Examine the Key Ideas of Situation Ethics

Examine the Key Ideas of Situation Ethics (21 Marks) In this essay, I am going to examine the key features of Situation Ethics. Situation Ethics is a teleological theory that resolves ethical and moral issues relative to the situation and was developed at a time when society and the church were facing drastic and permanent change. It is most commonly associated with Joseph Fletcher and J. A. T Robinson and also William Barclay.Situation Ethics is also considered to be the method of ethical decision making that states that you must consider â€Å"noble love† (agape) in decision making and that a moral decision is correct if it is the most loving thing to do. The theory is based upon this idea of agape love which is defined by William Barclay as â€Å"unconquerable good will†. Situation Ethics developed during the 1960s and the post war generation was a great influence on this. Between the end of the Second World War and the end of the 1960s, Western Europe and North Amer ica were socially, culturally and morally transformed.Up until the 1960s, many people still followed the â€Å"old fashioned† approach of Divine Command Ethics where by people obeyed the Bible and the teachings presented in them. People believed that by following the teachings of God as directly revealed by Him through scripture and the Church, they were doing good. However, by the 1960s all this changed. This quote was produced in 1966: â€Å"Greater independence; more money†¦the weakening of family bonds and religious influences; the development of earlier maturity, physically, emotionally and mentally; the impact of modern books, television and periodicals†. Sex and Morality, SCM,). This study blamed many things on the fact that many people were turning away from the Church’s rules during the 1960s and more towards abandoning rules. The world was becoming more secular and people had stopped listening to the Church and their teachings on what was ethicall y right. During the 1960s, society and the Church were facing drastic and permanent change. By 1966, women occupied an increasingly prominent place in the work force and there was a universal shock of the foundation of the contraceptive pill. This allowed young women to have sex whenever and with whoever they pleased.The sacred bonds of marriage started to break as more people saw this as a chance to have sex without having to be in a secure marriage or even a relationship. This sexual revolution of non-marital sex caused the levels of promiscuity to rise drastically as paternalism, authority, law and government were ditched. Other moral perspectives that changed the latter half of the 20th Century included fashion, music, politics and the view of religion. The drastic cultural and social changes during the 1960s caused a conflicting reaction by the Church.The British Council of Churches ordered a Working Party on Sex, Marriage and the Family to suggest how a Christian position on s ex and marriage can be communicated to the community. As a result, in 1964, the British Council of Churches, on the advice of its advisory group on Sex, Marriage and the Family, appointed a Working Party that set out to â€Å"Prepare a Statement of the Christian case for abstinence from sexual intercourse before marriage and faithfulness within marriage†¦and to suggest means whereby the Christian position may be effectively presented to the various sections of the Community† (Sex and Morality, SCM, 1966).J. A. T Robinson was a New Testament scholar, author and former Anglican Bishop of Woolwich, England. In 1963, he published his highly controversial book â€Å"Honest to God† which changed people’s perspective of God. As a result of this publication, it caused the Church to be thrown into disagreement. This in turn caused the traditional church to be shaken at its very roots. Robinson challenged the idea of the traditional and conservative view of God. He s aid that Situation Ethics was for â€Å"Man come of age†. In other words, it was for people who were moving away from having to be told what to do by God.As a result, it was right in the middle of Antinomianism and Legalism (which I will discuss later). Robinson and Paul Tillich suggested that God could be understood as ‘the ground of our being’, of ultimate significance, but not a â€Å"dues ex machine†, a supernatural being who intervenes in the world from outside it. In other words God is part of people not this almighty being who gives instructions for us to follow. Fletcher (who I will discuss later) used examples from the Bible to show that a strict application of rules was no longer needed and was in line with whatJesus thought too. Fletcher used quotes from the Bible as an illustration of old versus new morality. He used the example of the adulterous woman when Jesus saved her from being stoned to death even though the law permitted it. This situat ion is a clear example of Personalism which Fletcher used to illustrate his theory. Another example that Fletcher identified from the Bible was when Jesus confronted the Pharisees over what the Sabbath Day was intended for. In order to follow strict Jewish law absolutely nothing could be done on this day, often to the detriment of people.Jesus wanted people to follow the spirit in which God had given the law rather than following it and acting immorally in some cases. Whilst Fletcher described agape love as the only intrinsically good thing, William Barclay defined agape love as â€Å"unconquerable good will; it is the determination to seek the other man’s highest good, no matter what he does to you†¦nothing but good will. It has been defined as purpose, not passion. It is an attitude to the other person. † This kind of love is highly demanding or as Barclay suggested, â€Å"a highly intelligent thing. Situation Ethics can be applied more to the issue of divorce than the application of oral judgement that divorce is â€Å"always wrong†. Robinson questioned the conservative view of marriage that it is a supernatural unbreakable bond. This idea of marriage for Robinson was too out dated. He believed that it was time for humans to enter into their maturity and seek liberty from such supranaturalist thinking and while allowing the past experience to guide them, be ready to leave behind the restrictions of the old moral law if love was best served by doing so.Joseph Fletcher was an American professor who founded the theory of Situation Ethics in the 1960s. He stated that â€Å"we need to educate people to the idea that the quality of life is more important than the length of life. † Fletcher’s Situation Ethics was based on the New Testament teaching of agape. His work reflected the social change of the 1960’s and centred around the principle of â€Å"Love your neighbour as yourself† (Matthew 22:37). Fletcher ma intained that there were three different ways of making moral decisions. These three approaches to morality were Legalism, Antinomianism and Situationism.He stated that Legalism was a conservative, rule-based morality focused on unalterable laws. Antinomianism was defined as the polar opposite to Legalism – the lawless or unprincipled approach. He also stated that Situationism was a midway between the two other positions and that the Situationalist is prepared to set aside rules if love seems better served by doing so. According to Fletcher, â€Å"The situationist follows a moral law or violates it according to the need†. Fletcher also rejects Legalism because it cannot accommodate ‘exceptions’ to the rule.In addition to this, he also rejects Antinomianism for the reason that it provides no foundation with which to evaluate one’s morality and offers no justification as to why people should live in any other way than they want to. Fletcher proposed a key principle with which to guide moral decision-making rather than rules. This primary principle is that of acting in the most loving way. A fitting quote that is included in the Bible is that â€Å"Christ Jesus†¦abolished the law with its commandments and legal claims† (Ephesians 2:13-15). Fletcher proposed that we should follow the way Jesus taught us to, with unselfish love or agape.Jesus declared that we should â€Å"†¦love the Lord God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself† (Luke 10:27). Fletcher also proposed four presuppositions of Situation Ethics which are the criteria by which this theory is determined and acted upon. They are Pragmatism, Relativism, Positivism and Personalism. The first presupposition is Pragmatism which demands that a proposed course of action should work and that its success or failure should be judged according to the principle.This is pra ctical and works because Legalism and Antinomianism do not. The second presupposition is Relativism which rejects such absolutes such as â€Å"never†, â€Å"always†, â€Å"perfect† and â€Å"complete†. The principle of love is applied relative to each situation so that an appropriate response is made. Situationism is not the same as Antinomianism because the ultimate criterion is â€Å"agapeic love†. Love is the constant in all situations, unlike laws which work for some things but not others. The third presupposition is Positivism which recognises that love is the most important criterion of all.Situation Ethics recognises that love is the most important thing when making a moral choice and echoes the sentiments of the Bible. Therefore, the decision to act in a loving way is a choice we make beforehand based on the notion that other ways do not work, not because we have proved Situationism â€Å"works† prior to the event. The fourth presupp osition is Personalism which demands that people should be put first. Fletcher emphasised the fact that ethics deals with human relations and should therefore put people at the centre.Fletcher also believed that Legalism fails to appreciate that people exist in a social context and that any decision must be beneficial to the wider community rather than just the individual. Where Legalism fails to recognise the complexity of ethical decision-making, Antinomianism fails to recognise the responsibility ethical decision-making has to the wider community. In addition to the four presuppositions, Fletcher also detailed in explaining how agape should be understood and how it applied to the theory of Situation Ethics by using the six working principles.The first working principle is the idea that love is always good. This states that there is no action or moral rule that is good in itself. An action is good only in so far as it brings about agape. Love is intrinsically valuable, it has inhe rent worth. Nothing else has intrinsic value. The second working principle is that love is the only norm or rule and therefore, love replaces the law. The law should only be obeyed in the interests of love and not for the law’s sake. Fletcher rejected Natural Law. He said â€Å"there are no [natural] universal laws held by all men everywhere at all times†.Jesus summarised the entire Jewish law by saying â€Å"love God† and â€Å"love your neighbour†. In the third working principle, Fletcher stated how love and justice are the same. This idea was unique to Fletcher, who claimed that justice is the giving to every person what is their due, and that as the one thing due to everyone is love, then love and justice are the same. Therefore, there can be no love without justice and as a result cannot be parted. For the fourth working principle, Fletcher outlined the idea that love is not liking and that love is discerning and critical, not sentimental.As agape wa s not an emotion, it did not need to include liking. The fifth working principle includes the statement that love justifies the means. Situation Ethics is a teleological theory that identifies the end outcome of an action as the means of assessing its moral worth. Therefore, as a result, it implies that anything might be done if it brings about the most loving action. Lastly, the sixth working principle of, love decides there and then describes how there are no rules about what should or shouldn’t be done, in each situation; you decide there and then what the most loving thing to do is.Fletcher developed his theory by drawing on a wide range of cases that could not be resolved by applying fixed rules and principles. He used examples including the burning house and time to only save one person, your father or a doctor with the formulae for a cure for a killer disease in his head alone. Fletcher also drew on situations that he had experienced firsthand, but most of all he would act situationally to help people.

