Iran-Contra affair Essay Example for Free

Iran-Contra affair Essay The Iran-Contra affair was a US scandal that occurred in the mid 1980s under the leadership of President Ronald Reagan and vice president George bush. The scandal majorly involved two events. First, there was the sale of US arms to one of its main enemies, Iran and then the millions of dollars in profits derived from the arms deal were used to finance a clandestine operation rejected by congress, the financing of Nicaraguan guerrillas named the Contra. The Contra guerillas were opponents of the Nicaraguan’s Sandinista rebels who came to power after overthrowing Anastasio Somoza, the then leader of Nicaragua in the year 1979. The idea was to secure the release of American hostages held by the Hezbollah terrorists. This scandal prompted numerous investigations that led the indictment of US government officials. Indeed, many questions still linger on the minds of many concerning the role played by top US White House officials including President Reagan and the then vice president George Bush (TheFreeDictionary, 2009). This paper will discuss some of the dealings in the arms trade, stating their historical background, reasons behind the trade, the parties involved and its eventual outcome. The Contra Affair first received public attention in November 1986 after al-sharia, a Lebanese publication reported that the American government was involved in arms trade with Iran. Worse still, a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) supply plane was shot down by the Nicaraguan forces. The only survivor was the pilot and he was captured. The plane was carrying, over 50 000 rounds of ammunition, Russian rifles and boots (Tristam, 2009). The confession of the pilot shocked the public indicating that the US government was involved in arming the contra rebels and also confirmed the earlier reports in the Lebanese publication. The irony was that President Ronald Reagan was on record as having numerously associated the Iran government with terrorism (TheFreeDictionary, 2009). Why Reagan supported the Sandinistas To Reagan, the victory of the Sandinista in Nicaragua was a major US security threat since he thought that it had the potential of sparking off a revolution in Central America (BBC News Channel, 2004). The fear could be traced back to 1954 when Jacobo Arbenz won the elections to become president of Guatemala. What alarmed the US government was his oratory which indicated that the US government was on the verge of losing its control in Central America. In 1979, the Sandinistas overthrew the Arbenz government and initiated communist reforms. This was in spite of the fact that in actual sense they never really defined themselves as communists but as pluralists. They began to reallocate estates and to redistribute wealth and this was enough to alarm the United States which became uncomfortable with having a communist state right in its backyard. Violence also erupted spreading to other countries and this was seen as an indication that communism could end up spreading to other countries in Central America (BBC News Channel, 2004). Reagan was alarmed by these developments and felt that he had to do whatever it took to stop this. Fortunately for him, other groups within Nicaragua began arming themselves against the policies initiated by the Sandinistas. Reagan’s hope then lay in equipping the rebels in an attempt to overthrow the Sandinistas government. At first he allocated the funds openly and even gave additional funds to the CIA to carry out his mission. However, the allocation of funds to the contras was opposed within the United States throwing his plans to the gutter. Ronald Reagan involvement with Iran Ronald Reagan was known to have publicly referred to Iran as one of the nations that both supported and financed terrorism in the world. It therefore seemed to be a stab in the back for US citizens when the world heard reports that the US was trading arms with its worst enemy. The entire situation could be traced back to the 1980 US presidential elections. These pitted the then president Jimmy Carter against the implicated Ronald Reagan. The period between the 1970s and 1980 was one characterized by numerous incidences of hostage taking. In the year 1979, fifty two workers of the US embassy in Iran were captured by Iranian students and held hostage. The US at the time proclaimed a ‘no- negotiation’ policy when dealing with terrorists. The then president Jimmy Carter failed to secure the release of these hostages (Absolute astronomy, 2009). During the elections, Jimmy Carter was slightly taking the lead and if only the US hostages held by the Hezbollah group had been released, it could have been a sure win for Carter. The release of the hostages then became the decisive factor on who would win the elections. This prompted the Reagan team to negotiate a release deal with Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran. This team met with the then prime minister of Iran Bani-sadr in Paris. The agreement reached was that the US hostages would remain captives until after the election and in extension of this favor, Iran would be supplied with weapons. At that time, Iran was at war with Iraq and the supply of weapons was absolutely welcomed. It therefore came to be that immediately after Reagan won the elections, the hostages were released (Angel Force, n. d). Arms transactions The US received special assistance from Israel to carry out the sale of arms to moderate Iranians opposed to Ayatollah Khomeni. Michael Ledeen and Robert McFarlane the then National Security Adviser managed to convince the Israeli government to ship arms to these politically influential Iranians in return for the same kind of weapons along with monetary benefits. Israel agreed but in the mean time Reagan was hospitalized for a colon cancer surgery. Later on, Israel tried to convince the United States to allow Israel to sell a few antitank missiles as an indication that the Iranian group had strong US ties. This offer was initially rejected but eventually Israel managed to convince Reagan that the group was an antiterrorist group. The group in return had promised to talk to the captor to release seven hostages, a proposal that Reagan readily consented to. The plan was later readjusted such that the arms were now to be sold directly to the Iranians at a marked up price of about 715 million dollars as suggested by North. This price was rejected but eventually over one thousand anti-tank missiles were shipped. The adjustments also included the financing of the contras contrary to the Boland Amendments that restricted the US administration and the CIA from financing the contras. (Absolute astronomy, 2009). The scandal blew up after Mehdi Hashemi a cleric with the Islamic revolutionary guards leaked information concerning the trade to Ash-Shiraa, a renowned Lebanese magazine. This together with the crashing of a CIA plane led to Reagan’s confession in the national television that the arms deal transactions had indeed taken place. His argument was that the trade had taken place in an attempt to forge better ties with Iran and to also to make Iran reconsider a negotiation for the release of held hostages (Absolute astronomy, 2009). Conclusion The Iran-Contra Scandal led to the sacking of numerous government officials including Oliver North who was sacked and also tried for the shredding of evidence (some say that the evidence was bulky enough to jam the government’s shredding machine. In his defense, North tried to link the case with the Vietnam War by arguing that the main issue in the affair was the actual financing of the contras (Isaacs, (1997). He also attempted to justify his action by saying that it fell within his powers. The president’s popularity ratings also dropped from a high of 67% to a low of 46%. Internationally, the scandal sent harmful signal to terror indicating that hostage taking could be used as a powerful means of coaxing political influence with the west (Absolute astronomy, 2009). References Absolute astronomy. (2009). Iran-Contra Affair. Retrieved on 28th March, 2009, from: http://www. absoluteastronomy. com/topics/Iran-Contra_Affair BBC News Channel. (2004). Reagan and the Iran-Contra affair. Retrieved on 30th March, 2009, from: http://news. bbc. co. uk/1/hi/world/americas/269619. stm Isaacs, A. (1997) Vietnam Shadows. Baltimore London: John Hopkins University Press. TheFreeDictionary. (2009). Iran-Contra Affair . Retrieved on 30th March, 2009, from: http://www. acc. af. mil/news/story. asp? id=123080422 Tristam, P. (2009). What Was the Arms-for-Hostages Iran-Contra Affair? Retrieved on 30th March, 2009, from: http://middleeast. about. com/od/usmideastpolicy/f/me081109f. htm Angel Force. (n. d). Iran-Contra. Retrieved on 30th March, 2009, from: http://www. angelfire. com/ca3/jphuck/BOOK3Ch7. html

Job sales

