An Opinion towards the Ideal Government Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

An Opinion towards the Ideal Government - Essay Example The essay "An Opinion towards the Ideal Government" describes what the ideal government could be since the success or the defeat of a nation depends on how it is being governed. Though there is no specific pattern or a proven theory as to what political structure is the skeleton of an ideal government. An ideal government would somewhat be patterned to the Democratic Socialism political structure. It would be more of getting the better aspects of the 2 political structures with the aim that the principles of the 2 would be intertwined to attain the success of one. The people in the community will have their share of freedom and restrictions. As justified by the golden rule, it is only the means which is good and therefore virtuous. If a particular community will be given too much freedom, there are tendencies that the government will be exploited and mocked. On the contrary, when a government becomes too authoritarian, it will lose the respect of the community because of the restrict ions that are being imposed. State and economy are entities perceived to be better off separated. Monopoly in the government should be avoided. This will ensure not just the stability of the state and the economy as different entities but of the government as a whole. Friedman and Friedman expressed that, â€Å"The relation between political and economic freedom is complex and by no means unilateral†. If both divisions are being governed by one branch of governance, there is a great possibility that monopoly will occur.

Flowers for Algernon - Qualities That Surpass Intelligence Essay Example for Free

Flowers for Algernon Qualities That Surpass Intelligence Essay Flowers for Algernon, is a classic novel written by Daniel Keyes a young mentally challenged man named Charlie Gordon. This book chronicles, from a first person point of view, Charlie’s mental and physical struggles and achievements after undergoing a breakthrough procedure that is hoped to render him intelligent. Throughout the book, much of the focus is on Charlie’s academic progress while his emotional and personal development is not much of a concern. This becomes a problem because Charlie realizes that it is important to demonstrate qualities other than intelligence to lead a life that is oth happy and successful. Qualities shown to be more important than intelligence in Flowers for Algernon are: patience, kindness and respect. Throughout Flowers for Algernon, patience is often shown to be a more important quality in character than intelligence. Starting from the beginning when Charlie was still mentally challenged, people never seemed to be patient with him. If they had taken the time to get to know and understand him they would have seen that he had a good heart and genuine personality. This also applies to our everyday life. We must be patient and try to understand others before we begin to judge them. Charlie also demonstrated the negative consequences of a lack of patience when his intelligence began to surpass that of those around him, â€Å"I was afraid it would come to this, but I have no patience with her now. I’m jealous of every moment away from the work- impatient with anyone†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (Keyes 295). You can clearly see that due to his lack of patience with anyone around him, he is in a state of upset and distress. That is how patience is shown to be more important than ntelligence in this novel. Kindness is another quality shown to surpass intelligence in order of importance in Flowers for Algernon. Simply being kind to others can get you far in life and change others views and opinions of you in a positive way. This is shown when Alice tells Charlie what made him such a great person before he had the operation, â€Å"There was something in you before. I don’t know†¦ a warmth, an openness, a kindness that made everyone like you and like to have you around. † (Keyes 122). Being kind makes both yourself and others feels good. While everyone may not be able to solve an algebraic equation or understand Shakespeare, we can all interpret, accept and appreciate kindness in all its forms. This is why kindness is shown to be a more valuable quality than intelligence in Flowers for Algernon. A third quality shown to be more important than intelligence in Flowers for Algernon is respect. Everyone wants to be valued and respected and when you behave in this way towards others, it is often reciprocated. Everyone should learn to respect each other for who they are and not try to change them. Each person is an individual with their own thoughts and feelings and we can not change them. In the novel, a bakery employee stresses the importance of respect when the other workers make fun of Charlie, â€Å"He can’t help what he is†¦ but for God’s sake, have some respect! He’s a human being! † (Keyes 199). Charlie also often feels that he is not being respected as a human being and that he is just being treated as an experiment. This has a negative impact on him and also demonstrates the importance of respect. Those are the ways that respect is shown to be a ore valuable quality than intelligence in this novel. If one looks between the lines in the novel Flowers for Algernon, they will interpret many messages and take away valuable lessons from it. One of which is that there are qualities that are much more valuable and important than intelligence. The qualities that are shown to be more important than intelligence in Flowers for Algernon are patience, kindness and respect. By possessing and utilizing these qualities a person can lead both a happy and successful life and better the lives of those around them.

