Critically evaluate the PESTLE and SWOT tools and discuss when it Assignment

Critically evaluate the PESTLE and SWOT tools and discuss when it would be appropriate for a strategic HRBP to them. Support you - Assignment Example It will also discuss another relevant theory with regard to its application in HR field. PESTLE/PEST PESTLE/PEST analysis explores different external macro-environmental situations such as political, economical, social, and technological factors in which the firm operates (PEST analysis). In other words, the PEST analysis is an overall environmental scan so as to assess opportunities and threats in the external environment. PEST analysis is a widely adopted concept and it has large number of applications as listed below; Business planning: this tool gives accurate information to management regarding targets toward the development of new products. Marketing planning: it also improves marketing planning process by providing valuable elements in a situation analysis phase. SWOT is the acronym of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It is a globally accepted concept that explores internal organizational factors such as strengths and weaknesses and external environmental fac tors such as opportunities and threats of a project. The SWOT analysis provides beneficial information whether a firm’s resources and potentials fit with the competitive environment in which it operates (SWOT analysis). Main applications of this concept are discussed below Strengths such as patents, reputation, and strong brand name; and weaknesses like poor brand name and high cost structure can be identified. Arrival of new technologies and withdrawal of regulations are some of the opportunities to a business whereas trade barriers and introduction of substitute products are threats. SWOT analysis focuses on these issues also. In addition, there are a lot of advantages and disadvantages to both techniques. Firstly, both these methods are easy to understand and simple to operate. PEST tool is very effective for assessing external changes in the case of multinational companies. The SWOT analysis is suggestible to achieve organizational mission while PEST analysis brings a cle ar picture of business’ external environment. A SWOT analysis can be performed by anyone who has adequate information regarding the day to day operation of the business and the market; hence it is a cost effective method. At the same time, a PEST analysis develops strategic thinking and clearly points out the threats to a business. Similarly, PEST tool would assist the organization to avert future difficulties. Although the simplicity of SWOT analysis is beneficial for a firm to reduce related expenses, it also eliminates the possibility of a critical presentation. Since the SWOT analysis does not assess the degree of threats and opportunities, the results obtained from this method require further research in order to get a comprehensive picture. The rapid changing nature of society raises many difficulties to PEST analysis in anticipating future developments. According to Haughey, PEST analysis tends to rely on assumption and therefore, it would minimise the accuracy of outc omes. In the opinion of Rabin (1999), Organisational downsizing is a management strategy that aims to focus more on the business activities by reshaping the firm’s structure into a smaller size. By downsizing the organisation, the management can terminate employees with poor performance; and it is possible to maintain a group of potential workers. The SWOT and PEST analyses greatly contribute to

Customer satisfaction of fast food services in kuwait a survy study Essay - 1

Customer satisfaction of fast food services in kuwait a survy study - Essay Example Through the collaboration of Japanese scientists, engineers, governmental officials, and policy makers, along with the works of Deming and Juran, the Japanese developed a management philosophy that later entitled Total Quality Management (TQM) (Walton 1986; Powel 1995). In fact, the concept of quality has evolved from basic manufacturing and engineering-related activities to a philosophy that encompasses all organizational activities and processes. What today is defined as TQM has its origin in the ideas of quality gurus (Deming, Juran, Crosby, Feigenbaum, Ishikawa) whose primary goals were customer satisfaction and continuous improvement. Despite the number of articles and studies, TQM is an ambiguous concept (Dean & Bowen 1994). The differences between the various frameworks proposed by quality experts and scholars have contributed to the ambiguity of TQM definition, concepts, and constructs. Differences are due to the fact that different people have different understanding of the term â€Å"quality,† and, in that regard, the way they define quality may result in different constructs and models for TQM. This chapter presents a review of the total quality management and customer satisfaction literature. The purpose of this chapter is to provide a clear picture of total quality management, its components, and definition as well as overall customer satisfaction. The concept of TQM is explored within a global context and then expounded upon by offering operational definition as well as dealing with the subject within the context of customer satisfaction in the fast food industry. The concept of TQM has the same vagueness as the definition of â€Å"quality.† As Reed et al. (1996) indicated, there is no consensus on the definition for TQM. TQM definitions vary based on the approach taken towards quality. Flynn et al. (1994) defined TQM as: â€Å"An integrated approach to achieving and sustaining high quality output, focusing on the maintenance and