Job sales Home * job sales-3 * jobs in sales-4 * sale jobs-3 * sales job-8 sales jobs-6 As economy experiences an upsurge, there is an increased diversity in sales jobs. Sales jobs are no longer those instantly recognizable jobs in sales with targets setting and bonuses. There are many jobs which are an ever growing element of sales. Increasingly, no sales job is also becoming sales centric. Jobs in sales definitely require one to brush up their sales skills not only because of the corporate culture these days but also due to growing requirement to prove oneself each day in the job. Now, the concept of ‘jobs for life is diminishing and with that so is the concept of salary pensions. Jobs in sales can be tough but usually are accompanied with huge rewards. Before one starts a job in sales, he needs to be sure he understands the company terms and conditions on the sales job in terms of targets and commissions. There are various types of sale jobs- Direct sales, Indirect sales, Business to business sales, servicing sales jobs and IT sales jobs. Direct sale jobs refer to directly selling to private individuals. Products that are sold in this way are financial services (like credit cards, personal banking products, etc), home appliances and improvements or travel packages. Direct Sale jobs usually involve selling directly to homeowners. Sales representatives and sales executives carry out direct sales job which can comprise capital equipment sales or technical Sales. Indirect sales job refer to selling consumer goods and services to corporates which in turn sell them to individuals or other oragnizations. In a Business to Business job, sales involves selling products or sevices to different companies either directly approaching them or indirectly through other distributors. IT sales jobs have become very diverse in the last two decades.They fall into three main categories pre sales, sales and post sales support of hardware and software. Servicing sales jobs have also become an integral part of IT sales jobs. In servicing job sales refers to selling services to customers or corporates. The services can be in area of transport, logistics or advertising or management consultancy. Services sales job are considered to be highly specialized as there is no physical products for customer to touch, feel or acknowledge. Fundamentally in a job, sales requires different skills sets and personality types. In any type of sales job, a person needs to have constant interaction with clients either face to face or through phone. A sales man needs to have a pleasing personality, be an extrovert and should have excellent communication skills. He needs to constantly identify opportunities for cross selling or up selling and be prepared for delivering presentations with confidence and articulation. A person armed with above mentioned personality traits and qualities is sure to succeed in any sales job. Sales Representative Jobs sales representative job -4 sales representative jobs-5 sales rep jobs-4 sales executive jobs-5 A sales representative job comprises of selling companies products or services to customers. Sales representative jobs can involve selling products or services like electronic equipment, home appliances, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics or vehicles. Sales rep jobs involve selling to individuals, factories or companies. Technical sales representatives and sales engineers are some of the sales executive jobs. Selling industrial, high tech gear and components comprises other types of sales representative jobs. People in sales rep jobs usually work on targets and can earn huge salaries in form of commission if they manage to achieve their targets. Sales representative jobs involves working long hours usually. Sales rep jobs involves lot of driving to visit clients at their homes, offices or factories. They often demonstrate the product or leave catalogues with the customer at the customer meeting points. In sales rep jobs, people are required to keep records of the orders made, number of appointments or cash transactions in a day with a handheld device or company provided laptops. They act as consultants between customers and companies in their sales executive jobs. Sales representative jobs involves being cautious and honest about the products that are popular with the customers as companies need this information to improve on their current products or services. For a person to excel in sales executive jobs, he should be brimming with confidence, ambition, persuasion skills and have extensive knowledge on companies products and competitors. He should be able to take refutation easily and move on networking extensively. There are no set qualifications besides having GCSE or equivalent qualified for a sales representative job. However, increasing number of candidates vying for sales executive jobs try to get higher qualifications by doing MBA specializing in sales or marketing. Many companies provide adequate training on their companys products and services when an employee joins in a sales representative job. They also get an understanding on specific sales m ethods used in a sales representative job in their company. Fresh employees in sales representative jobs usually are expected to work alongside senior members of the team till they become familiar with companys products and area where they need to work. Sales executive jobs are available in all sectors including working for manufacturing companies, wholesale distributors or in IT sector. Some sales representative jobs are freelance options. Progression possibilities for sales rep jobs include taking additional responsibilities in sales area and becoming sales manager, account manager or National Account Manager. Sales and Marketing jobs sales marketing job-3 sales marketing jobs-4 sales and marketing jobs-6 telesales jobs-4 There are many types of sales and marketing jobs available these days. Due to recession there was a slight fall in the number of job opportunities in sales marketing jobs. But with recession receding, sales and marketing jobs have also experienced a high. Sales and Marketing jobs can be classified into two categories- client side and Agency side. Client side sales and marketing jobs involve working as a part of the marketing department of a company. When people work in agency side sales and marketing jobs, they are basically working for a company specializing in Marketing. A person can look out for entry level positions in telesales jobs or Junior Account Executive. If you like talking on the phone, have the confidence to sell and possess the persistence to go on calling then telesales jobs are for you. Telesales jobs require one to be competitive to continuously meet targets and endure in aggressive environment. Telesales jobs involve making outbound calls to prospective customers, converting inbound calls into sales orders, exploiting opportunities from marketing campaigns and obtained databases as well as making general sales enquiries. Junior account executive in sales marketing job act as link between clients and the company and see to it that all deliverables are met on the agreed timelines. When a person has gained relevant experience in the field, he can look out for a senior sales marketing job as an Account Director, Account Manager, Marketing Manager, MarCom Manager or Brand Manager. Sales and Marketing jobs basically requires a person to have qualities like interpersonal skills, customer service, organizational and communications skills. Account Directors administer client relationships, delivers presentations to existing and prospective clients in their sales marketing jobs and also manage the account managers. Account Managers,in their sales marketing jobs, assist Account Director in creating strategies for achieving organizational plans for the financial year. They continuously work towards achieving targets by upselling and cross selling companies products and services. Brand Managers, in their role, work towards creating strategies and marketing campaigns that can directly be applied to a product or service. They work in conjunction with sales Managers and production teams to create the best strategies for increase in product sales. MarCom Managers look after the marketing strategies and promotions, organize marketing events and conferences and supervise all marketing related communication in their sales marketing jobs. A Marketing Manager in his sales marketing job, is entrusted with directing and managing all actions in the marketing department. Sales and Marketing jobs are a good career option as they are diverse and each one entails a different function, mind set and attributes to excel in it. IT sales jobs it sales jobs-4 software sales jobs-3 sales support jobs-5 technical sales jobs-3 Sales is an integral part of any business, especially IT. At the business level, IT sales jobs mean selling hardware and software systems. IT Sales jobs require personnel to continuously search for prospective clients who might benefit from the companys software products and services. People in IT sales jobs need to have in depth understanding of all applications and services and markets, proactively understand client requirements and create demand for their companys products. They need to have proven track record of consistently achieving high results in previous IT sales jobs. Software sales jobs require sales force to develop innovative methodology for selling. This is because Information Technology is an ever booming and ever growing sector. IT firms need to provide superiors applications and services in a highly competent environment. The development of these applications involves huge costs in researching and development. Unless these applications are sold at the best possible price, they have no value. This is achieved through employing best sales people in the industry in software sales jobs. Technical sales jobs entails combining technical know -how with sales skills. Based on the requirement of technical sales jobs, the work involves extensive technical knowledge to sell products and services and respond effectively to client queries. Clients usually are the technical staff of IT organizations.Technical sales jobs requires people to liase with clients and companys technical staff on an ongoing basis so as to meet the client requirements and deliverables. People in Software sales jobs need to explain and also give presentations on highly complex concepts and procedures. Once a sale has been made, there is usually a requirement to provide after sales services to clients which are called sales support jobs.Sales support jobs require people to have sound technical knowledge on the application or service, troubleshooting skills and problem solving skills. Sales support jobs are usually customer facing hence excellent communication skills are the base for these jobs. Entry level sales support jobs usually require college graduates with little or no experience. However, a good way to progress in sales support jobs is by getting a higher degree in computer science accompanied with an MBA in marketing. Professionals with strong visual designs, technical expertise and a knack for numbers usually excel in IT sales jobs. Medical and pharmaceutical sales jobs medical device sales jobs-4 medical sales jobs-5 pharmaceutical sales jobs-3 pharmaceutical sales rep jobs-4 The pharmaceutical industry is one of the most stable and fast growing industry in the world today. Studies have indicated that