ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
Introduction According to UK’s Companies Act, SMEs definition is seen to constitute the following characteristics, “employing 250 people or less, having a turnover of less than 11.2 million pounds and have a net assts of less that 5.6 million ponds” (Performance and Innovation Unit and Small Business Service 2001, p.1). Since the integration of European countries, trade barriers have been reduced, an opportunity that has allowed free movement of goods, services, capital, and labor (Mulhern, 1995). Through this, the union body has envisioned to create and facilitate economic potential of Europe. Small and medium enterprise sector (SME) has been regarded as one of crucial sectors that will result in European competitive development. For instance, in almost all European countries, SME provides employment to many people within the European labor force and commands 75 per cent of sale volume in the private sector (Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Trade and Industry Committee, 2005, p.152). Despite their increased popularity in the UK, the financial SMEs have faced various challenges over the years that have placed them unfavorably in terms of competition with other larger firms in the country, the most pressing problem being difficulty in access to credit. However, one bank going by
Introduction Planning in any sector entails forecasting on developments and laying strategies on how to react to these developments when they fall due. It should therefore be done carefully and skillfully in order to avoid conflicts that may arise in future following the developments. In public sector, the urban and regional planning process the necessary measure need to be put in place so that they do not evoke conflict in future. According to Campbell, “Given that conflict and conditions of uncertainty are endemic to planning, planners have to adopt many different roles in their practice in order to be effective in planning” (Campbell, 2003). They need to embark much on dispute resolution. Land use, environmental, and other public policy disputes resolution have become as one of the key duties of the planners. Disputes of this kind usually become resistant to resolution and planners need to have the necessary skills in order to solve them. In most cases, the planners have some special training and abilities that make them good mediators of this kind of conflicts. The nature of these kinds of conflicts calls for effective conflict management in planning. This paper seeks to identify the knowledge, skills and ethical considerations required for effective conflict management in planning. The paper will also discuss the strengths and limitations of conflict management in planning as well as cross cultural considerations. Knowledge required for effective conflict management in planning Environment and public policy disputes may take diffe
Introduction There are several sources of funds that a business can use to boost working capital and long-term finances. Major sources of funds that are common across businesses are short-term and long-term loans from financial institutions and trade payables. Other sources include shares, retained earnings, finance, operating lease, hire purchase, and venture capital, among others. This treatise looks at the background of Apple Inc. and various sources of funds for the company. Background of the Company Steven P. Jobs and Steve Wozniak founded Apple Inc. in 1976. It is the world’s largest technology company in terms of revenue and profit. When considering market capitalization, it is the largest publicly traded company in the world. It has approximately 63,000 employees across the globe. Apple Inc. is based in America. It has more than 350 retail outlets across the world. It trades in consumer electronics, software, and computers. The company produces iconic products such as iPhone, iPad, iMac, and iPod. These products have tremendously redefined music, cell phone, and entertainment and media businesses across the globe. The company faces stiff competition from well-established companies in the industry such as Google and Microsoft. Nine people make up the management team. The CEO (Tim Cook) leads the team. Other executives include Senior Vice President, Internet Software and Service (Eddy Cue), Senior Vice President, iOS Software (Scott Forstall), Senior Vice President, Industrial Design (Jonathan Ive), Senior Vice President, Hardware Engineering (Bob Mansfield), Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (Peter Oppenheimer), Senior Vice President, Worldwide Marketing (Philip W. Schiller), Senior Vice President and General Counsel (Bruce Sewell), and Senior Vice President, Operation (Jeff Williams). There is no gender balance in the executive team. Eight members make up the Board of Directors. Arthur D. Levinson chairs the Board of Directors. In total, the company has approximately 63,000 employees across the globe. The death of the founder member, Mr. Steve Jobs, left a glomming face on the future of the company. This is because he was known to be the star and an excellent innovator of iconic products. Sources of funds The Company has had a tremendous path of growth in net sales and net income for the past five years. For instance, in 2007, net sales amounted to $24, 578 million while net income was $3,495 million. In 2011, net sales amounted to $108,249 million while net income amounted to $25,922 million. For reporting purposes, the company is divided into segments according to regions. Net sales from America make up a large proportion of the total sales. Apple has diverse sources of funds. From the 2011 financial statement presented in form 10-K, the business relies on marketable government securities as a s
