Homer’S Two Tales, The Iliad And The Odyssey, Are Both

Homer’s two tales, the Iliad and the Odyssey, are both incredibly well known and widely taught across the world and at many different levels of education. Some call Homer the â€Å"greatest poet to ever live† and although this can be disputed his works truly speak for themselves and have braved the test of time quite well. This paper will cover who/whom Homer is as a person, or persons, and the time period of his writings, the truths versus the dramatizations of the Iliad and Odyssey, how the author’s perspective and writings portray ancient Greek culture, along with how the two of them interact with our culture today. Homer is a name that needs little introduction, but to understand ones works you must first possess the right knowledge of†¦show more content†¦The proof for such a theory comes from the diversity of narrative style, ethics, vocabulary, theology, geographical perspective, and written construction across the two epics, yet there is still mu ch mystery to this day. My informed viewpoint on Homer and the epics written is that â€Å"Homer† was likely a few people, 2 – 3, who over time wrote down the stories they heard and made them fit together and passed it on. Then the last person gathered up all the previous peoples works formed two large epic poems, made up of both fact and fiction. First of Homers two poetic epics is the Iliad, based on the Trojan War. It is definitely the more realistic of the two poems yet is still heavily influenced by fictitious elements such as divine intervention and the mythical creatures mentioned. The Trojan War is considered to be historical fact by most this day and age with Homer’s account being one of the most influential, but how accurate is his information? Bronze Age Greece is the setting for most of the Iliad; scholars have criticized whether the location and events were fact for decades. Yet fairly recently one man has discovered that the Iliad presents an accurate account of the geography of Ancient Troy. His nameShow MoreRelatedSimilarities Between Achilles And Odysseus1110 Words   |  5 Pagesand Odysseus in Homer’s, Iliad and Odyssey) Humanity has always strived for greatness, and is destined to continue this attempt till the world stops spinning. Through the art of storytelling, and literature, we have weaved images of what the ideal human should be. Countless works of literature depict such humans as â€Å"heroes†, due to the inspiration they stir within our imperfect souls. Truly epic heroes shape future stories, and remain influential despite the weathering of time. Two heroes of epicRead MoreAnalysis Of Homer s Epic Of The Iliad And Odyssey903 Words   |  4 PagesWith this personal narrative, I will analyze two themes from Homer’s epic’s pertaining to the Iliad and the Odyssey. I have chosen hospitality (Xenia) and shame (Aidos) as the subject of interest, and will focus on these as a main source of the topic. Xenia is the ancient Greek word for â€Å"hospitality†, which is the consideration and kindness shown to those who are far from home and/or associates of the person bestowing xenia upon them. The rituals of hospitality created and conveyed a reciprocalRead More Use of Epithets In Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey Essay774 Words   |  4 PagesUse of Epithets In Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey Throughout The Iliad and The Odyssey, Homer’s use of the epithet in describing Odysseus becomes essential as a means of characterizing the hero. Homer uses several epithets, or nicknames, along with the name â€Å"Odysseus† as the story unfolds in both tales. Three of these include the descriptive epithet â€Å"wily Odysseus,† the laudative epithet â€Å"Odysseus, the great tactician,† and the patronymic epithet â€Å"Odysseus Laertiades.† Besides their obviousRead MoreHomer s The Iliad And The Odyssey Essay1590 Words   |  7 Pagesauthor who gave a visible, written form to two of the greatest and highly respected epic stories of the world of the ancient Greeks, the Iliad and The Odyssey. However, none are certain of the time in which Homer lived. It is believed now that, if Homer was at all more than myth himself, he did not create the two stories, rather he organized or edited the poems in a written form (Bloom). Regardless of Homerâ₠¬â„¢s involvement with the two stories, these ancient tales are distinct and characterized by the worldRead MoreThe Penelopiad Analysis958 Words   |  4 Pagesnovel ‘The Odyssey’ . In an interview, Atwood explained her beliefs on the gender roles surround The Odyssey thus incorporating this as well as other materials into ‘The Penelopiad’ by stating: â€Å"There is an argument that has been made quite thoroughly that The Iliad and The Odyssey were written by two different people, and that the person who wrote The Odyssey was a woman.’ Atwood then carries on to explain her argument stating how several people have made the argument of how ‘The Odyssey’ was writtenRead MoreThe Iliad And The Odyssey977 Words   |  4 Pagesmythology. There is not a single Greek myth in history that does not contain some mention of at the very least a single god who played a part in the tale. In one way or another, gods within mythology affect the characters of the myths, the plot or storyline, or the theme of the myth. Homer’s The Iliad and The Odyssey are two prime examples of this. Within both epics, the gods constantly intervene in the lives and situations of the characters, molding them to the desired outcome. Without the influenceRead MoreAnalysis Of Xenia And The Odyssey 889 Words   |  4 PagesHomer: Hospitality in the Illiad and the Odyssey The concept of Xenia was extremely significant in ancient Greek culture. As such, it played a prominent role in the works of authors, most specifically Homer. In fact, some of the most significant information we have about the concept of Xenia, as it relates to cultural norms come from the work of Homer, and the examples of hospitality demonstrated in the protagonist’s journeys in the Iliad and the Odyssey. More specifically, Xenia is presented byRead MoreEssay about Homers The Odyssey1646 Words   |  7 PagesHomers The Odyssey The Odyssey is a companion to The Iliad, a story of the Trojan War. Both The Iliad and The Odyssey are epic poems written by Homer. In The Odyssey, Homer relates the misadventures of Odysseus, king of Ithaca, that occur during the decade following the defeat of Troy. In doing so, the fates of his fellow warriors are also made known. The Odyssey begins on Mount Olympus, in the palace of Zeus, king of the gods, where a discussion takes place regarding the woes of humans andRead MoreAchilles Slaughtered The Greatest Trojan Hero Essay1276 Words   |  6 Pagesto his friend Odysseus. He also accrued glory and fame in the Trojan War but in addition went on to write history in an epic journey all across the Mediterranean to get home to his family. Odysseus acquired more kleos than any other Greek hero in Homer’s epics. In the Greek’s eyes, kleos was the measure of a man. Unlike modern western civilization, the Ancient Greeks didn’t believe in immortality through an afterlife, but naturally, they still sought something permanent, something to give themRead MoreGreek Mythology And The Mythology850 Words   |  4 Pagesan individual is in. The Greeks and Romans are both very polytheistic civilizations. They believe in a multitude of gods and creatures, and they have gods for fertility, elements, war, medicine, and a multitude of others. The mythology of these two cultures is exceedingly similar, although for those looking for a more interesting view on the subject, Greek mythology is far superior to Roman mythology. The time period in which mythological tales were told began over one hundred years ago in 19

Impact Of Marketing On Marketing Management - 9107 Words

Table of Contents INTRODUCTION 5 HISTORY OF MARKETING 5 EVOLUTION OF MARKETING 5 LATEST TRENDS IN MARKETING 6 ROLE OF DATA IN MARKETING 7 DIGITAL MARKETING 8 INTRODUCTION 8 KEY COMPONENTS OF DIGITAL MARKETING 8 MAKING SENSE OF BIG DATA 12 DATA DRIVEN MARKETING 14 CASE STUDY 1: OPSVIEW INCREASES ITS REVENUE BY 178% 15 CASE STUDY 2: BREAKINGPOINT USES SOCIAL MEDIA TO GENERATE LEADS 16 CASE STUDY 3: TURKISH AIRLINES REACHES 100 M POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS WITH SELFIES 18 IT IS MARKETING! 18 DOUBLE CLICK – A REVOLUTION! 19 ADWORDS - GOOGLE 19 MARKETING CLOUD – ADOBE 20 CHANGING ROLE OF CIO 23 NOT JUST A MANAGER OF IT 23 A CATALYST 24 A STRATEGIST 24 MAJOR CHALLENGES 24 NEGATIVE ASPECTS 25 LIMITATIONS 26 RECOMMENDATION 27 Glossary 29 Bibliography†¦show more content†¦An attempt has been made in this report to study and analyze how the CIO and his team can help the company to gain insight into the customer’s mind and make use of the available data to promote a product or services. In the technically advanced world which methods a CIO can embark to reduce the cost of promoting the product and increasing the revenue through increased sales. INTRODUCTION HISTORY OF MARKETING The term marketing appears to be very new and many people would suggest the advent of marketing to the decade of 1960’s. However, the fact is that the history of marketing goes way back to 18th century, canopying from the first magazine printed in 1741, to the first billboard in the late 1800’s to the latest broadcasting advertisements on radio and television. However, the traders in early 18th century did not actually knew what they did was in fact the most primordial way of marketing. (Davis, 2013) Basically, the whole idea of marketing is to create an awareness. It is all about transfer of information from one person to another. It is perfect example of information flow model. Individual sellers and companies had understood the importance of this in the very early period. They knew well if consumer doesn’t know about your product they are not going to buy it. The way the companies did their business and

Richard Duke Of Yorke Essay Paper Example For Students

Richard Duke Of Yorke Essay Paper A monologue from the play by Christopher Marlowe NOTE: This monologue is reprinted from The Works. Christopher Marlowe. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1910. YORKE: She wolf of France, but worse than Wolves of France: Whose tongue more poisond than the Adders tooth How ill beseeming is it in thy sex, To triumph like an Amazonian trull Upon his woes, whom Fortune captivates? But that thy face is visard like, unchanging, Made impudent by use of evil deeds: I would assay, proud Queen to make thee blush: To tell thee of whence thou art, from whom derived, Twere shame enough to shame thee, wert thou not shameless. Thy father bears the type of king of Naples, Of both the Sicilys and Jerusalem, Yet not so wealthy as an English Yeoman. Hath that poor Monarch taught thee to insult? It needs not, or it boots thee not proud Queen, Unlesse the Adage must be verified: That beggars mounted, run their horse to death. Tis beauty, that oft makes women proud, But God he wots thy share thereof is small. Tis Government, that makes them most admired, The contrary doth make thee wondered at. Tis virtue that makes them seem devine, The want thereof makes thee abominable. Thou art as opposite to every good, As the Antipodes are untu us, Or as the south to the Septentrion. Oh Tigers heart wrapped in a womans hide? How couldst thou drain the life blood of the child, To bid the father wipe his eyes withall, And yet be seen to bear a womans face? Women are mild, pitiful, and flexible, Thou indurate, stern, rough, remorseless. Bids thou me rage? why now thou hast thy will. Wouldst have me weep? why so thou hast thy wish. For raging winds blow up a storm of tears, And when the rage allays the rain begins. These tears are my sweet Rutlands obsequies, And every drop begs vengeance as it falls.