pharmaceutical industry has grown by 300 percent in the last ten years itself with which you can imagine pharmaceutical sales jobs have also quadrupled. Pharmaceutical sales rep jobs involves selling highly technical advanced products to teams of physicians and medical professionals. Therefore, medical sales jobs are regarded as very prestigious. Medical sales jobs are often referred as slump proof and offers good salary potential, flexibility, benefits and growth. Medical sales jobs can be devided into 2 categories- capital sales and non capital sales or consumable sales. Each category has it own set of unique sales requirements and processes. Pharmaceutical sales jobs involving Capital sales refer to selling information systems, hardware, billing, diagnostic and laboratory equipment. Medical sales jobs requiring consumable sales consist of selling consumable products like pharmaceuticals, laboratory reagents, and medicines. Employers usually seek those with a college degree and some previous sales experience for pharmaceutical sales rep jobs. People with no sales background can still break into pharmaceutical sales rep jobs if they come geared with clinical or healthcare background. Other most sought after qualities in pharmaceutical sales rep jobs are strong drive to achieve the set targets, willingness to learn, good communication skills, listening skills and presentation skills. But most of all an aptitude for science is required. If you do not enjoy science or reading about new scientific breakthroughs then you cannot think of succeeding in a pharmaceutical sales jobs. Pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer and Merck offer loads of opportunities to college graduates to work in pharmaceutical sales jobs.Medical device sales jobs are one of the types of pharmaceutical sales jobs.Medical device sales jobs involve demonstrating products ranging from sophisticated surgical devices like hip or knee replacem ent surgical devices to key hole surgical kits. Medical device sales jobs also involve selling varied products like non clinical hospital equipment, aids for the disabled, implants and high tech equipment used in imaging and radiotherapy. A proven track record in pharmaceutical industry and thorough knowledge in ever changing competitive marketplace is needed to make a mark in medical device sales jobs. The international market for medical devices continues to grow at an unprecedented rate wherein competition is getting tense by the day. As a result there is an upsurge of medical sales jobs with people to benefit from the tremendous opportunities available in pharmaceuticals. Inside and outside sales jobs outside sales jobs-5 inside sales jobs-5 international sales jobs-7 sales trainer jobs-5 Sales today present varied roles apart from the traditional sales jobs.There are various types of sales opportunities- sales trainer jobs, inside sales jobs, outside sales jobs and even international sales jobs. Depending upon your experience and personal characteristics, you can decide which type of sales job you are suited to. Sales trainer jobs are offered to those who have had a successful sales career in the past and have mentoring capabilities to train new people in sales.These days sales trainer jobs are on a rise as companies are realizing that by training their sales force on company policies, products and methodologies, sales figures increase by bigger numbers. Sales trainer jobs involve training the employees on the companys offerings as a result they are able to sell them better. Also there is a better retention of sales staff if they are given training. Sales training was frowned upon by top sales managers earlier as the popular belief was that sales people are born with instinctive ability to convince and sell. However, with changing times it is felt that uncertain sales people can be churned into confident people with appropriate training. And already chiseled sales people can turn into greater sales men after sales training exercises. Sales trainer jobs involve training sales force on an ongoing basis as that makes sales people feel more supported in their company. Inside sales jobs requires sales executives to work while staying in office. Inside sales jobs requires one to sell products and services over the phone. Handling questions, complaints and pitching for new business over the phone are all part of inside sales jobs. Inside sales jobs do not involve much of travel, require less paperwork and lesser hours than outside sales jobs. Outside sales jobs are usually offered to those who have more sales experience, have proven track record of achieving results and require less management intervention. People in outside sales jobs need to fix app ointments with prospective clients, make presentations and pitch for the companys products and services constantly. Outside sales jobs are more challenging, time consuming and offer more job satisfaction than inside sales jobs. This is because of the sheer excitement sales executive feel before any face to face meeting. Also the customer tends to connect well with them and possibility of closing a deal sooner increases in case of outside sales jobs.While it is still easy to land an inside or outside sales job, international sales jobs are hard to get. They dont just happen. You need to plan a career if you wish to persue international sales jobs.You can target to get recruited by a global conglomerate in international sales jobs.These companies require you to travel abroad frequently to meet up with prospective clients and close deals. Usually international sales jobs are offered to people with extensive sales experience. An early entry into International sales jobs can be made if y ou have a degree from foreign university or have some international work experience. The three most sought after skills for international sales jobs are social skills, cognitive skills and personal qualities. Problem solving, decision making, adaptability, innovative and good product knowledge are general and personal skills which are a base but the social skills like ability to work and sell to highly diverse group of people make you the apt candidate for international sales jobs. Entry level and field sales jobs entry level sales jobs-4 field sales jobs-3 healthcare sales jobs-6 fmcg jobs-6 Entry level sales jobs are available these days in all employment arenas whether it is Banking industry, healthcare , fmcg, IT or call centres. Usually entry level sales jobs are field sales jobs. Entry level sales jobs involves representation of the companies at trade organizations, events and demonstrations. Sales personnel usually travel a lot to meet prospective customers in field sales jobs. Entry level sales jobs require high school degree or at the maximum graduation degree. Field sales jobs require people to be active, enthusiastic and have good product knowledge of products and markets. Freshers have an exciting opportunity to take advantage of a rewarding career and growth in fmcg jobs. FMCG refers to Fast moving Consumer goods sector which is fourth largest sector in Indian economy. Fmcg jobs for freshers include direct selling jobs, business to business sales jobs or business to customer sales jobs. In fmcg jobs, employees start directly selling through company outlets, i nternet, tele sales, departmental stores and hyper markets. Professionals in fmcg jobs are trained by the organizations per the business requirement and profile assigned to the employee. They need to be competent, outgoing and should be able to work well under pressure. Fmcg jobs usually require professionals to be armed with higher degree in form of MBA or advanced diploma in marketing. People can search for fmcg jobs in consumer goods sector, electronics or pharmaceuticals. Pharmaceuticals or Health care sales jobs have outgrown any other sector. Health care sale jobs involves sale of any product that helps in the process of laboratorian, radiologist, physician, respiraotory therapist or any other professional who provide service to patients. Medical sales, Medical device sales, pharmaceutical sales, clinical laboratory sales, Biotech laboratory sales, laboratory equipment sales and pathology sales are some of the types of Health care sales jobs available. There are field sales al so available in health care sales jobs.Field service engineers, Field technical support, Research laboratory sales and Imaging sales are other types of healthcare sales jobs. A person with proven experience in medical field armed with a graduation or post graduation degree in health science can be ideal for healthcare sales jobs. If people try to get into healthcare sales jobs as freshers, they tend to build extensive work experience in this sector and are able to experience unprecedented growth. Hot sales Jobs hotel sales jobs-4 industrial sales jobs-3 construction sales jobs-4 sales associate jobs-4 With economy showing upward trend, sales as a career option is experiencing a high. Hot sales jobs are available in hotel industry, industrial sales or construction industry. No industry today is as fast moving as hotel industry. With the rise in the hotels industry there is rise in hotel sales jobs as well. Hotel sales jobs involve selling blocks of rooms or bookings for special events like new years or accommodation packages or dining and banquet services .The type of salary in hotel sales jobs largely depends on the type of employer you work for and the number of years of experience. You can start a career in hotel sales job by becoming a hotel sales executive or sales associate or hotel sales manager and go on to become Corporate sales manager or Sales director as you progress in your career. Construction industry has experienced boom in the recent past and construction companies have become one stop shop for clients which include building design, pre construction and property management. This has led to rise in construction sales jobs. Construction sales jobs consist of External sales, Marketing and project management. Construction sales jobs also include being the key point of contact for manufacturers, distributors and merchants for building products. You can start a career in field