The Effect Of E Commerce Strategies On The Sales Of Marks...

1. Introduction E-commerce has been considered to be a primary element to change the global economy and the method which business is conducted. (Shin, 2001) It impels enterprises to search for new sources and new measures to expand the markets for growing profits. With its flexibility to the changing trends, E-commerce allows business to have instant response to this continuous change. Marks and Spenser, a retailer with 130-year history, had once been seen as a national institution in Great Britain. However, the glory did not sustain. After the dramatic decline on the sales since late 1990s, it was inevitable for the enterprise to reconsider its marketing strategies. Traditional mass promotional strategies are no longer effective in†¦show more content†¦As a consequence, MS has been increasingly implementing E-commerce strategies to adapt to a rapidly changing environment in order to meet customers’ needs. 2.2 A brief history---- the development of E-commerce of MS For the purpose of accommodating to the era of high technology, in 2007, MS embarked on its E-commerce journey by associating with Amazon.com, which is an international electronic commerce company. During the partnership, Amazon offered MS the high tech behind three systems: the retailer’s website, in-store and telephone ordering services. With the assistance of Amazon, the enterprise kept accountable for the management of the website, the operation of customers service, warehousing, and distribution. (Tran, 2005) Due to the fact that MS is a large retailer requiring a platform, which can be more related to the iconic status of the brand. Amazon web store, a great platform for smaller sellers, was probably a good support for MS in the early ages, as MS was an infant to E-commerce. However, the partnership is no longer suitable for this company now. (Lucht, 2014) After over two years of surveying and testing with existing and potential customers, the new website platform, MS.com, which the enterprise can own the entire control, was eventually launched in February 2014. (MS, 2014) The recently launched web infrastructure has indeed outperformed on

Night Creature Dark Moon Chapter Thirty One Free Essays

We spent the rest of that night trying to discover something more about the , witchie wolves, even Lydia. According to Nic, she existed, but he couldn’t find out anything else about her, which made him nuts. The man wouldn’t get off the Internet. We will write a custom essay sample on Night Creature: Dark Moon Chapter Thirty One or any similar topic only for you Order Now Around 3 a.m. I fell asleep on the couch, only to be awoken by Edward several hours later. â€Å"Dawn approaches,† he said. â€Å"Let us go and question the native woman.† Mr. Politically Incorrect. I was going to have to watch what he said to Lydia. From the bloodshot appearance of Nic’s eyes as the three of us climbed into Edward’s Cadillac, he hadn’t slept at all. Shortly after the sun rose, we reached Lydia’s. She stood on the porch as we climbed out of the car. The smirk on her face was disturbing. The way she stared at Edward even more so. â€Å"Lydia,† Edward said. â€Å"It has been a long time.† â€Å"Wait a second.† I glanced from Edward to Lydia and back again. â€Å"You know Cora’s granddaughter?† Edward snorted. â€Å"She is no more Cora’s granddaughter than she is mine.† â€Å"Who is she?† I asked. â€Å"Lydia Lovell. A familiar.† â€Å"Familiar with what?† â€Å"The werewolves.† Edward made an exasperated sound and turned to me. â€Å"You know what a familiar is.† I did, but-how was I supposed to know Lydia was one? Traditionally, familiars took the shape of black cats, dogs, or wolves, going places no human could go. The concept of the helpful spirit being is believed to have originated with the totem animal guides of the shamans. However, since the werewolves were already animals, their familiars took the form of humans. â€Å"She said she was training to become a Chippewa – â€Å" † Chippewa?† Edward interrupted. â€Å"She said Chippewa?’ â€Å"Yes. Then no. She corrected herself. Why?† â€Å"I’ve learned a few things from Cadotte, and no true Ojibwe would ever use the word Chippewa.† Nic pulled his gun and pointed it in Lydia’s direction. â€Å"Not yet,† I murmured. The gun didn’t appear to make Lydia nervous, which only made me more so. Either she didn’t plan on any of us living long enough to stop her, or her nefarious plan was too far along to thwart. Was there a door number 3? â€Å"Herr Mandenauer is right. I work for the werewolves. But soon they will work for me.† â€Å"You’re raising a witchie wolf army,† I said. Lydia inclined her head. â€Å"But how? You aren’t a werewolf.† â€Å"Are you certain?† â€Å"Yes,† I said firmly, even as my mind doubted. One thing I’d learned as a Jger-Sucher, the rules applied only until someone or something changed them. â€Å"You don’t sound very confident. But I’ve spent a lot of time and money to make all of you doubt what you know and who you trust.† Money? The light went on in my head. â€Å"You bought information from the traitor.