Theory to practice Essay Example for Free

Theory to practice Essay Big Time Toymaker (BTT) develops, manufactures and distributes toys and board games. An inventor named Chou created a board game called Strat. Chous invention caught the attention of BTT and they sought out to negotiate with Chou. During the time of communication between both Chou and BTT an agreement was made. Both parties agreed to BTT having exclusive negotiating wrights for a 90-day period in exchange for $25,000.00. The agreement stated that no contract exist unless in writing. After a meeting when an oral agreement was made Chou was emailed a document subject Strat deal by a manager of BTT. This email can be considered the contract in writing and Chou assumed so, later to find that BTT was now run by new management who claimed they were uninterested in his invention. The point where parties entered a contract was when the BTT manager sent Chou an email subject â€Å"Strat Deal†. This was the point where a contract was mad because BTT had received an exclusive 90day negotiating period, and distribution agreement wasn’t going to be in effect until received in writing. This email also included terms discussed during the oral agreement and pricing. The agreement of a contract was that it had to be in writing in order to exist. Never did BTT stress the form of writing. An email consist of written words, therefore it was a written agreement. A contract is an agreement with specific terms between two or more people or entities in which there is a promise to do something in return for something else. When the email was sent that was the completion of the exchange and fulfilled contract requirements. The oral agreement that both parties had before the email was sent was establishing objective intent to contract. BTT also sent a fax to Chou a month after the 90day period passed requesting the draft to be sent. This action also showed intent to contract. What weighs in Chous favor in terms of parties objective to contract is the fact that BTT paid him. They exchanged money for exclusive negotiating rights. Chou could  always state an unilateral mistake was made and he misunderstood the terms of an agreement. The fact that both parties communicated by email has no impact on the decision of Chou rightfully still having a contract. Email is just as sufficient as a letter or hand written draft. With a subject email sent saying â€Å"Strat deal†. â€Å"The law governing which contracts must be in writing in order to be enforceable† is also known as the statue of frauds according to University of Phoenix The Legal Environment of Business (2011) . The contract was emailed to Chou before the 90day deadline right after an oral agreement. The statue of frauds supports Chou still having a valid contract. BTT could avoid this contract under mistake. Chou had mistaken the email as the contract agreement. BTT specified that the distribution deal would only be valid if contract was in writing. BTT could argue their meaning of a contract in writing is a contract on paper. This would be a mutual mistake. Both parties had a different understanding of what a contract consist of. Mutual mistake shows both parties at fault instead of only one. If the email does constitute an agreement, the thing that support this a greement is the fact that Chou was within the 90 day period when the email was sent. Although the email said nothing about a contract it was titled Strat Deal. During the verbal agreement Chou was lead to believe that both parties had finally agreed on the terms of the contract. Assuming that Chou did have a contract and BTT decided to breach the contract Chou could obtain remedies for his lost. The proper remedy would be compensatory damages. â€Å"Compensatory damages are an attempt to put the nonbreaching party in the same position she would have been in if the other party had performed as agreed (melvin, 2011, Chapter Chapter 7, Contract Performance:Conditions, Breach, and Remedies).† By the new management breaching the contract Chou misses out on potential profits that could have occurred if the contract had been followed through with. The remedy that would be less favorable would be consequential damages. Assuming from the theory that Chou had nothing in place directly depending on the completion of his contract, there is nothing that would be affected indirectly from the unfulfillment of the contract. Consequential damages compensate foreseeable indirect losses. Work cited Melvin, S. P. (2011). The Legal Environment of Business: A Managerial Approach: Theory to Practice. Retrieved from The University of Phoenix eBook Collection. Melvin, Sean P. (2011). The Legal Environment of Business: A Managerial Approach: Theory to Practice. Retrieved from The University of Phoenix eBook Collection.