Origin Of Man Essays - Lemurs, Creatures, Dryopithecus, Creatures

Origin of Man Origin of Man "Of animal ancestry, man moved ahead as a steward of other creations in taming the environment as they struggle to survive." There are many theories about the origin of life on earth. Many opposing theories and questions have been raised. For example, the Biblical Theory states that a supernatural being created the u- niverse, hence giving life to what was non-existent. The Scientific Theory on the other hand suggests that life was triggered by some force or elements that later led to our existence. The idea carried though by both theories suggests that something was created out of nothing. Why? How? By who? It is still a mystery. Either way, life in the form of simple organisms progressed into the highly complex society that we live in today. This trans- formation is explained by the theory of the evolution, where changes in an organism are due to the changes in the conditions of their environment. With the rigorous changes of the environment's condi- tions, living creatures especially animals had to adapt their physical and biological make-up to these changes to meet their needs. The story of man's evolution is one of increasing differentiation from the other groups of animals to which he is related. It is believed that over 60 million years, descendants of the early primates gradually evolved to produce modern man. Tree-living creatures, more like rats than men, were followed by the ancestors of today's lemurs and monkeys, and by a primate called Dryopithecus, believed to be the common ancestor of both apes and man. A breakthrough in man's evolution came when creatures became adapted to standing and walking in an upright position, freeing their hands for other uses. This led to the creation of tools to aid them in their activities such as hunting and food gathering. Later they started building, innovating and improving the conditions of their living. Man's unique intelligence, imagination, skills and knowledge spring from a brain that has evolved far beyond the instinctive res- ponses of other animals. Alone among animals, man seeks a meaning in life, and can express his aspirations symbolically. It was this brain that enabled our ancestors to survive in a hostile prehistoric envi- ronment, then later to create the world's great civilisations. And it was also this brain that produced the complex web of family ties, re- ligious and scientific beliefs and systems of government which now form the fabric of his now modern society.

NJHS free essay sample

The Best way to prove future success is to look at past accomplishments. Striving to achieve goals I set for my self everyday, and I enjoy the awards that I get when I achieve those goals. To be able to accomplish something I have spent so many hours on, gives me a sense of pride and eagerness to work on my next project that much harder. Because I love that feeling of succeeding, I try my hardest to accomplish everything I do. Four things I have already accomplished to prove my success in high school are I am in National Junior Honor Society, have a G.P.A. of a 3.9, I am in band, and I am an active athlete. Being a National Junior Honor Society member is one way I have already proven I will succeed in high school. There are different achievements that a student, like myself, has to acquire in order to be in NJHS. We will write a custom essay sample on NJHS or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page I was overflowing with great honor and attainment in my self after being asked to join. My sister who is in Honor Society has inspired me to work hard to be in NJHS, and I’m exceedingly happy that she did. Another thing I have already accomplished to prove my success in high school is that this year my grade point average is a 3.9. Being able to perpetuate that high of a grade point average shows that dedication and hard work pays off. Since I’m an exceedingly motivated student at school, I do my best every day to obtain the high standards I have set for my self. Because my mom has such high expectations for me, I have high expectations for myself as well, and I am satisfied with these expectations. I am very over zealous about my grade point average. Playing the French Horn in the 7th and 8th grade band proves that I will succeed in high school. It has been proven that students in band learn more, and are more motivated in their academic classes. I am very privileged to be a part of the band. Because I am in band, I have a big responsibility to practice every night, and I am also very passionate about playing. Practicing every night for at least 15 minutes shows how devoted I am, and my outstanding work ethic. The last thing I have already accomplished to prove that I will succeed in high school is that I am an active athlete. Before an employer hires an employee, they look for certain characteristics, like being able to be a team player. Since I’m on the girls U19 hockey team, I have learned good sportsmanship and working hard in practice really pays off in games. Practicing hard now, not only in sports but in school also, will subsidize me in the future. To be a team member is such a powerful thing, knowing the team is there for my, yet being there for the team is an overwhelming feeling. Because being a team member is such a substantial privilege, I don’t know where I would be without teammates, and even teachers, pushing me to do my very best everyday. At this point in today’s society, do you think we would be where we are without brave people succeeding at what they do? Would we have had the first person walk on the moon, with out someone engineering flawless rockets? What about women’s rights, would there be such a thing today if people weren’t devoted to protesting and changing things? The world would be such a different place without these achievements, without attainment. Because people have fulfilled significant goals, the world is what it is today, and I’m thankful this is how the world is. Being in National Junior Honor Society, having a grade point average of a 3.9, playing an instrument in the band, and being an active athlete are four things a have already accomplished to prove that I will succeed in high school.

Computer Hacking Thesis essays

Computer Hacking Thesis essays Introduction: Hacking is very well-know way of "crashing" a computer system. Listed below is some information on the problems caused by hacking and some solutions of how to stop hacking. Thesis: Hacking has become such a problem in today's computer dependent society that stronger measures must be implemented to stop hackers, and if hackers are still successful, they should be severely punished. A. With the amount of businesses and corporations we depend on every day, we can't have hackers breaking in our systems because it causes so many problems with peoples jobs, and sometimes can cost us lots of money. B. So many people rely on computers to get around, communicate and keep track of the things they have to do, when a hacker breaks into a system, it can sometimes temporarily ruin someone's life. A. Many people now use Anti-Virus software that can prevent people from using programs that have been tampered with that could cause damage to a system. B. Internet security has gotten better and better by the year. It is relatively hard for even the best of hackers to break into a computer due to the strict security and punishment. Although, if hacking is done, and a hacker is caught, the consequinces are sometimes not that wonderful...Most hackers caught breaking into anything more than a personal system are prosecuted and face a large fine or a jail sentence. Conclusion: Hackers need to be stopped because of the severe problems they can cause. Hopefully, people will soon realize the consequinces of computer hacking and will stop. With all the problems it causes, something has to be done. ...

Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 102

Assignment Example The Royal British Museum obviously hopes to attract the tourist interested in history and in learning about Canada’s cultural background. Niagara Falls would be more appropriate for families with children as well as adults who want to enjoy a beautiful view. The Museum of Anthropology is a more specialized experience and is an aboriginal experience. As one of Canada’s most significant buildings The Museum of Anthropology’s (About†¦) archaeological beauty and world class collections are showcased, the Museum is Canada’s largest teaching museum. Niagara Falls is a natural attraction that has been visited for more than a hundred years though it has in recent years become a huge attraction for commercial tourism which is a contrast to niche marketing. Mass marketing aims to reach all spectrums of tourist. Niche tourism could be divided into further specialized areas such as rural-Field Stone Vineyards in Alberta, a local Canadian restaurant as part of a gastronomy experience or a sports theme tourist attraction. Obviously these niche markets can be further specialized according to type of wine produced, type of restaurant food, and specific sport. Small scale operations more closely fit with the tailored specifics of niche tourism and the definition has taken on a more common sense meaning, related directly to how specific of a target attractions or any other product are aiming for. Novelli, M. (2005). Amazon.com: Niche Tourism: Contemporary issues, trends and cases (9780750661331): Marina Novelli: Books. Amazon.com: Online Shopping for Electronics, Apparel, Computers, Books, DVDs & More. Retrieved February 6, 2012, from

Brand personality Literature review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Brand personality - Literature review Example Brands may be also said as business organization; at the same time, it helps in generating revenue, thus brands can be regarded as investment. In return, brands need to payback certain amount of revenue to their owner. Brand Personality is a collection of human features connected with a specific brand (Aaker & Biel, 1993). A brand can easily come across the notice of the customer if the advertisement is done with known celebrities or with the help of certain well known figures of historic moment. Brand personality is often questionable in terms of scale and at times is answerable in theoretical conception based on nature. Once brands are developed, they shelter the company under the umbrella with numerous numbers of products, which can provide it incredible strategic advantage and financial gains. In the present market scenario, a major role is played by brand. Over a long period of time, brands have significantly controlled the performances of the marketers and have influenced the p romises and the benefits provided by the brand to their consumers for that particular product (Hanasali & et. al., 2005). The paper intends to discuss branding and Aaker's brand personality with its explanation along with its criticism. Meaning of Branding A brand is fundamental by nature or is represented by its offerings and what it delivers. Brand motivates its consumers by the offerings provided by a particular company. Brands establish themselves in the market over a period of time by the means of conveying a company’s message to their customers through consistent advertisements and by following suggestions provided by friends, colleagues, by family members along with ensuring communication between its representatives and its company members. The brands are often protected from others by securing service maker or trademark by a certified agency, generally by government agency (Herford & et. al., 2007). The public knowledge about the companies brand is often set as a fact or of companies’ evaluations. At times, corporations undergo market research to become aware about the public brand recognition, at the same time to know about the behaviour of the customers towards the brand. When the companies are building a brand or working upon a brand, at times they take the help of search engine and WebPages having the outline of the work details before establishing the successful brand. Organising the fields name and the brand name is an extremely vital part of searching and keeping in touch with the clients and the visitors consequently branding the new company (Asperin, 2007). Brand name helps in the identification of the image and idea of that particular service or product, which in return results in the clients to be drawn towards the new brand in the market. Branding is a procedure of building companies’ asset, which helps to build goodwill in the market. If a company is able to establish a stellar reputation among the competitors then bran ding procedure can help in creating an image in the market. It motivates a company to meet its expectations by bringing in more innovative service or product and to surpass its expectations in the competitive market scenario. In today’s dynamic marketplace, brands have large marketing landscape, where the ground of spreading the message and introducing the product is largely performed through the use

