Controlling Point Sources To Reduce Pollution An Environmental Sciences Essay Example Essay Example

Controlling Point Sources To Reduce Pollution An Environmental Sciences Essay Example Paper Controlling Point Sources To Reduce Pollution An Environmental Sciences Essay Introduction Point beginnings pollution is the fouling substance is emitted straight into the waterway. Point beginning pollution is taint that enters the environment through any discernable, confined, and distinct conveyance, such as a smokestack, pipe, ditch, tunnel, or conduit. Point beginning pollution remains a major cause of pollution to both air and H2O. Point beginnings are differentiated from non-point beginnings, which are those that spread out over a big country and have no specific mercantile establishment or discharge point.A National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System ( NPDES ) a license system to command outflowing releases from direct industrial discharges and POTWs ( Publicly Owned Treatment Works ) . The licenses province exactly what the outflowing restrictions are every bit good as the monitoring and coverage demands. Technology-based Effluent Restriction The purpose of technology-based wastewater bounds in NPDES licenses is to necessitate a minimal degree of intervention of pollutants for point beginning discharges based on available intervention engineerings, while leting the discharger to utilize any available control technique to run into the bounds. For industrial ( and other non-municipal ) installations, technology-based wastewater bounds are derived by: Controlling Point Sources To Reduce Pollution An Environmental Sciences Essay Body Paragraphs Using national outflowing restriction guidelines and criterions established by EPA Using best professional opinion ( BPJ ) on a individual footing in the absence For municipal installations ( publically owned intervention works or POTWs ) , technology-based wastewater bounds are derived from national secondary Standards to command discharges from point beginnings based chiefly on technological capableness. License authors must see the possible impact of every proposed surface H2O discharge on the quality of the receiving H2O. A license author may happen that technology-based wastewater bounds are non sufficient to guarantee that H2O quality criterions, designed to protect the H2O quality, will be attained in the receiving H2O. Water Quality Based Effluent Limitation ( WQBEL ) means an outflowing restriction, which may be more rigorous than a engineering based outflowing restriction, that has been determined necessary by the Department to guarantee that H2O quality criterions in a rec eiving organic structure of H2O will non be violated. Analysis of the Effluent Limitation Imprecise Statutory definition Meeting the Zero Discharge Goal Lack of an Efficiency Standard Cost-Ineffective Decision Making THE POTWs support plan We will write a custom essay sample on Controlling Point Sources To Reduce Pollution An Environmental Sciences Essay Example specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Controlling Point Sources To Reduce Pollution An Environmental Sciences Essay Example specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Controlling Point Sources To Reduce Pollution An Environmental Sciences Essay Example specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Federal grant plan: provided major support from the federal authorities for a portion of the building costs of POTWs. Clean Water State Revolving Fund ( CWSRF ) Plan: Establishes province loaning plans to back up POTW building and other undertakings. The replaced the federal grant plan is to supply loans for POTW building every bit good as for other environmental undertakings. CWSRF plans provided more than $ 5 billion yearly in recent old ages to fund H2O quality protection undertakings for effluent intervention, nonpoint beginning pollution control, and watershed and estuary direction. CWSPFs have funded over $ 74 billion, supplying over 24,688 low-interest loans to day of the month. Offers low involvement funding understandings for H2O quality undertakings. Annually, the plan disburses between $ 200 and $ 300 million to eligible undertakings. Nonpoint beginnings Pollution Nonpoint beginning pollution is besides known as â€Å" overflow pollution † . It occurs when rainfall or snowmelt tallies over land or through the land, picks up pollutants, and deposits them into rivers, lakes, wetlands, and coastal Waterss or present them into groundwater. Some of the primary activities that generate nonpoint beginning pollution include agriculture and graze activities, lumber harvest home, new development, building, and recreational yachting. Manure, pesticides, fertilisers, soil, oil, and gas produced by these activities are illustrations of nonpoint beginning pollutants. Even single families contribute to nonpoint beginning pollution through improper chemical and pesticide usage, landscape gardening, and other family patterns. Runoff pollution mean H2O from rain ( besides called storm H2O, urban overflow, and storm drain pollution ) , irrigation, garden hosieries or other activities that picks up pollutants ( coffin nail butts, rubbish, automotive fluids , used oil, pigment, fertilisers and pesticides, lawn and garden cuttings and favored waste ) from streets, parking tonss, private roads and paces and carries them through the storm drain system and heterosexual to the ocean. Nonpoint beginnings pollutants include: Fertilizers, weedkillers, and insect powders from agricultural lands and residential countries ; Oil, lubricating oil, and toxic chemicals from urban overflow ; Sediment from improperly managed building sites, harvest and forest lands, and gnawing stream Bankss ; Bacterias and foods from farm animal, pet wastes, and defective infected systems Nonpoint Source Pollutants and Their Effectss Nonpoint beginning pollution is the taking cause of H2O quality jobs. The effects of nonpoint beginning pollutants on specific Waterss vary. Nonpoint beginning pollutants have harmful effects on imbibing H2O supplies, diversion, piscaries, and wildlife. The illustrations of nonpoint beginning pollutants include: Foods which are compounds that stimulate works growing. The two most common foods making our Waterss are nitrogen and phosphoric. Nitrogen taint of imbibing H2O can