ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
Business-oriented information systems (BOS) can be defined as groups of interrelated elements that “work collectively to carry out input, processing, output, storage and control actions to convert data into information products” (Qiu 2013, p. 45) that can be explored for optimal control and management of a wide range of operational activities within an organization. These systems are essential for business because they allow managers to streamline their decision-making process, promoting organizational success. It is possible to discern five essential elements of BOS: hardware, software, information, communication, and people (Qiu 2013). There are also two types of BOS: operations information systems (OIS) and management information systems (MIS) (Qiu 2013). Different business strategies can be analyzed with the following tools and models: Porter’s 5 Forces Model, McKinsey’s 7S Model, and Porter’s Diamond Model, among others (Fleisher & Bensoussan 2013). This paper aims to provide an analysis of Dubai Healthcare City’s work system with the help of the Work System Framework. The paper will also assess the organization’s business strategy using the following Porter’s models: Five Forces, Generic Model, and Value Chain. Business Overview Dubai Healthcare City (DHCC) is one of the UAE’s numerous economic zones, which is located in the Emirate of Dubai (DHCC 2017). The zone specializes in the delivery of healthcare services and is associated with an extremely limited level of taxation designed to promote economic activity. DHCC is comprised of two areas: medical education and healthcare area (4.1 million square feet) and wellness area (19 million square feet) (DHCC 2017). Business Strategy Porter’s Five Forces Table 1. Shows Porter’s Five Forces. Threat of substitutes              The most critical substitutes are for DHCC’s services can be found in all seven emirates. Moreover, foreign countries are also offering healthcare services on par with those provided by DHCC professionals (Colliers International 2014). Therefore, it can be argued that DHCC is faced with a medium level of threat of substitutes. The threat of new entrants         Taking into consideration the fact that DHCC is not a single organization but rather an economic zone, there is no threat of new entrants because new rivals will not undermine the business model of the structure.                                                                                                                     The intensity of competition       UAE’s healthcare industry is on the rise; therefore, it is characterized by a significant competition level.
Time forms a very important aspect in trying to see the bond that makes up a community. All expressions that try to explain the social structure of a particular society or community always put into consideration the virtual time span. Social practices practiced by certain communities are as a result of the time space within which these activities occurred. Time span and space are two variables that remain constant in explaining the activities of a community and the way the communities maintain these activities. The essay that follows will give an account of how time is a determining factor in describing what a community is and how it keeps together. Communities have certain aspects that hold them together through the different changing times and as a result, they have devised certain ceremonies and events that help to keep them together. The essay will first give an account of how time helps to shape a community, various events that have been formulated in order to keep the community together and the effectiveness of these events in keeping the community principles and values together. Through the changing times, communities can be connected to time that forms the basis from which communities can be able to make sense of who they really are. Time has helped to define a range of different communal life, which might vary from a small unit like that of a family to a much larger unit like that of a nation or state. Time has helped people like feminist to develop a basis from which they can make claims about women harassment. The structure and continuation of a community depends entirely on the perspective of the community towards time. Communities have over time developed activities and practices that are related to the contents of time, the contextual aspect of time and vicissitudes of time. Time provides a background upon which a community defines itself. There are
“ Genesis” is the first volume in Galeano’s The Memory of Fire that is organized as a set of vignettes put in chronological order. Each vignette represents a unique story that occurred in a certain location stated before the subtitle during the period between 1492 and 1700 (Galeano, 2014). All the stories describe the experience of particular characters or the events that occurred in Europe and Latin America. The specifics of this historical part of The Memory of Fire need to be discussed in detail. The characters described by Galeano are numerous, and they include Christopher Columbus, Bartholomew Columbus, Miquele de Cuneo, Alonso Hernandez, sailors, Indians, monarchs, conquistadors, and priests among others. Thus, the variety of protagonists presented in the book is distinctive, and each story is told from the perspective of this or that character and their vision. It is possible to focus on the ideas and voices of not only Columbus and sailors, as well as the authorities and priests, but also on the views of the Indians, conquered people, and Creoles. These characters describe what they felt and experienced when conquering the territories in Latin America or when being