sales by taking up construction sales jobs as Area sales manager or Sales executive or Sales associate for selling products in insulation, bathroom fittings, lighting or curtain walling. If you have relevant experience in construction then you can take up senior roles like Marketing or National Sales manager or National account Manager or export manager. Industrial sales job is another hot sales job sector. Sales associates work for Industrial sectors like adhesives, air compressors, building services, coatings, drilling machinery, industrial manufacturing consumables, lubricants, oils, polymers, test and calibration equipement or welding equipment when they opt for working in Industrial sales jobs.Industrial sales jobs requires sales associates to be comfortable in industrial setting and sell to engineers and professionals with mechanical aptitude. Media, retail and advertising sales jobs advertising sales jobs-4 media sales jobs-5 retail sales jobs-5 sales coordinator jobs-3 It could not be a better time to be in sales. With economic recession almost over, every industry seems to be looking for competent professionals to bring in the business. There seems to be a welcome rise in advertising sales jobs, media sales jobs and retail sales jobs. You can find Advertising sales jobs including sales coordinator jobs, sales executive and telesales executive jobs when you are trying to break into the advertising industry. Advertising sales jobs basically involve selling magazine or online advertising space to existing and prospective clients. As you progress in your career, you can think of getting Account manager or Account Director roles in Advertising sales jobs. In Account Management capacity you basically plan the brief, manage the advertising and brand campaigns and manage relationship with clients, suppliers and internal teams. Media sales jobs involve selling across many platforms like print, online, email campaigns and subscriptions. Media sales jobs also involve researching and contacting exhibitions and conference clients with an imaginative approach to impel sales and maintain good client relationships for future sales. Sales coordinator jobs are available as entry point into Media sales jobs. From there on, there are ample opportunities in media sales jobs to grow as an International Media sales manager, global media manager or strategic Marketing and Media Manager. At the same time retail sales jobs are also on a rise. There are many professionals who work behind the scenes to keep employers, suppliers, customers and investors happy. It is easy to get sales coordinator jobs in retail sector as a fresh graduate. Retail sales jobs are devided in three main categories- store upkeep, product handling and administration. Retail Buyers review products in the market and sign off that might be bought for their store. Retail Merchandisers review available products, price them and decide the best of displaying them in the store for maximizing sales.Retail sales jobs also include being retail sales clerk, retail cashier, retail store managers and retail loss prevention managers. Once you have crossed the middle management in retail sales jobs, you can go to become part of Retail Corporate Management and manage the entire look and feel of the store or mall. As you can see, there are ample opportunities in advertising, media or retail sales so what are you waiting for? Go on and start applying and build a fabulous career. Auto, car and insurance sales jobs auto sales jobs-6 car sales jobs-4 insurance sales jobs-5 sales assistant jobs-4 With economy coming out of the recession slowly and steadily, auto sales jobs are on the rise. Auto sales jobs are offered at car dealerships. Car dealerships basically serve as a link between car manufacturers and customers. There are two types of car dealerships- franchised car dealerships which showcase new vehicles manufactured by a popular brand and independent used car dealerships which are smaller in size and sell used vehicles including cars. Auto sales jobs or car sales jobs requires professionals with good communication skills, customer servicing, strong drive and ability to work under pressure. Auto sales jobs require people to work long hours. People in car sales jobs usually work weekends as most of the sale is expected on weekends when customers get time from their busy schedules. Bureau of labor statistics projects that there will be eleven percent increase in auto sales jobs by 2016.More and more dealers are providing lucrative salaries in car sales jobs by devising b etter compensation methods and better commissions. Types of Car sales jobs are Car sales representatives, Used car sales executives, Car sales administrator, Car sales manager and Car sales controller. You can start of a career in auto sales jobs by taking sales assistant jobs. People in sales assistant jobs are required to provide efficient, prompt and courteous service to all customers. Sales assistant jobs also require people to assist with client mailings and processing paperwork, performing office tasks like taking messages, copying, faxing and telecalling customers to schedule appointments. If you have good communication skills, organizational skills and proficient in MS office applications, then progression is easier to senior roles in auto sales jobs or even into insurance sales jobs. Insurance sales jobs require people to sell insurance in life, health, property and long term care to customers. Professionals in insurance sales jobs offer advice to customers on how to reduce risks and choose the best insurance policy. Professionals in insurance sales jobs advise on best financial planning options and retirement plans. Therefore people in insurance sales jobs are involved in continuously cross selling insurance policies and complete account management. Increased competition in Insurance sector has made companies choose people in insurance sales jobs very diligently. Professionals work as insurance agents or brokers either by being directly employed with companies or on independent basis. College graduates can start working in insurance sales assistant jobs and slowly climb the ladder up. Income potential is huge in insurance sector therefore chance to work in insurance sector should not be missed. Sales manager jobs sales management jobs-4 sales manager job-4 sales manager jobs-4 sales marketing business development jobs-3 Sales management jobs require sales professionals to manage, organize, lead and motiv

Environmental factors affecting the Starbucks company

Environmental factors affecting the Starbucks company The Starbucks is being affected by the environmental influences/factors and to analyze these influences, we need to apply the Pest Analysis and Michaels Porters Five Forces: PEST ANALYSIS1: POLITICAL2: The Starbucks business environment especially in Middle East and South Asia was changing rapidly and unpredictably towards worse for the company, due to the declaration of the war on Iraq in early 2003 by the United States. In July 2002, the Arab students called for a boycott of American goods and services, due to the close relationship between United States and Israel, caused the U.S Company Starbucks sales swift downwardly. Moreover, the Starbucks was boycotted at the top list due to Shultz close relationship to the Jewish Community and the rumours sponsoring the Jewish Community against the Palestine crisis. Thus, cause the Starbucks to closed down six stores in Israel for security threats. Starbucks had two class action suits pending since 2001. The lawsuits entitled Carr (Store Manager) and Sheilds (Assistant Manager) at California as exempt employees under California wage and hours laws. The Starbucks is ignoring all its liabilities in these cases, but the company has accepted to the settlement in regards to take care of all of the plaintiffs claims without involving in any protracted litigation. Starbucks is based on importing all their coffee beans, so other possible threat could be change in import laws, could affect the various areas of process and production for the company and could finally lead to change in price, which might impact the level of consumption or sales for the company. ECONOMICAL: The Starbucks also experienced the criticism from Non Government Organizations that wanted the company to get certified beans and those coffee beans should be grown and marketed under some economic and social conditions. In addition, the economic recession in European countries such as Switzerland, Germany, and Japan in the early 2000s and worldwide financial crisis affected the sales and revenue declining for the company. SOCIAL: In regard to the Starbucks Environment Mission Statement that Starbucks is committed to a role of environmental leadership in all facets of our business On the basis of their objective, the Starbucks has announced a list of principles that reflects the companys willingness to make sure its impact on the environment is positive as possible. These principles are: Understanding of environmental issues. Sharing information with our partners. Developing innovative and flexible solutions to bring about change. Striving to buy, sell and use environmentally friendly products. Recognizing that fiscal responsibility is essential to our environmental future. Instilling environment responsibility as a corporate value. Measuring and monitoring our progress for each project and encouraging all partners to share in our mission. The above Environmental principle reflects that the company is more conscious and interested in utilizing their resources in regards to the friendly environment operations. TECHNOLOGICAL: The Starbuck, to earn the profit rapidly and serve more customers quickly rather than focusing on the quality enables the management to replace labour operated machine La Marzocco (which required baristas to grind press coffee for every cup) with the Verismo automatic machine (where the baristas work was reduced to pressing a button) and later baristas grinding complained of being de-skilled. Thus, the coffee quality result in poor coffee house experience, customer experience and overpriced coffee than competitors led existing and