Introduction This case is about a company, namely eBay, which has made a niche in the e -business industry and gone on to become one of the most successful and profitable firms in online auctions. The company’s most important stakeholders include its owners, employees, customers, suppliers, the government and the community at large. eBay operates on the principles of e-commerce where the internet is the main channel. Suppliers can also offer their physical goods to customers for purchase. No movement by both parties is required. eBay has been able to cement its survival in the industry and ensure continued growth in sales and earnings. This is because of its strategies and its insistence on excellence, efficiency, differentiation of its goods. To a lesser extent, it is also because of effective measures put in place to deal with the challenges facing the business world. This case explains the intricacies of the company’s internal and external environments. It gives the description of the company, its mission and objectives. It also looks into the challenges it faces in its quest for growth and expansion. It gives both quantitative and factual data in its analysis. The ‘now’ of this case study is 2001. The international team has to come up with strategies that will increase the revenues coming from outside the United States from one hundred and fourteen million US dollars reported in 2001 to over eight hundred million US dollars projected in 2005. Structuring an Internal Environment Analysis eBay’s mission is to ‘make impossible commerce possible and to make inefficient commerce efficient. Its vision is to grow and expand its venture to cross border trade without incurring excessive costs in its expansion. Its objectives oscillate round its vision, which is, coming up with strategies that ensure growth without causing negative impacts on the company. Excellence, efficiency, quality, customer and employee satisfaction and image form the pillar of the company’s values. It has a centralized leadership structure where only top management can make important decisions and there has to be consultations before any decision is implemented. It has a decentralized leadership structure also. The case study shows that top managers normally appoint directors who are in charge of specific goods or product line, rather than there being only one manager overlooking all the transactions that are being made. Its beliefs are mainly customer satisfaction, efficiency, excellence and quality. eBay has its own distinct way of doing things in that, customers are given a lot of leeway. Customers choose what to list and the length of time the goods are to be listed. They also have the liberty to upload photos and once the good is sold, they are the ones to pack, insure, and ship the goods to the buyers. eBay uses a hands-off phil
Introduction This assignment is a case study on the importance of a cohesive organisational culture. The case study is based on a large manufacturing organisation known as BSG Ltd, which is faced with management challenges. The challenges have led to the decline of profits, low levels of job satisfaction and organisational commitment by employees, low levels of trust between management and employees, poor team work and a belief by many employees that there is little opportunity for advancement. Staff turnover is an issue because it increased by 15% in year ending 2010. This case study is based on the literature on organisational culture and management theories. The aim of the case study is to highlight the changes which need to be implemented by the management of the organisation and give some recommendations on how best to effect the changes with little or no resistance by the employees. The case study starts with a definition and exploration of the topic of organisational culture and the importance of a cohesive organisational culture. Afterwards is a discussion of the changes which need to be effected by the organisation and the recommendations on how to implement the changes based on theories of change management. At the tail end is a conclusion which highlights the key points in the discussion followed by a list of references used in the discussion. Executive summary The purpose of this report is to explore the topic of cohesive organisational culture by looking at the benefits of the same to organisations. The report is based on a case study of BSG Ltd, which is a large manufacturing organisation. The organisation is faced with management challenges, which have led to a decline in profits, low cohesion among employees and poor relationships between the employees and top management as well as problems of increased turnover and pilfering in both warehouse stocks, and stationery supplies. The report identifies the possible changes which should be undertaken by the management of the organisation so as to deal with these problems. Such changes include increasing employees’ remunerations and replacement of the rule based culture with a human relations approach to management which encourages employees’ creativity, team work, innovativeness and flexibility. It is also recommended that the management should consider providing employees with additional benefits like taking them for holidays and provision of various forms of insurance cover. The recommendations for implementing these changes are based on Lewin’s model of organisational change management which constitutes of three stages namely unfreezing, changing and freezing. This model is a procedural approach to organi
