Dividend announcements and share prices Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Dividend announcements and share prices - Essay Example The term signaling is commonly used in economic analyses. It refers to "the idea that one party (termed the agent) conveys some meaningful information about itself to another party (the principal)." ("Signaling", 2006) Also, signaling is based on the principles of asymmetric information. This says that, "In some economic transactions, inequalities in access to information upset the normal market for the exchange of goods and services." ("Signaling", 2006) In such a situation the signaling hypothesis says that, two parties could get around the problem of asymmetric information by having one party send a signal that would reveal some piece of relevant information to the other party. As mentioned, dividend announcements are one way by which information is conveyed to investors as well as to the market. The information content of dividend announcements has long been explored by various researchers and analysts. Moreover, various studies have been conducted to determine how dividend announcements affect the price of the shares of the company in the market. Different theories have been created to explain how certain factors affect the information content of dividend announcements and how effect that such information may have on the stock prices. The subject of the information content of dividend announcements warrants research for it affects several parties. For one, investors and shareholders are directly influenced by the stock prices of shares. Also, previous research has suggested that when dividend announcements are made, abnormal returns are seen especially during the period surrounding the announcement. (Starks, 2004) In this paper, one area of dividend announcements will be explored. Particular focus will be given on the size effect or the effect of the size of the firm on the abnormal returns that are seen when dividend announcements are made. This research will concentrate on the size effect as made evident in the Australian stock market. By conducting such analysis, this research will be able to answer the following research question: What is the effect of dividend announcements on asset prices Theoretical Framework This research will follow the methodology utilized by Mozes and Rapaccioli (1995). Their study aimed to determine the role of dividends in explaining the size effect. The said study is a follow up on past researchers that have been conducted wherein it was discovered that, on average, the firm's security price increases around its announcement of an increase in dividends or a special dividend. Moreover, previous researches have shown that the converse likewise holds. This means that a firm's security prices tens to decrease when an announcement of a decrease in dividends or a discontinued dividend is made. Also, past studies have shown that reactions to dividend changes are greater for small firms than for large firms. Using empirical analysis, the study of Mozes and Rapaccioli (1995) aimed to investigate "the extent to which dividend announcements affect the relation between firm size and the amount of information provided by earnings announcements." However, since this research does not concern itself with earnings announce

Panera Bread Analysis Essay Example for Free

Panera Bread Analysis Essay Panera Bread is a fast food restaurant where many people go to eat a quick, filling meal. Panera appeals to most people because of the amount of options it offers, which makes it difficult to be dissatisfied. After choosing foods to use on our good day and our bad day, we immediately noticed several differences. For breakfast on the bad day we chose a pecan roll; while on the good day we chose a whole grain bagel with reduced fat roasted vegetable cream cheese. The first thing we saw was that the pecan roll was much higher not only in calories, but calories from fat, total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, and sugars. At the same time however, the dietary fiber and protein, essential nutrients, were much lower in the pecan roll. The choices of drinks in the morning also have a great difference between them. The Pumpkin Spice Latte contains 78% more calories than the Hot Coffee. For lunch on a bad day, the large Mac N’ Cheese would be a perfect choice. This meal alone has 980 calories. As if just the meal was not bad enough, Panera offers a side to go with it. For the side of this meal, we chose the French baguette. For the good day we decided that the Classic Salad would be the best choice. It has minimal calories and a great supply of several different nutrients. The side that we thought would best fit this meal is an apple. A drink that would go with the bad day for the lunch meal is a frozen caramel frozen drink. Shockingly, the amount of calories in this drink is more than the amount of calories in our entire breakfast on our good day. Dinner for the bad day at Panera Bread would be steak and white cheddar hot Panini. It contains almost half the amount of kcals the average person should consume in one day! In addition to those 1,000 calories we chose a side of a bag of Panera’s’ kettle chips. For the good day dinner, we chose a â€Å"You Pick Two†, the meals being half of a tuna sandwich on honey wheat and a cup of low-fat garden vegetable soup. The side for the â€Å"You Pick Two† would be a dill pickle that has 5 kcals. The drinks for these two meals would be a large lemonade on the bad day, and a tropical hibiscus flavored iced herbal tea on the good day. If you wanted to have a dessert at the end of both days, the bear claw pastry would be a great choice for the bad day, while the cinnamon coffee crumb cake would work the best for the good day. What we learned from doing this project is that even though Panera Bread comes off as somewhat healthy for fast food, it can be really unhealthy for you depending on what you pick. The meals that we chose for the bad day were so high in calories and sodium that we both will never consider these meals as an option again. An example of this was the Mac N’ Cheese. If you order a large, you are consuming 2470 mg of sodium, which is more than the suggested amount you are supposed to consume in one day and it is only one meal. At the same time, you are only taking in 3 grams of dietary fibers. The steak and white cheddar Panini was very similar in this way, absolutely no bang for your buck! On the other hand, we learned that Panera could be somewhat healthy on what you pick. For example, the â€Å"You Pick Two† was not an overall bad choice. It was just a tuna salad sandwich with garden vegetable soup and the kcals and cholesterol was not too high. The only thing that was high, yet not too shocking, was the sodium in the soup. The classic salad was also something that was surprising healthy, even with the dressing on it. It was only 170 kcals with no cholesterol or sodium. On the good day, you would consume about 1200 kcals in total. In comparison, one meal of the bad day consisted of this many kcals.

Hamlets Frustration Essay -- Hamlet

Hamlet's Frustration In order to understand Hamlet, we must understand his frustration. This frustration is most clear in his famous monologue, famously beginning with the line "Oh what a rogue and peasant slave am I." This self-condemnation is contrasted by his admiration for the actor of the previous scene, who "in a fiction" is able to "force his soul to his own conceit." The word "soul" is an example of metonymy, as the soul represents the actor's "visage," "tears," "distraction," and "voice." Thus Hamlet equates "soul" with one's actions, so by his own comparison his soul is weak, as he does not take action against the king. The second sentence is furthermore a rhetorical question, beginning with, "Is it notÃ…  " So clearly Hamlet's lack of emotion is "monstrous" in his own mind at the very start of the monologue. The equation of "Hecuba" to "nothing" is then contrasted by Hamlet's "cue" being the murder of his father. Hamlet then states that the actor would "drown the stage with tears" if he were in Hamlet's position. The visual hyperbole which is compounded by the repetition of rhythm ("Make mad the guilty," "appal the free") and the deep assonance ("cleave," "ear," "speech," "free,") serves to further prove Hamlet's belief that he is inadequate, weak, since both the sounds and the exaggeration build to and are immediately compared with Hamlet himself. Hamlet directly holds himself up to the actor and then begins to apply his feeling of inadequacy to his exact situation. The fragment, "yet I" is isolated to emphasize the contrast between the actor and himself, action and inaction. The following metaphoric phrase "dull and muddy-mettled rascal" can only be spoken slowly, thereby illustrating the hesitation through b... ...oretically have an impact, though in reality the purpose of the play is to verify something that Hamlet already knows. It is therefore a convoluted method of procrastination and a haphazard way of avoiding all of his self-criticisms. Works Cited and Consulted Danson, Lawrence. "Tragic Alphabet." Modern Critical Interpretations: Hamlet. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House, 1986. Rpt. from Tragic Alphabet: Shakespeare's Drama of Language. N. p.: Yale University Press, 1974. Rosenberg, Marvin. "Laertes: An Impulsive but Earnest Young Aristocrat." Readings on Hamlet. Ed. Don Nardo. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1999. Rpt. from The Masks of Hamlet. Newark, NJ: University of Delaware Press, 1992. Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 1995. http://www.chemicool.com/Shakespeare/hamlet/full.html

Ray Charles Robinson Essays -- Soul Music Biography Musician Essays

Ray Charles Robinson Ray Charles Robinson, more commonly known as Ray Charles (to avoid confusion with boxer Sugar Ray Robinson), was born in the southern city of Albany, GA on September 23, 1930. He was a prolific, multi-talented singer, pianist, bandleader, and composer who, when on stage captivated his audience not only by his musical ability, but also because he was a blind, African American man. He was given the nickname â€Å"the Genius† for his capability of combining the music of gospel, jazz, pop, country and rhythm and blues (R&B), known as â€Å"soul music.† Charles began going blind at around age five, and had completely lost all eye sight by age seven. The cause of his blindness was never confirmed, but most believe it was due to glaucoma. By then, his family had moved to Greenville, FL, and Charles had already begun playing the piano. Charles’ mother never took pity on him, she began teaching him things even before he became completely blind. He never saw his being blind as a weakness, and that helped him out tremendously as a child and into adulthood. He soon began attending the St. Augustine School for the Deaf and Blind, as a charity student, where he perfected his piano skills while learning how to play various other instruments. He also learned how to read and write music, type, and compose scores in Braille. Both of Charles parents were dead by the time he was fourteen, and at age fifteen he was orphaned and left St. Augustine to begin his professional music career. For almost two years, he played for local bands in Florida, but then he headed to Seattle, WA which has been said to be the turning point in Charles’ personal and professional career. During the ear... ...lobe Award nominations. Works Cited "Charles, Ray." Encyclopedia Britannica. 2005. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. 22 Jan. 2005 < http://search.eb.com/eb/article?tocId=9022591&query=RAY%20CHARLES&ct= >. "Charles, Ray." Encyclopedia Britannica. 2005. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. 22 Jan. 2005 < http://search.eb.com/ebi/article?tocId=9310645&query=RAY%20CHARLES&ct= >. Ray Charles: The Official Site. Comp. Chad Hanson, Ira Merrill, and Raenee Robinson. Mar. 2001. RCR Production, Inc. 22 Jan. 2005 < http://www.raycharles.com/ >. "Ray Charles." Ed. Larry Sanger, and Jimmy Wales. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. 15 Jan. 2001. Wikipedia Online. 22 Jan. 2005 < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Charles >. The History of Rock 'n' Roll. Comp. D K. Peneny. Mar. 1998. 22 Jan. 2005 < http://www.history-of-rock.com/ray_charles.htm >.

