Associate Program Material Essay

Hard Drive Hard drives are complex storage devices in a computer. When installing a hard drive, you must consider numerous interface standards. You also must think about specific factors, such as the computer’s application, the type of motherboard, speed and noise, gigabyte barriers, subsystems, future storage needs, and archival issues. Refer to Ch. 8 of A+ Guide To Managing & Maintaining Your PC for a deeper understanding of these issues. You may measure hard drive performance by looking at three different sources of information. The first is the data rate, the number of bytes per second the driver can deliver to the processor. The second is the seek time, the amount of time it takes when the processor requests information from the driver and the first byte of information is delivered to the processor. The third is the memory capacity of the hard drive. For this assignment, you replace the internal hard drives from the computer featured in the Computer Hardware Simulator (CHS). The current internal hard drives are old and starting to fail. You need to replace the current hard drives with similar drives or drives with more storage capacity. Search the Internet for three types of hard drives compatible with the CHS computer, and enter your information for each drive into the New Hard Drive Chart below. After comparing the two drives, make a recommendation on which you would purchase and justify your decision. You only have a budget of $45 to work with, so choose carefully.

Service Delivery Systems McDonalds

Service Delivery Systems McDonalds Abstract The hospitality industry is more of a service industry, thus for an effective operational management, the focus should be on the quality of service that customers receive from the company. When quality and satisfying services are offered, then customers can develop loyalty to certain company, a factor that builds a strong brand name for the company.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Service Delivery Systems: McDonalds specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In the United States of America, the service industry account for over 80% of the economy’s job market; in hotel and tourism industry, much efforts has been made to improve the service delivery systems in the sector (McCluskey, 2004). The government has some policies meant to protect its population form poor quality form the sector players. McDonald is the world largest hamburger and fast food restaurants; which operates centrally and franchised business; to remain competitive in the fast developing industry, management should develop a quality service delivery system to all its over 31,000 restaurants in 119 countries. To manage and control service delivery, the management has to set some benchmarks and see their strict adherence (McDonald Official Website, 2011). This paper discusses service delivery systems in operation management; it will use the case of McDonald to diagnose the issue. Brief history of McDonald McDonald is a leading world sandwich provider with more than 31,000 restaurants in 110 countries in the world. Other than itself operating from a central point, it is in the business of franchising; the group restaurant was established in 1940 in San Bernardino, California by a duo by the names Richard and Maurice McDonald. It is known for its fresh quality fast food; the main fast food that the company is known with is sandwiches. The company offers both counter service and drive-through service depending with the locatio n and the nature of the particular outlet; it has both inside and outside catering however inside catering takes most of the business time. The company aims at improving quality and getting higher returns with the delivery of quality services and fresh foods (McDonald Official Website, 2011) Literature review Service in the hospitality industry In the hospitality industry the ability and willingness to provide quality services is seen as an essential strategy for success and survival; a service can be defined as an encounter between business and a customer that has supporting facility and using facilitated goods.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In McDonald for instance when a customer make an order for a hamburger then the hamburger is the facilitating good, the restaurant I the supporting facility while the people who were involved right from the supply of the ma terial to the service by the waiter form the chain of service (Neal and Quester, 2006). Any business, in the hospitality industry, has the customer as the most important stakeholder; they aim at creating good cooperation through the service they offer. Customers on the other side are motivated by factors within their psychological core, the consumer environment, and by marketer-controlled activity. Success in a business is attained when management can understand effectively the expectation of their customers and align their services and duties to satisfy those needs. As the saying goes, â€Å"a happy customer tells another while unsatisfied customer tells two others†. The phrase implies that it is much easy to lose customers than it is to gain them. The leadership of McDonald has been attributed to the quality of service they offer; however, no optimal level of service delivery that can be said to be the best, however, it should be continually be improved (Metters, Kathryn, M adeleine and Steve, 2006). Chart 1 The diagram below shows how different elements of service delivery lead to improved customer service: From the above diagram, it can be seen that service quality is an element of a number of elements that need to be implemented in an organization. McDonald and its franchisee should ensure that it ha s a flow chart of events that can be followed with the aim of having and end of satisfied customers.