potential customers coming through its doors felt down rather than rising. Shultz to achieve the best result spend ten millions of dollars on new coffee machine namely Clover (for making brewed coffee that requires both more beans and more labour) and another machine namely Mastrena (smaller and prettier than the Verismo machine, for making espressos where baristas are still required to push a button for grinding and for each fresh cup of the coffee). The Starbucks needs to re-evaluate what the brand stands for, what it sells and what the consumer experience and values should be. MICHEAL PORTERS FIVE FORCES OF COMPETITIVE STRATEGIES3: THREAT OF NEW ENTRANTS: Starbucks is the leading retailer, roaster and brand of specialty coffee in the world operating about 40 countries in the world. The Starbucks key success is innovating, modernizing, aggressive store openings and strong product differentiation in the coffee industry that limits the new entrants entrance in the coffee industry. For instance, free Wi-fi access to enable customers to surf internet4, prepaid Starbucks card, card rewards and Starbucks gold card5 , improving its coffee line to offer smaller, cheaper cupsxiv w, using new technology that create one cup at a time individually so that the taste remains the freshxv. Whereas the Starbucks has the major threats from fast food chain like McDonalds, Burger Kings and Dunkin Donuts where the capital requirements are not the big problem could be the potential entrants. The economies of scale within coffee industry have risen as the size of fast food chains has varied. The fast food chains (McDonalds, Burger king, and Dunkin Donuts) have very low cost national distribution channels in comparison to the new entrants whose distribution system is not such developed. This group of fast food chain is able to maintain its economies of scale by negotiating long term contracts with farmer buying the coffee beans in the large quantities at discounted prices. There is various cost disadvantages for the new entrants. For instance, the stabilized company in the market tries to get the high quality coffee beans and for new entrants to access those distribution channels is very difficult. The favourable larger metropolitan store locations have already been occupied by the current specialty coffee industry (Adamy, Venti Changes at Starbucks, 2008). The specialty coffee company primary objective has entirely changed from their root direction and distinct in terms of taste of the coffee, stores availability everywhere and charging prices. Ambience of the store, social responsibility and brand identification are now the traits of the company. Due to these new traits the company have gained the loyal customers from their past experience, customer service and fulfilment of the objective i.e. product differentiation and aggressive opening of the store. Thus, all these factors make difficult for new entrants to gain customer loyalty (Gulati, 2007). To conclude, the threat of new entrants is low and barrier is high due to the no substantial capital requirement. BARGAINING POWER OF BUYTERS/CUSTOMERS: Starbucks set the price according to the purchasing power of its customer and the prices at their competitors coffee houses. At Starbucks the prices are not negotiable due to its high product differentiation, enormous selection of coffees, uniqueness and high quality perception perceived power. This is the reason the opportunity for the Starbucks may sell at higher prices (starbucks 2008 another file). Whereas, there is no switching cost to customers to switch due to enormous selection of coffee houses except the minor indirect cost and may take away the patrons from Starbucks. Secondly, the customers have the ability to make their own coffee and Starbucks is trying to remove this threat by offering directions on how to make the perfect brewed cup of Starbucks Coffee at home, known as the Four Fundamentals of Coffee (http://www.academicmind.com/unpublishedpapers/business/marketing/2002-04-000aag-catching-the-starbucks-fever.html) or (www.Starbucks.com) OR http://news.starbucks.com/about+starbucks/global-consumer-products/packaged-coffee-tea/how+to+brew+the+perfect+cup/. Starbucks 20% sales lowered by 2008 in the store located within surrounding area of mom-and-pops coffee store. (Review, Is Starbucks a Broken Brand? , 2008) (starbucks08full) Thus, it is clear that the customers bargaining power have been increased due to the availability of information in regards to market variables and Starbucks should focus on the product competition rather than focusing on the consumer demands to exist in market leadership (starbucks 2008 another file). BARGAINING POWER OF SUPPLIERS: The Starbucks being the world largest importer of the coffee beans may face the rise in prices of coffee beans due to the unmatched between the twin market forces i.e. high demand and low supply, overcrowded market and high quality coffee sought may result in favour of suppliers bargaining power. There is no substitute for the coffee beans that Starbucks may buy. For Starbucks, this is the huge threat because coffee quality sought by the Starbucks is high and previously Starbucks has paid premium on green coffee about $1.20 per pound (starbucks.com). In 2001, Starbucks announced coffee purchasing guidelines for suppliers, developed in partnership with The Centre for Environmental Leadership in Business (starbucks.com) and were based on the grounds of the quality baselines, environmental concerns, social conditions and economic issues. Recently in 2005, the company paid 23% more than the market price for the coffee xvii to abide by the rules and commitments in purchasing the Fair Trad e CertifiedTM Coffee (Farmers who sells the coffee are united by an initiative known as Fair Trade Certified Coffee, organized by the TransFair USA to assess the farmers are paid fairly for their crops and that has exert more bargaining power over the buyers). Thus, there are more substitutes available in the competitive saturated market for the coffee beans except the technological innovations (such as automated coffee machine, latte and espresso machines has more bargaining power) if Starbucks agrees to buy at different rates and this is true that the Starbucks power lies in the hand of the suppliers. THREAT OF SUBSITITUTES: The Starbucks has quite good range of competing substitutes in beverages and food product line like soda, juice, smoothies, fruit, beer, alcoholic drinks, burritos, sushi, burgers and snack food etc. It is necessary for the Starbucks to innovate and differentiate its coffee, beverage and food product line simultaneously in the competitive landscape. Whereas the majority of coffee consumer does not easily substitute away from coffee or coffee related beverages like blended drinks or espresso and the closest substitute of coffee is the tea which is being sold out by Starbucks under Tazo Tea Brand. Moreover, the Starbucks is offering its own branded coffee at many grocery stores locations to hedge the threat of substitutes. The recent study has shown the consumer preference that the beverages like carbonated soft drinks consumption has declined in contrast to the coffee. This gradually gained preference over carbonated soft drinks shows the health concerns and coffee is healthier choice (Harding, 2000). To conclude, Starbucks focus on fresh and tastier baked goods and Starbucks does not need to diversify its food selection as its enough to satisfy the customers (starbucks 2008 another). COMPETATIVE RIVALRY: Porters first force that Porter describes is current rivalry among existing firms. In the specialty eateries industry, Starbucks current and direct U.S competitors are Diedrich Coffee, Seattles Best Coffee, and Einstein/Noah Bagel Corporation (hoovers.com). The competition, however, is not equally balanced. Diedrich Coffee operates 370 coffeehouses in 37 states and 11 countries (hoovers.com). Seattles Best Coffee operates 160 coffee cafes and 20 Italian coffee cafes in 17 states and 8 countries (hoovers.com). Einstein/Noah Bagel Corporation operates 460 bagel cafes in the U.S (hoovers.com). Starbucks has 4,709 locations in over 20 countries (hoovers.com). It is clear that Starbucks has few major competitors, and the competition has nowhere Starbucks volume of operations. Starbucks is the leading retailer, roaster and brand of specialty coffee in the world. Smaller competitors, however, pose potential threats to the company. For example, the average Starbucks location draws on a popul ation base of 200,000 (msn.com). In San Francisco and Seattle, Starbucks draws on population bases between 17,000 and 19,000 (msn.com). In cities where Starbucks does not draw on small population bases, smaller competitors can attract some of Starbucks 200,000 person population base. A slowing industry market growth is another threat facing Starbucks. According to the market research firm Allegra, compound market growth between 1997 and 2001 was 57% (hoovers.com). From 2002 to December 2004, the market it estimated to grow 14%. (hoovers.com). Competitors are selling similar products, including specialty coffees as well as high quality foods. In this slowing market, competition is high.   