Cola Wars Continue: Coke and Pepsi in 2010

Cola Wars Continue: Coke and Pepsi in 2010 A case discussion note January 17, 2012 1. Historically, why has the soft drink industry been so profitable? Historically, the soft carbonated soft drink (CSD) industry has been valued at $74 billion in the United States. In order to understand the reasons why the industry has been hugely profitable despite the ‘Cola Wars’, an examination of the CSD industry with Porter’s five forces analysis will be conducted. As market leaders, the analysis will be centred on both Coke and Pepsi (hereafter â€Å"C&P†). Threat of new competition: Barriers to entry in the CSD industry are extremely high and there are various factors to support this. Firstly, both C&P spend gargantuan amounts of funding of advertisement. According to Exhibit 8, in 2009 alone, both C&P spent $234 million and $145 million respectively in advertising expenditure. Therefore, while the actual initial capital investment needed to start up a CSD company is relatively economic, the amount required by new entrants to continually push their brand and gain visibility is extremely high. Due to these extreme levels of expenditure on marketing and brand awareness, the two cola companies have accrued exceedingly high levels of brand equity and consumer loyalty worldwide. As such, even with sufficient funds for start-up and subsequent advertising, new entrants are unlikely to sway persisting consumer tastes. Because of the sheer scale of both CSD companies, both C&P have pre-existing contracts with their bottlers, thus limiting their bottlers’ ability to produce similar products with rival brands. Additionally, through the use of extensive consolidation through the use of acquisitions and re-franchising of their bottlers, both C&P have made it essentially impossible for new entrants to find bottlers for the distribution of their drinks. In the event that the new entrants decide to build their own bottling plants (which is quoted to potentially cost hundreds of millions in the case), they would only find themselves facing insurmountable fixed start-up costs in addition to the ridiculous amount they have to spend on marketing. Even if new entrants somehow found a way to produce and market their drinks, the incumbents’ (C&P) far-reaching networks would make it impossible for them to secure any form of distribution channels. Shelf spaces in supermarkets were dominated by C&P because supermarkets were given a cut of the profit generated from the sales of their products. These cuts accumulate to a significant amount of profit-generation for the retailers. Additionally, combined, C&P owned 89% of national pouring rights. The fact that the incumbents had exclusivity in both supermarkets, fountain outlets, and other forms of retail channels would make it almost impossible for new entrants to distribute their products. Bargaining power of consumers: Historically, the two main customers of soft drink producers were supermarkets (29. 1% of distribution) and fountain outlets (23. 1%). In general, retail outlets have been unsuccessful in asserting much bargaining power over the industry. In part due to the level of fragmentation as well as their reliance on C&P as drivers of customer traffic. Longstanding contracts and acquisition of fountain outlets also serve to weaken consumer’s bargaining power. Bargaining power of suppliers: Major suppliers for C&P provided commodities in the form of cans, sugar, bottles, etc. These products were highly homogenous and could be substituted easily. The aluminium can industry, in particular, depended on firms like C&P because they were majority buyers. Due to such dependence, suppliers asserted little or no bargaining power over the industry. Intensity of competitive rivalry: Even though C&P are essentially a duopoly in the CSD industry, competition between the two have traditionally centred on marketing efforts like advertising, new products, and promotions rather than pricing. Their rivalry, historically, was also in a market with consistent growth. As such, profits were not adversely affected even though their rivalry was highly documented and publicised. Threat of substitutes: There are a number of alternative substitutes for soft drinks and these include beer, bottled water, tap water, juices, tea, coffee, wine, powdered drinks, milk, and distilled spirits. Yet, according to Exhibit 1, Americans, historically, consistently drank more CSDs than any other beverage. As such, the threat of substitutes affecting C&P’s profitability was limited. To further nullify the effects of substitutes, they also produced and promoted their own range of substitutes to reduce potential losses. 2. Compare the conomics of the concentrate business with that of the bottling business. Why is the profitability so different? Using data from Exhibit 4, we are able to see that the operating income of a concentrate producer is 32% of its net sales while that of a bottler is only 8%. The reason the bottling business earns significantly lesser than its concentrate counterpart can be attributed to two main factors – significantly higher cost of goods sold (COGS) and the existence of selling and delivery expense. We see that the COGS of a bottler are at 58%, much higher than the concentrate producer’s 22%. The reason for this difference is predominantly due to Master Bottler Contracts established to allow for a certain level of â€Å"price fixing† on the concentrate producers’ part. Additionally, as mentioned previously, raw materials for concentrate producers are abundant and homogenous; hence COGS for them will be significantly lower. Also, the bottler is in charge of selling and delivery, and hence incurs an 18% selling and delivery expense while there is no such expense on the concentrate producer’s part. These reasons explain why the concentrate business has a more profitable business model than the bottling business. . How has the growing popularity of non-carbonated soft drinks influenced the industry? Non-carbonated soft drinks have been gaining popularity in the past decade, increasing from 13% in 2000 to 17% in 2009. This growing popularity has resulted in the generation of both local and global strategies by CSD firms unwilling to lose out on the budding market. In order to capitalize on the opportunity, both C&P greatly expanded their lines of beverages to include sports drinks like Gatorade and tea-based drinks like Lipton. Majority of drinks introduced during this time were non-CSDs. Besides creating new products, Coke also aggressively gained market share through acquisitions and extending their fountain services to include coffee and tea. The non-CSD opportunities globally were also aggressively pursued by companies like C&P. To gain localized expertise, however, the soft drink companies did not merely think to introduce new products into foreign markets. Instead, they resorted to acquiring the respective market leading, non-CSD companies in the countries they chose to invest in. The companies of choice were usually major fruit juice producers. Beyond takeovers, C&P also tried their hands at innovation and localization of beverages. These mainly came in the form of integration of local drinks (e. g. blended green tea with Sprite) or utilization of local ingredients in the production of new drinks (e. g. beverages with Chinese herbs). The emergence and rapidly growing popularity of the non-CSD has garnered much retaliation from major players in the CSD industry. In order to get their share of the pie, they have formulated expansion strategies both locally and globally which seem to center around acquisition.

Timeline of the Lebanese Civil War From 1975-1990

Timeline of the Lebanese Civil War From 1975-1990 The Lebanese Civil War took place from 1975 to 1990 and claimed the lives of some 200,000 people, which left Lebanon in ruins. Lebanese Civil War, 1975 to 1978 April 13, 1975:  Gunmen attempt to assassinate Maronite Christian Phalangist leader Pierre Gemayel as he’s leaving church that Sunday. In retaliation, Phalangist gunmen ambush a busload of Palestinians, most of them civilians, killing 27 passengers. Week-long clashes between Palestinian-Muslim forces and Phalangists follow, marking the beginning of Lebanon’s 15-year civil war. June 1976: Some 30,000 Syrian troops enter Lebanon, ostensibly to restore peace. Syria’s intervention stops vast military gains against Christians by Palestinian-Muslim forces. The invasion is, in fact, Syria’s attempt to claim Lebanon, which it never recognized when Lebanon won independence from France in 1943. October 1976: Egyptian, Saudi, and other Arab troops in small numbers join the Syrian force as a result of a peace summit brokered in Cairo. The so-called Arab Deterrent Force would be short-lived. March 11, 1978: Palestinian commandos attack an Israeli kibbutz between Haifa and Tel Aviv, then hijack a bus. Israeli forces respond. By the time the battle was over, 37 Israelis and nine Palestinians were killed. March 14, 1978: Some 25,000 Israeli soldiers crossed the Lebanese border in Operation Litani, named for the Litani River that crosses South Lebanon, not 20 miles from the Israeli border. The invasion is designed to wipe out the Palestine Liberation Organization’s structure in South Lebanon. The operation fails. March 19, 1978: The United Nations Security Council adopts Resolution 425, sponsored by the United States, calling on Israel to withdraw from South Lebanon and on the UN to establish a 4,000-strong UN peacekeeping force in South Lebanon. The force is termed the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon. Its original mandate was for six months. The force is still in Lebanon today. June 13, 1978: Israel withdraws, mostly, from occupied territory, handing over authority to the breakaway Lebanese Army force of Maj. Saad Haddad, which expands its operations in South Lebanon, operating as an Israeli ally. July 1, 1978: Syria turns its guns on Lebanon’s Christians, pounding Christian areas of Lebanon in the worst fighting in two years. September 1978: U.S. President Jimmy Carter brokers the Camp David accords between Israel and Egypt, the first Arab-Israeli peace. Palestinians in Lebanon vow to escalate their attacks on Israel. 1982 to 1985 ​June 6, 1982: Israel invades Lebanon again. Gen. Ariel Sharon leads the attack. The two-month drive leads the Israeli army to the southern suburbs of Beirut. The Red Cross estimates the invasion costs the lives of some 18,000 people, mostly civilian Lebanese. August 24, 1982: A multinational force of U.S. Marines, French paratroopers, and Italian soldiers lands in Beirut to assist in the evacuation of the Palestine Liberation Organization. August 30, 1982: After intense mediation led by the United States, Yasser Arafat and the Palestine Liberation Organization, which had run a state-within-a-state in West Beirut and South Lebanon, evacuate Lebanon. Some 6,000 PLO fighters go mostly to Tunisia, where they are again dispersed. Most end up in the West Bank and Gaza. September 10, 1982: The Multinational force completes its withdrawal from Beirut. Sept. 14, 1982: The Israeli-backed Christian Phalangist leader and Lebanese President-Elect Bashir Gemayel is assassinated at his headquarters in East Beirut. Sept. 15, 1982: Israeli troops invade West Beirut, the first time an Israeli force enters an Arab capital. Sept. 15-16, 1982: Under the supervision of Israeli forces, Christian militiamen are bused into the two Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila, ostensibly to â€Å"mop up† remaining Palestinian fighters. Between 2,000 and 3,000 Palestinian civilians are massacred. September 23, 1982: Amin Gemayel, brother of Bashir, takes office as Lebanon’s president. September 24, 1982: The U.S.-French-Italian Multinational Force returns to Lebanon in a show of force and support for the Gemayel’s government. At first, French and American soldiers play a neutral role. Gradually, they turn into defenders of the Gemayel regime against Druze and Shiites in central and South Lebanon. April 18, 1983: The American Embassy in Beirut is attacked by a suicide bomb, killing 63. By then, the United States is actively engaged in Lebanon’s civil war on the side of the Gemayel government. May 17, 1983: Lebanon and Israel sign a U.S.-brokered peace agreement that calls for the withdrawal of Israeli troops contingent on the withdrawal of Syrian troops from northern and eastern Lebanon. Syria opposes the agreement, which was never ratified by the Lebanese parliament and canceled in 1987. October 23, 1983: U.S. Marines barracks near Beirut International Airport, on the south side of the city, are attacked by a suicide bomber in a truck, killing 241 Marines. Moments later, French paratroopers’ barracks are attacked by a suicide bomber, killing 58 French soldiers. Feb. 6, 1984:  Predominantly Shiite Muslim militias seize control of West Beirut. June 10, 1985:  The Israeli army finishes withdrawing out of most of Lebanon, but keeps an occupation zone along the Lebanon-Israeli border and calls it its â€Å"security zone.† The zone is patrolled by the South Lebanon Army and Israeli soldiers. June 16, 1985:  Hezbollah militants hijack a TWA flight to Beirut, demanding the release of Shiite prisoners in Israeli jails. Militants murder U.S. Navy diver Robert Stethem. The passengers were not freed until two weeks later. Israel, over a period of weeks following the resolution of the hijacking,  released  some 700 prisoners, insisting the release was not related to the hijacking. 1987 to 1990 June 1, 1987:  Lebanese Prime Minister Rashid Karami, a Sunni Muslim, is assassinated when a bomb explodes in his helicopter. He is replaced by Selim  el Hoss. September 22, 1988:  The presidency of Amin Gemayel ends without a successor. Lebanon operates under two rival governments: a military government led by renegade general Michel Aoun, and a civil government headed by Selim  el Hoss, a Sunni Muslim. March 14, 1989:  Gen. Michel Aoun declares a â€Å"war of Liberation† against Syrian occupation. The war triggers a devastating final round to the Lebanese Civil War as Christian factions battle it out. September 22, 1989:  The Arab League brokers a cease-fire. Lebanese and Arab leaders meet in Taif, Saudi Arabia, under the leadership of Lebanese Sunni leader Rafik Hariri. The Taif agreement effectively lays the groundwork for an end to the war by reapportioning power in Lebanon. Christians lose their majority in Parliament, settling for a 50-50 split, though the president is to  remain  a Maronite Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim, and the speaker of Parliament a Shiite Muslim. November 22, 1989:  President-Elect Renà ©Ã‚  Muawad, believed to have been a reunification candidate, is assassinated. He is replaced by Elias Harawi. Gen. Emile Lahoud is named to replace Gen. Michel Aoun as commander of the Lebanese army. October 13, 1990:  Syrian forces are given a green light by France and the United States to storm Michel Aoun’s presidential palace once Syria joins the American coalition against Saddam Hussein in Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm. October 13, 1990:  Michel Aoun takes refuge in the French Embassy, then chooses exile in Paris (he was to return as a Hezbollah ally in 2005). October 13, 1990, marks the official end of the Lebanese Civil War. Between 150,000 and 200,000 people, most of them civilians, are believed to have perished in the war.