Impact of Ebusiness on an Organisation

Impact of Ebusiness on an Organisation 1.1 Introduction: The purpose of this project is to provide research findings of the impact of e-business on a particular organisation. The research carried out in this project was based on the performance of Ocado an online grocery company and being online business how this company differentiate itself from other companies in the same industry and get advantages of e-business in this modern era of technology. 1.2 Why e-business: Businesses that are run on the internet or uses information and communication technology to improve efficiency and profitability are known as e-businesses. The impact of e-business on an organisation is seems to me different and logical topic. It is different because it changes the living styles of people and effects the social lives of people. Going through research on this topic I can learn a lot of new things on the infrastructure of e-business and way of doing e-business. Due to technological boom e-business is the future of businesses. It would let me figure out the competitive advantage of e-business on traditional one and potential of change in social behaviour of people. The choice of this topic helps me to apply my academic knowledge and improve my communication and analytical skills and helps me to improve professional career. This topic not only provide me impact on one organisation but will also tell me how global businesses change due to technological revolutions. 1.3 Company Profile: Ocado is a British online retailer specialising groceries. Ocado is partly owned by John Lewis partnership pension fund. Ocado is a limited company was founded in 2002 by Jonathan Faiman, Jason Gissing and Tim Steiner, former Goldman Sachs merchant bankers. Ocado has a number of own brand products from Waitrose supermarket chain and also name brand groceries and items like toys, flowers and magazines. Since 2002 Ocado has been making losses even though it has won customer service awards in the UK. Ocado was listed on London Stock Exchange on July 2010 and is member of FTSE 250 Index. The company is operating on a warehouse model deprived of physical stores and operating as an online business. Ocado operates in Englands South East, South Coast, Midlands, North West and most of the Yorkshire. (http://www.ocadogroup.com/about-us/history.aspx) To revolutionise the way people shop forever, by giving them a uniquely innovative and greener alternative to traditional grocery shopping. (http://www.ocadogroup.com/en/about-us/mission-statement.aspx) Ocado is an online business; it has also launched iPhone, iPod touch, iPad and Android device applications which are most convenient way to shop for groceries. People do not require desktop PCs or laptops to shop online; they can use their phones to shop for groceries. Ocado allows its customers to price match with other main grocery stores in the UK. Ocado has launched online price match with its competitor store Tesco. Ocado is one of the rapidly growing online businesses in the UK with delivery area expanded to cover over 10m households. 1.4 Industry Profile: Online grocery retailing remains in its infancy with both demand and the proposition often limited in many countries. In the UK, online represents just 2.6% of the total UK grocery market. Nevertheless, with increasing broadband penetration and shopper lifestyles continuing to change, the internet looks set to become more important as a grocery retail channel in 2010. (http://www.igd.com/index.asp?id=1fid=1sid=8tid=30cid=1499) The value of the UK online grocery market to have grown by 85% from  £2bn in 2006 to  £3.7bn in 2009. Online is set to play a greater role in future grocery shopping patterns. We predict that the value of the online grocery market will nearly double in size to  £7.2bn by 2014, with a forecast annual growth rate more than three times faster than that of the wider grocery sector. Many online shoppers pick from a shortlist of favourites although more than nine in ten can be swayed to try something new. More than six in ten (62%) online shoppers mentioned that they would try something new if they could select a free sample. Other preferred tactics include better or more offers listed at the top of the page, offers on linked products and more prominent displays and descriptions of new products. However, although shopping online for groceries has become increasingly popular over the last few years, this section of shoppers represents less than one in four of those who buy goods and services online. This means there is a significant opportunity for grocery retailers to expand their online sales. (http://www.igd.com/index.asp?id=1fid=6sid=25tid=90cid=1409) 1.5 Aims and Objectives of the Report: To analyse the impact of e-business on Ocado and how the online business approach change the behaviour and motivation of people. One of the main aims of this report is to evaluate and compare the growth and financial performance of Ocado with other traditional grocery shopping organisations. Following are objectives of this report: To understand how Ocados online business approach progresses in order to achieve the revenue and market share. To analyse the financial performance of the Ocado and compare it with other supermarket retail industry. What are the potentials and limitations to the future growth of the online shopping businesses? Part 2: Information gathering and accounting/business techniques Sources Used: Primary data is original data that has been collected by a researcher by whatever means appropriate in the answer of a specific research question. i.e. it has been collected specifically for the Research Report.  Examples of primary data include questionnaires, interviews, e-mail contacts and surveys. (http://www.accaglobal.com/students/bsc/rap/gathering) Due to immediate surge in information technology industry, there is sufficient amount of secondary data available which has been used in this report. This data suffices all aspects of this report. Therefore most of my research is based on secondary data. Secondary data is data which has been collected by other people or organisations for their own purposes and researcher has used this data for different purposes. My secondary data consists of two main sources of collection: Library research: I went to local and college library and searched for several types of books and extract my project related material and used it in my report. BPPs Success in your research and analysis project provided the platform to sketch out broad counters of this research. The study text materials of ACCA (published by both BPP and Kaplan) has helped me to apply analytical techniques and also taught me how to evaluate my research findings. I also used articles published in ACCA student accountant relating my project which also helped me in meeting the goals of the project. Online research: Major parts of my research are based on material available online. This also shows impact of online on our research and daily use of communication. I find it quite credible to find online research material for a web based company. Following are the websites and search engines used to collect the information; Ocado limited website; this site provide the useful and more reliable information necessary for my project. This site provide me the audited annual reports of the company, company profile, history, investor information and other important information required. Competitors