War Is Big Business Essay Example for Free

War Is Big Business Essay When wars erupt, suffering and hardship invariably follow. â€Å"Conflict is the breeding ground for mass violations of human rights including unlawful killings, torture, forced displacement and starvation† (www.amnesty.org). This is basically the definition for armed conflict. Armed conflict in my opinion simply means war. Our men and women constantly put their lives on the line, possibly over a dispute between two powerful men who could not come to an agreement. Our men and women our dispatched out to the war zone, and destroy on command just to help these powerful men gain more power. World War II had the most casualties ever in the history of war. World War II was a global war that started in 1939 and ended in 1945. I believe this war started because of unresolved issues from World War I. World War II in my opinion was a war where different nations fought against each other, but I believe the center focus was on Germany. One of the major consequences World War II had on the United States was the economy. The economy was stronger than it was from World War I. The United States became a dominant world economy. Men and women in the United States began to find jobs. The unemployment rate went down tremendously. United States was no longer a country of poverty, but has risen to a country of freedom and prosperity. The second major consequence World War II had on the United States was its military. The United States was known to have the strongest military in the world. The United States military established different bases all over the United States and in other countries as well. I believe this was part of the strategy to prevent any other wars from happening. The United States now recognized as the world leader was now at the center focus of the nations. The United States benefited greatly from World War II. War in my opinion is big business. I feel every time the economy gets in trouble, a war is probably going to happen. Sadly the lives of our American people are lost because of the misuse of money in our government. World War II on Ameri can sensibilities had a great affect on people of the United States. The first thing that took place was food had to be rationed out. There was a great  shortage of food during that time, and it caused Americans much inconvenience. I believe there may have been long lines for the American people to wait for hours just to get something to eat. Gasoline and clothing also had to be rationed out. In my opinion there may have been limited driving for the American people. Industries had been converted to military goods, so consumer goods were hard to come by (answers.yahoo.com). World War II also had a great impact on women. Women were permitted to join the work force. Women were doing the same jobs that men were doing. I believe this was the starting point of women becoming bread winners for their house hold. In society today, women have become more independent than ever. World War II forever changed the status of women in the United States. I think Americans may have viewed World War II as a time of great tension between all nations. The United States did not want to get involved with the war, but during that time Germany was rising to a world super power. The United States had to get involved in order to keep from becoming a defeated nation. I think the American people still view World War II to be the most dreadful war of all time. World War II changed the United States role in the nation. The United States became the leading nation in the world. The United States was able to help build other nations. The United States was the only industrialized nation that wasn’t touch by the war. In my opinion I feel the United States is a helping hand to all nations in this world. Americans should be grateful than to complain. I believe World War II was a great benefit for the United States. In my opinion World War II literally repaired America. The United States was a nation that was falling off at the hinges, but the war strengthen the economy that greatly benefited the American people to get jobs and take care of their families. I believe World War II played a major role in the freedom that we as American people have this day. I believe America will always be the leading nation in this world. References http://www.amnesty.org/en/armed-conflict (2012) http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090308125129AAaAsJ1 (2012)

The Roman Colosseum Essay -- essays research papers

The Roman Colosseum, also known as the Flavian Amphitheatre, is perhaps the most famous ancient landmark in the world. The Colosseum was the host to thousands of gladiatorial shows, mock naval battles, executions, and animal hunts. Today, the Colosseum still stands in the center of Rome, Italy, however, not quite as it used to be. Still, today, the Roman Colosseum is a large tourist attraction, thousands of tourists from all over the world still come to view this marveled arena. The Roman Colosseum has a rich history, and remains a prized possession of the Roman citizens. Construction of the Colosseum was initiated by Roman emperor Vespasian, around 70 AD. Vespasian named the Colosseum after the colossus of Nero, a large statue that stood nearby. Vespasian, however, did not live to see the completion of the Colosseum, as he died in AD 79, only a year before the construction of Colosseum had been finished. Titus, Vespasian’s son and successor, completed the construction in 80 AD, in dedication for his father. Further modifications were made during the reign of Domitian, the brother of Titus. Construction was very expensive. Just the external wall of the Colosseum would cost about $50 million dollars, today. About the size of a professional football stadium, the Colosseum could hold over 50,000 spectators. Upon entering, the audience climbed sloping ramps to their seats. These seats were separated according to gender and social class. The women and the poor sat at the top of the Colosseum, on wooden benches. The Colosseum contained over four stories. The first three contained over 80 entrance arches and contained a complex drainage system. These entrance arches made evacuation extremely fast in case of an em... ...s were outlawed by Emperor Constantine I in AD 325. Combats, however, continued long after that. The last recorded gladiatorial battle was recorded in 404 AD. Even after this, the Colosseum was put to further use. Parts of the Colosseum were torn down and donated, in the production of other buildings (mostly churches) in Rome. Today, the Colosseum still stands, but in ruins. It now serves as a tourist attraction. Thousands of tourists from all over the world come to see this ancient stadium. This Colosseum is standing proof of the great architecture and engineering that the Romans possessed. Even today, in a world of skyscrapers, the Colosseum is very impressive. One of Rome’s most popular tourist attractions, The Colosseum tells very much about Roman culture. Even in ruins, the Colosseum continues to stand as a great marvel and a spectacular artifact. The Roman Colosseum Essay -- essays research papers The Roman Colosseum, also known as the Flavian Amphitheatre, is perhaps the most famous ancient landmark in the world. The Colosseum was the host to thousands of gladiatorial shows, mock naval battles, executions, and animal hunts. Today, the Colosseum still stands in the center of Rome, Italy, however, not quite as it used to be. Still, today, the Roman Colosseum is a large tourist attraction, thousands of tourists from all over the world still come to view this marveled arena. The Roman Colosseum has a rich history, and remains a prized possession of the Roman citizens. Construction of the Colosseum was initiated by Roman emperor Vespasian, around 70 AD. Vespasian named the Colosseum after the colossus of Nero, a large statue that stood nearby. Vespasian, however, did not live to see the completion of the Colosseum, as he died in AD 79, only a year before the construction of Colosseum had been finished. Titus, Vespasian’s son and successor, completed the construction in 80 AD, in dedication for his father. Further modifications were made during the reign of Domitian, the brother of Titus. Construction was very expensive. Just the external wall of the Colosseum would cost about $50 million dollars, today. About the size of a professional football stadium, the Colosseum could hold over 50,000 spectators. Upon entering, the audience climbed sloping ramps to their seats. These seats were separated according to gender and social class. The women and the poor sat at the top of the Colosseum, on wooden benches. The Colosseum contained over four stories. The first three contained over 80 entrance arches and contained a complex drainage system. These entrance arches made evacuation extremely fast in case of an em... ...s were outlawed by Emperor Constantine I in AD 325. Combats, however, continued long after that. The last recorded gladiatorial battle was recorded in 404 AD. Even after this, the Colosseum was put to further use. Parts of the Colosseum were torn down and donated, in the production of other buildings (mostly churches) in Rome. Today, the Colosseum still stands, but in ruins. It now serves as a tourist attraction. Thousands of tourists from all over the world come to see this ancient stadium. This Colosseum is standing proof of the great architecture and engineering that the Romans possessed. Even today, in a world of skyscrapers, the Colosseum is very impressive. One of Rome’s most popular tourist attractions, The Colosseum tells very much about Roman culture. Even in ruins, the Colosseum continues to stand as a great marvel and a spectacular artifact.