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Service Delivery Systems: McDonalds specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Organizations that offer service responsive to customers’ need perform better than those who do not care or are rigid to change. The hospitality industry is currently under pressure due to high competition and changes in consumers’ preferences. To remain competitive in this market, a company need to ensure it satisfy its customer. Sandwiches are fast foods present in most fast food joints but the choice of one is dependent on the customer. McDonald is an American Sandwich specialist company with its head office in United States of America. It has been in the business for over 70years thus the company has a pool of human resource that need to have well mastered the trade; at the same time, the company needs to have a service improvement charter for its continued success (McDonald Official Website, 2011) In the hospitality industry, there is high contact of service providers and the customers, the high interaction need to be strategically managed if it will be maintained. The experience that a customer gets now of service encounter has a wide influence on the attitude, perception and the feeling that he delivers from the institution. Though McDonald is a fast food restaurant, the internal customer has a large encounter with the external customer either directly or indirectly. Service quality and the experience that customers get form the company shoul d be looked into and improved accordingly (Cook, 2008) Service quality The utility that certain individual customers get from certain commodity is the quality of the commodity as long as the customer is concerned. There cannot be a single definition of service quality since it is more of the receivers’ perception that determines whether he will be willing to trade with the company in the future. When concerned on the quality of a service, there are two most important deviations: technical quality and functional quality. Technical quality deals with what is delivered while functional quality is all about how it has been delivered.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Technical quality is tangible while functional technical is not. McDonald management has the role of ensuring that the group of restaurants meets both technical and non-technical quality provisions (Kotler, Bowen and Makens, 2003). The chart below summarizes the service quality phenomenon: Chart 2 Service Encounter Or â€Å"Moment Of Truth Moment of service is the moment that a customer and the service he is receiving interact; it ranges from the general perception that a customer gets with the mention of a certain products or a certain business. McDonald has a strong brand name that offers the customer an appealing feeling; the name has to be protected by offering quality services and provision of goods that meets the demand of a customer. When a customer is within the premises of the business, the service offered, both tangible and technical should be of a high class that improves the general feeling derived by the customer. This is the way that the organization can strengthen its brand name (Kandampully, 2002), Service Operations Strategy When developing a certain effective service operational strategy, McDonald need to undertake an elaborate internal and external audit analysis, the analysis will offer the company with the right approach to improve its services. Three questions needs to be answered genuinely: Where the current position as far as service provision is concerned? What level of service quality does the company aim at offering? What are the expectations of the customers and what level are our competitors offering With clear answers to the above questions, then the management will be able to develop an effective service delivery system (Blomme, Rheede and Tromp, 2009). The following are the areas that need to be addressed in the system: Location issues To reach the target customers effectively, the management should ensure that it is located in areas that target customers can get delivery in the required time and space. McDonald being a fas t food needs to be located in areas with high population, and t accessible. For example, in busy streets, airport sites and bus terminals. When offering a franchise, the company should ensure that the franchisee company has a strategic location that can tap the target market effectively. In the cases, that the restaurant has low flow of customer, the chances that quality and fresh foods are not offered is high. When a restaurant is established, the managers should devise cost leadership, differentiation, and focus the products to the needs of the customer (Hartline, Wooldridge, and Jones, 2003), Service Strategy With the restaurants established, then managers should ensure they have a system of how service will be offered, service means that the those people offering the front service, waiters, cashiers, supervisors and manager, and those people offering the tangible products should be sensitive to the needs of a customer. Consumer preference theory states that for a customer to buy a certain product, the product must be outstanding among the options that the market offers; McDonald products can be said to be services, the services thus need to be outstanding and quality. To be outstanding, there must be continuous products innovation and an innovation that ensures that products can be differentiated. When a customer is able to differentiate a certain company’s products then the company is able to self-market itself and lead to increased customer satisfaction. Creativity and product innovation comes handy in creating product differentiation. McDonald is known for its international recognized sandwiches. To ensure that it remain competitive and create a more customer satisfactory goods, the company keeps inventing and improving the quality of sandwiches they serve. A continuous program