Crafting and Executing a Strategic Plan Essays

Crafting and Executing a Strategic Plan Essays Crafting and Executing a Strategic Plan Essay Crafting and Executing a Strategic Plan Essay Business Brief Competitive Strategy: Frame By Frame has evaluated the market closely analyzing the entry-level and multi-featured segments. Employing the low cost strategy in the entry-level market was established to do exactly what is intended with this approach: ? Gain a broad cross-section of the market ? Lower overall costs than the competitors ? A good basis camera ? Continuous search for ways to reduce costs ? Highlight the features that lead to low cost The keys to sustaining the low cost strategy for the entry-level segment will be a vigorous approach to finding an economical ration between prices and camera value. Paramount to sustaining the strategy will be to manage costs down every year in all areas of business (Thompson, Strickland, Gamble 2010 p. 161). Appendix A Frame by Frame will generate market share in all regions with a clear understanding that profit margin will be low. The low price leader with continued market share expansion will pay dividends in the high end multi-feature segment. Frame by Frame will complement the low price entry level camera with a well differentiated multi-featured camera. Appendix B. Profit margins over market share will allow this segment of the company to continue to thrive. A selective market which Frame by Frame intends to service will prove beneficial to the bottom line. With strong marketing and advertizing plans market share will grow in years to come leading to even stronger market share and profits. The differentiation strategy for the multi-featured camera will ? ind a narrow market niche where buyers needs and preferences are distinctively different. ? develop features, attributes and custom made products that match the tastes and requirements of niche members ? communicate how product offering does the best job of meeting the niche buyer’s expectations It will be crucial for Frame to Frame to stay committed to serving the niche better than rivals. The firm must not blur the strategic image by entering other market segmen ts or adding other products to widen market appeal (Thompson, Strickland, Gamble 2010 p. 161). Supplemental Strategies: Frame by Frame has taken a serious look at expanding the product line in the entry-level camera segment. Additional new models and styles will help to appeal to an even wider group of buyers. It will be crucial for the company to identify ways to continue to hold down costs so the offering of additional products will continue to be appealing to buyers at the entry level camera segment. Providing the options to buy the same phone in different colors or color combinations can have a significant impact on the number of potential buyers. For instance, the cell phone industry has catapulted sales of identical phones by making the phone and/or covers that favor specific sports teams, or charitable causes. This supplemental strategy may produce similar results. A second supplemental strategy incorporates the entry level camera into the phone to generate a strategic alliance between two companies that seem inseparable in today’s world of technology. Finding a new phone without a camera is nearly impossible and finding any human without a cell phone is just as unlikely. Strategic alliances take a great deal of planning to minimize the risk for both parties. Thompson, Strickland, Gamble (2009) state that the extent to which the companies benefit from entering into alliances seems to be a function of six factors: ? Picking a good partner ? Being sensitive to cultural differences ? Recognizing that the alliance must benefit both sides ? Ensuring that both parties live up to their commitments ? Structuring decision making to be swift if needed ? Managing learning and adjusting the alliance agreement to fit new circumstances. Frame by Frame must keep an open mind to the market and rival forces to remain competitive. In the business world the competitive climate drives companies to be innovative. Staying on the cutting edge of your business strategies and keeping your business head on a swivel so as to watch the competition will be the combination that will pay dividends for years to come. Foreign Markets Strategies: Frame by Frame have developed strategies that are mirror images of each other for each of the four global regions. The cost, marketing, production, pricing plans are nearly the same in all areas. Frame by Frame has found this strategy successful but may generate even higher profits and market share by varying the company’s strategic approach from country to country in response to differing local market, culture, competitive conditions, and differing buyer tastes and preferences (Thompson, Strickland, Gamble 2010 p. 215). Altering the strategy from region to region would be more beneficial in the multi-featured segment in which variations from production to marketing would be more tolerant of variations. The entry-level segment which operates on a very low margin must utilize standardized methods to manage costs and hold onto market share. Addendum: The global economy allows for a company to utilize creativity and ingenuity to craft a dynamic strategic plan that can be customized to any market or region of the world. The development of a successful plan will take a team that is focused on the market environment and the various influences to be encountered. The successful company will be able to navigate the factors and make the changes needed to meet the company goals.

