Concepts in Strategic Management and Business Policy

Reading the first four chapters in the book Concepts in Strategic Management and Business Policy by Thomas L. Wheelen, where many important issues are discussed, it comes to my mind that strategic management is an essential part of any business process. First of all, the book dwells upon the importance of strategic management as an essential part of company functioning.Advertising We will write a custom critical writing sample on Concepts in Strategic Management and Business Policy specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Defining strategic management as â€Å"a set of managerial decisions and actions that determines the long-run performance of a corporation† (Wheelen, 2010, p. 5), it is possible to stress the following issues which I consider as the most crucial in this reading, (1) assistance of strategic management in environment protection, (2) help of strategic management in mission creation, (3) support strategic management s preads on the social responsibilities the corporation should have, and (4) great role of strategic management in encouraging ethical behavior. These four issues discussed in the book are the most important, as for me, as each of these aspects touches not only business aspects but social issues as well. Ecological situation is complicated in the modern world and the assistance of the strategic management in this issue is helpful for the whole mankind. Company mission is the way how the company is going to meet social requirements and correlate those to the company purposes. Social responsibility of the company guarantees meeting the norms established by the government and supported by the society. Finally, the ethical behavior is essential in the modern world and the role of strategic management in this problem remains important. Taking any international organization, it is possible to see the implementation of the mentioned issues there. For example, Coca Cola is an international le ader in producing beverages. According to Coca Cola FESMA Sustainability Report (2011), the company supports environment in renewing the amount of water the company uses for producing its beverages and deals with water cleaning procedures. Moreover, recycling and replenishing water supplies are the main aspects in company strategic management. Coca Cola supports reforestation and protection of biodiversity programs. The mission of the Coca Cola Company is announced in almost each advertising campaign, which is to make the world fresher by means of making people happier; the company is interested in helping people make a difference. Social responsibility and ethical behavior are the core aspects of human resource management in Coca Cola as such corporation cannot function without these issues.Advertising Looking for critical writing on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Dealing with strategic management, the e xamples and issues discussed above are the results of the strategic decision making which is an inevitable part of any management process. Strategic decisions â€Å"deal with the long-run future of an entire organization and have three characteristics† (Wheelen, 2010, p. 25) such as rareness due to unusual and complicated processes which result in making such a decision, consequential nature which is reflected in the commitment of many people at different levels, and directive task which is reflected in future actions and plans of the company. Therefore, it should be stated that all the actions directed at implementing strategic management and reflected in decisions making are supported by a number of issues which are really important in the modern business world. Each big company cannot function without strategic management and strategic decision making, therefore, these companies are unable to deal without the issues mentioned above, such as environment protection, mission creation, social responsibilities, and ethical behavior. Reference List Coca Cola FESMA sustainability report. (2011). Web. Wheelen, T. L. (2012). Concepts in Strategic Management and Business Policy. Oxford: Prentice Hall Inc. This critical writing on Concepts in Strategic Management and Business Policy was written and submitted by user Genevieve R. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Free Essays on A Rose For Emily And The Yellow Wallpaper

Compare and Contrast: A Rose for Emily and The Yellow Wallpaper William Faulkner’s â€Å"A Rose for Emily†, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper,† are two short stories both incorporate qualities of similarities and differences. Both of the short stories are about how and why a woman changed from loneliness to lunacy. These women are forced into solitude merely because of the era they are woman. Emily’s father rejects all of her prospective mates; the husband of Gilman’s narrator isolates her from stimulation of any kind. Eventually, Emily is a recluse trapped in a deprecated home, and the narrator in Gilman’s story is a delusional woman confined to her bedroom. These stories both entail numerous similarities in the characterization, setting, and symbolism. A major difference of these two short stories is the point of view they are written in. A Rose for Emily is written in third person and The Yellow Wallpaper, is in first person, which creates two extremely different outlook s. The women in Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" and Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" are driven insane because they feel confined by the men in their lives. They retreat into their own respective worlds as an escape from reality, and finally rebel in the only ways they can find. Emily and 'John's wife,' the woman in "The Yellow Wallpaper" who is never named, both feel stifled and suppressed by the men in authority over them. Emily, as a "slender figure in white in the background, her father a spraddled silhouette in the foreground, his back to her and clutching a horsewhip†, is prevented from having suitors by her father, â€Å"none of the young men were quite good enough for Miss Emily and such†. The narrator of "The Yellow Wallpaper" talks much about how her husband, John â€Å"takes all care from me.† Although the directions he gave are to rest completely and not to pick up a pen. "John is a physician, and perhaps that is one r... Free Essays on A Rose For Emily And The Yellow Wallpaper Free Essays on A Rose For Emily And The Yellow Wallpaper Compare and Contrast: A Rose for Emily and The Yellow Wallpaper William Faulkner’s â€Å"A Rose for Emily†, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper,† are two short stories both incorporate qualities of similarities and differences. Both of the short stories are about how and why a woman changed from loneliness to lunacy. These women are forced into solitude merely because of the era they are woman. Emily’s father rejects all of her prospective mates; the husband of Gilman’s narrator isolates her from stimulation of any kind. Eventually, Emily is a recluse trapped in a deprecated home, and the narrator in Gilman’s story is a delusional woman confined to her bedroom. These stories both entail numerous similarities in the characterization, setting, and symbolism. A major difference of these two short stories is the point of view they are written in. A Rose for Emily is written in third person and The Yellow Wallpaper, is in first person, which creates two extremely different outloo ks. The women in Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" and Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" are driven insane because they feel confined by the men in their lives. They retreat into their own respective worlds as an escape from reality, and finally rebel in the only ways they can find. Emily and 'John's wife,' the woman in "The Yellow Wallpaper" who is never named, both feel stifled and suppressed by the men in authority over them. Emily, as a "slender figure in white in the background, her father a spraddled silhouette in the foreground, his back to her and clutching a horsewhip†, is prevented from having suitors by her father, â€Å"none of the young men were quite good enough for Miss Emily and such†. The narrator of "The Yellow Wallpaper" talks much about how her husband, John â€Å"takes all care from me.† Although the directions he gave are to rest completely and not to pick up a pen. "John is a physician, and perhaps that is one r...