Marketing Strategy by Pizza Hut Essay

Various tools and methods like, secondary sources were adopted to collect information to critically analyze the marketing strategies adopted by pizza hut, analyze the probable market for the product, study its competitors and substitute products, to estimate future sales and expected share of the market, analyze the effectiveness of advertisement, its target market and finally why people prefer pizza hut. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS MARKETING STRATEGY Pizza Hut follows the following strategy: Total market strategy—-Pizza Hut started with a single product i. e. Pizza but with different segments emerging and the degree of competition increasing, it diversified into several products to serve different segments. It came up with chicken nuggets, wedges, garlic bread, smiley etc. International marketing strategy: Pizza Hut started with local market strategy in Kansas, USA then moved on to regional markets in and across USA. In 1968, Pizza Hut started its international movement by opening its 1strestaurant in Canada. And today Pizza Hut is world’s largest pizza chain with its presence in more than 100 countries. Early Entry Strategy: Though Pizza Hut was not the first entrants in the pizza market infuse. But Pizza Hut followed an early entrant strategy. Customers knew what a pizza is but still there was huge potential to tap. In order to become a leader, pizza hut continued to refine their product &develop new product to suit their customer’s changing tastes. Ultimately Pizza Hut with its superior promotion, manufacturing and distribution activities has turned out to be the â€Å"winner†. Strong Commitment Strategy: Pizza Hut has been operating in the pizza market by realizing all economies of scale in promotion, distribution and manufacturing facilities. If Papa John’s or Little Caesars come out with a new competitive pricing strategy or innovative product, then Pizza Hut quite aggressively fights back by bringing more competitive prices or better innovations in product category. In simple words, Pizza Hut takes all possible measures to defend its leadership position in the market. Pizza Hut: An Overview of the â€Å"Product Strategy† â€Å"Product Strategies specify a market needs that may be served by different products offerings†. Product Positioning Strategy-Pizza Hut has always followed Single brand positioning strategy wherein it has positioned only its pizzas. Although the positioning statement has been different in different countries but it has always hovered around its â€Å"PIZZAS†. For instance, in Canada, its positioning statement is â€Å"The best tasting pizzas under one roof † which reflects great variety of pizza being served , in China it has positioned on â€Å"Dine-in restaurants†, in Australia, it is â€Å"made fresh, served hot and on time† which reflects that best of ingredients are used and pizza is delivered on time. Product-Scope strategy: Pizza Hut follows a â€Å"multiple product strategy† as pizza hut not only sells pizzas, but also deals in a variety of other products as although all the product offerings in pizza hut are not as fast moving as its pizza, but they usually complement each other. For instance, family coming for a dinner usually starts with some soup and garlic breads and then moves on to pizzas along with some diet salads. In this way, pizza hut caters to different people with different needs and tastes and preferences. This helps in increasing sales, profitability, market share and above all â€Å"Customer’s Mind Share† Product-Scope Strategy Salads & Pastas, Appetizers Pizzas, Soups and Desserts Product-Design Strategy:Pizza Hut follows the strategy of selling Standardized Products with modifications. Pizza Hut mainly sells 4 types of pizzas: Pan Pizza, hand-tossed pizza, stuffed crust pizza and Thin N Crispy pizza. Pizza Hut serves these standard style pizzas everywhere in the world but at the same time, it offers its customers to choose different toppings as extra mushrooms or extra capsicum and onions with extra cheese or chicken toppings like toppings of meat, bacon, fish, ham, beef topping, pork toppings etc. Secondly it offers what is known as â€Å"Value meal combos† wherein it offers a combination of pizzas, appetizers, beverages etc at lower prices. For instance, Pizza hut introduced â€Å"Meal for 2† which offers medium pan/ fresh pizza, garlic bread sticks with 2 glasses of Pepsi. Similarly pizza hut also offered â€Å"Meals for 4† where it offered 2medium pan pizzas, with one plate of garlic bread and one portion of wedges with 4 glasses of Pepsi/Soup. Pizza Hut by offering standard products seeks economies of scale and by offering modification options enhances customer satisfaction which adds to brand equity of Pizza Hut Product innovation strategy: Pizza Hut has been constantly involved in innovating new products. It started as Pizza chain in 1958. On one hand, it offers traditional Italian pizzas while on other hand, it innovated several new varieties as pan pizza, thin n crispy, stuffed crust, the big New Yorker pizza, hand tossed pizza, the edge pizza along with the Sicilian Pizza. Pizza Hut spends extensively on research and development of its innovative products. At the same time, customer’s feedback also plays an important role in preparing new pizzas. For example, The Big New Yorker Pizza. Pizza Hut continued to make innovations as it followed â€Å"International marketing strategy†. In India, Pizza Hut launched international style pizza in localized Indian flavors like Tandori pizza range with Punjabi flavors, vegetarian tama-tam, Murgh Mazedar Pizza etc. Similarly, in China along with traditional pizzas, it served â€Å"Sangria â€Å"and â€Å"Escargot†. Along with pizzas, Pizza Hut also innovated beverages and drinks to satisfy the tastes of consumers. For e. g. Pizza Hut in Oman has added a refreshing splash of tropics to their menu with the launch of Monin, a new line of flavored drinks. Value Marketing Strategy: Pizza Hut as far as value marketing is concerned follows Quality strategy, Customer- service strategy. Time-based strategy Pizza Hut promises its customers to give them best quality product busing best quality ingredients. Time and again it re-emphasizes on this fact through its advertisement campaigns. Pizza Hut main motive is to enhance its customer’s satisfaction by providing them best quality products at affordable prices. At the same time, pizza hut always tries to deliver on time. Although Pizza Hut’s competitor Domino’s differentiates on basis of timely delivery in 30 minutes, however, Pizza Hut through its innovative technology is also trying to reduce its delivery time to 30 minutes and fight back Domino’s. Pizza Hut: Overview of the â€Å"Pricing Strategy† Pizza Hut ideology of â€Å"Customers† behind its pricing strategy: Willing to pay for relevance Willing to pay for excitement Willing to pay for quality Willing to pay for simplifying life Willing to pay for forward movement But Selective and defiant Pizza Hut follows â€Å" A High/Low Pricing† strategy as far as its new products is concerned where it fixes the price higher than its competitors and then gradually lowers the price below the competitor’s prices. In simple words, it is applying â€Å"Price Skimming† strategy for its new products. For instance, the price of â€Å"the Extreme† was fixed at $9. 99 which was much higher than its competitors. But several sales promotions were used to reduce the price of the pizza below its competitors since both Pizza Hut and Pepsi are partners; â€Å"Bundle Pricing† is used where 2 liter bottle of Mountain dew was offered free with â€Å"The Extreme pizza†. The high/low pricing strategy has several advantages for Pizza Hut Used to create excitement. Set high prices initially to send a signal that its products are best inequality and service offered is excellent. Helps in segmenting the market as Pizza Hut can sell â€Å"the extreme pizza† to the customers who wish to pay higher price as well as to the bargain hunters too. Pizza Hut in formulating the complete pricing strategy focuses on â€Å"Value which it is providing to the customers at a particular price†. As far as the pricing of established products is concerned, Pizza hut believes to give â€Å"Value for Money â€Å"to its customers. Thus in order to provide maximum value to the customers and enhance the brand value, it sometimes maintains the same prices while sometimes reduces the prices, while sometimes increase prices also. â€Å"One-Price† Strategize. It charges the same price to allot customers under similar conditions and for the same quantities. This helps in establishing a favorable and fair image among its customers as well as having a stable market. Pizza Hut at the same time follows â€Å"Price Bundling† Strategy or â€Å"Value Pricing†wherein it combines the items of its menu and offers at a lesser price then what a customer would have to pay if he bought these items individually . For Example, in India, Pizza Hut offered for Rs. 75 a deal of â€Å"a plate of garlic bread sticks, 1 personal pan pizza, a glass of Pepsi and one scoop of ice cream†. Similarly Pizza Hut offered meal combos serving 2 people or 4 people. These bundling schemes attracted large number of customers who are not only interested in pizzas but in tasting other things as well. In offering such schemes, although Pizza Hut costs less but at the same time, this increases the customer inflow and sales revenue of PH tremendously. Thus Pizza Hut’s pricing strategy revolves around providing maximum value to the customer at an affordable price. Pizza hut never plays the price game as it has positioned its brand on high quality and excellent customer service. And even Pizza hut customers don’t mind paying a little more than its competitors because of the service it renders and quality it promises. Pizza Hut: An Overview of Franchise Model â€Å"Franchising† involves a contractual arrangement between a franchisor (a manufacturer, a wholesaler, or a service sponsor) and a retail franchisee, which allows the franchisee to conduct a given form of business under an established name and according to a given pattern of business. Pizza Hut after its incorporation in 1958 opened its first franchise unit in Topeka, Kansas. Followed by a Pizza Hut restaurant built in just 5 days by franchisees in Oklahoma State Fairing 1968, Pizza Hut made a global entry by entering in Canada. Then it made strong foot holding in Australia, Japan, England, Kuwait, and Abu Dhabi. By 1989, Pizza Hut was already serving 54 countries. In 1996, Pizza Hut entered India with the first dine-in restaurant in Bangalore. While entering in the international arena, Pizza Hut used the â€Å"Franchising Route† as the entry strategy. (Scribd, 2010). FINDINGS Promotion mix 1. Advertising 2. Personal selling 3. Sales promotion A) Advertising Advertising is â€Å"non personal communication transmitted through mass media as radio, television, print, internet and outdoor media†. The main objective behind every campaign is either to increase sales by encouraging potential purchasers or inducing repeat purchases or prompting immediate purchase by offering special schemes or to create awareness about a new product offering by highlighting a new flavor or announcing price changes or demonstrating the product in use by depicting inexperience. Advertising Sales Promotion For instance, to launch a new flavor in India named â€Å"The Great Indian Treat†, Pizza Hut signed a Jived Jaffrey for its new TV commercial. Similarly to inform the customers about Rs. 50 pan pizza, Pizza hut showed Zayed Khan as a young teenager boy friend who has to treat his large number of girl friends with something trendy and affordable. Pizza Hut also launched certain ad campaigns to counter attack its competitors promotions. For instance, in 2005 Pizza Hut launchedâ€Å"Freshizza† ad campaign featuring Malia Aurora Khan and counter attacked Domino’s campaign showing Anuran Khmer and Parish Revaluate the same time, Pizza Hut brings about local flavor in its ad campaigns. Indifferent countries, it uses models, situations, positioning clearly related to that particular country. For instance, in India, Pizza Hut focused on occasions such as marriage and used Indian models that represent and relate to their target audience. Similarly, in USA, Jessica Simpson sells chicken nuggets and pizzas for Pizza hut. (Scribd, 2010) Internet Advertising Not only Television advertisement, Pizza Hut along with Pizza innovations, also innovates new ways of promoting its products. Recently Pizza Hut signed a deal with Yahoo internet portal to advertise its products. Print Media (newspapers, magazines, pamphlets, posters) Although Pizza Hut advertises mainly via television, but print ads also constitutes a major portion of its promotion mix. Outdoor Advertisements Pizza Hut adopted a variety of innovative types of outdoor advertisement. Balloon Advertising: Pizza Hut indulged in an extremely innovative form of advertising named â€Å"Balloon Advertisements† where in cold air balloons in the shape of Pepsi can, pizza slices and garlic bread are placed either in front of the hut or placed at its roof top. Space Marketing: Pizza hut came up with a very innovative method of advertising when Pizza Hut paid huge sums (approx $1 million) to put a 30 ft large logo on Russian Proton Rocket. Not only had the logo, Pizza Hut also made its pizza available to the astronauts in the space. On such a successful venture, Pizza hut stated that â€Å"If space tourism is going to be a reality, Pizza Hut pizza will make the trip even better. † Banner Advertisement: Styrofoam along with McCann Erickson came up with really innovative banner advertisements to advertise its new range of â€Å"Gourmet Pizzas†. Poster Advertisement: Pizza Hut came with a tremendously successful Poster advertisement campaign on the occasion of â€Å"Halloween† when Pizza Hut advertised for â€Å"The Ghoulish Tripplecheese, the spooky cheese combo, and the Halloween cheese supreme† B) Sales Promotion. â€Å"Sales promotion† refers to a variety of short term incentives to encourage trial or purchase of a product or service. Coupons and Rebates: Pizza Hut offers discount coupons in physical form with every purchase we make. However in USA, UK, Canada where online ordering contributes a major percentage to total sales, Pizza Hut offers online coupons for different regions of varying denominations Premiums & Gifts: Pizza Hut offers â€Å" Gift vouchers† to be presented as a gift to someone special on marriages, birthday, and anniversary etc. these gift vouchers are available in denomination of Rs. 500, rs. 1000, rs. 2000 etc. Pizza Hut offers CDs and DVD along with their pizzas as gifts to act as an additional incentive for customers to make the purchase. For e. g. Unique DVD Promotion: Pizza Hut came up withal promotion campaign where is offered a free DVD with a large size pizza and in a 6 week promotion, Pizza Hut distributed 10 millionDVDs. Pizza Hut collaborated with Sony to launch a promotion campaignnamedâ€Å"Pizza-Powered PlayStation giveaway â€Å"which was huge success. During the next year, Pizza Hut again came up with a promotion where along with stuffed crust pizza, kids will get PlayStation demo disc free. Sweepstakes: Pizza Hut during the launch of â€Å"Cheesy Bites Pizza â€Å"introduced nationwide online sweepstakes contest to win an autographed pair of shoes by Jessica Simpson. Fans will be able to go online to www. pizzahut. com/cheesybites to enter the sweepstakes. Customers will also have an opportunity to win an autographed pair of Miss Piggy boots. Sampling: Pizza Hut gave â€Å"free samples† of the new pizza which it launches. For e. g. in case of â€Å"Cheesy Bites Pizza†, Pizza Hut offered free slices of it to the customers for sampling and testing it amongst the consumer group. Point of Purchase Material: Pizza Hut restaurants interiors are done in a uniform format for all the restaurants. Pizza Hut also comes outwit several innovative POP materials to attract the attention of its customers. For e. g. spin The Wheel games, danglers and posters. During the launch the â€Å"The Great Indian Treat† the entire interiors were given a pink color and the menu and danglers were all colored pink. On the occasion of â€Å"Valentine’s Day† in Malaysia, Pizza Hut launched a limited edition â€Å"Heart Shaped Pizza† with danglers, greetings cards all over. This limited edition Heart shaped pizza not only created an excitement among the customers, it also increased its brand value. C) Personal Selling â€Å"Personal Selling refers to face to face interaction with the customer†. Entertaining the customers in the restaurant: Crew members at Pizza Hut broke in to a boogie at metros like Delhi and Mumbai and performed â€Å"Hangar† in Chandigarh and Amritsar. Pizza Hut in Delhi organized a â€Å"JIG N JEETO† contest with super star Faradeen Khan judging the show. The show received tremendous response from the customers. Etiquettes of the crew members: The politeness of their speech and the mannerism which Pizza Hut crew members serve their customers is absolutely outstanding which enhances the brand value of Pizza hut in customer’s mind. Pizza Hut: An Overview of the Global Strategy— Pizza Hut before entering into any new country conducts a comprehensive market survey of that country to learn about the culture that prevails in that country, the state of government and politics, the legal framework (product quality laws, packaging laws) , commercial practices (business structure, patterns of competition). Strategy Adopted by Pizza Hut for Global marketing programs Localized strategy: Pizza Hut follows the strategy of â€Å"Think Global, Act Local†. For e. g. in India, the 1stPizza Hut which was launched in Bangalore served complete vegetarian meals. Similarly, in China, along with serving Pizzas, Pizza Hut also serves â€Å"Sangria† and â€Å"Escargot†. Similarly, in India, to match the spicy tastes of Indian consumers, Pizza Hut launched â€Å"Pandora Treat†, â€Å"The Great Indian Treat†. For the cheese lovers in United States, Pizza Hut launched Cheesy Bites Pizza and Stuffed Crust Pizza. International Marketing Coordination: Pizza Hut’s international marketing activities though dispersed in different countries are properly coordinated to gain competitive advantage as all marketing activities as market research, advertisements, and restaurant interiors are done using a similar method. Marketing know-how and skills are transferred from one country to another. For e. g. the â€Å"franchising model† is used successfully in althea countries by Pizza Hut. (AssignmentPoint,2012) SWOT ANALYSIS OF PIZZA HUT The swot analysis provides all the important aspects of the product and the company in brief. Swot stands for S-strength W-weakness O-opportunities T-threats S-strength -best quality of food -quality of services -varieties in toppings -different promotional schemes -consistency -strong brand name W-weaknesses -high price -advertisement shows pizza not salads, sandwiches etc O-opportunities -needs to open more outlets -offer diet food and low calorie food -explore untouched market T-threats—competition (wikiwealth, 2012) RECOMMENDATIONS/SUGGESTIONS 1)High Quality Personnel: In order to maintain the no. 1 position in Pizza market, Pizza Hut must obtain total cooperation of its employee’s thereby increasing productivity, beating competition and enhancing customer satisfaction. For this, proper training program with high incentive schemes must be established. 2) Pay more attention to untapped segment of Senior Citizens: Pizza Hut must innovate and launch some product for Senior Citizens. It could establish Pizza Hut senior club which will organize activities for oldies. 3) Maintain the product quality by continuous innovations thereby giving surprises to the customer off and on. Innovations can be based on consumer’s reviews and feedbacks as to what changes are they looking for in their pizzas. 4) â€Å"Location, location and location†: the most critical success factor for any hospitality business is â€Å"Location†. Pizza Hut does not aim to be premium brand with selective distribution; instead Pizza Hut is brand which must be available anywhere and everywhere people thinks of PIZZA. Thus Pizza Hut must increase it coverage. 5) Emphasis on development of â€Å"Home Delivery† Network: Although in developing countries like India, Pizza Hut has opened up a â€Å"call center† to fasten the speed of home delivery. CONCLUSIONS This project helped in following areas Critical analysis of marketing strategies adopted by pizza hut Knowing the product offered by pizza hut Identify the alternatives available in the market Analyze the target market Know about the existing competition in the market To understand the distribution system in the product Reasons why people prefer pizza hut products Methods to increase sales with maximum customer satisfaction Role of advertisements in the promotion of the product To estimate its future growth and market share. REFERENCES Pizza Hut and Dominos marketing strategy Scribd (2010). Pizza Hut and Dominos marketing strategy. [online] Retrieved from: http://www. scribd. com/doc/25371457/Pizza-Hut-and-Dominos-marketing-strategy [Accessed: 24 Nov 2012]. About Us – Pizza Hut Pizzahut. Co. Uk (2012). About Us – Pizza Hut. [online] Retrieved from: http://www. pizzahut. co. uk/restaurants/about-us. aspx [Accessed: 24 Nov 2012]. Assignment Point – marketing plan on pizza hut Assignment Point (2012). Assignment Point – marketing plan on pizza hut. [online] Retrieved from: http://www.assignmentpoint. com/business/marketing-business/marketing-plan-on-pizza-hut. html [Accessed: 24 Nov 2012]. Pizza Hut Franchise Pizzahutfranchise. Co. Uk (n. d. ). Pizza Hut Franchise. [online] Retrieved from: http://www. pizzahutfranchise. co. uk/html/history. html [Accessed: 24 Nov 2012]. Pizza Today Magazine Pizzatoday. Com (n. d. ). Pizza Today Magazine. [online] Retrieved from: http://pizzatoday. com [Accessed: 24 Nov 2012]. Pizza Hut SWOT Analysis – WikiWealth Wikiwealth (2012). Pizza Hut SWOT Analysis – WikiWealth.[online] Retrieved from: http://www. wikiwealth. com/swot-analysis:pizza-hut [Accessed: 24 Nov 2012]. About Us | Papa John’s: Better Ingredients. Better Pizza. Papajohns (2012). About Us | Papa John’s: Better Ingredients. Better Pizza.. [online] Retrieved from: http://www. papajohns. com/about/index. shtm [Accessed: 24 Nov 2012]. APPENDIX/ ANNEXURE Figure 1: specimen of pizza hut coupons printed in newspapers and magazines. Figure 2: specimen showing pizza hut’s space advertisement. Figure 3: specimen of poster ad Pizza Hut launched for Halloween.