Hinduism & Jainism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Hinduism & Jainism - Essay Example In Jainism, no practices of food are offered to God or the divine. Consequently, Hindus give offerings of gift and materialistic needs for the divine. Rituals and traditions of sacrifices also differ in both religions. Since Hinduism is more focused on sacrifice, the focus of sacrificing animals is prevalent in Hinduism. In Jainism, this form of practice is refuted and discouraged. As mentioned above, the theory of salvation and afterlife is quite essential in both religions. While the Hindus believe that only God can truly achieve salvation, Jainism insists that humans are the only creation that can reach that level of state. Karma is another focal point that differentiates the two religions. Salvation is another crucial concept in which both religions tend to have differences. Hindus believe that Gods can only achieve salvation. However, the Jainas consider this privilege of human beings only. While Hindus regard Karma as an invisible power, Jainas think that it is something that c omes from â€Å"within.† Clearly, both religions share many similarities but also possess many

Customer satisfaction of fast food services in kuwait a survy study Essay - 1

Customer satisfaction of fast food services in kuwait a survy study - Essay Example Through the collaboration of Japanese scientists, engineers, governmental officials, and policy makers, along with the works of Deming and Juran, the Japanese developed a management philosophy that later entitled Total Quality Management (TQM) (Walton 1986; Powel 1995). In fact, the concept of quality has evolved from basic manufacturing and engineering-related activities to a philosophy that encompasses all organizational activities and processes. What today is defined as TQM has its origin in the ideas of quality gurus (Deming, Juran, Crosby, Feigenbaum, Ishikawa) whose primary goals were customer satisfaction and continuous improvement. Despite the number of articles and studies, TQM is an ambiguous concept (Dean & Bowen 1994). The differences between the various frameworks proposed by quality experts and scholars have contributed to the ambiguity of TQM definition, concepts, and constructs. Differences are due to the fact that different people have different understanding of the term â€Å"quality,† and, in that regard, the way they define quality may result in different constructs and models for TQM. This chapter presents a review of the total quality management and customer satisfaction literature. The purpose of this chapter is to provide a clear picture of total quality management, its components, and definition as well as overall customer satisfaction. The concept of TQM is explored within a global context and then expounded upon by offering operational definition as well as dealing with the subject within the context of customer satisfaction in the fast food industry. The concept of TQM has the same vagueness as the definition of â€Å"quality.† As Reed et al. (1996) indicated, there is no consensus on the definition for TQM. TQM definitions vary based on the approach taken towards quality. Flynn et al. (1994) defined TQM as: â€Å"An integrated approach to achieving and sustaining high quality output, focusing on the maintenance and