of training of staffs should be implemented as it will assist the company offer the much need service quality (Grà ¶nroos, 2000). Products differentiation McDonald aims a t offering quality fast foods: the success of the company is dependent on the quality, freshness and reliability of the products. When a company is developing a product, there should be the need that the product is supposed to fulfill. Fast food joints are places where consumers should get a quick service; this implies that they should have an effective queue flow to ensure that they have ready products adequate for the consumers at a particular point in time and still the products have not stayed in the restaurant for many hours (PIZAM and SHANI, 2009). Other than the foods being available, the management should ensure that the foods are of the right quality and tastes that they offer is pleasant and offers a memorable experience to the customer; this will increase the utility that the customer will get. The trend that the customers follow at one given point is a change to the product that gives them a higher utility. When the product is developed, the team should always invest in offering something extra to the consumer. Products come with the idea of packaging, and how the product is presented to the final consumer, there is need to have a pleasant look as the way as the way the product is handled has an effect on its successes (Bebko, 2001). The role of operation managers in maintaining service delivery system Operations managers have the role of overseeing service delivery system are effective, they are the ones who make policies that target the improvement of the system. In an outlet of McDonald the operating management can be seen on three levels, outlet manager, daily managers, and supervisors; they should be working as a team to maintain and uphold high service delivery. When they are enforcing the laid down rules, they should be open for additions and improvement areas of deficiencies, they should from time to time undertake internal and external audit to gauge the success of the outlet. To implement and maintain high services operation manager shoul d adopt quality management systems like the use of TQM (total quality management system), adoption of Six sigma polices and the use of lean thinking; the spirit of Kaizen (continuous improvements) should be embarked on. With such polices that aim at improving the internal operations for efficiency developed, then the group of hotels will maintain and attain high service delivery. Of late the hospitality industry is faced with challenges of coping with changes brought about by globalization, people expectations are changing; McDonald operating management teams should be robust in analyzing and developing required intelligence that can assist the company improve on its service delivery. In foreign outlets, McDonald should develop culture intelligence teams that will assist when making decisions that fit the country of operation. Change in the industry should offer operating managers the drive to research on the best strategy to improve and grow their service delivery. Recommendation a nd conclusion McDonald is doing fairly well in the hospitality industry; however, the service of the chain of restaurants can be improved further to assist in the consolidation of the company’s leadership role. The major challenge facing the company is how to manage the large number of franchisee located in different areas. The management at central level should come up with a service quality charter that looks into technical and functional quality objectives. This will enhance service delivery. To expand customer base and get their loyalty, the company should look into its service delivery and aim at improving the experience that a customer derives; the â€Å"moment of truth† with the customer should offer a memorable experience that can make the customer hunger for more services. High quality service should look into the products quality, speed of service and the general outlook of the restaurants. McDonald leadership team has the role of pioneering a service improve ment strategy; an effective service strategy is strong competitive advantage in the hospitality industry. References Bebko, C. ,2001. Service encounter problems: Which service providers are more likely to be blamed?Journal of Services Marketing, (15)1, 6,pp. 480-495. Blomme, R., Rheede, A. and Tromp, D.,2009. The hospitality industry: an attractive employer? An exploration of students and industry workers perceptions of hospitality as a career field. Journal of Hospitality Tourism Education, (21) 2, pp. 6-14 Cook, S.,2008.Customer Care Excellence: How to Create an Effective Customer Focus. New York: Kogan Page Publishers Grà ¶nroos, C. ,2000. Service management and marketing: A customer relationship management approach. Chichester: Wiley. Hartline, M., Wooldridge, B. and Jones, K. ,2003. â€Å"Guest perceptions of hotel quality: determining which employee groups count most†. Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, 1(1),pp.43-52. Kandampully, J. ,2002. Service s management: The new paradigm in hospitality. Melboune: Hospitality Press, Kotler, P., Bowen, J. and Makens, J. ,2003. Marketing for hospitality and tourism. Upper Saddle River: Prentice-Hall. McCluskey, M., 2004.How Mature is Your Service Operation? Supply Chain Management Review, (8) 5,Pp. 17–20. McDonald Official Website.2011. McDonald. Available at  https://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en-us.html Metters, R., Kathryn, K., Madeleine, P., and Steve, W.,2006. Successful Service Operations Management. Thomson South-Western: Mason. Neal, C. and Quester, P.,2006. Consumer behaviour: implications for marketing strategy.NewJersey: McGraw-Hill. PIZAM, A. and SHANI, A,. 2009. The Nature of the Hospitality Industry: Present and Future Managers Perspectives. Anatolia, (20)1, pp. 134-150.