A detective story written by Conan Doyle Essay

Baskerville and his companions later on meet a friend, who tells the about a convicted murder called Seldon, escaping from prison and being loose upon the moor. Seldon is part of the atmosphere in Dartmoor. Seldon is described as being â€Å"fiendish† and having a heart full of â€Å"malignancy†, which links him to the Hound, a creature known to kill the Baskerville family. The hound is also loose in Dartmoor. The Hound and Seldon bring a menacing, and deadly atmosphere to Dartmoor. In the distance, clearly visible was a â€Å"mounted soldier† holding a â€Å"rifle†. The soldier is an example of the symbol used in the setting. Soldiers carrying rifles have connotations of dark, menace, and death. These descriptions together with the moor give a forbidding atmosphere, preparing readers for forthcoming, menacing events. Baskerville had travelled across Dartmoor, and now had an exterior view of Baskerville Hall. As he walked in he noticed the decaying gates made of granite. Granite has connotations of darkness, hard, and black, suggesting Baskerville has a dark decaying family. This is true, as he is the only Baskerville remaining. They later enter a tunnel, increasing the darkness of the atmosphere. â€Å"The house glimmered like a ghost†, suggests the supernatural, and death. This is symbolic for the death of those who lived in the house. The descriptive words â€Å"dark veil†, â€Å"dull light†, and â€Å"black granite† all indicate the darkness and gloominess of Baskerville Hall. This raises a sinister, forbidding, and menacing atmosphere. Baskerville adds to the frightening atmosphere by saying â€Å"its enough to scare off a man†. The walls of the rooms were made from age-blackened oak, which also suggests darkness, and adds to the menace of the atmosphere. Conan Doyle obviously intended the atmosphere of the book to be a menacing one, and he did an excellent job in my opinion. The excellent description of setting in his books is one of the reasons why his books are so popular.

Human resources Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Human resources Management - Essay Example d, recruitment of the manpower requirement of these stores will have to be undertaken as soon as possible and the best possible way to achieve this is to undertake a job analysis. A job analysis refers to the process undertaken to pinpoint and establish in detail the particular job duties and requirements and the importance of the same, where the analysis is conducted on the job and not the person (www.hr-guide.com). It is undertaken as an initial step towards successive human resource management actions such as defining a job domain, writing a job description, selection and promotion, training needs assessment, compensation and organizational analysis/planning (en.wikipedia.org). While the whole process may take some time to complete and shall entail the company some costs, the results of a job analysis are far greater than the time and costs involved as the same shall help spell the success of the proposed stores. The proposed job analysis may take the form of structured or unstructured interviews of incumbent employees, direct observation of employees at work, or the administration of questionnaires on existing employees. As against the interview and questionnaire methods, a job analysis undertaken through direct observation makes possible the gathering of first-hand knowledge and information about the job being analyzed as it allows the analyst to see, or experience in some cases, the work environment, the tools and pieces of equipment used, the relationships among workers and the complexity of the job. However, the observations may not be as conclusive as the presence of observers may cause alterations in the normal work behavior of the employees being directly observed (www.jobanalysis.net). The interview method of job analysis, on the one hand, requires that the interviewer possess effective listening skills as concentration can easily be disturbed by interruptions, the interviewers own thought processes and the difficulty of remaining neutral