Life and Travels of Ibn Battuta, World Explorer and Writer

Life and Travels of Ibn Battuta, World Explorer and Writer Ibn Battuta (1304–1368) was a scholar, theologian, adventurer, and traveler who, like Marco Polo fifty years earlier, wandered the world and wrote about it. Battuta sailed, rode camels and horses, and walked his way to 44 different modern countries, traveling an estimated 75,000 miles during a 29 year period. He journeyed from North Africa to the Middle East and Western Asia, Africa, India and Southeast Asia. Fast Facts: Ibn Battuta Name: Ibn BattutaKnown For: His travel writing, which described the 75,000-mile journey he took during his rilha.Born: February 24, 1304, Tangier, MoroccoDied: 1368 in Morocco  Education: Schooled in the Maliki tradition of Islamic lawPublished Works: A Gift to Those Who Contemplate the Wonders of Cities and the Marvels of Travelling or The Travels (1368 Early Years Ibn Battuta (sometimes spelled Batuta, Batouta, or Battutah) was born in Tangier, Morocco on February 24, 1304. He was from a fairly well-to-do family of Islamic legal scholars descended from Berbers, an ethnic group indigenous to Morocco. A Sunni Muslim trained in the Maliki tradition of Islamic law, Ibn Battuta left his home at the age of 22 to begin his rihla, or voyage. Rihla is one of four forms of travel encouraged by Islam, the best known of which is Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina. The term rihla refers to both the travel and the genre of literature that describes the journey. The purpose of rihla is to enlighten and entertain readers with detailed descriptions of pious institutions, public monuments and religious personalities of Islam. Ibn Battutas travelogue was written after he returned, and in it he stretched the conventions of the genre, including autobiography as well as some fictional elements from the adjaib or marvels traditions of Islamic literature.   The first seven years of Ibn Battutas Travels took him to Alexandria, Mecca, Medina, and Kilwa Kiswani.   Wikipedia Users Setting Off Ibn Battutas journey began from Tangier on June 14, 1325. Originally intending to make a pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina, by the time he reached Alexandria in Egypt, where the lighthouse was still standing, he found himself entranced by the people and cultures of Islam.   He headed for Iraq, Western Persia, then Yemen and the Swahili coast of East Africa. By 1332 he reached Syria and Asia Minor, crossed the Black Sea and reached the territory of the Golden Horde. He visited the steppe region along the Silk Road and arrived at the oasis of Khwarizm in western central Asia.   Then he traveled through Transoxania and Afghanistan, arriving in the Indus Valley by 1335. He stayed in Delhi until 1342 and then visited Sumatra and (perhaps- the record is unclear) China before heading home. His return trip took him back through Sumatra, the Persian Gulf, Baghdad, Syria, Egypt, and Tunis. He reached Damascus in 1348, just in time for the arrival of the plague, and returned home to Tangier safe and sound in 1349. Afterwards, he made minor excursions to Granada and the Sahara, as well as to the West African kingdom of Mali. A Few Adventures Ibn Battuta was mostly interested in people. He met and talked with pearl divers and camel drivers and brigands. His traveling companions were pilgrims, merchants, and ambassadors. He visited countless courts. Ibn Battuta lived on donations from his patrons, mostly elite members of Muslim society he met along the way. But he was not just a traveler- he was an active participant, often employed as a judge (qadi), administrator, and/or ambassador during his stops. Battuta took a number of well-placed wives, generally daughters and sisters of the sultans, none of whom are named in the text.   Ibn Battuta is thought to have reached Asia.   Wikimedia Users Visiting Royalty Battuta met countless royals and elites. He was in Cairo during the reign of the Mamluk Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad ibn Qalawun. He visited Shiraz when it was an intellectual haven for Iranians fleeing the Mongol invasion. He stayed in the Armenian capital of Staryj Krym with his host, the governor Tuluktumur. He detoured to Constantinople to visit Andronicus III in the company of the Byzantine emperor Ozbek Khans daughter. He visited the Yuan emperor in China, and he visited Mansa Musa (r. 1307–1337) in West Africa.   