Tourist motivation Essay Example

Tourist motivation Essay Example Tourist motivation Essay Tourist motivation Essay Tourist motive is seen by many authors as one of the cardinal elements in understanding tourist decision-making behavior. A sound apprehension of travel motive plays a critical function in foretelling future travel form. The large reply to the basic inquiry, why do people go? has occupied the heads of tourer research workers for many old ages. Assorted methods have been employed to bring out travel motivations. The undermentioned literature will cast visible radiation on assorted theories that can be used to hold a cognition why people travel to urban finish. Tourist motive can be defined as the planetary integration web of biological and cultural forces which gives value and way to go picks, behavior and experience. ( Pearce, Morrison A ; Rutledge, 1998 ) . Put merely, motive is a province of rousing of a thrust or demand which impels people to activity in chase of ends. Once the ends have been achieved the demand subsides and the single returns to the equilibrium-but merely briefly because new motivations arise as the last 1 is satisfied. As cited in Seaton ( 1997 ) motive of the single individual to go, to look outside for what he can non happen inside have been mostly created by society and shaped by mundane life. Gray s ( 1979 ) travel-motivation theory, poses merely two chief motivations for travel. One is the desire to travel from a known to an unknown topographic point, called in Gray s theory wanderlust . The other motivation is what Grays called sunlust . This generates a trip to a topographic point which can supply the traveller with specific installations that do non be in his or her ain topographic point of abode. Some of the motivations which determine their travel picks are diversion, pleasance, new experiences, cultural involvement, shopping. Harmonizing to the push and pull construct, Crompton ( 1979 ) , push factors explains the desire for travel while the pull motivations have been used to explicate the existent finish choice.A Nine motives of leisure travellers were identified and classified seven as socio-psychological or push motivations and two as cultural or pull motivations. The seven push motivations were, flight from a perceived mundane environment, geographic expedition and rating of ego, relaxation, prestigiousness, arrested development, sweetening of kinship relationships, and facilitation of societal interaction. The pull motivations were freshness and instruction. Maslow ( 1943 ) identified two motivational types: tension-reducing motivations ; arousal-seeking motivations. Harmonizing to Maslow, there are five demands organizing a hierarchy, come oning from the lower to the higher demands. At the underside are the basic demands for nutrient, H2O and air. Then, above them is the demand for safety, security, and protection. Maslow argued that if the lower demands are fulfilled the person would be motivated by demands of the following degree of the hierarchy. Cooper et Al ( 2005 ) criticises Maslow s theory stating that why and how Maslow selected the basic five demands remain ill-defined, although Page ( 2003 ) feels that it has relevancy in understanding how human action is apprehensible and predictable compared to research which argues that human behavior is basically irrational and unpredictable. Though much unfavorable judgment about Maslow s theory, the touristry industry has borrowed a batch from Maslow because he provides a convenient set of containers that can be comparatively labelled and supply a utile model for understanding psychological motivational factors in touristry. Therefore, for illustration, although the evident intent of a trip may be for shopping, the underlying psychological motive may be to affect their neighbors and derive higher societal position. Iso-Ahola ( 1982 ) says that tourers will exchange functions while on vacation, and that over clip different demands will originate. Single motive may non ever move as the finding factor for travel. If within the vacation, the initial demands are satisfied, other motives