Transformation Leadership Interview Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Transformation Leadership Interview - Essay Example Leadership is defined by Martires & Fule (2000) as â€Å"the process of influencing people so that they would work towards the attainment of specifically defined goals† (p. 569). Transformational leadership, as the name implies, is a leadership style â€Å"that creates voluble and positive change in the followers. A transformational leader focuses on "transforming" others to help each other, to look out for each other, be encouraging, harmonious, and look out for the organization as a whole. In this leadership, the leader enhances the motivation, moral and performance of his follower group.† (Boje 2000) Studies on this concept in leadership was originally delved into by James McGregor Burns who wanted to differentiate leadership from management and discovered that the differences are in characters and behaviors. (Burns 1978) He contrasted transformational leadership style as against a transactional leadership where focus is on the traits and characteristics of the leader rather than creating changes in people’s lives. There have been diverse patterns of behavior and actions that leaders exhibit over a period of time and perceived by followers as the dominant style of leadership. This style is developed utilizing an interplay of factors which shape leadership development. There have been an enormous amount of studies and researches which seek to identify the characteristics, traits and behaviors which are predominant in leaders and enable them to succeed. For transformational leaders, the following characteristics stand out: (1) overt desire to transform the organization; (2) charismatic; (3) exudes passion and confidence; (4) possess large amounts of enthusiasm; (5) are people oriented and (5) tendencies to see the big picture and not the details (Straker 2009). According to Burns (1978), there are four elements of a transformational

The Impact of Transportation on the Environment Essay

The Impact of Transportation on the Environment - Essay Example From this paper it is clear that  the impact of the transportation industry on the environment can be classified into three categories such as direct impact, indirect impact and cumulative impact. Direct impact deals with immediate consequences of transportation activities on the environment where the cause and effect relationship is clearly specified or explained. Indirect impact explains the secondary   impact or effect of the transportation activities on the environment.This essay discusses that  the consequences of the indirect impact are higher as compared to the consequences of direct impact of transportation on the environment but the relationship between the direct and the indirect impact of the transportation on the environment is difficult to establish. Cumulative impact can be considered as the multiplicative, additive or synergic consequences of transportation activities on the environment. The cumulative impacts take into consideration the varied or different impac ts of the transportation on the ecosystem which are generally unpredictable in nature.   The transportation industry selected for discussion in this paper is trucking industry.   The trucking industry is often subsidized by public sector especially through the maintenance and construction of road infrastructure which is generally free of access. In developed countries the environmental regulations have been imposed by the government to reduce the emission of individual vehicles.

Review of You Know When the Men Are Gone by Siobhan Fallon Essay

Review of You Know When the Men Are Gone by Siobhan Fallon - Essay Example The author, Siobhan Fallon has invested in these stories a variety of emotions, realism and conciseness, which is prominent in the writing style and the tone used by the author. This book, â€Å"You Know When Men are Gone† movingly makes the citizens of the United States of America and its readers, recall, remember and pay tribute to the numerous sacrifices made by officials and staff of the naval, land, marine and the air forces of the country and not only the officials but also their parents, wives and children as well. This shows us that the sacrifices, like charity, when in the armed forces, begin at home. This book makes extensive use of different elements of literature, namely denotation and symbolism and these are used at numerous places, across all the stories. â€Å"Fallon provides a full three-sixty on military life, taking readers into the daily existences of both the women left behind to manage the mundane details and minor crises of domestic life and the loud-tal king, cursing, dreaming-of-home men who, knowing that they cannot control what happens while they’re away, grapple with the undeniable possibility that when they do finally return to home and family, they won’t find the same home and family they left† (Schinsky).   This book despite its very clear and denotative message of the absence of the military personnel from home, possesses a certain connotation. Set in the very secure colony of Fort Hood as well as the Green Zone in Iraq, the symbolism in this book by Fallon focuses on the world within the all the stake holders of war, especially the men fighting, the women waiting and the children crying. The stories in this capacity are inarguably out of the ordinary and attention grasping. This is not because of the fact that they are informative, emotional and heart wrenching but because they shed light on the truth—the profound, expressive truth of all the stakeholders of war and all those involved in these stories. This is because of the reason that the write Siobhan Fallon pursues first the complete realism of the life and surroundings of her book’s character. This she does through the prose which is concise and reverberating, later attaching with it a connotation. Therefore, the collection of short stories, received much praise from the masses and they exceeded expectations of all those who read them, primarily because of the fact that these stories were merely a narration by the author about her personal experiences. Each one of the short storiesput forth a varied theme, ranging from the partsthat military personnel, their staff and their colleagues must fulfill, regardless of the degree of command or the location, wherever they are, home or combat. This novel makes the readers aware of the elusive control that the military transmits even over the most apparentlyinsignificantfacets of time, how lengthy the grass may grow in the front yard, and the superiorand significant par t that is played by the families of these military personnel in each other’s lives. The family network, as described in the book is so inter woven that the families start feeling a certain sense of dependence upon each other. The author of this short stories collection Siobhan Fallon has taken great care of very intricate and seemingly lesser important matters. The author here has been very cautious and

Comparison of Two Organisation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Comparison of Two Organisation - Essay Example The best fit organisational structure depends on many factors such as organisational goals, industry structure, and number of employees, employee maturity, type of product and service, customer expectations, geographical scope and so on. However, in order to understand the organisational structures and designs of Biogenta plc and Outback Inc., two generic forms of organisational structures and designs would be sufficient. There are mechanistic and organic organisational structures. Biogenta represents the latter whereas Outback is just the right example of the former (Cameron and Quinn, 2011, pp. 52-53). Mechanistic organisations have a rigid and tightly controlled structure. Mechanistic structures are characterised with a high degree of specialisation, inflexible departmentalisation, and narrow span of control, a significantly high degree of formalisation, centralisation and strong and unchallengeable chain of command. Mechanistic organisations such as Outback Inc. tend to rely on p rudent rules and regulations to control the behaviour of all the members (Cameron and Quinn, 2011, pp. 52-53). As mentioned earlier that mechanistic structures are not â€Å"appalling† or â€Å"unfit† within themselves. In fact, organisations which are operating within stable, calculated and predictable environment should go for mechanistic organisational structures since it helps them to maximise their control. Many governmental organisations and large corporations, especially until a few decades back, show characteristics of mechanistic structures. When the political, social, legal, environmental, economic, cultural and technological forces along with the industry’s competitive... This essay stresses that Outback Inc should move towards a more organic organisational structure by decentralising, widening the span of control, cutting down the hierarchical levels, reducing the impact of departments, creating more and more cross functional and hierarchical teams and decreasing formalisation. †¢ Outback should also create mechanisms to gradually and steadily change its organisational culture from a power culture to a more democratic and constructive culture where employees feel more empowered to share their ideas and thoughts. Outback could learn from the experience and strategies of Biogenta in terms of creating cross departmental and cross hierarchical teams since the same would bring employees together and foster communication. All work and no play have been making the employees of Outback dull and lethargic. The company should create mechanisms to produce adventure for its employees as well as it does for its customers. This report makes a conclusion that Biogenta knows how to use the variables and dynamics of organisational behaviour in its own favour and maximise the productivity of the organisation. On the other hand, Outback has been very slow in responding to the signals and alarms and time has come that it should initiate some major changes. Following are a few recommendations in this regard. The paper provides some recommendations based on the analysis and discussion.

Education and Common Core Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Education and Common Core - Research Paper Example They rank the countries based on their performance in mathematics, sciences and reading. Since 2000, the USA has been falling below average in the three subjects and this year it was ranked 17th among the 34 countries of the OECD. USA scores poorly in mathematics and in a recent research, they were ranked 26th out of the 34 countries. From the test given by the OECD ranking researchers, only 9% of the USA students proved to be top performers in mathematics as compared to 61% in other countries such as china (OECD Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/unitedstates/CN%20-%20United%20States.pdf). According to a report by PISA, USA spends the highest funds on education and are in the same rank with Luxembourg, Norway and Switzerland. However, their spending does not translate into better education since USA lags behind the countries whoa similar amount in education. Social classes and economic differences in the USA have played a part in their low education performance. Other countries such as Finland, japan and Norway, who have high-income disparities, did not show a difference in education levels based on income. However, in the USA, income levels determine the quality of education that one student get. PISA confirmed that most resilient students in the USA proved to have low educational performance. The USA education is lower than expected due to poor systems and lack of consideration to low-income earners. When the common core standards were developed, there were intended to prepare students for college education. However, the system has terribly failed due to a number of reasons. Moreover, the system only focused on students who could make it to college and did not consider those who failed to go to college (Beck 59). The system is a shared set of standards for English, mathematics and art that identifies the learning outcomes needed in order help students prepare for careers

Antebellum families and women generally(base on the book I list in Essay

Antebellum families and women generally(base on the book I list in details) - Essay Example He notes that the Celias defense questioned the role of the white man as the protector of women within southern society, analyzing the concept of male honor, a key factor of the Souths social system. It highlighted the plight of young female slaves who were sexually manipulated. The case had a major significance in that it created boundaries of slavery in Missouri. Celias story generally portrays a political and legal system that condoned rape and sexual abuse of female slaves in Antebellum families. In the 1800s, slavery became an ingrained economic and legal institution (Williamson and Cain, 1). In Antebellum families, owning slaves was prestigious, a measure of wealth. Bales notes that slaves cost around $40,000 in Antebellum at the time. Robert Newson viewed his slaves as a perfect reward for the years he had spent laboring (McLaurin, 8). Slaves were used and abused by their master, and Newton’s relations with Celia were no different. Newton raped his new slave on their trip home, an indication that he hoped to use her as a sexual tool following his wife’s death (McLaurin 18). Newton employed her as the house cook, a possible cover up of his sexual relations with Celia. She was exposed to continuous sexual exploitation by her master (McLaurin 22) who considered sexual relations with her his privilege (McLaurin 28-29). He granted her favors due to their sexual relationship. She owned her own cabin very close to the family house - a very rare occurrence in Antebe llum America. She bore two children, believed to be fathered by Newton. Slaves were regarded as insignificant. They were powerless and defenseless. Gordon-Reed (p.50) highlights the paradoxical role of sexual relations between masters and slaves, despite the stigma attached to slaves. When George, a fellow slave fell in love with Celia, he was so frustrated that he could not protect Celia from the man who owned them both (McLaurin 25). Slaves were their owners’ property. George and Celia were