do wellness jobs. Excess foods running off the land and making surface Waterss can do monolithic algae blooms, the decay of which can make olfactory properties and utilize up most of the dissolved O, which can ensue in fish putting to deaths. Foods in contaminated overflow can come from a assortment of beginnings such as agricultural fertilisers, infected systems, place lawn attention merchandises, and yard and carnal waste. Sediment which is the silt, sand, soil, and crushed rock eroded by overflow normally ends up in watercourses and lakes. Deposit can change watercourse flow and diminish the handiness of healthy aquatic home ground. Ill protected building sites, agricultural Fieldss, and roadways can be major beginnings of deposit. Pathogens which are beings as bacteriums, viruses, and protozoon, coming from untreated sewerage, storm drains, infected armored combat vehicles, and overflow from farms. Pathogens cause unwellnesss such as enteric fever and dysentery. Watershed A watershed is the country of land where all of the H2O that is under it or drains off of it goes into the same topographic point. It is a basin-like landform defined by highpoints and ridgelines that descend into lower lifts and watercourse vales. A watershed carries H2O â€Å" shed † from the land after rain falls and snow thaws. Drop by bead, H2O is channeled into dirts, groundwaters, brook, and watercourses, doing its manner to larger rivers and finally the sea. Water is a cosmopolitan dissolver, affected by all that it comes in contact with: the land it traverses, and the dirts through which it travels. The of import thing about water partings is: what we do on the land affects H2O quality for all communities populating downstream. Watershed attack is the most effectual model to turn to today ‘s H2O resource challenges. Four chief characteristics are typical of the Watershed Approach: 1 ) Identifying and prioritizing H2O quality jobs in the water parting, 2 ) Develo ping increased public engagement, 3 ) Organizing activities with other bureaus, and 4 ) Measuring success through increased and more efficient monitoring and other informations assemblage. An extra feature of the Watershed Approach is that it complements and coordinates other environmental activities. This allows for close cooperation with local citizen groups, local authoritiess, other province bureaus, and federal bureaus. When all permitted dischargers are considered together, bureaus are better able to concentrate on those controls necessary to bring forth mensurable betterments in H2O quality. This besides consequences in a more efficient procedure: It encourages bureaus to concentrate staff and fiscal resources on prioritized geographic locations and makes it easier to organize between bureaus and persons with an involvement in work outing H2O quality jobs. The Targeted Watershed Grant Program The targeted watershed grant plan is a competitory grant plan to promote the protect ion and Restoration of the state ‘s H2O resources. The plan supports environmental stewardship and action by supplying needed support to watershed organisations for on-the-ground Restoration and protection attempts designed to accomplish quick, mensurable, environmental consequences. The end is to construct on the successes of bing partnerships and alliances that have evaluated and assessed their water partings, devised a technically sound watershed program, and are ready to ship on stairss to implement their program. Watershed-based NPDES Permitting is an attack to developing NPDES licenses for multiple point beginnings located within a defined geographic country. Through this attack, NPDES allowing governments consider watershed ends and the impact of multiple pollutant beginnings and stressors, including nonpoint beginning parts. This attack can embrace a broad assortment of activities, from synchronising license issue within a watershed to developing water-quality based ou tflowing bounds for a group of point beginnings, aimed at accomplishing new efficiencies and environmental consequences. Water Quality Trading is an advanced manner for H2O quality bureaus and community stakeholders to develop cost-efficient solutions to turn to H2O quality jobs in their watersheds.A

Riordan Manufacturing

Riordan Manufacturing Riordan PAGE \* MERGEFORMAT 1Riordan ManufacturingJ.Enriquez, R.Graves, and G.SweattMGT/3603/15/11Vicki BauerAbstractThis paper will summarize objectives, targets, and programs identified as important for Riordan Manufacturing to improve its sustainability practices. Relevant technologies, strategies, products, and practices will be identified. Then, a cost benefit analysis will be performed on the proposed solutions. Finally, the three best practices that Riordan Manufacturing should implement will be identified.Riordan ManufacturingRiordan Manufacturing would like to employ sustainability initiatives. Because finances are important to the success of not just the company, but the durability of each initiative, it is important to consider the cost of the implementation against the potential rewards. There are several strategies that will allow Riordan to reduce energy dependency, more properly dispose of waste, and lessen their overall detrimental impact on the environment while sav ing money in the process.Objectives and ProgramsRiordan Manufacturing would benefit heavily from implementing sustainability initiatives.Riordan Mansion, FlagstaffThis was created to answer the service request logged by Hugh McCauley, COO of Riordan. The directives of this service request were further detailed by Maria Trinh, CIO of Riordan. In a memo dated September 10, 2004, she stated:The primary goals of the project are:* Document current environment* Forecast of business technology needs in next five years* Recommendations on systems integration, acquisitions and consolidationsBased on these goals, the Operations department has identified areas of Riordan's business that will yield a significant cost advantage if altered and improved:* Not enough information being shared between customers, sales, finance, manufacturing, and management.* Customers cannot place orders direct without human interaction at Riordan's offices. Customers cannot order during non-business hours at this t ime.* No real-time inventory system. No visibility into finished product and raw material inventory...