He spent eight years in India as a qadi in the court of Muhammad Tughluq, the Sultan of Delhi. In 1341, Tughluq appointed him to lead a diplomatic mission to the Mongol emperor of China. The expedition was shipwrecked off the coast of India leaving him with neither employment nor resources, so he traveled around southern India, Ceylon and the Maldive islands, where he served as qadi under the local Muslim government. History of the Literary Rilha In 1536, after Ibn Battuta returned home,  the Marinid ruler of Morocco Sultan Abu Ina commissioned a young literary scholar of Andalusian origins named Ibn Juzayy (or Ibn Djuzzayy) to record Ibn Battutas experiences and observations. Over the next two years together, the men wove what would become the Book of Travels, based primarily on Ibn Battutas memories, but also interweaving descriptions from earlier writers.   The manuscript was circulated around different Islamic countries, but not much cited by Muslim scholars. It eventually came to the attention of the west by way of two adventurers of the 18th and 19th centuries, Ulrich Jasper Seetzen (1767–1811) and Johan Ludwig Burckhardt (1784–1817). They had separately purchased abridged copies during their travels throughout the Mideast. The first English language translation of those copies was published in 1829 by Samuel Lee. Five manuscripts were found by the French when they conquered Algeria in 1830. The most complete copy recovered in Algiers was made in 1776, but the oldest fragment was dated 1356. That fragment had the title Gift to Those Who Contemplate the Wonders of Cities and the Marvels of Traveling, and is believed to have been a very early copy indeed if not an original fragment.   The complete text of the travels, with  parallel Arabic and a French translation, first appeared in four volumes between 1853–1858 by Dufrà ©mery and Sanguinetti. The full text was translated first into English by Hamilton A.R. Gibb in 1929. Several subsequent translations are available today.   Criticism of the Travelogue Ibn Battuta recounted tales of his travels throughout his voyage and when he returned home, but it was not until his association with Ibn Jazayy that the stories were committed to formal writing. Battuta took notes during the journey but admitted that he lost some of them along the way. He was accused of lying by some contemporaries, though the veracity of those claims is widely disputed. Modern critics have noted several textual discrepancies which hint at substantial borrowing from older tales.   Much of the criticism of Battutas writing is aimed at the sometimes confusing chronology and plausibility of certain parts of the itinerary. Some critics suggest he may have never reached mainland China, but did get as far as Vietnam and Cambodia. Parts of the story were borrowed from earlier writers, some attributed, others not, such as Ibn Jubary and Abu al-Baqa Khalid al-Balawi. Those borrowed parts include descriptions of Alexandria, Cairo, Medina, and Mecca. Ibn Battuta and Ibn Juzayy acknowledge Ibn Jubayr in the descriptions of Aleppo and Damascus.   He also relied on original sources, relating historical events told to him in the courts of the world, such as the capture of Delhi and the devastations of Genghis Khan. Death and Legacy After his collaboration with Ibn Jazayy ended, Ibn Batuta retired to a judicial post in a small Moroccan provincial town, where he died in 1368. Ibn Battuta has been called the greatest of all travel writers, having traveled farther than Marco Polo. In his work, he provided priceless glimpses of the various people, courts and religious monuments around the world. His travelogue has been the source of countless research projects and historical investigations. Even if some of the stories were borrowed, and some of the tales a bit too marvelous to be believed, Ibn Battutas rilha remains an enlightening and influential work of travel literature to this day. Sources Battuta, Ibn, Ibn Juzayy, and Hamilton A.R. Gibb. Ibn Battuta, Travels in Asia and Africa 1325-1354. London: Broadway House, 1929. Print.Berman, Nina. Questions of Context: Ibn Battuta and E. W. Bovill on Africa. Research in African Literatures 34.2 (2003): 199-205. Print.Gulati, G. D. Ibn Battuta in Transoxiana. Proceedings of the Indian History Congress 58 (1997): 772-78. Print.Lee, Samuel. The Travels of Ibn Batuta Translated from the Abridged Arabic Manuscript Copies. London: Oriental Translation Committee, 1829. Print.Morgan, D. O. Battuta and the Mongols. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 11.1 (2001): 1-11. Print.Norris, Harry. Ibn Battuta on Muslims and Christians in the Crimean Peninsula. Iran the Caucasus 8.1 (2004): 7-14. Print.Waines, David. The Odyssey of Ibn Battuta: Uncommon Tales of a Medieval Adventurer. London: I.B. Tauris Cp, Ltd, 2010. Print.Zimonyi, Istvn. Ibn Battuta on the First Wife of Ãâ€"zbek Khan. Central Asiatic Journal 49.2 (2005): 303-09. Print.