Corporate Social Responsibility And Competitive Advantage Theories Management Essay

Corporate Social Responsibility And Competitive Advantage Theories Management Essay Corporate social responsibility (CSR), also known as corporate responsibility, corporate citizenship, responsible business, sustainable responsible business (SRB), or corporate social performance, is a form of corporate self-regulation integrated into a business model. ¼Ã‹â€ Wood, D. 1991 ¼Ã¢â‚¬ ° Kotler and Lee (2005) thought CSR is a commitment to community well-being through discretionary business practices and contributions of corporate resources. Ccorporate social responsibility includes human rights, employee rights, stakeholder rights, environmental protection, community relations, transparency and corruption. (Frynas, 2005) Competitive Advantage Competitive advantage is generally believed that the company holds the trumps in resources, capacity, and value created for customers, profit levels and market share and so on. Barney (1991) said a firm is said to have a competitive advantage when it is implementing a value creating strategy not simultaneously being implemented by any current or potential competitors. The basis of a competitive advantage comprises low costs for raw materials and energy, efficient production technologies and locational advantages.(Torsten Frohwein, Bernd Hansjurgens,2005). The opportunities for competitive advantages derive from the following implications: regulation and information.(A. B. Jaffe, R. G. Newell, R. N. Stavins,2001) The relationship of CSR CA Porte (1995) identifies the objectives of environmental improvements and enhanced competitiveness can be combined in a win-win situation. There is no consensus that the relationship of Corporate Social Responsibility and Competitive Advantage. In this paper, the relationship between CSR stakeholders is analyzed. A model of CSR contribution to competitive advantage was built so as to study the relationship between CSR CA. CSR is divided into the main stakeholders investors, employees, consumers, business partners, natural environment, community and government responsibility, using the description of corporate social responsibility and stakeholder theory framework. The essay described the competitive advantage from three dimensions: strategic resources, enterprise core competencies and business environment according to the comprehensive theory of competitive advantage. Main body CSR Enterprise Strategic Resources Barney (1991) analyzed competitive advantages from point of view of resources: Valuable, Rare, Imperfectly Imitable and Non-Substitutable. This essay selected two closely related resources with CSR to analyze: corporate reputation and corporate personnel. CSR Corporate Reputation Olins (1990) said that corporate reputation might be extended to a large range of product brands. Balmer (1998) Pointed out that corporate reputation finally is able to bring competitive advantage for enterprises and it is an important strategic resource. Corporate reputation comes from stakeholders; therefore, companies must be responsible to its stakeholders. That means CSR could effect corporate reputation, thus affecting t competitive advantage. Conversely, good reputation will also help companies to promote corporate social responsibility. Since the reputation determines attitude of the public and generates more favorable effect. Some multinational companies with high reputation, such as Wal-Mart, Starbucks, Nike and McDonalds fulfilled corporate social responsibility in brand-building to rebuild corporate reputation, image and corporate culture, thus enhanced the influence of brand. From a long-term perspective, corporate social responsibility is more conducive to enhance the long-term development and public image. CSR corporate personnel From the point of human resources, human capital is the basis for competitiveness. Staffs including employees and employers are makers, implementers, innovators and evaluators of core competitiveness of enterprises. Business survival and development depends on initiative and creativity of staff. Staff is the driving force for the development. Staff is a powerful competitive advantage to obtain protection. An enterprise survival depends on staff. Therefore, how to retain staff and how to develop staffs contribution of core competitiveness is the core issue. Companies must not only provide employees with reasonable salary and benefits, but also need to create equality, non-discrimination, safety and health, continuing training, working environment. All these are responsibility that enterprises must bear to employees. Staff loyalty and satisfaction result in competitively in the market. The enterprises fulfill their social responsibilities to their staff, such as attracting staff, retaining staff and stimulating creativity, which would have a positive impact. CSR Core Competencies CSR risk control capabilities Risk control is that managers have taken various measures and methods to eliminate or reduce various possibilities of risk, or to reduce losses caused by the incident. CSR that enterprise lead to its stakeholders could reduce the possibility and losses of risk, while appropriate penalties could be subject to ignoring the social responsibility. CSR business innovation Business innovation means such new methods or procedures that an enterprise uses its skills and resources to build new technology and products so that customer requirements can be changed or provide in better response. Business innovation includes product innovation, production process innovation and management innovation. Enterprises create new products and services by innovation to access to excess profits rather than average profit and win in the competition. Therefore, enhancing business innovation can obtain competitive advantage. In 2007, the British consulting firm Account Ability and CSR Network conducted Corporate Social Responsibility Assessment, and British Petroleum was ranking first. BP has also invested $20 million to reduce carbon dioxide emissions to resolve the problem in order to mitigate global warming. The result of carbon dioxide emissions was reduced by 10%in 2001 compared to 1990. And it also received $560 million of value-added returns. Therefore, CSR will stimulate innovation and bring benefits for enterprises. CSR the corporate environment A good relationship with stakeholders helps enterprises to expand market, win opportunities so as to form competitive advantage. CSR Consumer CSR the Natural Environment CSR Business Partners CSR Community CSR Government model Competitive Advantages Business partner Community Government Consumer Natural Environment Staff Corporate Environment Competencies environment mpetencies Transformation and Influence between CSR CA CSR can be transformed into competitive advantages. First, corporate social responsibility is good for optimizing the living environment. Corporate social responsibility can help corporations avoid condemnation, punishment and restrictions from government, community and the public so that decision-making and management are flexibility and autonomy. Maybe they enjoy preferential policies and incentives by government. Second, enterprises carry out their social responsibility to improve the public image, advance enterprises visibility, reputation, enhance social harmony, to attract consumers. All these can create a broader market and better development. Third, corporate social responsibility can cross international barriers. At present, corporate social responsibility has become accepted indicators of high standards and strict requirements. In an increasing economic globalization, corporate social responsibility would help enterprises to international markets, reduce the impact of social responsibility and enhance and upgrade competitiveness in the international market. Fourth, corporate social responsibility will help to attract talent. Corporations regularly involved in social responsibility are more well-known to easily recruit and retain talent. Fifth, corporate social responsibility will help improve financial performance, because Investors are always interested in responsible corporation.

