Succubus Heat CHAPTER 3

I neither packed nor called Dante when I got home. I was exhausted. Talking to Seth had been too depressing. I lived too close to the bookstore, I decided. What had once been convenient now felt oppressive. A few blocks simply wasn't enough distance between Seth and me. I kind of wished Emerald City had another branch somewhere that I could work. In lieu of that, maybe I was the one who needed to find a new residence. My lease here was ending soon, and until now, I'd never considered anything except renewing. Moving was a startling-and weirdly appealing-thought, and I pondered it as I drifted off to sleep that night, my cat Aubrey snuggled against my legs. The next morning, I had to scramble to pack my things. Jerome hadn't given me any specific time to be in Vancouver, only â€Å"soon.† I decided not to test the exact terms of that. Packing didn't take long, fortunately. I could shape-shift any clothing I wanted, but I had some favorites I preferred to just take with me. It was another lingering human habit. There were also cosmetics and other toiletries I wanted with me; I liked to do my own hair and makeup if I had the time. I was pouring my third cup of coffee in the kitchen when I felt the tingle of immortal signatures appear in my living room. Only a higher immortal, like a demon or angel, could directly teleport in, and I immediately recognized these two. Grace and Mei. They were Jerome's lieutenant demonesses. Heaven ran its agenda in a haphazard way, but ours was carefully organized. Territory was parceled out to archdemons, who in turn controlled a network of subordinate demons and lesser immortals like me and my friends: succubi, vampires, and imps. Jerome handled the big issues in the area, went to meetings with the demons who were above him, and was in charge of discipline. Grace and Mei handled the minutiae and paperwork and also kept an eye on the far reaches of Jerome's territory, areas he was too busy for and uninterested in. His full jurisdiction actually stretched along the coast of western Washington, though his base of operation was the Seattle metropolitan area. That was also where most of his staff was located. He only kept an occasional eye on the outskirts and left it to Grace and Mei to keep him apprised of what occurred there. For whatever reason, the demonesses always wore matching clothing. Today they sported black pantsuits, tailored to a perfect fit. Grace was blond and Mei black-haired, but their hairstyles were also similar: bluntly cut at the chin. Both wore brick-red lipstick. â€Å"Good morning, Georgina,† said Grace. â€Å"We're here with last-minute instructions,† said Mei. â€Å"Oh, okay.† I was relieved. I'd been afraid Jerome had sent them to find out why I hadn't already crossed the Canadian border. â€Å"You guys want some coffee?† I offered them something every time they were here, and every time, they refused. So, I was a bit astonished when Grace asked, â€Å"What kind?† â€Å"Um†¦Starbucks. Their house blend.† â€Å"No,† replied Grace and Mei in unison. I shrugged and sat down on the couch. Aubrey had been lying there a minute ago but was nowhere in sight now. She hated these two. Mostly they creeped me out. â€Å"Okay,† I asked. â€Å"What's the scoop?† They remained standing. Mei crossed her arms. â€Å"Jerome wants you to understand the situation with Cedric. The two of them have had a†¦disagreement over territorial lines.† This perked my interest. â€Å"Ah. It's him, then. We'd heard Jerome had something going on with another demon.† â€Å"The two of them had been eyeing each other's areas,† explained Grace. â€Å"In the hopes of expanding their own boundaries into one large Pacific Northwest†¦Ã¢â‚¬  She paused thoughtfully. â€Å"†¦empire?† I suggested. She shrugged by way of agreement. â€Å"Something like that,† said Mei. â€Å"But eventually, they put the dispute aside and gave up, each settling for their current territories. That's why Jerome is lending you to Cedric, as a sign of good will.† I was too intrigued to retort about the degradation of Jerome â€Å"lending† me to anyone. â€Å"Jerome doesn't do things out of good will,† I pointed out, recalling his snide remark about altruism last night. â€Å"There's more going on.† Grace nodded. â€Å"Indeed. Jerome suspects that Cedric actually hasn't given up the struggle and is still plotting against him. Jerome wants you to spy and report back.† Oh, I didn't like that. Not at all. â€Å"He wants me to spy on another demon? An arch demon? Do you know what kind of trouble I could get in if Cedric finds out?† Neither demoness said anything. It was no concern of theirs if I got smote. Considering Jerome's current attitude toward me, it probably wasn't much of a concern for him either, aside from having to send a requisition to Personnel for a new succubus. â€Å"So,† continued Mei, â€Å"you'll have two agendas. You need to let Jerome know what Cedric's doing. And, you need to infiltrate Cedric's problem cult and keep them in line-although, if you make things a little uncomfortable for Cedric along the way, Jerome won't mind.† â€Å"Right. The Canadian Satanists. What on earth are they doing that's such a big deal? Putting 666 on the backs of hockey jerseys?† My joke had no effect on either demoness. Someday, I thought, I'd get one of them to crack a smile. â€Å"They're attracting attention, enough that Cedric's superiors are embarrassed. They'd prefer this cult conduct its evil in more subtle ways.† â€Å"Last I knew, true Satanists aren't actually evil per se,† I mused. The rep aside, most Satanists were more into just acknowledging chaos and humanity's wild, base nature. â€Å"Most aren't actually out conducting bloody rituals or spray-painting pentagrams on walls.† â€Å"Actually,† said Mei, â€Å"this group is spray-painting pentagrams on walls.† â€Å"Oh,† I said. â€Å"That's lame.† â€Å"They think they're evil†¦Ã¢â‚¬  began Grace. â€Å"†¦but they're not,† finished Mei. â€Å"They need to be reined in.† â€Å"Okay, sure. No problem.† Influencing wannabe Satanists was a piece of cake compared to spying on a demon. I glanced at the time. â€Å"Anything else? I should probably head out.† â€Å"Yes,† said Mei. â€Å"Jerome wants you to check in on Tawny.† â€Å"Seriously?† I groaned. â€Å"He hates me.† The demonesses neither confirmed nor denied this statement. â€Å"See you around, Georgina,† said Grace. â€Å"We'll check in,† said Mei. They vanished. With a heavy heart, I finished my packing and told Aubrey good-bye. Then I lugged my suitcase down to my Passat, off to play Mata Hari. I just hoped my end would be better than hers. Once you clear Everett, a naval city just north of Seattle, the drive up to Canada is pretty easy. The speed limit goes up, and the most exciting attractions along the way are casinos and outlet malls. About a half-hour from the border, I reached Bellingham, the current residence of Tawny Johnson. Tawny was a succubus, a very new succubus. Technically, I was her mentor, but her assignment in Bellingham mercifully limited our interactions. She'd come to Seattle back in December and had gotten involved with an imp named Niphon who'd been trying to make my life more of a living hell than it already was. He'd roped her into his plans, and as angry as I'd been about it, I knew the fault was his more than hers. She hadn't really known what she was doing and had been convinced he could help fast-track her career. Nonetheless, she'd gotten in enough trouble that Jerome had sent her out of the city. It was better than being sent back to Hell, so really, the arrangement suited all of us just fine. I gave her a call, and we met up at a caf? ¦ just off I-5. Tawny was easy to spot when she entered the place. Despite the fact that Tawny had been kind of a con artist when she was a mortal-a profession you'd think would lend itself well to succubus work-she was actually pretty horrible at seduction. Oh, she could still get guys to sleep with her, but it was more thanks to her availability rather than any particular wiles on her part. In particular, she was convinced that the most alluring form she could take was that of a six-foot blonde with breasts that would have given a human a back injury. Tawny also had a penchant for spandex and metallic fabrics that I found disturbing but that delighted Hugh and the vampires to no end. I made a mental note to tell them about the chartreuse hot pants she wore today. â€Å"Georgina!† she exclaimed, dancing over to my table on gold stilettos. â€Å"I'm so happy to see you.† She held out her arms, like maybe I was supposed to stand and hug her, but I remained sitting. Taking the hint, she sat down as well. â€Å"What are you doing here?† â€Å"I'm going to Vancouver,† I said, wrapping my hands around my white chocolate mocha. â€Å"Jerome wanted me to stop by and see how things were going.† Her eyes lit up. â€Å"Great! I've been spending a lot of time over at Western.† She leaned forward and spoke in a sage voice. â€Å"You know, if you're ever having trouble getting someone into bed, you should go check out college guys. They're so easy.† â€Å"Thanks for the tip,† I said dryly. â€Å"I'll keep it in mind.† She pursed her lips and eyed me. â€Å"Doesn't look like you need it, though,† she added wistfully. â€Å"I could never get a glow like that.† Too bad she hadn't seen the glow in full effect yesterday. It would have blown her away. â€Å"You will,† I said. â€Å"Someday.† Some day far, far away. Tawny had miles to go before gaining the subtleties required to land really moral guys. â€Å"I don't know how you do it. You aren't even blond. I mean, maybe a little, but mostly you're a brunette. I just don't see guys going for that.† My hair was long and light brown, lightly highlighted with gold. My eyes were a hazel-green that I also suspected didn't fit in with her worldview of what was sexy, at least if her baby blues were any indication. â€Å"Yeah, well, some people are into kinky stuff, I guess.† The waiter showed up and took our lunch orders. I made myself comfortable and prepared to do some mentoring. â€Å"So,† I said. â€Å"You got any questions?† Tawny titled her head, long-lashed blue eyes filled with thought. â€Å"Yeah. There's something I've been wondering about.† â€Å"Okay, go for it.† â€Å"These colleges guys†¦they're kind of, like, fast.† â€Å"Fast?† â€Å"Yeah. You get them into bed, and it's over before it begins.† â€Å"They're eighteen or twenty. Still pulsing with adolescent hormones. They don't really know what they're doing yet.† â€Å"Yeah, yeah, I know,† she said. â€Å"Except, when you're going down on them, it takes forever . You know what I mean?† I forced a straight face. â€Å"It's one of the mysteries of the universe, Tawny. You just gotta roll with it.† â€Å"But my mouth gets sore,† she whined. â€Å"Makes my jaw ache the next day! Isn't there any way to speed it up?† My immortal friends would die if they could hear this conversation. â€Å"You can try the ‘don't stop' trick. Or maybe tell them you want them to come on your face. That'll get things moving.† â€Å"Ew! That's disgusting.† I shrugged. â€Å"Don't ask the question if you don't want to hear the answer.† â€Å"But how can I even say anything when my mouth is, well, you know†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Thus went the rest of our lunch conversation, and blow jobs turned out to be the mildest of topics. Fortunately, no one sat within listening distance. I ate my chicken salad as fast as I could, eager to be on my way. As we were paying the bill, a thought came to me. â€Å"Hey, Tawny. You're practically on top of Cedric's turf here. You ever see any signs of him and Jerome fighting?