à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  Other coffee chains. Examples include Coffee Bean Tea Leaf, Gloria Jeans Coffee, Peets, and San Francisco Coffee House à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  Smaller privately owned coffee houses à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  Secondary coffee providers. Examples include McDonalds, Burger King, Dunkin Donuts As the specialty beverage industry only grows more competitive, Starbucks dominant positioning with a large market share is continuously under pressure. Since its inception, Starbucks has stimulated the overall market, creating a positive spill over effect that increased the demand for quality coffee beverages. Therefore, even though Starbucks has rapidly expanded, so have local coffeehouses and momà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ andà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ pop stores. Thus, elasticity has increased with the variety of substitutes available to consumers offering the same product: premium coffee, friendly staff, and a comfortable milieu. For this reason, recent trends indicate industry stagnation within the domestic market as coffeehouses are now ubiquitous. Though the trend has peaked domestically, coffee and coffeehouses are still ingrained in the American culture leaving this market profitable. Fragmented rivalry is due to the nature of the industry, which is split between national, regional, and local competitors domestically and abroad. Within the U.S., key national competitors include Dunkin Donuts, McDonalds, and other fast food chains sprucing up and diversifying their beverage menu. However, the targeted customer base differs as Starbucks caters to highà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ end customers with its gourmet drinks. Nonetheless, the Starbucks Corporation must be conscious of its price point, so as not to exclude too many potential patrons. Regionally, the industry may be divided as follows among top rivals: West coast: Coffee Bean Tea Leaf and Peets Coffee and Tea Midwest: Caribou Coffee and Panera East coast: Tim Hortons These companies are better direct competitors to Starbucks than the national fast food chains as they appeal to the same consumer base and offer similar product selections. Caribou Coffee is the second largest corporation within the domestic specialty beverage industry. However, as of September 30, 2007 Starbucks operated 6,793 stores domestically and 1,712 stores internationally while Caribou Coffee operated 447 stores domestically and 17 internationallyxi. Lastly, local competitors such as siteà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ specific proprietorships and momà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ andà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ pop coffeehouses vie with Starbucks as well. While they are not threats to general empire Starbucks has created, they do reduce profit margins as they appeal to many coffee drinkers with their more personal character. These smaller proprietorships are Starbucks greatest competitor abroad, which is Harkness Consulting 6 why recent expansion plans have focused on capturing international markets. Clearly, there are a large number of rivals within the specialty beverage industry creating a rather competitive landscape. Customers do not incur a monetary switching cost in the specialty beverage industry; nonetheless, an emotional attachment to image and reputation keep them loyal to certain brand names. Even though only a superficial difference exists between coffeehouses, firms differentiate their products to capture customers from rival brands. The Starbucks name has acquired a significant status and has ranked as one of the most influential brand names in the American culture. With its wellà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ trained baristas, comfortable atmosphere, and quick service, Starbucks has incorporated important characteristics appealing to customers. In the Starbucks business model, customers are more important than product. However, even though Starbucks is able to sell its goods at a higher price point, it must be conscious of the elastic market. For example, after increases in dairy costs -an input good every coffeehouse model- Starbucks stores felt the need to announce the reason for price increases so a s not to shock customers. The company informed its customers of the pricing discrepancy because it did not want to lose their future patronage due to the economic circumstances at the time. This example illustrates the point that even though Starbucks has brand name loyalty, the company is still susceptible to the elastic nature of the market. Starbucks is able to remain competitive within the market due to its sheer size and business model. As Starbucks takes advantage of economies of scale and scope, it follows a different cost structure than other corporations in the market. First, Starbucks pays less for the products it is able to buy in bulk such as dairy goods, syrups, paper goods, etcxii. For this reason, the company reaps higher margins with its specialty drinks, which also help differentiate itself from other coffeehouses. As customers know they can customize their drinks and the quality of the drink is guaranteed based upon reputation, Starbucks is always in their evoke set. Next, as no cooperative pricing exists in this industry, Starbucks prices its drinks based upon the elasticity of its target customer. Appealing to conspicuous consumption, Starbucks prices are higher than its competitors, lending toward its high trend status. Last, Starbucks is able to differentiate itself due to its commitment to reduce its environmental impact. Again, its size enables the company to seek, incorporate and market these environmentally friendly endeavors. For example, the company replaced cups and cup sleeves with ones that used postà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ consumer recycled materialsxiii. Also, Starbucks adheres to purchasing guidelines, The Commitment to Origins, which promote economic transparency in not only buying the best coffee, but also at premium prices to help farmers. These practices further differentiate Starbucks from many of its competitors. The dynamics of the industry rivalry within the specialty coffee industry has changed dramatically since 1987. Unlike the early days of the specialty coffee industry when Starbucks competed primarily against other small-scale specialty coffee retailers they now compete against companies of varying sizes and different exposures to specialty coffee. Starbucks competes with a variety of smaller scale specialty coffee shops, mostly concentrated in different regions of the country. All of these specialty coffee chains are differentiated from Starbucks in one way or another. Caribou Coffee is a Minneapolis-based specialty coffee chain that competes with Starbucks. They are similar to Starbucks in their attempt to create a third-place but distinguish themselves by creating an entirely different atmosphere. Where Starbucks strives to create an upscale European atmosphere, Caribou coffee tries to implement a more American feel to their coffee houses. They do this by modeling their coffee houses after rustic Alaskan lodges. (Quelch, 2006) Often they will use knotty pine cabinetry, numerous fireplaces and soft seating. Also they offer a barrage of magazines and newspapers as well as the guarantee of speedy service and free refills. In addition, they offer free WiFi, drive through accessibility and meeting rooms for rent. Founded in 1992, Caribou coffee now operates roughly 500 stores, employs over 6000 people and grosses roughly $230 million in revenue a year. (Caribou Coffee, 2008) A Canadian-based company, A.L. Van Houtte, operates roughly 100 corporate out lets and franchises, serving nearly 3 million cups of coffee per day. Through their subsidiary VKI technologies, they have become the world leader in the design, manufacture and distribution of coffee making equipment and related products. They also operate the largest coffee services network in North America serving roughly 71,000 different workplaces in major cities throughout the United States. (A.L. Van Houtte, 2005) As the original inspiration for Starbucks, Peets Coffee and Tea Company which originated in Berkeley, California still poses a serious competitive threat. The three founders of Starbucks purchased Peets Coffee and Tea Company in 1984 from Alfred Peet and later sold the assets of Starbucks to the now CEO, Howard Schultz. Although much slower to expand than Starbucks, in fact, ironically Schultz originally separated from the then owners of Starbucks, later purchasing the company from them because he could not persuade them to undertake an aggressive expansion, Peets has recently opened a new roasting plant in Alameda, California which will enable them to double their current annual sales of $250 million. They currently operate 166 stores in the US and have recently moved into the Seattle metropolitan area, home of Starbucks headquarters and the original Starbucks store. (Peets Coffee Tea, 2008) In 2007, the three Peets locations in the Seattle metropolitan area outperformed all Starbucks stores in the nearby vicinity in same-store sales, store revenue and total customer receipts per store. Peets strategy is to differentiate themselves from Starbucks by creating a super premium brand by offering the freshest coffee in the market. They ensure the freshness of their coffee by delivering roasted to order coffee, which involves roasting small batches of coffee and shipping them to the retail shops within 24 hours of roasting. (Review, Despite Growth, Starbucks Cant Dislodge Local Rivals, 2007) In addition to these smaller scale specialty coffee companies, Starbucks must now compete against two of the largest companies in the fast food industry who have recently entered the specialty coffee segment. The first of these competitors is Dunkin Donuts, who claims to be the worlds largest coffee and baked goods chain. Currently, Dunkin Donuts operates about 5,500 franchises around the United States, 80 stores in Canada and 1,850 throughout the rest of the world. Dunkin Donuts had revenues of roughly $5 billion in 2007. In the past couple years the franchise has put enormous emphasis on their coffee beverages. They serve coffee beverages in an assortment of types and styles including espresso, cappuccino and latte. They also serve their coffee in an assortment of flavors including French Vanilla, hazelnut, cinnamon and numerous others. When 37 Starbucks recently temporarily shut down 7,100 of their stores to retrain their baristas, Dunkin Donuts responded by extending their hours of operation and offering small lattes, cappuccinos and espresso drinks for $.99. (Adamy, Starbucks Upgrades Espresso Machines, 2007) The largest industry rival currently facing Starbucks is the McDonalds restaurant fast food chain. McDonalds originated from a single San Bernardino, California hamburger stand, which opened in 1948, and has turned into what is now the worlds largest restaurant chain with over 14,000 restaurants