Steganography :: Essays Papers

Steganography Introduction to Steganography Codes have been around for centuries ranging from wax, invisible ink, Morse code, the Enigma used by the Germans during World War II and now steganographic. Steganography is the latest form to insidiously hide information over the Internet without a trace of a file being altered. You are able to hide messages within images, voice or music. Steganography is an ancient method of hiding messages. Today messages are hidden in images and music. Steganography can be traced back to the ancient Greek who would write messages on tablets and cover them in wax. This made the tablets look blank and unsuspicious (Kolata, F4). Citizens of ancient civilizations would tattoo messages on their shaved heads. They would then let their hair grown in and travel across enemy lines to deliver the message (Seper, G1). During World War II the Allies placed a ban on flower deliveries with dates, crossword puzzles and even report cards (Kolata, F4) for fear of a message being hidden with in. Steganographers fi rst alter their data by using encryption and then place the image into a pre-select image. Steganographers look for a piece of code that would be the least significant and look the least altered to the human eye (Kolata, F4), being as inconspicuousness and random as possible. This makes the messages undetectable unless you knew that there is a message hidden and you were able to crack the code. Hacking and Unhacking Hackers and terrorists have been using this form of technology for years. The United States governmental officials had suspected an attack on the United States for a period of time and thought the information to be hidden using steganography. Anyone can use and get access to steganographic materials. It's easy to download on numerous sights and no software is required. It's an easy and cheap way to keep information secure and undetectable. The number of steganography sites has doubled in the past two years (Kolata, F4). The United States government is also trying to place restrictions on encryption methods to prevent another catastrophic attack in the world such as the World Trade Center attacks. By having access to a private key the government would have unlimited access to secure information and crack codes all for safety reasons (USA Today). A " private key" is needed to decode any steganographic messages. Images are made up from a combination of an abundant of pixels (tiny dots).

Advertising and Breast Augmentation Essay example -- Media Argumentati

Advertising and Breast Augmentation      Ã‚  Ã‚   Why do we advertise products? What are the implications of these advertisements? How do advertisements further impact our society and culture? These are all very important questions to look at when discussing the motivation, success or failure and ultimately the impact of advertising. How does advertising affect our images of ourselves, and what we are ideally supposed to be? In trying to produce stimulating ads is the industry selling the viewers short of obtainable images? Obviously everyone is not built to be able to obtain the bodies set in the images before us, but many are willing to undergo surgical procedures to try and eventually obtain such body images. Advertising is a multi-million dollar a year business which can make or break some companies and their goods. Everything must be sugar coated and looking its best to appeal to the consuming public. Within our society what looks the best when it comes to humans, and who sets the standards? This is very important when applied to women and the popularity of breast implants.       In a consumer driven society such as ours, advertising is very important. What companies depict in their ads is very important in relating to people's lives, dreams and societal ideals. The notion of societal ideals plays a very important part of what we see. For example, good mothers cook for their families and its O.K. for construction workers to whistle at pretty women as they walk by. But most importantly if we look at the images we see "good-looking", slender, and healthy people staring back at use from the television or print media. These images will carry through in our everyday lives to what stores we will ... ...ory." RDS Contemporary Women's Issues. Summer 1996. Heizons. 16 October 1999 . Lavine, Howard; Sweeney, Donna; and Wagner, Stephen H., "Depicting Women as Sex Objects in Television Advertising: Effects on Body Dissatisfaction." EBSCOhost. August 1999. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. 16 October 1999 . "Media Madness." RDS Contemporary Women's Issues. January 1999. New Moon-The Magazine for Girls and Their Dreams. 18 October 1999 . Rabak-Wagener, Judith; Eickhoff-Shemek, JoAnn; Kelly-Vance, Lisa. "The Effect of Media Analysis on Attitudes and Behaviors Regarding Body Image Among College Students." RDS Contemporary Women's Issues. July 1998. Journal of American College Health. 18 October 1999 . "Women Are Losing the Weight-Body Image Battle." RDS Contemporary Women's Issues. August 1998. About Women, Inc. 16 October, 1999 .   

Spearfisherman :: Fishing Sports Papers

Spearfisherman As a student in the scuba certification class here at State, I have been taught that if you would like to keep all of your limbs, it is best to keep your hands to yourself under the water. This means that if I saw a 52 pound fish, I probably would not try to stab it with a spear, or play a game of cat and mouse. So what makes a spearfisherman? How does one go about spending their recreational time chasing after fish as big as them? Since the 1940’s, spearfishing, the art of hunting prey without a line, in its own environment, has been a popular sporting activity. How do you learn to spearfish? You must first decide what type of a fisherperson you would like to be. Would you want to hunt with scuba equipment making it easier to dive to greater depths? Or would you like to stay close to the surface without the heavy gear? There are two types of spear fishermen, the people that are freedivers, who dive without the gear, and people that require an air supply, otherwise known as scuba method. The freedive has very little equipment; a mask, optional snorkel, fins, and the speargun of your choice. It is the simplest form of spearfishing, and yet it is said to be the most challenging (Allen Patrick 6). A diver must hold his breath on the surface, â€Å"pike dive† and descend, while trying to clear his ears and equalize pressure(6). The ears must also be cleared with the scuba method, so this is no t only for freedivers. The scuba method, much more gear intensive, first and foremost requires that you have a recreational diving license. Diving by in itself requires skill and education, so it is advisable for a aspiring spearfisherman to obtain a diving license before heading down to the local speargun shop. You must have a mask that properly fits their face, fins, an air cylinder with a regulator that makes it possible to breath, the appropriate weight belt to decrease and increase buoyancy, along with the buoyancy compensator, that holds you cylinder in place (Patrick 11-13). Now that you are in the water and have your gear, you need a weapon.