conquered or enslaved by the Spaniards and other European warriors (Galeano, 2014). From this perspective, the book provides a collection of historical voices and dramatic stories to pay attention to in order to understand what events occurred in 1500-1700. The main topics and points discussed in the stories include the conquest of the Latin American lands, the pursuit for gold, the propagation of religious views, humanity, slavery, killings, violence, and inequality. All these topics are presented through the description of certain events that occurred in different places and through the focus on the feelings and actions of the protagonists. Additionally, Galeano (2014) presents various poems and songs, and this approach makes the whole book resemble a primary historical source. As a result, it becomes possible to concentrate on the voices of suppressed Indigenous People and on the viewpoints of their violent oppressors. The topic of violence is widely presented in the stories as they include the vivid pictures of beating, killing, abusing, and even burning other people. Following the events described in the vignettes, Indians experience extreme violence from the Spaniards because of conquistadors’ interest in Indians’ women, gold, silver, and other treasures. For example, in the story titled “An Experience of Miquele de Cuneo from Savona,” there is a description of Miquele’s beating a woman that was received as a gift from Columbus. In the story titled “Sacrilege,” Galeano (2014) provides the description of burning six men who buried the images of God. Thus, the problem of violence depicted in the sections is also in differences in cultures and religious views and in the perceptions of the status and power. The collection of stories presented in “ Genesis” is unique in terms
The History of Narrative Film The history of narrative film is traced back to more than 100 years ago in the late 1800s. Simple basic filming devices were invented and were used during this period. Narrative films spread to all parts of the world within twenty years. The spread led to the development of complex technologies and the rise of a major industry. The industry became widely accepted as a form of entertainment. It attracted numerous artists, entrepreneurs, politicians, and scientists (Cook, 2004). However, the film industry has constantly been dependent on factors beyond its control. The dependency raises important questions, which include: What are the effects of technology on the filmmaking industry? How has industrialization affected the creation of narrative film? According to Gunning (1991), the narrative of the film was the most important aspect of this art. Editing, composition, and lighting were all designed to assist the audience in understanding the story in the late 1910s. The characters in these stories were created through increased editing. In addition, performance and dialogue subtitles helped the audience in relating the images to the scenes. Editing was increased and the distance between the cameras and the actors decreased. The change contributed to the development of the star system due to recognition of actors and the emphasis on facial expressions. Editing was used to display the internal thoughts and emotions of a character, as well as to clearly show instances of psychological intensity. The filmmaking industry experienced a rapid growth and expansion during the first thirty years of its operation. The then unfamiliar experience quickly spread across the globe, attracting an ever growing audience in all the places it was introduced. The growth made it a very popular form of entertainment, displacing other forms of entertainment. The rapid growth in audience led to an increase in the number of locations where films were shown, competing with opera-houses and theatres for excellence and opulence. The length of the films increased from a few minutes to hours, which controlled the world’s screens for a long time (Cook, 2004). Among the countries credited with the invention and development of filmmaking are French, America, Germany, and British. The French and the Americans played a major role in the distribution of filmmaking in other parts of the world. They led in the development of artists and talents. Russia, Italy, and Denmark also played a role in developing filmmaking before World War I. By following a strong export policy and advancing its markets, the US became the largest consumer of films (Gunning, 1991). Americans dominated the world’s film market by the beginning of the First World War. The American filmmaking industry continued to grow during the war, developing n
Production trend in the US Auto industry in the US has been undergoing a major turmoil due to adverse macro economic conditions. This resulted in an up and down of the auto production in the recent times. Historically auto industry has undergone series of upheaval in the production process wherein the production growth has shown tremendous fluctuating trends. Figure 1 demonstrates the auto production of the US from 1967 through 2007 (BEA, 2010). Figure 1: Auto Production in the US. Figure 1 shows that the overall production in the automobile industry in the US has been increasing since 1967, though there were intermittent fall or rise in the growth of production. The increase in total production of the auto industry shows that However, the growth of production, which measures the percentage change in total production over periods, has been fluctuating over the year. In addition, a trend line for the production growth demonstrates that the growth of production has been following a declining pattern. There a declining trend in auto production growth is a concern as the industry is expected to face fall in