SWOT Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

SWOT - Case Study Example The Dim lighting company is faced with several problems that include macro and micro challenges, the macro challenges are those that are outside the reach of the company to solve them using internal mechanisms, in other words, they are the opportunities and threats that the company faces. One of the greatest threat that the company faces is the lack of adequate funds to support its research and development kitty which Mr Spinks, the director of research and development at the company puts at 1.2 million dollars per year for two years then an additional 500, 000 dollars to initiate production the micro miniaturization project (Brown, 2011, p81). Another threat that is facing the company is the decline in the profit margin for the last one year, which has an implication on the image of the business to the outsiders. The company however, is not without some opportunities, the major opportunity that the company has is that it acts as a profit centre therefore it is able to manage its resources with minimal interference from the corporate head office, in addition, this enables it to make its own decisions and implement them in order to remain competitive in the market. In addition, the fact that the company can be able to look for funds from the head office to invest in research and development is an opportunity that may not be available to all such firms. Internally, the strength of the company is that it has Mr Spinks as the director of research and development; Mr Spinks is a respected person in research as he is considered as one of the best brains in research, this can be seen in the numerous awards that he has received from different science societies . With Mr Spinks as a director, Dim lighting company is likely to be always ahead of other companies in terms of technology and renovation; this is evident from the multimillion-research project that he wants to undertake on micro miniaturization

The Russian Folklaw Of Baba Yaga English Literature Essay

The Russian Folklaw Of Baba Yaga English Literature Essay One of the most well known figures from Russian folklore is that of Baba Yaga. Baba Yagas name can be roughly translated as Granny Yaga; or Old Hag. In Russian Myths Baba Yaga brings many of the dominant themes of Russian fairy tales together: she travels on the wind, occupies the domain of the leshii, the forest spirits, and is associated with death. Also known as Baba Yaga Kostinaya Noga, or Baba Yaga Bony Leg she possesses gnashing steel teeth, and penetrating eyes, and, in short, is quite enough to intimidate even the most courageous (or foolish, depending on the tale) hero or heroine. Like the witches of other cultures, her preferred method of transportation in the folktale is an implement commonly used for household labor, though unlike the witches of the West, rather than traveling upon a broom, she chooses to ride in a mortar, rowing with a pestle, and using a broom to sweep away the tracks or any trace of herself that she may leave. Her home is a mobile hut perched upon chic ken legs, which folklorist Vladimir Propp had once said might be related to the zoomorphic izbushkii, or initiation huts, where neophytes were symbolically consumed by the monster, only to emerge later as adults. In his book An Introduction to the Russian Folktale, Jack Haney points out that Baba Yagas hut has much in common with the village bathhouse à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ the place where many ritual ceremonies occurred, including the initiatory rituals. This corresponds to the role that her hut plays in the fairy tales of Russia but the nature of the initiation differs from story to story, dependent upon the circumstances of the character, Baba Yagas presence customarily serves as a signifier of change. Baba Yagas domain is the forest, widely acknowledged as a traditional symbol of change and a place of peril, where she acts as either a challenger or a helper to anyone who ventures into her space. In Western tales, these two roles are typically split into different characters stereotyped as either witch or fairy godmother. Baba Yaga, however, is a complex individual: depending on the circumstances of the specific story, she may choose to use her powers for good or ill. One of the aspects of Baba Yaga that makes her fairly threatening even when she plays the helper role is that, like the witch of Hansel and Gretel, her culinary habits leave something to be desired. She is a cannibal: children who fail to observe proper etiquette in her home find themselves serving as examples to the audience, and served to the witch as meals and then made into fences