2016 Presidential Debates - Schedule and Rules

2016 Presidential Debates - Schedule and Rules The 2016 presidential debate schedule had the White House hopefuls sparring more than a year before the election for Presidential Barack Obamas successor. The first of more than a dozen debates in the 2016 presidential election cycle was held in August 2015 among the large field of Republican candidates seeking the partys nomination. There were at least 23 presidential debates scheduled across the primary and general-election seasons, including 12 sponsored by the Republican National Committee and 11 by the Democratic National Committee. The Commission on Presidential Debates also schedule three presidential debates and one vice-presidential debate in the run-up to the November 2016 general election, as it has done in years past. General Election Debates After voters of both parties chose  their nominees - Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton - the nonprofit and nonpartisan  Commission on Presidential Debates scheduled three presidential debates before the 2016 election. Heres the presidential debate schedule in the general-election: Monday, Sept. 26, 2016:  The first presidential debate of the fall campaign will be held at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2016:  The first and only debate among the vice presidential nominees will be held at Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia. Sunday, Oct. 9, 2016: The second presidential debate of the fall campaign will be held at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.   Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2016:  The third presidential debate of the fall campaign will be held at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Republican Presidential Debate Schedule The Republican Party drastically cut its presidential debate schedule following the recommendations of a 2013 critique of its 2012 election losses; the report noted that the number of primary debates had grown from six in 1980 to 20 in 2012. Wrote Republican National Committee spokesman Sean Spicer: â€Å"Most observers concluded after the 2012 election that the packed debate schedule was a disservice to the candidates - and, more important, to the voters. The schedule kept candidates off the campaign trail, robbing them of time that otherwise could have been spent meeting with voters, listening to their concerns and trying to earn their support. The Republican National Committee sanctioned a dozen presidential debates in the 2016 primary cycle. Heres when the GOP presidential candidates debated: Aug.  6, 2015:  Cleveland, Ohio Sept.  16, 2015:  Simi Valley, California Oct. 28, 2015:  Boulder, Colorado Nov. 10, 2015: Milwaukee, Wisconsin Dec.  15, 2015:  Las Vegas, Nevada Jan. 14, 2016: North Charleston, South Carolina Jan. 28, 2016: Des Moines, Iowa Feb.  6, 2016:  Manchester, New Hampshire   Feb.  13, 2016: Greenville, South Carolina   Feb. 25, 2016: Houston, Texas March 3, 2016: Detroit, Michigan March 10, 2016: Miama, Florida Democratic Presidential Debate Schedule The Democratic National Committee held  11 debates between the two candidates seeking the partys presidential nomination in 2016, former U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Heres when the Democratic candidates debated: Oct. 13, 2015: Las Vegas, Nevada Nov. 14, 2015: Des Moines, Iowa Dec. 19, 2015: Manchester, New Hampshire Jan. 17, 2016: Charleston, South Carolina Jan. 25, 2016: Des Moines, Iowa Feb. 4, 2016: Durham, New Hampshire Feb. 11, 2016: Milwaukee, Wisconsin March 6, 2016: Flint, Michigan March 9, 2016: Miama, FloridaApril, 2016May, 2016

