Wednesday, January 29, 2020

EGT1 †Economics and Global Business Applications Essay Example for Free

EGT1 – Economics and Global Business Applications Essay Elasticity of demand is a measure of responsiveness to a price change of a good or service. When demand is elastic, the percentage of a price change of a product will result in a larger percentage of quantity demanded (McConnell, p 77). It basically means reducing the price of a good service will result in a greater quantity demanded and an increase in revenue for the seller. When demand is inelastic, a change in price will result in a reduction of quantity demanded, which will then lead to a revenue decrease (McConnell, p 77). To demonstrate elastic and inelastic demand results, Company A sells 100 pens at $1.00 a piece each day, making their revenue $100.00. Company A then decides to sell their pens at $.50, which results in a total of 250 pens being sold. The total revenue from the price drop is $125, resulting in an additional $25.00; therefore the demand in this scenario is elastic. If selling the pens at the decreased price of $.50 would result in more pens being sold, but less total revenue, the demand is said to inelastic. According to McConnell, when demand in unit elastic, the percentage change in price and the resulting percentage changes in demand are the same. The change in price will not increase or decrease revenue. Cross price elasticity measures the response of demand to a change in price of another substitute or complimentary good (McConnell, p. 87). Substitute goods are goods that can be purchased in place of another good. Examples of substitute goods are soda (buying Coke vs. Pepsi), computers, and potato chips. A positive cross elasticity of demand means the increase of price in one good, for example Coca-Cola, will increase the demand of a substitute good, for example Pepsi. As the price for Coke increases, consumers are more likely to purchase Pepsi at a lower price, thereby increasing its demand. Complementary goods are items that are typically purchased in conjunction within one another. Examples are ringed binders and notebook paper, pencils and erasers, and potato chips and dip. A negative cross elasticity of demand in complementary goods means that the increase in price of one good, an example being potato chips, will decrease the demand for the complementary product that goes with it, the dip. Income elasticity measures the responsiveness of consumers to changes in their incomes (McConnell, p 88). Demand for normal goods tends to increase as consumers’ incomes increase and conversely, demand for inferior goods tends to decrease as consumers’ income increases. Demand is elastic where there is a large availability of substitutes. The reason for this as the price of a good increases, if there is a large amount of substitutes for this particular good, the consumer will choose the substitute. As discussed earlier, soda is an excellent example of this elasticity. Airline tickets are another example. As one airline raises its cost of a ticket or to even pay for a bag to be checked, a consumer will more likely choose a cheaper ticket or an airline that doesn’t charge for baggage over the original. If there is no (or a very limited) amount of substitutes for a good, elasticity is said to be negative. A price change in medication will not likely change the behavior of a consumer relative to demand since there isn’t a substitute to taking the medication. Household utilities are another example of a limited amount of substitutes. In discussing the proportion if one’s income devoted to a good concept, the household budget comes into play. In a given month, households pay for many different good and services. A change in price may or may not affect the households demand for those goods and services. Often, it is dependant on how much of the household budget is devoted to that good or service. Mobile phone service is an excellent example of a service that will most likely have a large amount of a household budget dedicated to it. A change in price in the cell phone service will most likely result in that family making a decision to change to a cheaper service, since that will have a large impact on their budget. On the other hand, that same household may purchase light bulbs each month. The amount of money dedicated to the purchase of light bulbs is so small, that a price increase will not likely affect the budget, therefore the family will not likely make a decision to change to a cheaper bulb. The concept of time when discussing demand is important. When a consumer has a large amount of time to decide on the purchase of a good or service, the elasticity is positive. Conversely, if there is little time, the elasticity is said to be negative. According to McConnell, and excellent example of this is gasoline for automobiles. Gasoline prices change daily and more often than not, prices rise. A family, who owns a car and is dependent on that car for work, etc, will not likely stop buying gas in the sort-term, because it is crucial to their everyday living. However, that family over a long period of time may decide to find alternate means of travel, decreasing their demand for gas. Using the graphs for elasticity of demand and total revenue, areas of elasticity, inelasticity and unit elasticity have been identified. Demand is elastic between the prices of $80.00 and $50.00, meaning the demand increases as the price decreases, resulting in an increase of total revenue. Between the prices of $50.00 and $40.00, the demand in unit elastic, meaning the percentage of drop in price resulted in the same percentage of increase in demand. Revenue remained unchanged in this price range. Between the prices of $40.00 and $0, the demand is inelastic, meaning the price drop has resulted in an increase in demand, but not enough to over come the decrease. Total revenue has been negatively impacted.