I believe that one major problem with mass media is that news is now Annotated Bibliography

I believe that one major problem with mass media is that news is now sponsor driven - Annotated Bibliography Example Additionally, some of the activities covered by the media such as sports have most of the sponsors; hence, leading to the increased advertisements. The author has also revealed that most of the sponsors are part of the shareholder in most companies leading to the motive of profits and capital investment. The article has presented significant knowledge on some of the global issues associated with the mass media. As a result, sponsorship and donor-ship claims have been external forces that have been used to control the entertainment sector. In some cases, competition has led to some of the media houses seeking sponsorship to increase their capital bases and awareness. The audience is seen as a product in the advertisement industry where editors and news presenters have to focus on the influence of the adverts. The book has presented substantial knowledge on some of the major issues affecting the mass media industry. The authors have gathered their information through research from individual companies and the society. One of the major problems highlighted in the book is the presence of sponsorship in various mass media companies. The issue has evolved from the need for companies to maximize profits and enhancing competitiveness. However, the sponsors provide their assistance with a price to pay for the mass media. Most media companies have partnerships with sponsors that lead to mutual relationships where both parties win. Internet surveys and other interviews by the authors on various populations show that media houses tend to cover more exposure of the sponsors than other developing news. Additionally, they also cover only the positive information on the sponsors; hence, making the mass media biased. The book further provides information on ways that the sponsor-driven mass media has affected public relations. Sponsors provide all types of support ranging from technological

Impact of Globalisation on the Nature of Work in Developing Countries Essay

Impact of Globalisation on the Nature of Work in Developing Countries - Essay Example negatively much more than the male counterparts in the same countries because they are less likely to be able to take up the skilled employment opportunities. Widening Income Gaps There are other disadvantages which come with globalisation. As globalisation creates employment for the skilled people and takes away the same from those who are not professionally trained, this will continue to widen the income gap and these developing countries will end up without a middle class. A country without a middle class is usually at risk of economic and political instabilities, and this is why the issue of globalisation persists.6 Globalisation will continue to expand the gap between the poor and the rich as the few people in the developed countries who have been rich enough to get an education continue to take the top jobs, either locally or even internationally, and be richer, and the majority who do not have an education continue to be jobless and without income.7 Those poor people will not be capable of educating their children, and the trend will continue. On the other hand, the few who are at the top of the socioeconomic ladder will be able to instruct their children, and this means that the few rich will continue to get richer while the majority poor will continue to be poorer. India’s labour market was one of the first to hugely benefit from globalisation as it was the preferred destination for business process outsourcing. As a result of many western camping in Indian cities looking for educated jobless individuals to do their call centre work, many young and educated men benefited and started earning salaries they could not have dreamt of, especially for a call agent. The problem with this was that not everybody in India is educated and when these opportunities came,... This report stresses that â€Å"education differences have played a big role in turning globalisation opportunities into curse for developing countries†. This is a big issue in developing countries because in these countries, few people are educated and thus cannot take advantage of these opportunities brought about by globalisation. Developing countries also have women who are generally much less educated than their male counterparts. This is unlike in the developed world where the gap between the educated males and females is closing up. This means that women in developing countries will be affected negatively much more than the male counterparts in the same countries because they are less likely to be able to take up the skilled employment opportunities. Globalisation has also helped in boosting the local employment numbers in developing countries through supporting local businesses. This paper makes a conclusion that globalisation has both positive and negative impacts. With regard to the labour market, globalisation has brought both favourable and adverse impacts. However, the negative impacts seem to be outweighing the positive ones and, if not put in check, these negative impacts may end up having a serious implication for the global economy rather than only for the developing world. As a result, it is necessary that the issue of globalisation be looked at seriously and any future problems be solved in order to avoid a negative effect on the global economy.

Role of Strategic Management in Planning

Role of Strategic Management in Planning INTRODUCTION While some firms adopt strategic opportunism as a strategic planning method used mainly by senior managers who use it to assess their firms capacity to recognize and respond to identified windows of opportunity (or threat) that may require strategic changes as it would be pointless identifying strategic opportunities that the firm lacks in the competencies and resources to take advantage of them, others firms use human judgment in making operational decision making, this could involve situation assessment, actions taken to gather additional information, generating plausible hypotheses and other alternatives which either depicts Strategy as science or art. This paper aims at analyzing certain terms and elements in strategic management that explain business strategy as an art or science, terms like design, rational, hypothesis, culture or creativity etc. It also explains situations where organisations are presented with either luck or opportunity and how to what extent judgment is exhibited in the strategic decision making. ANALYSIS Role of Strategic Management Elements in planning and decision making According to Constable (1980) Strategic Management addresses the management processes and decisions which determine the long-term structure and activities of the organisation. This further explains that strategy incorporates planning activities on Management Processes which encompasses both the formal structured process (prescriptive approach) and the informal structured processes (emergent strategy change). This provides the Managers the ability to spot opportunities for and threats to the organisation in its future plans and the changing environment in which it operates. As information is seen as input into an organisation process which produces decisions as the output, the strategy of an organisation e.g. avoiding a threat or exploiting an opportunity determines the Management Decisions that need to be taken that is expected to be a solution of apparent problems, the feasibility and the requisite resources