Film language elements of a movie Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Film language elements of a movie - Essay Example On the contrary, Tom gets tired of Mamie and starts dating with the flamboyant Gwen. Tom surprises his mother by his wealth. His mother and straight forward brother, Mike, disapprove of his career choices. The battle of moral between the brothers culminates in a dinner table (Greatest Films, n.d.). Because Nathan, Tom, and Matt pursued lives full of crimes, they ended up dying out of crime. The mise-en-scene has been planned well. Tom brings a keg to celebrate Mike’s return from war. The beer displays Tom’s lifestyle. At dinner, Tom takes the head seat of the table, in his mother’s opposite direction. The mother has to hoist her neck in order to see her son beyond the keg. Cinematography has influenced the believability of the film. In the grapevine scene, Tom shocks his girlfriend by slapping her with the grapes. The development of the movie, including the episode where Tom places a keg of beer on the table and Mike getting infuriated by Tom’s display of illegally acquired wealth as he denounces him helps bring a clear picture of the cinema. Matt gets shot and dies in front of Tom in stakeout. Tom avenges his friend’s death by going to the opponents’ gang headquarters and opens fire. He overpowers them; however, he sustains injuries from gunshots and gets hospitalized. His mother jubilates upon hearing that her son has reformed and would join them. Later, Mike answers a door knock only to find Tom, murdered and buttressed up in the doorway (Bould 41). Other scenes include Tom and Matt appearing in expensive tailor made clothes and dancing with beautiful women after acquiring a lot of wealth through illegal business. Several outbu rsts of violence receive good production attention. They include the shooting of Putty Nose and the scene where Matt and Tom shoot the horse that fell killing Nathan, their crime boss. Sound has been used to bring various effects in the film. Both the human sounds, gunshots and music played in the film

Business Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words - 5

Business Ethics - Essay Example However, the fact is that when she received a harassing message from a prospective employer on a professional networking site, she finally reached her tipping about online sexual harassment. A portion of the message read that â€Å"I think you are beautiful and I and interested to hear more about your modelling experience. Have you ever thought about being an executive assistant? I make a lot of money and travel to some amazing places. I would take good care of you. One question though, are you single?† Quite clearly, for a professional networking, which people used to build business connections, this message did not only cross the limit of acceptability but also creepiness. There are no doubts about the fact that sexual harassment (Ferrell, Fraedrich, & Ferrell, 2012, pg. 74) is a serious issue and that even before the advent and mass proliferation of social media, employers and managers had always been facing a difficult time in combating with ever increasing sexual harassme nt at workplace. Now that social networking sites have become an imperative aspect of the lives of people, it appears that they have provided a new medium and breeding ground for harassers (Trevino & Nelson, 2010, p. 42; Ferrell, et al., 2012, p. 74). This paper makes an attempt to understand the issue of sexual harassment as discussed in the article Casserly (2013) from the perspective of business ethics, provide recommendations for combating with this problem and identify its impact on the stakeholders. Discussion Dynamics of Sexual Harassment and Online Sexual Harassment Much of the online sexual harassment on is â€Å"quid pro-quo† in nature (Devettere, 2002, p. 467). Quid Pro-Quo refers to an arrangement of giving something in return for something else. In most cases, the victims are likely to receive a message from someone with a higher position, authority and influence with a dreamy but conditional offer; the condition being their willingness to provide sexual favours or entering into a sexual relationship with that person. The immorality of these messages is massively apparent as it coerces the subject into doing something that he or she would not have done in normal circumstances (Trevino & Nelson, 2010, p. 42; Ferrell, et al., 2012, p. 74). As mentioned earlier that the business ethics issue highlighted in this article is that of online sexual harassment as faced by Hatcher, the case in focus, and several other women highlighted in the article from LinkedIn, specifically and several other online networking sites as well. There are several definitions of sexual harassments. In fact, legislators, experts, researchers and policymakers from different parts of the world have taken different approaches to define sexual harassment. Furthermore, sexual harassment might take different forms but one singular, common and defining element of sexual harassment is when the victim feeling being excessively â€Å"uncomfortable†. This is exactly what ha ppened in the case of Hatcher, as argued in this article, that this invitation or message from Marcus was so disturbing and stressful for her that she no longer felt safe and comfortable regarding the same. Although, the data about the victims of sexual harassment (Ferrell, Fraedrich, & Ferrell, 2012, pg. 74) reveals that both the genders have been