Three Positions on Abortion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Three Positions on Abortion - Essay Example It does not think that the act of abortion is legitimate under all circumstances. The position considers that the mother and fetus have certain rights. The conflict of rights is created because of the different considerations for the mother, fetus and the society. However, the acceptability of the action depends on the severity of such conditions. For example, if it is feared that there are chances that the fetus will born deformed, moderate position will allow abortion in such cases. The reason behind the acceptance of abortion in this case is that it will cause tremendous pain and suffering to the mother and the fetus itself. The loss or pain cause by giving birth to a child would be greater than the tragedy and loss of abortion. In other words, moderate position on abortion is the rational view of abortion. It requires doing what is best for the mother and the fetus. Hence it is a better alternative to conservative and liberal approaches. The moderate approach strikes a balance be tween liberal and conservative positions. I agree with this position because many a times there are situation when it is necessary to abort the child. People also have a tendency to abuse the abortion. They take it for granted and use it at the cost of rights of the fetus or the child. This harms the sanctity of life. Many people have compared such an act with murder. Since, it has been proven that the fetus gets the life after four months. Unlike liberal approach, the moderate approach will assume that the right of abortion for women should be until four months only. After that abortion should only be allowed if there are severe medical issues, it is feared that the child will be deformed, or in cases of rape and incest. Similarly, the moderate approach is better than conservative approach because it thinks that abortion should not be allowed under any condition. This approach can lead to fatal consequence. For example, if the woman dies in the process of child birth. This would le ad to loss of two lives. Hence, a rational approach in this case would be to allow abortion under certain scenario and let people use the option for the benefit of themselves and the benefit of the entire society. The moderate position on abortion takes into account various ethical frameworks. It takes into account the deontological framework in way that it calls for abortion in cases where the motives of the action are pure. It needs people to weigh the pros and cons of the action before taking the final action. As a result, the motives behind the moderate approach are more often than not pure and hence the deontological framework justifies the decisions taken under deontological framework. Rights-based ethics also justify the moderate position on abortion. Since, a part of women body is involved in the process of child birth, she has a right to abort the child if she want to. If she feels that the entire process of child birth is too painful for her body, or it will cause her stre ss then she can use right based ethics to justify her decision of aborting the fetus. Even consequential ethics allow the parents to abort the fetus. For example, if it is considered that overall standard of living of a family would fall after the birth of another child, the parents can choose to abort the child and this can be justified by using the consequential approach. Similarly, if it is felt that the birth of the child can lead to medical issues for the women or can lead to a deformed child that can cause stress and

Gourmet Products Inc. Essay Example for Free

Gourmet Products Inc. Essay Gourmet Products Inc. (GPI) is a Canadian publicly traded retailer of aged balsamic vinegars, culinary sauces, spices, herbs, and seasonings. Products are sold globally through several Internet sites created and operated by GPI. On August 15, 20X0, GPI completed the acquisition of all the common shares of Abruzzi Oils Inc. (Abruzzi), an Italian producer and retailer of specialty olive oils, for cash consideration of C$6,000,000. The acquisition cost was allocated to the fair value of the identifiable assets and liabilities. The acquisition cost included a bottling machine with a book value of $400,000 and a fair market value of 0,000. However, to avoid any unnecessary reporting complications, the entire purchase discrepancy related to this machine was allocated to goodwill. GPI intends to keep the Abruzzi name and brand intact. Operations in Italy will be maintained, but GPI will import some of the olive oil production to Canada. The Abruzzi line of speciality olive oils will be featured on all of GPI’s Web sites. In preparation for ongoing operations, GPI has temporarily transferred two managers and five employees to Italy to work at the Abruzzi home office for a period of two years to ensure the transition runs smoothly and that the scale of operations can be increased to meet the forecasted sales growth. GPI is recording wages paid as consulting fees and is no longer taking source deductions. One manager has recognized that the move would cause undue stress on his family if they remained in Canada so he has decided to take his wife and children with him for the two-year period. GPI has just negotiated the purchase of a labelling machine in Italy for EUR 200,000. The equipment is expected to be useful for a period of 12 years. GPI has borrowed EUR 200,000 from the Banca Cammerata in Italy to finance  the equipment purchase. The loan, dated July 1, 20X0, is at 7% and is repayable in euros in 15 equal annual instalments, commencing August 1, 20X0. The interest is payable monthly in euros by GPI. The ownership of the labelling machine was transferred to Abruzzi on September 1, 20X0, in exchange for a EUR 200,000 note. The terms of the note are similar to the terms GPI negotiated with the Banca Cammerata, except that GPI is not charging Abruzzi any interest. The CFO of GPI stated this type of structure would minimize the foreign currency risk that GPI is exposed to. On the basis of an extensive review of the relationship between GPI and Abruzzi, Abruzzi has been classified as a foreign operation in accordance with IAS 21. In accordance with IFRS, Abruzzi revalued its land and building asset grouping to fair market value, resulting in an increase to the land and building account of EUR 20,000. Abruzzi’s accountant recorded the offsetting credit as a gain in profit and loss. A revaluation loss of EUR 5,000 had been recognized for land and buildings in the previous year. The corporate tax rate in Italy is considerably less than Canada’s combined provincial and federal rates. Both GPI and Abruzzi have a September 30 fiscal year end. GPI’s usual wholesale markup on its product imported is 60%; however, GPI has been acquiring goods from Abruzzi at 150% above Abruzzi’s cost. The decision to use 150% above Abruzzi’s cost was made by the CFO. As a result, GPI has had a very low profit margin on its retail sales of Abruzzi olive oils. You are Asif Majarani, a senior audit manager working in the assurance department of Majarani Associates, CGAs, a CGA firm in Winnipeg. Majarani Associates has three other specialized departments — advisory, taxation, and transaction services — with three other partners, one managing each  department. Your firm has been engaged to prepare the consolidated financial statements for the fiscal year ending September 30, 20X0, for GPI. This is the third year the firm has been engaged by GPI. You recently met with Ed Moore, CEO of GPI, on October 15 to obtain additional information. Moore mentioned that he had some concerns about the upcoming project of converting the existing payroll system to a new technology platform. A new payroll software system has been purchased since the payroll system currently in use is designed for a small company. GPI’s growth has strained the payroll system’s ability to provide timely payroll processing. Delays in payment of payroll have caused frustration for employees, although this does occur on an infrequent basis. The IT director is strongly suggesting that a direct cutover conversion approach be taken so that the new system can be used as soon as possible to realize the benefits. It is also the least expensive approach. Moore is concerned that this is a risky approach and he believes that a parallel conversion would be a better option. He is particularly concerned since he has heard that other companies have found errors during the implementation of this specific software system, although these errors are easily resolved once identified. Furthermore, since this is the first time GPI has been required to prepare consolidated financial statements for its shareholders, Moore is concerned about how the users will be able to differentiate between the financial positions and results of operations for the two separate entities. Required a) In your discussion group, analyze the case as a whole and identify all the issues to be included in the report to the CEO.  Note: Candidates must participate in the online discussion. Failure to post in the online discussion and respond to the posts of others will result in failing the discussion-based communication competencies. b) Prepare a report to the CEO (900 to 1,100 words), listing the adjustments that should be considered in preparing the consolidated statements. You should also address any other issues raised in the case. Complete this report independently of your group and submit it as a hand-in assignment.