used to warn others of the dangers within. Theorists connect these tales to a Russian ritual of healing referred to as perepekanie (rebaking) in which newly born or ill children were placed in a warm oven with the incantation: Just as the dough rises, so let the body of this child rise, too. Jack Haney notes that this rite finds its analogue in those tales in which a witch, the Baba Yaga, captures a small boy, Ivanushka, and prepares to eat himà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ She tells him to lie down on the oven panel. He lies down; hands and feet straight up, and therefore does not fit into the oven. He asks her to sh ow him how to lie on the oven panel correctly. She lies down, and he pops her into the oven and roasts her. Its interesting Haneys use of the in reference to Baba Yaga indicates her authoritative positioning in the chain of command in Russian myths. Unlike other villains, who may be defeated once, never to be heard from again, Baba Yaga is not permanently conquerable, for Baba Yaga is far more than just another witch. In such stories, typically, the heroes fall into Baba Yagas hands by breaking some rule of the forest, or abusing her hospitality, and are assisted or advised by woodland creatures whom they have met and befriended along the way. Vladimir Propp compared Baba Yagas role as mistress of the forest and its creatures to a parallel figure from the Indic Rig Veda: it is likely that Baba Yaga is a combination of numerous archetypes, incorporating elements of rulers of the forest and underworld mistresses in a single entity. Scholars of Slavic mythology have also linked her to the ancient Indo-European goddess of death. The forest of Baba Yaga symbolizes more than the forest; it is al so the otherworld, the land of the living dead, also known as the thrice-nine kingdom. The land of the truly dead, also known as the thrice-ten kingdom, is separate from her realm. Frequently, the boundary between the two lands is symbolized by a river of fire which she cannot cross though the hero or heroine often must and in those cases, Baba Yaga crosses the same bridge as the hero or heroine, only to have it break: she hurtles, not to her death, because she appears in other stories, but certainly out of the current story. When she does return, she is unchanged, indicating one of the fundamental beliefs of the Russian fairy tale: that while humanity may enact changes for the better, there will always be forces working against them. Baba Yaga utilizes the same basic beliefs of her personality made obvious in many traditional Russian stories: her hunger, her cunning, and her wickedness. When confronted with Tims assurance that his protector will find them, Baba Yagas reply is simply that Baba Yagas little house is in the heart of the wild forest. And it will not be found in the same place two days running à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Her emphasis upon heart serves to emphasize the ravenous nature of the running monologue concerning what it is that shes found Whats Baba Yaga found for herself? Is it a stew? Is it a roast? Is it blood pudding? Oh yes. All of them. Juicy and meaty and tender and sweet. When she speaks, in the traditional manner, of her anticipated feast, saying Ohh. Such feasting I will make. The grease will run down my chin, and I will crack your bones with my iron teeth to suck the marrow from within à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦, the combined effect of text and illustration flawlessly demonstrates the unique appeal of the genre, culminating in a presentation of Baba Yaga that manages to convey her threat as few other works have done. Interestingly enough, the heroic character in the myth does not himself defeat Baba Yaga, pointing either to a remnant of the Comics Code or, more likely, to an ongoing immaturity in the character, requiring a longer story arc to resolve the situation properly. The method that he does choose to force her to surrender her claim has interesting repercussions, however: his Rose threatens Baba Yaga with the vocalization of her true name, a technique successful in other cultures, but not one used with any regularity in Russian lore. It implies a cross-cultural set of rules at play within this Otherworldly melting pot which is well worth considering. That assumption is supported by the precise wording of the threat: Rose asks Baba Yaga, Do you wish me to shout it now, so that all of the animals of the forest, all of the birds of the air, every passing nixie and boggart will know it? Despite the fact that the nixes and boggarts come from entirely different mythic systems, it is apparent tha t Baba Yaga does not: she surrenders her claim.

