process is difficult to imitate and helps differentiates Burger King from other fast food chains that fry their burgers instead.So much so in fact, no other fast food provider flame broils their burgers. In addition, Burger King allows and encourages consumers to customize the unique flame-broiled burgers with options to their liking. This creates a win-win situation for both Burger King and the consumer. Burger King has the benefit of offering a different product and the consumer benefits by having numerous burger options. Although Burger King has expanded its menu selections, they have remained true to their original flame-broiled burgers.This product gives them an advantage over other fast food chains. Facing intense competition and limited growth opportunities domestically, Burger King hopes strengthen their competitive stance through international expansion. By mid 2009, Burger King was not in any of the following countries: France, India, Nigeria, Pakistan and South Africa. Compare these countries as possible future locations for Burger King. In looking for new countries to enter, Burger King needs to identify countries that fit its ideal demographic profile.Ideally Burger King would expand in areas that fit its ideal demographic profile. They need to find countries with higher populations (preferably youth) and concentrations of urban activity. Local diets consisting of high consumption of beef would be encouraging as their signature products are made of beef. Additionally, areas which are safe, maintain politically stable pro-business environments and have available capital are ideal. Burger King employees a franchising model as a method of growth and expansion.Burger King has strengthened its franchise agreement to ensure standards of product quality control and brand image are adhered and maintained. While all of the aforementioned locations hold promise in most areas of the ideal demographic, subtle nuances pre sent unique challenges. Competitive research would need to be done to explore the feasibility of each location. Or at least provide a complete picture for expansion into the respective countries. Burger King could learn from their own past errors in the countries they had retreated from as well as the mistakes of competitors.Due to a long standing agreement with the United States military, Burger King has been able to enter into numerous international locations relatively risk free by their placement of restaurants on military installations. This enables Burger King to get an inside look at foreign locations and test products with locals. It can also help create demand and recognition. Variations in Burger King’s practices and strategies result from differences in markets, institutions and culture. Successful globalization is often synonymous with successful localization.France: Burger King previously had locations in France but withdrew from the market in 1998. One of the un ique challenges of France is the apparent disdain for Americans and American products. Sensitivity to local sentiments and possibly embracing local alternatives might be necessary. Given the high degree of tourism in France and their relative success in the rest of Europe, Burger King would benefit from international recognition making reentry easier. India: Beef consumption in India is very low and almost nonexistent. Burger King’s signature burgers may not be very successful in India.Burger King would probably have to alter their menu to more familiar vegetarian dishes. Nigeria: Burger King opened a restaurant in Nigeria in 2011. Pakistan: Political stability and safety in this region of the world is always a consideration. Adaptation to local culture would require modification of food offerings, in particular in regards to pork based offerings. South Africa: Burger King entered South Africa in 2010. (Burger King , 2011) When entering another country, discuss the advantages and disadvantages that an international restaurant company, specifically Burger King, would have in comparison with a local company in that market.Burger King is a large company with vast resources. In comparison to a local company, Burger King could have inherent advantages when entering a new market. While people are familiar with fast food chains, Burger King differentiates itself not only in the products they offer but in the way they market their products. As an international company, Burger King could benefit from this brand recognition. This recognition helps ease the transition into new markets and could help stimulate sales. They can bring the benefits of economies to scale to bear in dealing with local suppliers.Burger King is able to adapt and experiment in the local environment given their expansive resources. Burger King can enhance their product mix to cater to local culture as well as demographics. The reception and ease of operation in foreign countries is generally favorable as they are investing in the local economy and providing jobs and services. Conversely, they may be unfamiliar with or understand the customs and culture of the indigenous people. Burger King may not be truly aware of what it is required to be successful in a particular country. Local competition can be contentious.Local companies learn from foreign fast food companies. Burger King will have to compete against local enterprises that are being developed both locally and globally. Local companies are able to rapidly alter their menus and flavorings