websites used for same purposes as mentioned above. ACCA website provide the help to find out the relative articles which I used to analyse the information. The food and grocery experts igd.com provides the statistical data about industry, surveys about trends in industry and its future. London Stock Exchange and NASDAQ websites provide the news about the industry, historic share performance competitors and surveys. Google, Yahoo and Bing are search engines used to find information about Ocado, retail industry and e-business techniques. Other websites used to find the news about Ocado , online grocery businesses, surveys and competitors are: Financial Times The Guardian BBC news 2.2 Methods of Analysis: To emphasize the impact of e-business on Ocado and to make comparison of its results in all business and financial aspects, results of Waitrose plc will be used. The objectives of the project are based on Ocados business approach and what make in it differentiate from other businesses, thus the report is based on the following aspects: Porters Generic Strategies. Consisting of three types of strategies to maintained and achieved competitive advantage by the businesses. Two strategies lie in the strategic strength, is a supply side dimension and focus on product differentiation and product cost. Third strategy lies in the strategic scope in the demand side dimension concentrate on the particular size and composition of the market. SWOT Analysis. It is strategic planning method used to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats involved in an organisation. It analyse the external and internal factors of the organization that are favourable or unfavourable to achieve that organizations objectives. PEST Analysis. It is tool of environmental analysis, especially concentrates on macro environment which includes Political, Economic, Social culture and Technological factors. Trend Analysis. Using the past data to predict the future outcomes in the industry. B2C and B2B. Business 2 Customer includes customer service and interface design while Business 2 Business includes channel partner and system integration. Sales Growth. This will analysis the trend of sale over the past years and comparison with competitors. Profitability. The comparison of the profitability to past years and competitors and ability to generate profits. ROCE (Return on Capital Employed). Use to analysis the organization return on long term investment. Gross/Net Profit Margin. These ratios analyse the organizations operational efficiency, its costing policy and ability to control cost. Capital Gearing Ratios. Analyse the capital structure of the organization and reveal how much an organization relies on debt financing. Investor outlook. The return to shareholders compare with other organizations. Earnings per Share. This ratio shows the profit attributable to each individual share. 2.3 Limitations of Analysis: In order to analyse impact of e-business on an organisation, it is critical to make sure the sustainability of information technology remains constant in the industry. In todays environment as every organisation and governments are dependent on information technology, it is inevitable to some human error. From internet perspective selling online is quite new business as it only has 2.6% share in the whole retail industry. This information could change as new competitors introduce new business techniques which could impact this particular organisation. Some of the information taken from surveys has limitations as buying online grocery is quite newly introduced phenomena for British people and the information is not quite mature. Financial information use in this analysis has inherent limitations which include estimates and figures that are highly influenced by personal decisions. Financial statements are prejudiced by the choice of accounting policy e.g. a company seeking to improve its ROCE may choose not to revalue its assets. Financial statements have past data; it is not feasible to predict future on the basis of this data. In SWOT analysis there is problem for companies to identify the elements of their own organization e.g. strengths appears to one person can have different meaning for other. Ratios we used in our analysis also have inherent limitations. Firstly ratios are derived from financial statements that also have several limitations. Ratios are only useful when compared with the past results of the business and judge the performance of the business but the future forecast may not correct because several other factors also involved like market condition, etc. also the ratios have to be interpreted and different people may interpret differently. 2.4 Methodology used: Data collection is an important part of the project that should be planned and carried out and is completed in a well way for consideration. We have access to a lot of reliable and relevant information both online with easy access to internet and offline. Planning is completed and appropriate extraction of data provides help to develop good content of the reports. The method of search used is the Google search engine. By writing some key words in the search bar and clicking the entre it provides me the so many links of the websites that match with the key words. Most of the links are relevant to my search and contains a lot of information but some links are irrelevant to my research. However I am able to extract the relevant information suitable in the preparation of my project. Offline search include reading the books and journals and see if some information suitable for my report, make a note of it and use it later in my report. I done research thoroughly in advanced and bookmarks the relevant articles and websites using the web browsers because it could be needed to me for the citation of information if chosen to be quoted in my report. Using the study text materials (both Kaplan and BPP) to calculate the financial ratios and in their interpretation. Financial Statements of Ocado and Waitrose are downloaded from their respective websites. MS Excel was used for the graphical explanation of the ratio and trend analysis. Part 3: Analysis and Presentation 3.1 SWOT Analysis: Strengths: Broad range of products Contract with Waitrose Customer proposition Weaknesses: Dependence on UK market Loss making Opportunities: UK online retail industry Non food Threats: Future acquisitions Competitors Fraud STRENGHTS Broad range of products: In addition to its current area of strategic focus, the company intends to investigate growth opportunities by improving the customer offering continually through maintaining and improving the customer experience; increasing its core product range; and continuing to offer value to customers (Annual Report 2009, Ocado limited). Ocado sells more than 20,000 different products, the vast majority of which are sourced through Waitrose, a leading high quality UK supermarket. Approximately 4,300 of the products sold by Ocado are Waitrose-branded products. Ocados product range includes a small but expanding range of Ocado branded products (Ocadogroup.com, Strategic Overview). Choices of the different range of products enable the customers to buy the products that match their lifestyles and are within their budget. Also the availability of every type of product on one channel increases the chances of sale because customer did not want to go elsewhere if he find everything on one place. It helped consumers to spend less