Enterprise Project Management :: essays research papers

Successful organizations must manage resources and control the diverse range of projects operating within their systems at any one time. To be successful in the current business climate, organizations need to focus on how to manage the many competing requirements for resources. Conflicting resource requirements across multiple projects and corporate priorities not centrally managed usually are grounds for failure. I believe that a properly organized enterprise project office is the formula for successful project implementation. This paper briefly outlines what I feel is the main philosophy of the project office and two functions it can provide.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The main philosophy of the project office is to provide the organization with a single point of enterprise project planning and control. The project office supports all levels of management by monitoring all current projects in an integrated form. It stores all relevant data and disseminates information to all the various managers involved in all projects. It is the only office that has a global view of all the corporate projects and their history.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One function the project office can provide is assistance with resource availability for the project managers and project teams. As resource requirements and assignments are submitted to the project office, that information can be entered into an enterprise project database. This gives the project office the ability to not only track resource allocations for a single project but also determine the assignments and constraints of resources throughout the organization. Without this big picture, project impacts caused by resource constraints are difficult to determine.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Another function the project office can provide is maintaining the “issues'; log. The project manager and possibly functional managers raise issues when changes to the project scope occur, or when changes and problems occur outside the control of the project management team. The project office collects this information and performs various “what if'; scenarios. They then can determine the impact on schedule, resource availability, and budget for that project and the organization as a whole.

Discuss the essential elements of a valid contract? Essay

Ans: Section 2(h) of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 defines a contract as an agreement enforceable by law. Section 2(e) defines agreement as â€Å"everypromise and every set of promises forming consideration for each other.† Section2(b) defines promise in the word: â€Å"When the person to whom the proposal ismade signifies his assent thereto, the proposal is said to be accepted. A proposalwhen accepted becomes a promise.† From the above definition of promise, it is obvious that an agreement is anaccepted proposal. The two elements of an agreement are: 1: – Offer of a proposal. 2: – An acceptance of that offer or proposal. What agreement are contracts? All agreements are not studied under the Indian Contract Act, assome of them are not contracts. The Contract Act is the law of thoseagreements, which create obligations, and in case of a breech of a promise byone party to the agreement, the other has a legal remedy. Thus, a contract consists of two elements, 1.An agreement 2.Legal Obligations i.e. It should be enforceable at lawHowever, there are some agreements, which are not enforceable in a law court.Such agreements donot rise to contractual obligations and are not contracts. Essential Elements of Valid Contracts All agreements are contracts if they are made by free consent of parties,Competent to contract, for a lawful consideration and with a lawful object and are not here by expresslydeclared to be void.Thus the essential elements of a valid contract can be summed up as follows: 1.Agreement 2.Intensions to create legal relationships 3.Free and genuine consents 4.Parties competent to contract 5.Lawful considerations 6.Lawful Objects 7.Agreements not declared void or illegal 8.Certainty of meaning 9.Possibility of performance 10.Necessary illegal formalities Agreement: As already mentioned, to constitute a contract there must be an agreement. An agreement is composed of two elements, Offer and Acceptance.The party making the offer is known as a offeror, the party to whom the offer ismade is know as the offree. Thus, there are essentially to be two parties to anagreement. They both must be thinking of the same thing in the same sense. Inother words, there must be consensus-ad-idem. Intensions to Create Legal Relationships: As already mentioned there should be an intension on the part of the parties to the agreement to create a legalrelationship. An agreement is purely social or domestic nature is not a contract. Free and Genuine Consent: The consent of the parties to the agreement mustbe free and genuine. The consent of the parties should not be obtained bymisrepresentation, fraud, undue influence, coercion or mistake. If the consent isobtained by any of these flaws, then the contract is not valid. Parties Competent to Contract:These parties to a contract should be competent to enter to a contract. According to section 11 ,every person iscompetent to contract if he, (1) Is of the age of majority, (2) Is sound mind, and (3) Is not disqualified from contracting by any law to which he is subject. Thus,there may be a flaw in capacity of parties to the contract. The flaw in