Marketing links the company to the customers through audio, visual, audio, audio-visual and print media. The two most important people in marketing are the consumers and the companies involved when the company is marketing; it has to communicate to the customer through marketing using the aforementioned methods. Marketers should understand the buying situations in which their customers are in (Sandhusen, p253). The marketer’s focus is on changing the decision making process of the customer to buy its goods. Problems usually arise in the marketing of the product to the customers and advertisements and promotions or even posters for the customer to make up a decision whether to by the product or not. It is the relationship of buying and selling of goods or services between a company and a customer. The aim of marketing is to attract the attention of a customer to a good or service. A customer usually uses the limited problem solving approach (Sudman, Seymour, and Edward, p.206). For the company to retain its customers and be efficient in marketing, it therefore needs to have good problem solving skills. This is because the process of marketing has various problems that may arise anytime and sometimes find the seller unawares. Mostly, this arises due to various challenges that involve the relationship between the customer and company. Therefore, a good relationship between the customer and the company is all what a company needs to survive in the market and maintain its competitive edge which is beneficial to the company in the long run. The company has to find ways of marketing its product effectively and at the same time be able to solve the problems that it faces during the marketing of goods and services to the customer in order to be effective in the market. Some marketers may not have the necessary skills in problem solving and hence the many problems that usually arise may find them unprepared and without any solution. This may result into loss of their customers. Many different situations arise during the day to day activities which may arise from the marketing of a certain product or establishing a business in a new area, that require proper problem solving skills. For the efficient running of business, the company has to deal with such problems. These problems vary and range from complex to simple which need prior problem solving skills and methods. This is because each problem requires a different approach and solution which, the company has to strategize on how to come up with. Consequently, the company may resort to employing people who have been trained in problem solving skills or cater for the training of their personnel. This would increa
Abstract Ethics forms the basis for healthcare delivery and provision which differ from one discipline to another. This paper focuses on issues which makes ethics formulation troublesome. Contemporary bioethics is based on four major principles; autonomy, justice no-maleficence, and beneficence. The current healthcare delivery relies majorly on autonomy as the most critical factor for ethics establishment. A recent ethical issue in healthcare concerns the approach of circumstance in which weak individuals are involved such as the unborn and the aged. The society has the obligation of protecting such individuals from oppression through professional and organizational ethic. This paper focuses on the ethics involved in helpless unborn members of a society. Further steps should be taken to ensure that the goals of healthcare delivery and access should be secondary to the welfare of a helpless being involved. Introduction All life challenges have answers, although all answers are not founded on ethical principles. Principles only, do not end in ethical choices, that is, decisions that are not based on principles are ethically irrelevant (Sheikh, 2007). Moral mistakes still persist in different aspects of healthcare. Thus, ethical norms have to be observed in healthcare systems, science and technology, biomedical research, and public health (Beauchamp, & Childress, 2001). Several key ethical issues accompany healthcare delivery and provision. These issues include concerns for how resources are allocated; who decides who gets what; measurement of outcomes; definition of success; prioritization with regard for cost-effectiveness; population health-being; health inequality or precise methods of health delivery; and special preferences or a more objective perception of best interest (Southern Cross Bioethics Institute, 2008). Basis for healthcare ethics Developing ideal guiding standards of healthcare is a challenging task. There are several alternative perspectives. The standards of ‘principlism’ are common in the sense that healthcare delivery is based on four principles including justice, non- maleficence autonomy, and beneficence (Gert, 2004). Modern worldly bioethics base on autonomy as the superseding value, although many other critics indicate the impracticality and risks in this approach. Specifically, the likely outcomes of the approach of autonomy are the tendency towards a market representation of healthcare structure, a condition that contradicts the conventional principles of medicine (Beauchamp, & Walters, 1999). Besides, it contradicts the facts of life for sufferers of chronic and disabling illnesses, or who are wholly reliant on others for their routine necessities. Determining who gets what is the