for implementation. Beck (1987) argued that many British companies lack strategic clarity, this comprises of mainly three reasons: Thompson (1993) explains, The difficulties of forecasting in todays business environment; the lack of managerial competence in many companies; and above all, the frequent absence of strong leadership from the top. Other reason maybe the distinction between established views incompatible with the formal and elaborate strategic planning systems present in the 1960s and 1970s, however failed to work in most cases. Strategic Planning helps organizations answer series of questions about how well the company is doing and why, where it should seek to develop in the future. Thompson (1993) further argued that, Most successful companies strategically are likely to be those that are aware of where they are and of what lies ahead, those that understand their environment and those that seek to achieve and maintain competitive advantage. Also, Thompson (1993) asserted that whatever strategy exist in an organisation, organisations ace in strategic thinking are more distinguished from their less successful competitors by a common pattern of management which are highlighted below: Key success factors inherent in the economics of the business are effectively identified than their competitors. Markets are segmented to gain critical competitive advantage. The segmentation is based on competitive analysis conducted on the markets, thus, segments are separated according to its strengths and weaknesses of different competitors Successful companies base their strategies on the measurement and analysis of competitive advantage. Good strategic thinking implies an understanding of how situations will change over time, thus companies can anticipate their competitors responses. Companies are able to give investment priorities that promise competitive advantage While one may be agreeable that business strategy initiatives depend on a mixture of luck and judgment, opportunism and design to succeed, different views need to be analyzed as business strategy itself can be a combination of the aforementioned features. This is because a good business strategy will succeed irrespective of the factor of luck but a good business strategy has to be able to take advantage of opportunities, be planned with great insight and judgment without relying on the good wind of luck to see it through. Companies with superior business strategies who dominate their various industries are there because of their unique insights and capabilities in the formation and execution of their strategy. However luck seems to plays a role in performance of a companys strategy. Three broad scholastic perspectives exist for explaining the relationship between luck and business strategy; Kovenklioglu and Greenhaus, (1978) held the view that luck plays little or no role in the performance of a strategy, this is articulated by Day and Maltby, (2003) who held the view that a belief in luck is irrational. The last perspective believes that luck plays a substantial role in the long run by creating short-term success which then positively positions a company for superior performance in the long run or that luck may create a lasting success via a combination of lucky efforts. This is synonymous with Mintzbergs positioning school of thought which places a company within the context of its industry and tries to devise ways to improve its strategic position within that industry. A typical case study is the position of Microsoft in the software industry; which came about when by a stroke of luck, Paul Allen, saw a magazine in a grocery store with a picture of the new microcomputer , the Altair made by a company called MITS and decided to write a BASIC interpreter for it. This led to the formation of Microsoft which grew to become the biggest software company in the world. This position has enabled them to implement successfully their business strategy of copying the products of their competitors and making it better using the vast resources available to them, then bundling it with windows to force it down the throat of consumers in order to kill off the competition. Another illustration is the browser wars between Microsoft and Netscape in 1997, when incumbent king of browser, Netscape Navigator faced an unprecedented challenge from software king, Microsoft. Netscape navigator had the dominant market share (about 80%) which Microsoft wanted; it devised a business strategy which involved licensing Mosaic an existing browser as the platform for its internet explorer. Then it decided to give away internet explorer by bundling it with the Windows 95 plus. This was effective in stealing Netscapes market share because Netscape charged for its browser. It would have been impossible for Microsoft to keep its rigorous monopoly in the software industry if it werent for its strategic position which it had already attained through windows at a time when microcomputers was just been born. It has been said that the reason Microsoft became the biggest software company was bill gates being at the right place at the right time. Legend has it that it was Digital Researchs Gary kildall that was first contacted to supply the software for the new IBM PC but as matter of luck he turned it down preferring to fly in his airplane. This made IBM to contact bill gates who went on to supply PC DOS which was developed into windows. The table below represents the attributes of Strategy as design and Strategy Judgment, each of which exhibits the characteristics of Strategy as Science and Strategy as art respectively. STRATEGY AS ART OR SCIENCE..The concept of Strategic Thinking The term Problem Solving is most often scientific related which is an activity of finding the solution to a problem; this could also be defined with respect to strategic problems where the problem solving activity is finding a solution. Hitt explained, the concept of strategic thinking where Mintzberg also argued that Strategic Planning is an analytical process aimed at programming already identified strategies which exhibits strategy as a science, however, strategic thinking is believed to be a synthesizing process, utilizing intuition and creativity, whose outcome is an integrated perspective of the enterprise, this sees strategy as an art. Strategic Thinking denotes all thinking about strategy with specific characteristics. According to Nasi (1999) Strategic Thinking extends both to the formulation and execution of strategies by business leaders and to the strategic performance of the total enterprise and for Mintzberg (1994) who is one of the foremost advocates of strategic thinking, argued that, the term is not merely alternative nomenclature for everything falling under the umbrella of strategic management; rather it is a particular way of thinking with specific characteristics. On both two issues discussed on whether strategy is seen as a Science or an Art, a whole spectrum of views exists most of which are highlighted in the table below on the aforementioned two schools of thought on strategy. Business strategies are usually developed from a companys mission statement which is basically a statement of a companys dream and aspiration for its future based on its plans. The success of any strategy however depends on its implementation this is because strategy is more an art than a science. Science test for facts using established laws of physics whereas art deals with expressions of concepts, thoughts and ideas. In this way it mostly mimics the use of business strategies not as a way to test for the success or failure of a companys goals but rather a way to express