in the United States alone and gross revenues in excess of $22 billion. The key to McDonalds success has been the consistent quality standards they achieve for their food, coupled with their quick service and low prices. (Adamy, McDonalds Takes on Starbucks, 2008) 10 years ago Starbucks and McDonalds were at complete opposite ends of the spectrum in the restaurant industry. However, McDonalds, encouraged by the success of it s upgraded drip coffee, began testing numerous drinks sold under the name McCafe. Starbucks meanwhile, with its rapid expansion, was adding drive-through windows and numerous breakfast sandwiches, similar to the Egg McMuffins served at McDonalds, to their stores. These measures have drawn the two companies closer together as competitors due to an encroachment into the demographic consumer base made by each company. (Review, Is Starbucks a Broken Brand? , 2008) The McCafe, first conceptualized in Australia during 1993, was brought to the United States in 2001. The concept took a quarter of the typical McDonalds restaurant and added leather couches and a decorative counter on which cappuccinos and sweets were sold. The McCafes did not take hold initially, not making it past their first trial 38 period, primarily due to the poor conditions of the stores in which they were placed. Now, seven years later, McDonalds has invested $700 million in its plan to win strategy, initiated in 2003, which has led to the remodel of thousands of US locations. The project has led to the gutting of many dilapidated franchises by tearing out the molded plastic booths and replacing them with extra large leather chairs. The company has also improved the ambience and atmosphere in many stores by replacing the bright color schemes with more contemporary muted tones and softer lighting. (Adamy, McDonalds Takes on Starbucks, 2008) With a rejuvenated brand image, McDonalds is preparing for the biggest addition to its menu in 30 years. The company will be installing coffee bars along with baristas who will serve cappuccinos, lattes, mochas and the Frappe, a knockoff of the Starbucks ice blended Frappuccino, throughout 2008 and into the beginning of 2009. The initiative is expected to add $1 billion to McDonalds annual sales. McDonalds, which has never displayed food assembly devices, will place the Espresso machines at the front counters in an attempt to engage their customers with the theatrics involved in creating mochas and frappes. Unlike Starbucks, the baristas at McDonalds will not steam pitchers of milk and combine them with shots of espresso but rather will wait for a single machine to make all components of each drink. The competitive threat posed by McDonalds can be summarized by referring to the February 2008 edition of the Consumer Reports magazine, which rated the McDonalds drip coffee as better tasting than Starbucks. (Adamy, McDonalds Takes on Starbucks, 2008) The specialty coffee industry has experienced explosive growth over the past 20 years. As a consequence, many companies have recognized the potential for profit and 39 have tried to capitalize by entering the industry. This has resulted in a drastic increase in competition within the specialty coffee industry. The diversity among these competitors still remains very high but the grounds on which companies are differentiating themselves are changing. As larger and larger companies enter the industry the strategic stakes become higher, pushing some companies such as Dunkin Donuts and McDonalds to differentiate themselves through price superiority. (Adamy, At Starbucks, Too Many, Too Quick? , 2007) In summary, the current impact of the industry rivalry force created by the competition between specialty coffee retailers is very high, especially as contrasted to what it was at the time of Starbucks rapid expansion twenty years ago. The growth of the industry has slowed while the number of competitors within the industry has increased. Both of these factors, in addition to Dunkin Donuts and McDonalds high strategic stakes in the specialty coffee industry , have caused this change from weak to strong industry rivalry. The Starbucks is being affected by the following environmental influences/factors: Customers: Nowadays customers are more fastidious about their needs, requirements, experience and taste. The Starbuck, to earn the profit rapidly and serve more customers quickly rather than focusing on the quality enables the management to replace labour operated machine La Marzocco (which required baristas to grind press coffee for every cup) with the Verismo automatic machine (where the baristas work was reduced to pressing a button) and later baristas grinding complained of being de-skilled. Thus, the coffee quality result in poor coffee house experience, customer experience and overpriced coffee than competitors led existing and potential customers coming through its doors was falling rather than rising. The Starbucks needs to re-evaluate what the brand stands for, what it sells and what the consumer experience and values should be. Competitors: The competitors like McDoanlds and Dunkin Donuts both harmed the Starbucks deliberately by running the websites like dunkingbeatsstarbucks.com and unsnobbycoffee.com to draw the more customers by selling good coffee. Most of the people visited the website and soon Starbucks led to the caffeine withdrawal symptoms. Declining Sales: Economic Crisis: The Starbucks stock price drop to $7 a share and most of its stores in Australia faced closure and thousands of jobs were lost. B. C.

Friendship Expectations of Early Adolescents in Cuba and Canada :: essays research papers

Friendship Expectations of Early Adolescents in Cuba and Canada Gonzales, Y.S., & Moreno, D.S., & Schneider, B.H. (2004). Friendship expectations of early adolescents in Cuba and Canada. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 35, 436-445. The article entitled â€Å"Friendship Expectations of Early Adolescents in Cuba and Canada† is a study done to see whether the emphasis of character education, as in Cuba, or moral education, as in Canada, create different types of friendships in developing adolescents. He purpose of this study is to see how much the Cuban culture, which is interdependent, is reproduced in the children’s idea of friendship. The Canadians were used to compare the results from Cuba to. The author’s hypothesis is that the idea of friendship in Cuba would be more advanced than the Canadian idea, because of the emphasis of interdependence.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In this study there are three hundred Cuban and two hundred and ninety-four Canadian students in grades seven, eight, and nine. The seventh graders are the youngest chosen because that is the first year that the students start a new school in both countries. Both groups off students were taken from large cities in their respective countries. The researchers asked the students to write an essay about what a best friend, of the same-sex, should be willing to do for them, and what makes a best friend different from any other friend. These essays were then â€Å"graded† by two raters using a category of numbers, from 1 (not mentioned at all), to 4 (especially important).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The results of this study were varied between the two countries answers. The responses from the subjects could be described as character admiration, and were much more likely to be used by the Canadian adolescents. An example of this was that the Canadian students said that their friends should be easygoing, and does not make them be someone they are not. In contrast many Cubans responded that they like their best friends because of their willingness to help others, and do things for the good of the group. Some of the ideas that were seen as important to one culture were not as important to the other. For example the theme of help given to a friend was present in 82% of Cuban essays, but only present in 22% of Canadian essays. Also, the theme of similar personalities was included in 97% of Cuban essays, and only included in 38% of Canadian essays.

Bondage and Escape in Sons and Lovers :: Lawrence Sons and Lovers Essays

Bondage and Escape in Sons & Lovers A major theme in "Sons & Lovers" is bondage and escape. Every major character is held hostage by another character or by their environment. Her husband, her family and her anger at the family's social status hold Mrs. Morel hostage. She has no friends to be seen or money of her own to use. Her escape from her bondage is her death. She was unhappy her whole life and lived though another human as a source of happiness. She essentially lived her life through William and, after his death, through Paul, which in a twist of irony, by doing so she is essentially keeping them in bondage. She wants William to move to town to get a good job and a good wife to help up their social status. When he does move and bring home a woman, she thinks she has finally arrived, only to be pushed back down with his death. William, who found a good upper class woman with Lily, brings her back to his family's home. He loves Lily, until he sees her behavior to his sister; Lily treats Annie like a servant. Although his mother likes Lily, he cannot stay with her and soon leaves her and then falls ill and dies. William's death is his great escape from the bonds of his mother. When William dies Paul replaces him as Mrs. Morel's dummy; Paul leads his life as his mother wants him to, she keeps him in check, approves who he dates and even goes with him and speaks for him on his first job interview. The only thing redeeming Paul in this is that he knows that he is being tied down by his mother and is fighting a silent fight against her for his whole life. Although Mrs. Morel doesn't like Miriam, he keeps his relationship with her. Although Mrs. Morel doesn't want Paul to stay out late, on most occasions he breaks this rule also. The only thing that ever releases Paul from Mrs. Morel's grasp is her death. Mr. Morel's captivity is the most literal. He is held captive by the mine; every day he must work in the mine and the harder and longer he works, the more money he makes.