capacitymay be due to minority, lunacy, idiocy, drunkenness or status. If a party to acontract suffers from any of these flaws, the contract is an unenforceable except in certain exceptional circumstances. Lawful Considerations: The agreement must be supported by consideration onboth sides. Each party to the agreement must give or promise something and receive something or promise in return. Consideration is the price for which thepromise of the order is sought. However, this price need not be in terms of money. In case promise is not supported by consideration, the promise will beNudum Pactum (a bare promise) and is not enforceable at law. Moreover theconsideration must be real and lawful. Lawful Objects: The object of the agreement must be lawful and not one which the law dis-approves. Agreements not Declared Illegal or Void: There are certain agreements, which have been expressly declared illegal or void by the law. In such cases,even if the agreement possesses all the element of a valid agreement, theagreement will not be enforceable at law. Certainty of Meaning: The meaning of agreement must be certain or capable of being certain otherwise the agreement will not be enforceable at law.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Essay

I. Key Problem What Steven Ells began with a small taqueria in Denver, Colorado in 1993, one may not have foreseen this venture to become the fastest growing restaurant chain in the last decade. By 2006, Ells’ idea made its initial public offering with 535 restaurants throughout the world. Things were going tremendously well for CMG until late afternoon on October 18, 2012 when Ells finished receiving the company’s third quarter results. While data indicated an overall satisfactory outcome, it was the competition from Yum Brands’ Taco Bell and their recent launch of the Cantina Bell menu that would result in what seemed to be the onset of a major problem. Taco Bell had now become a major competitor to Chipotle since the launch of their new Cantina Bell menu allowing them to enter into the fast-casual segment in offering similar ingredients and items as Chipotle had. At the same time CMG paid a significant amount more for their products forcing them to charge a higher price on their menu items. Taco Bell, however, now offered similar items for half the price. The bottom line: competition was the root of this problem. The fact that Chipotle menu prices were higher as compared to that of Taco Bell’s new menu would lead to consumers or normally loyal customers to give the Cantina Bell menu a try. After the launch of the Cantina Bell menu in the summer of 2012, CMG stock significantly declined just after third quarter results were announced. To add insult to injury, Jeff Einhorn, a hedge fund leader, presented at the Value Investors Conference in New York City proclaiming that CMG was an attractive stock for short-sellers because of the considerable competition from Taco Bell. He further stated, â€Å"23% of Chipotle customers had already tried Taco Bell’s Cantina Bell menu†¦and two-thirds of those customers indicated they would return. What’s more, the customers most likely to return to Taco Bell were also those most likely to eat at Chipotle, a dynamic that indicates to me that Chipotle is most at risk of losing its frequent customers.† This message led to CMG’s stock falling by more than 4% within hours of the conclusion of the presentation. The announcement of projected increases in food costs on the part of CMG also contributed to the competition between them and Taco Bell. While Chipotle stood by its belief that it is â€Å"Food with Integrity† because of better ingredients, the Cantina Bell menu produced something similar while lowering the cost a customer would have to pay for a meal, therefore, causing further competition between the two. II. Relevant Theory By looking at the items offered on the Cantina Bell menu versus those on Chipotle’s menu, I determined that they both have a competitive advantage. Chipotle is a premium product offered at a higher price where it reaches a broader market share that is willing to pay more money. On the other hand, Taco Bell’s main strategic course is cost leadership which enables them to reach a broader market share with a lower price for the desired item. As shown on Example 1 the Competitive Advantage and Economic Value Created are somewhat different between the two companies. Since Chipotle offers a better quality of ingredients, consumers are willing to pay a higher price. As a result, creating a higher Value (V) for a burrito is at the same time creating a greater economic value (Value-Cost.) Meanwhile the economic value created by Taco Bell is smaller since the value of their product is less and consumer’s maximum willingness to pay will be lower. Example 1 Since Yum Brands launching of the new Cantina Bell menu, this new organic ingredient-driven list of selections has been a pretty obvious attempt to compete with fast casual giant Chipotle. This is what has become the major concern for Chipotle where competition is becoming fierce and for practically half the price the Cantina Bell menu is a definite value. However, you do get what you pay for and the overall quality and taste of Chipotle still has a slightly greater edge over Taco Bell. The value someone will be willing to pay for a Taco Bell burrito will be less than the value Chipotle has created with their better quality ingredients, hence creating a greater economic value. III. Assessment of Alternatives How could Chipotle effectively approach their key