the desire of its management for the future of the company. However, there are aspects of science in the way strategies are formed, planned and executed. The entrepreneurial school of thought sees strategy as a visionary process, it stresses the use of a cocktail of insight, judgment and intuition in the formation of strategies and this articulates the importance of judgment in business strategy For example in the decisive battle of the ball-point pen between Bic, Parker, Sheaffer and Waterman, Bics strategy that eventually won the battle was based on a very important judgment of the market need in devising a cheaper and better version of the biro pen. Bic realized that the cost of a Parker Pen which dominated the market at the time was exorbitant and it devised a strategy to reengineer its design to produce cheaper pens which could be sold for a few cents and this meant they were disposable and as such were widely adopted. Burnes (2004) wrote, Mintzberg views approach to strategy as a virtue, he compared art of strategic making to pottery and managers to potters who mould the clay with the shape of the object evolving in the hands, this can be reflected in Emergent Strategy, strategy that evolves according to need which is constantly adjusted and adapted and Crafting Strategy, developing strategy according to the needs of the organisation and environment, thus seeing strategy as an art. 205. Contrarily, Burnes further argued through the works of Hoskin (1990) who claimed Pennsylvannia Railwayss executives, Herman Haupt should be given credit for initiating a business strategy which made use of full interactive play of grammatocentrism and calculability, thus implying strategy to be a quantitatively-oriented discipline which focuses on numerical analysis for market forecast , thus portraying strategy as a science Mintzberg et al, (1998) developed in the early 1960s two schools of thought for strategy; Planning school and Design school. The Planning school was pioneered by Igor Ansoff (1965) which was based on formal procedures, formal training, formal analysis and quantification this was based more on abstract thinking. The Design school, pioneered by Chandler (1962) placed more emphasis on appraisal of organisations opportunities and threat. Mintzberg also laid out the five main interrelated definitions of strategy The Strategy as a perspective mentioned above sees strategy as an abstract concept, mainly existing in peoples mind, which characterizes strategy as an art. In addition, Mintzberg et al, Johnson (1987) further argued strategy as a social science through three views of business strategy JOHNSONS VIEWS OF STRATEGY Rationalistic view: sees strategy as an outcome of series of preplanned actions designed to achieve goals. Emphasizes strategy as a science i.e. systematic and rational attributes Adaptive or incremental view: sees strategy evolving through an accumulation of relatively small changes over time. Emphasizes strategy as art i.e. dynamic and creativity Interpretive view: sees strategy as product of individual and collective attempts to make sense of. Emphasizes strategy as a science i.e. interpreting, evidence, past events etc. Burnes (2004) continued the argument between strategy being an analytical stream (formulating strategy rather than prescribing) or prescriptive (controlled, prescriptive process on strategy based on rational model of decision making) through Mintzberg et al, Johnson work on whether strategy is a process or an a rational phenomenon but the classifications of various approach to strategy was absent which Whittongton emphasized in his four generic approaches to strategy. WHITTINGTONS GENERIC APPROACH TO LONDON Classical Approach: portrays strategy as a rational process based on analysis and quantification (strategy as science) Evolutionary approaches: uses analogy of biological evolution to describe strategy development through prediction. (Strategy as a science) Processual Approach: concentrates on nature of organisational and market processes (Strategy as art) Systemic Approach: sees strategy as a link to dominant features of the local systems, involving deliberate process, planning and predictability. (Strategy as science) An effective business strategy may include both strategic thinking and the essential elements of a strategic planning process, thus, strategic planning can drive out strategic thinking. Harrison (2003) mentioned that, Henry Mintzberg, a famous strategist defined strategic planning as an analytical process aimed at carrying out strategies that have already been identified and strategic thinking involves intuition and creativity, i.e. it is so rigid that it tend to drive-out the creative-thinking processes which accentuates strategy as an art, its way of synthesizing stimuli from the internal and external environments in creating and integrated perspective of an organisation, this displays the scientific base of strategy. Strategic thinking is seen as crafting strategic architecture thus characterized by essential elements highlighted in the below by Harrison (2003), Intent Focused: Built on managerial vision of where the firm is going and what it is trying to become. This is called strategic intent Comprehensive: A system perspective which envisions the firm as a part of a larger system of value creation. It, understands the linkages between the firm and the other parts of the system. Opportunistic: Seizes unanticipated opportunities presented to the firm Long-Term Oriented: Goes beyond the here and now. Looks several years into the future at what the firm will become, based on its strategic intent. Built on Past and Present: It doesnt ignore the past or present but instead, learns from the past and further builds on a foundation of realities of the present. Hypothesis Driven: A sequential process in which creative ideas are then critically evaluated. Is willing to take a risk STRATEGIC LUCK While some firms hope to yield above expected normal returns from implementing business strategies, they must however be consistently conversant with the future value of those strategies than other firms playing in the same market. Other firms gain advantage in strategy implementation which is either a manifestation of these special insights into the future value of strategies, or a manifestation of a firms good fortune and luck, as sometimes, the price of the strategic resource acquired may be based on expectations on the return potential of that strategy However, unexpected greater organisational profits can simply be unexpected, a surprise, and a manifestation of a firms good luck and possibly not its ability to accurately anticipate the future value of a strategy. Even well-informed firms can be lucky in this manner. Some organizations actual returns on strategies could be greater than the expected returns; this resulting difference is often regarded to be manifestation of a firms unexpected good fortune. Although most of the success of the company has been deliberate and designed, luck has also been part of it. Luck can also play a role in the formation of business strategy as was the case of the battle of the ball-point pen, when Chicago businessman Milton Reynolds, stumbled upon a new product on a business trip to Argentina, he then bought a few samples knowing that another company Eversharp had bought the patents for a million dollars and widely publicised it, devised a strategy to be first to market in order to take opportunity of the publicity already gained in the US. Reynolds then sold the Pens for hefty prices to anxiously waiting customers thereby making millions of profit. Strategic luck can be demonstrated