Value chain analysis for Starbucks in Australia Essay

Value chain analysis for Starbucks in Australia - Essay Example The practice had helped the Starbucks to maintain quality over the years. However, it increased the dependency on the farmers and the variations in the productions affected the company. This made the price of the coffee in the Starbucks higher and the business was rendered unprofitable. In the case of Australia this was one of the factors for the closure of various shops. (Starbucks Coffee Company, n.d.) Operations: In the case of the Starbucks in Australia, the company operated as in the case of the other countries. There were no modifications of the products and no efforts were made to make the products suit the needs of the people in Australia. The ambience of the stores were similar to that of the other parts of the world which did not provide additional value to the customers in Australia. The main factor for the success of Starbucks in the other parts was the essence on â€Å"coffee culture†. However, in Australia, the â€Å"coffee culture† was already in place and the company could not provide extra facilities to the people. (Why Starbucks failed in Australia, 13th August, 2008) Outbound logistics: The Starbucks operates through the chain of stores in the other parts of the world. In the case of Australia, the company opened over 80 stores that were placed in the urbanized areas. The expansion never took of in a big country like that of Australia and the company had presence only in some of the pockets. (Starbucks goes cold in Australia, 29th July, 2008). Marketing and Sales: Starbucks is a well known brand all over the globe. However, surprisingly, the company has never resorted to the aggressive marketing policies. In the case of Australia, the company never marketed the brand aggressively and there were campaigns like the â€Å"red cups on cars† where starbucks cups were placed on top of cars and taxis. The company depended on the â€Å"word of mouth†

Computer Graphics Effect On Animation

Computer Graphics Effect On Animation The history of computer animation can be traced back many decades to such films as Peter Foldes 1971 film Metadata, or even a 1968 attempt by Soviets to animate a cat. It was in the 1980s, however, that the techniques became more widely used and the industry truly began to experience big changes in how things were done. The advent of this new technology meant that machines could do more of the work, much like with the use of robots in manufacturing. While this machinery is a godsend for productivity, it brings with it concern for peoples jobs and the survival of the traditional way of doing things. One animator by the name of Bill Kroyer brought these concerns to the forefront in 1988 with his own animated interpretation of the ongoing development of this threat. Bill Kroyers Technological Threat serves as an excellent metaphor for the advent of computer animation and how it affected the animation industry and validity of the fears it brought forth. From its infancy up until recent decades, traditional animation techniques were the only methods of animation available before the advent of more powerful computers. Much of it requires each frame to be hand-drawn or, in the case of stop motion, each character or object has to be sculpted and moved little by little for each frame that is captured. It is tedious work. These traditional techniques take a lot of time and patience to do successfully. Throughout the decades there have been attempts to minimize the work involved with animation, such as the introduction of cel animation which put characters and objects on clear celluloid which would then be animated on top of a background image. This meant that a background would only have to be made once, whereas beforehand it had to be redrawn completely with each passing frame. Another time-saving innovation came in the form of Walt Disneys multiplane camera system, which took cel animation even further by making the creation of depth mu ch easier by separating and moving each individual part of the scenery independently and at varying distances from the camera. Even with these advancements, however, the same traditional techniques were required to actually animate anything. Computers brought forth a drastic change in the playing field, essentially turning the art into a science. Soon one of the first instances of computer animation would come in 1960 when John Whitney developed his analog computer to make title sequences for movies and television, using surplus anti-air guidance hardware from World War II. While computers became widely used in animation during the 1980s, there were still quite a few instances of it in the preceding decades, starting with the aforementioned machine developed by Whitney. The computer technology of the time was rather limited and therefore usually only used for experiments. For instance, Peter Foldes used the first implementation of key frame software to create Metadata in 1971. While it entailed the use of a data tablet, which was surprisingly modern for the era, it was limited to two-dimensional animation and could only show simple line drawings of objects in a couple of colors. This film was merely experimental, however, and was followed 3 years later by Hunger in 1974, which was intentionally done in black and white line dr awings. Computers would quickly become powerful enough to render much more realistic imagery, as was exemplified by Loren Carpenters Vol Libre which he presented at SIGGRAPH in 1980, a computer graphics conference held annually. It used fractals to generate breathtaking mountainous scenery and instantly landed him a job at Lucasfilm. Of the animators that worked during the era that computer animation became more widespread, one particularly interesting perspective is that of Bill Kroyer. Bill got his start in animation in the mid-1970s, just before the computer revolution of the 1980s. He originally was denied a job at Disney, but would later be hired by them in 1977, during a time when Disney Animation, and the animation industry as a whole, was in the midst of a slump. He did not stay with Disney long, as he soon left to work with Steve Lisberger on Animalympics. The major milestone in Bills career, however, came in 1982 when they developed Tron which they teamed up with Disney to work on. As Kroyer himself put it, Tron was the beginning. It was the moment when computer graphics made its first contact with the animation industry-like the sperm and the egg. It was neat, because nobody had ever done it before. There were no experts around (Kroyer). It was the first time computer animation would be used so extensi vely on a feature film, and it became almost a prophecy of what would develop in the coming years. Jobs that used to take hundreds of people to do, such as painting backgrounds, can now be accomplished cheaply and quickly by using computers. While Kroyer enjoyed working with computers to animate, he longed for the illusion of hand-drawn cartoons and decided to start Kroyer Films with his wife in 1986 with the intention of combining traditional and computer animation. He became a pioneer in combining the two techniques. While Kroyer was skilled at animating, he was also knowledgeable about writing computer programs, and developed one with his wife that could use a plotter to draw out the computer animations on paper. Such use of computers for animating made many animators begin to fear it taking over and forcing them out of their careers. In response to these fears, Kroyer made Technological Threat in 1988. In it, a group of hand-drawn cartoon dogs are employees at a company and are threatened by their seemingly inevitable replacement by highly efficient robots, which are computer animated. This paranoia culminates into a struggle for survival that ultimately ends in the last remaining dog employee taking down his now-robotic boss with the help of one of the robots, which he proceeds to double-cross to eliminate the threat altogether, leaving him the only remaining employee, the top dog as it were. The film was essentially about traditional animators ultimately working in harmony with this new techn ology and ultimately being highly successful in their careers, perhaps more so than they would have previously. The dog protagonist, symbolic of traditional animators fearing the loss of their job, defies the odds and in the end triumphs, rising in rank to become the new boss. The robots represent the computers used to do computer animation, appearing innocent and diligently going about their work, but ultimately are no less susceptible to losing their jobs than the dogs are. Kroyers approach to animating goes against traditional animators fears by combining both methods and using them to their fullest potential. According to the theories of Paul Wells, this film would be considered developmental animation, as it maintains many traditional aspects of orthodox animated films but mixes two different styles of animation in a more modern approach. According to him, Developmental Animation operates as a mode of expression combining or selecting elements of both approaches, representing t he aesthetic and philosophical tension between the two apparent extremes (Wells, 35). There was no doubt a tension between the two approaches during the time this film came out. Kroyer goes on to explain that, despite this new and highly capable tool, the artistic vision of the animator is still crucial to a films success. Computers are merely another tool in the animators arsenal. Throughout the 1980s, computers went into widespread use, from businesses to residential homes. These machines revolutionized everybodys lives and had far reaching effects on many peoples jobs, not just those of animators. While computers have increased productivity almost everywhere, they have threatened to eliminate many jobs and force many to either learn to use the new technology or remain unemployed. It is truly a situation where we are made to keep up with changes in the workplace or else risk being left behind in a dust cloud of our own stubbornness. This was an especially trying time for many animators as computers had finally reached the point where they would be practical to use in animation. But unlike many jobs that were completely taken over by computers, animation allows for the coexistence of computers with traditional techniques. Understandably, one would think traditional animation to be doomed through the development of this amazing new technology. This could not be farther from the truth, however, as traditional animation remained strong through the 1980s and continues to grow. In fact, it has seen a sort of revival in recent years. In 2009, Disney released The Princess and the Frog, their first traditionally animated feature since they made Home on the Range in 2004. During the 1990s, the Disney Renaissance brought us multiple wildly successful films using traditional techniques, including such films as The Lion King and Mulan. Even with the massive success of Toy Story in 1995, Disney continued to make traditionally animated films on a yearly basis even after the end of the renaissance in 1999. While the renaissance did die out and Disney seemingly put traditional animation on the backburner after Home on the Range, they have shown us that it really is not dead after all with Princess and the Frog and ha s promised to release a traditionally animated film every 2 years from now on. Similarly, Hayao Miyazaki, a highly acclaimed animator from Japan, has built his career off of creating fantastical feature films primarily using traditional animation, and has won various prestigious awards for his creations. Since creating Princess Mononoke, he has begun to implement computer animation in some sequences of his films. Despite this, he retains traditional 2D cel animation as his primary medium of choice. Through all of this it is also important to note that traditional animation still continues to garner critical acclaim insofar as receiving awards and nominations for awards. The medium, while requiring a greater amount of labor and time, still produces many high quality films worthy of critical praise. For instance, Disneys recently released Princess and the Frog was nominated for a Golden Globe, and Miyazaki has been nominated for or won awards for a lot of his films. Bill Kroyer was also nominated for an Acedemy Award for Technological Threat. This just goes to show that the look of traditional animation is not seen as obsolete and can be beautifully done, as has been shown for countless decades. Another important aspect of these two techniques to consider is the overall cost of production for films that use either technique. There has been a growing misconception that computer animation is far more cost-effective overall than traditional animation. While this is true in some instances, in actuality it is subjective to the films being compared. One good comparison to make that disproves this fallacy is between two feature films released by Disney: Bolt and Mulan. Bolt was Disneys CGI major feature released a couple of years ago in 2008, while Mulan was their traditionally animated feature of 1998, which happened to come out towards the end of the Disney Renaissance. Both films have about an hour and a half of runtime. There is a staggering difference in production budgets, however. While Mulan carried a production budget of 90 million dollars, Bolt had an astonishingly large budget of 150 million, 60 million more than Mulan! This clearly shows that the cost of production is s ubjective to the film being worked on and can change in favor of either computers or traditional techniques. Despite the hype for computer animated features following the massive success of Toy Story in 1995, there have been CGI films that have been less than successful, such as Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within in 2001. This film, despite having ultra-realistic CGI and a budget of 137 million dollars, was a total flop, with revenues not even covering the production costs for the film. A films financial viability can depend on many factors, like the quality of what is being animated, and of course how it is marketed, but that is another issue entirely. In short, CGI-animated films can be cheaper than those made with traditional animation in some cases, but often can cost just as much if not more. The costs of each are comparable to each other, the only major difference is traditional techniques tend to take longer. Much like in any other industry, computers drastically changed the way animation can be done and people feared losing their jobs because of the changes brought forth by them. But, as is exemplified by Kroyers film Technological Threat, there is little need to fear the future. Today, traditional animation and computer animation coexist and are often even used in combination on some films. Traditional animation remains a prominent form of animation to this day, and continues to grow with new animators joining the ranks. Computer graphics is not meant as a replacement for the old fashioned hand-drawn and stop motion styles, but rather another tool in their box of tricks. Just because one owns a drill does not make a screwdriver obsolete. They each have important purposes as well as advantages and disadvantages. After all, a tool is only as good as the person trained to use it.

