ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
McDonalds has been ranked as one of the largest corporations in the world among the global restaurants that deal with fast food. The company was first established in 1948 in California by Dick and Mac (Gilbert 1999, p.2). it has chains of stores in more than 119 countries all over the world. From a careful analysis of statistical details, the company serves more than 68 million people daily (Gilbert 1999, p.2). Notably, the company has experienced tremendous growth worldwide since it primarily deals with fast foods such as shakes, desserts, hamburgers, chicken and cheeseburgers. Research has revealed that the company has been able to accommodate numerous consumers’ preferences and tastes in their menu (Derdak & Jay 2004, p. 108). Needless to say, the organization has developed strategies that have made it experience significant improvement since it first stated. It is against this backdrop that this paper discusses the evolution strategies, current marketing strategies and present details of the organization using the 7ps model. Moreover, this paper will identify three issues facing the organization and make recommendations of what the organization should do in order to remain competitive. Evolution of strategies Right from the time the organization began to operate, it has experienced extraordinary growth specifically because it adopted a winning formula strategy (Gilbert 1999, p.11). In this case, the management opted to provide their customers with high quality food at a very low cost. Therefore, the organization adopted a “speedee service” strategy whereby they were able to offer quick services to customers (Love1997, p. 20). This made the organization to flourish until 1955 when Ray Kroc joined this business organization (Gilbert 1999, p.12). Later on, the managers thought of exploiting the strategy on a larger scale all over US. In line with this, it adopted a franchising strategy whereby the company was licensed to sell its products within all regions in US (Gilbert 1999, p.15). This gave the corporation an opportunity to open up many franchised restaurants. Evidence has shown that the majority of McDonald’s restaurants have been franchised. Needless to say, survey results has shown that due to the tremendous expansion, there are more than 1,150 restaurants serving approximately 2 billion people across the world (Gilbert 1999, p.23). From a careful review of the organization’s
Most companies in the world are price takers and not price makers. This is because the number of small businesses is bigger than the number of big businesses. A price maker can be a monopoly or a firm within a monopolistic competition. It is defined as a price maker because it has the power to determine the price at which goods and services can be sold in the market. A price maker can only increase its output if its marginal revenue is more than its marginal cost that is if it’s making a profit. On the other hand, a price taker is a firm within a perfectly competitive market that does not have any power over its prices. In such a market, the price is determined by the forces of demand and supply, and the firm is left with no option than to take the prices (Schenk, 2010). I think the major pharmaceutical companies in the United States are price makers. This is because, over the past few years, the industry has been raising prices at a very high rate even after promising to drop the prices after the legislation is passed. These companies have power over the consumers since after raising the prices; they still maintain their market share. However, they have taken this advantage to exploit their customers, especially those who have to take daily medication. The U.S. major pharmaceutical companies produce high-quality drugs and have been able to earn their customers confidence, and that’s while they can maintain their market share even after charging high prices. However, some critics affirm that the industry is raising prices as a way of establishing a high price base before the legislation to curb prices is passed. A monopoly firm is one that has power over the prices charged in the market. It can raise or lower the prices of its products as it so wishes. Most businesses aim at being a market monopoly so that they can exercise control over their products. A monopoly market occurs due to various reasons. Some of these reasons are:  1. when an individual or business partners acquire unique resources for the production of a product  2. when an individual gets the highest level of skills in a certain service  3. when a company has patent rights to the use of certain technology that can not be imitated, for instance, the coca cola company  4. when the product produced has outstanding utilities and is also friendly to the consumers Under monopolistic competition, there are many sellers who produce alike but somewhat differentiated products. They have the power to determine the quantity to offer for sale as well as the price without affecting the other players in the market. Another characteristic of a monopolistic competitive market is that any one can enter it as long as he has sufficient knowledge and produces differentiated products. An exa