Project and risk management report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Project and risk management report - Essay Example Larson (2008 p. 58) argues that there is also the risk level due to some uncertainties regarding the objectives. With a construction company, making improvements on the road among others is a full-time responsibility due to constant wear and tear, meaning continued challenges in managing projects, while adhering to tight deadlines. Another project involves introducing a new product into the market. This paper identifies that more research is required to validate project management methods, and to clarify which areas they benefit, and how to achieve reliably those benefits. Levitt (1983 p.9) argues that globalization is the driving factor to project management due to the evolving technology that continues bringing competition in all fields. In construction, modernization brings about company closures, rising unemployment, and sometimes canceled investments. These events have a major effect on both the clients and the construction companies’ behavior. Research shows that drastic drops in demand and order shortages dramatically increase completion between companies in the construction sector. These changes increase the pressure on improving quality, and productivity, while reducing costs. In addition, globalization equally increases the need for project strategies and management that suitably and effectively manages project risk. On the other hand, new product development is a vital organisational activity because it offers considerable opportunities for the organisations (Charan et al. (2010 p. 125). However, this process involves marketing, technical, and financial risks. Similar to construction, product development faces serious competition due to globalization with different products entering the market daily. In addition, the consumer through technology can access different types of products while comparing the costs and qualities among others. It is, therefore, important for a project management system that can

Collaborative design Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Collaborative design - Essay Example The intention of the current project is to revisit the strengths and capacities of XNL-enable X3D standard for the capture of engineering information, particularly those dealing with design. These include the structure of the product, the bill of materials, and the encoding and categorization of the product. The term CAD means Computer-Aided Design .CAD software is used for drawing tools basically to explain the geometries which are used by the manufacturing portion, i.e. the CAM part of the program. It explains the path that helps directing the motion of a machine tool, to the machine in the exact shape drawn. A product is usually physical; nevertheless, it can also be metaphysical. It may serve as a strong determinant as far as our positioning in the world is concerned. This can pilot us to be at an angle toward a social milieu in product design (Slack 2006). Design is a form of expression which serves as the avenue whereby desires of the customer or the market are made into a product that aims to satisfy these desires. Such product hence generates revenue. A cleverly designed and marketed product brings a company or designer to an iconic status. Thus, a wise investment in design results to a generous return on investment. In addition, it can also offer a unique stance in a highly competitive world (Slack 2006). The compass of design is substantial, covering graphic communications to integrated systems and then from information technology to urban environments. While globally it is described as the formation and development of all man-made products; it is fundamentally perceived as a device for improving the quality of life (Taschen 2001). Designers are not futurologists; however, they have to be in line with clearly identifying the relationships of the past, present and future as well as the prospective effects of political, social, and emotional impacts of