Capital Punishment †Fair and Balanced Essay

Capital punishment is a difficult issue to address and has been the subject of highly controversial debates over the decades. The United States Supreme Court decided in Furman v. Georgia that the death penalty was a form of cruel and unusual punishment. However, just three years later in 1975, the Supreme Court reversed their decision, and executions resumed under state regulation. The death penalty is considered the harshest from of punishment enforced today. The most common method used to implement this task is lethal injection; although, the electric chair is still used in some states. The large debate over the death penalty comes from liberal fanatics who use deception and falsehoods to further their cause. Supporters of the death penalty consider capital punishment the only way for true justice to be executed for the severest of crimes. Supporters also claim criminals that commit such harsh crimes, including murder and rape, deserve to be punished to the fullest extent of the law. Preventing future crimes and deterring criminals from committing such harsh acts also play key roles in support of the death penalty. Concrete proof of deterrence alone is not a valid reason for capital punishment, nor is it the underlying principle in use by astute death penalty advocates. Criminals ought to be punished for their crimes committed and not merely to deter others. That said however, the death penalty unquestionably â€Å"deters† the murderer who is executed. Strictly speaking, this is a form of incapacitation; similar to the way a robber put in prison is prevented from robbing on the streets. Vicious murderers must be eliminated to prevent them from murdering again, either in prison, or in society if they should get out. Both as a deterrent and as a form of permanent incapacitation, the death penalty helps to prevent future crime. The argument against capital punishment relies on myth, propaganda, and misplaced emotion. Many people against the death sentence claim that the justice system is discriminatory. This statement is blatantly false. African-Americans and other minorities are not impacted unfairly by the justice system. The fact of the matter is the majority of those executed  since 1976 have been Caucasian males. If the death penalty is truly discriminatory, then it is biased against white murderers and not blacks, because figures show that African-Americans make up a majority of those convicted of murder. According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, blacks committed 51.5% of murders between 1976 and 1999, while whites committed 46.5%. The latest of hate crime laws are likely to only exacerbate the hypocrisy. A â€Å"hate crimes† frame of mind translates into tougher sentences for interracial crimes. Since Caucasians are killed by African-Americans 2.6 times more often then the other wa y around, more killers of Caucasians will be predisposed to receiving the death penalty.Finances are also argued frequently on the topic of capital punishment. â€Å"It costs more to execute a person than to keep him or her in prison for life. A 1993 California study argues that each death penalty case costs at least $1.25 million more than a regular murder case and a sentence of life without the possibility of parole† (Deathpenalty.org). This statement deserves no response, because the figures are not perfect, and are dubious at best. Nevermind the fact that justice should not be up for sale. Serving justice is not about saving money, and should not be treated as if it were an item being contracted, trying to get the â€Å"lowest bid.†Retribution is an additional reason for capital punishment, which some opponents of capital punishment confuse with vengeance. As a sound principle of natural law and common sense, the punishment should fit the crime. For example, if someone had been convicted of the assassination of the president, and the judge had sentenced him or her to only five years in prison, the nation would have been pr operly outraged. Having a fit punishment for the crime committed has been around since the beginning of civilization. Hammurabi’s Code of Law, developed long before the birth of Christ, claims retribution as, â€Å"an eye for an eye, life for a life†. Retribution makes capital punishment justifiable because it is an injustice to tolerate such unimaginable horror.If one commits a crime, he or she should be ready to accept the consequences. Murder is a crime that involves the loss of innocent life, and that act needs to be rightly punished. Murderers should not receive an overextended welcome in a prison. Those who commit these serious offenses do not belong in society. Realistically there is no solid argument against the death penalty. If society were to take capital  punishment away, the public would not have an effective justice system and crimes against innocent people would continue. Opponents of the death sentence need to accept the fact that capital punishment is fair and just. Using lies and deceit will only go so far. The people of this country are smart enough to realize the difference between fact and fiction, and the truth is capital punishment works.

Research Choose

Service organization and with reference to published case studies and any other relevant articles (such as from magazines, newspapers, and industrial reports), critically analyse the failures of service performance that were committed. Using the service quality gap model, identify the possible reason or reasons leading to such failures and give recommendations on how these failures can be minimised. You are also require to evaluate the usefulness of the service quality gap model as a tool in helping managers to effectively deliver value to their customers in comparison with other frameworks learnt in class.Question 2: Value Chain Process Select ONE (1) company from the manufacturing industry andusing the value chain analysis, critically analyse the salient aactivity or activities that help the chosen companies to achieve competitive advantage in creating and delivering customer value. Then analyse how the aactivity or activities that are responsible in providing the companies with co mpetitive advantage in creating and delivering customer value can affect and are dependent on other activities within the value chain.Support your answer with reference to case studies, articles and information of the chosen companies’ operation and strategic practice. Your answer should also be supported by diagrams of value chain that can effectively illustrate the specific activities of the chosen companies. Avoid using a generic value chain diagram. requirement The assignment must adhere to standard academic documentation standards. (Failure to do so will result in loss of marks in the Format, Citations and References criterion. ) * You are to write the citations and references following the Harvard System. You are required to use Times New Roman as the font type and 12 pts as the font size. * Vertical/line spacing should be 1. 5line spacing

Excel workbook Essay example

Excel workbook Essay example Excel workbook Essay example Tom Hopkins Akin 12/8/13 The Twinkie Failure, and How to Fix it What’s the problem? My article, ‘Hostess Twinkie Defense is a Management Failure’, spoke about the problems with Hostess’ approach to staying relevant and why their collapse was completely the managers fault. By discussing primitive cost-cutting techniques, the failure to adapt, and the managers’ inability to take blame, this article sheds a light on the primary influencers of the failure. The main problem made was the firm’s inability to adapt to the changing tastes of the market and their ineptitude of successfully marketing their products. Why did the Problem occur? This problem occurred for many reasons, as virtually no major problem has one cause. That being said, the main causes of this failure have to do with not being able to adapt to the market and act accordingly to the changes. By sitting back and only attempting to cut back on costs and work with a small margin of error the company left themselves very vulnerable to market shifts. The article compares Hostess’ problem to Sears’, which went through a similar problem -23 straight quarters of declining sales (Hartung)- of an inability to adapt. What is my Remedy? After reading through this article and looking at other examples found online I have developed some ideas and have come up with a remedy of my own to fix Hostess’ problems, and prevent them from coming back. As I have learned in all of my classes with Akin is that you need to know your customer base and be able to keep up with their ever-changing needs. I would devote more money to market research and hold more focus groups so that I could

Fetal Tissue essays

Fetal Tissue essays Fetal tissue research is a controversial issue in the United States. Both sides of the argument have found its way into the political arena; where it has recently become a campaign issue for the up coming presidential election. Fetal tissue research was banned during the 1980s, but thankfully in the early 1990s research for this potentially life saving research was reinstated. The argument for continued fetal tissue research is a strong one. Fetal tissue is from a human embryo in the very early stages of development. This tissue is so useful because the tissue at this stage of human development can form any tissue in the human body. These particular tissues are very useful to scientist trying to cure many neurological diseases and neurological conditions such as spaniel cord injures. Fetal tissue can also form cell for every structure in the human body. This can be used to grow organs for transplant patations, bone a connective tissue for arthritis suffers, and to replace nerve tissue through out the human body. Fetal tissue can be grown out side the human body; furthermore, at the stage of development fetal tissue is harvested no development has accrued beyond a cluster of cells; therefore, no cognatative ability is present. Although, fetal tissue can be harvested from aborted fetuses the future of fetal tissue research is through laboratory grow n fetal tissue. The issue of fetal tissue research raises many ethical questions in the United States. Many people believe no unborn human should be sacrificed no matter how promising fetal tissue research may seem to be. Unborn children deserve the same rights as any other citizen of this country. To the scientists involved on this highly immoral research, these tissues are just that, tissue, what they are forgetting is those cells have the ability to grow into a living breathing human being. Also, no fully developed human organ has ever been grown using ...

'In the appellate court of last resort a balance must be struck Essay

'In the appellate court of last resort a balance must be struck between the need on one side for the legal certainty resulting - Essay Example It has generally been observed that the pragmatic value of precedent gains prominence, whereas its justice seeking aspect tends to be overlooked. As such, precedent is the intersection between law and justice.2 In England and Australia, the highest courts tend to regard the decisions of their lower but superior courts as being highly persuasive. For instance, the highest court of Australia, namely the High Court of Australia accords considerable importance to the rulings made by the Supreme Courts of the various states. Precedent in its narrow sense, or the doctrine of stare decisis, denotes that the courts of appeal, in the normal course, consider themselves bound by their own rulings. 3 An important illustration of this is provided by the stance of the House of Lords till the year 1966. Prior to that year, their Lordships had considered their previous decisions to be sacrosanct, and had stated that they would not overrule them. This has changed, and the highest courts of Australia and the UK have now adopted the view that they would decide contrary to their previous rulings, provided there was a very strong reason for such departure. 4 Despite the promotion of certainty and consistency by the doctrine of precedent, it does suffer from some drawbacks. ... Even if the statements made in previous cases are clear, there could be confusion as to whether that statement had been a component of the ratio decidendi of that case.5 This makes it difficult to decide whether it had been binding or was just obiter dicta. Another major issue is the following. In Australia, appellate cases are usually heard by three judges in the Supreme Courts of the states. The corresponding number of judges is five in the High Court. It has been frequently observed that these judges will generally provide individual judgements. The result is several sets of legal reasons. Moreover, it is common for each judge to express opinions that differ from the other judges hearing the case. Such differences could have a critical impact upon subsequent cases. Consequently, it becomes very difficult to identify what is binding.6 Although it seems that the doctrine of precedent could hinder change and development in the law, this is only partially true. The development and cha nge in law is a continuous process, which is on the whole unspectacular. Precedent is not interpreted in a mechanical manner, and the extant law tends to be subjected to a continuous process of analysis and reinterpretation. Past events are reinterpreted by each generation, and this changes history. Similarly, the extant law undergoes continuous reinterpretation and is comprehended afresh.7 Thus, whenever, a superior court judge examines a disputed legal point and there is a reporting of the decision taken by the judge, a certain amount of change transpires in the totality of the common law. In Davis v Johnson,8 the substantive issues considered related to the degree of discretion bestowed upon county courts by section 1 of the Domestic Violence and Matrimonial