Controversial Issue of Use of Cookies in Web Browsers Essay

Controversial Issue of Use of Cookies in Web Browsers - Essay Example Many internet sites have incorporated cookies in the search engines for various purposes. Usage of cookies is more prevalent in e-commerce sites, which depend on the activities and information of the customer to customize the search engine to the preferences of the customers. Cookies store small sections of program codes and memories that can be retrieved later. Use of cookies is always well-intended. However, there has been claims that site owners use cookies to track important information from the users. This is even more controversial considering that cookies operate discreetly without the knowledge of the user. Whether use of cookies is beneficial or risky to internet users has remained a controversial issue for a long time and therefore, this paper explores this controversy and ultimately supports that use of cookies is indeed beneficial to internet users. Proponents of use of cookies argue that use of cookies makes site browsing easier, more efficient and user-friendly. Accordi ng to Palmer â€Å"while e-commerce has grown rapidly in recent years, some of the practices associated with certain marketing aspects of marketing such as pop-ups, cookies and spam have raised concerns on the side of the internet users† (Palmer, 2005). For instance, e-commerce sites such as Amazon use cookies to keep track of user activities. User information is recorded and kept as cookies, site preferences are recorded as well as credit card and vital personal information. Users do not have to re-enter such information in subsequent site visits, therefore, making browsing easier and safer. However, it is possible for some sites to use such information unethically. For instance, site preference information can be used for advertisement purposes and not necessarily to benefit the site user.  