† She shook her head. â€Å"No. I've never even met Cedric. But there's a vampire here in town who's mentioned them fighting before. He seems to think it's a big deal.† â€Å"Everyone seems to, and yet†¦I don't know. I have a weird feeling about all this. Like that someone's trying to cover up something.† Tawny placed some cash on the table, her clawlike nails lacquered and red. For half a moment, she looked remarkably wise. â€Å"Back when I was doing cons, the best way to pull one past people was to make a big deal about something else. Misdirection.† It was quite possibly the most intelligent thing I'd ever heard Tawny say. â€Å"Yeah, but if so, what are we being misdirected from?† â€Å"Hell if I know. That's for smart people like you to figure out. I'm just trying to get college guys to speed up their blow jobs.† My first minute in Canada, I got pulled over. Right after you go through customs, there's a short stretch of the freeway with an incredibly low speed limit. Every time I drive through there, I try to drive that speed. And I'm the only one who ever does it. All the locals zip through that area, already driving the speed that the freeway clicks up to about half a mile (or kilometer or whatever) later. Every time, just before I officially hit the higher speed zone, I finally crack and speed up too-and that's always when the cops get me. I've been pulled over three times. This was my fourth. I handed over my license and other pertinent paperwork to the cop. â€Å"American, eh?† he asked, like it wasn't perfectly obvious. â€Å"Yes, sir,† I said. â€Å"You know you were speeding, don't you?† He mostly sounded curious, not harsh. â€Å"Was I?† I asked blankly, looking at him with doe eyes. I saw the succubus glamour seize him. â€Å"But the sign said sixty-five.† â€Å"Sixty-five kilometers per hour,† he corrected gently. â€Å"We use the metric system here.† I blinked. â€Å"Ohhhh. God, I forgot. I feel so stupid.† â€Å"It happens a lot,† he said. He handed my stuff back without even running it. â€Å"I'll tell you what. I'll let you go this time. Just make sure you get the units right, eh? Your speedometer's got kilometers per hour underneath the miles per hour.† â€Å"Oh, that's what the little numbers are for, huh-er, eh?† I gave him a dazzling smile. â€Å"Thank you so much.† So help me, he tipped his hat. â€Å"Happy to help. Be careful now, and enjoy your stay.† I thanked him again and headed off. It's worth noting here that while I've been pulled over four times in this stretch, I've also gotten off four times. Canadians. So nice. I made it into downtown Vancouver without further incident and checked into my hotel. It was a boutique one over on Robson Street, and I decided maybe Jerome didn't hate me after all. Or at least, Hell's travel agency didn't hate me. Robson was a fun neighborhood, full of restaurants and shopping. I threw my stuff into my room and then headed off to meet Cedric. He would have sensed me crossing into his territory, but I wanted it officially noted for the record that I was here so that I didn't get in further trouble with Jerome. Unlike Jerome, who was impossible to find sometimes, Cedric actually had a suite of offices over in the Financial District. I kind of liked that. The front desk was staffed by an imp named Kristin. She seemed pleasant enough, just incredibly busy. She told me I'd lucked out and that Cedric could fit me in right now. Walking into his office, I found him at his desk, reading something on Wikipedia. He glanced up. â€Å"Oh. Jerome's succubus.† He turned from the monitor and gestured to a chair opposite his desk. â€Å"Have a seat.† I sat down and immediately began assessing the office. Nothing about it screamed evil. It was neat and sleek, with an expansive window full of office buildings beyond him. Silver perpetual motion balls sat on his desk, and one of those framed motivational posters hung on the wall. It had a picture of a struggling pine sapling in front of a larger tree and read, DETERMINATION . Cedric himself didn't look too evil either. He had an average build and pretty blue-gray eyes. He kept his hair shaved army-style, and like Kristin, the biggest vibe I got off him was busy. Inasmuch as one could be busy surfing Wikipedia, that is. I glanced at the screen, curious as to what he'd been looking at. Demonic takeovers, perhaps? â€Å"Oh, that,† he said, following my gaze. â€Å"Just a hobby of mine. It's the entry on marsupials. I just like going in sometimes and putting in incorrect information. It's always fun to see how long it takes them to notice. They're better about it than they used to be, but that just makes it more of a challenge. I just wrote about how marsupials are an integral part of the Lutheran Eucharist.† He chuckled at his own ingenuity. â€Å"God, I hated the Reformation.† I smiled, not entirely sure what to say. Cedric clasped his hands in front of him, face turning serious. â€Å"So, let's get down to business. You're here to spy on me.† My mouth opened, but nothing coherent came out right away. â€Å"Um†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He waved his hand. â€Å"No, no, it's fine. You don't honestly expect me to believe Jerome would do me a favor without strings attached? Whatever. I don't have anything to hide. He can keep his territory-I'm too busy watching my own. You can tell him whatever you want so long as you do what I need you to.† â€Å"Right,† I said, finding my voice at last. â€Å"Your embarrassing Satanic cult.† He grimaced. â€Å"God, those guys are such a pain in the ass. What do you know about them?† â€Å"That they aren't Satanists like the usual groups, not like Anton LaVey's followers or the anti-Christians.† I felt like a student reciting in front of a class. â€Å"They think they're anti-Christian, but mostly, they're just ridiculous. Just some flakes in search of identity who got together and thought it'd be cool to be evil. They have meetings in robes and keep making up secret handshakes.† â€Å"And that's a problem?† â€Å"Nah, I don't care about any of that. They can play dress-up all they want. What's annoying is that they're doing all the things people think evil people do but don't actually do. They ripped up a bunch of bibles once and left them on this church's lawn. They also appear to have a fondness for spray paint.† â€Å"I heard about that.† â€Å"They keep writing stupid stuff like ‘The Angel of Darkness is Lord' and ‘What Would Satan Do?'† Cedric rolled his eyes. â€Å"Yeah, like that's original.† â€Å"I can see why you'd be embarrassed,† I admitted. â€Å"No kidding. The worst part is that they're attracting some media attention- especially among local churches. So, now those guys are doing their own sort of backlash and triggering a whole bunch of demonstrations about faith and light and all that stuff. Not what we need. Kind of defeats our purpose, really.† â€Å"What do you want me to do?† â€Å"Kristin hangs out with them sometimes. They know her and recognize what side she works for, but frankly, she doesn't have the people skills to manipulate them. She'll take you to them and give them some bullshit about how you're high-ranking in the ways of evil or something equally absurd. Then, I want you to hang out with them and just be part of their group. Stop them from doing more stupid things. Get them to go back to their role-playing in the basement. Hell, if you can convince them to disband, go for it.† He eyed me. â€Å"You're a succubus. You've been around for a while. You should be able to talk them into anything.† I nodded. â€Å"I can.† â€Å"Good. I'm tired of them. I'm not allowed to interfere directly, and my own people are too busy.† He stood up and walked toward the door. I took the hint and followed. â€Å"Do whatever you want the rest of the day. Kristin'll take you over to them tomorrow. Check them out. See what you think. I've got some appointments in the morning, but stop by anyway and give me your impressions of those fools.† â€Å"Is there anything in particular you want me to find out for you?† â€Å"Yes,† he said. â€Å"In addition to keeping them out of trouble, I want you to simply observe them. They're not just attracting media attention-they're attracting attention from my superiors.† Ah, yeah. Hell could get pissy about that kind of thing. â€Å"If someone's purposely manipulating them, I want to know.† â€Å"Okay.† He gave me a narrow-eyed look. â€Å"And I hope it's not Jerome.† He still had that mild, businesslike exterior, but I heard the stern note in his voice. I shivered but gave him a smile anyway, trying not to think about misdirection. â€Å"I hope not either.† I was a bit surprised at how short my meeting with Cedric had been. I was more surprised still that after all the grief Jerome had given me about the urgency of this trip, I now had nothing to do. Of course, if he was trying to get rid of me, this was as good a way as any. My bad attitude and I were out of Seattle. It was dinnertime when I got back to Robson Street, so I found food at an Ethiopian restaurant a few blocks from my hotel and lingered over the remains of my meal with a novel I'd picked up a few days ago. Afterward, I wandered up and down the street, looking at various shops and designers, but eventually had to stop after passing two T-shirt stores. One sold retro stuff and had a dark purple Quiet Riot shirt in their window. Another sold Canadian souvenirs and displayed a shirt showing a map of Canada in red with a map of the U.S. below it in blue. The caption read: â€Å"Canada Likes It on Top.† If I'd still been dating Seth, I would have bought him both. He would have shaken his head and given me a slight quirk of the lips as he tried to hide his smile. The thought depressed me, and I found myself growing sadder and sadder as I walked back to my hotel. In that moment, I would have given anything to be with Seth again, to right the wrongs we'd done to each other back around Christmastime. Losing him was losing a part of me that- Searing, white-hot anger suddenly shot through me. What the fuck was I whining about? Why should I miss him? Why should I pine for someone who'd betrayed me and hurt me with my friend , of all people? Seth didn't deserve my longing or my love, and as I continued walking, that dark despair within me transformed to rage and spite-just as it had done nearly every day for the past four months. When I got back to the hotel, I was no longer sad. I was pissed. I hated everyone and everything, but especially Seth. I wanted to make him pay. Unfortunately, there was no way to do that, not here in Vancouver. Passing near the hotel's bar on my way through the lobby, I paused and surveyed the patrons. It was a veritable smorgasbord of men, most of them lone travelers making transient friends over their drinks. My succubus lust sprang up in me, and suddenly, all I wanted was to get drunk and go to bed with some guy. I wanted to lose myself in the haze of alcohol and fucking, in the hopes that it might all dull the pain that lay buried under my anger. And as I scanned the room, one guy in particular caught my attention. The face was all wrong, but he had hair almost the same color as Seth's. It was worn messy too, though it appeared as though he'd achieved that look with gel, rather than the lack of brushing Seth employed. No, this guy wasn't a perfect match by any means, but he was close, and there was an aura of shy vulnerability about him that I liked. Putting on a smile, I strolled across the room to introduce myself. I might not be able to actually punish Seth, but at least for tonight, I could pretend that I could.