without compromising on choice or quality. Contract with Waitrose: The Companys reputation is based at least in part on its relationship with Waitrose and its ability to supply Waitrose branded products. If Waitrose ceased to supply the Company with products or if Waitrose were to suffer reputational damage which impacted on the Waitrose brand there could be an adverse effect on the Companys financial position and future prospects. The Company has a successful symbiotic relationship evolved over 10 years and has recently agreed a new branding and sourcing agreement until 2020. The Company is not dependant on the Waitrose supply chain as 85% of items sold are now sourced directly from suppliers. In May 2010, a new 10 years deal was signed with Waitrose (Annual Report 2009, Ocado Ltd). There were some rumours about Ocado and its 10 years contract with Waitrose. Previous contract signed for 10 years were with Waitrose was about to end and if this contract will not renewed it can cause big problems for Ocado because in 2010 Ocado is going to listed on London Stock Exchange. But in May 2010 deal with Waitrose was signed for 10 years in which there is a non-competition agreement with Waitrose and with Waitrose likely to extend its delivery services to highly lucrative M25 region. Customer proposition: Ocado offers delivery of grocery products to customers centrally picked from a single, state-of-the-art, highly automated warehouse (the customer fulfilment centre or CFC) (Ocadogroup.com, Strategic Overview). Customer satisfaction is part of every business, Ocado uses its unique strategy the customer fulfilment centre (CFC) in which Ocado make sure the availability of products, freshness of products and wide range of products. Sanford C. Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference Europe 2010 Presentation, Ocado Ltd, shows; 99.4% fulfilment accuracy and product availability given structural advantages. 97.6% of orders delivered on time or early. Structural advantages allow Ocado to guarantee freshness and use-by dates. WEAKNESSES Dependence on UK market: Although Ocado is still expanding its business to the other parts of the country and it is probable that Ocado will make profit in near future. But the company is fully reliant on the UK retail industry, any changes in the UK retail industry or changes in UK economic conditions like recessions can affect the Ocados growth. Increased competition also affects the sale growth of the company. Loss making: Ocado is making losses since it was corporate. However, the last three year results shows that it is improving towards profits like in 2007 Ocado incurred the loss of  £40m, in 2008  £33m and in 2009 Ocado incurred the loss of  £23m, the reason for this losses is the expansion of Ocados operations around the UK. Due to large investment in expansion of operations, Ocado loses the confidence of investors and its share price decreases dramatically. The company and its advisers have been promoting the impression that the company will be valued at around  £1 billion after raising some  £200 million in the planned float, but many analysts, of course not those closely involved with the offer, are highly critical of this valuation (http://www.moneyobserver.com/news/10-07-01/ocado-and-fairfield-energy-ipos-under-spotlight). OPPORTUNITIES UK Online retail industry: UK grocery retail industry is largest industry with the sales revenue of  £146bn, while the online grocery business has only 2% of the total sales revenue. UK Online grocery sales (2007-14),  £bn (Sanford C. Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference Europe 2010 Presentation, Ocado Ltd) These figures show the opportunities for Ocado in online retail industry to grab the sales because online retail industry looks highly opportunistic. Non-food: Extended the business in non-grocery products are part of the Ocados future developments. The potential of growth in non-grocery products is much more than grocery items, so there is an opportunity for Ocado to increase its sales revenue by extending the business in non-grocery items. As Ocado is online grocery business, only 2% of total retail shopping comprises of grocery, while 98% consist of other non-grocery items. THREATS Future acquisition: Ocado plans to expand its business all over the UK. It has many opportunities for the business but along this it also has the threats to business. Ocado is making losses since it is incorporate this is because of its acquisition strategy but if it still applied same strategy, Ocado will be in great trouble. It loses investors confidence due to high level of borrowings. If Ocado uses same strategy, it will be run out of cash for their operations. Competitors: The retail grocery industry is highly competitive and the online market place is no different. Ocado has an established business model and superior customer proposition. The proprietary IP and experience gives Ocado a competitive advantage. A clear strategy is in place to widen the customer base by improving online experience, customer service, product range and pricing, and reducing environmental impact (Annual Report 2009, Ocado Ltd). Ocado operates in a highly competitive retail market. With other supermarkets struggling for position in the UK retail market, Ocado invested in price cuts and discount promotions in order to stay competitive. This will affect the Ocados sales revenue and profits. Especially in recession, when customers are looking for low price products, price cuts could result in the decline of industry profitability. Price cuts also have an adverse effect on the perception of customers for the quality of products; this can damage the brand image of Ocado. Fraud: The risk of fraud from staff is less due to the nature of the business; IT procedures are in place to reduce this risk to further. Whatever the precautions are put in place to avoid the fraud but the we cannot reduce it to zero. There are potential threats of security breakdowns on their websites for online businesses. For Ocado major threat is the loss of sales due to credit card frauds. 3.2 PEST Analysis: Political: Ocado operate in United Kingdom, it provide it the stable political environment. Ocado can make long term decisions and this also guarantees Ocado a large range of economic actions. Political stability and strong economy provides the Ocado to get customer confidence and improve its operations. Economic: Economy plays a vital part in the operations of the Ocado. Economic conditions of the country influence the supply, demand, costs, prices and profits of the company. Due to recession in the world, UK along with other countries face the unemployment, this affects the demand and profit levels of the company. Sales growth decreases due to global recession, especially the sales of non food items are highly affected by this recession as people avoid the purchase of non essential items. Social: The social influence on the business of Ocado has been more important over the past few years. This is because the behaviour of people is changing towards grocery shopping. Due to lack of time and busy life, customers prefer to purchases in bulks and on one shop. Trend of online shopping has also been increased and this is beneficial for the Ocado. Ocado has different timing slots for deliveries suitable for customers according to their routine. Technological: Due to the nature of the business, technological factors have significantly influenced the