What Is Summer Institute for the Gifted Should You Join

What Is Summer Institute for the Gifted Should You Join SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Want to challenge yourself this summer? Interested in showing colleges some of your academic interests? If so, you might heave heard about the Summer Institute for the Gifted. In this post, we'll explain what the Summer Institute for the Gifted is all about; cover logistics such as application materials, cost, and dates; and help you decide whether it's a good fit for you. Feature image:Alfred Hutter/Wikimedia What Is Summer Institute for the Gifted? The Summer Institute for the Gifted (SIG) is an academic summer program for the â€Å"gifted and talented† aged 5-17. "Gifted and talented" basically means that you have been placed in a gifted program in school or that you have tested above the 95th percentile on a nationally normed test (we'll go over the eligibilityinfo in more detail below). You don't have to take a special test or submit an elaborate application to be considered. The program consists of three-week sessions held on various campuses around the country. Some camps are residential (meaning you live on-campus for the entire session) but also allow for commuter students, whereas others are exclusively day programs. Each program has its own dates. The earliest programs begin in late June and run through mid-July, while the latest programs run from late July to mid-August. (See specific dates for the residential programs and day programson SIG’s website.) If you're in a residential camp, you take a series of courses during weekdays and participate in recreation during evenings and weekends. What Are SIG Classes Like? Your classes will be a mix of academic (in subjects from the humanities, science, and math) and recreational. Courses vary by location and are mostly separated by age level. So you might be in some academic classes with only students of your grade but in recreation classes with students of various ages. You sign up for your classes before you get there, but you can change your courses in the first two days. This gives you a chance to get a feel for different classes and hopefully come up with a schedule that’s a good balance for you. Schedule and Residential Life at SIG You take your classes during the day from 8:45 am to 4:15 pm with a lunch break, followed by a recreation period, dinner, and a study tutorial in the evenings. So in some ways it’s kind of like your schedule during the school year, but a bit more intense since you’re living with other students and taking more challenging classes. On the weekends, there are local excursions, planned activities, and free time. You live in a residence hall with students of your same age and gender, and also have a roommate (it’s possible to request a single room, but it’s a bit more expensive). While the layout and size will vary, you can expect your typical dorm room to have a bed, dresser, desk, and, of course, a roommate! The day programs consist of the academic portion of the program, but you don’t stay in a residence hall or have weekend activities. The day program could be a good option if you want the academic experience but have other extracurricular or social commitments over the summer. Locations for Summer Institute for the Gifted SIG has a variety of locations all across the country. The residential programs are housed at universities, and the day programs are housed at a mix of universities and local schools. See below for a complete list. Residential Program Bryn Mawr College (Pennsylvania) Emory University (Georgia) Northeastern University (Massachusetts) Princeton University (New Jersey)* University of California, Berkeley University of California, Los Angeles University of Chicago (Illinois) University of Miami (Florida) Yale University (Connecticut) *Does not allow for commuter students. Day Program Boston University (Massachusetts) Bryn Mawr College (Pennsylvania) California Lutheran University Chatham Day School (New Jersey) Echo Horizon School (California) Emory University (Georgia) Fairfield University (Connecticut) The Overlake School (Washington) Sarah Lawrence College (New York) Stuart Country Day School (New Jersey) University of Miami (Florida) The Woods Academy (Maryland) The Wesley School (California) How to Get Into SIG You can apply online or by mail for SIG. To apply, you'll need topay a $99 application fee and send in an application form. The application form is pretty straightforward - you give your personal and demographic info, say which program you want to attend, and list your course preferences. Finally, if it’s your first year, you must also submit eligibility info. You have to meet at least one of the following criteria: Score at the 95th percentile or higher in one of the major content areas of a nationally normed standardized test administered by your school (this includes a lot of state testing or the SAT/ACT). See a full list of tests here. Participate in an academic talent search. Be identified as gifted orparticipate in a local or school gifted program. Score at least two standard deviations above the mean, or at the 95th percentile level or higher, on any individual or group-administered, nationally normed standardized intelligence assessment. If none of the above are available for you (your district doesn't have a gifted program, you haven't taken any of the standardized tests listed by SIG, and there are no talent searches you can participate in), you can have two teachers at your school fill out letters of recommendation for you instead. You should apply early in the year as programs, especially the ones at Princeton and Yale, tend to fill up before summer.Admissions are rolling,so you need to apply to popular programs as early as possible. Less popular locations might still have open spaces through June. If you're interested in attending SIG in future years, try to apply as early as possible to maximize your chances of getting your first-choice location. Cost of SIG SIG costs between $3,000 and $5,800, depending on the location, for the three-week residential option. The day programs are cheaper: between $1,200 and $4,500. A chart of costs for the residential SIG camps, via the SIG Application Form. You can apply for financial assistance using this form. Try to apply early if you anticipate needing financial assistance, as funds for these types of programs tend to run out closer to the start dates. Is SIG Worth It? You can definitely get a challenging academic summer experience by doing SIG. Many former participants say good things about the experience on online forums and blogs. In particular, many participants say it can be rewarding for students to meet other academically gifted students and make friends from different parts of the country. That said, your time is very scheduled and the program is expensive, so you might want to consider other opportunities closer to home if you want more flexibility. You certainly won’t be penalized in the college admissions process for not doing a program like SIG. Especially if you live in a district where you have access to challenging classes or a gifted program, the benefits might not be that substantial. Other great summer options include participating in local music competitions, volunteering, doing research, or taking classes at local community colleges or universities. Explore both local options and programs like SIG before deciding what's right for you. The main goal is to use your time over the summer to dig deeper into an academic or extracurricular interest. SIG is one way to do that, but make sure you consider other possible options to get the most out of your summer! What’s Next? Curious about other summer programs? Learn about the programs at Johns Hopkins (CTY)and Stanford (EPGY). Read about a range of academic summer programs so you can decide which one might be right for you! Wondering when you should start studying for the ACT/SAT? Get a guide for both tests so you can maximize your score (click here for ACT and here for the SAT). Trying to decide which high school to attend? Learn about AP and IB programs to help you decide which is the best one for you. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Communication Bachelor Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Communication Bachelor - Essay Example The whole societal forces have seen a shift as a result of development in the area of communications. Different theories have also been put forward with respect to communications and as the time passed by theories evolved to cover new aspects and in recent times they now expand to media and its role in the whole process of communication. Different theoretical models were put forward and the earliest model was a simple sender-channel-message-receiver model also known as transmission model. Most communication textbooks, including public speaking, begin with the transmission model of communication. Even today, it remains a valuable introductory model. This particular model was a straight chain and was not in the form of loop. So later, modifications added the concept of feedback, leading to a loop. Further developments in the theoretical models added dimensions to the role of receivers adding that receivers normally selectively perceive, interpret and retain messages. Shannon and Weaver put forward their theories in 1949 and their model was considered very important in further developments. Again in their model communication was considered as a linear, one-way process but they also made a difference between source and transmitter, and receiver and destination. So instead of single function they noted that there are two functions at the transmitting end and two at the receiving end. Criticism hurled at the model presented by Shannon and Weaver was the ignorance of the fact that communication process is often endless while they suggested a definite start and finish to the communication process. Decade of 50s brought in its wake further advancements for model-building, as fields of sociology and psychology developed. USA was the first country where the science of communication developed. Gerbner was among few who recognized the transactional nature of much communication that is the "intersubjectivity of communication". Additions to the earlier single chain or transactional communication model changed and experts started considering communication a matter of negotiation and cannot be predicted in advance. Later on developments of mass media, press, films and radio and political changes further accelerated mass communication research. Hence the focus shifted from communication to mass communication. As mass communication became important, different new models began to refer specifically to mass communication. Westley and Maclean were among earlier experts who put forward their views emphasizing the significance of audience demand rather than just the communicator's purpose. The decades of 1960s and 1970s saw the concentration moving away from the effects of the mass media on opinions, behavior and attitudes, and began to converge on the long-term and socializing impact of the mass media. Some were of the opinion that the audiences in this whole media game are active that is they can adopt or reject the guidelines offered by the mass media. However, another group considered audiences the victims of the media resulting in a suspicion of the mass media that continued through the 1970s and 1980s, particularly in relation to news selection and presentation. With further changes in the communication arena the boundaries separating mass communication

Art and Society - a Two-blade Sword Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Art and Society - a Two-blade Sword - Essay Example Let us not forget that this step forward was often viewed as a threat to the political, social and clerical institutions. Looking into history, one of the most pertinent manners in which art was counter-attacked by art was the period of Renaissance and Baroque, when the church produced massive art just to minimize the popularity of the teaching brought by the new homo universal concept. There can be identified two types of art approaches towards society problems. The first one can be greatly noticed in the famous painting of the republican Frenchman Édouard Manet, Execution of Maximilian. This approach reveals the political oriented art that either comes from a great patriotism or from a great admiration or disapproval towards the leaders. Maximilian is a French duke left alone in Mexico after the civil war and who was finally executed together with his two generals. This deed of defiance inspired Manet to paint this "modern barbarism" painting (Stevens 10). The political message seems to be clear out in this painting, although it ignores the true social realities that were obvious in Mexico. The utmost desire was to represent the event from the French point of view and not from a legitimate and impartial one. The painting is composed of three main groups of characters: the executioners, the spectators and the victims. The spectators might seem scared because o ne system is falling and another one is rising without any connection to them. On the other hand, the relationship between the victims and the murderers seems a little strange. The executioners look bored, knowing that this is the right thing to do, as they are soldiers and their life depends on executing the jobs given. The figure that impresses us the most is Maximilian.

Organizational Culture and Values Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Organizational Culture and Values - Essay Example This therefore requires expanded knowledge base which we cannot get anywhere else except from others who are more experienced than us. A nursing professional must be a strong team builder besides being an efficient problem-solver. Being affiliated to likeminded bodies will enable a nursing student or a nursing professional to develop these important skills (Nagelkerk, & Huber, 2006). Networking with other professional associations improves our management and leadership skills which are very vital in a nursing leader. Going beyond the borders of our nursing careers to affiliate ourselves with other bodies shows the strong focus and commitment that a nurse possess. Once we show such strong focus and commitment, being trusted will be a prerequisite to our career. As we gear towards our career advancement, we must strive to develop a strong network through joining professional associations aimed at inculcating positive traits required by employers. We should ensure that these affiliations are included in our resume for the potential employers to see. It is evident that most employers will be attracted to one who has diverse experience derived from personal affiliations and networks (Barnum, & Kerfoot, 1995). Medical organizations with a leader who has strong links and networks will definitely widen its roots. For us to join such organizations sooner or later, we must have strong personal affiliations and extensive networks for our career

Some exam questions I need explained Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Some exam questions I need explained - Essay Example PEST (Political, Economical, Socio-cultural, Technological factors) analysis is an important strategic planning tool. It proves to be a useful stepping stone for the analysis of external factors for an organization. It is also useful to analyze the feasibility of a certain project with reference to different external factors that might affect its execution. This model covers a broader aspect of the prevailing environmental factors than SWOT analysis. Porter’s 5 Forces: This model was developed by Michael E. Porter in 1980. He formulated the model on the basis of 5 competitive forces that tend to determine the nature of every industry. Organization can evaluate the level of competition, profitability and acceptance rate of an industry with the help of these forces; threat of new competitors, bargaining power of the suppliers, rate of rivalry in the industry, bargaining power of customers, threat of substitutes. Value Chain Analysis: It is considered to be a systematic approach; involves a sequence of functions and actions that build value for the organization. Value chain analysis plays a major role in the development of competitive advantage in the market. It equals to the cumulative value that is provided by the organization. Experience Curve Effect: This concept was formulated in 1966 by Bruce Henderson. Experience is considered to be an asset for any organization. The concept promotes the increment of this asset in different forms in the organization, for example, hiring of experienced resources, collaboration with other companies etc. According to the experience curve effect; if a company gains greater experience in a specific field or production process then 25 to 30 % of the costs can be decreased. It can help the organization to evaluate the success rate of the company and increase revenues. BCG (Boston Consulting Group) Matrix: is a portfolio management model. It categorizes the products of the organization

Globalization and the Capitalist State Redundant Essay

Globalization and the Capitalist State Redundant - Essay Example In view of the Marxist globalization has been seen as an expansion or development of capitalism in the world. Like other traditional works that were seen to fit in a loose framework of anti-globalization, Marxism may not be described as a single movement nor can it be described as following a unitary intellectual practice from a theoretical perspective. In this case we should understand that Marxism as whole has been engaging with contemporary phenomena in a way that the manner and the mindsets that it has been postulating in the past has been evidence in class, political economy, labor, capitalism and in many other socialism concepts and revolution described as the central axis of globalization. (Ollman 1998, p.87) Â  With the end of communism in Eastern Europe in the 1990s, and the consequent embrace of the capitalism like in the Peoples Republic of China has been expressed as the end of the Marxism’s period. Regardless of the fact that the world has embraced the capitalist economies, Marxism still present a poignant and painful way of accounting for globalization. This has been witnessed in what is happening in the aftermath of the wave that took the world from the 1990s. Marxism has been expressed in many areas like the free-markets, oppressed and exploited labor, modernization, and many other reforms that have been carried out in the political, social and economic systems of the world. Â  Globalization has been described as the increased interaction of the world or the opening up the world. In the last few decades, there has been increased movement of people and goods. There has been the emergence of the new market. Therefore globalization has been a tendency to create a unipolar world though it has been expressed mostly in economic terms.