Dominos Case Analysis

Strategic Profile and Case Analysis Purpose Dominoes was found in 1960 and headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Domino’s Pizza Inc. is the market leader in the United States pizza delivery and second largest pizza company in the world based on number of units. The company offers a wide variety of pizza products as well as pasta, bread sticks, boneless chicken and wings, desserts and soft drinks. As of the beginning of this year, 2012, Domino’s had 394 company-owned stores and 4,513 franchised Domino’s units in the U. S. and 4,835 franchised stores internationally.Domino’s strategy is to use its superior supply-chain to provide its franchises with lost cost inputs so the franchises may focus on sales and service. Through the online world, Domino’s customers began to share their dissatisfaction with Domino’s products, such as pizza lacked taste and quality and poor quality delivery pizzas. Over the past 3-5 years Domino’s has made an ef fort to improve the palatability of their core products, and in 2009 introduced a new and redesigned crust recipe, fresh ingredients, a new sauce, and real shredded cheese.This effort, along the successive marketing campaigns has increased brand loyalty and customer preferences which has had a profound effect on increases in revenue and number of franchise openings. I believe that this strategy that is currently implemented is working, but for Domino’s to remain an industry leader and prolong the current trend of success, Domino’s needs to focus on the demographic and technological changes in the market. Focusing on the changes and reevaluating their current strategy will help Domino’s remain a leader within the industry. Situational AnalysisGeneral Environment Analysis: Demographic | -Pizza remains a very popular product appealing to a wide demographic of Americans that consider restaurants an essential part of their lifestyle. -According to Rasmussen Reports 4 0% of American eat pizza at least once per month w/adults ranging 30-49 yrs. of age; 21% of young adults (18-24) purchase pizza more than three times a week. Pizza is an integral part of American culture and shows no sign of exciting the market. | Economic | Domino’s is not immune to market trends; its revenues are directly affected by how the economy is doing.As the labor force progresses closer to full employment, consumer spending will increase and real GDP will be boosted. As a result, Domino’s Pizza will benefit from the increase of consumer spending as more consumers will likely spend more money at quick-service restaurants than dinging at home. To retain consumer’s quick-service restaurants should not worry as much about pricing but about expanding their menus. | Political/Legal| The political and legal conditions that could affect the business of Domino’s Pizza are the policies of the local and national government towards business.If the governmen t is more open to the establishment of numerous restaurants, then more restaurants will be established. Laws in favor of employees will be a factor for Domino’s. In each state/country they operate in they will have to provide proper employee training, as well as the minimum wage that are in compliance with state and federal regulations. Wages increasing can have a negative impact on revenues. | Sociocultural| Households are more likely to have a double income these days, resulting in families going out to eat more often. No time to cook at home) Media is growing at a fast pace means that Domino’s need to be part of this trend and keep up with the technological changes when comes to their online and app. options. Providing healthier options can be a potential competitive advantage for Domino’s. More people are concerned with their health and are becoming more aware of nutritional facts. Organic and gluten free products are gaining popularity. | Technological| The fast changes in technology nowadays have far-reaching effects.The factors that have a huge impact are: research and development, internet and e-commerce, and new technologies. The research and development has effects on Domino’s Pizza because through R&D new products are developed for the business, the internet and e-commerce also contributes to the technological factors because through them customers can give feedback regarding the products. Technology will assist in developing the firms’ strategies and strategic competiveness. | Global| More and more industrialized countries are emerging.Current and potential political events can affect the potential growth of Domino’s. | Physical| Creating and using products that are bio-gradable and promoting recycling can save Domino’s money, and differentiate themselves from their competitors. | Industry analysis: The restaurant industry was projected to have $604 Billion sales in 2011, which is approximately 4 per cent of the projected total GDP of the United States according to the estimate from National Restaurant Association. The industry has been expanding since the 1960s, mainly due to the boom of quick service restaurants such as Yum!Brands Inc. and McDonald’s. The long term expansion of the restaurant industry is expected to continue as the major players in this industry are focusing on providing healthier and less expensive food for both Americans and customers’ abroad. The restaurant industry provides two categories of services: fast food and full-service restaurant. The fast food restaurants mainly serve products including sandwiches, and pizza. Those restaurants attract customers by offering convenient, inexpensive and appealing foods.Fast food restaurants will still perform comparatively well during financial downturn (see graphs below) because customers will switch from full-service restaurant to the cheaper fast food restaurants. Threat of new entrants| ? Economies of Scale: The saturation of the pizza industry is a huge limiter of how much an advantage can be attained by economies of scale.? Product Differentiation: Differentiation is a necessary expense in the pizza industry but it is not difficult to overcome so we can say it is not a significant barrier to market entry.?Capital requirements will dominate the formation of new, national competitors, but is not a significant barrier to private startups.? Cost Disadvantages: The extreme saturation and similarity in product offering make convenient locations essential for quick service restaurants large and small. This is a significant barrier to entry.? Distribution Channels: Speedy and reliable channels are essential among all firms in the industry, they are not necessarily difficult for new comers to attain. Due to the lack of any of the barriers to entry being so significant, we feel the threat of new entrants is high. Power of suppliers| The bargaining power of suppliers shapes the restau rant industry