Tuesday, January 21, 2020

Death and Grief in Mid-Term Break :: Mid-Term Break Essays

In the poem Mid-Term Break by Seamus Heaney, the ideas of death, trauma, grief and finality are explored. The poem itself is as haunting as it is brilliantly executed. The poem depicts a boy arriving home from boarding school, to where he is informed of the tragic death of his younger brother, whose doomed fate indelibly marks the narrator, whom is the boy’s older brother. The boy recounts the experience of losing a loved one. The author has incorporated many elements and style in a subtle and distinct manner.    The poem depicts a boy arriving home from school, â€Å"moaning in the college sick bay† to hear the news that his four year old brother has been killed in an accident. Upon arriving home, â€Å"I met my father crying.† This shows how death can cause much grief and trauma, as well as confusion. Here we can see that the stereotypical roles of the parents have been reversed/exchanged, with the father crying, and the boy’s mother, â€Å"Coughed out angry, tearless sighs.† It can be seen/evident, that deaths were quite common, â€Å"He had always taken funerals in his stride.† But no-one expected the death to hit quite so close to home†¦ to the heart. And then we see the tables have turned; the parents no longer were the spectators of the funerals, now that their own flesh and blood had been taken away from them.    The theme within the poem is subtly expressed, with an almost childlike innocence.   The theme is set out in a simple manner, yet pays much attention to detail. The theme is one of â€Å"finality.† Hence the title playing a huge role   in the revealing of the theme. â€Å"Mid-Term Break† suggests finality†¦ of one’s life†¦. Time. Along with death brings finality, and along with finality comes the repurcussions of death, such as trauma and   grief for all involved.    The emotions of the poem are beautifully poignant, and this allows the reader to be transported to a world of different experience, such as the repression. The mood within the poem has   a somber touch with an eerie silence. The poem positions the reader to come away with mixed emotions- anger, grief, confusion†¦ all of which the topic of death brings with it. This leaves the audience truly captivated with the simple text that represents so much emotion.    There are many images depicted in the poem, which   is what ultimately draws the audience   into it’s graps/ The impenatrable, life-altering consequences of death and the secrets of adolescence bring the poem to life.