Ocado. Recent technological advancements has revolutionised the organisations and changes the way of doing businesses. Online shopping saves the time of the busy people. Through introduction of technology it eliminates the need for paperwork and reduces the cost of administration work. 3.3 Porters Generic Strategies: Ocado aims to have a market leading customer proposition. Ocado introduced branded product to lower the prices of own label products sold (customer proposition, Ocado Ltd). Porter identified three generic strategies to take the advantage of competitive forces like cost leadership, differentiation and focus strategies. According to porters generic strategies Ocado comes under the cost leadership, where it is trying to compete with the market by lowering the cost. It launches Tesco price match for customers to compare prices with Tesco before purchase. However Ocado is not wholly dependent on one strategy because customer often seeks more than price satisfaction. They look for product quality, style and timely deliveries. Ocado competed his competitors by providing the customers high quality of products, availability of products and delivering the products to customers on time. We use smart thinking and cutting-edge technology to keep honing our uniquely efficient delivery model. This helps us to drive down prices and guarantee exceptional value for money. We have a passion for delivering quality groceries in perfect condition and on time, while treating our customers with care and honesty. This helps us to share our vision of a different way of shopping: a better, greener and more convenient one (Mission Statement, Ocado Ltd). PIMS (Profit impact of marketing strategy) data and other surveys show, that the intermediary positions are indeed profitable and therefore successfully exploited by many firms. (Michael Cronshaw, Evan Davis and John Kay (1994), pp. 19-33) 3.4 B2B and B2C: Both terms are used with reference to the internet technology and commonly applied in e-businesses. Business 2 Business largely concern itself with supply chain management and allows the business to directly contact with the suppliers and distributors. While business 2 consumer concern the relationship between the customer and the supplier. It primarily concern to sell goods to end consumers. All such businesses are online businesses and Ocado is the best example for such type of relationships. In business 2 business Ocado use the internet for searching products catalogues, ordering from suppliers, making invoices and making online payments. In business 2 consumer Ocado uses its website to offer customers a wide range of products, providing information about prices of the products, delivery timing and everything they want to know about the products, offers and Ocado. 3.5 Trend Analysis: [The entire figures used below are taken from the annual reports of Ocado Ltd, Tesco and Waitrose (johnlewis partnership) 2007-2009 unless otherwise stated.] Purchase frequency: The online market is dominated by those buying on a relatively infrequent basis. On average online grocery shoppers use the channel twice per month Three in ten (30%) only shopped online on a very occasional basis e.g. in an emergency or for special occasions such as Christmas Only one in six (15%) online grocery shoppers had a heavy reliance on online and shopped once a week or more frequently Most online shoppers fall into the regular/top-up group A third (34%) buy food and groceries online every 3-4 weeks One in five (21%) purchased slightly more frequently, once every 1-2 weeks (Online grocery shopping, igd.com) Key Financial Performance Indicators: Average order size ( £): The average size of the order was increased in 2008 from  £112.17 to  £116.3 which indicated the attraction of consumers toward the online shopping. In 2009 the average order size is slightly low than the previous years but this did not mean the reduction of people trends towards online shopping because if order size decreases in this year on one hand on the other side the sales growth increases by 25% in this year. Average number of orders/week: The increase in number of orders in 2008 is 12% higher than the previous one while in 2009 the increase is 25% per week. This shows the sales of the Ocado increases and Ocado has the potential the to expand his business in the growing market of online shopping business. Average % product wastage: The average percentage of product wastage of Ocado decreases continuously from 2007 to 2009. This is because of the increased efficiency of the operations of the Ocado and handling its products more effectively. Another reason for low wastage is the usage of the new technologies and less involvement of manual handlings. CO2 Emission: Ocado has taken actions to lower its carbon footprint and reduce its environmental impact include: closed-loop grocery bag recycling, whereby when making a delivery, drivers offer to collect used bags from customers which are recycled within the UK to make new Ocado grocery bags; wasting significantly less food as a percentage of gross sales than any of its competitors; and signing up to the Climate Change Agreement (with the Carbon Trust), which places certain obligations on management to monitor and lower carbon usage. Ocado has co-developed two prototype electric powered vans, which are currently completing testing before being introduced into Ocados delivery fleet. (Environmental awareness, Ocado Ltd) CFC Efficiency: The customers fulfilment centre (CFC) efficiency increases over the period of time. This efficiency has been achieved by the introduction of highly automated warehouses and less involvement of manual work. The company is willing to expand the CFC capacity by building the second CFC and the spoke network in the near future. Green business: Being green is part of Ocados business model. This has been recognised in various awards.Ocado was voted Green Retailer of the Year 2009 in The Grocer Gold Awards, Large Retailer of the Year 2008 in the Online Green Awards and won Ethical/Green Practice 2009 at the IMRG E-Commerce Awards for Excellence. A traditional supermarket requires deliveries first to be made to a regional distribution centre and then to the supermarket itself. Customers then often drive to the supermarket in order to shop, and the supermarkets themselves require energy to be lit and heated and tend to have open fridges and freezers in an otherwise ambient environment.   Ocado delivers straight from the CFC to a customers kitchen, which eliminates much of the carbon emissions generated by traditional supermarkets and their stores, and also reduces the number of cars on the road. Each Ocado delivery van replaces a significant number of car journeys every day. (Environmental awareness, Ocado Ltd) 3.6 Ratio Analysis: Sales Growth: The sales revenue of the Ocado has been increasing since 2007. The sales revenue in 2007 was  £273m while in 2008 it was  £321m an increase of 15% was being recorded. Not only this also in 2009 the sales revenue of Ocado was  £402m with an increase of 25% than the previous one. When we compare the sales growth of Ocado with its competitor Waitrose, the sales growth is 7% and 5% in 2008 and 2009 respectively. Waitrose sales growth percentage is not even half of the Ocados percentage and we can analyse that people purchase the same products online rather than going to stores for it. The increase in the sales revenue of Ocado has been seen since it was incorporate this is because the behaviour of people towards the online shopping is being changed with the passage of time and as the grocery industry hides in itself a lot of potential to make profit. Ocado achieved this by using its long term strategies and by introducing customer fulfilment centre in which Ocado emphases on the ne eds of the customers. (Annual reports 2007-2009,Ocado Ltd) Gross profit margin: The gross profits of Ocado seem to be remaining same over the past few years although the sales revenue of the company increases over the period. This is because the company keep its prices same to keep its customers to pay less in the period of recession. In 2009 the gross profit margin of the Ocado decreases from 32% to the 30.6%, the reason for this is further decrease in the selling price without any decrease in costs of the products. It happened because Ocado launches its price match campaign with Tesco and Sainsbury. It is also due to the reason