by determining the food commodity costs. Restaurant operators usually negotiate on their purchases through future contracts; however instability in food goods costs can constrain the power to price their products. Suppliers for Domino’s pizza have low bargaining power, due to the high volume of products and the low differentiation level. There are also many substitutes for any particular input. | Power of buyers| Price is a key factor for customers in choosing restaurants.Consumers compare the values of food and what they pay for the food. Domino’s Pizza customers bargaining power and switching costs are low since a costumer can find a second option easily (frozen pizza or other pizza restaurants and chains). Differentiation levels are created by the consumers and include style of pizza, atmosphere, and location. | Threat of product substitutes| One reason for high competition in the restaurant industry is similar menus among the companies in the restaura nt industry. Few restaurants have successfully differentiated menus from others.The threat this poses on the industry’s’ profitability depend on the price-to-performance ratio, it is also affected by switching costs. Since there are so many firms offer the same basic need the consumer is looking for it results in low switching costs and a high threat of substitution. | Intensity of rivalry among competitors| The rivalry in the restaurant industry is high and gives firms more incentive to differentiate themselves form its competitors and meet customers’ needs. Firms in this industry are competing for the same market share.Since the customer base is not growing as fast the industry, the growth is slow. | Competitor analysis: With Domino’s Pizza competing in the domestic and global market, its main competitors globally are YUM! Brands, McDonalds, and Wendy’s. Many of these fast service chain restaurants are expanding internationally at a rapid rate. E ach competitor offers wide array of products to its consumers, so Domino’s has had to make many menu changes to help keep their loyal customers satisfied. Domino’s main U. S. competitors in the pizza delivery service market are Pizza Hut, Papa John’s, and Little Caesars.Domino’s is in an industry where it must use its valued brand name as a way of competing with its competitors around the globe. Locally, Domino’s uses its trademark â€Å"Domino's Pizza: You Got 30 Minutes†20 to remind consumers that they are the number one pizza delivery company in the U. S. and use this as a competitive edge against its aggressive competitors. Pizza Hut The number one competitor for Domino’s is Pizza Hut. Pizza Hut operates under Yum! Brands, which also includes four other restaurant chains. Pizza Hut is only two years older than Domino’s and has over 13,000 store locations in 95 different countries.The main focus of Pizza Hut is letting their customers customize their pizzas; each location is designed to tailor to local tastes and culture. They serve a variety of products ranging from specialty pizzas to pasta, sandwiches and chicken wings. In 2010 the brand reported a 4. 7 percent increase in revenues and sales for Pizza Hut increased by 8. 8 percent in the US. Though Domino’s remains the leader in the US delivery segment, Pizza Hut maintains the top spot in the US pizza segment with a 13. 78 market share as of late 2009.Pizza Hut’s goal is moving forward, they want to be known not as a pizza restaurant, but as a â€Å"pizza, pasta, and wings† brand. To complete their transformation Pizza Hut is working to make its menu items more competitively priced and improve their service times as well as focus on great customer service. Lastly, to help gain market share throughout the world, Pizza Hut is focusing its expansion plans on China, one of the world’s rapidly growing marketplaces. Papa Johnâ €™s Papa John’s is considered the world’s third ranked pizza delivery and carryout restaurant behind Pizza Hut and Domino’s.Currently it owns and franchises 3,646 restaurants in which 612 are company owned and 3,034 franchised in all of US and 32 countries worldwide. Papa John’s was founded on the premise that if you make the best pizza and price it competitively, you can sell it. Some of their major products include pizza, bread/cheese sticks, chicken strips, winds, dessert, and beverages. Papa John’s operates through six segments: domestic restaurants, domestic franchising, international operations, variable interest entities, and â€Å"all other† business units.In 1999 Papa John’s took over the number three spot in the US market from Little Caesars. But in the early 2000s, Papa Johns hit the wall and put a break on its expansions plans. The economic recession caused a dip in revenues for year-end 2009, and 2010. In effort to re -energize its brand during this period, Papa invested heavily in advertising, becoming the official sponsor for the NFL and the next three super bowls. In addition, Papa John’s launched a highly successfully promotion for consumers, these efforts helped Papa John’s maintain its market share.Little Caesars Family-owned Little Caesars Enterprises, Inc a subsidiary of Illitich Holdings owns and franchises over 2,600 units in the US and 11 other countries. As of 2010, it owned 4 percent of the US pizza locations and was a major competitor of Domino’s despite its lack of delivery service. It’s considered by Technomic Inc to be the fastest growing pizza restaurant chain in the US. Approximately 80 percent of Little Caesars locations are franchises with many stores located in strip malls or other popular shopping areas.Little Caesars offers pizzas, crazy bread and sauce, cheese bread, Caesar dips and churros as well as it offers party catering service. Littler C aesars has been following the same marketing campaign since the 70s and is known for its two-for-one â€Å"Pizza! Pizza! † Little Caesars has topped a host of â€Å"Best Pizza Value in America† lists for years and years in a row and, despite some setbacks in the 90s as Papa John’s climbed the ladder, continues to offer some hard- to- beat competition. Internal analysis Tangible resources:Domino’s low cost deliver-oriented store design is a tangible resource. Domino’s franchises approximately 90 percent of their 5,155 stores in the US. The stores are decided small with a focus on delivery, which allows them to cut the cost of having the typical large pizzeria type restaurant. Domino’s also uses their company owned stores as testing facilities for new products and technologies, this allows them to cut cost on having to rent out additional stores. Domino’s has its own supply chain for domestic and internationally franchised stores.This o peration consists 17 domestic facilities/6 international facilities that distribute food, equipment and supplies to the franchised stores nation and worldwide. Having their own