Some exam questions I need explained Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Some exam questions I need explained - Essay Example PEST (Political, Economical, Socio-cultural, Technological factors) analysis is an important strategic planning tool. It proves to be a useful stepping stone for the analysis of external factors for an organization. It is also useful to analyze the feasibility of a certain project with reference to different external factors that might affect its execution. This model covers a broader aspect of the prevailing environmental factors than SWOT analysis. Porter’s 5 Forces: This model was developed by Michael E. Porter in 1980. He formulated the model on the basis of 5 competitive forces that tend to determine the nature of every industry. Organization can evaluate the level of competition, profitability and acceptance rate of an industry with the help of these forces; threat of new competitors, bargaining power of the suppliers, rate of rivalry in the industry, bargaining power of customers, threat of substitutes. Value Chain Analysis: It is considered to be a systematic approach; involves a sequence of functions and actions that build value for the organization. Value chain analysis plays a major role in the development of competitive advantage in the market. It equals to the cumulative value that is provided by the organization. Experience Curve Effect: This concept was formulated in 1966 by Bruce Henderson. Experience is considered to be an asset for any organization. The concept promotes the increment of this asset in different forms in the organization, for example, hiring of experienced resources, collaboration with other companies etc. According to the experience curve effect; if a company gains greater experience in a specific field or production process then 25 to 30 % of the costs can be decreased. It can help the organization to evaluate the success rate of the company and increase revenues. BCG (Boston Consulting Group) Matrix: is a portfolio management model. It categorizes the products of the organization

New and Emerging Energy Supply Technologies Essay

New and Emerging Energy Supply Technologies - Essay Example According to Michael Pollan, we have to act now to arrest the present rate of our carbon emission before we face another kind of planet . The documentary of Nick Miller entitled â€Å"An Inconvenient Truth† articulated that global warming precipitated the climate change that have disastrous consequences have been proven to be right with series of climate disturbances that flooded cities and region beyond regions which never happened before . The growing need of energy also compels us to develop new supply energies that would lessen, if not totally depart our dependency towards fossil fuels whose stability of supply and price is subjected to a myriad of factors that ranges from the political factors to deliberate contraction of supply by the OPEC . These factors that caused disturbance in terms of supply and price are often beyond the control of dependent economies to fossil fuels yet they are affected by it due to the heavy dependency of its economy to oil. Exporting countries of oil may have nothing to do with the conflict in the Middle East yet they are still severely affected when the political instability in the region contracts the supply that would precipitate the spike on the price of oil that fuels our energy source. The spike in price of oil in turn reflects in every goods and services that we purchase due to our dependency to energy that make such goods and services to become available. Such, the development and creation of new energy supply source is not just a matter of technological musing but an imperative of conserving our already degraded environment and to ensure that there is a stable and sufficient supply of energy that is clean, cheap that could meet our energy demands. There are emerging technologies which are directed at producing energy source that intends to make energy supply cleaner and hopefully, cheaper with the ultimate objective of weaning away from the dependency to carbon based energy sources that cause excessive CO2 emiss ion. These emerging technologies ranges from making the existing energy source more efficient that would significantly reduce its CO2 emission to the point that it is already negligible such as carbon capturing sequestering4 to technologies that virtually emits no CO2 such as hydrogen fuel whose byproduct is only a vapor. The harnessing of nature to produce electricity such as the usage of Dinorwig's reversible pump/turbines also proves to a reliable source of energy5. The obstacles in making these emerging energy technologies viable on a mass scale will also be tackled including the ones that are already in used right now either as a pilot study or in experimental phase. One of the most popular emerging technology in supplying energy is the use of hydrogen fuels because of its clean emission. The technology is made possible by combining hydrogen and oxygen to form water where the chemical reaction during the process creates electrical energy. The technology that controls the combin ation of these two gases to produce the electrical energy are the fuel cells. This is envisioned to be used in fuel cell powered vehicles that will be virtually CO2 emission free because the only byproduct of the technology is water vapor6. While this technology can virtually wean our dependence on oil, the cost of the technology is just too prohibitive (its very expensive) and unreliable to make it available on a mass scale. Storing and transporting hydrogen can also be a challenge because it needs to be compressed to thousands of pounds per square inch (psi). At present, automative producers are using storages in