to appeal to local tastes. Local companies tend to be more sensitive to local customs and exhibit genuine passion for local interests. Additionally, there may not be enough suppliers to support both Burger King and local restaurants. About two thirds of Burger King’s restaurants are in its Americas region (United States, and Canada) and one third elsewhere.Should this relationship change? If so, why and how? The burger mar ket in North America is considered mature. Given the heavy competition and saturation of similar products, the opportunities in North America may be significantly less than in other parts of the world. Similar competitors, notably McDonalds, have experienced success in markets outside of the United States and Canada. Likewise, Burger King has experienced success in certain international markets as well. Outside of Burger King’s America’s group (United States and Canada), the majority of Burger King restaurants are in Latin American and the Caribbean.Despite the heavy concentration of restaurants in these areas, these countries accounted for only 13. 5 percent of the non-Americas group revenue in fiscal year 2009. This is attributable primarily to the relatively small populations of these countries. In order for Burger King to remain competitive and strengthen their market share, taking advantage of opportunities in other markets may make sense. Expansion in other count ries could increase revenue and improve visibility in the international market place.Expanded market share could help strengthen strategic alliances with suppliers and stimulate competition. Expansion could also help diversify Burger Kings holdings. Diversification would help Burger King become less susceptible to local economic conditions. Burger King also needs to learn from past mistakes as they evolve their franchise system. Past failures have identified circumstances when Burger King has been forced to leave a market. Inadequate franchisee investment and performance as well as ill suited market demographics have led to the exit from certain markets.The case mentions that Burger King prefers to enter countries with large number of youth and shopping centers. Why do you think these conditions would be advantageous? Burger King prefers to enter markets in foreign countries with large populations of youths and shopping centers. This demographic profile represents the ideal target m arket for Burger King restaurants, both domestically and internationally. Fast food and shopping centers tend to be marketed more directly to the youth population. Youth are accustomed to and show a preference for fast food and constitute the largest consumer group of fast foods.Older consumers tend to shy away from fast food restaurants and prefer more traditional foods and eating at home. Youth are less likely to go home and cook and are more likely to pick up food on the go. Shopping centers are an ideal setting for a fast food restaurant as they attract younger people. Offering fast food makes it convenient for consumers to obtain food while shopping or to take on the go. How has Burger King’s headquarters location influenced its international expansion? Has this location strengthened or weakened its global position? The Burger King chain has always had roots in the Miami, Florida area.The original Burger King restaurant first opened in the Miami area and the company head quarters has always been located there. The global headquarters helps Burger King manage and control all its international locations from a central location. Miami is a large metropolitan area and frequent tourist destination for travelers from all over the world in particular from Latin America. Due to a heavy concentration of Latinos, Miami has been labeled the â€Å"Capital of Latin America†. Additionally, Miami is a frequent destination for snow bird travelers thus gaining additional exposure for the Burger King brand.Burger King has benefited from this exposure and gained recognition in international communities. Familiarity with the Burger King brand helps ease the expansion in certain international markets and has strengthened its global competitive position. The close proximity to Latin America demonstrates their global commitment and helps ensure their continued presence in the Latin American community. It has facilitated the ease of oversight and allows Burger King' s management to easily â€Å"visit these countries and for franchisees to visit Burger King headquarters†.Additionally, Burger King is able to locally test products on the indigenous Latin community. The location in Miami has simplified their entry into the Latin countries. Burger King can use the experiences in South American countries as a basis for consideration for expansion in other countries. Evaluate Burger King’s strategy of using the Brazilian experience to guide its entries into Russia. Burger King’s basic strategy is to offer the lowest prices possible for its products and to continuously improve its menu to fit the needs of the customer.This can be seen in through its experiences in Brazil which serve as a model for entry into Russia (Daniels, Radebaugh & Sullivan, 2011). Burger King observed the mistakes that have been made by other companies and used their mistakes as a learning experience and as a growth mechanism. The failure of many prior fast f ood entrants in the Brazil market made potential suppliers apprehensive. By observing the mistakes of other fast food