supply chain gives Domino’s an advantage, it means automatic delivery of ingredients to stores which eliminates wait time and adds freshness, allowing the store team to focus on its sales and customer service. The vertically integrated supply chain allows Domino’s to leverage the purchasing power of thousands of privately owned and franchised stores nationwide to help food costs low.Domino’s new smart-phone â€Å"pizza tracker† application that is also available on their website, shows customers where the pizza is in the process, and how long it will take for the pizza to be ready and/or delivered. This allows customers be more involved in the process and allows instant communication between the two. In result this will help decrease the number of employees that Domino’s nee ds to hire, which will increase revenues as well as focus more on the food making process. Intangible resources: Domino’s has multiple intangible resources.Firstly, Domino’s focuses as a company on two core strengths: high quality pizzas at a competitive price and a fast delivery time, both that are intangible. Secondly, Domino’s strong brand image results in many loyal customers even with the new introductions made to the menu. Lastly, Domino’s has a worldwide presence and have pioneered the pizza delivery industry giving them a strong reputation. Capabilities: Domino’s has five capabilities that were discussed in the analysis. The first is their vertically integrated supply chain. Domino’s is able to drive sales up and costs down.Secondly, Domino’s focuses on adapting each location to its surrounding environment, such as changing menu options in other countries to adapt to the taste preferences of the population. Thirdly, the new sm art phone application, which allows customers order as they go and have more of a connection during the process. Having a strong brand image is another capability of Domino’s, its what allows them to be a direct competitor in the restaurant industry. Lastly, Domino’s is very cost effective, they pre-cut and pre-package all the ingredients, which allow them to be competitive in the market, and in the price they charge their customers.Core competencies: The last four decades Dominos has proven to be a top leader in the pizza industry, and has created several core competencies. Strong brand presence is what created brand loyalty with their customers and lead them to be one of the major competitors in the industry. Their focus on fast delivery is the foundation of their daily profit margins. Expanding internationally and incorporating online services as well as smart device application is another factor for them staying competitive. Also, Domino’s has a cost leaders hip business model which allows them to sell their products at a competitive rice. Sustainable competitive advantage: Domino’s has expanded their opportunities for more profit by opening over 3,000 locations internationally. They have built a strong brand image; by incorporating online technology they were able to stay competitive and ahead of some of their competitors. They have sustained their competitive advantage with the incorporation of Internet services as well as their strong brand image, as well as their expansion to over 70 countries. Since 2009, Domino’s stock has grown a remarkable 233 percent by 2011.SWOT Analysis Strengths| Weaknesses| -Delivery leader in the industry. -Has a strong and diversified franchising network around the world-Massive growth in its expansion across the globe; Dominos international network grew 48% from 2,987 stores to 4,442 stores-Strong brand equity. Known as the â€Å"Mega Brand† as defined by advertising brand magazine. Its positive brand image leads to dependable and trustworthy customers -Technology savvy: Online menus, as well as a Domino’s application for the iPhone and iPod.Helps customers order quickly and choose to have food delivered; pizza tracker allows the customer to the progress of their food being delivered. | -Compared to competitors it lacks menu options -Weak international presence as compared to peers-Lacks significant amount of profit it earns outs the US compared to its competitors-Weakening bottom line| Opportunities| Threats| -Expand its product outside of its stores and into the frozen food market can be quite profitable and beneficial (good for top line growth)-Introduce new healthier options: organic toppings, gluten free, etc. Entry into expanding markets will like boost revenue growth-Sales growth from online orders and smartphone application| -Faces high competition among other pizza companies domestically and globally. Constantly dealing with new product innovati on techniques and pricing pressure among the pizza delivery industry. -Strict govt. regulations poses threat to company’s development plans-Social media can result in a threat due to more people sharing their experiences-bad experiences can influence a prospect client to go elsewhere -Consumers growing more heath conscious| Strategy FormationDomino’s prides itself on its consistency and logistical operations that keep overhead costs down and provide less expensive pizza. Due to the current demographic changes and methods of communication changing, Dominoes must make changes to it s current cost leaderships strategy in order to gain more market share and stay a top competitor in the industry. Strategic alternatives: A strategic alternative for Domino’s to pursue would be a differentiation strategy. Domino’s could gain more customers from segments of the market that had not considered Domino’s as an adequate meal choice.If Domino’s chooses to focus on even a lower cost leadership strategy it would help them maintain its current customer base and possible gain more bargain shopper customers by exploiting its already known capabilities and core competencies, resulting in even more market share form this market segment. Pursuing an integrated cost leadership and differentiation strategy, Domino’s will still be able to maintain its competitive pricing while creating new products that will attract new segments of the market. Alternative evaluation: The first strategy that Domino’s could pursue is the differentiation strategy.Pursing this strategy would mean that Dominos would need to look for new suppliers to obtain higher quality ingredients. The finance support in the value chain would have to examine to see where capital could be found and allocated to make this strategy work. For Domino’s to change to the differentiation strategy, they would need to gain new tangible and intangible resources to achiev e this strategy as well as to create new capabilities that would lead to new core competencies, resulting in a competitive advantage in the market. Secondly, Domino’s could purse a even lower cost leadership strategy.To pursue an even lower cost leadership strategy, Domino’s