This summary and analysis looks at an article from the Wall Street Journal dated 14 th June 2012 and written by Sudeep Reddy. The article titled “Trade Protectionism Rises as Economies Slow” contends that economic slowdown in many regions around the world has made many nations to turn to trade protectionism to ensure that their economies are protected against trade threats from external economies and global competition. The article, which quotes the report of Global Trade Alert observes that more than 100 trade protectionist measures have been implemented by various countries across the world since the G20 summit meeting of 2011. Furthermore, of all the protectionist measures implemented, about 81% were implemented by the G20 members (Sudeep par. 1). Among the trade protection measures adopted by the various countries include export restrictions and imposing of higher tariffs. These measures were particularly spiked by the financial crisis of the 2008. Since international trade is generally governed by certain rules, which every country trading must adhere to, countries have turned to stealthier protectionism to avoid the trade the impact of the trade rules by circumventing around them (Sudeep par. 2). It is observed that most culprits of the trade protectionism are members of the European Union who have used at least 302 discriminatory measures. The members of the European Union are followed by Russia and Argentina sharing half the number of trade protectionism measures per member. One of the countries highly affected by these trade protectionism measures includes China at the top and other members of the European Union. The article closes by observing that the G-20 countries have failed to effectively fight protectionism and keep the world trading system open (Sudeep par. 3). As trade recently moved from local or national economies to the current globalized trade regimes, there has been desire to remove trade barriers in the international trade hence improve efficiency and remove friction in trade between countries. Nevertheless, free trade and trade protectionism both have advantages and disadvantages. For the part of advantages of protectionism, most countries seem to turn to protectionism to instill stability in their local markets, which is disrupted when free trade causes instability due to interruption from external firms and competitors. Protectionism also comes in another form where the particular country establishes anti-dumping regulations meant to ensure that cheap goods and products are not brought into the economy thereby unleashing unfair competition to the local producers. Exchange rates are also used as tools to ensure protection to country economies in a number of ways. For instance, China has recently been accused of pegging its currency on the US Dollar. To China, fluctuations that result from speculation are avoided thus ensuring stability in trade especially for its traders since there is some sort of predictability for what the near future of trade might look like. One of the major drawbacks of the fixed
Introduction The need to gather information to increase knowledge about a predetermined area of study has been around for a long time. Many methods have evolved over the ages to facilitate gathering, recording and analyzing the data so gathered, and participant observation is a very important exercise in this regard. Other relevant methods include interviews, questionnaires, and group discussions, and each of these methods has to be used in accordance with its relevance to the subject of study or type of data being gathered. Participant observation is essentially related to sociology and generally, is qualitative in nature. This paper is the result of a participative observation of passenger irritability in a medium-sized airport lounge in an Asian country. The purpose is to decrease passenger irritability by increasing facilities and passenger comfort. Participant Observation Participant observation involves study of the subject through observation over a relatively long period of time. It could be defined as “…… a qualitative method with roots in traditional ethnographic research, whose objective is to help researchers learn the perspectives held by study of populations.” (Participant Observation). Participant Observation can be carried out in two ways, overtly and covertly. Overt participant observation is a situation whereby, the individual or group being studied is aware that an observation and study is taking place. In covert observation, the subject is not aware of this, even if they know the person studying them. In other words, the study on the subject will be done unobtrusively. Overt Participant Observation Overt participation should require the cooperation of the subject group being studied. In some cases, the researcher personally discloses that a study is being made. A better way would be to involve a ‘sponsor’. A sponsor will introduce the researcher to the group and also explain the purpose of the study. Overt observation will solve the question of ethics that might crop up, because the group is aware of the study and its intent. Its disadvantages are that it could be time-consuming and that objective assessment could be difficult because of close proximity with group members. Covert Participative Observation Covert observation is more practical when the object of study may not allow the study, had they known of it. Another advantage is that since the group is not aware of the study and the researcher himself, behavior will tend to be