The Business Management Of Skylark Hotel Tourism Essay

The Business Management Of Skylark Hotel Tourism Essay The brainstorming process took about a week. After careful thought and consideration, we decided to venture into the hotel business. There are many reasons for this. Firstly, we felt that the demand for hotels in Singapore will be very high as Singapore is a booming tourism industry. Furthermore, many events in Singapore such as the Formula 1 Grand Prix and the upcoming Youth Olympic Games ensure that there will be countless tourists flocking to the little red dot. Also, we noticed that not many people venture into the hotel business despite its high demand. Thus we decided on using the hotel as our main business. We have also created a website, Facebook and Twitter accounts to further enhance our business. This serves as a platform for our customers to know more about our business and also serves as a communication platform between our business and valued customers. By doing this, we can receive feedback from our valued customers and establish a positive relationship with them. Our Profile Business Name: Skylark hotel Business Location: Stadium Boulevard, 52 Stadium Road (397724) hotel location macro.PNG Business Objectives: Skylarks objective is to treat all guests as prestigious members of the hotel, by employing dedicated staff to cater to the guests needs and wants during their stay. The safety and satisfaction of our guests is our primary responsibility. Mission Statement: To provide authentic hospitality by offering exclusive service and facilities for your comfort. Vision Statement: To provide great experiences to each valued guest that walks through Skylarks doors by building a trustworthy and long lasting relationship with our prestigious guests through a process of continuous improvement in our service. Values: SincerityÆ’Â  Ã‚  To establish and maintain a level of trust with our guests. KeennessÆ’Â   To show a willingness to learn from our mistakes and reflect upon the guests feedback. YouthfulÆ’Â  Ã‚  To allow the employees to bring their enthusiasm to work and have fun. LoyaltyÆ’Â  Dedication and full commitment in serving our valued guests AccountabilityÆ’Â  To take ownership and responsibility in all the tasks that are being allocated RespectÆ’Â  To have a basic courtesy level between colleague, subordinate and top ranking managers.   KindÆ’Â  To be polite and courteous to every single guest that walks through the Skylarks doors. Smart Goals We are aiming to welcome at least 1000 guests within the first 6 months of our official opening, thus making expected hotel revenue of $500,000. To achieve full occupancy during the Holiday periods. To be known as an eco friendly hotel by the end of our 1st year operation To be featured in the hotel business magazine by the 2nd year of our operation To be awarded the Excellent Service Award by the 3rd year of our operation Policies All hotel room rates are subject to change without notice. Payment may be made by cash or credit cards such as MasterCard, Visa or American express card. We are committed to minimising the impact of our operations on the environment. We are willing to comply with most of the laws and regulations with regards to saving the environment. We will prompt our guests and employees to participate or lead in the protection of our environment. We will ensure that the products supplied by our suppliers is environmentally-friendly. Monitoring the performance of hotel and employees will take place every 6 months so that we can review what we have achieved or failed and improve on it accordingly. We will not be held liable for any loss or damage to any valuables.   We will not be held responsible for any accidents or injuries to our guests during their stay in our hotel Procedures If the reservation made by a potential guest has been confirmed by the hotel, the guest is guaranteed a hotel room. Though we cannot give a guarantee to satisfy our guests request, we will try our best to satisfy any requests made relating to room number or location. All reservations must be made at least 3 days prior to your arrival date.   All reservations will require an advanced deposit equalling the cost of staying in the requested room for a day. All cancellations of reservations have to be made the day following the reservation. If it is cancellation is made any later, deposits by the guests will be forfeited. Our check-in time is anytime after 12 noon. Our checkout time is 12 noon. A late checkout charge of $150 will be charged to rooms that check out after 12 noon. Hotel guests will be responsible for any damages found in their room once they check out. Rules and Regulation The hotel is authorized to only accommodate properly registered guests. Guests are to present their valid ID card or passport for confirmation. Smoking is prohibited in the hotel rooms. Be advised to keep your valuables in your room safe which is located in your cabinet. On the basis of a confirmed booking the hotel is to reserve the room for the guest up to 6:00 PM only, unless the booking stipulates otherwise. Guests should not move furniture, or interfere with the electrical network or any other installations in the hotel rooms or on the premises of the hotel without the consent of the hotel management. No gambling of any kind or unlawful behavior is permitted in the hotel. Employees are to wear their uniform smartly in the hotel premises at all time. Planning Decision making model Ratings from 1 to 5 shows which business fits the criteria the best. Business venture Type of business Knowledge of the field Practicality to be applied in Singapore Maintenance Expense Uniqueness Total Retail shop 2 3 3 3 13 Restaurant 3 5 4 2 14 Hotel management 5 4 2 4 15 Investment centre 4 2 5 1 12 Sports complex 1 1 1 5 8 Definition of criteria: Knowledge of the fieldÆ’Â   How familiar we are with the different types of businesses. Practicality to be applied in SingaporeÆ’Â   How effective is it to set up such a business in Singapore. Maintenance ExpenseÆ’Â   The expenses that will be incurred in future in order to keep the facilities and area of the business under appropriate and acceptable conditions. Uniqueness Æ’Â  The type of business we choose must be few in quantity in Singapore Thus, we have chosen to venture into hotel management as most of us have an extensive knowledge about the field and furthermore, it is can be applied in the Singapore context. Additionally, it is also fairly unique as not many people venture into this type of business. Location of business Location Accessibility Competitiveness Amount of Space Landmarks available in the location Rental Total Marina Bay 4 1 3 4 2 14 Harbour Front 2 4 4 3 5 18 Orchard 5 2 1 5 1 14 Holland Road 1 3 2 1 3 10 Stadium Boulevard 3 5 5 2 4 19 Definition of criteria: CompetitivenessÆ’Â  the presence of competitors who are in similar businesses may affect our profits Landmarks available in the locationÆ’Â   the presence of well-known places of interest located near the hotel. Amount of space Æ’Â   how large is the space in the particular area. Accessibility Æ’Â  how convenient the location of our hotel is. This means that it has to be near an MRT station and bus-stop. Also, it has to be easily accessible by cars RentalÆ’Â  the cost of using the piece of land Thus, Stadium Boulevard has been chosen as the location accessible as there is an availability of bus and MRT nearby. There are also very few hotels in that area and the amount of space to build our hotel is substantially large. Furthermore, the rental fee is relatively cheaper as compared to the rest of the locations. Name of Hotel Name Uniqueness Meaningful Number of votes Total Olympian 2 6 1 9 Sphere 3 2 0 5 Skylark 5 5 2 12 iHotel 1 1 0 2 Metamorphosis 6 4 0 10 Synergy 4 3 2 9 Definition of criteria: Uniqueness Æ’Â  how different our hotel name is as compared to other names. This means that the name chosen have to be distinctive and is not a duplicate of other businesses. Meaningful Æ’Â  choosing a name which has a special meaning tagged along with it and is able to represent the vision and mission of our hotel. Number of votes Æ’Â  how many of our group members favoured the name of the hotel We have chosen Skylark as the hotel name because it is considered to be unique. Furthermore, it is considered as meaningful as the work sky represents the location of the business which is surrounded by nature. Also, it has won one of the highest numbers of votes by our group members. Fundamentals of planning Strategic planning Strategic planning is done by top management where long-term goals are established and available resources are identified. The owner, general manager, assistant general manager and resident manager will meet up monthly to review the hotels progress and check if the long-term goals are achievable. They will also be responsible for the changing or maintaining the overall direction of the hotel and they will look into ways to cope with the highly competitive hotel industry. Tactical planning Tactical planning will be done by the managers under the control of the top management. They will be responsible for implementing the policies made by the top managers. They are also responsible for the managers under their power. Also, in Skylark hotel, these managers will act as middlemen between first-line management and the top management. This means that these managers have to convey the problems the first-line managers face to the top management if they cannot solve it.   Operational planning The managers in this section are known as first-line managers. They are responsible for carrying out daily tasks and motivating employees. They are also responsible to solve problems with regard to the employees. Organisational Environment Internal Stakeholders The internal stakeholders of our company include 150 employees from a diversity of races and age and genders, an owner, and also a board of directors. External Stakeholders The external stakeholders of the hotel comprises of the task and general environment. Task Environment Customers The most important of all is our prestigious customers, both local and foreigners which will help boost our business as they are the main sources of our income. Without the presence of the customers, it will then be impossible for us to make any profits. Our targeted demographic are families. Thus, this explains why we many facilities which permit them to bond together as a family. Quality of Services Location Good Food (Buffet) Attractive Rates Discount and offer Environment Quiet and welcoming colour tones, furniture and employees Suppliers As for food and beverages, our main supplier is Pines Catering. External suppliers are also required to provide raw materials for our construction and furnishings. For construction, our supplier is Pluspoint Premier Global while for furnishings; our supplier is Aceman Renovation and Trading. Competitor As for our main competitors, they are the nearby hotels which are Resort World Sentosa, Marina Bay Sands and Fragrance Hotel Admiral which may negatively affect our profits. Our main rival is Resort World Sentosa. Besides providing accommodation, they provide numerous holiday packages for the guests. An illustration is the 3D2N Ultimate Fun Package where they get passes to Universal Studios Singapore and as well as complimentary drinks when they first arrived at the hotel. Marina Bay Sands is also another opponent of our hotel. Besides the usual amenities for the guests, Marina Bay Sands also provide golf course for their customers. Thus, the packages that our rivals promote aggressively will indirectly affect us as this will reduce the number of guests in our hotel. Our hotel may resort to coming out with similar or even better packages to draw more customers. Media By having a close relationship with the media, our hotel will be able to secure recognition faster. Joining forces together with travel agencies, our business will prosper as it helps our hotel to gain reputation. Other stakeholders included the interest groups, the government, lenders and unions. General Environment The general environment comprises many external forces which are mostly beyond the control of our hotel. Economic forces General economic trends happening world-wide can affect our hotels earnings due to a stronger or weaker dollar value. Thus, we need to ensure that our hotel should charge reasonable rates to customers so as to maintain our competitiveness even during a recession. This will allow us to attract more customers. Socio cultural forces As Singapore is a multicultural country, our hotel would need to respect and be mindful of the various practices and deep-seated beliefs of the different races and religions. Technological forces Our hotel has pertained technology by adapting to the advancements of technology by having our very own website, Facebook page and Twitter account. The website enables our customers to book hotel rooms online, view special offers available and browse the amenities provided at the comfort of their home. In addition, they are able to provide us with feedback on the website and our hotel can improve on our weaknesses and progress. International forces As the world has just suffered from an economy crisis, this will cause a decline in the numbers of guests in the hotel. However, Singapore has political stability, which means that there will be no riots or protests to deter the tourists from coming into Singapore. Political-legal forces As the law holds up certain rules and laws to prevent inappropriate acts in hotel such as prostitution and gambling. In addition, the law assists our hotel to uphold order to ensure an enjoyable stay for the guests. Organisation Structure Task and roles General Manager The duties of a general manager include managing other managers and the hotel staff, budgeting cost and cross-referring to actual budget, managing hotel projects, managing hotel emergencies and public relations with the media. This means that a general manager usually oversees most or all of the firms  marketing  and  sales  functions and the day-to-day  operations  of the business. The general manager is also responsible for leading the  strategic planning  functions of the hotel. Assistant General Manager An assistant general manager aids the general manager in his decisions such as business agendas. He also assists the general manager in completing the