Policy of Containment Essay Example for Free

Policy of Containment Essay Americans believe that if Franklin D. Roosevelt would have lived longer, that he would have been able to stem the tide of tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States. His successor lacked greatly the Talent of FDR. The new president, who was more comfortable with machine politicians than with polished New Dealers, liked to talk tough and act defiantly. Truman complained that the U.S. Negotiations had been a one way street just ten days after he took office. He then vowed to not baby the Soviet no longer. A crisis in the Mediterranean prompted President Truman to show his colors. On February 21, 1947, amid a civil war in Greece, Great Britain informed the U.S. State Department that it could no longer afford to prop up the anti-Communist government there and announced its intention to withdraw all aid. Truman concluded, Greece, Turkey, and perhaps the entire oil-rich Middle East would fall under Soviet control, without U.S. Intervention. On March 12, 1947, the President made his argument before Congress in bold terms: At the present moment in world history, nearly every nation must choose between alternative ways of life One way of life is based upon the will of the majority, and is distinguished be free institutionsand freedom from political oppression. The second way of life is based upon the will of a minority forcibly imposed on the majority And the suppression of personal freedoms. Never mentioning the Soviet Union by name, he appealed for all-out resistance to a certain ideology wherever it appeared in the world. The preservation of peace and the freedom of all Americans depended, the president insisted, on containing communism. Congress approved a $400 million appropriation in aid for Greece and Turkey, which helped the monarchy and right-wing military crush the rebel movement. Trumans victory buoyed his popularity for the upcoming 1948 election. It also helped to generate popular support for a campaign against communism, both at home and abroad. The significance of what became known as the Truman Doctrine far outlasted  the events in the Mediterranean: the United States had declared its right to intervene to save other nations from communism. As early as February 1946, foreign-policy adviser George F. Kennan had sent an 8,000-word long telegram to the State Department insisting that Soviet fanaticism made cooperation impossible. The USSR intended to extend its realm not by military means alone, he explained, but by subversion within free nations. The Truman Doctrine described the differences between the United States and the Soviet Union as absolute and irreconcilable, as an ideological breach that resonated far beyond foreign policy. It was now the responsibility of the United States, Truman insisted to safeguard the Free World by diplomatic, economic, and, if necessary, military means. He had, in sum, fused anti communism and internationalism into an aggressive foreign policy. The Truman Doctrine complemented the European Recovery Program, commonly known as the Marshall Plan. On June 5, 1947 the plan was introduced in a commencement speech at Harvard University by secretary of state and former army chief of staff George C. Marshall. The plan sought to reduce hunger, poverty, desperation, and chaos and to restore the confidence of the European people in the economic future of their own countries and of Europe as a whole. Although Marshall added that our policy is directed not against any country or doctrine, the plan that bore his name additionally aimed to turn back both socialist and Communist electoral bids for power in northern and western Europe while promoting democracy through an economic renewal. The most successful postwar U.S. Diplomatic venture, the Marshall Plan supplemented the Bretton Woods agreements by further improving the climate for a viable capitalist economy, in western Europe and in effect bringing recipients of aid into a bilateral agreement with the United States. Western Europe nations, seventeen in all, ratified the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which reduced commercial barriers among member nations and opened all to U.S. Trade and investment. The plan was costly to Americans, in its initial year taking 12 percent of the federal budget, but effective. Industrial production in the European nations covered by the plan rose by  200 percent between 1947 and 1952. Although deflationary programs cut wages and increased unemployment, profits soared and the standard of living improved. Supplemented by a multimedia propaganda campaign, the Marshall Plan introduced many Europeans to American consumer goods and lifestyles. The Marshall Plan drove a deeper wedge between the United States and the Soviet Union. Stalin was invited to participate but he denounced the plan for what it was, an American scheme to rebuild Germany and to incorporate it into and anti-Soviet bloc that encompassed all western Europe. The president readily acknowledged that the Marshall Plan and the Truman Doctrine were two halves of the same walnut. The policy of containment depended on the ability of the United States to back up its commitments through military means, and Truman invested his faith in the U.S. Monopoly of atomic weapons. The U.S began to build atomic stockpiles and to conduct tests on the Bikini Islands in the Pacific. By 1950, as a scientific adviser observed, the U.S. Has a stockpile capable of somewhat more than reproducing World War II in a single day. The U.S. Military analysts estimated it would take the Soviet Union three to ten years to produce an atomic bomb. In August 1949, the Soviet Union proved them wrong by testing its own atomic bomb. There is only one thing worse than one nation having the atomic bomb, Noble prize-winning scientist Harold C. Urey said, thats two nations having it. The United States and Soviet Union were now firmly locked into the Cold War. The nuclear arms race imperiled their futures, diverted their economies, and fostered fears of impending doom. Prospects for global peace had dissipated, and despite the Allied victory in World War II, the world had again divided into hostile camps.