† Lydia laughed. â€Å"There isn’t any traitor – or at least not in the technical sense of the word. None of your own betrayed you.† Good to know. Really set my mind at ease. â€Å"If not one of us, then who?† â€Å"Do not waste your time,† Edward said. â€Å"She will not tell us.† Edward turned his attention to Lydia. â€Å"I am afraid your lover is dead. Will that destroy your plans, I hope?† â€Å"My plans are right on schedule.† â€Å"You wanted Basil dead?† I asked. â€Å"Not particularly. He was an incredible lay. He’d do anything I wanted, anywhere. All day, all night. The boy was amazing.† â€Å"Way too much information,† Nic muttered. â€Å"He follows orders amazingly well. ‘Kill Dr. Hanover,’ I said. Next thing I know – bam, bam.'† â€Å"Actually, it was just bam for him, right, Nic?† â€Å"Yeah. Then he ran away like a girl.† â€Å"Hey!† I protested. â€Å"Sorry. How about we try bam-bam on Miss Familiar?† Lydia laughed again. Why did she find Nic’s threats of shooting her so amusing? Maybe she couldn’t be shot. â€Å"Why is she so smug, Edward?† I needed to know what I was facing before I could face it with any sort of strength. Even then†¦ I glanced at the sun sparkling through the trees. I wasn’t going to be able to do much damage at this time of day. â€Å"Lydia is a descendant of Gypsies,† Edward answered. â€Å"Romania, tambourines, fortune-telling Gypsies?† Nic asked. Lydia snorted at the same time Edward said, â€Å"Hardly. Gypsies are the traditional companions of werewolves. Familiars. They protect them and in turn are paid handsomely.† â€Å"You didn’t know this?† Nic asked me. â€Å"I knew.† â€Å"Gypsy? Werewolves? You weren’t a little suspicious?† â€Å"She said she was Ojibwe. Why shouldn’t I believe her?† â€Å"You couldn’t tell the difference?† â€Å"Have you ever seen a Gypsy?† â€Å"I’m not sure.† â€Å"Exactly. They’re a little hard to peg in the wild.† â€Å"There are very few with pure Gypsy blood left,† Edward said. â€Å"Why is that?† Nic inched forward; I elbowed him back. Who knew what kind of powers she had? â€Å"Hitler killed four hundred thousand in his death camps,† Lydia snapped. â€Å"He labeled us nonhuman.† â€Å"I hate it when that happens,† I muttered. Lydia shot me a glare. â€Å"Mengele loved to experiment on the Gypsies as well as the Jews. When he concocted monsters, he made them from bits and pieces of other things.† â€Å"His werewolves have Gypsy blood,† I guessed, and Lydia dipped her chin in acknowledgment. â€Å"But if they’re your cousins or brothers. Children†¦ whatever – â€Å" â€Å"You say they as if you aren’t one of them.† â€Å"Fine, if we’re related, then why do you want to rule us?† â€Å"Someone has to. If the werewolves banded together, had a leader with half a brain at the helm, someone who didn’t get distracted by a demon, or the full moon, or blood on the breeze, they could become so much more than what they are.† Edward had always feared just such an occurrence. If all the werewolves joined forces, what was to prevent every other monster from doing the same? Pretty soon people would be in the minority – if they weren’t already. We had to stop her. If only we knew what she was up to. Why did she need a witchie wolf army? What could they do? More importantly: How could we kill them? Hard to say. Hard to ask, too, since I doubted she’d tell us. â€Å"Why get rid of Basil?† I pressed. â€Å"Especially if he was so gifted.† â€Å"Well hung, you mean?† I hadn’t but†¦ I shrugged. â€Å"I didn’t kill him.† â€Å"I did.† That voice. It couldn’t be. I turned toward the sound just as a figure stepped from the woods and pressed a gun to Edward’s temple. Oh, jeez! Oh, shit! Oh, hell! â€Å"Billy.† How to cite Night Creature: Dark Moon Chapter Thirty One, Essay examples

Gloria Estefans Successful Life Essay Example For Students

Gloria Estefans Successful Life Essay Theres no growth with out a lot of hard work and little risk. (a href=http://members.xcom.com./_xmcm/troycities/gebio.htmhttp://members.xcom.com./_xmcm/troycities/gebio.htm) This statement is a reflection of what Gloria stands for. However there is more to Gloria, than concerts and videos, her personal life. Which would consist of family and marriage. Then of course there is her fabulous career. Gloria was born in 1959, in Havana, Cuba, her father, was a cuban solder. Gloria left cuba when she was two years old. Gloria wanted to become a psychologist. In 1975 Gloria was singing at a weeding with a local band called The Miami Latin Boys. the band leader Emilio Estefan was impressed. Eventhough Gloria was a shy person, Emilio enjoyed her smooth voice, and asked her to joined the band. Gloria agreed but only on weekends as a front singer. In September 2, 1977 Gloria married Emilio Estefan. In 1984, Emilio convinced record to release an English only album in the United States and European markets. In 1989 Gloria released her first solo album was released in English and Spanish. In March 20,1990 Gloria was sleeping on her tour bus when a speeding semitrailer smashed into it, Gloria was almost killed. Gloria was in a four hour surgery, and it took a year of physical therapy. Gloria received 4,000 floral arrangements, 11,000 telegrams, and 50,000 postcards and letters, from her fans. In 1993 Gloria had a star on Hollywood walk of fame. In cuba she is known as nuestra Gloria. Gloria sold four million copies worldwide of Mi Tierra which earn Glorias first Grammy Award. Gloria has a son was born in September 2, 1980, she recently had a baby girl in December 5,1994. Gloria lives in a mansion in Miamis star island. Gloria is now planning a tour, she is also thinking of transition into acting. In conclusion, I think is really interesting to know about Gloria Estefans life. Since Gloria was small she worked hard, and gone a very long way to be were she is at, also her marriage with Emilio helped her to established her career. This research mad me realize that everything that you want can be done, if you put yourself in to it.