Introduction Around the world, businesses operate with the goal of making huge returns, which can sustain their daily expenditures. In fact, some firms realize their dreams, while others merely make a profit on a continuous basis. One of the common aspects that affect many companies around the world is associated with business errors. Overall, a business error is a misrepresentation of facts within a business establishment. In most cases, business errors are identified during the auditing of records (Kearns and Sabherwal 130). However, they could cause negative impacts even long before they are identified. Thus, there is a need for management teams of businesses to focus on implementing approaches to eliminating business errors (Ramanujam and Goodman 820). This paper discusses the consequences of three types of errors, i.e., data entry errors, data retrieval errors, and software bug, in ABC Company Limited that is located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It is worth to note that ABC Company Limited is an imaginary firm that is viewed from the perspective of operating in Saudi Arabia. Data entry errors Last year, the management of ABC Limited that all was not well as a result of figures in financial records that were not supported by bank statements. The top management launched investigations to assess the causes of the discrepancies. After a two-month investigation, it was revealed that some personnel made some serious data entry errors, which could have long-term negative impacts on the performance outcomes of the firm. It was established that some workers did not proofread their spreadsheets after entering data. Some were performing the tasks in a hurry due to the fact that they were trying to beat their deadlines. Thus, many financial calculations were performed using wrong figures. Sadly, the financial reports of the firm had already been reported to shareholders, who were very happy for the reason that they could receive better dividends, implying that the equity of the firm improved remarkably in the previous financial year. Consequently, plans were underway to initiate more projects that could go a long way in realizing more profits in the future. However, two days after the shareholders’ meeting, one of the board members noted that there were inadequate funds in the bank to cater for the proposed dividends. Practically, not even half of the dividends could be paid to investors, yet they were promised that they would be paid within ten days after the annual general meeting. The management was required to think quite fast and make critical decisions, but time was not on their side. Within a relatively short period, the news was in the media. A significant number of shareholders learned that the firm had made serious errors in reporting its financial outcomes. Consequently, investors thought that the firm had actually made a net loss, which could be about $490 million. Thus, it was evident that shareholders could not receive any dividends. Within a few hours, the firm’s stock price decreased by about 20% due to the fact that investors were in a hurry to sell their stake in the company. Although
European Employment System vs. International Employment System The system of employment in Europe emerged in the early 1990s after the collapse of the social system in Europe. There was increased unemployment with many states being under great pressure to improve economic conditions. The pressure was increasing in the field of employment. The social model of Europe was under threat with many people acknowledging that there was need for something to be done. The tasks to be done were many and they included intolerable levels of unemployment, restructuring of employment relations and systems of welfare. This required making of many internal changes and external shocks. The employment system in EU was linked to the harmonization of soft laws that link the local levels to EU national levels. The model is open and general and calls for the use of other domains in policies to formulate policies while at the same time improving employment situation in Europe. The European employment policy therefore seeks to meet the needs of individual states that form members of the EU while at the same time meeting objectives of a single European Union. A single market was created with wages and mobility of labor being made easy therefore increasing. EU Vocational Education and Training Systems (VET) EU regards education as an important factor for economies within the region. Therefore, countries within the region began establishing important education policies since the year 2000 in which the Lisbon education strategy was adopted. The education program aimed at increasing the number of jobs thereby reducing unemployment in Europe. Through education, EU realized that it was the best asset as the accumulated knowledge could enhance creativity and innovation. The objectives of the education policy in EU are many and include making a reality the learning and mobility, improving quality and efficiency of learning in EU and promote equity, social cohesion and active citizenship. Moreover, the policy enhances increased creativity and innovation within the region through its training programs. The major policies for education in EU include the policy for high school education, vocational and education and training and adult education. Vocational Education and Training (VET) The EU established this policy as an important factor in preparing individuals for the current competitive global society and for ensuring that EU remains competitive in the global arena. The policy was formulated amidst many challenges such as increased global competition, unemployment few skilled employees in organizations among many other challenges. VET activities aim at providing knowledge and expertise to individuals to increase their competencies that are vital in the labor industry. Consequently, they form a critical part of the 2020 program established by EU to meet certain development goals. “Strategies for lifelong learning and mobility are essential to promote employability, active citizenship, social inclusion and personal development”