Executive Summary Hospitals face serious challenges in effective handling of medical wastes. However, modern healthcare facilities have adopted new method of handling medical wastes. King Fahad Medical City (KFMC) shall adopt the Pneumatic Waste Transport System in order to replace old methods of medical waste management. Medical wastes have both occupational and environmental challenges. There are various forms of medical wastes that the hospital must handle effective in order to reduce their harmful effects. Problems of waste management mainly involve disposal and potential risks, emerging technology, treatment, and disposal, regulatory requirements, and costs of managing such wastes. The Pneumatic Waste Transport System can address such challenges by providing cost-effective method of waste management, safe and healthier processes, operational efficiency, separation of wastes because of load stations, and enhance sustainability of the environment. The system is feasible based on experiences from hospitals that have implemented it. Moreover, most cities also use this system to manage urban wastes. Its sustainability and feasibility are evident in management of the environment and costs of maintenance and repair. However, the initial costs of implementing the project may be high. Besides, workers may also not support the new system of waste management because people tend to resist change during its implementation. Effective implementation of the system requires transformational and collaborative leadership abilities in order to facilitate the use of the system by many workers. At the same time, evaluation of the system during the implementation period shall also ensure that the system achieves its desired objectives. Salient characteristics of King Fahad Medical City King Fahad Medical City is at the heart of Riyadh city. This is the most advanced and largest medical facility in the Middle East with 1095 bed capacities. The main hospital has 459 beds and caters for patients of different medical conditions. The facility also has a rehabilitation center that has 159 beds. The rehabilitation center provides inpatient, day, and outpatient rehabilitation services. In the children section, the hospital has 246 beds, whereas the maternity ward has 236 beds. KFMC also has intensive care units with other completely equipped operating facilities. Based on such numbers of patients, KFMC generates many waste materials. Such conditions can lead to rapid spread of diseases and infections. The hospital has five categories of waste and refuse, which it must handle with utmost care in order to promote health and safety of all stakeholders. First, there are infectious and pathological wastes from KFMC. These wastes may harbor viruses, bacteria, and other forms of parasites that can affect other people at the hospital. Such wastes include anything that has been in touch to bodily fluids, blood, cultures from the laboratory, or any material that has been in contact with infectious elements. Pathological wastes include bodily parts like organs, fetuses, and tissue
“A rebel without a cause” is a film whose theme is based on the American youth who are misunderstood, restless and belong to the middle-class society. The film is based on a book written earlier by Dr Robert Lindners 1944, a factual book titled; “Rebel without a Cause,” which tells the story of a criminal psychopath in the years after the second world war. The film is about youth defiance in mid 1950’s from the perspective of the main adolescent male character who is a worried young adult with unreliable parents in a new surrounding. The story symbolizes the rebellious and idealistic protagonist search for a cause, which is honesty and decency in a hypoctrical world. Due to its theme no one would have been better fit for the main actor’s position like James Dean did shortly before his death which occurred a month before the feature opened at the Astor Theatre (Lindners, p.89). The film is divided into five main acts: conflict between parents and children leading to lack of a father factor, interaction between teenagers, and climatic challenge of the dare devil, peaceful and loving denouement and lastly the final tragedy of the three young people. The three main characters Jim, Judy and Plato represent the teenagers of the 1950’s .The film brings out their teen culture which is not so different with the current modern culture. Jim, the main character, is presented as a rebellious character who is a loner and a troublemaker seen as a drunkard when the film starts. He appears dressed like an adult in dark suit and a tie. He is also seen holding a monkey hence, bringing out his own essential innocence, sensitivity, and immaturity. He is arrested for drunkenness and ends up in jail where he meets new friends. He is disappointed by his parents who are ever arguing and are blamed for his alienation. One of the teenagers he meets is Judy, a desperate girl in need of loving, she has problems with her father who she is convinced that he does not love her. She is all dressed up for him with red lipstick but her father disapproves her maturity and smears off the lipsticks from her lips. Judy is like many teenagers living in the current teen culture, who are caught in family love drama. The issue has been portrayed in a current film “never been kissed”. In a dialogue of Judy and the policeman when she is informed that her father is picking her: Judy: He must hate me. Ray: What? Judy: he hates me. Ray; what makes you think he hates you? There is also sexual malaise at Judy’s home because his father is sexually interested in her but to avoid this he treats her coldly. Judy gives him a peck on the cheek but he retorts “What’s the matter with you? You are getting too old for that kind of stuff… Girls your age don’t do things like that.” Judy responds: “Girls do not love their father? Since when? Since I got to be 16? (Lindners, p. 54). Plato is the other teen character who is brought to the police station by a powerless nanny for shooting puppies. He is hurt and thinks no one can help him since his parents are always away from home and more so, it was his birthday and his parents were not present. The three attend the sam