Wintergreen for precedent Essay Example For Students

Wintergreen for precedent Essay The country lies mired in a painful economic downturn. One party has held a 12-year lock on the White House. The fall election campaign is stuttering forward, looking for a defining issue. Strenuously avoiding anything resembling a position, one of the candidates sweeps to victory on the Love platform, marrying a wholesome girl (who can really bake corn muffins) and winning over the voters by showing them the very model of a modern American couple. Suddenly a scandal erupts involving a broken promise to a beauty queen by the new Presidentrotten timing, too, because the First Lady has just struck a blow for family values by delivering newborn twins. An international incident is averted when the heretofore ineffectual Vice President marries the beauty queen, and the Union is saved. This tabloid account of a misbegotten political season (ripped from todays headlines!) explains why that landmark American musical Of Thee I Sing is once again sweeping the country. The 1931 collaboration of George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind (book) and George and Ira Gershwin (music and lyrics), which opened on the day after Christmas in a year that found Americans confidence in their elected government at an unprecedented low, seems eerily prescient this year. No wonder four regional theatre companies have scheduled campaign-season productions: Washingtons Arena Stage, Pennsylvanias Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble, the Cleveland Play House and Chicagos Remains Theatre. We will write a custom essay on Wintergreen for precedent specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now Of Thee I Sing helped shape the still-forming American musical by its emphasis on integrating musical numbers into the forward movement of the plot, but its primary interest today lies in the free-wheeling, unrestrained satire of Kaufman and Ryskinds book and Ira Gershwins lyrics. Taking a page from Gilbert and Sullivan (especially Gilbert, whose gift for political satire sometimes doesnt translate transatlantically), the collaborators paint a portrait of a political world bereft of ideals, ideas or integrity. In an early scene set in the archetypal smoke-filled hotel room, a political operative declares that the people of this country demand John P. Wintergreen for President, and theyre going to get him whether they like it or not. And, between you and me, gentlemen, I dont think they like it. A moment later another opines that the party might have made one bad mistakethey never should have sold Rhode Island. But the candidate himself knows how to handle that little problem: Ill tell you what! Well leave it out of the campaignnot mention it! When Throttlebottom, the nearly invisible candidate for V.P., wonders what to do if an opponent should happen to bring it up, Wintergreen knows the drill for that situation too: Dont answer em! It takes two to make an argument. THAT THESE SNIPPETS OF POLITICAL strategy would probably ring true in the mouths of the likes of Ailes, Carville, Matalin and Bakeror the gentlemen they profess to servehelps create the uncanny sensation that Of Thee I Sing has somehow been surreptitiously adapted to present circumstances. But Kaufman and Ryskinds satirical venom, for the most part, doesnt require updatingtwo or three politically incorrect moments notwithstandingbecause the level of political discourse in America has so manifestly not progressed in the 61 years since Of Thee I Sing premiered. And the satire (what closes on Saturday night, as Kaufman referred to it) is blended with the confectionery materials of the musical comedy form and wrapped in Gershwins witty, essentially cheerful score (imagine, for contrast, a Weill or Blitzstein setting of the same materials), creating a piece with complexities of tone and style that defy formulaic interpretation. Oklahoma! is Oklahoma! is Oklahoma! (at least until a Western Revisionist Historian gets hold of it), but Of Thee I Sing sparks divergent responses in the four directors who are grappling with it across this land of ours. .ua56643b6dd532a9b5693d8ada09863a7 , .ua56643b6dd532a9b5693d8ada09863a7 .postImageUrl , .ua56643b6dd532a9b5693d8ada09863a7 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .ua56643b6dd532a9b5693d8ada09863a7 , .ua56643b6dd532a9b5693d8ada09863a7:hover , .ua56643b6dd532a9b5693d8ada09863a7:visited , .ua56643b6dd532a9b5693d8ada09863a7:active { border:0!important; } .ua56643b6dd532a9b5693d8ada09863a7 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .ua56643b6dd532a9b5693d8ada09863a7 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .ua56643b6dd532a9b5693d8ada09863a7:active , .ua56643b6dd532a9b5693d8ada09863a7:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .ua56643b6dd532a9b5693d8ada09863a7 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .ua56643b6dd532a9b5693d8ada09863a7 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .ua56643b6dd532a9b5693d8ada09863a7 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .ua56643b6dd532a9b5693d8ada09863a7 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .ua56643b6dd532a9b5693d8ada09863a7:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .ua56643b6dd532a9b5693d8ada09863a7 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .ua56643b6dd532a9b5693d8ada09863a7 .ua56643b6dd532a9b5693d8ada09863a7-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .ua56643b6dd532a9b5693d8ada09863a7:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Past imperfect Essay For Arena Stages Douglas C. Wager and Remains Theatres Larry Sloan, there is a fundamental edginess at the heart of the piece. According to Wager, the play is deeply angry and deeply cynical on a number of fronts. Thats the very contemporary thing about it. Theres absolutely no ray of light for the democratic process. Sloan finds it highly cynicalwritten at a time when public cynicism toward its leaders was as high as it is today. He notes that you didnt see this surge of interest in the piece during the Reagan era, when it was morning in America all day long for eight long years. And yet for David Moreland, directing the play with a cast of 13 augmented by puppets, cardboard cutouts and plenty of a vista costume changes at the Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble, there is nothing bitter or cynical or angry about it; it pokes fun at everybody without offending anybody. Moreland finds the whimsical spirit of the Jazz Age, tempered by the economic problems of the Depression to be the guiding tone of the work. And Peter mark Schifter is determined that his Cleveland Play House production will be funny and brightI dont want it to get bitter. That was territory that Kaufman and Gershwin explored in Let Em Eat Cake, where they went over the edge. Schifter recalls a conversation with Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts in which Frank characterized politicians as simultaneously tough, cynical and optimistic about America, and the director hopes that this same union of seeming opposites will ensure that on his stage the tone that emerges is a belief in our country. Bitter or optimistic, cynical or whimsical? Perhaps the mark of a substantial work of art is its capacity to stimulateand toleratea variety of responses. WHETHER PITCHED IN A MAJOR or minor key, however, there is one inescapable fact about Of Thee I Sing: its big. The original cast numbered some 60 actors, singers and dancers, as well as a featured band. Even in its palmiest days, all LORT would have collectively quailed at the weekly payroll of such a behemoth. Not surprisingly, each of the four current productions has found ways to realize the energy and style of the piece with substantially reduced forces. Necessity being the mother of convention, both Wager and Moreland are employing actor-manipulated puppet heads to fill out the nine Supreme Court justices. Wager, inspired perhaps by the success of the two-piano Most Happy Fella, and seeing the piece as belonging to the tradition of political cabaret (I started to think, he notes, that it should be something like a cross between That Was the Week That Was and Gilbert and Sullivan), commissioned such an arrangement from Russell Warner, supporting an ensemble of 24 actors. Larry Sloan will fill his 250-seat thrust-stage space with a cast of 25, using two pianos assisted by percussion. The Bloomsburg groups cast of 13 will sing to music director Bill Deckers piano/sampler/percussion accompaniment. Schifters Cleveland production is probably the closest to a revivalist mounting, both in scal e and aesthetic approach. Im not a particularly conceptual director, Schifter comments, but anyway why would you do that with this show? He has at his disposal the seemingly standard 25 actors, but he adds a pit orchestra of two pianos and eight to ten other players. We couldnt really get any more people on stage, he says. Of course I kept offering to cut some stuff and they kept saying no, no, no so I guess this had better be a hit. The Roman satirist Juvenalwhose name is remembered in an adjective describing a particularly bitter strain of the genreonce said, Difficile est saturam non scribereit is hard not to write satire. The form flourishes in those ages that see commonsensical realities drowned in an inflationary tide of rhetoricwhen the Emperors nakedness becomes visible to most and strenuously denied by some. It is a genre that Americans have not traditionally embraced or excelled at, perhaps because of the