would have to cut mores cost in areas such as food quality and choice of supplier. This could lead to fewer costs for them but may result going back to their â€Å"tastes like cardboard† negative image. Due to the taste aspect of their product, it would be safest for Domino’s to look to make cuts else where such as marketing and advertising in order to keep their even lower cost leadership strategy. Lastly, Domino’s could pursue the integrated cost leadership and differentiated strategy.This strategy would be the strongest strategy for Domino’s, it could allow them to be the first mover in the industry to use healthier, organic ingredients which would attract a new segme nt of the market as well as those who might have decided to go else where. Alternative choice: I would choose the integrated cost leadership and differentiated strategy from the three options I listed above. I believe that this strategy allows Domino’s to use its current core competencies and helps develop new capabilities that could lead to even stronger core competencies and a higher competitive advantage in the industry.Strategic Alternative Implementation Action items: In order for Domino’s to implement an integrated cost leadership and differentiation strategy and gain a competitive advantage in the industry it will need: suppliers that will sell quality ingredients at a reasonable cost, a new structure that is supported by the company, and lastly having the current leader initiate and encourage these changes, or put a new leader that will help implement these changes.Actions plan: In order for Domino’s to take on an integrated cost leadership and different iation strategy, they should use their existing connections with suppliers that will help them find new suppliers who can deliver organic, high quality ingredients at a reasonable price. This will assist with Domino’s becoming the first mover in the industry towards healthier, high quality pizzas.Though this may lead to an increase of price, I believe that because of the current organic foods sector recent growth sprit in our society, there won’t be much of a negative reaction to the price. The current hybrid functional/multidivisional structure may be able to hand the strategy change, but modifications to the value chain would need to take place. Less focus on cutting costs, more of a focus on differentiating the product.Last of all, the current leader or a new leader would need to me a transformational leader, that would implement and encourage the strategy switch from cost leadership to integrated cost leadership and differentiation. Pursuing this new strategy would lead to numerous opportunities, and benefits for Domino’s now and the future. It would allow Domino’s become a first mover in the industry, and create a new market for other fast food restaurants.

The Digital World

The twenty first century marked the start of a new era of technological advancements. Although technology has evolved through the ages, the new developments have certainly brought technology unto a higher pedestal, creating more and more opportunities for people all over the world. The world went back to its usual state- borderless. Communicating with people in other parts of the globe has been made easy with a simple click of the send button. The internet has also certainly provided students with other avenues to obtain information for their school work.Not only that, editing pictures, videos, music, etc. has also been possible through the different advancements developed. Years ago, we were so used to using hearing our favorite music from cassette tapes placed inside portable cassette players. But nowadays, digital music, Ipods, mp3 players, and the like have been introduced. True enough; a digital world has been created together with the coming of this millennium. Widespread Use o f Internet Appliances The introduction of internet appliances in the market is seen to be another avenue by which producers could increase their revenue (Mandelstam, D. , n. d.)According to the study made by Hambrecht’s and Quist’s Internet Group, the development and production of internet appliances shall increase in the 2000s (Pastore, M. , 1999). As a means for increasing their revenue, the producers of internet appliances have connected their products to the internet to be able to receive positive feedback, knowing how popular the internet is nowadays and of course, the fact that these appliances could be accessed even from a distance. More or less, we should be expecting more internet appliances in the near future as anything is possible in the modern times through technology (David Strom Inc., 1999).Digital Counterfeiting Digital imaging is another technological advancement brought about by the twenty-first century. The editing of pictures through a program such as Photoshop has somehow evolved to the forgery of Identification cards (csrc. nit. gov, n. d. ) as well as the faking of US dollar bills (books. nap. edu, n. d. ). Obviously, digital counterfeiting is continuously being used as another way to commit crime by those who have continuously abused the benefits being brought about by the advancements in technology (Miller, 2000).Benefits and Risks of New Wireless Technology Wireless Technology, as its name implies promises one thing: internet connection without the wires (hp. ca, n. d. ). Wi-fi enabled hotspots are seen in every part of the country, in coffee shops, malls, airports, schools, etc. allowing people to check their emails or access the internet wherever they are, thus cutting the possibility of failing to read a very important email message or failing to attend to something important.Just like mobile phones, sending messages over the World Wide Web and researching would be hassle-free and very easy. In the office setup, manag ers would have an easier time in setting up networks without moving wires (hp. ca, n. d. ). It would help in lessening the rigidity of the office environment that often leads to the raising of IT costs and reduction in productivity (hp. ca, n. d. ). In summary, wireless technology offers an efficient, effective and convenient way of accessing the internet, for companies and for individuals.Unfortunately, disadvantages come with these benefits. In a report published by BBC news (April 28, 2007), the head of the government’s committee on mobile phone safety research Professor Lawrie Challis released a statement with regard to the potential health risks that wi-fi internet could bring (bbc. co. uk). Research shows the dangers of pollutants such as lead and UV radiation when using wireless internet. In addition to this, wireless technology is constantly becoming a threat to security and privacy as well.The Ernst &Young survey showed that most companies do not have protection agai nst intrusion from third parties, seeing the