Costco mini case study Essay

1. What is Costco’s business model? Is the company’s business model appealing? Why or why not? Generating high sales volume and rapid inventory turnover by offering fee-paying members low prices on nationally branded and private-label products. Yes, it is appealing because the fees paid by members allowed for sufficient supplemental revenues while the turnover rates allowed Costco to receive cash for inventory before it had to pay many of its merchandise vendors. 2. What are the chief elements of Costco’s strategy? How good is the strategy? Pricing, product selection, treasure hunt merchandising, low cost emphasis, and growth are the chief elements of Costco’s strategy. It is a very good strategy because they offer the lowest prices no matter what. 3. Do you think Jim Sinegal has been an effective CEO? What grades would you give him in leading the process of crafting and executing Costco’s strategy? What support can you offer for these grades? Refer to Figure 2.1 in Chapter 2 in developing your answers. Yes, I do think Jim Sinegal has been an effective CEO. I would give him an A in crafting and executing Costco’s strategy because he has been excellent in developing a strategic vision of a no-frills and low-cost store, mission, and core values, along with setting objectives of fast inventory turnover and offering the lowest prices at Costco. He has also done a good job of crafting the strategy by finding out what works best while in charge of his first store, Price Club. He executes and monitors the strategy to achieve the objectives and vision by visiting his own stores and making sure that operations are running in the most smooth and cost efficient way possible for both businesses and individual members. 4. What core values or business principles has Jim Sinegal stressed at Costco? Sinegal’s five core values include: Obey the law, take care of our members, take care of our employees, respect our suppliers, and reward our shareholders. 5. What is competition like in the North American wholesale club industry? Which of the five competitive forces is strongest and why? Use the information in Figures 3.4, 3.5, 3.6, 3.7, and 3.8 (and the related discussions in Chapter 3) to do a complete five-forces analysis of competition in the North American wholesale club industry. Competition in the North American wholesale club industry is growing 15-20 percent faster than retailing as a whole. The three main competitors are Costco, Sam’s, and BJs Wholesale. Firms in other industries  offering substitute products is the strongest of the five competitive forces because companies like Wal-Mart or internet retailers are not in the retail wholesale industry but put increased pressure on Costco by selling many of the same types of merchandise at very low prices as well. All wholesale clubs (Costco, Sam’s Club, and BJ’s Wholesale) offer low prices to attract members and provide them with considerable cost savings enough cover or exceed membership fees. It is easy for a consumer to switch their membership from wholesaler to wholesaler, thus increasing rivalry, which is a strong force in this industry. The window to enter the warehouse club industry is relatively small, unless an outsider decided to acquire BJ’s Wholesale Club, intending to expand into places where there are no BJ’s stores. The barriers for a newcomer are high; therefor the threat of new entrants is weak. While a big percentage of manufacturers for these retailers or discounters are large, they aren’t always in a strong bargaining position that could allow them to dictate the terms or conditions by which they would supply their products to their respective warehouse clubs, thus making bargaining power of the suppliers weak. The bargaining power of the buyer is also weak because of the small influence that an individual buyer has in relation to the wholesaler’s total sales. The threat of substitutes is very high in this industry. There are many places that one could go to purchase the same item. The buyer is also often times more familiar with a substitute retailer. 6. How well is Costco performing from a financial perspective? They are doing very well from a financial perspective. Some of the numbers do not look good to the traditional investor, but that is because Costco is not a traditional company. The current ratio shows that Costco can meet all current liabilities, while liquidity is also high (which means the company can quickly convert assets into cash). Profit is also constantly increased by not having to store inventory. 7. Based on the data in case Exhibits 1, 5, and 6, is Costco’s financial performance superior to that at Sam’s Club and BJ’s Wholesale? Costco is turning in much higher numbers for total revenue than BJ’s and higher sales than Sam’s. Costco holds 57 percent of the market share while BJ’s has 8 and Sam’s has 35 percent. 8. How well is Costco performing from a strategic perspective? Does Costco enjoy a competitive advantage over Sam’s Club? Over BJ’s Wholesale? If so, what is the nature of its competitive advantage? Does Costco have a winning strategy? Why or why not? They are performing very well from a strategic perspective. No, Costco does not enjoy a clear competitive advantage over Sam’s. It does however enjoy a competitive advantage over BJ’s. the nature of this competitive advantage includes the fact that BJ’s has too many products, which makes rapid turnover harder to achieve. I think that Costco has a winning strategy because they are selective with the products they choose to sell, they treat their workers well (which in turn creates higher productivity), and they are able to sell a big volume of products, keeping prices down, along with expenses and overhead costs. 9. Are Costco’s prices too low? Why or why not?  Many would argue that their prices are too low, with only 14% markup. I do not believe that they are. If the prices weren’t so drastically low, the company would not attract so many interested buyers. These prices are what set the company apart from many other competitors, and are therefor necessary for the company’s success. 10. What do you think of Costco’s compensation practices? Does it surprise you that Costco employees apparently are rather well-compensated? Better compensated than employees at Sam’s Club or BJ’s? I think that Costco’s compensation practices are once again, smart. When employees are happy, they are productive. When they are productive, they get more done. When they get more done, it eliminates the need for excess employees to do what could be done by productive employees in the workplace. It would slightly surprise me that they are so well compensated (better compensated than Sam’s Club of BJ’s) before reading the entirety of this case because of the â€Å"no-frills† policy that Costco has obviously adopted, but it also makes sense after reading this case study that the employees are so well cared for. It saves and earns Costco excess money in the long run through rising productivity and encouraging positive word-of-mouth. 11. What recommendations would you make to Costco top executives regarding how best to sustain the company’s growth and improve its financial performance? I would tell Costco’s top executives to try and acquire BJ’s wholesale, thus acquiring their 8 percent market share. I would also encourage the implementation of self-checkout in stores for ease and convenience of the  individual consumer. Other than that, I think that Costco has a strong business strategy and is implementing strategies currently to sustain the company’s growth and improve financial performance.

Explain Descartes skeptical argument according to a prompt Term Paper

Explain Descartes skeptical argument according to a prompt - Term Paper Example This lack of insight forms the basis of the argument as the mediator notices that there are certain instances when he is convinced he is awake and surrounded by real objects but he is in fact sleeping and dreaming. Descartes takes the lack of insight to be an outcome of sense perception and dreams being composed of the same content. This can be noted when the mediator argues that he is awake since everything is clear and distinct then he backtracks and reminds himself that the dreamscape can be deceiving as it always seems as clear and distinct during that moment in time (Descartes 33). The dream argument however accepts that although the present sensations and perceptions could be from a dream, they are however drawn from experiences when awake. The mediator compares this to a painter who creates a fantasy image of a mermaid, which at its basic level is composed of composite parts present in the real world, that is, a woman and a fish. Thus the final important aspect of the dream argument as noted by the mediator is that although he cannot trust composite things, he has to trust the simple and universal parts that make a whole such as size, quantity, shape and time (Descartes 34). This means that studies based on basic things such as geometry and arithmetic are trustworthy while those based on composite items such as medicine and astrology cannot be trusted. From the dream argument we can delineate two important facts. First is that dreams have an inexhaustible ability to mimic the real world and secondly, whether dreaming or awake, the clearest thoughts of intellect remain uncompromised. While Descartes dream argument may have been valid in the 21st century, the current conditions make its applicability suspect. Scientists have developed a sensory module that detects when our sense impressions are caused by objects and how accurately those impressions are.

Market orientation and sales management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Market orientation and sales management - Essay Example will be coupled with asking customers for opinions as they want to identify what it is that current and potential customers are looking for in goods and services. 2. Create a thrill for their services and products: picture company A has come up with a prototype of a product. Unless they monopolise the market, there is an almost absolute chance that a similar product exists in the market. So, how does company A work towards ensuring their product finds a niche in the market? They can build anticipation for this new release by communicating the unique features while coupling this with the benefits to be accrued by the potential consumer (Kumar, Weitz & Harish, 1994). More excitement can be built by differentiating their products and providing more than is expected. Returns on these investments will be realised because when the clientele is satisfied with the performance of one product, they will be excited for the next release (Jeffrey, 1992). 3. Response to the market feedback: when market oriented organisations have a blueprint of the present and future needs of what the customers want, they meet and exceed those desires. Apple, which seeks to understand what customers want and delivers, for example, when its customers ask for gadgets with sleek designs. Apple responds with beautiful devices that are attractive and sophisticated (Deshpande & Webster, 1989). Benson P. Shapiro, a professor at the Harvard Business School proposes that market oriented is not only about getting close to the customer, it is much more (Shapiro, 1998). Deshpande and Webster (1989), Narver and Slater (1994), Shapiro (1988) assert that the importance of a market oriented business culture is very crucial to scholars and managers alike. They indicate it is valuable because it focuses organisations on continuously collecting information about target-customers’ needs and their competitors’ abilities and applying this information to create continuously superior customer value. A thin line