Interview and Interrogation Essay Example for Free

Interview and Interrogation Essay Interviews and interrogations should be structured around the investigatory elements of the incident or crime. The need for careful planning and advance preparation cannot be overstated. It is one of the most difficult but most interesting phases of criminal investigation and detection. It is the confrontational battle of wits between the investigator and the suspect. It is a mental combat where the weapon is intelligence and the use of the art. Victory depends upon proper and effective use. The purpose of interrogation on the part of the suspect, it is to extract a confession or admission. On the part of the uncooperative or unwilling witness, it is to extract the information he possesses. While interview a simple and skillful but friendly questioning of a person who is believed to the possessing a knowledge that is official interest to the investigation; for the purpose of obtaining information. In a preliminary interview at a crime scene, officers have extremely limited time for such planning. Consequently, they need to know their priorities in advance. They should obtain as much information as possible, identify and locate the offender (s)and broadcast the information or alert other officers and department about the offense and identity of the offender(s). Officers should not use police terminology when interviewing or interrogating people because it will increase the incriminating atmosphere of the questioning. A polygraph, which literally means â€Å"many writings† scientifically measures and records a subject’s physiological reactions to specific questions in an effort to detect deception. As a polygraph operator asks a series of predetermined questions, changes in the subject’s respiration, depth of breathing, blood pressure, pulse and electrical resistance of the skin are measured and graphed for analysis. According to Paynter (1999). A polygraph might be used to clear suspects; confirm victim, witness and informant statements; or locate evidence. Sometimes used as part of an exploratory exam to further investigate the criminal involvement of someone already in custody for a different offense. In addition , it can help screen applicants for employment, such as police officer candidates, and can be used to monitor the activities of probationers and parolees, who must submit to and pass periodic polygraph exams, as a condition of their sentence. No matter what type of technology is used, the result must always be used as an investigative aid, a supplement to a thorough investigation- never as a substitute for it. Akers, Ronald. 1997. Criminological theories. California: Rexbury Publishing Company. Bartol, C. R. 1985. Criminal behavior. New Jersey: Prentice Hall Englewood Cliffs. Bonn, Robert. 1984. Criminology. New York: McGraw-Hill Book of Company. Hess, Karen. 2006. Police operations. Singapore: Thomson Learning Manwong, Rommel k. 2006. Fundamentals of criminology. Singapore: Thomson Learning.

Huck Finns Ending Essay -- essays research papers

Dear Mark Twain,   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  After reading your famous novel, â€Å"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,† I don’t feel that the ending you have created is suitable for the book. Throughout the entire novel, Huck is going to all extremes to help out a friend in need, Jim. As a slave, Jim is grateful for having such an honest and open friend like Huck, but it seems as if when he finds out he was free all along, things change. When Jim and Huck found themselves at the end of their journey, neither had anything left to run from because Huck’s dad was dead and Jim found out that Mrs. Watson freed him when she passed away a few months ago and hoped he would soon be with his family. Because of this ending of your choice, we never find out Huck’s true feelings about helping a run away slave besides what we learned earlier in the book. It seems as if the special bond that Huck and Jim shared was over, each were going their own separate ways and moving on in their lives.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I found the ending very disappointing because throughout all the situations that took place in the book, Twain develops Huck as a character growing up and accepting his innate ideas of right and wrong, but we soon find out that Huck hasn’t grown at all. It seems as if Huck and Jim have formed a strong friendship with each other and Huck no longer looks down upon his as a slave, but sees him as an equal individual and a friend. When Huck is re-united with Tom, we find this to be false because he goes back to his old ways in which he was taught through his child hood and refers to Jim as property.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Another major disappointment is that Twain ends the novel as he started, with Huck running away from a civilized life style. In the beginning of the novel, Mrs. Watson was trying to civilize Huck so he decided to run away, at the end of the novel he fears that Aunt Sally is going to try and civilize him, so he decides to run west to the enchanted territory. This is an important technique that Twain uses to try and indirectly point blame at anybody, but it is obvious to the reader. Huck does not decide to leave because he thinks that society is rotten, he decides to leave because he thinks that he is the one that is rotten, and cannot be civilized, so he decides to go somewhere far away from civilization. Ironically, it is the corrupting... ...n. He applied what little knowledge he had well, and managed to help several people, including himself, along his journey down the river.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One idea that I found very interesting was that Huck and Jim were two completely different people running in the same direction in the beginning, and at the end they become the closest of friends, but when we soon learn that it seems as if all has faded away and the journey was useless. It comes across to the reader that both Huck and Jim were on the raft together for one reason and that would be to escape civilization. That would be the original idea but because of their bond that’s not the intent of the book. Huck and Jim both had one thing that held them together and that was the goodness at heart, not only did Huck go against everything he was taught, but he didn’t have a problem doing it and by you ending the book in such a way just seems like everything that happened doesn’t matter and an incredible journey traveled by two amazing individuals doesn’t matter in the end. It just seems like Huck gave up on everything he worked so har d for and not only let himself down, but his best friend and companion Jim also.