innate (though embattled) optimism of our national project. Imperial Rome, France from Louis XIV to the Revolution, the England of Walpole (and incidentally Pope and Swift and Fielding)these decadent societies inspired satirists in every literary form. There is an antisatiric strain in America, an attitude that almost seems to say dont make fun. Our collective national parents have taught us that if we dont have anything nice to say, we shouldnt say anything at all. .u2d61cb365ff9504eded2391f0f6a4b56 , .u2d61cb365ff9504eded2391f0f6a4b56 .postImageUrl , .u2d61cb365ff9504eded2391f0f6a4b56 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u2d61cb365ff9504eded2391f0f6a4b56 , .u2d61cb365ff9504eded2391f0f6a4b56:hover , .u2d61cb365ff9504eded2391f0f6a4b56:visited , .u2d61cb365ff9504eded2391f0f6a4b56:active { border:0!important; } .u2d61cb365ff9504eded2391f0f6a4b56 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u2d61cb365ff9504eded2391f0f6a4b56 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u2d61cb365ff9504eded2391f0f6a4b56:active , .u2d61cb365ff9504eded2391f0f6a4b56:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u2d61cb365ff9504eded2391f0f6a4b56 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u2d61cb365ff9504eded2391f0f6a4b56 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u2d61cb365ff9504eded2391f0f6a4b56 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u2d61cb365ff9504eded2391f0f6a4b56 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u2d61cb365ff9504eded2391f0f6a4b56:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u2d61cb365ff9504eded2391f0f6a4b56 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u2d61cb365ff9504eded2391f0f6a4b56 .u2d61cb365ff9504eded2391f0f6a4b56-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u2d61cb365ff9504eded2391f0f6a4b56:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Jane Greenwood: the making of a mentor EssayBut the satiric impulse will not be silenced, and in times of crisis or torpor, when pomposities need pricking or lies unmasking, Juvenals words ring true again. In 1992, as in 1931, we contemplate our destiny through the medium of our politics. It is hard not to write satire. And it is hard to imagine a more engaging or timely theatrical essay in the form than Of Thee I Sing.

Expert Interview with Sherri Thomas on Career Coaching

Expert Interview with Sherri Thomas on Career Coaching Sherri Thomas started her career on the corporate side in training, development, marketing and branding, but she’s best known for her work in career coaching as an author and expert. She sat down with us to explain career coaching and why it’s so important. Why is career coaching more important than ever?Right now, companies all over the world are in a fight for survival. They’re in a continuous loop of expanding, downsizing, merging and being bought out by a competitor. As an employee, nobody is safe. And the only way to survive is knowing how to identify and create your own career opportunities.Why are so many finding it so hard to get a job?We’ve become an online society where convenience is the driving force. It’s much easier to shop, bank, get an advanced degree, etc., online than it is to actually drive to a place of business. Therefore, many jobs have been lost due to the Internet or outsourcing. Fewer jobs mean a higher than normal talent po ol of job seekers.What do job seekers do to sabotage themselves without even realizing it?The biggest mistake I see professionals making is creating a one-size-fits-all resume. That is, putting all of their skills along with every job they’ve ever had onto one resume, and then forwarding that resume to all of their job leads. You need to be much more strategic when applying for a job. Only showcase those skills, accomplishments and previous employments that relate to the new job. The hiring manager doesn’t care about every job you’ve ever had. He only cares about whether you can do his job.What’s one thing everybody should have on their resume that they may not realize, and why?I create a section on my clients’ resumes called â€Å"Additional Skills† to highlight relatable and transferable skills, which may not have been addressed on the job description. This is a great way to feature some of those unique skills you have and give you a compe titive edge against the competition.What are some trends in hiring and human resources we should be keeping an eye on?Creating a skills matrix will get you noticed. A skills matrix is a very simple way of showing how your experience and expertise directly aligns with the job’s key requirements. This means that your resume and skills matrix need to be customized and targeted for every job you go after. It takes time and effort, but the benefit is having more high-quality job interviews!Sherri Thomas is a Career Strategist. She teaches others how to think differently and more proactively in their careers. Her book, The Bounce Back, is the 2013 winner of â€Å"Best Career Book† by Indie Book Awards for independent book authors. Download her free three-part video training series, â€Å"15 Clever Ways to Get More Job Offers,† at Career Coaching 360.