Adolescent Sexual Activity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Adolescent Sexual Activity - Essay Example In his article â€Å"Risk Behaviors - Teen Pregnancy - Programs, Sex, Sexual, Contraception, Percent, and Services† (2011), Douglas Kirby identifies the following five factors as contributing to teen pregnancy by causing the sexually active teenagers to refrain from using contraception. He cites: â€Å"when teens have permissive attitudes toward premarital sex,† â€Å"lack confidence to avoid sex or to use contraception consistently,† â€Å" lack adequate knowledge about contraception,† â€Å"have negative attitudes toward contraception,† â€Å" are ambivalent about pregnancy and childbearing,† â€Å"...then they are more likely to engage in sex without contraception.† (Kirby, 2011) In analyzing these factors, they can be related to both situational sexual encounters as well as cognitive value systems in teens that engage in pre-marital sex. ‘Permissive attitudes’ is a cognitive or value system in the individuals involved that determine the development of the relationship through sexual encounters. These encounters are either the result of long-term, loving, and wholesome relationships or are casual, disposable, and part of the learning process through which sexual identity is formed in the process of adult maturation. Through the sexual experimentation with different types of relationships and partners, the person of either gender comes to a deeper understanding of their own personal needs in a relationship or in partner support. This assists in making more consequential and long-standing family commitments. The hyper-stimulation of the culture through sexual imagery in media, sexually predatory social role-playing and stereotypes, or advertising that fuels desire and insecurity simultaneously to sell products may condition a population to extreme behavior abruptly or progressively over time by changing moral standards and patterns of behavior. The teen pregnancy rate in the U.S. can be seen as an à ¢â‚¬Å"unwanted† aspect of the sexual activity that occurs at a young age and restricts the further social opportunities of the parent. The effect of the social stigmatization is expected to fall more severely on the girl who must bear the biological burden of pregnancy. If the relationship is loving and leads to marriage, even at an early age, it is accepted socially and the best is hoped for the long-term sustainability of the couple. Yet, realistically, the high divorce rate among young couples and the burdens of single parenthood are among the largest reasons teenage pregnancy is discouraged. Generally, teens are not recognized as mature socially to be effective parents, despite the fact that innumerable teenage mothers in the U.S. historically and around the world have done very well building families through teenage pregnancies. The development of modern, liberal conceptions of identity through feminism and progression in education has created a different role for modern women that discourage the traditional aspects of teen marriage and pregnancy practiced traditionally as â€Å"backward†.  Ã‚  

Operational management in Hospitality and Tourism industry - Sydney Assignment

Operational management in Hospitality and Tourism industry - Sydney Marriott Harbour - Assignment Example The payment rates to the rooms are depended to the views as the deluxe city view rooms cost AUS$650, Bridge view rooms at AUS$750, and in accordance to technology, the E-Bundle package costs $750. The hotel further provides business clientele with Retail Therapy-city view at a cost of $810 as it comprises of a two-car parking lot and proximity to enjoyable shopping excursions in the city. The hotel’s management adapts to criterion review process and establishes that all the programs are up to the desired performances (Bushel, 2001). However, the management fails to express precise charges on its services thus; they fail to achieve trust from the clients as well, for example, charging $45 for car parks instead of the delineated $35 (Marriott, 2013). Executive summary In relevance to the issue of tourism and service delivery, hotels have continuously diversified investments by inclusion of extra services rather than diversification of investments. Since the services offered vary accordingly from provision of meals to accommodation, and other forms of hospitality, the management may consequently fail to acknowledge the importance of some of the services while trying to acknowledge those of others (Ingram & Roberts, 2000). The study established Sydney Harbour Marriott Hotel as a five star with the most appropriate location and proximity to the Pacific Ocean. A review conducted upon the critical areas of interests and that would affect its credibility and value to the tourism approaches upon their comparison to the competitors (Bergin-Seers & Jago, 2007). Eventually, the study shall implicate on the challenges facing the hotel’s management as a result of failure in delivering of the desired services (Ingram & Roberts, 2000). Specifically, the tourists and other business clients boarding the hotel decry on the poor program presentation. In addition, they disguise parking prices as unethical and contrary to the desired value (Bushel, 2001). An evaluation to the values derived by visitors to the hotel record the lowest margin, which is an indication to the financial disguise of the available services and the exact charges realized after visiting the hotel (Ingram & Roberts, 2000). Description of the Sydney Marriott Harbour This five star hotel is a subsidiary of the Marriott International Inc. of the U.S.A. The Sydney Marriott Harbour conforms to the other Marriott hotels as it competitively boasts over its five star facilities, which enable it cope with the prevailing competition in the Australian hotelier industry with a major target to the tourist clientele group (Wilson, Harris, and Jennie, 2008). Despite the expressed competencies, the hotel ranks fourth in provision of quality services to the clientele community. The present competitors who mainly pose a threat to the hotel are the Hilton Sydney Hotel, Sir Stamford at Circular Quay, Quay West Suites Sydney, and the Intercontinental Sydney Hotel among others (Patiar, 2008). The hotels assume the most appropriate location as Marriott Hotel, but differ in the provision of charges. The hotel relies on the local tourists who are the main clients, while the competitors focus on the

The Bill in Legislation Requiring BSN within 10 Years of Graduating Assignment

The Bill in Legislation Requiring BSN within 10 Years of Graduating - Assignment Example Majority of New Jersey State Nurses Association (NJSNA) members have voted to support this legislation at the March 31, 2006 meeting. In 1999, Harris Poll conducted a nationwide survey wherein the results indicated that 76 percent of the public think that nurses should have at least four years of undergraduate education for sufficient preparation. In 1978, the American Nurses Association (ANA) House of Delegates recommended that by 1985, the preparation for entry into professional practice would be a baccalaureate degree. This was seconded by their 1965 position paper that was inspired by the Comprehensive Nurse Training Act in 1964. This motivated reviews on nursing responsibilities, practice, and education. There are many reasons why different groups are pushing for the educational advancement of registered nurses. One major purpose is to promote professional behaviors. It is believed that this may promote a higher level of understanding the complexity of healthcare resources signi ficant in caring for patients. According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, a study conducted by Linda Aiken and her colleagues concluded, â€Å"In hospitals with higher proportions of nurses educated at the baccalaureate level or higher, surgical patients experienced lower mortality and failure-to-rescue rate† (2003). ... Sufficient academic preparation helps nurses to be equitable with other fields in healthcare. In addition, proper education boosts evidence based practice which is handier in the nursing profession. This significance will then give way to professional collaboration. Schools will have more opportunities to partner with relevant industries. As a result, this bill will increase the qualification of faculty members. Those with bachelor’s degrees are expected to advance their schooling by pursuing master’s programs. As the requirement for students become more compelling, faculty standards have to be cultivated. These educational changes, ultimately seek for the enhancement of the nursing practice. This approach maintains its respect for all educational entries while addressing the evolving competencies required. For those with associate degrees, they may continue practicing while furthering their nursing education. For instance, a registered nurse with an associate degree ma y continue to work while finishing his bachelor’s degree. Currently, there are more schools working with other institutions to deliver innovative and flexible means. Hospitals and other kinds of healthcare facilities can also advance themselves with the promulgation of this bill. With more staff having distinguished education, an institution makes its chances higher to be accredited by the Magnet Recognition Program which is being supervised by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC). Health care facilities that receive this recognition pride themselves with outstanding patient care and nursing services. Sponsors The bill is being sponsored by Senator Stavisky and Assembly Member Morelle. These two legislators share common ground regarding their experience and emphasis on

How immigration affect social and economic status of sending and Research Proposal

How immigration affect social and economic status of sending and recieving countries - Research Proposal Example Accordingly, the effects of immigration are demarcated to indicate those affecting the country of origin and those affecting the receiving country. In general, it is evident that immigration has dual effects in the sense that the movement of people from one country to the other affects the sending country on one hand and the host country on the other. Immigration is an imperative dynamic in the international economy (Hall 59). Research estimates indicate that more than 110 million people reside outside their countries of origin. This shows that the aspect of immigration plays a critical position in economic, communal and political lives of many people across the world. People travel away from their nations of birth due to a number of reasons though it is mostly perceived that a majority of immigrants move away from their homes in search for opportunities of employment. It is a clearly established that there are countless economic and social effects of immigrations. In a nutshell the most significant implications of immigrations may include; first and foremost, effects on the host nation’s employment market whereby immigration could cast severe implications on the host countries wages and employment opportunities. Subsequently, immigration could immensely influence the budgetary arrangement of the destination country becaus e the services received by the immigrants including education and health may not strictly balance with the increased taxes from workers (Berg and Bodvarsson 27). Additionally, immigration could offer a credible solution to the problem of aging population in the country of destination. Lastly, immigration may significantly affect the economy of the sending country both positively and negatively though some negative effects could turn around as benefits to the country. For instance, brain drain is a harmful implication of immigration to the country of origin but could end up being a