The three stories I have been studying Essay Example for Free

The three stories I have been studying Essay Explore how relationships are constrained and influenced by the traditions of the different cultures evident in the short stories in section 3 of the Edexcel anthology. The three stories I have been studying are, Country Lovers, A Stench Of Kerosene and Veronica. The three stories are similar to each other, as they are all about relationships, influences that effects their decisions and how their families are put under pressure by one and other and gender segregation. This occurs in everyday life in some areas of the world. In the Country Lovers the story is set in South Africa. A Stench Of Kerosene is set in Northern India and its about a mans love for his barren wife and how his mother constrains his life, Veronica is set in Nigeria and its about a young girl growing up and how her fate was sealed and she didnt have a say in the matter and her friendship between her best friend Okeke and how he tries to persuade her to come to the city with him to live a better life but she turns it down for a numerous reasons. In Country Lovers there is a lot of segregation happening such as racial, economic and educational. We can see this because in the story we are told that at young ages black and white children are split from each other even if they had become friends they would still be taken to different schools where the white children would have been given better education for their life. In A Stench of Kerosene we can see there is more of gender related segregation in the story because when Manaks mother thinks that Guleri is incapable of giving birth she finds a second wife for Manak, from this it shows me that women are only needed for giving birth to children in this community. In Veronica we can also see gender segregation for example when Okeke goes to the city and Veronica does not want to go with him and decides to stay in the village to look after her family in her community it was important that the eldest child looked after the family as if she was the mother, another reason why she did not want to go is because she did not even have standard six (this was the same as SATS)where as Okeke a young male did not have to look after his family and was able to forward his education in the city. In Country Lovers there is a relationship between the two main characters, Thebedi and Paulus. It all starts when they were young children growing up on the farm playing together as all children do, knowing no wrong could come from it but, as they grew older there relationship starts to change in to a more intimate one, they begin to see each other in another way I can see this because in the story it says When the girl came up the bank and sat beside him, the drops of water beading off her dark legs the only points of light in the earth-smelling, deep shade. They were not afraid of one another this shows that the feelings between one and another was mutual they both started to grow fond of each other. The chance of them actually having a real relationship was made extremely difficult because of the Colour Bar making it illegal for black and white people to have relationships of any kind. They are also brought together by Thebedis charm and her own uniqueness compared to the other girls Paulus meets at his school. She also did things that meant a lot to Paulus, things that that the other girls couldnt we can see this in the text when the writer writes She gave him before he went back to school, a bracelet she had made of thin brass and the grey and white beans of the castor-oil crop his father cultivated and also when the author says his was admired, friends asked to get similar ones for them this shows that Thebedi was different to other girls and even though she didnt have money she could still give Paulus a gift that was priceless. In A Stench Of Kerosene Manak and Guleri are married in northern India In the mid 20th century where the community was largely Hindu. In A Stench of Kerosene I understood that Guleri and Manak loved each other but North Indian cultural traditions made things harder for them. Due to her culture Guleris life seems very dull. She does the same things every day of her life. She counted the days to the harvest. Shows how counting the days would make time go by and gives her something to look forward to. Guleri is different to Manak because she wont let things get in her way. Shes more out spoken. She knows what she wants. Your mother said nothing so why do you stand in my why? demonstrating her outspoken character in this story. Her character is far different to Manaks. Manak has a weaker but equally important character. He doesnt stop his mother from arranging another marriage. He doesnt speak out like Guleri. In this culture the main job for the wife to have is to have children and raise a family but Guleri cant have children and Manaks mother who is a big influence in Manaks decision make the decision to find Manak a new wife so he can start a family with her When Manaks mother finds Manak a new wife we can see that Manak is too scared to stand up to his mother but, he does not want Guleri to leave because he loves her we can see this because the author writes He begged her suggesting he is pleading with her to keep Guleri because of his love for her. She then proceeds to tell Manak to go home, this all shows us that she is accepting that she cant give Manak a child and therefore she has to leave him because of his mother, this is called fatalism meaning when you simply take all things that come your way as fate and that you cant change anything. Veronica is a story that is set in Nigeria. The culture there was meant to be very male orientated, where men did not have to cook and clean and look after the parents and siblings and therefore were given better opportunities in life than women. This causes the women in this community to have very low self belief and self expectations. In Veronica the two main characters are Okeke and Veronica, they are very good friends but nothing more, we can see that they just want to be friends by how the writer writes she still had a certain attractiveness that I knew would appeal to some men from this quote I can tell that Okeke only liked Veronica as a friend and how neither of them wanted anymore than friendship, but never the less they care very much for each other and Okeke tries to help veronica when ever he can, we can see this when Okeke is moving to the city and they are talking for the lasts time When I have qualified I will send to take a correspondence course from this quote I can see that Okeke is a caring young man and he wants Veronica to live a better life away from the country side. Okeke and Veronica are good friends, neither of them wants anymore than that, but never the less they care very much for each other and Okeke tries to help veronica whenever he can. In Veronica the friendship between Veronica and Okeke is to do with how comfortable they are with each other. They dont squabble or argue but are at peace with each other. They are true friends. But for all the misery in her own life she never seemed to envy mine demonstrates how they are casual together. They are best friends. They dont need to show each other up. Okeke is the type of person to seize life with two hands and not let go. I had won a scholarship to the university shows how he grows academically. He wants to see more of the world. His ideas of life compared to veronica are totally opposite. He seizes any good opportunity in life useful to him but Veronica is a fatalist. She waits for things to come her way. This is due to her cultural upbringings. In the story it doesnt really mention whether being a fatalist is a bad or good thing because that is for the reader to decide. Her culture may have taught her to accept what life gives so she must think its a good thing. In the story Country Lovers the rules of apartheid pull Thebedi and Paulus apart. We can see this when the writer tells us that they were not afraid of one another this tells me lots in a way of saying they kept their relationship secret because they were afraid of the rest of society would think and, what would happen to them, Paulus had a lot going for him at the time he was a young man going to college to study to become a vet, and all the other dads saw him as a suitable man to take there daughter. We can see that the rules of apartheid pull them apart a lot in the story when the writer writes They each returned home with the dark-she to her mothers hut, he to the farmhouse this show us that Thebedi lived In a poor hut well as on the other Paulus lived in a farm house shows us that Paulus was a much wealthier person than Thebedi. When Thebedi was eighteen her parents met up with a boy called Njabulo who was the same age as Thebedi and his parents to set up a arranged marriage. Th is was common for people who didnt have a lot of money they would get married and become one family and where the grooms parents give the bride a dowry, this might be money or something useful for example a cow. Thebedi and Njabulo try to have a baby Njabulo thinks that Thebedi is pregnant with his baby but she is pregnant but not with his baby. Later on in the story Thebedi has the baby and it is light skin at first Njabulo thinks after a few weeks the baby will darken up but the weeks go on and the baby is still light skin then Njabulo gets thinking and believes that its not his baby its Pauluss, but he still stands by Thebedi he evens builds a house for them to live in this tells me that he is a caring man who has a good heart and just wants to provide for his family. The innocence in two, young children became tainted as they became young adults. The young man Njabulo asked her father for her demonstrates how traditional Thebedis family is, so it would be a shock if they find what shes been doing. Her culture holds her back from what she wants to do or say. It also demonstrates that black people of South Africa during the apartheid were more traditional then the white people. I believe t his is because the white people ruled at the time so the black people were left never to develop their ideas on tradition. They couldnt change their culture just like the UK has since the early nineteen hundreds where women were seen as to clean the house and look after children where as in now women have the same rights as men. She was calm; she said she had not see what the white man had did in the house demonstrates her giving up knowing that the white man will always win. The South African apartheid has taught her that black people are unimportant in the eyes of white people. Also, she refers to Paulus as the white man and not her sweet heart any more. This demonstrates how she realized Paulus was just another white mane and to him she was just a black woman. It was as simple as that. I think that Njabulo played a huge role in Country Lovers because he supported Thebedi and he didnt care whether the baby was his or not. He just wanted to be there for her. In the story Country Lovers the rules of apartheid pull Thebedi and Paulus apart we can see this when the author (Nadine Gordimer) tells us that th ey were not afraid of one another this tells us lots its a way of saying that they kept their relationship secret because they were afraid of the rest of society, what would happen to them, their families and the rest of their lives. We can see that the rules of apartheid pull them apart more and their culture does when Nadine Gordimer says each returned home with the dark-she to her mothers hut, he to the farmhouse this shows the wealth differences and how truly different their lives really were, she lives in a hut and he lives in a big farmhouse, this is also another way of telling us that they will never be equal or be able to have a real relationship because of the law in the country at the time, their different cultures and because they live very different lives in terms of wealth and work also they have received very different educations. Also at the preparatory examination where she went to give evidence against Paulus at the end of the trail Thebedi was interviewed by a number of newspaper who spelled her name in a variety of ways she spoke in her own language this tells me that she is trying to get things back to how there were and trying to get back in to her community she was quoted beneath her photogr aph It was a thing of our childhood, we dont see each other any more she makes it seem that it was just a fling and a thing of the past which will never happen again. In Veronica we can see the problems are mainly about education and that how Okeke a young male and Veronica a young female at first live the same life but then it gradually chances to a point where Okeke moves away from the country to further his education wheres as stays in the country to further her life of cooking and cleaning for her family. Okeke moves to the city because Okeke has better opportunities in life I can see this when the writer writes I had won a scholarship to the university this shows me that he has chances to achieve something in life where as Veronica does not have any qualifications not even standard six this show her lack of education. This then brings her self expectations to drop again. Okeke and Veronica are very different, Okeke is a man and therefore has much higher self expectation where as Veronica a women has much lower self expectations, we can see this when Veronica says they are my family, that is enough this shows that she doesnt see her self leavi ng her family, and that she will never achieve anything in her life she will just farm and look after her family all of her life. Where as Okeke is much more ambitious and wants to achieve something in life we can see this when he says I won a scholarship to the university and when he says I thought I knew my worth showing us that he strived to be the best he could by getting a scholarship to the university, we can also see he says I thought I knew my own worth telling us he thought he was capable of doing well in life and could do better than he thought at that time. Veronica also states that it is her. What Ive noticed about this story is although Okeke and Veronica live in the same village they have different cultural views due to their class. Okeke comes from a richer family so he is freer but Veronica comes from a poor family and they have typical ideas in culture which are very out dated. This story tells me that culture varies in class of family. The attitudes towards education from Veronica are simply hopeless. She feels its not a womans place to work due to her culture. When I have qualified I will send you money to a correspondence course explains that Okeke knows how Veronica feels about women and work so he offers her money for a correspondence course as its thought of as a female role but she still rejects his offer. She thinks life has given her a specific job which is to look after her family. She comes from a small tight-knit community and she has no education. She has really low expectations of herself and hasnt got a lot of confidence. Okeke, I wont live to see tomorrow. Nor do I want to. My husband is dead and my child also. There is nothing left for me in this world which definitely demonstrates how weak she has become. She thinks if she stays in this world she would have nothing to do. She thinks she was put on the world to look after her family not to go out and accomplish something great. Due to her culture her friendship with Okeke has drifted away because all her life she was taught that her job is to look after people while Okeke was taught to accomplish amazing things In A Stench Of Kerosene the, lifestyle of the two main characters drives them apart, because of their beliefs in their community that the only reason two people get married is for having children and if they cant or dont want to have children they will most likely to get divorced. This is what separates Manak and Guleri because of their culture the mother is the head of the family nothing happens without her say so, this is called a matriarch culture a female dominated community. Since that Manaks mother believes Guleri is incapable of having babies. After 7 years of waiting she finds Manak a new wife making him to depart with Guleri which he never wanted to do. We can see that this family is a matriarch culture when Manaks mother specks bad mind to him here is a quote that proves Manaks mother is in control, Why do you croak like an old woman?Be a man then the writer tells us that Manak was too scared to reply to her and say you are a woman, why dont you cry like one for a change. All of these quotes shows me that Manak is very scared and intimidated of his mother and that he could only stand up to her in his head. Manak was given a new wife shortly after and he was too scared to stand up to his mother and fight for Guleri making sure that his mother knew that his love for Guleri made him not care if she couldnt have children. The attitudes towards marriage and the role of wife in A Stench of Kerosene are so old and out dated. The point Im making is that women in North India were perceived as objects. I can tell by Guleris actions. She went about her daily chores fed the cattle, cooked food for her parents in law demonstrating how bored she must have been of her life. She does the same thing every day. Her daily life is the same as a servants life. During the time of Hindu marriages women were seen to do three main jobs which are to cook, clean and carry children. The most important is to carry children. What is unsurprising in the story is why Manak married again but I know it was due to parental and cultural teaching. Manak and Guleri were married for seven years and she had never borne a child and Manaks mother had made a secret resolve that she would not let it go beyond the eighth year which blatantly points out that the whole point of a Hindu marriage is to have kids. Manak dared not to speak to his mother about this. As I analysed the story it seems to me that she makes the decisions and is the head of the house. She is the matriarch of the family and if he retorts to her it could make life harder for him. Manak and his mother dont have a strong relationship. Their relationship is based on his fear to her and she uses it against him by pushing him about. Manak is adapting to his culture as it teaches mainly to have children. He is being taught that the womans job is to cook, clean and carry children while the man provided. Finally I think that all three of the stories are well written and have good points on everyday life in different cultures and shows the problems that people are facing from different cultures on a everyday bases I also thought that it was very good how each of the three stories all dealt with different issues in there community but they all where connected to each other for example gender segregation. In the story Country Lovers it deals with the problem of racial segregation and it was sensitive on the matter but shows how difficult it was for black and white to have any relationship together and yet it told the truth and did not make up something. A Stench Of Kerosene it dealt with the problems in a part of the world about arranged marriages but it went in to detail about it and how many of the family in northern India were a matriarch one and how even if a man has his own opinion his mother would change it if she didnt like it, and how if your not the person who you love you dont have anything to live for. A Stench of Kerosene Manak didnt like the idea of marrying again but maybe as he grows he might decide to change his mind on arranged marriages. There is a huge difference between English culture and the cultures in the three short stories. We do not have the right to judge other people on their cultural beliefs as they could do the same to us. We all have different cultures and when we have adjusted ourselves to them we get used to them and keep them. In these three short stories it is clear that culture plays the biggest role and is put before love. Veronica tells the story of domestic violence and how it is for a woman in the country and the city. When she was younger she didnt have it great she was beaten at home by her father but still loved him she does everything she can for her family but they dont care about her they only care for themselves and veronica accepts this as fate and lives with it she know her only role in life is to cook and clean nothing else. From reading studying these three short stories I have realized that where I come from my culture and community is a more of an open for me, there are a lot opportunities for me even at a young age that for some wont even come in a lifetime.