wireless technology as another avenue to commit internet related crimes (Beckley, 2005). Computer Gaming One of the causes of internet addiction is internet gaming. As the gaming culture continues to arise, these games become more and more addictive because of the use of the stereotype of the game player (Cover, R. , 2006). Although internet addiction is one of the many disadvantages of computer gaming, violence is yet another negative value planted in the young minds of children (Myclopedia, 2004).The violence being taught maliciously by these computer games could affect our society as this may release the aggressive behavior within us (Harris, J. 2004). The addiction of the people in these computer games would help in further deteriorating the values which should be considered as more important such as socialization with real people. Spam and its prevention and ramifications The direct effects of spam could include the consumption of co mputer and network resources, which could again, lead to the congestion of mail servers.It is also costly for individuals who devote much of their time and attention in canceling and disregarding unwanted messages without deleting the important ones. Spam comes from different senders. One of the most common brought about by spamming then is the impossibility to disregard these kinds of messages without ignoring the valuable ones. Because of the many emails an individuals usually receive, and because most of them are spam, they tend to delete everything including those that of vital importance to them.The simplest way to avoid this problem is through filtering. Popular email hosts nowadays offer filtering as one of their services. If a certain individual receives too much mail from a certain sender, all she/he has to do is block that certain address. Thus, all email messages that would come from that particular sender would not be delivered to his/her inbox (Gnus Manual, 2003). One w ay of discouraging spammers is through charging each and every mail being sent all over the world (Boushka, 2006).Also, new filtering systems should be developed that could help in slowing down the servers of these spammers as well as helping in bouncing back spammed emails to their senders. Although the Bayesian way of filtering is considered to be the most effective way to combat SPAM (Graham, 2003), new efforts must be done in order to enhance this considering the flaws present in the system. The development of new email protocols should be given importance- protocols that would no longer be susceptible because of spam (Boushka, 2006).Electronic Surveillance and Personal Privacy Wiretapping and electronic eavesdropping has been two of the most popular methods being used in criminal investigation (Landesman, n. d. ). These new forms of technology are being placed secretly to monitor the activities of criminals, and hopefully catch them in their act (Maclin, 2007). Aside from these , new surveillance videos have been installed to monitor employees’ work in a certain company to ensure that they are doing what is expected of them, and are not committing any felonies (Sinrod, E.J. , 2001).Though these may be advantageous to some, the increase in the production of electronic surveillance poses a threat to the privacy of the people being placed under these surveillance systems. In the next five years or so, more and more electronic surveillance devices could be developed that would not be noticed by the general public but could actually monitor their personal lives (Kaplan, C. S. , 1990). Ethical Use of Computer Information from Data MiningData mining is the extraction of protected information from larger databases that definitely helps companies in their gathering of very important information (Anderson. ucla. edu, n. d. ). It is of course, very useful for the science professionals and even for the businessmen as they do get their profits from the vast amou nts of information that they obtain. Data mining tools do predict trends and behaviors that could be of great help to anyone in research. However, some businessmen take advantage of data mining and even go beyond as online marketing which is not very different from SPAM (Exa, 2002).Somehow, these profit oriented individuals have violated the ethics of data mining by advertising online, spamming the accounts of people holding email accounts, and even sending out copyrighted information (Thearling. com, n. d. ). Health Dangers of Using Computers and the Internet The computer can be seen as one of the causes of many accidents. Usually, small kids could cause fire and get badly wounded for spilling a drink on the computer. Thus, children should be taught on how to properly use the computer to avoid accidents such as this (allpctips. com, 2006).In relation with this, too much use of the computer could affect the health of its users. These health related problems, cited by the Royal Socie ty for the Prevention of Accidents are the following: Repetitive Strain Injury, Strained Eyes, Stress and the worst, Epilepsy (RoSPA, 2007). In order to prevent these, one must be able to organize his or her work properly to minimize his or her time in front of the computer. Also, users must know when to take their short breaks in order to relax themselves during long periods of being exposed to the computer (Herbert, 2006).Environmental Impact of Widespread Computing Widespread computing requires a lot of energy and somehow contributes to the pollution of the environment (Kohler and Erdmann, 2004). It is also very damaging when a certain place does not have proper waste disposal (Bolton, 2003). Widespread computing could lead to problems that could contribute to the pressing problems that our world is facing nowadays, on the account of the threats of global warming, brought about by the pollutants that harm our ozone layer.The chemicals emitted as waste from pervasive computing cou ld even add on to this problem. In the same way, the increasing consumption of energy, could be tripled just because of widespread counting (Williams and Kuehr, 2003). Internet Addiction Internet addiction ruins real-life relationship and could bring about personal, family, academic, occupational and financial problems as being too engrossed with the internet puts people in seclusion, making them more and more distant to real people (Illinos Institute for Addiction Recovery, n.d. ).The reason why most people tend to be so addicted to the internet is because they find it as an extension of their social life- through the different chat soft wares, social networks such as friendster. com and myspace. com, etc. (Grohol, J. M. , 1999). Obviously, internet addiction has been more common to the children and teenagers who are so enthusiastic towards the new world that was opened to them through the World Wide Web (bewebaware. ca, 2007).