J. M. Synges Riders to the Sea Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

J. M. Synges Riders to the Sea - Essay Example In fact, Synge’s one act drama has all the essential traits of a drama such as plot, character, conflict, action, dialogue, etc. But a tragic drama or a tragedy, Synge’s work does not fulfill Aristotle’s definition of tragedy. Synge’s one-act tragedy is essentially the tragedy of common man. Therefore though it does not deal with the downfall of a character of noble status, its story holds a serious and tragic theme. Synge’s work imitates the lives of the people of Aran Islands, more universally speaking, the tragedy of the life of seafaring people, through the life of an elderly domestic woman, Maurya. Through Maurya’s actions and dialogue with her daughters, Cathleen and Nora, her son, Bartley, and the Priest, Synge’s audience learns that the heroine is, both directly and indirectly, in conflict with her destiny and the sea. The descriptions of the characters’ actions are simple mimicries of daily activities, such as â€Å"Ma urya drops Michael's clothes across Bartley's feet, and sprinkles the Holy Water over him†, â€Å"Cathleen and Nora kneel at the other end of the table†, etc. Maurya’s helplessness in front of the cruel smile of fate or destiny becomes evident in the following line, in which the audience can see a destitute and lonely woman who, having lost all of her sons except Bartley and male relatives, is failingly attempting to prevent Bartley from going to Connemara because of some unknown fear of losing him in the sea: â€Å"He won't go this day with the wind rising from the south and west†¦for the young priest will stop him surely† (Synge). In this speech of Maurya, the audience is informed for the first time that this lonely and elderly lady is hardly heard off by her youngest son, Bartley. Also the mild conflict between Maurya and her son is revealed indirectly. Later the audience can view Bartley to act in conflict his old mother. When Maurya warns Bartley not to touch the rope, saying, â€Å"You'd do right to leave that rope, Bartley, hanging by the boards†, he does not pay heed to her and takes the rope. Later on, Maurya’s conflict with the sea as well as with her destiny is revealed in the drama, as the audience watches her saying: â€Å"They're all gone now, and there isn't anything more the sea can do to me† (Riders to the Sea). Also in its remote sense, Aristotle’s concept of music can be applied to Synge’s works. â€Å"Riders to the Sea† is fraught with expressions that are all musical, rhythmic and poetic. One from a number of such expressions is as following: â€Å"If it wasn't found itself, that wind is raising the sea, and there was a star up against the moon, and it rising in the night†¦what is the price of a thousand horses against a son where there is one son only?† (Riders to the Sea) This expression is symbolic in the sense that the position of the moon and the sta r has been used symbolically to refer to something arcane and ominous. Also in this passage, â€Å"wind† has been personified as a monstrous living being. Such symbolisms, personifications and style of expression have endowed the drama with some musical qualities. Indeed the plot of Synge’s drama has been developed through the conflicts, (character-character conflict and character-fate) expressed through dialogue and actions-interactions among the characters. But the

Female Entrepreneurs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

Female Entrepreneurs - Essay Example The paper has clearly brought out the fact that the managerial qualities of women are entirely different from male entrepreneurs and it rests a great deal on the circumstances that motivate her to establish her own business set-up, apart from her own characteristics and qualities that she has imbibed. The management techniques adopted by them and their impact on the organizational performance are brought to fore by interviewing few female entrepreneurs in UK by providing them with a questionnaire. The result showed that though charismatic and transformational leadership are made use of by the women entrepreneurs, the driving force that makes them into a success story is the relational approach practiced by them, which includes open communication, sharing of information, empathising and nurturing of the employees. The management techniques adopted by women have shown more number of employees in female owned enterprises than others. Consequently, the number of female entrepreneur billionaires has been increasing at a fast pace and we hope to have double the number of women entrepreneurs in the next five years. The importance of women entrepreneurs has been greatly fe... 1. Introduction The importance of women entrepreneurs has been greatly felt across the globe in the last decade. Interestingly, in developed countries, women own 25% of total businesses and are starting up new ones at a faster rate than men (Woldie and Adersua, 2004). Infact, besides making a contribution to the economy, women through their different management styles have been adding innovation, diversity and choices to the business organizations they own. While studies done in the past have improved the understanding about female entrepreneurs, the issues which have not been addressed in-depth are - What are the management styles adopted by women and how do they affect or have an impact on various aspects of organizational performance. This paper, will, therefore, focus on the growing number of women entrepreneurs in the last decade, their management styles, the impact of their management strategies on the success of the organization and whether their style is different from their male counterparts or not. The purpose of this report is to provide information on this research topic which will be used as a basis for my third year project for the BA Honours for Business degree with a management minor at Croydon College. As a woman in business I have spent over twelve years conversing and engaging in business activities with many other women and it has intrigued and inspired me to investigate, explore and examine a few of the variables that make a woman into a successful entrepreneur. As part of the research, I also want to investigate management styles to understand if there are any particular types of management styles which assist the women in becoming successful and how do they differ from management styles adopted by their male counterparts. I have personally

Great Filipino Music Artists (80s - Present) Essay Example for Free

Great Filipino Music Artists (80s Present) Essay Basil Valdez Like many Filipino singers in the 1970s, Valdez started solo on his career as a folk singer. In 1972, he joined the Circus Band and after it was disbanded, he released Ngayon at Kailanman, his first solo album. In the Circus Band, he met Ryan Cayabyab, who was then part of other band. When Valdez was preparing his album Ngayon at Kailanman, he asked Cayabyab to give a few songs, he did. Cayabyab stands as Valdezs musical director for 27 years. In the 80s, Valdez republished himself as a singer of movie theme songs; some of them are Paano Ba Ang Mangarap, Muling Buksan Ang Puso and Paraisong Parisukat. A circumstance which sidelined his singing career occurred in 1990, when he found himself as a healer. Valdez then sought the guidance of his Jesuit friends. They explained to him that he has gift of healing. Ryan Cayabyab A great Filipino music artist known as the Executive and Artistic Director of the defunct San Miguel Foundation for the Performing Arts. He was also a resident judge for the solo season of Philippine Idol in 2006. A versatile artist with his works ranging from commissioned full-length ballets, theater musicals, choral pieces, a Mass set to unaccompanied chorus/congregation, and orchestral pieces, to commercial recordings of popular music, film scores and television specials. Cayayabs current project includes the Ryan Cayabyab Singers (RCS), a group of seven young adult singers comparable like his group Smokey Mountain in the early 90s. After FreemantleMedia decided not to renew the Philippine Idol franchise, Cayabyab decided to transfer to rival show Pinoy Dream Academy (Season 2), replacing Jim Paredes as the shows headmaster. PDA 2 started on June 14, 2008. Nonoy Zuà ±iga Nonoy Z’s singing career spans more than 3 decades; as a folksinger from 1971 to 1975 and then as one of the lead singers of the Family Birth Control Band  which performed in the best nightspots and hotels like Philippine Plaza, Holiday Inn and the Manila Hotel from 1975-1980. To hone his skill, he took special voice training from the late Aurelio Estanislao, a well-known tenor singer and music-voice professor at the University of the Philippines. With his clear baritone voice he started to attract the attention of music buffs. His style and rendition of different songs especially love songs made him acquire a number of distinct awards, Bayang Barrios Lumad origin, born on June 12, 1986. A Filipino musician who hails from Bunawan, Agusan del Sur, and is known for her use of indigenous instruments and styles. In 2005, Barrios song Isipin Mo Na Lang was used in end credits of the indie Filipino film Ang Pagdadalaga Ni Maximo Oliveros (The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros). In September 2008, she launched her fourth album entitled Biyaya. Ramon Jacinto Jacinto has always tried to put music and business together. He started to enter the world of entrepreneurship at the young age of 15. He built up his first enterprise called RJ Enterprises, a company which dealt with producing and release records. RJ Enterprises pioneered multi-track recording in the country and eventually became the primary studio choice for many artists and advertising agencies at that time. Two years later, Jacinto ventured to establish what would become a legendary radio station in the Philippine broadcasting industry – DZRJ. It served as a venue for on-air experiments of radio concepts which were never heard before in Philippine entertainment history. Manned by students, mostly coming from Jacintos high school class, the radio station introduced alternative music to the Filipino youth. It was the first station to play songs from rock legends such as the Beatles, the Ventures and the Beachboys. The radio station also gave emphasis on playing the music of local talent. Apart from DZRJ, Jacinto also established the now defunct, DZUW. Pepe Smith a Filipino singer-songwriter, drummer, and guitarist. More commonly known alternately as Joey Smith and Pepe Smith, he is an icon of original Filipino rock music or Pinoy Rock. Gary Valenciano Born 6 August 1964, better known as Gary Valenciano or Gary V., is a Filipino musician. Also known as Mr. Pure Energy, Valenciano has released 26 albums, and won the Awit Awards for Best Male Performer eleven times. In 1998, he became UNICEF Philippines first National Ambassador. His most notable songs include Di Bale Na Lang (Never mind), Eto Na Naman (Here we go again), Sana Maulit Muli (Hope it repeats again), Natutulog Ba Ang Diyos? (Does God sleep), Gaya ng Dati (Just like before), Pasko Na, Sinta Ko (Its Christmas already, my love), and Narito (Here). He is currently part of ABS-CBN contract actors, and is frequently tapped to sing theme songs for the networks soap operas and films. Fr. Eduardo Hontiveros Fr. Honti, as he is fondly known, was educated at the Capiz Elementary School and the pre-war Ateneo de Manila in Padre Faura, graduating from high school in 1939. From 1939 to 1945 he was at San Jose Seminary. He entered the Society of Jesus after the war in 1945, pronouncing first vows at Sacred Heart Novitiate in Novaliches in June 1947. He finished his studies of philosophy there and then proceeded to Ateneo de Zamboanga for his three-year regency, teaching religion, Latin, and English, and moderating the Choir String Band. In 1951, he traveled to the United States to study theology, and was ordained in 1954 by Francis Cardinal Spellman. After earning a doctorate in theology from the Gregorian University in Rome, he returned to teach in the Philippines in 1958. He pronounced final vows in the Society of Jesus in 1960. Fr. Honti’s initiatives have been recognized with the Ateneo de Manila University’s Tanglaw ng Lahi Award (1976), the Asian Catholic Publishers’ â€Å"Outstanding Catholic Author† (1992), and the Papal award Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice (2000), among many other awards and citations. He suffered another major stroke in early January 2008, and died  on January 15th. At his funeral Mass at the Ateneo’s Church of the Gesu, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was present to honor him with the Presidential Medal of Merit (awarded posthumously). Fr. Manoling Francisco Fr. Manoling Francisco SJ entered the Society of Jesus after second year in college in 1985. As a child he had aspired to be a concert pianist; nevertheless he decided to discontinue his classical piano training at the age of 14 to devote his time to school and socio-civic activities. It was in his First Year High that he composed Hindi Kita Malilimutan. has been popularized by Mr. Basil Valdez. During the past 17 years he has composed more than a hundred and fifty songs such as Tanging Yaman, Sa ‘Yo Lamang are being sung all over the country – indeed, whatever there are Filipinos gathered together in prayer and liturgical celebration. Today, he is easily one of the most gifted musicians in the country.