Monday, January 13, 2020

Process for Implemenation of Supplier Development Strategy Essay

Introduction Supply chain management adopts a systematic and integrative approach to manage the operation and relationship amongst different parties in supply chain one of the major issues is supplier development studies have investigated how quality management can be employer in supply chain management to influence performance in the whole supply network. (Mishra Rik, Patel G-Supplier Development Strategies, Data employment Analysis Business Intelligence Journal, January 2010 vol 3 No.1) There are 8 stages of implementation of supplier development 2.1 Identify critical commodities for development Managers must analyse their situation to determine whether Supplier development is important and if so which purchased commodities and services require the most attention. A corporate level executive steering committee must assess the relevant strategic importance of all goods and services that the company buys and produce a portfolio of critical commodities 2.2 Identify critical suppliers for development The managers must assess the performance of suppliers who supply commodities in the â€Å"strategic supplier category†. These commodities considered strategically important, as they might be difficult to substitute or purchase from alternative suppliers. 2.3 Form a cross-functional team A buyer must first develop internal cross-functional consensus for the initiative before approaching the supplies to ask for improvement such consensus will help to show a â€Å"unified front† and ensure that all buyer functions. 2.4 Meet with supplier’s top management team The buyer’s cross functional commodity team must approach the supplier’s top management group and establish three keys to supplier improvement, strategic alignment, supplier measurement and professionalism. 5 Identify opportunities and probability for improvement At these meetings with the suppliers executive should identify areas earmarked for improvement. Companies adopting a strategic approach to supply base development can usually agree upon areas or improvement .In some areas driven by final customer requirements and expectations. 2.6 Identify key projects After identifying promising opportunities of supplier development managers must evaluate them in terms of feasibility, resource and time requirements and potential return on investments. The aim is to decide what the goals should be and whether they are achievable. 2.7 Define details of the agreement After the potential improvement project is identified, the parties need to agree on specific merthies for monitoring its success. 2.8 Monitor status and modify strategies Manages must constantly monitor the progress and constantly exchange information to maintain momentum in the project. (http://www.ethenmanagementor.com.kuniverser/kmailer_universe/manu_kmailers/som-supplierdev1.htm. Accessed 15/09/2011) Different types Supply Chain relationships | |Transactional |Collaborative |Alliance | | |Relationships |relationships |relationships | |Communication |High potential for problems |Systematic approach to | | | |enhance communication | |Competitive |Low |High | |advantage |Independence | | |Connectedness |Little |Interdependence | |Continuous |Few | | |improvement | |A focus on | |Contributions to | | | |new product |Low |Many/early supplier | |development |Short |involvement | | |Reactive |Difficult/high impact | |Difficulty of exit |Price |Long | |Duration | Little or none |Proactive | |Expediting |Low |Total cost | |Focus | |High or total | |Level of integration |Many |High | |Level of trust |No | | |Number of |Incoming inspection | | |suppliers |Inward looking |One or few | |Open books | |Yes | |Quality | |Design quality into system | |Relations | |Concern with each other’s | | |Few/low skill level |well-being | |Resources |Minimal |Professional | |Service |No |Greatly improved | |Shared forecasts |Possible |Yes | |Supply disruptions |No |Unlikely | |Technology inflows |Tactical |Yes | |Type of interaction | |Strategic synergy | (Handfield RB; Monczka RM; Giunipero LC; Patterson JL. Sourcing and supply chain management; 2004 pg 123) Portfolio Analysis 4.1 Captive buyer Captive buyer relationship the supplier dominates the buyer and the buyer depends on the supplier. In these particular captive buyer relationships this dependence of the buyer is due to the unique intellectual property of the supplier. Because of this intellectual property the buyer has limited or no Substitutes to turn to creating a dependence on the supplier. Despite this dependence a high level of trust plays an important role in making this relationship fruitful for both parties. Apparently the dominance of the supplier is limited to the extent that the mutual trust stays intact. But the level of trust also has its limits from the supplier’s perspective. The supplier is not willing to trust the buyer with its intellectual property. The obvious reason for this is the risk that the supplier would lose its dominating position. Thus, the supplier has a special interest in maintaining its dominant position. The survey and interviews indicate that for captive buyer relationships the explanatory variables were the lack of substitutes, legal property rights and size of the supplier. Apparently the legal property rights of the supplier, and the resulting lack of substitutes, causes the buyer to depend on the supplier. These factors, combined with a supplier that is much larger than the buyer, results in a relationship that can be described as a captive buyer situation. (http://dspace.learningnetworks.org/bitstream/1820/3545/1/MWBHMJFleurenmei2011.pdf ;Accessed 15/09/2011) 2 Captive Supplier Captive supplier relationship the supplier depends on the buyer and the buyer therefore overpowers the supplier. This unbalance of power can have one or a combination of factors: the size of the buyer and its market share but also the switching costs for the supplier contribute to the dependence of the supplier on the buyer. Despite the fact that the supplier has important intellectual property this is not sufficient to balance the level of power towards the buyer. To make this relationship a fruitful one cooperation and mutual goals are of great importance. Via these mutual goals the buyer does depend on the supplier to some extent, thus preventing the buyer from abusing its dominance over the supplier. For this reason, in a captive supplier situation the buyer will also invest (heavily) in the relationship but not to the extent that it loses it’s dominating position. While studying the captive supplier relationships, it became apparent that the Explanatory variables were market share, lack of substitutes, legal property rights, non-retrievable investments and the size of the supplier. These factors resulted in a captive buyer situation. Again the presence of legal property rights, this time of the buyer, causes the supplier to have limited or no substitutes. Furthermore the relationship involved significant non-retrievable investments for the supplier, making it even more difficult to switch to another buyer. Finally, the high market share of the buyer compared to the small size of the supplier was a significant factor. The net result of these explanatory variables is a captive supplier relationship. (http://dspace.learningnetworks.org/bitstream/1820/3545/1/MWBHMJFleurenmei2011.pdf; Accessed 15/09/2011) 3 Interdependent Supply Chain members Some kind of starting point is needed for identification of supply chains. For instance, an end product of some kind may be used for identification and analysis of the activity structure organised ‘behind’ it. This is in line with the transvection concept coined by Alderson (1965, p. 92) who defines transvections as comprising ‘†¦all prior action necessary to produce this final result, going all the way back to conglomerate resources’. This, however, entails a first important connection among chains as they typically merge in different stages within an activity structure where different parts of the end product are assembled, welded etc, tying different chains together successively (Dubois, 1998). Consequently, several different products (and thus also several chains, if defined by products) are involved in every ‘supply chain’ resulting in some kind of end-product. Taking transvections, or end-product related structures, as a starting point we will further analyse the ways in which the activities and reso urces within ‘supply chains’ are connected by analysing how they are subject to the three forms of interdependence. (http://www.impgroup.org/uploads/papers/4324.pdf ;accessed 15/09/2011) 5. Buyer /supplier relationship (Handfield RB; Monczka RM; Giunipero LC; Patterson JL. Sourcing and supply chain management; 2004) High Category Level Low Conclusion The concept of power should be at the centre of any study of buyer-supplier relationships. Power affects the expectations of the two parties over what commercial returns should accrue to them from a relationship. It also affects the willingness of the two parties to invest in collaborative activities. As important, it also affects the willingness of the two parties to share the costs of relationship-specific investments .It also affects the willingness of the two parties to share sensitive information. As a result, an understanding of the power relation which is often stable, with the relative stability should, from the point of view of the purchasing manager, inform both the supplier selection and the relationship management decision as he or she attempts to manage risk proactively. Bibliography 1. http://www.impgroup.org/uploads/papers/4320.pdf 2. http://dspace.learningnetworks.org/bitstream/1820/3545/1/MWBHMJFleurenmei2011.pdf. 3. Mishra Rik, Patel G-Supplier Development Strategies, Data employment Analysis Business Intelligence Journal, January 2010 vol 3 No.1 4. Handfield RB; Monczka RM; Giunipero LC; Patterson JL. Sourcing and supply chain management; 2004 ———————– |1.Leaverage: |2.Strategic : | |Captive Supplier |Mutual dependence | |The buyer has power |Trust is necessary | |Trust may be lacking | | |3.Routine: |4. Bottleneck | |Mutual Independent |Captive buyer | |Trust not necessary |The Supplier has power | | |Trust may be lacking | LowHighBusiness Risk