in the success of the POST-IT Notes originally developed the firm 3M. The idea of Post -it notes came from Dr Spencer in 1968 but didnt emerge until 6 years later when it appears to be a solution for a problem of Art Fry (a colleague of Dr Spencer at 3M) in finding songs quickly in his Hymnal book. Even though Dr Spencer was talking to colleagues and anyone ready to listen about his discovery, no one really knew how to use it until Art Fry came up with the idea of using the post it note to retrieve quickly what he needed from his hymnal book. As a result post it notes became really popular and was used in almost every office. Had it not been the problem Art Fry that require a solution post it notes may not have known the success they had and still have. (Big success) The more accurate an organisations expectations about a potential strategys return are, the less luck plays in generating above normal returns but when the organisation has less than perfect expectations, luck can play a role in determining an organisations returns to implementing its strategies. Consequently, strategies yielding above normal returns may be as a result of a firms ability to uniquely implement a strategy which either reflects the competence of the firm to make accurate expectations, underestimating the true value of the strategy or it had no special expectations but the strategy still yielded above normal returns, these are real reflections of a firms good fortune and luck. Exxon recorded its fourth-straight year profits, enduring wild swings in oil prices and a worldwide drop in demand in 2008. Falling oil prices in the latter half of 2008 hurt its oil production arm (CNN Money.com, 2009). Thus, Barney (1985) explained, because luck is, by definition, out of a firms control, an important question for managers becomes, How can firms become consistently better informed about the value of strategies they are implementing than any other firms? Firms that are successful at doing this can, over time, expect to obtain higher returns from implementing strategies than less well-informed firms, although, as always, firms can be lucky. Another perspective of luck is that it only affects performance of strategy in a few instances but which when averaged out over a lengthy period of time appears to be insignificant. These two views are consistent with scientific inquirys assumption of causality. This perspective is most evident in sports, whereby a team like Manchester united may perform poorly in a few games due to some bad luck but will generally do better than the other teams over the course of the season due to their superior football strategy. STRATEGY AS DESIGN Johnson, Scholes, Whittington (2005) introduced the idea of strategic lenses[1] which design lens is part of, they explained the design lens as a strategy idea formulated through objective and careful analysis and planning which is implemented down throughout the organisation by the top management. Johnson et al stated, Strategy as design views strategy development as the deliberate positioning of the organisation through a rational, analytic, structured and direct process. Johnson et al (2008), argues that strategic design basically builds on two main principles; Managers are, or should be, rational decision makers. Managers should be taking decisions about how to optimise economic performance of their organisations. Although most strategies are by design or deliberate, some of them are however emergent. Porter (1990) was one of the proponents of deliberate strategy which argue for the creation of detailed plans on which a business can exert its full influence because market conditions will be relatively stable for the strategic planning period. Mintzberg, a Proponent of the emergent school of thought argued for the creation of objectives or goals for the future of the company but leaving the implementation to the flexibility of market forces. In order words Mintzberg advocates leaving the strategy open to changes in market conditions. These schools of thought make it inappropriate for me to agree with the statement that strategy is a mixture of design as this is not always the case. The success of Amazon can be attributed to the design of its strategy. Following the effervescence of online shopping, Amazon has successfully designed its strategy to meet customers requirements and needs in a way. It has allowed customers to shop from their homes, offices or any other locations without having to physically go in the shop. Amazon also appears to offer a wide range of products and services, and gives the chance to post any comments, rate the products their bought and offer review for products as well which helps buyers in their choice. Amazon has grown from strength to strength over the years as a result of this well design strategy. (Bokardo) Rational choice is being based on the consideration of the decision making consequences and thus be the anticipations of the future effects of possible actions. Invariably by implication, considerations would be given to the diverse benefits and limitations of different strategic options on the basis of evidence that informs on the likely outcomes of decisions made. As Johnson et al (2008) stated, the assumptions typically underpinning a design view of strategy are in two forms which are as follows: In terms of how strategic decisions are made: Systematic Analysis Strategic positioning, an analysis that provides basis for the comparing organisational strengths and resources with changes in its environment in order to be able to take full advantage of opportunities and circumvent threats. Analytic thinking precedes and governs action Objectives are clear and explicit and basis upon which options are evaluated. Making assumptions about the form and nature of organisations Organizations are hierarchies. Organisations are rational systems Organizations are mechanisms by which strategy can be put into effect. STRATEGIC OPPORTUNISM Just as in science field, strategic planning demonstrates the importance of the use of rigorous flexible methods, results and theories in order to take advantage of strategic opportunities with an impact by improving the direction of the knowledge thats been produced. The above expresses the term strategic opportunism an ability to remain focused on long-term objectives while staying flexible enough to solve day-to-day problems and recognize new opportunities. A managers most important role is to plan a long-term, strategic course for the company, keeping the company geared towards that direction. Given that goals are often static contrary to the business environment, success in this role could however elude managers as each day brings an incessant stream of surprises, new information and opportunities. It can be said that the difference between successful and failing companies is in their ability to sense and respond to opportunism in their business environments. Mintzberg Environmental school of thought sees strategy formation as a reactive process, in effect a response to the external environment. The importance of opportunism to the overall strategy of a company cannot be over emphasized be it technological or financial opportunism. Bernand stated, the challenge for managers, then, is to maintain both flexibility and direction. While no magic formula exists for balancing todays plan against a five-year plan, strategic opportunism can be an effective way to respond to immediate concerns while setting and pursuing long-term goals. This can be illustrated in the case of the Snapple Beverage Corporation, a drink company that was founded in 1972. Having known a good