New Employment Relationship vs. the Manual Investment Approach Essay

New Employment Relationship vs. the Manual Investment Approach - Essay Example The new relationship that was now formed is one that employers give their employees challenging tasks, fixed salaries and opportunities to increase their expertise so that they can be benefit their businesses (Losey, Meisinger, & Ulrich 45). Therefore, this obligates employees to pay the employer with job performance, and this somehow undermines the employee commitment to the organization. This new relationship between employers and employees has changed from the loyal one that existed before globalization and increased competition, to one that based on economic exchanges. The authors urge organizations to uphold the mutual investment relationship so as to gain competitive advantage because workers will be committed to attaining the organizational goals. They argue that many organizations today are focused on achieving high profits and are not considering the welfare of their employees. I believe that organizations should take care of the needs of their employers and offer them job s ecurity. This will be a motivation for the workers to work hard and achieve the goals set by the organization because they are comfortable. Organizations need to invest in their employees because they are the ones who make the organization make profits and if everyone in the organization is catered for it will thrive. Research shows that the human resource department should take the responsibility of catering for the needs of their employees. Motivation of employees is key to success of any organization. Rewarding and giving employees benefits goes a long way in creating commitment to the job and this increases efficiency operations (Losey, Meisinger, & Ulrich 50). Job security and satisfaction are vital for any employee because it makes them comfortable in the job environment and they are able to undertake their duties efficiently (KnowWPC). Employers need to invest in their workers by offering benefits and training to improve their skills, so that efficacy in business operations c an be attained. This mutual investment employment relationship has been supported by other professionals in human resource as they see employee job security and skill advancement as vital in ensuring business success (S.R. de Silva 6). Chapter8: Life after Outsourcing: Lessons Learned and the Role of Human Resources as a Strategic Business Partner (Mirian M. Graddick-Weir) In the recent past, human resource management activities outsourcing has grown tremendously and more in the manufacturing and service industries. Outsourcing is in the payroll, benefits, recruiting and training sections of most organizations. The major reason for companies to outsource is because they have limited internal investment in the area of concern. Outsourcing is done in the light of ensuring business operations go on smoothly without interruptions because of lack of efficient resources to carry out assigned tasks (Losey, Meisinger, & Ulrich 71). However, it is evident that most organizations use outsourc ing to make use of external experts who will see that efficacy in operations is achieved. Emerging and already established organizations are continuously outsourcing various human resource activities from providers outside the business. Outsourcing is beneficial to the organization for various reasons, the

A research paper on the representation of the goddess Isis in Ancient Term

A research on the representation of the goddess Isis in Ancient Egypt from Old Kingdom to New Kingdom - Term Paper Example The people sought the support and benevolence of various gods and goddesses for peace, prosperity, love, war, fertility, health, protection, traveling and other fields and activities of life. For instance, Zeus is viewed as the mighty king of all gods and goddesses of ancient Greece, while Apollo is believed to be the god of the sun and music and Mars is the god of war, while Eurybia is the sea goddess. The same is applied to the Egyptian civilization of ancient times, where the people had developed faith in supernatural powers, and sought their help at every hour of need. Hence, the innate human instinct also forced the financially affluent and politically powerful Egyptians of ancient times to call for the divine support on domestic, personal, professional and collective matters. Somehow, the Egyptians lacked hegemony and cohesion in views and beliefs; which was partly because of the social, geographical and strategic division of the population, which did not accept the subjugation under one political authority and one single deity as well. â€Å"Egyptian mythology is of highly complex character, and cannot be considered apart from its racial and historical aspects. The Egyptians were, as a Hebrew prophet has declared, a "mingled people", and this view has been confirmed by recent ethnological research.† Consequently, they had developed belief in the multiplicity of gods and goddesses on the basis of clans and tribes on the one hand, and in the light of the traditions accredited to different deities on the other. (Mackenzie, 2002:2) The goddess Isis is also one among the long list of deities, which were worshipped by the ancient people of Egyptian peninsula with great religious fervor and enthusiasm. Being an extremely benevolent and compassionate goddess, she enjoys distinguished status in the ancient Egyptian mythology. Though the goddess maintained a universal status in the country, yet she got popularity and position in the southern regions of Egyp t, which was not only the center of social, political and economic activities, but also dominated the rest of the region. â€Å"Currently there is a strong indication that Southern or Upper Egypt had gained a cultural ascendancy over Northern or Lower Egypt by c.3500 BC. In archaeological terms this southern culture is described as Naqada II.† (Hart, 2005:3) Hence, southern Egyptians declared their peace and prosperity as the outcome of the special bounties of the goddess upon them, which also motivated the northern areas of the country to imitate their footprints in spiritualism and faith. Isis is regarded as the goddess of motherhood, feminism, civil liberty, magic and fertility, and is revered and adored for displaying sheer affection and motherly attitude towards the Egyptian subjects without exhibiting any prejudice and discrimination towards any specific group or stratum of society. Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt portrays Isis as the queen and mother of all the Eg yptians, which looked for bestowing maximum bounties and blessings upon the people to fill their life with countless joys in the form of abundance in food, children, pelf, possession and properties. â€Å"Isis had been a potent goddess as early as the third millennium B. C. She was the sister-wife of Osiris, with whom she mated in the womb of their mother, Nuit, the sky goddess.† (Mathews, 2001:25) Being the motherly deity, the goddess appears to be showering her unabated love on all and sundry, with special concentration of

Entire Course Essay Example for Free

Entire Course Essay PSY 103 Week 1 Origins of Psychology and Research Methods Worksheet PSY 103 Week 2 Learning Experience PSY 103 Week 3 Bipolar Disorder Outline PSY 103 Week 3 Remembering, Feeling, and Thinking Worksheet PSY 103 Week 4 Lifespan Development and Personality PSY 103 Week 5 Influences on Behavior and Psychological Disorders Presentation Your second year of college is the perfect time to join the SGA (Student Government Association). As a freshman, you will not have enough experience to make a difference as a member of the student government. Instead, spend your freshman year developing your political stance and figuring out how your schools government runs. In this document of PSY 103 Entire Course you will find the next files: PSY 103 Bipolar Disorder Outline.doc PSY 103 Bipolar Disorder.ppt PSY 103 Learning Experience paper week 2 Psychology class.doc PSY 103 Learning Experience-Z.doc PSY 103 Learning Experience.doc PSY 103 Lifespan Development and Personality.doc PSY 103 Origins of Psychology and Research Methods Worksheet.doc PSY 103 Remembering, Feeling, and Thinking Worksheet.doc Psychology General Psychology PSY 103 Week 1 Origins of Psychology and Research Methods Worksheet PSY 103 Week 2 Learning Experience PSY 103 Week 3 Bipolar Disorder Outline PSY 103 Week 3 Remembering, Feeling, and Thinking Worksheet To download this tutorial follow the link https://bitly.com/1oJK58F Your second year of college is the perfect time to join the SGA (Student Government Association). As a freshman, you will not have enough experience to make a difference as a member of the student government. Instead, spend your freshman year developing your political stance and figuring out how your schools government runs. Psychology General Psychology PSY 103 Week 1 Origins of Psychology and Research Methods Worksheet PSY 103 Week 2 Learning Experience PSY 103 Week 3 Bipolar Disorder Outline PSY 103 Week 3 Remembering, Feeling, and Thinking Worksheet PSY 103 Week 4 Lifespan Development and Personality PSY 103 Week 5 Influences on Behavior and Psychological Disorders Presentation

Norwegian Security Policy After The Cold War :: essays research papers

Norwegian Security Policy after the Cold War Despite widespread diplomatic discussion, and sentiment that the UN Security Council must be expanded in order to maintain its long-term legitimacy, no generally acceptable formula for expansion has emerged. Concerns for obtaining or retaining voting power, and for preserving a body structured so as to be able to take prompt and effective decisions, have prevented agreement. This article reviews various criteria for evaluating restructuring proposals, and suggests a formula that, while not fundamentally affecting the distribution of power on the Council, might satisfy many states' minimal requirements for an acceptable package of changes. The end of the Cold War between East and West has strengthened Norwegian security, which makes Norway no different from most other European countries. There are now more dimensions to security policy than there were when the overriding aim was deterrence by means of one's own and allied military forces. Cold War perceptions of military threat no longer exist. In Norway's particular case, however, it is possible to talk about a remaining strategic threat, when referring to Russian deployments in the far north. Such a threat is only a potential one and is not imminent today. Yet it has to be acknowledged that wars between nations and ethnic groups have hardly been abolished. As a result, it has become more difficult to identify the risk of armed aggression directed against Norway The risk would seem to reside in the escalation of a whole series of completely different political developments. For example, these eventualities could take the form of the emergence of a nationalistic dictatorship, or the development of ungovernable political chaos in formerly communist countries. Because of the existence of some very large arsenals and supplies of military equipment, it is important to judge the political aims of potential opponents. These can change over time, not least if they represent irrational and aggressive attitudes. The nuclear weapons of the great powers do not seem to have any deterrent effect on "violent ethnic cleansing", and the emergence of armed conflicts in different areas can be difficult to predict. But a country's security can also be subject to something that has become more topical after the Cold War: low level threats. These are related to some very different types of irregular national border transgressions, for example international crime and various forms of pollution. The Cold War's dominating concept, security by means of deterrence, is complemented by the concept of collective security. This harmonises well with the traditional Norwegian approach to security policy of combining deterrence with reassurance. The potential enemy is also a partner. A small country has no