Analysis of Aravind Eye Hospital

An Eye on Hope Miracles do happen. Don’t believe me? Ask that boy whose eyes would finally be able to see how the face of his mother is much more beautiful than even that angelic face that he had always imagined while listening to the lullabies she sang for him or how his cricketing hero actually looks like or how his kingdom of sand – that the world calls as a playground actually bore the signs of his footsteps or how the faces of his friends, who cheered for him for being specially-abled or who dissed him for his disability, change expressions on seeing him again. Now, here is a question for all the B-School students who are taught to derive the equivalent clink of coin-sound for all human emotions, day-in and day-out or for all the professionals who have grown up taking pride in putting a dollar tag on every single sentiment on this earth. Can you put a price tag on this miracle? How much would you be ready to invest if you could make this miracle a mundane reality for millions and millions of people in India? Can you be stoic enough emotionally to discard this proposal by taking help of an equally heartless financial jargon of profit-margins and return on capital employed? Or would you take a step forward and approach this problem the right way rather than the easy way. Arvind Eye Hospitals, since their inception, have proven time and again, year-after-year, that a business that deals in miracles like this can be self-sustainable if you have the right sentiments, intentions, vision and the sincerity to cater to the base of the pyramid, which because of its sheer volume, in a country like India can prove to be a self-dependent and autonomous business model. Put yourself in the shoes of the patients just for a moment, and you’ll understand how it can prove to be an economically viable model with a focus on intangible benefits rather than the tangible ones. Imagine a hypothetical case of Laxmi, who lives in Tangachi Mattam, a village forty kilometers away from Madurai, who decides to bring in her 10-year-old, bespectacled son Vishnu, to be examined at the centre this Saturday when he complained of irritation in his left eye. Ordinarily, it would have taken them a whole day to go to Madurai by bus and back, not to mention the cost of Rs 200 round trip. If the vision centre develops in every city, the consultation with the Doctor cost them Rs 20 – at less than the price of a coffee cup in a hip cafe, one little boy’s eyes can finally return to his school books. The model certainly can be emulated if the businessmen can abandon their perennial thirst for endless money for this cause and concentrate more on the intangible benefits of this exercise rather than tangible ones. But the question is how? Part-I – How ? If we look at the current status of blindness in India, about 90% of blindness is relatively easily treatable and cataract remains a major cause of blindness. Our annual cataract surgical rate is about 3. 5 million but the current levels of cataract surgery are far below the number required to clear the existing backlog, besides taking care of incidence. There is an urgent need to perform more cataract surgeries every year. If we look at the current service delivery pattern, the Government does about 25%, NGOs and voluntary organization 41. 2% and private 33. 8%. There is also an increasing shift towards IOL surgery. The increasing need in the community for eye care services combined with poor utilization of existing resources indicate a strong need for organizational development aimed at such eye care providers. One major need is to better equip these institutions to deal with the burden of blindness, to aid in the transition towards IOL surgery other standard procedures, to standardize duality of eye care provided by them, to promote cost effective practices for self-sustainability and finally to help the hospital leadership to articulate a well defined vision and goal for their hospital. Based on Arvind Eye Care’s experience, a capacity building process with other eye hospitals should be initiated. Arvind should set itself a target of partnering in capacity building with 100 voluntary eye hospitals that were under performing or in the start-up phase. The ultimate goal would be to help in developing each of these hospitals into a facility capable of doing high volume, high quality work and become financially viable. The financial viability will remain a critical issue in order to protect these voluntary organizations from the uncertainties of external funding. The first initiative in this direction has already come from the Lions International who wanted to establish a process for capacity building for the hospitals supported by them and as a spin off other INGOs like Sight Savers, CBM, Seva and IEF too joined hands for their partner hospitals. LAICO is currently partnering with 140 eye hospitals, of which 118 are from India and the remaining are from other countries like Nepal, Bangladesh, Africa, Cambodia, etc. LAICO, is working on the following 4-step strategy to help with the capacity building of the under-performing and other NGO hospitals. The results so far have been astounding for LAICO. The following graphs show how the capacity development workshops have been a path-breaking success for this business model in general and the participating hospitals in particular. The resulting efficiency increase through the economies of scale is also evident in the cost recovery of the