success in the 1990s in the cold channel dominated by small independent drinks distributors, Snapple was bought in 1992 for $143 million by a private firm (Thomas H. Lee) that sold it a year a later after taking in public for the $1.7 billion to a successful firm, Quaker Oats. However under the ownership of Quaker, Snapple was deficient, thus it was later sold in 1997 for the modest sum of $300 million to the Triarc Company. Triarc took this opportunity (of getting a company for a small price) and put back Snapple on track, using the niche market they were previously in, instead of following the mistakes of other firms that wanted Snapple to compete with big brand names. Triarc used the failure Quaker oats as an opportunity and made it as they sold Snapple in 2000 for the staggering sum of $1.4 billion to Cadbury Schweppes. Strategic opportunism focuses mainly on identifying and exploiting the immediate market opportunities at hand with a view to leverage the companys existing strategic assets and competencies and avoids commitment.Harrison (2003) argued that, although strategic thinking is based on strategic intent, it does exhibit a certain level of intelligent opportunism, which he defined as the ability of managers to take advantage of unanticipated opportunities to further intended strategy or redirect a strategy. Therefore, it can be concluded that Strategic Opportunism is characterized by the following according to Aaker (2004): Driven by a focus on the present. Premise that environment is so dynamic and uncertain that it is not feasible to aim at a future target. Strategic flexibility and willingness to respond to opportunities is necessary. Change is the norm. Minimizes risk of missing emerging opportunities. Reduces risk of strategic stubbornness. Requires decentralized structure. Needs entrepreneurial personnel. STRATEGIC JUDGMENT Judgement is usually what the decision makers add to uncertainties or ambiguities in any business strategy. Arguably, its believed that managers gain judgment through past experience and its the experience of specific situations and activities that gives specific types of judgment. Pettigrew (1973) argue that experience is the most important source of what managers call their personal development. Mumford (1980) and Stuart (1986) stated that, the process of acquiring the experience which shapes managerial judgment can also be facilitated by working with those who have already demonstrated ownership of the desired qualities of judgment. Conclusively, since strategic judgment has been attributed to experience acquired, thus, can be related to Strategy as experience which is one of the strategy lenses. According Johnson et al (2005), The Strategy experience lens views strategy development as the outcome of individual and collective experience of individuals and their taken-for-granted assumptions most often represented by cultural influences. Thus, an apparently coherent strategy of an organisation may develop on the basis of a series of strategic moves of which make sense in terms of previous moves. Its being discussed that strategic judgment most often influenced by experience, which can be further broken down into various forms. Managerial judgment in strategy planning or formulation could be as a result of certain circumstances, development and experience. Furthermore, Johnson et al (2005) discussed the elements that act as influence on judgment: Individual Experience and Bias Individual experience could be in terms of the mental (cognitive) models people build over time to help make sense of their situation. It exhibits certain characteristics; Cognitive bias is inevitable The future is dependent and related to in terms of the past experience Bargaining and negotiation between high-ranking individuals in terms of how issues are being understood Collective experience and organisational culture Johnson et al (2005) defined Organisational culture as, the basic assumptions and beliefs that are shared by members of an organisation, that operate unconsciously and define in a basic taken-for-granted fashion an organisations view of itself and its environment. Its also depicted in these characteristics; Managers understanding of the strategic position of their organisation Likelihood of strategic drift[2] Innovation requiring the questioning and challenge of basic assumptions The taken-for-grantedness of a firm may include its strengths which may provide bases for competitive advantage. CONCLUSION In summary, Strategy as design describes the strategic management process which is really the steps and sub-processes of an organisations strategy needed to maintain or improve the organisations performance. Its also been argued that business strategy requires judgment. Though, judgment is most often a personal evaluation and analysis which each individual is committed to, firms and managers captured by their past have higher resistance to change and low in innovation. Conclusively, some innovative business strategies are determined by culture of managers and organisations with their personal judgment, expectations and adequate design methodologies planning, others are simply a variation of luck owning to the fact that some firms just happened to be in the right place at the right time, by taking full advantage of some opportunities that may arise in the global market place, thus, realising it and then developing it into a successful strategy. REFERENCES Aaker, D (2004) Strategic Market Management (7th Edition) England: John Wiley Sons, Inc Burnes, B (2004), Managing Change (4th Edition) England: Pearson Education De Wit, B Meyer, R (1998) STRATEGY: Process, Content, Context (2nd Edition) London: Thompson Learning Fifield P. (1998), Marketing Strategy, 2nd Edition Butterworth: Heinemann. Harrison, J (2003), Strategic Management of Resources and Relationships: Concepts and Cases USA: John Wiley Sons Hitt, M.A; Freeman, R.E and Harrison, J.S (2001), The Blackwell Handbook of Strategic Management, Oxford: Blackwell Publishers

Symbolism in Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury Essay -- Fahrenheit 451 R

Ray Bradbury’s satire, Fahrenheit 451, is a novel full of symbols criticizing the modern world. Among those symbols appears The Hound. The Hound’s actions and even its shape are reflections of the society Bradbury has predicted to come.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Montag’s world continues on without thought; without any real reason. There is no learning, no growth, and no purpose. â€Å"The Mechanical Hound slept but did not sleep, lived but did not live in its gently humming, gently vibrating, softly illuminated kennel back in the dark corner of the firehouse'; (24), wrote Bradbury to describe this hound. Like the hound, society was alive yet dead as well, drudging through life; mindless. The Hound was a programmed robot that didn’t thing on its own; that only acted as it was told. Captain Beatty states, â€Å"It just ‘functions’. It has a trajectory we decide on for it. It follows through. It targets itself, homes itself, and cuts off. Its only copper wire, storage batteries, and electricity'; (20), and â€Å"It doesn’t think anything we don’t want it to think'; (27). That society was programmed to not think, wonder or ask why. They didn’t do anything that they weren†™t supposed to do. Today, everything is happening just as The Hound is controlled. Programming is happening in our very world. Take schools for example. Consider Pavlov’s experiment with ringing bells to provoke an automatic response in dogs. He rang a bell; the dogs salivated expecting food. The school board rings a bell, and students ris...