might emerge. Indeed, it is congruous with Maslow s theories of demands to reason that if ab initio there is a primary demand for relaxation while on a vacation, the satisfaction of that demand will make consciousness of other demands such as geographic expedition of topographic point as a agency of geting a sense of belonging or to enable procedures of self-actualisation to take topogr aphic point. Dann ( 1981 ) has identified seven elements of tourer motives: travel as a response to what is missing yet desired ; finish pull in response to motivational push ; motive as phantasy ( prosecute in behavior and activities that are culturally unacceptable in their place environment like harlotry and gaming ) ; motive as classified intent ( VFRs ) ; motivational typologies ; motive and tourer experiences ; motive as auto-definition and significance ( the manner in which tourist define their state of affairss and respond to them ) . [ Page A ; Connell,2003 ] . P.Pearce ( 1988 ) as cited in Ryan ( 1997 ) lists five travel motives which he calls travel calling ladder where tourers develop changing motives of relaxation, stimulation, relationship, self-esteem and development, fulfilment. In Pearce s theoretical account, the motives listed can be divided into two classs. The demands may be egoistic or directed at others. Therefore, for illustration, relaxation may be a solo exercising where the holiday-maker seeks a quiet reposeful clip entirely or it can be relaxation in the company of others, jumping from the demand for external exhilaration and desire for freshness. Stimulation can be autonomous which springs from the concern for ain safety, or it can be directed toward others originating out of the concern for other s safety. Relationship can be autonomous which means giving love and fondness and keeping relationships, or it can be directed at others which means having fondness, to be with group rank. Self-esteem and development possibly autonomous like development of accomplishments, particular involvements, competency and command, or it may be directed at others like prestigiousness, glamor of going. Fulfilment is wholly autonomous as it fulfils single dreams, understands oneself more and experience interior peace and harmoniousness. There are some unfavorable judgments against Pearce s travel motives. For illustration, Pearce argues that stimulation may be understood along a dimension of hazard and safety of ego or others. However, it might be argued that there is a existent and typical difference between these two motives. Cohen ( 1972 ) as cited in Shaw A ; Williams ( 2002 ) , draws attending to the fact that all tourers are seeking some component of freshness and unfamiliarity while, at the same clip, most besides need to retain something familiar. How tourers combine the demands for freshness with acquaintance can in bend be used to deduce a typology. Cohen distinguished tourer utilizing sociological rules into organized mass tourer, single mass tourers, adventurer and vagrant. They feel that it is non based on any empirical informations. In add-on, these groups were besides differentiated along the lines of contact with the tourer industry, with mass tourers being termed institutionalized and the more individualistic tourer being regarded as non-institutionalised. Smith ( 1977 ) provided a more elaborate discrepancy of Cohen s tourer typologies. Smith ( 1977 ) identifies 7 classs of tourer who have been termed as interactive typologies : adventurer, elite, off-beat, unusual, inchoate mass, mass, and charter. Shaw A ; Williams ( 2002 ) opines that Plog s typology is based on inquiring tourers about their existent general life styles or value systems, frequently utilizing perceptual information derived from interviews. Plog s ( 1987 ) typology can be used to analyze tourer motives every bit good as attitudes to peculiar finishs and manners of travel. In footings of the latter, a tourer typology developed for the American Express ( 1989 ) has categorised travelers as: adventurers, fuss-budgets, dreamers, economizers and indulgers- all of whom viewed their travel experiences in different ways.