Ethnomusicology: Developments of Māori Music

Ethnomusicology: Developments of MÄ ori Music Music in Context A: Ethnomusicology Discuss some of the more recent social, cultural and technological developments that have informed studies in ethnomusicology Introduction For this essay I will be focusing on the MÄ ori people of New Zealand, and looking at the changes and developments in both their traditional music and that of their modern popular culture, much of which is adopted from American and European sources. I will include the work of several ethnomusicologists who have experience in the areas of MÄ ori music, modern New Zealand popular culture, and American rap music and its sphere of influence. The MÄ ori people Have had their own traditional songs since they first inhabited New Zealand. However, there have been changes to the cultural situation of the music and how it is received by both the white public and MÄ ori youth. In this essay I will focus on three points, the transcendence of MÄ ori traditional music, the changes made as a reaction to this and the influence of other modern genres and styles, specifically American rap, to discuss these changes and how they have informed ethnomusicology either positively or negatively. In doing so I hope to show that a vibrant musical continuum is working in New Zealand youth culture, informed by both their traditions and outside influences, and yet is making original new music because of this. Song loss and researching traditional music The MÄ ori have inhabited New Zealand since the 14th century when they arrived from other Pacific islands seeking new lands to migrate to and cultivate. It is hard for an ethnomusicologist to find or have found any songs surviving from the earliest parts of MÄ ori history, for several reasons. Firstly, as many MÄ ori songs are to do with traditions and practices, when those traditions or practices become obsolete or go out of use, then the songs will be lost with them.For example, when canoes started to be replaced with sail ships, all songs about canoeing were either lost, or modified to talk about sail ships instead. Secondly, because of superstitious beliefs, many songs have restricted performances, where only certain members of the tribe or community are allowed to attend and listen or join in. This also limits the number of MÄ ori who will learn theses songs, as they are taught purely by oral tradition. The teaching itself is a point of interest, as traditionally the folk songs of MÄ ori are taught in a very strict sense,as they are not meant to change organically or be re-interpreted, apart from if the community as a whole learns a new version in line with a new meaning, as with the canoe/sail ship example above. In most cases, the songs will be passed down through generations, preserved as accurately as possible, which would in fact make it easy for an ethnomusicologist to discover these antiques of folk song. However, these traditions were cut abruptly short by the intervention of European missionaries. The missionaries were accepted to a degree by MÄ ori curiosity, and arrived decades before the treaty of Waitangi in 1840,which signified the taking of New Zealand by the English under queen Victoria and the official surrender of the MÄ ori as a people (though conflict did continue for years). These missionaries took it upon themselves to educate the seemingly primitive MÄ ori tribes in every aspect of Christian and European ideals. This included their music, as the Europeans found their traditional folk chants ‘idolatrous, ‘indecent and even ‘lascivious.The missionaries set about their task quickly, so much so that by 1830, a letter sent from a missionary to his brother-in-law at home in England read; Quietness and good order has succeeded to their native wildness; we never hear anything of their songs or dances. In place of their traditional music, the missionaries taught them hymns and church music. In doing so, they also taught the rudiments of western music theory, which they encouraged the MÄ ori to adopt as their new musical language. This meant that many new MÄ ori songs were created, using traditional words and stories, but with diatonic harmonies that made them listenable and distinguishable to a European ear.Though this was widely acknowledged and followed through to the MÄ oris own teaching, some traditional songs were kept hidden and secreted in both MÄ ori text collections and those of curious westerners. One such was John McGregor, a guard of captured MÄ ori warriors held in a beached hulk at Auckland harbour. John ‘collected and later published a large number of songs written down by the captives.He could be said to have been one of the first to research and record MÄ ori traditional music, yet this white interest in the music did not start to reappear until t he twentieth century. This change occurred on a grand scale over the next century, and to this day MÄ ori music is seen as synonymous with hymns and European-based melodies. This view has been widely held by the white general public for all of the twentieth century, though many MÄ ori know it not to be entirely accurate. Ethnomusicologist Mervyn Mclean stated that among the public at large, however, such songs are a mostly hidden tradition.A revival of the MÄ ori culture began in the 1960s, dubbed the MÄ ori renaissance,and with it came both the technology and the motivation to record and preserve the traditional songs that were left among the populace. This made the job of collecting and studying MÄ ori music a lot easier for ethnomusicologists, as up until this utilisation of new recording technology, they had been hard pressed to source singers and songs out. Mclean mentions that ‘preparations for fieldwork took an inordinate amount of timein the late 1950s, and mentions that without th e huge advantage of meeting several willing MÄ ori Elders I would not have had the resources to survive in the field. Changes and modern learning The traditional MÄ ori song forms, as well as being non-diatonic as previously stated, were in fact completely incompatible with western tonal language. Though the melodies sung could be transcribed into musical notation, they were not in a fixed time signature or particular key as we would understand it. The lack of harmonic movement mystified witnesses to performances in the nineteenth century, as the MÄ ori music relied more on repetition, both rhythmic and harmonic, and different performance approaches by different singers, for the colour and variety in their music.

Embracing Higher Education :: College School Essays

Embracing Higher Education Universities are institutions where people can go and receive a higher richer education. Anyone whether young or old, female or male, immigrant or national born can earn a college degree. A formal education can be obtained with desire, demand, and craving to do so. The World Book Encyclopedia defines Universities and Colleges as schools where one continues an education after high school. According to the World Book Encyclopedia â€Å"a university or college education helps men and women enjoy richer, more meaningful lives†. If something can give a person a â€Å"richer, more meaningful† life, then why isn’t everyone running, jumping and rushing to get what the universities and colleges are giving? Each person has a different reason, but for most the reasons are the same repeating over and over again. â€Å"I do not want to go to college.† â€Å"I can not afford to go to college.† â€Å"I am to old to go to college.† The path to a college or a university is not the way for everyone. The ones who say, â€Å"I don’t want to go to college† have legitimate reasons for not attending an institution for higher education. A person can still lead a happy successful life without obtaining a degree. Not only can someone lead a happy life without a college degree, but they may also be educated. Gaining a higher education from a university or college is not the only way to â€Å"enjoy a richer, more meaningful† life. Many who have not obtained a college degree, are still successful, happy, and fulfilled individuals. Receiving a piece of paper, a degree from a university, does not guarantee a person anything, but a degree can be a great boost to say the least. A degree doesn’t automatically give anyone happiness, success, money, or a job, but it can help a person obtain their goals and much more. In Jon Spayde’s essay â€Å"Learning In the Key of Life† he says that education is gained through first-hand experiences. Spayde explains his definition of education as â€Å"an education carpentered out of the best combination we can make of school, salon, reading, online exploration, walking the streets, hiking in the woods, museums, poetry classes at the Y, and friendship† (62). Anything and everything, which we come in contact with or which comes in contact with us, becomes background that can be classified as an educational experience.