Porter 5 Forces Analysis Essay

Porter’s 5 Forces Analysis of the Retail Banking Industry in Australia Retail banking can be defined as an industry where financial institutions offer mass market banking in which individual customers use local branches of larger commercial banks. Services offered include savings and checking accounts, mortgages, personal loans, debit/credit cards. Retail banking aims to be the one-stop shop for as many financial services as possible on behalf of retail clients. Some retail banks have even made a push into investment services such as wealth management, brokerage accounts, private banking and retirement planning. While some of these ancillary services are outsourced to third parties, they often intertwine with core retail banking accounts like checking and savings to allow for easier transfers and maintenance. When applying the Porter Five Forces in analysing industry competitiveness and how it relates to the retail banking industry, the following outcomes have been found. Threat of new entrants Current Rating – (Low) – Future Rating – (Med) It would be very difficult without the access to large capital for the average person/company/organisation to start up a bank. However with the popularity of Credit Unions, Building societies and the evolution of the internet, there are many traditional banking services such as providing mortgages, car loans, paying bills, on which online entrepreneurs can enter this market segment (www.billbuddy.com.au OR Aus POST). Banks would be fearful of losing part of their traditional revenue raising, because it is a good source of fee-based revenue. Another threat to traditional banking is companies offering other financial services. What would it take for an insurance company to start offering mortgage and loan services? Not much. Also, when applying the threat of entry formula to a regional bank, there is a huge possibility that one of the big 4 entering the market will annihilate it. Competitive Rivalry Current rating – (Low) – Future Rating – (Low) When analysing the competitive rivalry of the big 4 banks, (ANZ, Westpac, Commonwealth and NAB), we quickly realise that the Aus retail banking industry is dominated by these banks and it is not very competitive. The products they offer are very similar, interest rates are very close and all of them have ATM’s everywhere. The financial services industry has been around for hundreds of years and just about everyone who needs banking services already has them. Because of this, banks must attempt to lure clients away from competitor banks. They do this by offering lower financing, preferred rates, investment services and access to cash almost 24/7. The banking sector is in a race to see who can offer both the best and fastest services. In the long run, we’re likely to see more consolidation in the banking industry. Larger banks would prefer to take over or buy a large stake in other financial service providers (Commonwealth & Aussie), (Commonwealth & Bank West) and (Westpac & BOM). The Main threat to the big 4 would be small & foreign banks trying to gain market share. However, the big 4 have 83% of the mortgage market share compared to 11.5% of the small banks and 5.3% of the foreign owned banks*. So there is a lot of ground to make up. *Source – Aus Banking Industry Report, Page 14 (May 2011). Threat of Substitutes Current rating – (Med) – Future Rating – (High) There are some substitutes in the banking industry. Banks offer a suite of services over and above taking deposits and lending money, but whether it is insurance, mutual funds or fixed income securities, chances are there is a non-retail banking financial services company that can offer similar services. On the lending side of the business, banks are seeing competition rise from unconventional companies. An example of this would be car manufacturers financing customers by offering 0% financing, why would anyone want to get a car loan from the bank and pay up to 10% interest? Suppliers – Relative Bargaining Power Current rating – (Low) – Future Rating – (Low) The suppliers of capital might not pose a big threat especially when the banks viability was/is guaranteed by the federal government during the height of the GFC. On the labour side, the threat of union interruptions is very low to non-existent. The banks have been quite clever in moving a lot of the front line staff offshore though call centres to ensure that the labour supply is cheap and sustained. This is further supported by the huge uptake of online banking by customers. Buyer – Relative Bargaining Power Current rating – (Low) – Future Rating – (Low) The individual doesn’t pose much of a threat to the banking industry, but one major factor affecting the power of buyers is relatively high switching costs. If a person has a mortgage, car loan, credit card, checking account and mutual funds with one particular bank, it can be extremely tough for that person to switch to another bank. In an attempt to lure in customers, banks try to lower the price of switching, but many people would still rather stick with their current bank. On the other hand, large corporate clients have banks wrapped around their little fingers. Financial institutions by offering better exchange rates, more services, and exposure to foreign capital markets – work extremely hard to get high margin corporate clients. Industry Attractiveness One can conclude based on the outcomes of this analysis, that the retail banking industry would be a very difficult and an unattractive market to be considered by a potential competitor. More particularly for the following reasons; * The large market share of the big 4 banks (who pretty much have the market sawn up), * New loan application numbers have retracted significantly and have not rebounded since the GFC, * the need to have access to large amounts of capital,  * low margins by lower interest rates, * high borrowing cost, * Non-traditional lenders such as car manufactures offering extremely low finance rates, * With all these factors in mind, the barriers to entry are quite high.