problem which is Taco Bell’s new Cantina Bell menu? What seems to be the main concern for Chipotle is that Taco Bell is trying to provide a similar product for half the price. Some of the alternatives available to Chipotle to are: †¢ Buy low cost goods to reduce prices using Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) †¢ Another option could be to offer a smaller burrito for a smaller price, or to include less amounts of meat as Taco Bell does †¢ Continue doing what they do best and differentiate themselves Should Chipotle buy low cost goods to reduce prices using Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs), it would allow them to offer menu items at a lower cost to the consumer providing greater competition between them and Taco Bell’s Cantina Bell menu. However, in doing so would contradict their philosophy of providing the best quality ingredients in their food. In doing so, it will change CMG’s strategy from being a premium product and higher price to a cost leadership strategy and at the same time reducing the value of its product. Another option could be to offer a smaller burrito for a smaller price, or to include less amounts of meat as Taco Bell does in its Cantina Bell menu. This would also allow for cost effectiveness on both the consumer and Chipotle’s side, however, it would go against CMG’s mission statement of being â€Å"Food with Integrity†, lower its value and become a cost leadership strategy as opposed to being a premium product and higher price. A third alternative is for CMG to continue to compete effectively by doing what they already are doing which is differentiation based on quality and sustainability. This approach supports its philosophical message of better food for the consumer and community as well as being environmentally conscious. This allows CMG to maintain its values and remain within their strategy segment. On the contrary, this alternative force Chipotle to increase their menu prices while reducing its consumer surplus. IV. Suggested Course of Action After carefully analyzing the different alternatives, the best course of action is to continue to compete effectively on differentiation based on quality and sustainability given the mounting competitive and sourcing challenges. Even thought Taco Bell’s new menu seems like a significant threat they are far from creating the same value and reputation Chipotle has created since it opened its first restaurant in 1993. Not only does Chipotle provide the freshest and best ingredients with a bold flavor, they are setting themselves apart from any other restaurant chain and main competitor since they continuously are working toward better practices. They continue to push to sustainable sourcing like getting their meat form non Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) while at the same time contributing to the promotion of good animal health and fighting against animal abuse. In addition, CMG buys products from local farms, builds restaurants to be eco friendly and LEED certified (leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) while trying to keep the cost and price of other items down. As their value statement proclaims, â€Å"Food with Integrity† is a mission of serving good quality food with inputs sourced using sustainable farming practices. Even thought new threats like Taco Bell’s Cantina Bell menu are presenting a challenge there will always be competition. CMG upholds strong beliefs to do what is best for the environment and for its communities in order to provide the best products to its consumers. This is precisely why they have grown so fast from the opening of their first taqueria, to the capital infusion from McDonald’s, to its initial Public offering (IPO.) They have been the fastest growing chain in the last decade and just like any fast growing business, regardless of their success, they will reach a slower growth as they approach maturity. There will still be opportunity for expansion. Chipotle is certainly heading toward a different direction than their competitors making them stand out and become a lot harder to imitate. This alternative is truly the only logical option for Chipotle as it continues to enforce its philosophy of providing â€Å"Food with Integrity.† There will always be competition between companies and products, however, if Chipotle chooses another route for combating this rivalry with Taco Bell, it would not allow itself to differentiate from them. V. Key Takeaways Before reading this case, I knew nothing about Chipotle but after reading it I am quite impressed by the approach CMG has taken choosing to go a different route most companies are afraid of doing because of higher cost prices. I was equally impressed they choose organic products, to buy from local farms, being against massive animal feeding as well as animal cruelty and that they are eco friendly and are looking to make all their restaurants like this. Of course, I should also mention that one knows one will be eating the best ingredients and most fresh available foods. I am confident as the values of this company are brought to the attention of more of the public, Chipotle will reach a bigger market share as the public demand will rise. I would also predict other companies and restaurants will follow similar suit. As mentioned earlier, there will always be competition in business, but a firm must find their differentiation advantage. As individuals become more educated and understand the factor facing the environment people will be willing to make a change and help make a difference.