paperwork which is not very important and he is tasked with reporting all problems in the hotel to the general manager. However, he can solve these problems if he is able to and thereby, allowing the hotel to run smoothly. Resident manager The main job of the resident manager is to respond to any problems or emergencies in the hotel while overlooking the day-to-day operations of the hotel. They stay in the hotel and are on call 24 hours a day. However, they only work for a certain period of time per day although they are on call throughout the day. House-keeping manager Basically, the house-keeping manager supervises work activities of cleaning personnel to ensure clean and attractive rooms in the hotel. The house-keeping manager also assigns duties, inspect work, and investigate complaints regarding housekeeping and takes corrective action as required. He is also required to purchase housekeeping supplies and equipment, train new employees, and recommend dismissals. Front Office Manager Front office managers are responsible making the guests stay at the hotel as pleasant as possible. This means to ensure that the guests are treated courteously and make sure all the complaints and problems of the guests are resolved as fast as possible. They are also handed the responsibility of reservations, tracking the status of the rooms and ensure that guests special request are carried out. They also have the authority to adjust the charges posted on the customers bill. Telecom operator Hotel telecom operators are required to transfer foreign or outside calls to the appropriate guest room. He also has to answer or transfer all incoming calls. He is responsible for informing the guests about the latest information on guest services and also processes and executes the wake-up calls to the guests. He also helps to inform the guests about the latest events and happenings at the hotel. Chief engineer The chief engineer is responsible for maintaining the performance of the maintenance or engineering department in the hotel. He also has to ensure that the hotel is in working order and fix any problems related to the structure of the hotel. He or she has to maintain the exterior of the building, the car park and check the furniture in the guest rooms and take corrective measures if anything is wrong with the furniture. He must be able to respond to emergencies, even after working hours. Most importantly, he must have the troubleshooting ability to be able to solve any problem in the hotel on the spot. Chief of security Chief of security is responsible for overseeing the safety of the hotel throughout the day, especially in the evening. He may also have other responsibilities such as walking around the hotel property to ensure that everyone is safe. He is also tasked with responding to guest. The chief of security must be able to solve problems quickly and respond to emergency situations effectively. Human resources manager The human resource manager is responsible for the administrative function of the hotel. This means to recruit, interview or hire new employees into the organisation in accordance to the strategic plan made by top executives. They are also responsible for all areas related to employees such as providing them uniforms and giving them employee benefits. Human resources managers are tasked with providing training for the new employees to improve the employee skills and to increase customer satisfaction. In todays society, human resources managers lead the hotel by suggesting and changing policies after consultation with top executives. Food and beverage manager The food and beverage manager is responsible for overseeing, with the chef, the purchasing of all the ingredients necessary to complement the items on the menu. It may require training new employees and monitoring the staff in the dining room to see if they are following the hotel style of service. Sometimes, the food and beverage manager may also be called up to resolve matters with the guests unhappy with the food. It is also very important to keep the morale in the food and beverage section. Sales director The sales director is responsible for maximising the occupancy of the hotel. He also works with the general manager with regards to operational issues. The sales director must have excellent communication skills as he is responsible for negotiating with suppliers to provide the goods the hotel needs at a low price and he needs it to establish rapport with clients or suppliers. Controller The hotel controllers job is to report financial information timely and accurately. He is also responsible for financial forecasting, both short-term and long-term. He manages the accounting and financial staff and he may be required to train new employees. This organisational chart is done in accordance to functional departmentalisation. This organisation adopts a wide span of control. It is because the Resident Manager alone is in-charge of three departments. In these departments, the top supervisors or managers will have another range of subordinates. The organisation has a decentralisation of authority. In each sector of the company, they have their own managers that are accountable for them. The employees do not have to get approval from the General Manager or anyone from around that status. Instead the employees just have to get approval from their immediate manager or supervisor. Organisation Culture Hotel Services: As the top notch hotel, as part of the culture, we aim to serve with a smile. The employees of the hotel should go the extra mile for the customers to make sure they are feeling euphoric. If we are able to provide smiles and go the extra mile, the customers will feel the warmth of the hotel and the chances of them coming back would increase. Integrity Our employees must have integrity so that we are able to establish trust with our guests. Hotel Maintenance: The customers needs and wants are to be satisfied. The maintenance service provider is to be on standby twenty four hours, ready to aid the customers if they request for it. This is to make sure that our customers do not have to wait a long period of time or wait till the next day till the maintenance service provider is available. By doing this, they provide maintenance all day. Hotel facilities: The hotel will also look into finding restaurants which are highly recommended by the foreigners to open a branch in the hotel. The hotel will also provide international food just in case some of the foreigners who are not used to the food in Singapore, they can always come back to the hotels restaurant to eat the food old in their country. Hotel Venue Security The security guards are also to be on patrol twenty four hours around the hotel and at the lobby. This is to prevent anyone from stirring trouble around the hotel or in the hotel. By having such arrangements, our hotel will become a popular choice to the foreigners for our top notch security. Employee Feedback There will be a meeting held every six months to help improve the quality of the hotel as well as employees benefits. During this meeting, employees are invited and allowed to voice out their feedbacks about their superiors and the benefits they want to improvement on. As for the employees benefit, all employees are given a twenty percent discount off the total bill when they dine in the hotel. The meals of the employees are also provided. Breakfast and lunch will be provided for those on morning shift, lunch and dinner will be provided for those on afternoon shift. The employees who work over-time will receive one and a half times the basic pay. Employee Procedure: All employees are to report to their immediate supervisors or managers for report updates and decision making. However, for key decisions which may affect the company greatly, the Chief Executive Officer will make the final decision. The Chief Executive Officer also has the right to change any decisions made by any supervisor and manager. For documents which need to be signed or approved, it will require at least two managers signature and stamp depending on the situation. This is to prevent any misleading by one manager or supervisor causing the company to make a wrong decision. At least with two signatures, two managers would have gone through the document and discussed to make sure there is no fault or attempt of fraud in it. Leadership In our company, each and every one of our employee is look upon as a leader. Leadership style: We would want to have leaders with the following characteristics Approachable Each employee is to be able to be approached easily and is able to lend a helping hand when others are in need. Hierarchy is not our main priority in our company. However, basic respect still has to be shown. We would like to ensure a friendly and conducive working environment for everyone. Influential Each manager should inspire their fellow colleague, subordinate and employees to do their best in everything that they do. We encourage motivation to spread around the working environment. Little deeds should be praised and recognised. This will contribute to a positive working experience for everyone. Forward-Looking Each employee should learn to be forward looking as this will eventually benefit the business in many ways. This does not only imply to the top managers but also all employees. Since we have a relatively flat hierarchy, this helps us to be able to obtain contribution from everyone. By being forward looking, we will be able to seize each and every opportunity that come and also, avoid any circumstances that could affect the profitability of our business. In addition, by being forward looking, we will also be able to stay ahead of our competitors such as Marina Bay Sands. Reward Power Our business is using the monetary incentives to manage our employees. This means that employees are given certain incentives for going beyond the call of duty. The best employee of each department each month will be rewarded with a free hotel stay of 3 days 2 nights. This also serves as a motivation for the employees to strive for their best while doing their work. Hersey and Blanchards Situational Leadership We would also like to adopt the Hersey and Blanchards Situational Leadership where the leadership style depends on the employees readiness. The leadership styles include telling, selling, participating and delegating. However, we are eventually aiming to use the leadership style of delegating where our employees are able and willing to do their job. This style involves a low task behavior and a low relationship behavior. However, to achieve this, we would use more of selling which involves both high task behavior and a high relationship behavior. This means that the employees are unable but willing or confident. We would then guide them to ensure they eventually will be able to do their job well. Controlling Our hotel would like to control the quality of service offered to the guests. We should provide our prestigious customers with the top-rated of service so that they will patronize our hotel again. In order to be top-rated, our hotel has scheduled the work time of the employees in such a way that there will be at least someone available to attend to the needs of the guests. Feedforward control Firstly, our hotel will provide our employees with training such as customer service course. This is to ensure that our employees are equipped with the necessary skills needed. Thus, our hotel is able to provide our guests with top-rated service for them to enjoy their stay in our hotel. In this case, we are applying Feedforward control. Concurrent control Our hotel can relate Concurrent control, by asking our guests for their valuable feedback during their stay. When our staffs get the chance to meet the guests, we could get their advices and improve from there by incorporating their advices. Feedback control Lastly, Feedback control is also useful to bring our hotel to a greater height. Before the guests leave our hotel, we can provide them with a feedback form and request them to rate our service. In addition, they may do this on our hotels website if they do not have the time to complete the feedback form. By getting their advices, we could then work on our weaknesses and progress from there. Our hotel also likes to control the facilities available in our company. We need to make sure that all of our facilities are in tip-top condition for our guests to use. According to Feed forward control, our hotel will conduct checks on the facilities every month to ensure that every equipment is in working order. Should we receive any complaints regarding the facilities by the guests, our hotel will send an engineer down to solve the problem immediately. If we are unable to do so immediately, we aim to complete the repairs by three days so that our guests are entitled to use the amenities. First-line managers can apply operational control by having debrief with their subordinates just before they end their work on a daily basis. They can also mention about the feedbacks and suggestions offered by the guests. Tactical control can be included by having meetings fortnightly. The meeting compromises of the middle managers and the first-line managers. During the meetings, they can come up with ways to promote our hotel or even adding in facilities to allow our hotel to soar. Lastly, strategic control is the most essential as it is a meeting where top; middle and first-line managers meet together. The middle and first-line managers can present their suggestions to the top managers. The top managers will then decide whether to implement their suggestions. In addition, they will review the number of customers patronizing our hotel and the revenue of our business. Also, the controlling process is constructive to assist our hotels success.  Firstly, we establish our standards by ensuring every employee undergoes customer service training. Our hotel aims to attain a goal of $500000 revenue in the first six months of our operation. We can measure our performance by taking into consideration the number of guests staying in our hotel and revenue we earned in the first six months. Comparing our goals with our actual revenue, if we achieved our goal, we will continue with our training and execute other courses that are beneficial for our employees. On the other hand, if we did not attain our goal, we may resort at our publicity and upgrade in our services.