The Strategic Finance Of Nestle Management Essay

The Strategic Finance Of Nestle Management Essay Nestlà ©s case study provides various examples which demonstrate a link between concepts drawn from pre-requisite modules. In my opinion, the link between First Mover Advantage model clarified in Strategic Management and the concept of Merger Acquisition covered in Strategic Finance are the most interesting. Figure 1.1 provides evidence found through the combination of these two concepts. Figure 1.1: Link between FMA and MA Evidences In the 20th Century, Nestle expanded through a series of acquisitions Nestle enters markets early-before competitors Acquires local firms when good opportunities arise Local brand for local market (Customization) 2/3 of Nestlà ©s growth generated from acquisitions FMA to Polish market Nestlà ©s Acquisition of Goplana Strategic Finance (NarayananNanda, 2004) First Mover Advantage Strategic Management (Johnson et.al, 2008) Merger Acquisition First Mover advantage is defined as the benefits generated for a firm that breaks in new markets first (Johnson et.al, 2008). The aim is to build a strong and sustainable position within the market as a way to defend potential competitive newcomers. Regarding Nestlà ©, the company enters emerging markets early before prospective competitors in order to build a significant position within them (Case Study, 2011). Thus the company is able to respond to any potential economic and population growth within emerging markets as well as to any possible upcoming competition. Mergers Acquisitions are strategic components dealing with buying or combining different companies that can assist the company to a speedy growth and improve its financial performance especially in the long term (NarayananNanda, 2004). During the 20th century, Nestlà © has undertaken a number of mergers and acquisitions, most notably the acquisition of Maggi in 1947, and thus has achieved to extend its geographic presence and product line (Case Study, 2011). Nestlà ©s acquisition of Goplana, is an interesting example of how its activities link with the companys long-term strategy of achieving first mover advantage within the Polish market (Case Study, 2011). The company was aiming to rush its development inside the market and maintain its authority. As such, Nestlà © retained the local staff and management of the acquired company and carefully adjusted the Goplana product line to better fit local opportunities (Case Study, 2011). Overall, acquisitions have been an important function for Nestlà ©s growth (Cook et.al, 2003). Alongside the MA group, the firm uses people from the finance sector as to assist the financial analysis of MA process (Cullinan et.al, 2003). This shows a clear link between Nestlà ©s FMA strategy and its MA activities. The firm maintains local companies with regional staff in local markets as to better customize its performance by creating share value and local expertise. Significantly, the success of Nestlà © in growing local companies also depends on the management development programmes that Nestlà © uses in order to come closer and train its local managers (Case Study, 2011). The process of entry for a company influences its ability to create value. According to Rahman Bhattacharyya (2003), Nestlà © has benefited by acting as a first mover in emerging markets. In terms of business development, the company sometimes involves mergers and acquisition activities as a way to grow and create value. Moreover, the reasons behind the MA activities can vary according to expectations. These may be the economies of scale, speed of entry, shareholder expectations and so on (Johnson et.al, 2008). Mergers and acquisitions are considered as one of the most dynamic ways in which a firm can recombine assets to create value (AhernWeston, 2007). By being the first mover into a market it may hides some drawbacks. Hill Jones (2009) noted that first movers have to tolerate large costs of pioneering that later movers may not. Also first movers may fall into substantial mistakes and risks as they lack experience, where second movers can enjoy knowledge and improvements through first movers gaffes. Similarly, MA is a particularly stressful practice for people involved within the new corporate culture and structure that can create ambiguity, anxiety and antipathy amongst companys staff (Appelbaum et al 2000). Such a fact can destroy the organisations value. 2nd Question: Does it make sense for Nestlà © to focus its growth efforts on emerging markets? Why? According to the Case Study (2011), by the early 1990s Nestlà © realised that it faced important challenges in maintaining its rate of growth within the markets of Western Europe and North America. Therefore, the company has turned its attention to emerging markets for further growth. Rapoport (1994) stated that developed markets are in the saturated phase of their life cycle where the competition is becoming higher, creating the war of price and substitution. Due to the economic downturn in such markets, people incomes have been characterised as incomplete and thus consumers are becoming more price conscious. Additionally, population indexes show that the population growth rate has been stagnated in contrast with the emerging world which is expected to expand by the year 2015 (Delegge, 2009). Delegge (2009) stated that emerging market economies are growing at a faster pace than those in developed countries. Furthermore, the researcher indicates that due to the combination of the global recession and the downturn of real estate prices, residents of emerging markets are expected to outperform both American and European consumers in terms of spending dynamics. Thereby Nestlà © translated emerging markets as an opportunity of higher growth returns with the promise of significant market share in the long term. In order to maintain its growth rate, it does make absolute sense for Nestlà © to focus its growth efforts on emerging markets. Goldman Sachs introduced the BRIC acronym (Brazil, Russia, India and China) that refers to the countries which are estimated for the next decades to be at a better stage than the current developed markets (ONeilStupnytska, 2009). Furthermore, they announced the concept of the Next Eleven (N-11) countries such as Nigeria, Mexico and Turkey which have the potential of becoming along with BRICs, the worlds dynamic markets by 2032 (ONeilStupnytska, 2009). Nestlà © has already been active in developing economies but it is therefore slight in contrast with their rival company Unilever. Moreover, the US food drink report (2010) notes that even with the greatest exposure in such markets; Unilever has experienced negative average revenue. This was due to its poor business management and incorrect decisions made over the last five years. Nestlà ©s core competencies and capabilities can enable the company to continue performing in emerging markets. Nestlà © has the ability to create brands quickly and in a sustainable fashion with products such as Nescafe, which also give strong focus on RD which enables the company to generate greater profits (Datamonitor, 2010). The company has the unique strength to customize global products with the same quality standards based on customer needs in the local market. Also, the firm has unmatched geographic existence in the emerging markets and so the company has the flexibility to deal with circumstances that sometimes cannot be easily predicted (SinghChild-Villiers, 2010). Applying those distinctive competencies, Nestlà © can earn greater returns and gain a sustainable advantage over its competitors. Rahman Bhattacharyya (2003) supported that unique performance within emerging markets can offer differential advantages for a first mover company. Following a first mover strategy, Nestlà © has benefited in many emerging markets as it was the first company which offered differentiated affordable products in local markets (RahmanBhattacharyya, 2003). Nestlà © aims to build a substantial position by achieving successful customer perceptions. Moreover, as the market grows and income levels rise, Nestlà © can potentially benefit by being responsive in such possible situations. Nestlà © can also take advantage of location economies, which are created from performing a value creation activity in the best location possible (HillJones, 2009). For instance, Nestlà © has opened a new factory in Nigeria which was dedicated in Popularity Positioned Products (Nestle, 2011a). This enabled the company to achieve lower costs and therefore facilitated the company to customizing its products in terms of price and accessibility. Thus, by enduring in such location economies, Nestlà © can gain a competitive place in each single location. 3rd Question: What is the companys strategy with regard to business development in emerging markets? Does this strategy make sense? From an organisational perspective, what is required for this strategy to work effectively? Regarding the business development in emerging markets, Nestlà ©s strategy was to enter markets before competitors in order to get the first mover advantage. The company aims to build a significant position within the developing world and thus be able to understand and satisfy the requirements of local population. Nestlà © acquires local firms when valuable opportunities arise during the entry process of the company into new emerging markets. A good example is that of 1995 where Nestlà © acquired Rossia, one of the leaders of chocolate manufacturer in Russia (Nestle, 2009). Nestlà © realised the chances that have been offered from the opening of Russian market and the increase of income levels, by making this new investment. In addition, there are times when Nestlà © enters emerging markets by building its own infrastructure from scratch, such as in China. Considering such a method, the company enters markets where no actual competitors exist and thus creates its own paths as a way to establish a market presence. Nestlà ©s product portfolio includes a strong presence of numerous key brands which focus on developing local marques for their respective markets thereby escaping its global brands for these customers (Urde, 1999). Overall, the company owns 8500 brands under its organisational umbrella and less than 10% are registered in more than one country. As an alternative way of trying to force a product in a market, the company customizes its product based on the needs of the local consumer and focuses at the extent of achieving economies of scale. At the moment, Nestlà © follows the strategy of adaptation to local conditions by using its in house PPP (Popularity Position Products) method which offers affordable products of high quality to meet the needs of emerging consumers (Nestle, 2010b). In the long-term, Nestlà © is aiming to supply the whole region with various products in order to realize economies of scale. For instance, as part of its long term business development strategy in Middle East, Nestle has established a network of factories in five countries. According to Porters generic strategies figure 1, Nestlà © adopts focus/niche strategy which reduce company risks and focus its marketing efforts on a limited number of market segments (Eldring, 2009). By adopting such a strategy, the company aims to build a substantial position in these particular markets so as to gain a competitive advantage using product innovation and marketing activities. Due to the fact that these economies are growing at a fast pace, Nestlà © is able to escape such segments and can offer a wider variety of upscale products such as mineral water and prepared foodstuffs (Case Study, 2011). (Source: Adopted from: www.mindtools.com/media/Diagrams/GenericStrategies) The successful presence of Nestlà © within developing markets verifies that the implication of Nestlà ©s strategy has been correctly applied. The corporate structure that Nestlà © comprises is closely related with the idea that all markets are equally important. Lavelle (2004) mentioned that Nestlà ©s strategies originated from a particular point and are independently applied from its local units. In order for the strategy to work effectively, it is necessary for the company to consider the following issues. Firstly, the firm must have available resources to invest in RD as well as the fast and effective production of innovative products (Hitt et.al, 2009). Nestlà © has established 6 RD centres in emerging markets that provide the ability to launch new products quickly and efficiently (BulckeSingh, 2011; Bauer, 2011). In order for the company to maintain its advantages over the competition it is imperative to continue focusing and investing on its RD activities. Secondly, the company must ensure that products can be customized at the requirements of any local market. Using the PPP model, Nestlà © is able to offer its products based on the requirements of the emerging consumers. Finally, Nestlà © must continue focusing on long-term investments in order to sustain a competitive advantage within the emerging markets. 