participating hospitals as shown in the graph below. But the biggest challenge in terms of the execution of the plan is to ensure the sustainability of this execution. The above analysis leads us to identifying some of the factors that affect the capacity building process as many of the hospitals have drastically increased, while some hospitals have shown no improvement or decrease in the performance. The leadership of the hospital is a major factor. The location, availability and involvement of the leader affect capacity building. Wherever there has been a permanent leader with a vision, those hospitals have shown a very good improvement. Resistance to change and openness among the team members are also crucial. The hospitals need to have teamwork rather than one person doing the entire show. If the institution is not interested in doing high volume or is satisfied with the current level of services, capacity building is difficult. Where ever the leader focuses more on resource creation rather than on resource utilization, an imbalance between performance and capacity arises. Operational areas, even having a single ophthalmologist or part-time ophthalmologist also affect the long-term sustainability of the hospital especially when these doctors leave the hospital. The pattern of compensation also affects the growth of the hospital. To some extent incentives help the hospital increase its performance but this does not help the hospital to grow as an institution. This brings us to the vital question – what should be the change in the outlook of the organization to sustain this change and continue to register growth in the strategy chosen. Part-II – How sustainable is sustainable? No matter the individual or the reason at hand, all effective leadership styles have one thing in common- they all contain the Four Cs- Character, Communication skills, Consistency, and the Creativity needed for successful problem solving. Of course, within each of these four traits, variances of extreme proportions are noted by those most inclined to utilize them. The ability to get onto the correct path for creating your own effective leadership style stems from within the individual, for realizing that it is the followers who recognize if a leader is successful is the first step. Share the glory with your team, but keep the pains to yourself. Small, cash-strapped nonprofits often find that the most accessible funding is restricted to specific initiatives, programs, and contracts. They accept them because they nominally fall within the organization’s broad mission statement, but they are much better aligned with the donor’s strategy than with the nonprofit’s. Because the funds barely cover the direct costs of the additional activity, much less the indirect costs, the nonprofit reenters the funding market again and again, each time as a bigger, less focused, and more cash-starved entity. Hence, within the non-profit sector, one can safely say that â€Å"The tree dies from the top†. As a consequence of this stick-and-stretch syndrome, nonprofits often develop anaerobic life styles. At one extreme is the bloated bureaucracy: It may have some hardworking parts, but as a whole, it’s slow moving and survives because of mission legitimacy, not mission performance. At the other is the ever-busy nonprofit characterized by action paralysis. The organization is so busy executing the day-to-day stuff, raising money, implementing programs, and so on, that it never steps back to consider the full implications of its actions. The combination of stickiness to the mission and stretchiness to market demands can undermine a nonprofit’s effectiveness. The stretchiness keeps it very busy on a day-to-day basis; it’s constantly executing programs and working to raise funds. But in a strategic sense, the organization moves very slowly because the stickiness holds it in place. Before it can move forward, it must unstick the inertia at its center and then creep forward one step at a time, carrying with it all its baggage. To create a strategy that is both ffective and measurable, nonprofits first need to translate their core mission into a narrower, quantifiable operational mission. Next, the nonprofit needs to convert the operational mission into a strategy platform using the following 4-step strategy process. Step 1: The Mission Statement. This statement tends to be broad and far-reaching and usually identifies the customer need the organization attempts to serve, such as hunger, homelessness, or une mployment. The purpose of the mission statement is to inspire. Its credibility lies in the significance and scope of the problem it has identified. A powerful and compelling long-term goal will draw the attention of funders, workers, and volunteers. Habitat for Humanity International’s goal is â€Å"to eliminate poverty housing and homelessness from the face of the earth [and] put the subject of inadequate housing in the hearts and minds of people. † The mission tells you the nature of the problem, but it doesn’t identify how Habitat will address that need or how much of it will be served by the organization. Step 2: The Operational Mission. This step brings the lofty, inspirational mission into the realm of quantitative goals. While the big mission should be broad enough to guide action through periods of organizational and environmental change, the operational mission must be narrow enough to allow the organization to trace its impact. The organization’s work should always be