The Operations Management In Hotel Equatorial Tourism Essay

The Operations Management In Hotel Equatorial Tourism Essay Operations management is a part of business concerned about the production of goods and services, and involves the responsibility of ensuring that business operations are efficient in terms of using as little resource as needed, and effective in terms of meeting customer requirements. It is concerned with managing the process that converts inputs, in the forms of materials, labor and energy into outputs, in the form of goods and services. Traditionally, operation refers to the production of goods and services separately, although the distinction between these two main types of operations is increasingly difficult to make as manufacturers tend to merge product and service offerings. Jobs in services are often less structured than in manufacturing. Customer contact is generally much higher in services compared to manufacturing. In many services, worker skill levels are low compared to those of manufacturing employees. Services are adding many new workers in low-skill, entry-level positions. Employee turnover is high in services, especially in low-skill jobs. Input variability tends to be higher in many service environments than in manufacturing. Service performance can be adversely affected by many factors outside of managers control, such as employee and customer attitudes. Operations managers are concerned with each step in providing a service or product. They determine what equipment, labor, tools, facilities, materials, energy, and information should go into an operating system and how these inputs can best be obtained and used to satisfy the requirements of the market place. Managers are also responsible for critical activities such as quality management and control, capacity planning, materials management, purchasing, and scheduling. Operations management is getting important dramatically in recent years. Significant foreign competition, shorter product and service life-cycles, better-educated and quality-conscious consumers, and the capabilities of new technology have placed increasing pressures on the operations function to improve productivity while providing a broader array of high-quality products and services. With the globalization of markets, firms are recognizing that the operations function can be used to strengthen their position in the market place. Managers in operations management play a strategic and tactical role in satisfying customer needs and making their firms strong international competitors. Hotel Equatorial In this assignment, we will discuss about the operations management in Hotel Equatorial. Hotel Equatorial Corporate has a presence in three major Asia Pacific countries with seven properties in the group, located in the regions gateway cities. These three countries are Malaysia, China and Vietnam. Those Hotel Equatorial in Malaysia are located at Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, Malacca, Penang and Cameron Highlands. However, we only focus on the operation management of Hotel Equatorial Kuala Lumpur. Hotel Equatorial Kuala Lumpur is located at Jalan Sultan Ismail. It is an international business-class hotel that emphasises efficiency, comfort, security and value for money, the Equatorial Kuala Lumpur also delivers genuine Malaysian warmth and hospitality. Hotel Equatorial Kuala Lumpur is highly-regarded for its excellent food and beverage services. The 5-star Equatorial Kuala Lumpur is located in the heart of the citys commercial and entertainment district thats within walking distance to major offices, shopping malls, the Petronas Twin Towers or Suria KLCC and entertainment centers. There are total of 300 rooms inside Hotel Equatorial. All of them are equipped with modern amenities. The rooms are pleasantly appointed with details that will make guests feel at home. There are splendid suites that can provide customers ultimate privacy. Beside that customer also can have a choice of Presidential, Senator or Executive Suites to rises a level higher. There is also swimming pool inside Hotel Equatorial Kuala Lumpur. Beside that facilities and services for guest convenience at Hotel Equatorial also include business center with meeting rooms and broadband Internet access, 24-hour room service, laundry and valet service, limousine service, currency exchange, doctor on-call, shopping arcade and basement parking. The Equatorial Kuala Lumpur is also renowned in the city for its award-winning restaurants such as the signature Golden Phoenix Chinese and Kampachi Japanese restaurants. The various food and beverage outlets found here are among Kuala Lumpurs most popular places for corporate or personal entertainment. Hotel Equatorial Kuala Lumpur also provides professional conference facilities with the attentive backing of trained staff that attend to your individual meeting requirements. There are ballroom, function room and business center inside this hotel. Literature Review The hospitality industry today has been recognized as a global industry. Indeed, it has played a vital role in Malaysia in recent years in terms of the hospitality industry itself; to develop a better diversity environment and society, and even contributes to the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) Malaysia. There are several types of hotel that have been recognized all around the world, such as budget hotels, apartment hotels, luxury hotels, resorts, and etc. There are other classifications of hotels; however, most of them will fall into one of these or a combination of these. Hospitality usually refers to the hotel industry; it is consider as a service by combining the accommodations, food and beverages services, recreation, entertainment sectors and even for the business purposes. Apart from that, hospitality is actually playing the relationship between a host and a guest by the acting and being hospitable to the public. Hepple, Kipps and Thomson (1990) reviewed the existing literature f or definitions of hospitality, and identified four characteristics of hospitality in its modern sense: (a) It is conferred by a host on a guest who is away from home. (b) It is interactive, involving the coming together of a provider and receiver. (c) It is comprised of a blend of tangible and intangible factors. (d) The host provides for the guests security, psychological and physiological comfort. As a staff in hotel, they have to ensure that they are providing the best service with a good attitude to customers; it will be one of the main challenges facing by hospitality management in order to attract the attention of tourists in this competitive market. In 2006, Chang demonstrates that attitude of employees is correlated with front-line employees overall performance quality in international tourist hotels. According to Chen (1999), employee training must encompass cognitive, affective, and behavioural preparation in order for staff members to effectively address diverse customer needs. Researcher has asserts that employees must be inspired to provide service that exceeds guests expectations (Mayo, 1997). Since a customers satisfaction is influenced by the availability of customer services, the provision of quality customer service has become a major concern of all business (Berry and Parasuraman, 1991). Services provided play an important role in hotel industry while welcoming tourists who come from different places with different requirement might take place. Service quality is so intangible that objective measurement is impossible; the challenge lies mostly in managing appearances and perceptions (Harvey, 1998). Gronroos (1984) found that the perceived quality of a service is affected by the experience that the consumer went through for a service. Among the studies that have examined the relationship between perceived service quality and consumption emotions, Wong (2004) found that service quality in retail services was positively associated with emotional satisfaction. As Bei and Chiao (2001) demonstrate, it was noted that it is generally accepted that a positive relationship exists between perceived service quality and customer satisfaction. Arnauld et al., (2002b, p.327) defined perceived quality whether in reference to a product or service as the consumers evaluative judgment about an entitys overall excellence or superiority in providing desired benefits Growth in the number of tourists leads to higher hotel occupancy rates, rapid hotel development (Wan Yim King Penny, 2007), whereas, consumers will concern about the facilities that provide by hotel. For example, there is an increasing complexity of modern technology, buildings and systems, rising employee expectations regarding the quality of working life and conditions, mounting customer demand for value-added services, and increasing governmental legislation to ensure health and safety as well as a growing pressure for reducing operational costs and improving competitiveness (Alexander, 1996). These changes create new challenges and responsibilities for hotel industry in managing the workplace. According to Ahmed Hassanien and Erwin Losekoot (2002) declared that most of the owners and operators of luxury hotels understood the importance of facilities that should be provided in hotel in order to meet consumers expectations and competition pressures, yet, that appears the problem in strategy planning with regard to facilities management in hospitality. Due to managing facilities well, therefore, it can helps to improve a hotels efficiency and adds value to their performance and services (Okoroh et al., 2002, p. 239). The number of customers will increase because of the good environment that have provided in the hotel. Apart from that, many hotels are having difficulty increasing their market share because of rising international competition, slower growth rates, decreased population growth, and oversupplied and mature markets. Therefore, brand loyalty is very important to hotel industry. According to Reichheld and Sasser (1990), every 5% increasing in customer loyalty can increase the profitability from 25 % to 85%. To maintain customer relationship is one of the vital parts that a hotel wants to survive in hotel industry. Loyal customers are best for hospitality firms because they are easier to serve than non-loyal customers, and they provide higher profitability (Mustafa Tepeci, 1999). Hotels will increase sales and their market shares by decreasing prices, expanding their distribution channels, launching promotional campaigns, and retaining their current customers (Cravens, 1994) to compete with other competitors. In conclusion, as customers satisfaction is widely accepted, the market share of hotel industry will increase. However, low customer demand, lack of hotel managerial knowledge will affect the operation in the hotel. As hospitality firms also face strong competitor environment, therefore, managers may perceive strong customer relationships. It is worth noting, though, that as markets become more competitive firms may have to become more market-oriented simply to survive. With the globalization of the hospitality industry and rapid changes in technology, market turbulence is likely to increase. In the longer term, as hospitality firms become more market-oriented and customer-focused, they are likely to reap other benefits including improved brand awareness, customer satisfaction and loyalty. Operation Strategies Operation strategies means companies and organization making products or delivering services, be it for profit or not for profit relies on a handful of processes to get their products manufactured properly and delivered on time. Each of the process acts as an operation for the company. To the company this is essential. That is why managers find operations management more appealing. Therefore, Hotel Equatorial has their own unique operation strategies in operate their business. Advertising and Promotion Hotel Equatorial have a marketing team whereby they understand the hotel very well from the hotel mission, vision, goal to the products or services offer to the customers. Therefore, marketers or would able to explain well and with confident to the customers. Thus, it would able to attract customers as customers will feel more confident with the hotel services. When customers feel comfortable and confident with their services, they will continue come to hotel for next time tourism or trip and recommend it to their family and friends. Indirectly, Equatorial Hotel have free promotion from their customers to their family and friends as word-of-mouth are more useful and convincing other than promote by their marketers regarding their hotel services to the customers. Quick Respond Other than marketing team Equatorial Hotel have customers service team whereby they will answer all the customers enquires and complains regarding hotel services. The team will respond to the customers enquiries as fast as possible as it shows how efficient the hotels and it shows that our hotels appreciates the customers. They will also accept customers opinion because they know that the reason why customers give the hotel their opinion is because the hotel services and facilities provide by their hotel or some problem they face when they stay at our hotel. It is one of the ways to bring in or improve and update the hotel services to customer. Besides, quick respond to customer is one of the competitive advantages to Equatorial Hotel compare to other same industry competitor. Customer wants and needs Customers are hotel main priority. There are various ways for us to identify customers need and want such as through survey or research. Hotel Equatorial will be able to attract more customers to the hotel when their trip or other purpose when hotel understand their wants and needs. Thus, it is important for them to understand and identify customers need and wants. Hotel Quality Quality may refer to material, facilities, and customer service delivery. In Hotel Equatorial services, quality refers to the service that they offered to the customers. Standard of quality service will be stated clearly and will be well informed to all the employees from manager, marketing team to customer services team. The main purpose is to make sure the customers are satisfied with the service provided and the quality of the hotel services. Besides, Equatorial Hotel will provided training to the employees in order to make sure that the level of service is up-to-standard and keep