Casa Bianchi | Switzerland Architecture

Casa Bianchi | Switzerland Architecture Located at the foot of the San Giorgio Mountain, in the Mendrisio district of Switzerland, Casa Bianchi (1971-3) at Riva San Vitale stands apart from the beautiful natural landscape of this fishing town. Occupying 220 square metres of an 850 square metre site, the concrete block tower resembles a fortress in its relative isolation above Lake Lagona; cold but yet familiar in its modern form. Built on a hillside, the main access to this family house is curiously through its top floor. This square vertically extruded building seems fortress-like in that it does not interact with its surroundings but rather observes them. However, a connection is established between hillside and home by an 18 metre long red metal bridge which provides the main access to the house; reinforcing its stronghold appearance. The bridge pierces the heart of the home through the fifth floor where a studio and a terrace are to be found. Private views are offered from both these spaces, together detaching the viewer from the world, and directly creating a rapport between the two. The feeling, when crossing the bridge towards the house, is of entering into the landscape, and ones eyes extend beyond to the church of Melano, at the other side of the lake.'[i] Mario Botta (b. Switzerland 1943) designed this house shortly after graduating for his close friends Carlo and Leontina Bianchi. This was Bottas second project for the couple; the first was the refurbishment of a flat in the village of Genestrerio, Switzerland. The brief for the residence at Riva San Vitale was similar in that a low budget home was required for a couple with two children. Botta himself strongly believed in a house being designed for its particular environment hence the distinctive appearance employed by the home. According to Arnardà ³ttir, Halldà ³ra and Sà ¡nchez Merina, Javier, the land along the small road where the Bianchi site ends had been suffering from haphazard development during the last century. Botta opposed the tendancy to treat architecture as a commodity and so it was his intention from the very beginning to propose a house that would mark the limit of the careless expansion of the village as means of protecting the woods. Due in part to his protest, shortly after the completion of the house, new regulations declared no further construction could be approved in the area and so, for this reason the tower house now stands alone in its protected landscape. The greatest influences on the work of Mario Botta came in the form the renowned brutalist architects Le Corbusier and Louis Kahn, both of whom he briefly collaborated with in the sixties. Brutalism was a movement conceived from modernist architecture that thrived in the wake of World War II due to economically depressed states requiring low-cost construction and design. Characterisd by its stark, monolithic forms, brutalism comprised of unembellished exteriors and often block-like geometric forms. Undoubtedly the Bianchi house is a true example of brutalist architecture but Botta himself is most commonly referred to as a neo-rationalist architect, belonging to the Ticense school. Neo Rationalism was an Italian movement of great repute in 1960s and 1970s. Seeking to redefine architectural form through the rational mergence of its components, neo Rationalism dismissed the sentiment that technology is the only way forward in architecture. Instead they looked to the past and were inspired by the architectural forms that were once abundant. Botta looked to the Ticinese movement of which he was one of the foremost figures when designing the Riva San Vitale residence. The Ticinese school was comprised of a group of Swiss architects who promoted a greater appreciation for the significance of historical style, both socially and culturally. Roccolo houses, or bird hunting towers once typified the Ticino region and it is from these buildings that Botta took inspiration when designing the load bearing concrete brick tower house. These buildings were raised over the trees as traces of human marks Later, although many of them were destroyed, some were converted into weekend houses. It was precisely this combination of astonishing nature and basic construction which gave a special quality to the area.[ii] Bottas intentions in utilising this form were however very different ; The house stands at a respectful distance from the hillside, infringing upon the land only as much as is necessary. The vertical manner ensures the house does not lose importance when compared with the lofty mountains as its backdrop and by doing so answered his friends wishes of enjoying both the views of the lake above the trees and by having strong contact with the ground. Stevens Curl, James described Bottas buildings to have; clear, powerful geometries and display fine craftsmanship. For instance, the house at Riva San Vitale is monumental, and has deep and powerful voids in the elevations'[iii] The house is open plan and yet still private, organized around a mostly enclosed central open newel staircase and offers a selection of different views of the region from each living space. In turn, the stairs section off the house and so act as a divider, creating privacy. From the bridge, the floor to be found when descending the staircase is the private one of Carlo and Leontina themselves. Through being positioned thus, the couple are essentially the gatekeepers to their own home. So long as they are on their floor, no one can leave or enter through the front without their knowledge. Botta has created for them an intimate space comprising a bedroom, bathroom, dressing room and even a lake view balcony. The second floor of the home was designed for family living. The children have their own twin bedroom and bathroom and there is also a study which serves as a balcony, overlooking the kitchen-dining room. The duplex nature of the house allows for interaction between the different floors, making it more social, but there are still private quarters to be found on each level giving a range in atmosphere not only across the different floors, but in each room also. A dining room can also be found on the first floor and the basement consists of a laundry room, storage spaces and a garage which are clearly intended for family use only. Botta arranged the house so that the service areas occupy a similar vertical position with the bathrooms on the second and third floors and the laundry room in the basement. This way, plumbing the house would be more cost effective as certain pipes such as those for drainage would run through the building and it would also save space. The only part of the house to require a separate system would be the kitchen which occupies a different part of the first floor. It is in this part of the house that we assume Botta has considered his clients spacial requirements the priority. The basement consists of a laundry room, storage spaces and a garage which are clearly intended for family use only. The social centre of the house can be found on the first floor where there is a living room in addition to the kitchen -dining room. Guests to the house would be required to walk across the bridge and down into the public region of the house. Standing at the bottom of a slope, with such depths and fortification within the property, the Bianchi house feels like an upside down castle. The simple design and allows for as much light as possible to enter the home without compromising the privacy of the family. Increasing commercialization by those seen as having betrayed architecture, a return to academic theories propounded by Quatremà ¨re de Quincy and others was proposed. A good example of realized works is Grassis student residences, Chieti (1976), which drew on proposals by Weinbrenner (1808). Bibliography Surname, First Name (or initials if you do not know the first name). Date. Title (in italics). Place of publication: Publisher. Arnardà ³ttir, Halldà ³ra Sà ¡nchez Merina, Javier. 2005. A family house at Riva San Vitale by Mario Botta. Available from: http://storiesofhouses.blogspot.com/2005/07/family-house-at-riva-san-vitale-by.html (Accessed th October 2009) FDHA, Federal Department of Home Affairs. Mario Botta. 2009 Available from: http://www.bundesmuseen.ch/cdn/00127/00203/index.html?lang=en Stevens Curl, James. 2000. A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture.