measurable, even if it must use proxies to do so. Habitat for Humanity, for example, tracks not only the number of homes it has built, but in some areas it also estimates the extent of poverty housing yet to be eliminated. Step 3: The Strategy Platform. This delineates how the operational mission will be achieved, including which programs to run and how to run them. The strategy platform consists of four important components: client and market development, program and service development and delivery, funder and donor development, and organization development and governance. (See the exhibit â€Å"Blueprint of a Strategy Platform. †) Each one should directly relate to the operating mission and should dovetail with the other components. Most important, every program should correspond to its appropriate strategy platform component. Step 4: The Choice of Programs. Once an organization has the platform for supporting the various strategy components in a coherent way, the day-to-day tasks of choosing which programs to fund and which to cut are much better guided. When a new program appears on the organization’s radar, the first question to ask is, How does the program contribute to the appropriate strategy component—funding development, for instance, or operational development? Conclusion: The leader in a non-profit like that of Arvind Hospital, should instead of trying to be all things to all people, should pick a niche, craft an operational mission and, flowing from it, formulate a coherent strategy platform. Then it should vigorously pursue those programs that support the logic of the entire strategy. That approach improves nonprofits’ chances for changing the world. Unfortunately, too few nonprofits conduct such strategic assessments of their work. And it is this difference which determines that how sustainable is sustainable?

To what extent was propaganda's importance to the rise of Hitler Essay

To what extent was propaganda's importance to the rise of Hitler - Essay Example Hitler had many personality flaws that had to be overcome before he could successfully lead any political party. Hitler was paranoid about many subjects. Takeovers and conspiracies were a common theme in Hitler’s mind. In Mein Kampf, Hitler talked about Jews endlessly. One example states â€Å"I gradually discovered that the Social Democratic Party was predominately controlled by Jews.† Hitler really believed that Jews had a worldwide conspiracy against the German people. Instead of showing his paranoia against the Jews, Hitler laid down logical reasons for his hatred toward the Jews. For example: He painted a vivid picture of a revivified and dynamic 'racial community' that would overcome all distinctions of class, estate and station. The economy would be invigorated by two four-year plans and 'national rebirth' ensured by the reassertion of family values and a return to the basic tenets of Christian morality. Instead of just stating his paranoid facts about the Jews, Hitler used a positive spin to include others in his paranoid beliefs. The propaganda of the Jews standing in the way of better economic plan, or even a better Germany was easier to sell to the Germans than paranoid beliefs about a Jewish or Communist conspiracies. Another problem that Hitler had to hide was his phobia with the opposite sex. Hitler was very shy around women. One woman that he loved above others was his niece, Geli. There is much speculation about whether these two had a sexual relationship. The relationship came to a tragic end when Geli commuted suicide. Hitler only had serious relationships with three women, Geli, Miezl Reiter, and Eva Braun Not much is known about Reiter, except she was his chauffeur’s sister.... tionship came to a tragic end when Geli commuted suicide.4 Hitler only had serious relationships with three women, Geli, Miezl Reiter, and Eva Braun Not much is known about Reiter, except she was his chauffeur’s sister.5 Eva Braun Hitler's longtime mistress, eventually married Hitler right before both of them committed suicide in the last days of World War II. Braun was not very stable. She tried multiple times to kill herself.6 Hitler did not appear publicly attached to these women. The propaganda surrounding Hitler and women was on of a single man. The unattainable bachelor made German women swoon. Every German woman attracted to Hitler could imagine the possibility of being with the Fuehrer. If he needed to use propaganda to promote a wife, children, and family life, Hitler used Magda Gobbels, Josef Gobbels' wife.7 The single bachelor image helped promote his popularity with women, despite his failed personal relationships. In order to carry out the Final Solution, or the d estruction of the Jews, Hitler could not lay out his true plans. This is where propaganda came into play. In order to cover up the paranoia of a madman, Hitler started laying out a case against the Jews. His first propaganda piece was Mein Kampf. As his position in the Nazi movement grew so did the propaganda. The main propaganda against the Jews was the idea that: Hitler and his leading propagandists were able to entertain completely contradictory versions of events simultaneously, one rooted in the grandiose idea of a master race and world domination the other in the self-pitying paranoia of the innocent, beleaguered victim. Grandiosity and paranoia were two poles of one fanatical ideology.8 By portraying his anti-Semitic sentiments as a noble cause, or a German cause, Hitler was able to come