Bourdieu’s understanding of policy revolves around the inequalities caused by capital. He believed that certain institutional structures prevent the masses from accessing capital. Therefore, he advocated for policy intervention as a method of enabling people to live dignified lives through capital access. According to this theorist, the market is an inefficient way of distributing capital, so external parties like the government should be involved (Bourdieu 2001). Furthermore, policy interventions need to target the underprivileged. In this case, carbon tax policy is one such intervention. The carbon tax policy under analysis is the Australian carbon tax that was introduced in 2012. It is a fixed price carbon tax of $ 23 per tonne (Siriwardana et. al. 2012). According to Bourdieu’s school of thought, economic capital is the total sum of material objects that a person possesses. These may range from assets in business, money, and property. However, Bourdieu’s conception of economic capital differs from other theorists because it is related to other forms of capital (Bourdieu & Wacquant 1999). Those who have greater cultural and social capital will access more economic opportunities and hence greater economic capital; therefore, the different forms of capital are interrelated (Bourdieu 2001). Economic capital gives its owner immediate access to goods or services. It also allows the individuals to acquire certain cultural or social knowledge that give him an advantage in economic transactions (Bourdieu & Wacquant 1999). Persons with a lot of economic capital can mobilise other persons with similar sources of capital and this in turn perpetuates their ability to grow their economic capital. It is thus easy to see how economic capital is a prerequisite to greater accumulation of capital. Those who have little economic capital are also likely to possess minimal cultural and social capital. As a consequence, the idea of capital implemented with societal structures keeps perpetuating inequality. The government can intervene through policies that correct these gaps (Bourdieu 2001). Carbon taxes are one such intervention. These are tolls that the government introduces in order to curb pollution. The logic behind it is that the environment is a communal good. Furthermore, all members of society have access to the environment. On the other hand, pollutants have the capacity to reduce the quality of the environment. Persons who cause pollution do not pay for it, yet the larger society still has to bear the costs of a deteriorating environment (National Treasury South Africa 2013). One way in which the environment deteriorates is through climate change. Pollution emitters often do not account for the production of climate change as a cost of production. This becomes a market failure that stakeholders should correct (Park 2007). Bourdieu supported the restoration of human dimensions to the field of economic planning. He explained that policy maker
Ethical Issue The search for a cure for AIDS has challenged and puzzled researchers, health care providers, patients, and the public. There are various beliefs, theories, and approaches used to explain how this condition can be controlled or eliminated. Apoorva Mandavilli presents various ethical issues about the cure for AIDS, and this brings a new picture regarding the possibilities of developing cures for this condition. The success of a bone marrow transplant to cure HIV/AIDS is evident in Timothy Ray Brown, who got healed from this condition and continues to test negative for HIV. This author has highlighted some serious ethical concerns that pose challenges to the efforts to cure and eliminate AIDS. First, he argues that not all bone marrow transplants have successfully cured patients from AIDS. Secondly, he states that early treatment increases the chances of controlling the spread and effects of this virus, and thus patients must seek medical attention as soon as they realize they are infected. However, he doubts whether bone marrow transplant will work for more than 34 million HIV/AIDS patients. In addition, he is worried that not everybody can afford t
Introduction The article shows that the Arab Gulf culturally endorses Implicit Leadership Theory. They prefer charismatic-value based, self-protective, and considerate leaders. Arabs prefer integrity, competence, diplomacy, inspirational skills, future and performance oriented in leadership. The article further reinforces the importance of skills, education, and inspirational skills in leadership. The Implicit Leadership Theory notes that autocratic leadership style inhibits success. Arab employees and supporting their leaders Arab Gulf regions are proud of their environment and history more than their present and future. It is nearly impossible to gain their commitments to support long-term goals. Future and performance oriented leader who gets the support of the staff in implementing long term plans is more likely to succeed than other leaders. Arab Gulf successful leaders need exceptional skills so that they can accommodate untraditional work values without rejection by their traditional societies. The leader must play dual roles of work and social leader for their success. Leaders need teamwork and diplomatic skills to implement their decisions. The social leadership enables the leader to adopt leadership styles and values that do not match the local culture but must transform it to desirable ones, and equally sell their values to the traditional oriented-employees. Performance-oriented leaders require precision, objectivity, accountability, impartiality, and