Development of Recycling Company

Development of Recycling Company Executive Summary Recently, the growing utilization of plastics are specifically used domestic purpose and produced from industrial and consumer applications and need to combined with increased consumer awareness surrounding solid waste recycling, has led to an increased demand for recycled plastic resins and products for our general purposes. One of the quickest increasing types of collected plastic materials for recycling is polyethylene terephthalate (PET) from post-consumer beverage and water bottles. Replay Plastics will capitalize on the opportunities in the recycled resin and packaging markets through two main divisions: a Recycling Division and a Packaging Division. The Company will create a PET cleaning and refining plant where located in the western United States (all 16 major North American PET recycling plants are currently located in the eastern United States or Canada). To be honest, Its initial capacity will be 46 million pounds, and it will utilize post-consumer bottle feed stock presently collected in California, Oregon and Washington States, which collect over 200 million pounds per year. The Company will be vertically integrated and utilize almost all of its recycled material in its Packaging Division and any surplus materials (clean flake) produced will be sold to outside companies. The extruded sheet may then be sold to manufacturers who will thermoform it into high-visibility packaging or use it in other high value added manufacturing operations. The strapping will be sold to companies who ship large packages or pallets, such as the lumber milling industry. The Company currently has commitments available from customers to purchase the entire product produced. MANAGEMENT Ben Braddock, President who has experienced since 30-years of history and related with encompassing all aspects of Polymer Raw Material, Plastic Conversion Methods, and Venture Development. Moreover, he has founded great ventures in the plastic converting industry, and assisted in the launch of five plastic converting manufacturing plants. In his personal life, Sam McGuire, Executive VP and COO, is a graduate Engineer with almost over 20 years experience in the post-consumer plastics recycling industry and is the inventor of the primary cleaning refining technology used in the process for this project. He has received a patent for his technology and has been directly involved in over twenty-five major post consumer plastics recycling projects. Carl R. Smith, CFO, has over 30 years investment and merchant banking and management experience. He has assisted in raising over $500 million and served as board member and/or officer in over 40 public and private companies. FINANCIAL SUMMARY Moreover, after a four month grow-up period to build the recycling and packaging facilities, buy equipment, and incorporate the business, Replay Plastics will begin a quick turnaround of product. Sales will begin in May, and with over $15 Million in sales the first year, we will see a first year net profit of $2.3 Million. The owners are investing $500,000 each, for a total of $1.5 Million, and are securing an $800K long-term loan. The Company is also looking an investment of $2,700,000 in order to begin operations. Then, these funds will be used for the purchase of one recycling line and one manufacturing line, for create of the plant facilities and for working capital. An outside investor providing this amount would receive 48% equity in Replay, and receive an IRR of 69% from simple dividends alone over the next 5 years. At the end of that period, we will consider a public offering of stock or a buy-out by a related business. Recent information on private sales of similar industry companies has indicated that transactions under $25 million have averaged 5.3 times EBITDA, while transactions in the range of $25-250 million have averaged over 7 times EBITDA. Further details can be found in the Financial Plan, below. 1.1 Objectives Sales passing $15 million in first year, $31 million in year 2, growing to $43 million. Gross margin of 35% or more in first year, 45% in second year then 50% or more. Net profit of 13% in year one, then exceeding 20% annually starting in year two. 1.2 Mission Replay Plastics is a generally manufacturing company dedicated to converting waste plastic materials into commercially viable products, utilizing environmentally friendly recycling and manufacturing methods. We intend to make enough profit to generate a significant return for our investors and to finance continued growth and continued development in quality products. We will also maintain a friendly, fair, and creative work environment, which respects diversity, new ideas and hard work. 1.3 Keys to Success The main keys to the success of the Company are: Secure Supply- Contract for supply of post-consumer bottles and post-industrial manufacturing waste for PET raw material feed stock. Marketing Contractual arrangements for the sale of virtually all initial production. Management Strong senior management with extensive, broad-based, industry-specific experience. 1.4 Potential Risks Unavailable or scarce raw material feed stock for production Replay is confident that it has secured good availability of low cost post-consumer PET bottles (feed stock) derived from post-consumer beverage bottles from California based recycling collectors, and has back up sources identified. Technology employed may be unreliable or unproven Replay will use a proven, patented technology that was developed by one of its principals for the cleaning and recycling phase. The extrusion division will employ commercially proven technology the industry is employing unique recycled PET technology which is used by prominent eastern U.S. manufacturers of PET extrusions. There may not be a market for the Companys products The Industry-wide experience of the Management Team has allowed them to identify markets for the Companys products. Their expertise and reputations have allowed them to obtain commitments for virtually all of the planned initial production. The location may not be near enough to markets The markets that have been identified are primarily in the western U.S., which will provide a distinct advantage to the Company because of freight costs and delivery timing. The Company may not be able to attract top management The Company has assembled a world class management team with proven ability and direct experience in the Companys market segments. Company may not meet environmental standards This environmentally-favorable venture provides for the development of technically feasible and economically viable solutions to PET plastic beverage bottle recycling, as well as environmentally aware in-house re-use practices which filter and return nearly all of the process water to the production lines. The Company may not be able to sell all of its production capability Through the Senior Managements industry-wide contacts, the Company has identified potential customers and received commitments for all of the production potential of the initial facility. Company Summary The Company will capitalize on the opportunities in the recycled resin and packaging markets through two main divisions: a Recycling Division and a Packaging Division. Recycling Division Using a patented process, the Company will create a PET cleaning and refining plant located in the western United States; we have chosen this region because all 16 major North American PET recycling plants are currently located in the eastern United States or Canada, despite western states favorable recycling attitudes among consumers. Its initial annual capacity will be 46 million pounds and it will utilize bottle feed stock from California, Oregon and Washington States, which collect over 200,000,000 pounds per year. The Company will become totally vertically integrated, and use all or almost all of its recycled material in its Packaging Division. Any surplus material produced will be sold to outside companies. Packaging Division We will create a plant (actual facilities to be shared with the Recycling Division) to manufacture extruded plastic roll stock sheet or high-strength strapping, employing state-of-the-art technology developed to utilize recycled PET resin. The extruded sheet will be primarily sold to thermoformers who will convert it into high visibility packaging, as well as laminators and fabricators. The strapping will be sold to commercial users for use as package or pallet strapping. The Company currently has commitments from customers to purchase all of the initial production capacity. Excess flake will be sold to outside customers. 2.1 Company Ownership Replay Plastics is owned by the initial founders, B. Braddock, S. McGuire and C. Smith, who are the proposed three executives of the operating entity. The plan was conceived and developed by these individuals, with the intent to apply their extensive experience and contacts in the industry to building a successful profitable corporation. 2.1.1 Potential Conflict Our COO, Mr. Sam McGuire, the inventor and patent holder of the recycling process to be used by the Company, is a principal in Company A of Chicago, IL. For many years, Company has designed, manufactured and assembled plastic recycling equipment, and has given us quotes on meeting our needs in this area. After a thorough investigation, Replay has found that Company A is able to source or supply the required equipment at considerably lower cost than any other company from which a quote was available. Mr. McGuire has disclosed that Company A has included a smaller than normal margin in their quote on goods they will manufacture, to cover overhead, contingency and profit which might result in a small benefit to him. They have agreed to source all of the equipment possible with no added margin. Replay has concluded that the savings available outweigh any other consideration and that we will purchase the cleaning and refining equipment from Company A. 2.2 Start-up Summary Our start-up expenses are budgeted at $210,000, which is mostly for on-site contractor services during facility preparation. $50,000 has been set aside for legal and accounting, $25,000 for special consulting that may be required during start up and $50,000 each for local engineering and lab equipment and supplies. $30,000 has been set aside as a contingency for the start up period. Our largest Start-up Requirement is the building of the recycling and extrusion facility. Its final value at completion is listed below as a long-term asset of $3,620,000 (excluding expensed items like consultants and engineering listed above). Aside from the building itself, we need $25,000 in machinery and fixtures, $500,000 of inventory (plastic bottle feed stock) and cash to cover us through the initial year. Start-up Funding Start-up Expenses to Fund $210,000 Start-up Assets to Fund $4,790,000 Total Funding Required $5,000,000 Assets Non-cash Assets from Start-up $4,145,000 Cash Requirements from Start-up $645,000 Additional Cash Raised $0 Cash Balance on Starting Date $645,000 Total Assets $4,790,000 Liabilities and Capital Liabilities Current Borrowing $0 Long-term Liabilities $800,000 Accounts Payable (Outstanding Bills) $0 Other Current Liabilities (interest-free) $0 Total Liabilities $800,000 Capital Planned Investment Founders $1,500,000 Investor $2,700,000 Additional Investment Requirement $0 Total Planned Investment $4,200,000 Loss at Start-up (Start-up Expenses) ($210,000) Total Capital $3,990,000 Total Capital and Liabilities $4,790,000 Total Funding $5,000,000 Start-up Requirements Start-up Expenses Legal Accounting $50,000 Stationery etc. $5,000 Consultants $25,000 Lab Equipment $50,000 Local Engineering $50,000 Misc Start up $30,000 Other $0 Total Start-up Expenses $210,000 Start-up Assets Cash Required $645,000 Start-up Inventory $500,000 Other Current Assets $25,000 Long-term Assets $3,620,000 Total Assets $4,790,000 Total Requirements $5,000,000 Products Replay Plastics will utilize two processes in the same facility to produce: Cleaned and recycled plastic PET flake (RPET), recovered from post-consumer beverage bottles and manufacturing waste produced by its sheet customers Extruded roll stock sheet PET. Extruded PET high-strength strapping for securing large packages or pallet loads; each using 100% RPET produced in-house 3.1 Product Description Roll stock sheet will be sold to custom thermoformers primarily to be used to produce high-visibility packaging. It will also be sold to manufacturers of laminates and fabricated plastic products. High strength PET packaging strapping is used to secure packages or pallets in such industries as lumber milling and corrugated and other paper production. Both products will be extruded from post-consumer polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles. The recycling programs in California, Washington and Oregon collect in excess of 200,000,000 pounds of PET bottles per annum. Replay initial capacity will be 46,000,000 pounds. Using a patented process, Replay will clean and refine the PET material from the post-consumer bottle stock and post-industrial manufacturing waste. The PET flake resin produced will be extruded into roll stock sheet or high-strength strapping. Although the Company expects to convert all of its bottle feed stock into extruded products, any surplus flake will be sold to outside manufacturers. 3.2 Competitive Comparison While quality and delivery are important factors to our potential clients, price is most often the determining factor in a buying decision. Good-quality packaging products manufactured from recycled (less expensive) resins, as close as practical to the end customers operations, will be most competitive and achieve a significant market share. These factors have helped to determine the business parameters of Replay Plastics. 3.3 Sourcing In excess of 200,000,000 pounds of post-consumer PET beverage bottles are collected and available as feed stock for manufacturers who can re-process this material into commercial products. The Company has excellent relations with the firms and associations that collect and distribute these materials and has been assured that its requirements will be available for the foreseeable future. The Company has entered negotiations with a California based source of post-consumer bottles and is confident that sufficient volumes are available on a contract basis from this source to satisfy its requirements. In addition, the Company intends to purchase production waste from its sheet customers and blend it into its feed stock. Currently, the majority of the post-consumer PET bottles collected in California, Oregon and Washington are exported to China. The Chinese have absorbed the amounts surplus to the use in North America. Their interest has kept the industry in the position of being able to maintain a steady price range for this bottle stock. A significant percentage of all sales of such bottle stock are managed by Plastics Recycling Corporation of California (PRCC), an industry funded marketing agency which operates similarly to a co-operative. They accept bids from potential buyers on behalf of the firms which act as consolidators, which accumulate stocks from the smaller, individual bottle-recycling depots. Some amount of the available stocks are regularly bought by recyclers in eastern North America who focus on the carpet manufacturers who use RPET resin in their process, but the high cost of transport from the western U.S. makes eastern sources more desirable. Replay has a good relationship with Company B, one of the larger consolidators in California. Company B has indicated a desire to contract to supply Replay with all of its raw material needs. They prefer to deal with a local consumer such as Replay, rather than the uncertainty and extra preparation requirements of the export market. There are other sources of post-consumer feed stock known to Replay, and we are confident that we will have sufficient materials available for our production needs. 3.4 Technology Sam McGuire, a key member of our Management team, is one of the original innovators of cleaning and refining technology for post-consumer PET, and we will be utilizing his patented process in our recycling facility. Sam has worked in the establishment and operation of facilities employing similar technologies over the last several years. On the manufacturing side, Management has been an integral part of the advancement of industry practices over the last twenty years or so, and includes in their knowledge base most, if not all, of the state-of-the-art available equipment and manufacturing techniques. Market Analysis Summary Strong demand for recycled plastics is working in the industrys favor. Major users of plastic packaging, apparently responding to consumer desires, have begun incorporating at least some recycled plastic content in their products as part of the growing interest in recycling. Recycled resin demand is on the rise as prices for the two major recycled resins, PET and HDPE, continue to hold value or appreciate against their virgin counterparts. In volume, PET is currently the number one recycled resin. Supply of recycled PET is in excess of 800 million pounds per year. This figure is expected to grow, reaching over 1 billion pounds during the next few years. The plastics industry has developed new markets and applications for recycled resins from both post-consumer and post-industrial sources. PET leads the recycled recovered resins as the most visible and valuable, and its use is increasing. Of the total 3.7 billion pounds of PET consumed in 1997, just 16% was from recycled sources. Of the more than 90 billion pounds of plastics produced annually in the United States, less than 5% is from recycled sources. Plastics, after aluminium, represent the second highest value material in the waste stream and have the highest projected growth rate. Markets and uses for recycled plastics are rapidly expanding. Plastic containers are being collected at the curb for recycling in nearly 500 communities, representing more than 4 million households. U.S. demand for recycled plastic will continue to expand and new markets will develop as technologies permit the efficient segregation and reprocessing of high-purity resins. Improved quality of resins, environmental issues and higher prices for virgin resin will contribute to growth. Packaging is expected to be the largest market segment for recycled plastics, with sheet and lumber following. Surveys indicate that Americans are increasingly willing to collect and separate discarded packages, foregoing a degree of convenience to make products more disposable, and even paying a premium for a recycled item. Increasingly, communities are refusing to consider incineration until every effort is made first to recycle; public sentiment is strongly in favor of products that can be recycled or are made of recycled materials. In recent years, the household recycling rate of PET bottles has more than doubled to 30% of all PET soft drink bottles sold. In fact, PETs recycling rate is the fastest growing among all beverage containers. The future of PET recycling is even brighter than it has been in the past. PET intrinsic scrap value is second only to aluminium among container materials. The plastics industry has launched a research and development program aimed at increasing PET recycling. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), plastic soft drink bottles account for approximately 2% of the solid waste discarded in America. The EPA has set a national goal to recycle 25% of the municipal solid waste stream and the industry is committed to achieving its share of that important g oal. The recycling industry intends to accelerate the rate of plastic recycling as part of its commitment to develop solutions to the solid waste problem. Industry analysts have projected that 50% of all PET containers will be recycled by the year 2007. More plastics will be recycled annually than any other recyclable material. Replay believes a significant answer to Americas waste problem lies in creating high value, recycled thermoformable sheet and other extruded products for the packaging market. Although more than 200 million pounds of PET post-consumer materials are collected in the western United States each year, there is presently no local cleaning and refining facility converting the bottles into resins suitable for re-manufacturing. Originally, recycled PET (RPET) was used primarily in the carpet fiber industry, which is located along the eastern seaboard. The early development of the RPET industry was therefore focused in the eastern USA, with eastern states adopting the first bottle deposit laws that resulted in collection of post-consumer bottles that can be recycled. Recently, California, Oregon and Washington have adopted bottle deposit programs, and accumulation of recyclable materials in those states has begun. With all of the cleaning and recycling plants and the majority of consumers traditionally located in the eastern part of the country, development of consumers of recycled flake and down-line products, such as film and sheet, has been slow to develop in th e West. A strong demand for post-consumer bottles from Asia has prevented the buildup of inventories and reduced the pressure for the collection industry to find or develop western markets. There is currently no independent extrusion plant of recycled polyterephthalate (PET) sheet in the western United States or Canada that services the roll stock requirements of major custom and proprietary formers. With the development of the recycling industry for PET starting in the eastern part of the country, and the preponderance of consumers of sheet there as well, development of independent extrusion facilities using RPET has been slow to develop. It appears that in order to attract such companies, local sources of RPET would have to available. While there are customers in the West for the products, contracting a supply and shipping it from the East makes the venture unattractive. Our founders recognize that an opportunity exists and propose a vertically integrated conversion facility that will employ state-of-the-art technologies to produce extruded sheet and high strength strapping from 100% recycled PET post-consumer bottle stock, cleaned and refined in our own facility. 4.1 Target Market Segment Strategy The Company has chosen its target markets because recycled PET (RPET) is in high demand as flake resin by converters, as roll stock sheet used to produce high visibility packaging and as high strength strapping for the lumber industry. Sales are price-sensitive, so that proximity to markets and feed stock source provide a competitive edge. Replay Plastics identified an opportunity to take advantage of both circumstances in the western United States.