To Kill a Mockingbird Essay – Explain How 2 Characters Changed over the Course of the Book

To Kill A Mockingbird Essay Introduction: * Thesis: In To Kill A Mockingbird, characters such as Calpurnia and Boo Radley are not who they are made out to be in the beginning of the play to both the readers and Scout. * Point 1: Jem and Scout learn that Calpurnia, their housekeeper, is not who they thought she was. * Point 2: The Finchs and the people of the town realize that Boo Radley is not the same man they thought he was. Scout and Jem is not the well-spoken servant they made her out to be all these years in their house.Her role is the household is much different compared to other families. Calpurnia has pretty much taken the role as the â€Å"mom,† in the house. This one time, she disciplined Scout at the dinner table when they had Walter over for dinner and Scout made a rude comment. However, Scout’s and Jem’s view of Calpurnia changed when they went to church with her when Atticus could not take them. When they arrived at the church, Calpurnia was confron ted by Lula for brining â€Å"white chillun† (Lee 119) in a black church. They heard Calpurnia use slang and words they had never ever come out of her mouth.This newly discovered side of Calpurnia confused the children. They could not understand how their well respected and well-spoken housemaid could be so â€Å"dirty. † When Scout questioned her about it later on, Calpurnia explained herself â€Å"folks don’t like to have somebody around knowin’ more than they do. † It aggravates ‘em. You’re not gonna change any of them by talkin’ right, they’ve got to want to learn themselves, and when they don’t want to learn themselves there’s nothing you can do but keep your mouth shut or talk their language. (Lee 126) Calpurnia’s explanation really answered Scout’s question as to why she had to â€Å"talk nigger-talk. † (Lee 125) The people of Maycomb do not have the right perspective of Boo Radle y. The rumor that have surrounded him and his family have caused him to stay within the confines of his home. The rumors say that he killed his mother and stabbed a family member with a pair of scissors. Over the summer, the kids (Scout, Jem, and Dill) acted out the story of Boo Radley and his family over the summer.Also, when Jem and Dill rolled Scout down the hill in the tire, they refused to help Scout get out since she had landed in his (Boo Radley’s) property. However, the children have it all wrong. In the beginning of the book, Jem and Scout start finding gifts in the hole of the oak at the edge of his land which he had been placing there. Another instance where they were proven wrong was when he gave Scout a blanket during the fire that took out Miss Maudie’s home. Again, no one had any idea he had done this.The biggest reason as to why everyone has made out Boo Radley all wrong was when he saved Jem and Scout from Mr. Ewell. Conclusion: * Thesis: In To Kill A Mockingbird, characters such as Calpurnia and Boo Radley are not who they are made out to be in the beginning of the play to both the readers and Scout. * Point 1: Jem and Scout learn that Calpurnia, their housekeeper, is not who they thought she was. * Point 2: The Finchs and the people of the town realize that Boo Radley is not the same man they thought he was.