production. The declining trend in production growth indicates a possible fall in future of the production growth in auto industry, which is a bad sign for investors in the industry. Figure 2: Labor cost and capacity utilization in the automobile sector of the US. Bureau of Labor Statistics The cost of labor is one of the primary determinant factors for any production process. The labor cost index for automobile industry in the SU is shown in blue in figure 2 (BEA, 2010). A trend line for the labor cost index for next five years through 2012 demonstrates that the labor cost is expected to fall in the future. This is a positive indicator for the auto industry production, as a decline in labor cost would reduce the overall cost of production. For investors, a fall in the labor cost as shown in figure 3 is a good sign, as lower cost will lead to lower variable cost. This will eventually increase the margin and profit. Capacity Utilization Capacity utilization of the US automobile firms in percentage from 1987 to 2007 is plotted in figure 3 (BLS, 2010). Capacity utilization provides the per unit cost of producing the good. Therefore if the per unit cost of production is x, then in 2007, a capacity utilization of 70.9% would imply that till this the production can be done without increasing the average variable cost. Thus, a rise is capital utilization is desirable of organizations. In case of US auto industry, there is a fall in capital ut
This paper aims to discuss the changes in organizational structure of healthcare institutions. In particular, it is necessary to show how workplace hierarchy in these hospitals was restructured and how the administration modified means of coordinating and monitoring work of healthcare professionals. Furthermore, we need to evaluate the efficiency of these changes and the improvements they brought. Overall, it is possible to argue that the majority of hospitals attempt to become less bureaucratic and turn themselves into adhocratic organizations. This means that they try to eliminate formal barriers between the top managers and their subordinates in effort to improve the quality of healthcare and remove time-consuming red tape (Mintzberg & Ghoshal, 2003, p 464). One of the most common changes, underwent by many hospitals nowadays is the creation of interdisciplinary teams (Aikman et al, 1998). The members of these teams may belong to different departments or units, yet, they focus on the needs of a certain group of patients. To better illustrate this concept, we can draw such an example as Toronto East General Hospital (TEGH); the administration of this institution decided to form workgroups that would address the needs of a specific population, namely pregnant women. These workgroups included obstetricians, counselors, midwifes, psychologists, and nurses; in turn, the decisions about healthcare were formed within these teams (Aikman et al, 1998, p 29). To some degree, the formation of this mix groups can be regarded as a step toward a matrix management. The key principle of matrix management is that a healthcare professional can work under direction of several managers and support organizational activities. The main objective of this organizational change in TEGH was to provide medical workers with a higher degree of autonomy and better opportunity for decision-making (Aikman et al, 1998, p 34). Another form of organizational change is the delayering of the workplace hierarchy. This policy is based on the premise that a medical worker, who is supervised by many layers of management, cannot perform his duties efficiently because he has to constantly ask for the authorization of the superior manager and other authorities in order to take any decision about patient care (Mintzberg & Ghoshal, 2003, p 172). This argument is particularly relevant, if we are speaking about nurses who are closely monitored by head nurses, unit-directors, and case managers at the same time. Due to this continuous supervision they are virtually powerless. Therefore, the purpose of delayering is to make senior management more close their subordinates and ensure that both sides are able to quickly share information with one another. To better explain the process of delayering, we need to refer to such organization as Saint Frans
Introduction Interpersonal effectiveness can be defined as the skillful interaction of persons with each other. This enables them to live harmoniously despite any differences, communicate properly, and understand each other. Individual and cultural influences that affect one’s perceptions the most Perception is the intake of information from our surroundings and the corresponding interpretation of that information. We perceive through our senses. Consequently, what is perceived determines how one responds. This is through actions. There are a number of factors that affect the way we view our environment. Among them are cultural influences. These include social interactions that one has experienced, e.g., people who have interacted with others who consider snails as a food delicacy will also treat it as such. Peer influences also bring about a difference in perception; this is because what is perceived as the norm in a particular group may not be the case in another peer group. For example, in some societies, young people can dress in an ‘creative’ manner, while in other peer circles, one must conform to a specific dress code and will be perceived differently if they do not. In modern times media plays a great role in telling us what is and what is not. Lastly, education or knowledge modifies our perceptions a great deal. If an uneducated person was given a page to read, he would simply view it as a piece of paper; in contrast, an educated person would see it as a source of information. Individual influences that affect perception include upbringing – this means that who