Failure of the Legal System in Atonement, Wonder Boys and The Round Hou

The code of Hammurabi, dating back to 1772 BC, is one of the oldest recorded legal codes and reflects the early Babylonians’ views of justice. The code is best known for â€Å"an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.† By enumerating punishments for certain crimes the code removes ambiguity and combined with its relatively harsh penalties, especially on lower class citizens, served as an effective deterrent. More profoundly however, Hammurabi’s code formally shifted justice-seeking responsibilities from the individual to the state. Today, most modern legal systems are structured similarly to Hammurabi’s code with their own codified laws and listed punishments. Capital punishment and the idea that â€Å"the punishment should fit he crime† are derivatives from the ancient text that are widespread in the world today. Hammurabi’s code however was not without fault. Pervasive throughout the archetype of modern law are inequitable punishments determined by one’s social standing. For example, the 8th law of Hammurabi’s code states, â€Å"If any one steel cattle or sheep, or an ass, or a pig or a goat, if it belong to a god or to the court, the thief shall pay thirtyfold therefore; if they belonged to a freed man of the king he shall pay tenfold; if the thief has nothing with which to pay he shall be put to death† (King). Both the social standing of the violator and the victim of the crime played a large role in determining what the penalty would be. Today, our view of justice has ostensibly metamorphosed, to the extent that most people today would recognize that the 8th law from Hammurabi’s code was prejudiced and wrong. Although some may wish to remove themselves from such an unjust system, the reality is that we are not far from it. The mode... ...sity, n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2013. . Lee, Jaeah, and Brett Bownell. "Charts: Why You're in Deep Trouble If You Can't Afford a Lawyer." Mother Jones. Mother Jones, 1 July 2013. Web. 10 Dec. 2013. . McEwan, Ian. Atonement: A Novel. New York: N.A. Talese/Doubleday, 2002. Print. Stevenson, Bryan. "We Need to Talk about an Injustice." TED: Ideas worth Spreading. TED Talks, Mar. 2012. Web. 10 Dec. 2013. Wright, Paul. "Prison Legal News - Legal Articles, Cases and Court Decisions." Prison Legal News. Prison Legal News, n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2013. .

Exercise and Healthy Diet for Obesity

Exercise and Healthy Diet for Obesity Obesity is a medical condition that requires long term treatment and intervention in which a regular exercise and healthy diet are probably the most believable two important treatments that could help altering the clinical course of obesity. First of all, exercising on a regular basis is believed to be one of the two most essential factors helping you to get a better health condition. This is because exercising is a process of using the amount of energy from the fat stored in your body.There are many types of exercise in which different modes of exercise produce different physiological responses. However, in my opinion, I think that the most effective type of exercise would be aerobic exercise such as jogging, running, cycling, and swimming. Aerobic exercise most requires you to extensively work out on your large muscles group which particularly includes your leg and core muscles. Moreover, this mode of exercise should take between 30 to 60 minut es and 3 to 5 days per week.As you are exercising, your maximum heart rate intensity should be between 55 to 65 percent of your maximum heart rate, recommended for weight loss. Nonetheless, all beginners should initially start their exercise with a low intensity as the beginners are easily at high risk of joints injury, if you do not begin at the low intensity. In addition to aerobic exercise, there is also another effective mode of exercise which is known as anaerobic exercise whereby weight training is the most common activity for anaerobic exercise.Weight training activity allows your particular muscles to work more and therefore gains more muscle mass. As your muscle mass increases, the rate of metabolism in your body increases as well. Therefore, it is better for you to work on both types of exercise including aerobic and anaerobic exercises as these two modes of exercise would give you a better result in losing your weight. Next, another powerful factor for weight loss besides a regular exercise is ‘a healthy diet’ in which this would effectively help you to lose weight as well.Healthy diet means low calories, low fat, high protein, and carbohydrate restriction in your daily food consumptions. Moreover, this simply means that to eat healthy is to pick fruits or vegetables for the week, plan a meatless day, prefer beans for protein, reduce fat from meats, eat more home cooking and snack with fruits. The power of healthy diet can help you to decrease your body fat more constantly and that would help you to better achieve weight loss.Hence, it is very important that you should refrain from eating sweets and fried food if it is not necessary and instead focusing more on the food with high protein and fibre. However, ‘fasting’ is strictly prohibited for healthy diet as each particular meal should include an adequate five food categories; which are carbohydrate, protein, fat, vitamin, and fibre. Fasting or dieting could cause you to b e starved and that would lead you to malnutrition, which is harmful to your health as your rate of metabolic and muscle mass would reduce rapidly.Metabolic rate of the body is reduced due to fasting or dieting is when your digestive system of your body does not work as well as it does and if when you return to your normal eating, there is a high of possibility for you to get Yo-Yo Effect that might cause you to even gain more weight in a short time. Last but not least, either regular exercise or healthy diet could essentially help you to alter the clinical course of obesity.As regular exercise would decrease your heart rate, blood pressure, cholesterol, body fat and also improve your muscle functions, which these can help the obesity to alter their clinical course. Hence, healthy diet also helps you to decrease your unwanted body fat and increase your rate of metabolism as well. Therefore, it is recommended for the obesity that you should both work on your regular exercise and eat h ealthy food as if you do them together, the more faster the more healthy of your body will become.