Business Model Yum Brands

YUM! Inc Internal Analysis| The Strategic Management Process| REPORT NUMBER| 2| WEEK| 2| CBL GROUP AND SUB-GROUP| I3SHM Group A| DECLARATION 1. This work is composed by me / by us. 2. This work has not been accepted in any previous application for a degree or diploma, by me / by us or anyone else. 3. The work of which this is a record is done wholly by me / by us. 4. All verbatim extracts have been distinguished by quotation marks and the sources of my information have been specifically acknowledged. Signatures: Date:†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. Submitted in Partial Fulfilment for the Requirements of the degree Programme Bachelor of Business AdministrationNovember, 2012 Table of Contents Introduction3 Chapter 1: Business Model, Vision, Mission, Goals and Strategies3 Concept Definitions3 Yum! Inc Evaluation3 Yum! Inc Correlation Business Strategies and Current Business Model4 Chapter 2: Yum! Inc Financial Analysis6 Chapter 3: Weaknesses and/ or Competitive Liabilities8 Chapter 4: Internal Factor Analysis8 Reference List12 Introduction An internal organizational analysis aims to investigate a company`s business model, its mission, vision, goals, resources, competencies and undertaken strategies to compete on the market.It gives an overview of the organizations strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and consequently threats. By conducting a proper internal analysis a company can identify its competitive advantage over its competitors and use the outcomes to derive new scope of strategies and possibly effectively direct the organization on the long run. There are several major and crucial areas companies audit internally, that is to say organizations value chain, cultural web, business model, capabilities assessment.After conducting such analysis companies identify possible areas where immediate action is needed for improvement, its threshold capabilities, core competencies by which they gain competitive advantage. Essential ly, organizations can decide which resources and activities are of significant importance to the company and must be kept internally and which can be outsourced. Additionally, possible strategies for the future can be established. However, the internal analysis cannot solely be a ground for new strategies, an organization has to conduct an external analysis before forming its final strategies. (Johnson & Scoles, 2008).Chapter 1: Business Model, Vision, Mission, Goals and Strategies Concept Definitions Before analyzing Yum! Inc, several concepts have to be defined. Firstly, Business Model refers to all products, services and information an organization owns and how they flow between participating parties. Vision refers to what an organization aspires to become in the future. A Mission statement captures the emblematic purpose of an organization to conduct business in line with the values of it`s stakeholders. Organizational goals are general statements for aims and purposes whereas o bjectives are narrowed down to quantifiable results.Finally, organizational strategies are its long-term directions. (Johnson&Scoles,2008). Yum! Brands, Inc Evaluation Yum! Brands, Inc is a global operator of franchisees and licensees a chain restaurant brands like KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell. The business model of Yum! Brands, Inc will be analyzed by the use of Canvas Model further in this chapter. According to the Annual Report (AR) 2011, the company`s Mission Statement is implied under its future-back vision statement: â€Å"Be The Defining Global Company that Feeds the World†. Moreover, it`s Vision Statement is: â€Å"Be the Best in The World at Building Great Restaurant Brands†.After a deeper analysis of the company, it has been identified that Yum! Brands, Inc has the following core business related long-term goals: † 1. Build leading brands in China in every significant category; 2. Drive aggressive international expansion and build strong brands everywh ere; 3. Dramatically improve U. S. brand positions, consistency in returns; 4. Drive industry leading, long-term shareholder and franchise value. (Yum, Annual Report, 2011). According to the Chief Sustainability Office ‘CSO’, Roger McClendon, Yum Brands want to establish and align global goals to improve the economy of restaurant.Yum Brands global enterprise goals for sustainability are: 1. Reduce global energy consumption by 10% by 2015 2. Reduce global water consumption by 10% by 2015 3. Develop 5 LEED certifiable restaurant standards across China, India, United States of America and Yum Restaurants International (YRI) business divisions by 2012 4. Elevate Yum packaging vision into actionable brand goals leveraging Yum packaging guidelines. (Source: www. yum. com/csr/environment) Next to that Yum! Brands, Inc has formed it`s values which direct the companies strategic actions, namely: 1. Believe in People; 2. Be Restaurant and Customer Maniacs; 3.Recognize; 3. Go for Breakthrough 4. Build Know How; 5. Take the Hill Teamwork Yum! Brands, Inc, further referred to as† the company† or â€Å" Yum† within this report has taken different strategies to achieve its main long-term goals. The strategies will be outlined in correlation with the business model. Yum! Brands, Inc Correlation Business Strategies and Current Business Model The CEO and Chairman of Yum! Brands, Inc shares the fairly simple business model of Yum. The main focus of the company is reducing company ownership in highly penetrated markets meanwhile increasing exposure in emerging and under-penetrated markets.Moreover, the largest fast food franchiser continues with its refranchising program in the States, aiming to retain 5% ownership of KFC and Pizza Hut. The business model of Yum! Brands, Inc is analyzed by the Canvas Business Model, (Oosterwalder, 2010) see fig. 1 Fig. 1 Canvass Business Model Yum! Brands, Inc has three main markets from which it generates revenues , namely the USA, China and Yum Internatianonal Restaurants. Within those markets, the company creates value for various sub markets by diversifying and customizing within the fast food market through different restaurant concepts.Moreover, the channels through which it reaches those markets are via own channels-direct, namely in-house sales, mobile ordering system for Pizza Hut in the States. This is rather costly activity for the company, however it has a high profit margins. Moreover, in 2011, Yum participated in an Annual World Hunger Relief campaign with the use of Christina Aguilera voice for good in the cause against hunger (www. fromhungertohope. com). This is an example of the Awareness Channel Phase as explained by Osterwalder, 2011. Christina Aguilera`s personality world recognition and the Campaign`s awareness to create awareness for the Yum! Brands, Inc.With regard to the customer relationship, the company serves its customers via personal service, self-service. The per sonal service is based on the fact that customers are being helped via the purchase process on the points of sales. In addition to that, in order to continue successful operations within the quick service restaurant sector, Yum has several key partners, subcontractors- franchisees and licensees through which the company exposes its products. Moreover, the company`s main supplier is Unified FoodService Co-op LLC, an American company which offers lowest store-delivered prices for restaurant products (Yum, Annual Report, 2011).Another key partner of Yum is McLane Company, Inc. distributor for concept-owned restaurants and for many of the franchisee and licensee restaurants. Finally, there is a Syndicated creditor, consisting of 24 banks which offers a financias support for the company- 1. 15 bln USD. International partners such as in Russia with Rostik`s KFC are also of significant importance to the company. In order to effectively, deliver its value proposition to customers, namely hi gh product quality, speed service, high quality ingredients, variety of unique products, competitive prices, consistent product quality, the company operates with few key resources.The company operates an effective distribution system- Yum! Brands, Inc owns their local, regional and also global distribution system. Additionally, the company owns, franchises and licenses, as a consequence, there are financial resources coming in within the company in form of royalty fees and sales. Another, key resource for the company are it`s restaurant concept Patents and Trademarks etc. KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell etc. Brand Power, standardized and formalized restaurant operations practices which give the company the ability to offer consistent service.Finally, the research & development centers and the overall diversified product portfolio are other key company resources. The key activity in which the company engages is sales of food within the quick service restaurants sector by franchising, lice nsing and owning own properties. This is related to the production of fast food. Finally, the main revenue generating streams are the three main markets from which the company derives it`s financial resources, the USA, China and the Yum International Restaurants and the offer of dine-in, dine-out, drive through and home delivery food via franchise, license agreements and own properties.The main strategy of Yum to succeed in the fast food market is by undertaking Cost Driven strategy. By delivering a customized service to the Chinese, American and International market the company targets at the average income market by offering relatively law priced products which fit into the budget of a wide market. Since, it does not necessarily focus on the value-proposition like exclusive products do but rather on cost-saving. Yum achieves this via economies of scale and economies of scope. To conclude, Yum operates with cost-driven cost structure.This business model can clearly be linked to the undertaken strategies by Yum. One of the company aims to enter emerging under-penetrated markets like China and increase leadership position and strengthen operational model. This has been achieved by the strategy of buying the Chinese Hot Pot concept restaurant Little Sheep Company and developing a tailored local quick service restaurant chain East Dawning. This actions fit into the company`s value proposition- food diversity, variety of products, speed service, tailored products as they all belong to the quick service restaurant category.Next to that, the strategy of East Dawning is to strategy is to offer tremendous variety and refresh menu 24% twice/year which also fits to company`s value proposition. In addition, the company owns their local, regional and global distribution system and this fits to their long term goal to expand internationally but also with their cost structures and cost-driven strategy. Moreover, the ownership of distribution system gives the company a stron g competitive advantage. Finally, these strategies fit into the company`s business model by segregating the market and still offering products on competitive prices.Internationally, the company took the strategy to enter Russian, Indian and African market. : In Russia acquisition of Rostiks- chicken company. Growth in Africa is represented by the opening of 656 stores in SA, entry in Zambia, Ghana, Kenya. In India the company entered the market with 101 restaurants in 2011. In total 900 restaurants were added in 2011 in the International Division. International Division`s Operating Profit grew with 12%. These strategies re in line with the business model for generating revenues via three main areas, the USA, China, and International Division.Moreover, all those strategies to expand are connected to the company`s key activity and also value proposition. Next to that, the company aimed at improving brand position in the States. One of the strategies to achive this was transforming Piz za Hut to â€Å"Pizza, Pasta and wings†. Moreover, Pizz Hut improved it`s service by â€Å" Heart of the Hut: program which also added value to the hospitality of the chain. Moreover, the KFC kicked off a nation-wide campaign with value menu – 3. 99 USD 2 peace meal, 2 side dishes and biscuit. This has been as a result of investment in operations, make it more contemporary.Additionally, Taco Bell introduced it`s – â€Å"First Meal† Strategy- launched breakfast in 800 restaurant- opening earlier than before at 9am and introducing theu Launche Doritos Lotos Taco, which became a huge success- famous Nacho Cheese Doritos. The above mentioned strategies, go in line Yum`s business model: value proposition- speed service, product quality; key partners- continue operations with franchisees and licensees; key activities- continue playing on the Quick Service Restaurant Market by the use of company`s key resources- rely on own patented brands, use the standardized operations to offer consistent service.Another, strategy Yum took in the USA was to increase operation audits in franchise field support which also was in accordance to their business model to offer quality products and consistent service. Another strategy to improve the USA brand position was to reduce company ownership of KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell from 13% to 8% in the domestic market in order to increase franchise fees, reduce operating expenses and capital expenditures- cost-driven company.Last but not least, the company has decided to reduce Taco Bell Ownership from 23% to 16% over the next 2 years and sold Long John Silver`s A&W All American Restaurants in order to meet it`s last long-term goal, namely Drive Industry Leading, long term Shareholder & Franchise Value and retain 5% ownership of Pizza Hut and KFC. To conclude, according to the Yum Brands annual report 2011 (annual report 2011), the success of Yum Brands in executing these strategies has driven the organizations r eturn on invested capital over 22. 