Franchising has become one of the dominant forms of entrepreneurship in all parts of the world. Companies expand and conquer larger shares of markets by making legal agreements with smaller organizations, which agree to follow the rules of the larger corporation and pay back the amount of compensation for using their brand names. There is an emerging consensus that franchising is likely to become the key driver of business growth in the coming years. Franchising is easy and fast. It is extremely cost-effective. Baskin Robbins is fairly regarded as one of the leading franchises in the U.S. – with more than 6,000 outlets worldwide, Baskin Robbins remains an unchangeable leader of the global ice-cream market (Entrepreneur, 2011). It comes as no surprise that Baskin Robbins exemplifies a unique and interesting object of microeconomic analysis. However, at first, the three main questions of economics and their relevance for Baskin Robbins have to be considered. Baskin Robbins is ranked among the top 500 franchises in the U.S. (Entrepreneur, 2011). Founded in 1945, Baskin Robbins currently runs 2,957 outlets in the U.S. and more than 3,600 franchises in foreign countries (Entrepreneur, 2011). I picked up Baskin Robbins for several reasons. First, Baskin Robbins remains an unchangeable leader of the American and international market of ice-cream, and I would like to understand how the company was able to achieve and retain its competitive position. Second, franchises exemplify a unique form of small-scale entrepreneurship, which benefits large companies and customers worldwide. In this situation, the main factors of the microeconomic environment affecting the company have to be understood. Finally, I would like to see how Baskin Robbins uses innovative products to attract and retain its customers, and I seek to evaluate the place and roles of innovations in micro-business settings. It should be noted, that franchise operations are frequent objects of microeconomic analysis. Franchise “is a legal agreement between an independent enterprise and a larger corporation in which the enterprise agrees to abide by standards set by the larger corporation and to compensate it for use of its brand name and other services” (Goodwin, Nelson, Ackerman & Weisskopf, 2008, p.420). The benefits of franchising are obvious: franchises represent a unique combination of brand name recognition and small-scale ownership (Goodwin et al, 2008). Franchisees use recognized brand names as the source of competitive advantage. At times, customers may react negatively to uniformity and standardization imposed on franchised products (Goodwin et al, 2008). This is how the first big idea of economics works with franchisees: choices always involve tradeoffs, and companies choosing franchising must realize that product standardization may leave certain customers dissatisfied. Here, a reasonable balance of standardization and product differentiation will help franchisees to meet unique customer demands. The three questions of economics are extremely relevant
Differentiate among product layout, process layout, cellular layout, and fixed-position layout. State the advantages and disadvantages of each. A Process layout refers to a design in which companies group similar activities within a workstation irrespective of the products that come out of the work stations. The main advantage of this layout is that it makes use of economies of scale. It creates specialization, is highly flexible, and improves human resources. Its disadvantages include resource inefficiency and increased material handling costs. Product layouts refer to the arrangement of activities in line with the sequence of operations needed to make a certain product. The advantages include efficiency in resource use and extensive usability while the disadvantages include inflexibility and handling of small amounts of products. The fixed-position layout refers to an arrangement in which administrators take the workers, equipment, and materials to a location. Its advantages include low fixed-costs, preservation of delicate or heavy tools, and specialization of workers while the disadvantages include high variable costs during movement of resources and inflexibility. Lastly, cellular layouts refer to arrangements in which individuals place different machines in cells that contain parts with similar processing requirements. The advantages of such an approach are the ease of control and reduced transit and handling time. Its disadvantages include the need for high investments in capital and extensive training among workers. Differentiate between a “flow blocking delay” and a “lack of work delay.” How can each be reduced? The lack of work delay occurs when a certain production stage has already completed the processing of certain units and has sent it to the next unit, but no other unit is available to engage it. This can be reduced by providing a buffer capacity for every stage. On the other hand, a flow blocking delay occurs when a production stage has already completed a servicing process but cannot work on another product because it is unable to release the completed product to the next work stage. This occurs when the next work stage has another item. It can be reduced by increasing storage capacity for each stage of work (Tempelmeier, 2006). Explain assembly line balancing. Discuss the three types of information needed to balance an assembly line. Assembly-line balancing refers to the technique of grouping tasks within workstations such that every workstation has equal amounts of work. The aim is to have an amount of throughput that can meet sale