Many Faces Of Evil :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Evil has many faces. One of these includes racism and the injustices which many people have had to face. The following are some of the injustices which have occured and been documented.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Between the years of 1923 and 1947 many chinese were sent to canada to work in order to support themselves and their families in china. Men from China and Hong Kong went to Canada while leaving behind wives and children. Many jobs were open to the chinese but most, if not all, were low paying dangerous jobs. Such as working on the railway. The chinese were often used for cheap labor. This continued on for many years. The injustices toward the chinese were fading. Douglas Jung had become the first Chinese MP, and the British Columbia China town had become more and more populated. This was the end of the exclusion act.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Auschwitz was one of many concentration camps in the 1930's and 40's. Many famillies men, women and children would gather all their belongings and set off to this new place of work. Only to find a prison. A place surrounded by barbed wire and electrical fences. A place where prisoners had no rights, and would never come out alive. This concentration camp alone had millions of victims. Then came a man by the name of Rudolph Verba. A strong man who knew his destiny was not to be murdered in such a camp. Then on the seventh of April, 1944 Rudolph and two other men set out to make their plan of escape work. With help from people inside the camp and a well thought out plan Rudolph was able to escape. He went up the river towards the Slovakian Mountains until he came upon a woman who would help him. As an unsaid rule in these days people would not exchange names or very much information. This way no one could name any names if they were to be interogated. Rudolph helped many people in the Auschwitz camp, although many were already murdered and some were too weak to live even after being released from the concentration camp.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In both of the documentaries which we viewed, the themes were very much alike. Both were about the injustices and slavery which had been set upon so many people. Another injustice was that of the Jewish people.

Marx’s Theory of Human Nature Essay

Marx’s conception of human nature is most dramatically put forward in the excerpts from the Economic Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 that I have assigned to you. But this work is very difficult and obscure. I have tried to select those passages that are most straightforward. But, as you will see, they are by no means very clear. Let me give you some guidelines for reading them. These passages talk about four kinds of human alienation or estrangement: (1) from our product, (2) from our productive activity, (3) from our species being and (4) from other human beings. What I would like you to do in your first essay is to give a brief explication of three of these four types of alienation, all except (3), alienation from our species being. I will explain the third type of alienation here, which, I hope will, help you understand the other three types. To be alienated or estranged is to be distanced, or in opposition, or somehow not in the proper relationship to something. In saying that we are alienated, Marx is claiming that we do not stand not in the proper to certain products, activities, people or features of our lives. And, for Marx, this means we are fundamentally dissatisfied and unhappy. For our basic ends or goals or wants include being in a proper relationship to these things. All four phenomena from which we are alienated are related, in one way or another, to what Marx took to be the central feature of human life, our productive activity. Human beings are, for Marx, quintessentially beings who must be productive, who, that is, must interact with nature and other human beings to make things and effect changes in the world around us. By â€Å"species being,† Marx means our essence as a species. Thus to be alienated from our species being is to be distanced from our fundamental nature as productive beings. Now how is this possible? How can we, or our lives, be in opposition to or not in the proper relationship to our very nature? To understand this, we must look a little more closely at what our nature or species being is. Why is productive activity central to our nature? And what, precisely, does Marx mean by productive activity? For Marx, our productive activity has four essential features. First, productive activity is necessary if human beings are to survive. We must be productive in some respect in order to live, unless we are so rich that we simply spend our time counting the proceeds of our investments. But doing this is (minimally) productive activity. And buying and eating food, clothing and other goods is, for Marx, partly productive. The necessity of productive activity in our lives is, of course, is not distinctive to human beings. It is a trait we share with animals. Second, we are unlike animals in that we engage in â€Å"free, conscious† productive activity. Our productive activity is distinct from animals in a number of ways. First, we make our productive activity itself a product of our will. We can make choices about what and how to produce. Animals produce only when doing so is necessary to their survival. And they produce only in ways that are fixed by their nature. But human beings can produce many kinds of goods and in many different ways. As Marx puts it, â€Å"man is capable of producing according to the standards of every species and of applying to each object its inherent standard; hence, man also produces in accordance with the laws of beauty. † This is very important, because our capacity to choose how and what to produce enables us to choose what kind of individual and political and social life to live. The great diversity of forms of human life over time and space is made possible by our capacity to freely and consciously engage in productive activity. Third, human productive activity is social in nature. This is true in a number of different respects. Much of what we produce is produced with other people either directly or indirectly. We produce with other people directly when we work with them to produce a particular good. We produce with other people indirectly when we use the products of their labor in producing goods ourselves. In addition, we produce what we do only because other people are willing to consume what we produce. As Marx puts it in the Grundrisse, â€Å"no production, no consumption; no consumption, no production. † Fourth, human beings find productive activity intrinsically satisfying. In part this is because productive activity allows us to develop and exercise our capacities, faculties, and abilities. Central to Marx’s account of human nature is the notion that human beings are not slugs. We enjoy work that challenges and stimulates us to more effectively produce better products. And, when we can do work of this sort, we prefer work to rest. Indeed, the forms of recreation we most enjoy? when we are not entirely tired out? also challenge and stimulates us. The highest forms of consumption involves the development and exercise of our faculties and capacities and, for this reason, is a kind of productive activity. Think, for example, of how much more we enjoy music that we know and understand or how much more watching a basketball game means to someone who understands the game. In listening to music and watching a basketball game we are also developing and exercising our capacities, faculties, and abilities. Human productive activity is also intrinsically satisfying because it transforms our environment, making what is sometimes a difficult natural habitat into a partly human creation, one that is both fitted to us and our own. We work on nature, what Marx calls â€Å"man’s inorganic body,† transforming it to suit our purposes. In doing so we â€Å"objectify our powers† or realize our capacities, faculties and abilities in concrete phenomena around us. Given this account of human productive activity, we can understand what alienation from our species being is. In the conditions under which most human beings have lived? certainly under capitalism? we do not understand ourselves as Marx says we should. We do not think of productive activity as something enjoyable or as a means by which we transform our own way of life. Rather we think of it as a necessity and as drudgery. That is why Marx says that â€Å"The result is that man (the worker) feels that he is acting freely only in his animal functions?eating, drinking, and procreating, or at most in his dwelling and adornment? while in his human functions, he is nothing more than animal. † We don’t think of ourselves as free, conscious, social producers but rather as being bound by the necessity to do unpleasant work that bring us into conflict with other people. Alienation from species being, then, is essentially misunderstanding our fundamental nature. This general account of alienation from species being should help you to explain the other three kinds of alienation. Indeed, in understanding the three other kinds of alienation, you will in large part be explaining why we misunderstand our fundamental nature. You will be explaining what it is about our life that makes it hard for us to see just how central productive activity is to us. To understand the first kind of alienation, alienation from one’s product, it would be helpful to know one more thing about Marx’s argument. Marx holds that in capitalist society, worker’s are likely to become relatively poorer as their productive capacity increases. I give an account of Marx’s argument here in the notes on Transition from Capitalism to Communism. Understanding this point will help you grasp why men and women become increasingly alienated from the product of their labor. By the way, we now know that Marx was wrong about this. Productivity increases lead to increases in absolute, if not relative wages, as we will in the notes on The Failure of Revolution. Yet it might be worth thinking about why Marx could still argue that we are all alienated from our product, at least to some extent.