00% in top with the industry leaders. The organization generated over $2. 000. 000. 00,00 dollars cash from the operations in 2011. The company is lucky to have global opportunities to invest in for the future growth. Furthermore, the organization owns and operate the distribution system the restaurants in China. This strategy provides a significant competitive advantage. This way China will have an economy growth and achieve a population of 1. 300. 000. 000,00. Yum Brands will rapidly adding KFC and Pizza Hut restaurants, this way the organization will test the additional restaurants concepts. The concepts of KFC and Pizza Hut are (for example): ‘Pizza Hut – pizza delivery’ and East Dawning, which is Chinese food. Yum! Brands, Inc Annual Report, 2011). Chapter 2: Yum! Brands, Inc Financial Analysis In this chapter the financial performances of Yum are being analyzed. Within the first part of this chapter the balance sheet and t he income statement are being analyzed. This analysis is being conducted with the help of horizontal and vertical analysis. Within the second part of this chapter the key performance indicators will be analyzed and compared with industry averages. 2. 1. 1 Income statement The total revenue of Yum increased from $10. 836 million in 2009 to $12. 626 million in 2011. This is an increase of 16%. 6% of the total revenue is the income from restaurant sales and 14% is the income of franchise fees. The distribution of the revenue is more or less the same as previous years. From this it can be concluded that, although Yum is expanding their franchises, the most important form of revenue still comes from restaurant sales. Although the revenue increased with 16% from 2009 till 2011, also the total costs increased with 16%. The total costs represented 85% of the total revenue. This figure is more or less the same in 2009 and 2010. The largest cost account is the use of food and paper. This acco unt represents 29% of the total revenue.The food costs in the hospitality industry is on average 33% of the total revenue (Cote, 2006) Yum is doing quite well with managing their food costs. The salaries represent 19% of the total revenue. Considered that on average within the hospitality industry employee wages represent 33% of the total revenue, Yum is managing their employee costs very well. (Yum, 2010) (Yum, 2011) 2. 1. 2 Balance sheet The most noticeable when looking at the horizontal analysis of the balance sheet is the huge increase in the cash and cash equivalent account. The cash increased from $353 million in 2009 to $1198 million in 2011.This is an increase 239. 38% . In 2009 the cash account represented 4. 94% of the total assets, in 2011 this account represented 13. 56% of the total assets. The shareholder equity also increased significantly. The shareholder equity increased with 177%. This can be explained by the fact that Yum sold shares. Additionaly, the increase in cash of the company can be explained by the facts that they sold Long John Sylver A&W All American Food Restaurants. Furthermore the short-term borrowings increased significantly. From 2009 till 2010 this account increased with 1140,68%. However in 2011 this account is reduced slightly.In 2011 the increase in comparison with 2009 is 542%. In 2009 the short-term borrowings represented 0,83% of the total liabilities, in 2010 this was 8. 09% and in 2011 3. 62%. This can be explained by their pursuit of growth strategy- taking over of the Little Sheep Company, opening East Dawning Restaurant in China. The inventory has also increased with 223%. This can be explained by the fact that expansion results in more inventory. The cash and cash equivalents account do not only represent hard cash but it also represents funds which are temporary invested in short-term, high liquidity debt securities.The cash account increased because of the increase of the shareholders’ equity. The shareho lder equity increased with 177% because of the issuing new stock. Finally the retained earnings increased significantly. In 2009 this account was $996 million, in 2011 this was $2052 Million. That is an increase of 106%. In 2009 the retained earnings represented 13. 93% of the total liabilities, in 2010 it was 20. 65% and in 2011 the account represented 23. 23% of the total liabilities. Yum is saving money which originally was reserved as dividend payments.Yum is saving their money probably for investments and expansions otherwise the shareholders would not agree by the fact that they are not getting paid all their dividends. (Yum, 2010) (Yum, 2011) 2. 2 Ratio analysis Within this part several ratios of the past 3 years will be calculated and analyzed. Current ratio The current ratio measures the relation between the current assets and the current liabilities. Year| Current ratio| 2009| 0. 73| 2010| 0. 94| 2011| 0. 95| Table 1: Current ratio From the above given figures one can conc lude that Yum has a shortage of $0. 05 in 2011. However this does not means that Yum is financially unhealthy.In general the current ratio should be around 1. According to Schmidgall, 2006 different parties are interested in different current ratios. Creditors normally prefer a high current ratio as this insures that they are getting paid. Owners and stockholders generally prefer a lower current ratio. Stockholders are mainly interested in profits and according to them investments in most current assets are less productive than investments in noncurrent assets. (Schmidgall, 2006) (Yum, 2010) (Yum, 2011) Solvency The solvency ratio measures the relation between total assets and the total liabilities. Year. Solvency ratio. | 2009| 1. 18| 2010| 1. 25| 2011| 1. 28| Table 2: Solvency In 2009 Yum had a solvency ratio of 1,18. This means that for every dollar of debt they had $1,18 of assets. In 2010 they increased their solvency to $1,25 and in 2011 it increased to $1,28. It can be conclu ded that Yum is solvent, their assets exceed their debts. (Yum, 2010) (Yum, 2011) Profitability ‘Hospitality enterprises are often evaluated in terms of their ability to generate profits on sales’ (Schmidgall, 2006, p. 225) Year| Profit Margin Yum| Profit Margin McDonalds| 2009| 9. 88%| 20%| 2010| 10. 21%| 20. 54%| 2011| 10. 4%| 20. 37%| Table 3: Profit margin In 2011 Yum had a profit margin of 10,44%. This means that for every dollar of revenue the gain 10,44 cents of profit. The average profit margin of the whole restaurant industry is around 5%. Compared with the whole restaurant industry yum has a strong profit margin. However when a comparison is being made with a top competitor, yum has a weak profit margin. As can be seen in table 3, McDonalds has almost the double profit margin of yum. Thus from these figures it can be concluded that yum has a weak profit margin compared with their top competitor McDonalds. Yum, 2010) (Yum, 2011) (Yahoo finance, 2012) (Stock ana lysis) Return on Assets The ROA ratio measures the profitability of a company’s assets. Year| ROA Yum| ROA McDonalds| 2009| 15. 62%| 15,06%| 2010| 15. 30%| 15,47%| 2011| 15. 58%| 16. 68%| Table 4: Return on Assets Within the restaurant industry the average ROA lays around 8%. The ROA of Yum is around 15,5%. Compared with the total industry yum has a strong ROA. When the ROA of Yum is being compared with the ROA of McDonalds, the conclusion remains the same, Yum has a strong return on assets. Yahoo finance, 2012) (Yum, 2010) (Yum, 2011) (Stock analysis) To conclude it can be said that yum is a financially healthy company. Although the world wide credit crunch Yum is still able to increase their revenues. Comparison of the ratios with industry averages shows that Yum is doing well. Their debts do not exceed their assets. There is still room for an improvement of their profit margin. Compared with the industry average they have a strong profit margin however in comparison with t heir top competitor their profit margin is quite weak. Chapter 3: Weaknesses and/or Competitive Liabilities 1.Resources and Capabilities Evaluation 2. Evaluations of Factors Depriving Yum! Inc from Effective market Competition The evaluation of the resources and capabilities, and factors which might be preventing the corporation from competing effectively will be outlined with the help of a SWOT analysis. This technique will be used, because it gives the ability to present the resources and capabilities into strengths, and the factors which might be preventing the corporation from effective competence can be divided into weaknesses. However, since Threats and Opportunities part will be elaborated on in Weekly Report 3 Strengths| Weaknesses| Leading market position built on a portfolio of strong brands with high level of consumer acceptance * Different store concepts catering to a diverse customer base * Strong balance sheet and cash flows even in tough economic and macro environment * Leadership position in China and other emerging markets * Human Resource Policies- area coaches * Support by syndicated credit facility * Research & Development Centers * Ownership of distribution systems * | * Drop in performance within the domestic market * Lawsuits – Bad Publicity * Heavily dependent on Chinese geographic region * Internal brand competition * Higher loan interest rate than the LIBOR- London Interbank Offered Rate- 0. 25-1. 25% higher. * Brand Reputation dependent on Franchisees| Strengths With more than 37,000 outlets in 120 countries worldwide, Yum Brands, has earned the title of a leading global quick service restaurant corporation with high level of consumer acceptance and brand recognition. The corporation consist of three main brands, namely – KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell. The big amount of units all over the world is a valuable resource, but this is not enough to guarantee a distinctive capability.With the effective interception of the sale s and marketing functional area, all those restaurants are promoted effectively and with heavy investments in brand promotion, the position of it, in the mind of the customers, has been changed to the point, that Yum Brands is recognized as one of the best global brands with a leading market position within the industry. The promotion effectiveness is present by the fact that KFC is the leader within US chicken QSR segment with 39% market share, which is 2 times higher than the results from its closest competitor on a national level. In addition to that Pizza Hut is also the leader in the US pizza QSR segment, with 15% market share. Last but not least Taco Bell is also the leader in the US Mexican QSR segment, with 50% market share.The sales and marketing functional area is not the only one responsible for this results. In addition to it the operations management team and all international and regional managers, are contributing to the constant delivery of high quality, which will g uarantee customer satisfaction and acceptance. From the fact that Yum Brands’ has a leading market position as a second main resource, two main capabilities can be derived as well – the ability of significant bargaining power and the capability to grow financially. Furthermore, the company's strong brand value, facilitates customer recall and allows Yum Brands to penetrate new markets as well as consolidate its presence in the existing ones.The second strength can be divided into one resource and one capability. The resource is that the brand has three different restaurant concepts and every one of them has a set of unique food products, which can be customized additionally on their own as well. For example KFC, offers fried and non-fried chicken-on-the-bone products, while international outlets offer menus, which include side items, which are in line with the local customer demands. Pizza Hut for example is specializing in the sale of ready-to-eat pizza products, but there are restaurants, which are also offering breadsticks, pasta, salads, sandwiches and pizza souses, which are also suited to the local markets.Taco Bell is a small exception, since it specializes only in Mexican-style food products, but the diversification comes from the fact that all products like tacos, burritos, gorditas, chalupas, quesadillas, salads, nachos and other related items can be customized on their own. This resource leads to the capability of having the opportunity to provide products, which will attract a large number of diverse market segments. Not only by differentiation of the products but also by the differentiation of the locations the three different concepts within Yum Brands can develop, operate, franchise and license an international chain of both traditional and non-traditional QSR restaurants.For example the traditional one’s offer dine-in, carryout and often, drive-thru or delivery services, while the non-traditional restaurants are typically l icensed outlets that include express units and kiosks with a limited menus and most of the time operate in locations, which are not traditional like malls, airports, gas stations, convenience stores, stadiums, amusement parks and colleges. The diversification of the company products into three different brands, which outlets are also positioned in relation to the profile of the different consumers they serve, Yum Brands is transforming its existing resources into a distinctive capability. Even though there are economic and macro- environmental difficulties in the world, Yum Brands is continuously growing. It’s financial performance is outstanding, since the company’s outlets have recorded net income of $1. billion and over $2 billion in cash from its operations, which is 0. 