Marketing strategy of Adidas Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Marketing strategy of Adidas - Essay Example The firm that is analyzed in the paper is Adidas, the largest sport manufacturer in Europe and has Puma and Nike as its major competitors. They have divided their whole range of products into two segments: Adidas Performance and Adidas Originals. Adidas performance aims to show the loyalty and devotion of the brand to athletes, while Adidas Originals are all about fashion and lifestyle. The definition stated by Philip Kotler is: â€Å"The science and art of exploring, creating, and delivering value to satisfy the needs of a target market at a profit. Marketing identifies unfulfilled needs and desires. It defines, measures and quantifies the size of the identified market and profit potential. It pinpoints which segments the company is capable of serving best and it designs and promotes the appropriate products and services†. Adidas have been since its inception looking for opportunities in the market by constant market analysis. It has been seen that they have been the company of many firsts and therefore a company who has been creating a niche in many sectors. They introduced Adidas originals to target the market that did not wear the sportswear as they had no relation with sports but then Adidas cashed in on the opportunity by releasing a line of casual wears which would ultimately establish them in the non-sport sector as well. Main points from the definition: science and art of exploring, creating, and delivering value to satisfy the needs of a target market at a profit.... The only new thing it has ventured into is the fashion and style apparel industry as well. It has done the promotion of its products by hiring clubs and sportsmen from different sports and countries to be their ambassadors.. As for their casuals line they have even hired sportsmen in this arena but used them to portray the use of Adidas besides the sports they play, in their routine lives. Task Two SWOT Analysis is a strategic planning method that is used by companies to identify their internal and external conditions in one go. Strength and weakness are utilized as internal analysis tools while the opportunity and threats are used for external analysis. The SWOT analysis for ADIDAS is as follows (Smit, 2000): Strength: Adidas is a very established brand. It has been in the market since 1949 producing the sportswear for the world to wear. Deliverance of the promise. Adidas is a premium brand that promises to offer the best quality and delivers the same. Brand Ambassadors. Adidas has a very long and powerful list of brand ambassadors that includes people from nearly all the sporting arenas. It has sponsorship for huge sporting events like NASCAR and the IPL recently held in India. It has also had major sponsorship for some of the famous Football events. Diversity in the product range. Excellent supplier relationships. They have never had any lawsuits in relation with child labor or poor working. Adidas has a very established network of distribution; their goods are sold worldwide. Weaknesses: They are very heavily reliant on the sports industry alone. This may prove to be a disadvantage at a point as they have to diversify into other sectors as well to increase their own portfolio and reduce risks. They are

European Competition Law - The Market for Industrial Filters Essay

European Competition Law - The Market for Industrial Filters - Essay Example From their study of the documents and as a result of interviews conducted with representatives of the manufacturers in question, the Commission is of the opinion that a number of actions taken in concert by manufacturers of industrial filters in the European Union are in breach of current Competition Law, with particular reference to Articles 81(a)1 and 822. We have been asked by the Commission to study the facts and evidence relating to the case in question and, after careful consideration and research, to advise them on the relevance of such issues in respect of their breaches of the European Unions Competition Laws. In the preparation of this report, we have studied the information in hand and undertaken extensive research, including reference to other relevant Competition cases. Our conclusion, outlined in depth within the main body of this report, is that there is reasonable evidence to confirm that the manufacturers of Industrial Filters have taken action in concert to artificially influence the market and that such action is in contravention of current Competition Law. We have been presented with all of the evidence that has been collected and collated by the Competition Director, where they are investigating the possible breach of EU Competition Laws by the manufacturers of Industrial Filters. In our opinion, there are two main issues to be addressed in reaching constructive conclusions within this report. 1) Does the combination of all the undertakings3 in this event represent a dominant force within the industry in which they operate? 2) Have the same undertakings, arriving at decisions made jointly between them, abused their dominant position and conducted themselves in a way which may affect4 the objectives of free trade within the EU and its member states and, by doing so, committed breaches of the EU’s Competition laws and In what specific areas of the Articles have such breaches manifested themselves? There are a number of  different and varied categories of undertakings as defined within Articles 81 and 82.  Ã‚