4th Question: Through your own research on NESTLE, identify appropriate performance indicators. Once you have gathered relevant data on these, undertake a performance analysis of the company over the last five years. What does the analysis tells you about the success or otherwise of the strategy adopted by the company? Key Performance Indicators can be described as the main companys parts that assist to define and evaluate the success of a strategy in which the business is involved (Eckerson, 2009).Obviously, companys performance indicators can differ according to the reasons that have been composed for. Performance Indicators can be defined using numerous models, one of which is the Balanced Scorecard. The concept involves both qualitative and quantitative measures which evaluate the performance regarding the strategy chosen (Johnson et.al, 2008). Figure 4.1 applies the concept of Balanced Scorecard for Nestlà ©; an analysis has been carried out and can be seen below. Figure 4.1: Nestlà ©s Balanced Scorecard Financial Sales EBIT Net Profit NESTLE To be recognised as the world leader in Nutrition, Health and Wellness, trusted by all its stakeholders To be the reference for financial performance in its industry Internal Business Employees Factories Customer PPP Customer Acquisition Learning Innovation GLOBE-NCE RD (Source: Adapted from Johnson et.al, 2008 www.nestle.com) Firstly, the financial perspective can help the company understand its shareholders perception. Nestlà ©s EBIT grew steadily in the past 5 year period from CHF 13302 million to CHF 16194m in the year 2010, a growth of 21.7% (Nestle, 2011c). Significantly, 2009s EBIT was reported at CHF 15699m, an increase of just 0.15%. Moreover, the relative sales figures grew from CHF 98458m in 2006 to CHF 109722m in 20010, dropping at CHF107618m in 2009 after a successful year in 2008 where sales were at CHF109908m (Nestle, 2011c). In addition, the net profit margins showed a dramatic growth over the last five years from CHF9197m in 2006 to CHF34233m in 2010. Such a significant increase of net profit was due to the disposal of 52% of Alcons outstanding capital, which increased the profit (as a percentage of sales) from 9.7% in 2008 to 31.2% in 2010 year (Nestle, 2011c). Secondly, an internal analysis makes it possible to identify the level of operational procedures of Nestlà ©. During the year 2006, Nestlà ©s workforce involved 265 000 people, a number that increased in the year 2008 to 283000. Throughout 2009, the company cut about 5000 jobs resulting in a 281000 person workforce for 2010 (Nestle, 2011b). In addition, the company in 2009 was operating 449 factories 30 less from the year 2006 (Nestle, 2007b; 2010a). With respect to the third perspective of Learning Innovation, Nestlà © seems to have a strong focus throughout the years. Taking into consideration Nestlà ©s product innovation, it can be seen that the company is aiming for a deeper scope within this area. In 2006, Nestlà © spent about CHF 1.7 billion for its RD with a further increase in the following years (Nestle, 2007b). According to Nestlà © (2010a) spends about 1.9% of its annual revenues on its RD program which is considered as one of the key drivers of growth. In addition, the company combines two programs, GLOBE and NCE, which enable the reduction of production waste. Through these models, Nestlà © has achieved CHF 1 billion in 2008 which has further increased its efficiencies to a CHF 1.5 billion saving in 2009 (Nestle, 2010a). Finally, the consumer perspective is related to how customers perceive Nestlà ©. This can be measured through Nestlà ©s PPP model which aims to focus on low-income consumers around the world (Nestle, 2010b). Within 2007, the PPP performance involved 37 countries while in 2008 this number almost doubled to 70, generating an organic growth of 27% (Nestle, 2008). In 2009, PPP achieved sales of CHF 8.8bn with an organic growth of 12.7% (Nestle, 2010b). As a final point, 2010s concept encompassed 90 countries with sales figures of CHF 11bn and a double digit growth (Bulcke, 2011) Overall, the analysis of such indicators shows that Nestlà © has been able to improve its performance over the last five years. Despite the crisis triggered in 2008, Nestlà © is actually steady on a financial and non-financial scale. It seems that the long term strategy generates positive results for the short term as well. Giving focus on customization of local markets through the PPP concept, the company builds strong roots for the future, particularly in emerging markets as there are high growth potentials. 5th Question: How would you describe Nestlà ©s strategic posture at the corporate level; is it a pursuing, a global strategy, a multi-domestic strategy, an international strategy or a transnational strategy? Multinational companies use four main primary strategic postures when competing in the international environment. These are illustrated in figure 5.1. Such strategies depend on factors that are related to two types of pressures, Cost Reductions and Local Responsiveness (Hill, 2009). Figure 5.1: International Operations Strategies TRANSNATIONAL STRATEGY Move material, HR, ideas across national boundaries Economies of scale Location Economies Ex. Nestle, Kraft GLOBAL STRATEGY Standardized products Economies of scale Ex. Motorola, Intel High MULTIDOMESTIC STRATEGY Customization Different National Markets Ex. MTV, McDonalds INTERNATIONAL STRATEGY Import/export Minimal local customization Ex. Microsoft, PG Low High Low (Source: Adapted from Hill, 2009; AhlstromBruton, 2009) Figure 5.1, demonstrates the conditions under which each of the International Strategies are most appropriate. In addition, it shows some key characteristics of each strategy and gives examples of companies that follow different strategies. Regarding Nestlà ©s strategic posture, the company traditionally operated on a decentralized structure as a way to customize its product offerings to local needs, a key characteristic of a multi-domestic company. With the multi-domestic strategy, an organisation focuses on national differences and customizes its products by responding to the needs of the local preferences. This is in contrast to the global strategy where the company is able to improve its profits and development through lower costs that are derived from location economies and economies of scale (Hill, 2009). Due to the high competitive conditions that Nestlà © faced along with the need to obtain cost reductions, the company moved one step ahead by adopting a transnational strategy (Busco et.al, 2006). Such a strategy involves elements of global and multi-domestic strategies through which the company seeks to achieve both cost efficiencies and local customization (Hitt et.al, 2009). Child-Villiers, Head of Investor Relations, noted that Nestlà © is now integrated in a proactive and efficient way within the markets. He also supported that the company goes one step ahead as it links the globe with Nestlà ©s Continuous Excellence programme (BulckeSingh, 2011). Similarly, its competing company, Kraft Foods shifted to a transnational international strategy to better compete and grow (FoodProcessing.com, 2007). Within Nestlà ©, its national units are characterised as semiautonomous as they are able to involve decisions such as pricing and marketing in order to customize the products to local needs. Localization rather than globalization is the key characteristic of the companys idea which is also supported by the belief that there is not a single product for everyone (Nestle, 2007a). Although the authority of local subsidiaries are still decentralised, the firm has an integrated structure of seven strategic business units (SBUs) that manage advanced strategic decisions for key products ranks and achieve cost economies by centralizing operations such as acquisitions, production and RD (Hill, 2009). The company is divided into five divisions made up of Africa, America, Europe, Asia and Oceania. However, each zone assists in the development of the overall strategy but do not interrupt the local strategic decisions. It can be noted that Nestlà ©s activities and resources are neither centralised in the company, nor decentralised so that each subsidiary unit is able to operate separately in local market. Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, the CEO of Nestlà © noted that while the company comes closer with the consumer the more decentralized it is, he nevertheless supported that the more it is dealing with high level judgments, the more centralized decision making becomes (Wetlaufer, 2001, p.116) Moreover, following a transnational strategy it may sometimes require the company to adapt a more flexible tactical expansion and therefore involves a partnering with other organisations or exclusively owned acquisitions (DooleLowe, 2008). For instance, in 2003, Nestlà © formed a partnership with Colgate-Palmolive in order to develop a gum and candy product line. This was done in an attempt to capture a share of a market dominated by other competitors (Fox, 2005). 6th Question: Does this overall strategic posture make sense given the markets and countries that Nestlà © participates in? Why? Generally, Nestlà © operates almost in every country all around the world. Within the developed markets Nestlà © has a strong basis while in developing world the company involves a huge presence as they are potential markets for growth. According to Hill (2009), transnational strategy makes most sense in markets where the pressures for cost reductions and local responsiveness are high. Due to the high competitive levels and the financial complications that exist in developed markets, companies have to rethink about their strategies in order to survive (Hill, 2009). Then again, emerging markets involve low spending consumers with different preferences and tastes as well. It is therefore important for firms to respond at the cost pressures and the local requirements of the markets (Hill, 2009). Following this transnational structure, Nestlà © is able to customize global products in accordance with consumer requirements in the local market. This can be achieved through its autonomous local units which are responsible to understand the local needs and decisions related to marketing and distribution. Using an extensive market research, the company offers its products under the organisation umbrella and specializes on building brand names that are associated with local conditions (XieBoggs, 2006). Consequently, the company achieves the advantage of building customer loyalty and brand equity in local markets (Pass et.al, 1994). Allowing the subsidiaries to modify their packaging and distributions channels to meet local needs is a further benefit for Nestlà ©. In instance, Nestlà © and Mars in UK have combined their confectionery deliveries to Tesco, as a way to reduce as much possible trucks from Britains roads (IGD, 2010). This had a result to reduce both environmental and distribution costs. Since the early 1990s Nestlà © UK has been recycling its packaging as a way to reduce the amount of packaging used (IGD, 2008). The company decreased not only the costs of packaging but also its transportation costs since less Lorries are required. Regarding Nestlà ©s strategic posture, the companys subsidiaries within emerging markets have achieved to reap previous learning and ideas that have been used in developed markets (BulckeSingh, 2011). It seems that the company has succeeded to successfully transfer capabilities, skills and core competences in these markets. Hill (2009) supported that a transnational enterprise must give strong attention on flexibility by exploiting an information flow among the organisation and its local units. Thus, the key characteristic of transnational strategy offered the ability for Nestlà © to achieve almost 40 billion of sales in emerging markets and a growth of 11.5% in 2010 year (BulckeSingh, 2011). This worldwide combination strategy allows Nestlà © to enjoy benefits of low cost through location economies and economies of scale (Ireland et.al, 2008). For instance, as part of its strategy in the Middle East region, Nestlà © has set up a network of factories in five countries with a prospect to supply the whole region, achieving at the same time economies of scale (Case Study, 2011). Through the integration of regional economic groupings the company is able to produce larger units which can supply entire areas, building at the same time competitive advantage (Nestle, 1999). Sometimes, the transnational strategy involves a complex structure which includes a potential danger of losing control. Under this circumstance the organisation involves problems of creating a practical and valuable organizational structure and it is therefore impossible to manage the strategy (Hill, 2009). According to Bartlett et.al (2010) in order avoid any risks the transnational strategy requires a balanced binary of decision making and not a choice of one or the other but of where, how, when. 7th Question: Is Nestlà ©s management structure and philosophy aligned with its overall strategic posture? The management structure and philosophy is well affiliated with Nestlà ©s overall strategic posture. Nestlà © provides cooperation between local autonomy and centralized decision making. Even that the authority to local subsidiaries is decentralised, the firm is organised into seven SBUs that involve in the overall strategy development. Thus the multinational firm focus on local responsiveness and global integration (BartlettGhosal, 2000). The companys structure is well matched with the concept of transnational strategy. The SBUs that Nestlà © performs around the world are responsible for top strategic decisions which have specific focus on particular product lines such as coffee and beverages (Parsons, 1996). In addition, these SBUs participate within the overall companys strategy where Cook et.al. (2003) noted that the acquisitions made from the SBUs are essential drivers of firms success. Beside that structure of SBUs, Nestlà © includes regional divisions in five key geographical zones (Case Study, 2011). In combination with SBUs, these regional organisations are also supporting the overall strategy and business development. It is also important to state the RD that Nestlà © operates which focus on the creativity and production of products that meet local requirements. The RD function involves 29 research groups within various countries around the world (Bauer, 2011). Beyond such structure, Nestlà © decentralized as the responsibility for market decisions is carried down to local units which are basically operate autonomously for various local judgments. Nestlà © supports the philosophy that there is no single product for everyone, which achieves to understand local preferences through its subsidiaries and thus develops tailored products that meet those tastes and habits. Figure 7.1: Nestlà ©s organisation chart (Source: Adopted from: www.Nestle.com) Following the above figure 7.1, it can be seen that Nestlà © operates within a global matrix structure. As it has been already stated above, Nestlà ©s structure centralizes in some operating decisions and at the same time decentralizes in cases of national operations. The company integrates its functional competencies and capabilities into local teams such as to successfully respond within the global marketplace (BulckeSignh, 2011). Thus using a global matrix structure the company is able to fulfil customer requirements from different geographical places (Ireland et.al, 2008). According to Hill (2009), a global matrix structure is highly recommended for an organisation which adopts transnational strategy in order to be effective implement. Since 2000, Nestlà © has developed its Global Business Excellence (GLOBE) approach with a prospect of simplifying its organisational process structure through an integrated knowledge system. The programme provides Nestlà ©s companies with similar plans, structures and best performance to integrate actions thru the entire organization and to support organizational strategy for business objectives (Johnson, 2005). Recently, the company reorganised its structure through the development of an additional programme known as NCE (Nestlà © Continuous Excellence). Through that method Nestlà © is able to reduce production waste by saving million tonnes of product material through know-how production such as recycling (Nestle, 2010c). Bulcke Signh (2011) noted that the combination of those two programmes, GLOBE and NCE, enable the company to drive cost-effective growth and outperform the market. Concluding, the idea behind those programmes was to reorganise the organisations structure as t o be linked with the overall strategy.