Critical Analysis of Edgar Allen Poes The Raven The WritePass Journal

Critical Analysis of Edgar Allen Poes The Raven Introduction Critical Analysis of Edgar Allen Poes The Raven IntroductionReferencesRelated Introduction Edgar Allen Poe, when people see his name many think of scary or melancholy.   He has written many literary works that have traveled through the ages and become classics studied everywhere.   The Raven published in January of 1845 by The Evening Mirror was the poem that escalated Poe into poet status. Originally it is said that Poe went to his former employer a man named Rex Graham and tried to sell the poem to him but was politely declined but given 15 dollars as a simple charity.1 He later sold the poem to The American Review which gave him 9 dollars for it but published under a pseudonym of Quarles which was an English poet at the time.   It was not until January 29, 1845 that The Evening Mirror gave Poe his fame and published The Raven under his actual name.   The poem was an instant success and set his writing career soaring.   There was much debate and discussion about the meaning and the symbolism of this poem once published.   It caused quite a stir in the literary community.   Critical opinion was divided as to this poems status but it has remained one of the most famous poems ever written. Because of the poems great success Poe wrote a follow up essay called The Philosophy of Composition which described the working of The Raven.   He stated that the poem was written as if it was a mathematical problem.   He stressed that the reader must be able to read the poem in its entirety in just one sitting.   He believed you lost the meaning of the poem and the reader if they had to come back to it.   They should be able to take it all in one read.   Poe stated that a poem should stay somewhere around a hundred lines.   The Raven has exactly 108 lines.   This poem was actually written backwards.   He wrote the 3rd to the last stanza first and then wrote backwards from there.   He stated that the effect was determined first then the whole plot so the web will grow backwards from there for a single effect.   Poe was a great believer that to truly write anything one must first have a truly great plot. The symbolism in The Raven has been the most debated. Poes use of a raven in his poem has always been of great interest.   Many believe he drew from many references.   In Norse mythology Odin had two ravens Huginn and Muninn which represented though and memory. The book of Genesis makes the raven out to be a bird of ill omen.   According to Hebrew folklore, Noah sends a white raven out to check conditions while on the ark.   It learns that the flood waters are receding, but doesnt come immediately back with the news.   It is punished by being turned black and forced to feed on carrion forever.2 According to Adams in Ovidss Metamorphoses, a raven also begins as white before Apollo punishes it by turning it black for delivering a message of a lovers unfaithfulness.3  Ã‚   A lot of his critics believe this is some of the history he may have pulled upon when deciding about what type of bird to use.   By choosing the raven it made the poem more dark and supernatural , especially when Poe is describing the environment the young lover is sitting in while pining over his lost Lenore.   In The Philosophy of Composition Poe stated that he had actually considered using a parrot for the bird but it did not give the supernatural and foreboding feeling that the raven would. The ravens only spoken word through the whole poem is nevermore.   To give this more power in the poem he has the bird come in an perch on the bust of Pallus.   This represents the goddess of wisdom.   He chose this so that when the raven speaks the words nevermore it will possibly give him an air of wisdom instead stock and store being the only word he knows and just speaks it randomly.   He believed by using the raven and having it speak this one word throughout the whole poem it made the nevermores much more powerful when spoken in response to the narrator or young mans questions.   Each time the narrator would ask a question the raven simply answered nevermore.   He wanted to use something that would be utterly non-reasoning so it would have a powerful meaning when speaking, thus the use of the bird. The poem is about an allegedly young man who is sitting alone on a dark and very bleak December night pining over the loss of his one true love Lenore.   He is reading books of lore to help ease the pain of his loss.   It is then that he hears the tapping on the chamber door and opens it to find only emptiness. One can almost feel the bleakness and the loneness he must have felt being alone in his study with barely a fire left and everything dark around him.   It almost is letting you think he is completely lost in his own misery from his loss.   Everything is bleak and dark.   When the raven comes a tapping he at first is startled and then starts questioning that maybe it is something else.   He believes it could be the devil come to torture him over his loss.   He says the raven is from the nights plutonian shore or a messenger for the afterlife.   When after each inquiry he gives the bird it only responds as nevermore.   At first the nevermore response is taken as a silly bird that has only learned only one word and has accidentally flown from his master place, but when the bird actually makes his appearance and sits upon the bust of Pallus the young narrator starts to think maybe there is more to this raven than meets the eye. When the bird has perched upon the bust the young man is mesmerized by his presence and pulls up a chair.   He is now cast in the shadow of this mysterious bird and cannot leave his spot.   He believes many different things of this bird always inquiring about his lost Lenore.   The bird simply answers nevermore.   This at first agitates the man but as the poem continues towards the end he simply admits that his soul is trapped forever under the ravens shadow not to be lifted nevermore.   Here is when one could believe that this is the turning point where the young narrator has finally given in to his sadness and simply doesnt want to go on anymore without his beloved Lenore. The poem is actually sad.   A young man has lost the love of his life and is simply alone in this world and is having trouble entertaining the thought of going on without his missed and mourned love. The whole mood of this poem is very Poe.   Its dark and melancholy and scary no wonder so many have reprinted it.   Another thing this poem is noted for is its poetic structure.   This poem was made up of 18 stanzas with 6 lines each.   According to Richard Kopely the meter is trochaic octameter-eight trochaic feet per line, with each foot having one stressed syllable followed by one unstressed syllable.4  Ã‚  Ã‚   Poe claims that the poem is a combination of octameter acatalectic, heptameter catalectic and tetrameter catalectic.   The rhyme scheme is ABCBBB or AA,B,CC,CB,B,B when accounting for the internal rhyme.5 Another structure that this poem uses heavily is alliteration.   Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds in a series of words.   An example would be such as doubting, dreaming dreams.   Edgar Allen Poe was also reported as having a very extensive vocabulary. He would many times use words that were not commonly used.   In The Raven Poe used ancient and poetic language together because he thought it was appropriate because of the meaning of the poem,   A young lover who spends most of his time with books of forgotten Lore.   Examples of words he used in this poem are Seraphim which is a six winged angel standing in the presence of God. Another is Nepenthe which is a potion used by ancients to induce forgetfulness or sorrow.   Balm of Gilead is a soothing ointment made in Palestine. Plutonian the God of the underworld in Roman mythology. Poe believed the use of these words only enhanced the meaning he wanted to achieve in writing The Raven.  Ã‚   The internal words of rapping and tapping and napping create an internal rhyme that is said to be almost musical and combined with the alliteration it becomes hypnotic.   Onomatopoeia is also used throughout this poem.   This is words that sound like what they describe.   An example would be in lines 13-18 where rustling is used. As mentioned earlier the publication of the The Raven made Edgar Allen Poe and instant success.   Not only was it printed for its large demand but also parodied.   These showed up all over the North.   There were some downfalls to this publication.   Although loved and adored there were some who simply did not believe he actually wrote it.   Some believed he stole it from a Charles Dickens Story titled Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of Eighty.   The ravens in both stories are said to bear a great resemblance.   An anonymous writer is said to have written in to The Evening Mirror the publication who printed The Raven and suggested that it was plagiarized from a poem called The Bird of the Dream by an unnamed author.   They stated that 18 similarities between the poems existed.   At Poes death his friend Thomas Chivers claimed that Poes Raven was plagiarized from one of his poems and also claimed he was the inspiration for the meter of the poem.   Whatever the case Edgar Allen Poe will always be the one credited for the great masterpiece.   Many speculate that he wrote this poem in either 10 days or maybe 10 years one will never know.   This poem did not bring him much financial success but did make him a literary success.   His friend Elizabeth Barett wrote and told Poe that his raven had created a big sensation over in England.   Many of her friends are overtaken with fear while others are by the music the lyrics seem to display as you read.   Poe received many invitations public and private to recite this poem.   Many thought just to hear him recite this poem was an event in ones life.   Poe would come in and turn the lamp light low until the entire room was almost dark.   He would then stand near the center of the room and start to recite his poem in a very commanding voice.   It was state that the chosen he read this poem to were so mesmerized that they would almost not draw a breathe out of fright until he was done reading this poem.   It takes quite a literary genius to illicit this kind of resonse from an audience listening to something you wrote.   One can only imagine what the mood of the room must have been like, the room dark and foreboding and then one lone voice speaking of a lone young man who is lost and lonely and mourning the loss of his love.   It takes a gifted writer to bring these kinds of emotions to a reader.   Not many have come down in our literary history, especially one who can bring so many emotions to the table when reading one of his poems.   All of his works seem to bring signs of foreboding or gloom around the corner.   Edgar Allen Poe is renowned with this reputation.   If it is dark and melancholy then it has to be Poe. References 1. Silverman, Kenneth, Edgar A Poe: Mournful and never-ending Remembrance. New York: Harper Perennial. Pg 237 2.   Hirsch, David H. The Raven and the Nightingale .pg 195 3.   Adams, John.Classical Raven Lore and Poes Raven in Poe Studies. Vol. V, no. 2, December 1972. Pg 53 4. Kopley, Richard and Kevin J. Hayes. Two verse masterworks: The Raven and Ulalume, collected in The Cambridge Companion to Edgar Allen Poe, edited by Kevin J. Hayes. New York: Cambridge University press, 2002. Pg 192-193 5. Sova, Dawn B. Edgar Allen Poe: A to Z. New York City: Checkmark Books, 2001. Pg 208

Parallel Structure with Prepositions

Parallel Structure with Prepositions Parallel Structure with Prepositions Parallel Structure with Prepositions By Mark Nichol Writers often mistakenly withhold repetition of prepositions with corresponding sentence elements in the erroneous belief that those elements can share a single preposition. In each of the following sentences, a repeated preposition is missing, and a discussion after each example explains the problem and a revision resolves it. 1. These developments are significant as the cost and influence of regulation on business models remain high in many industries. This sentence’s construction implies that cost can share the preposition of with influence, but it requires its own, because cost is parallel not to influence but to â€Å"influence of regulation on†: â€Å"These developments are significant as the cost of, and influence of regulation on, business models remain high in many industries.† 2. Such dysfunction can arise from incentives that do not encourage resiliency and management being out of touch with the customer. Similar to the problem in the previous sentence, from should be repeated before management so that the reader is not led to believe that management corresponds to resiliency rather than to incentives: â€Å"Such dysfunction can arise from incentives that do not encourage resiliency and from management being out of touch with the customer.† 3. They are designing preventive and detective control activities that are effective in the new environment, both from a risk-management and operational-scalability perspective. For the phrasal adjectives â€Å"risk management† and â€Å"operational scalability† to be fully parallel, legitimately sharing the noun perspective, the second phrase must, like the first phrase, be preceded by an article: â€Å"They are designing preventive and detective control activities that are effective in the new environment, both from a risk-management and an operational-scalability perspective.† (Better yet, do so and transpose both and from and repeat perspective after each phrasal adjective: â€Å"They are designing preventive and detective control activities that are effective in the new environment, from both a risk-management perspective and an operational-scalability perspective.†) Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Grammar category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Types of Rhyme50 Idioms About Roads and Paths6 Foreign Expressions You Should Know