Sunday, January 5, 2020

Cultural Autobiography Cross Cultural - 1649 Words

Alexus Williams Cultural Autobiography Cross Cultural Who am I? I come from a very big, loud, joyful and loving southern family from the town of Marietta, Georgia. We are proud African Americans who embraces every piece of black beauty from our hair down to the different shades of our skin. From a very early age I was taught self -love and that it is okay to be different because God did not make us to blend in but to stand out. I was taught to never judge a book by it s cover so I don’t. Never have I ever disliked or disassociated with someone based on their sexual preference, race or religion. I will never do that because to me, that’s discrimination. I wouldn’t want someone to feel less then what they are because of a preference I†¦show more content†¦Growing up I never knew that I was poor because my mother worked extremely hard to provide for my sister and I. I may not have had the latest but I had something, which was more than what some had. I come from a lower-class family who lived in low income housing with not the greatest environment around. Instead of adapting our environment, it was used as a teaching tool for motivation. It showed us exactly what we didn’t want for our lives. It was always instilled in us that it’s not where you come from but where you are headed in life. Meaning never let your circumstances determine who you are or limit your abilities. You can do anything you want in life if you put your mind to it. My family is primarily women, I witnessed the struggles you can face as an African American woman and how they have overcome and destroyed every obstacle in their path. They did things that many said they couldn’t do without the help of a man. They showed me to be independent and that anything I wanted in this world I could have. All I have to do was work hard enough to get it. There is a strong push for each new generation to be better than the last. 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