3 billion more in comparison to 2011. In addition to that there is a 14% increase in the Earnings Per Share, and 7% system sales growth. The company maintains its position of industry leader in USA with Return on Invested Capital (ROIC) of more than 20%, and in addition to that the company has also increased its number of restaurants with more than 1,561. This increase with more than 1,000 new restaurants is also continuous happening already 11 years. The stable growth of units gives the corporation a title among the other US competitors as the â€Å"number one retail developer of units outside the US†.The capability of delivering constant strong results, which contributes to the plans for growth, provide a significant competitive advantage and distinctive capability, despite the difficult economic situation. Building a leadership position in China and other developing markets, should be considered as a strength, since this will help the corporation to develop even stronger brand image around the world. In addition to that, if the food concepts continue to be popular within the market, this will generate constant profit and ability to grow even further. This strength is also in line with the already mentioned strategy of expansion of the business in emerging and low-penetrated markets. For example over half of the operating profit of the company is generated in China and 72 other emerging countries.The actual aim of the company is to reach 85% global sales in comparison with only 15% in their local market until 2015. Within China all brands are growing with more than 656 new restaurants. Their policy to have leading brands in every significant category also has led to the acquisition of Little Sheep- a leading casual dining concept in China. Except this developing market, 3 more markets are strategically targeted. In India the managers are implementing all key elements, which drove the enormous success in China. The efforts in the moment are concentrated on building a strong base of restaurants, which will generate significant part of their future profits.In the moment in India there are more than 220 KFCs and 170 Pizza Hut restaurants and Taco Be ll also has just entered the market in to develop the brand into their third international known brand. Russia is also considered to be one of the growing market potentials for Yum Brand. Within this market there is a severe competition with McDonalds, but the company still expects high profits and return on investment. In order to do that the company started to expand by re-branding Rostiks-KFC to stand alone as KFC, which will lead to more brand recognition and customer retention. The last market, in which Yum, is aiming to become a leader is Africa. This already has started by the building of 656 stores in South Africa during 2011, and the building of outlets also in countries like Zambia, Ghana and Kenya.The plan is also to enter 7 new countries by the end of 2012, which will cover in total 20 African countries. The resource of having so many outlets worldwide and creating a broad world coverage, will become a capability in future, because the company will be able to generate re venue from markets, which are not penetrated and posses customers with growing buying power. Finally, Yum! Brands, Inc slowly enters the African market by building of 656 stores in South Africa, also entering Zambia, Ghana and Kenya in 2011 and plan to enter 7 new countries in 2012, which sums the plan in total to have restaurants in about 20 African countries by the end of 2012.Overall, this clearly shows that the company has the capability of successful penetrating new markets by adapting to the local customs, political, social, economic and legal systems. The last strength of Yum is the consolidation within its human resource policies. This policies start with the corporate value – How We Win Together principles including the motto â€Å"We love celebrating the achievement of others and have lots of fun doing it! â€Å", is one of the main reasons for their culture to be full of positive energy, teamwork, and fun. This corporate value is also built around a â€Å"People Capability First† philosophy, which lays the groundwork for the way they work as a team, together, every day.Yum invests in their Human Resources and provides training guides have been developed in 11 different languages for over 37,000 Restaurant General Managers around the globe. (Yum! Brands Inc. , Annual Report, 2011) Moreover, the company assigns area coaches, every six restaurant is operated under the supervision of one coach. This is an evidence for the company`s capability of successfully investing in people and promoting employee development and support. Being financed by Syndicated Credit Facility, which consist of 24 banks (Yum! Brands, Inc Annual Report, 2011) gives the company a strong financial security by not being reliable on single creditor.Research& Development Centers, are resource which Yum can strategically utilize to develop new products. This is an explicit example of company`s capability to investigate markets and identify customer needs. Finally, the ownership of distribution channels, helps the company to effectively manage its costa by local, regional and global distribution centers, namely developing effective cost structures. Weaknesses In 2009 the restaurant industry in the US showed transaction declines in dinner occasions, because consumers chose to save money and eat at home. This had also a significant impact on both Pizza Hut and KFC concepts of Yum Brands. As a result, their U. S. usiness was clearly under-performing from 2009 till 2011, but the most significant numbers are present in 2011 with store sales decrease of 1% and profit decrease of 12% for all units within the US market. In order to cope with this problem the company is reducing its ownership in this highly-penetrated market and in December 2011, they have completed the sale of Long John Silver's and A&W All American Restaurants. To sum it up the competitive liability, which is outlined by this weakness, consists of the fact that there is a deficiency of f inancial resources Moreover, lawsuits can cause a negative publicity for the company. For example, beef quality lawsuit on Taco Bell projected the restaurant concept-chain in negative limelight In January 2011.The lawsuit claimed that Taco Bell food items are made with a substance known as ‘taco meat ‘filling', rather than beef. The lawsuit also contended that Taco Bell products only contain 36% ground beef, below the prescribed USDA standard of 40% to qualify as meat. An estimated $3 million to $4 million were spent for nationwide advertising campaign to fight with the negative publicity from the lawsuit. Moreover, the company heavily relies on the Chinese market, as it is the main revenue generator. In the case, of nation-wide catastrophe- decrease in disposable income, change of food related legislations, the company business will be affected negatively.The internal brand competition can lead to decrease of sales in some brands. Furthermore, compared to the average Yu m loans relatively expensive financial resources form banks as the interest rates it pays for its loans are 0. 25%-1. 25% higher than LIBOR. (Annual Report, 2011) Finally, Yum! Brands, Inc company reputation is heavily reliant on its franchisees and licensees. The damaged brand name definitely should be considered as competitive liability, first because of the deficiency in quality of the products and second because of the lack of important organizational assets, which has led to this situation. Chapter 4: Internal Factor AnalysisInternal Factor Analysis organizes the strengths and weaknesses of a company into factors and analyses how a company is reacting on those factors (Jones, 2010). The weight is assigned to each factor from 1. 0 most significant to 0. 0 unimportant. Secondly, rating is assigned from 1 to 5, taking into account the management`s reaction to each factor. And finally, the weighted score is calculated by multiplying column 2 to column 3. INTERNAL FACTORS| WEIGHT| R ATING| WEIGHTED SCORE| COMMENTS| STRENGTHS| | | | | Supported by Syndicated Credit Facility| 0. 02| 0. 5| 0. 01| Secure financing, less dependency on 1 bank| Strong balance Sheet and Cash Flows| 0. 02| 1| 0. 2| Healthy operations| | 0. 3| 0. 5| 0. 15| | Research and Development facilities in Shanghai (China division), Dallas (Pizza Hut, YRI), California( Taco Bell), Lousiville (KFC)| 0. 2| 0. 5| 0. 1| Advantage of examining markets, developing products| Distribution system ownership| 0. 02| 0. 5| 0. 01| Cost effectiveness| Membership in Unified FoodService Purchasing Co-Po| 0. 01| 0. 5| 0. 005| Cost effectiveness and purchase power| Effective Market Segmentation-| 0. 02| 0. 3| 0. 006| Reach more consumers, spread risks| Restaurant concepts, trademarks patents| 0. 01| 0. 2| 0. 002| Competitive advantage| Strong Global Brand Awareness| 0. 2| 0. 5| 0. | Strong recognized brands| Area Coaches work with 6-12 restaurants| 0. 2| 0. 5| 0. 1| | Part D: Finances 1. Cost Structures * Reduce la rge capital investments by franchising and licensing in more mature markets 2. Characteristics of Cost Structures 3. Revenue Streams * Royalty fees based on sales from franchisees and licensees * Company sales * 3 Major markets- the USA- , China and Yum Restaurants International Conclusion The report has been divided into four components in order to describe Yum! Brands Inc. , internal organizational analysis. Among others the first component identified the vision and mission. Yum! Brand, Inc. strives for Be the Best in The World at Building Great Restaurant Brands†. In addition, the vision of Yum! Brands, Inc. can be stated as: â€Å"Be The Defining Global Company that Feeds the World. † Therefore, offering speed, variety, and convenience and budget prices products is of high value in order to satisfy their customers’ needs. They want to be a company ‘with a huge heart’, taking the environment into consideration and look for recognition with one sys tem operational excellence as out foundation. Furthermore, this vision reflects to the fact Yum! Brands, Inc. is already a global operator of franchisees and possesses chain restaurants brands like KFC, Pizza Hut,Taco Bell, Little Sheep and East Dawning.Principally main markets for the brand are in USA, China, Africa, Europe and Asia; here they segment different groups. Effective marketing which Yum! Brands, Inc. uses, contributes to this growth of business. As well as aggressive international expansion supports Yum! Brands Inc. entered the market in Russia and India. With China as focus, Yum! Brand Inc. strives for building strong and leading brands everywhere. The acquisition of Little Sheep, which offers casual dining restaurants to China, generates leading brands in every appropriate category. East Dawnings has been build up to be the first restaurant with a quick food service In China. Second strategy is to aim for international expansion.In addition, the brand wants to expand the US brand position. Last, the goal to serve the long-term interests of shareholders will be supported b an executive compensation program. However, financially, looking at revenue streams of the brand, the total revenue of Yum! Brands Inc. showed an increase of revenue of 14% in 2011. 86% of the total revenue has been generated by restaurant sales, the remaining part was income of franchise fees. Though, the total costs increased equally with 16%. Notable is, the fact retained earnings showed quite an increase of 106%. There can be assumed here Yum! Brands Inc. lay aside a lot of cash in order to invest and expand in the future.All in all, there can be concluded Yum! Brands Inc. is a financially healthy company. Debts do not exceed assets and the company is still capable to increase revenue. 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