The Importance Of Unix

The Importance Of Unix Unix is not limited to specific computers other operating system like using a microprocessor as a cpu. .the good thing about this is that it run on all sizes of computers using a wide range of microprocessors.moerover ,current versions of many other operating systems have been revised to include the capability to run unix applications and connect smoothly with unix. The operating system unix was found on its begginings of MULTICS.and it stands for multiplexed operating and computing system, where the whole project began on 1960s time period and in 1969 the project was pulled out by bell laboratories. it plays a precious role by counting all of the various flavors of UNIX and all of the Linux Flavors (which are sort of descendants of UNIX systems) would make up a large portion of all of the computers in operation. The operating system unix has a great importance because it was mainly designed to handle multiple user which was connected to a central hub which, in turn, it may be connected with the other hubs. This defines a network with a star topology which, amazingly enough, is the same as the basic structure of the entire internet. the most prevalent operating system in use was unix which In a nut shell is an operating system which at one point in time. This operating system has a graet impact in business and scientific sectors. We also heard about a UNIX system and non-ATT around 1990 or 1991, from the study we have found that there are a lots of incidence at a Usenix conference whre they working as a team in a different version with that of BSD UNIX that had been purged of ATT codeon when this kind of thing was really anacademic effort- there was no way we can run on a cheap Intel-based Pc. However it was also familiar as a long-term goal of the GNU project there must have a complete OS, although is true that in the earlier times they were still trying to focus on commands and compilers. When we started with linux some years ago on fooling around , and it creates a awareness in the real-world installations like Google, it was out of our idea that how good linux was,because we are trying to look at it as a user, not as a systems programmer. Once we start updating a book, and we found nice result, which forced me to go deeeper. We have started working with different linux systems like FreeBSD and SuSE we found that it was running on two spare desktop boxes. After that we decided to buy a another another box to run Solaris, and we did it and finally decided to add it in a Macintosh to run OS X, where a UNIX kernel (Darwin) was existed. There was a book in which it was more than 17000 lines of different example code was there which was covered about 300 system calls, and we are trying to test all the examples on all four systems. We are trying to find out How the other three systems would stack up against Linux, where each of which was came or originated in some way from genuine UNIX ATT? We found a surprising result, as it turned out True, the Linux we were using the latest UNIX standard was well behind Solaris in conforming to, however it was lack of POSIX threads ,POSIX interprocess communication, , and a some other system calls, but the real thing was that whatever was there was complete ,solid, and, especially,more than enough. We have discovered Linux its targeted at the most critical industrial applications, has no academic exercise.Furthermore, although we are trying to write the book , Linux 0/s kept evolving. It has now POSIX threads. It has a great commercial domination, we have good idea that linux creates a big role , on SCOs litigation judging from the news articles about, Microsofts jitters , and Suns decline.However the most important thing of Linux is socially and technically? Its this: Linux and the BSD-derived systems are open source, Unlike other UNIX clones, , so that the users can have the source if they want to use it or simply want it, they can also that vendors who improve the source. We have different examples of that .for example Red Hat, have to share their improvements.the users have a chioce to be totally self-sufficient, building their own kernel and compiler. Otherwise , they have a choice to use a commercial distribution, and they still have the ability or chance to make their own. ambitious professionals and Students can learn how a real OS is put together. If we think about developing countries Linux is perfect, because to educate their knowledge workersand to make them skilled , they can use it.on the other hand, they can deploy by running afoul of intellectual-property agreements,or without spending cash or and which can make them self-sufficient rather than being dependent on European technology companies and US . From a statistics we have found that in the last 30 years, the operating system UNIX is still known as the storong, versatile,in a word simply the best operating systems in the world. howeverThe popularity of this operating system is hinges on its simplicity, its it has a ability in running in various different machines, open standards design, and it is also good for its portability system. The important thing about UNIX is that it was and reliable, multi-user, secure, operating system that continues to dominate the enterprise Web- and application-hosting landscape.. In the present time the computer experts believe that for the web hosting unix is the best choice , where the another best alternative is linux ®, and someof The biggest vendors like ibm are strongly backing . One of the biggest reasons for using Unix is networking capability. With other operating systems, additional software must be purchased for networking. With Unix, networking capability is simply part of the operating system. Unix is ideal for such things as world wide e-mail and connecting to the Internet. If we try to compare between windows and linux we can find a clear idea.which one is more secure,reliable and chatheap. From the statistics we have found that We know that unix operating system is more secure,reliable and less expensive than that of microsoft ® Windows NT ® servers.. it is out of our skepticism that, each point can be argued, but no one can argue the fact that many UNIX operating system flavors are free. Everybody need to remember one thing about the operating system unix is that it is open source. Even if we think about security, one of the report showing a different result which is an aggregation of UNIX operating systemflavors versus Windows operating system in a different battle field likely Web-hosting environment clearly reveals that it takes a lot of time if the hacker want to hack a unix based server. If we assume an enterprise which is based on microsoft based messaging but not independant,where Microsoft Active Server Pages (ASP), Office Accessà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢, BizTalk ® Server, or any other proprietary software, for instance, Windows servers will undoubtedly be a piece of the SOA puzzle that this article reviews, the reason behind this is that as they have no other choice if they need to run that kind of software. Unix operating system was written in a machine independent language. So Unix and unix-like operating systems can run on a variety of hardware. These systems are available from many different sources, some of them at no cost. Because of this diversity and the ability to utilize the same user-interface on many different systems, Unix is said to be an opensystem.. Everything in UNIX is either a file or a process.A process is an executing program identified by a unique PID (process identifier).A file is a collection of data. They are created by users using text editors, running compilers etc. Although we dont need to say, what the future may bring-virtualization; complete services-, mash-up-, or portlet-based application front ends with shared computing hosting and database environments-somewhere out there you will still have UNIX servers doing what they do best: providing a reliable operating system to host a variety of Web computing needs. From this information we can get a clear idea of the history of UNIX servers in the enterprise and how important they are to the SOA puzzle drills into and exposes which technologies are used for each SOA implementation and the platforms on which they perform best. Reference and bibliography: 1.understanding operating systems fourth edition , by ida M.Flynn Mclver Mchoes. 2.operating systems internals and design principles, fifth edition by william stallings. 3. http://www.unix.com/ 4. http://tutorial.jcwcn.com/Operating-Systems/Linux/Linux-and-other-OSs/2008-09-16/10803.html 5. http://www.sharadavikas.com/CourceMeterials/mca34.PDF. 6. http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/?ito=1640 7. http://www.computing.net/