The Safety and Long-term Effectiveness of the Atkins Diet :: Health Nutrition Diet Exercise Essays

Low-carbohydrate diets, such as the Atkins diet, may not be the best choice for weight loss due to long-term ineffectiveness, potentially negative side effects and a lack of long-term research. Ever since the recent popularization of the Atkins diet researchers have been trying to prove Dr. Atkins’ claims and determine whether or not the diet is safe. The current body of research available on dieting supports a diet low in fat and high in complex carbohydrates with an emphasis on calorie reduction. Studies have also shown a strong link between diets high in fat and both increased cholesterol and increased risk of heart disease. The Atkins diet is the opposite of what has generally been recommended; it requires the reduction of carbohydrates to 5% or less of total calories leaving fat and protein to make up the rest. The high fat and low-carbohydrate content of this diet goes against most diet research, has potentially harmful side effects and there is insufficient e vidence to judge the long-term effectiveness of the Atkins diet. The long-term effectiveness can be determined by the ability of dieters to lose and maintain weight loss with few negative side effects. Weight maintenance is as important as weight loss to long-term health. One nutritionist said, â€Å"the American public needs to be told that diets are not followed for 8 days, 8 weeks, or 8 months, but rather form the basis of everyday food choices throughout their life† (Blackthorn). The Atkins diet may act more as a quick fix without really offering a long-term solution. Preliminary studies show that the Atkins diet is unable to maintain weight loss. While low-carbohydrate diets do initially cause weight loss, most dieters begin to regain weight after six months. One study showed that, after 12 months, dieters following the Atkins diet had regained over 30% of weight that they had lost in the first six months on the diet, dropping from 7% cumulative body weight loss at six months to 4.4% cumulative body weight loss at 12 months. This weight gain may in part be due to the difficulty dieters have in following the dietary recommendations, but if the Atkins diet cannot help dieters keep the weight off than it is no better than any other diet we have and the side effects may be worse.