chains, Burger King forged a strategy that has proved successful. Brazil has been one of Burger King’s fastest growing markets.This strategy can be summarized in five parts: ( 1) develop an infrastructure before putting in restaurants, ( 2) develop a local management team, ( 3) focus development on major cities and adjacent geographies with established shopping mall location, prevalent in Brazil’s largest cities, instead of the whole country, ( 4) establish a local office, and ( 5) support continuous development and the use of local suppliers that meet Burger King’s global specifications(Daniels, Radebaugh & Sullivan, 2011).Typically Burger King does not set regional restaurant support center for smaller markets or those where all the restaurants are franchised. Management deemed a Brazilian office necessary because of Brazil’s size (in bo th area and population), its language barrier (Portuguese), and the magnitude of investment that suppliers and franchisees would eventually need to make. From the beginning the office served to demonstrate the company’s market commitment and to handle early supply- chain procurement and management (Daniels, Radebaugh & Sullivan, 2011).Burger King’s success in Brazil based on this model has encouraged management to use the same strategy for expansion into Russia. It has offices in Moscow, where initial penetration is planned. In fact, duplication of the successful Brazilian strategy may be even more important for Russia because Burger King lacks the same pre- entry brand recognition that it had in Brazil (Daniels, Radebaugh & Sullivan, 2011). Conclusion Burger King has many opportunities for expansion, in particular opportunities in foreign countries.Despite its more recent international growth, Burger King still operates in less than 40 percent of the world’s co untries. Burger King faces the challenge of indentifying and deciding which locations are best suited for expansion. However, growth for growth’s sake is the mentality of a cancer cell. Burger King needs to engage in strategic expansion and only expand when the circumstances are favorable and demographical requirements have been met. Sources Burger King . (2011, November 10).Retrieved November 10, 2011, from Burger King: http://www. bk. com/en/us/international/index. html Daniels, J. , Radebaugh, L. , & Sullivan, D. (2011). International Business. In J. Daniels, L. Radebaugh, & D. Sullivan, International Business. Upper Saddle River: Pearson. Our Commitment to Corporate Governance Our codes and company policies encompass not only our core ethical principles, but specific issues that our employees and business partners face on a day-to-day basis.Our goal is to continuously reinforce our policies and procedures to ensure compliance with the law as well as openness and accountab ility. 1. The core ethical and governance principles of BKC begin at the top. The board sets the â€Å"tone at the top† by promoting an ethical culture that respects and values all employees and stakeholders and encourages compliance with all laws and company policies. 2. As a condition of doing business within the BURGER KING ® system, every approved vendor must comply with the Code of Business Ethics and Conduct for Vendors. 3.We’ve partnered with, and received recognition from, a variety of organizations that share our dedication to being a good corporate citizen and improving our communities around the world. Download this Section of the Corporate Responsibility Report * Did you know? BKC's code of business ethics and conduct guides our commitment to good corporate citizenship everywhere we operate – 74 countries and U. S. territories around the world. * Did you know? Our A+ rating by The Better Business Bureau is Based on our performance related to ethica l business practices.

A Beautiful Mind †Schizophrenia Essay

If you ever wondered and wanted to experience how a person with schizophrenia thinks and acts, then; a beautiful mind is the perfect movie to see to get an elaborate point of view of a person who struggles with schizophrenia in their everyday life. In this movie the depiction of schizophrenia is described as a person who lives out their life thinking and believes that there’s an actual living person they talk to, but in reality it’s just delusions and hallucinations they are experiencing. The features and symptoms displayed in this film that help identified the main characters’ disorder were hearing, seeing, and feeling things that weren’t actually there. It then progressed to anger and anxiety, which I believe was due to encountering events or a series of events that participated later along the characters life. As the characters symptoms seem to get worse he was then delivered and brought to use insulin coma therapy, which I read by psychiatric consultant, Max Fink, in Psychiatric News, â€Å"The primary treatment he received was insulin coma therapy, which along with ECT was the only treatment that had demonstrated any impact on schizophrenia symptoms by the time of his illness†. See more: Distinguish between problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping Essay After undergoing many treatments in the psychiatric hospital he then eventually stopped taking the medications and treatments do to memory loss, which prevented him from solving the difficulty math problems he was accustom to do in his early years. As a result it leads him back to madness state of hallucinations and delusions of schizophrenia.