the employee update and make sure customer satisfied with their hotel services. Management level There will be a hierarchy in all the work place and so do Equatorial Hotel services. It will be divided into Presidents which is the largest shareholder followed by Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Going down would be the manager and assistant manager followed by the employees. Managers and worker which in this case will refer to the manager or supervisors are the one who deal with customers. Competent among the workers and motivation from the managers would able to increase the level of services offered. The employees would do their best as they want to be the most outstanding employees. Supply Chain Management There are various departments in Hotel Equatorial services. In order to be cost-effective, the company will have internal phone calls whereby the employees may used it for working purposes and internal extranet where they employees and the managers may contact each other through webcam or mail. Furthermore, internal phones and internet able to help the company save cost besides times. Forecasting Forecasting is the process of estimation about the future value of a variable of interest which actual outcome has not yet been know or observed. A forecast process is usually carried out in order to make a decision or planning the future of a company. Forecasting can let the company modify the behavior or strategy to be in a better position if they able to forecast the future of company. Forecasting is important and cannot be neglected in all industries. Thus, hotel industry is also not an exception. The hotel industry is sensitive to fluctuations in demand because of the structure of business. Forecasting in demand has become an important mission in hotel industry because of its nature of business and business characteristics. The crises of a hotel is always appear because of the unexpected in demand reducing. It is needed to predict demand in a hotel to increase occupancy rate not only because of fluctuations that will appear. Forecasting is important to the hotel industry to predict the customer demand in a period, the length of staying and hotel room demand over time. There is a need to know the qualitative and quantitative aspects of demand due to group customers because forecasting in a hotel has a different for group customers and individuals. The accuracy of a forecast will be higher as the hotel always repeats the forecasts during a month. The data that can used to forecast are when the room was consumed and when the reservations was made. The reservation of room and consumption of room can provide extra information for the hotel manager to update the forecast. If fail to do so, the manager only can rely on historical information on the room booked and daily number of guests. Weighted Moving Average There are many methods of forecasting in hotel industry. One of the forecasting methods is weighted moving average. This method is quite frequently used in hotel forecasting. Weighted moving average model is a time-series forecast. It is usually popular for a short term time series forecasting. Weighted moving average is a forecast method that the value for a given time period is replaced by the weighted mean of that value and the values for some number of preceding time periods based on an artificially constructed time series. The formula for weighted moving average is below: Weighted moving average method is able to clear up peaks and troughs in the observations. Moreover, weighed moving average can get a content result than other forecasting methods when the time series to be forecasted encompass trend. Thus, the hotel manager might obtain a better forecast result when there is a trend. It is very suitable to use weighted moving average in a forecast when the data indicates a cyclical pattern around constant trend. It tends to closer to the trend. The more accurate result can get to forecast the customer demand. It is reliable to use to predict few periods in the future. On the other hand, weighted moving average is less weight to the older data and prefers to weight the recent data. The hotel manager should emphasize more information of customer demand on recent period so that the forecasting can proceed smoothly. Weighted moving average method is more susceptible than other methods such as simple moving average because of it is emphasize on recent data. Rely heavily on recent data also allow weighted moving average to provide stronger and earlier signs to trend direction and reversal. Hence, it will manage to response more quickly to changes. The hotel manager needs to change the weighted factors as the time series pattern is changed. The weighting factors are the key in weighted moving average methods and the accuracy of forecast is relying largely on it. Weights are distributed to the previous periods in the weighted moving average. It is important to note that the sum of the weights must be equal to one and it is weights heavily on recent period . Weighted moving average can provide a better volatility in a forecast and it will able to increase the contribution and effect from recent data. Reason of Weighted Moving Average not suitable to forecast customer demand The weighted moving average is not suitable to use to forecast the customer demand because this method does not come out with an actual equation. Hence, this method is not very useful as a medium-long range forecasting tool to predict the customer demand. It is only credible to use to predict a few periods into the future. Weighted moving average method also has a more complicated calculation at each step of the procedure which may lead to intricate to manager in a forecast process. Moreover, it will always appear to lag behind either increases or decrease in the observed value or data since the forecast value for a period is a weighted average of the previous periods. It might cause the hotel manager unable to obtain the forecast result on time. The other reasons that weighted moving average are not suitable to predict customer demand is this method is not adaptive. Thus, it might affect the accuracy of the result. Improper selection of the weights will also have an effect on the re sult of customer demands with errors. The weighted moving average is difficult to construct. Hence, it is time-consuming for a manager to adopt it in forecast customer demand. In addition, weighted moving average is more suitable in short term time series forecasting. The result is unreliable if forecast in a long time horizon. NaÃÆ'Â ¯ve Forecast However, there is still a forecast method which is more suitable to predict the customer demand in a period, the length of staying and hotel room demand over time. NaÃÆ'Â ¯ve forecast is a techniques used to forecast future trends, for example the demand for a product. The result of naive forecast for a time period is equal to the previous time periods value. It is a simplest forecast method and use single previous value of a time series as the basis for a forecast. According to Fred Tolbert (2002), a simple forecasting techniques work better than complex ones. Typical naÃÆ'Â ¯ve models include the moving average, which forecast equals average of last year actual demand and the random walk, which forecast equals last weeks actual demand. Seasonal naÃÆ'Â ¯ve can be used with seasonal data and postulates that the next periods value is equal to the value of the same period in the previous month. The MAPE achieved by a naÃÆ'Â ¯ve forecasting method depends entirely on the volatil ity of the demand pattern it is applied to. Smooth patterns will have a lower MAPE than seasonal and erratic patterns. Performance of the naÃÆ'Â ¯ve forecast establishes the level of accuracy that is reasonable to expect for a given demand pattern. The naÃÆ'Â ¯ve forecast method is suitable to use to forecast the customer demand because this method does come out with an actual equation. It is an easiest method compare with weighted moving average method. NaÃÆ'Â ¯ve forecast do not involve any complicated calculation and make the managers work easier. Furthermore it consumes low cost and it is cost effective. It is best in short run forecasting. In conclusion, Equatorial Hotel should use naÃÆ'Â ¯ve forecast method to predict the customer demand in a period, the length of staying and hotel room demand over time, because naÃÆ'Â ¯ve approach is reliable, result is more accurate, simple to use and cost effective. Quality Matters Total Quality Management (TQM) is systematic management approaches that originated in the 1950s and has steadily become more popular since the early 1980s. Total Quality Management (TQM) is a structured quality method to organizational management that management philosophy seeks to improve the quality of products and services through ongoing refinements in response to continuous feedback. It is apparent that organizations need to use a TQM process and the critical success factors if they are to attain business quality (Zairi 2002). Hence, Total Quality Management can be used by several type of organization, it originated from the manufacturing sector and now it has been adapted for much organization such as schools, highway maintenance, and hotel management. Nowadays there is a focus of e-business, therefore as for hotel management, the online booking system through their website or check-in and check-out systems be done, Total Quality Management will be based on quality management from the customers point of view. From Hotel Equatorials website, it is apparent to see how the hotel presents the idea of quality, value, and comfort. It presence in three major Asia Pasific countries with seven properties in the group, located in the regions gateway cities, offering the quality accommodation and excellence in food and beverage services. In Hotel Equatorial, the website provides the category of leaving feedback and enquiries purpose. At Hotel Equatorial, customer feedback is very important, positive or otherwise, they willing to hear from customers about the experience of stay or any suggestion given to the hotel for improvement. Hotel Equatorial appreciated the comments from customers and will respond to the particular customer within 24 hou rs. Moreover, it is also with quality reports tracks that Loyal Guest Recognition Programme is available in Hotel Equatorial and guest preference reports are recorded in database. The key components of TQM include persistent enhancement, teamwork, quality being everybodys business, doing it right the first time, training, internal customer care and etc. Hotel Equatorial has actually put in effort to achieve industry-best clean room appearance. Also Equatorial Hotel Penang become known for comfort, value and the friendly attention of a welcoming staff that cares as the hotel staff is responsive and help out with your needs. Combining the flexibility and space options with the hotels unique ambiance and suitable location, have made the hotel a top choice for businessmen and conference organizers. Total Quality Management process included four sequential categories which are plan, do, study and act, which is also called as PDSA cycle. In the planning phase, management define the problem to be addressed, collect relevant data, analyze the data and decide upon a measurement to gauge its effectiveness. In the doing phase, management develop and implement solution, document any changes made, and collect data for analysis. In studying phase, management confirm their results through comparison of before-and-after data while in acting phase, if the results are successful, new method will be standardized and relevant personnel will be communicated, training will also be implemented for the new method. If the results turn out unsuccessful, the plan will be revised and the process will be repeated. Summary Growth in the number of tourists leads hotel occupancy rates increasing. Due to the rapid development of hospitality industry, it has been recognized as a global industry. To maintain good reputation of the hotel, management should to ensure that they are providing the best service with a good attitude to customers. Since a customers satisfaction is influenced by the availability of customer services, the provision of quality customer service has become a major concern of all business. In addition, consumers will concern about the facilities that provide by hotel. It can help to improve a hotels efficiency and adds value to their performance and services with good facilities. As hospitality firms also face strong competitor environment, it is essential to maintain a good relationship with customers. This is one of the vital parts that a hotel wants to survive in hospitality industry. Hotel Equatorial has their own operation strategy in operate their business in services industry. Equ atorial hotel has a well operation management to operate in a well condition. Hotel Equatorial also has their own well strategies in marketing and promotion and response to the customer wants and needs. Besides that, a well hotel quality let the Hotel Equatorial become more productive and profitable the services business. Equatorial Hotel should use naÃÆ'Â ¯ve forecast method to predict the customer demand in a period, the length of staying and hotel room demand over time, because naÃÆ'Â ¯ve approach is reliable, result is more accurate, simple to use and cost effective. Nowadays for hotel management, there is website available for online booking system or check-in and check-out systems to be done; therefore the present of Total Quality Management will be based on quality management from the customers point of view. From Hotel Equatorials website, it is apparent to see how the hotel presents the idea of quality, value, and comfort in offering the quality accommodation and excell ence in food and beverage services. Through Hotel Equatorials website, the category of leaving feedback and enquiries purpose are available as customer feedback is very important, positive or otherwise, they willing to hear from customers about the experience of stay or any suggestion given to the hotel for quality improvement. The key components of TQM include persistent enhancement, teamwork, quality being everybodys business, doing it right the first time, training, internal customer care and etc. Combining the flexibility and continuous improvement of hotels quality, Hotel Equatorial have made the hotel a top choice for businessmen and conference organizers.