Ice-Fili

Ice-Fili â€Å"A storied market leader facing competitive pressures† To: Senior Management, Ice-Fili February 12, 2012 Current Situation Ice-Fili was able to maintain its leading position in the Russian ice cream industry during volatile times. However, it now faces even tougher challenges that threaten its future prospects: reduction in ice-cream consumption, emergence of cost-efficient regional players, and the lack of a quality distribution system. After analyzing the situation, we recommend a strategy that aims to grow sales through the earning of market share, and improving the distribution network.Porter’s Five Forces’ Model Industry Rivalry Industry rivalry is high. The ice-cream industry is fragmented; 300 producers compete in the market. Ice-Fili is an industry leader with 5% market share. Regional producers threaten Ice-Fili with their significant cost advantage and flexible production system. In addition, foreign companies such as Baskin-Robbins and Ne stle are expanding through relatively untouched segments such as cafes and restaurants. Threat of Entry Threat of entry is high.Numerous frozen imports companies have emerged as regional ice-cream producers with their cold-storage and production capabilities in pursuance of relatively high profitability in the ice cream industry. Economies of scale are not required for those small regional players. In addition, new entrants can enjoy significant cost advantages over Ice-Fili through more cost efficient equipment. Threat of Substitute Products or Services Threat of substitute is high. Ice-cream is not perceived as a family product that people can enjoy at home as a dessert.Impulsive purchasing consists of a large portion of ice cream sales in Russia, mainly through kiosks or street stalls. In 2000, ice cream consumption declined 3. 5 % from the previous year; in contrast, its substitutes such as beer, soft drink and confectionery products experienced strong market demand growth indic ating a change in consumer behaviour on the back of strong advertising. Bargaining Power of Buyers Bargaining power of buyers is high. Since Ice-Fili contracted with dozens of small distribution companies, no single firm has a significant bargaining power.However, there is a potential downside risk due to the absence of exclusive contracts. For example, Service Fili, an independent affiliate, can carry its competitors’ products without restriction. No binding provision exists to enforce Service Fili to carry Ice-Fili’s products. A potential risk arises when competition becomes severe. Ice-Fili could lose distribution volumes if competitors offer more favourable deals to its distributors. Lastly, when thinking about the end consumer as a consumer of ice-cream, we see low switching costs. Bargaining Power of Suppliers Bargaining power of suppliers is low.For each of its major ingredients, Ice-Fili has 3~ 4 different suppliers and it is not hard to find new one. Thus, swi tching costs are low. Internal Environment Ice-Fili highly value employees, as shown by its financial director quoting Stalin’s â€Å"Human resource capital decides everything†. Ice-Fili understands its struggle in establishing itself in the open-market economy, so it actively seeks young and talented managers to help revive the company. Strategy & Key Success Factors Ice-Fili employs somewhat of a focus strategy as a few products make up a significant portion of revenues.However, they do have a very large product offering even though some products make up a very small portion of revenue. Thefore, Ice-Fili does not fully employ a focus strategy. Most of Ice-Fili’s ice cream products are priced at 6 rubles per portion, making it more expensive than products of regional producers and Nestle and at the same time a lot less than premium products which could be as much as 15 rubles per portion. Ice-Fili’s commitment to only using high-quality natural ingredien ts and eliminating the use of any artificial preservatives or colorants makes it clear its strategy is not low cost.Ice-Fili also does not directly compete with premium brands such as Baskin-Robbins and Haagen-Dazs which have twice the price and compete intensively in restaurants and cafes. To succeed in this strategy, Ice-Fili needs to do two things. First, it needs to broadcast its commitment to follow the legacy of the traditional Russian ice cream makers and inspire consumers to cherish and value traditional Russian ice cream making method, thus creating stronger brand equity. Second, Ice-Fili needs to restructure its current distribution system. Nestle already has its products twice as available as Ice-Fili. Summation of Key Problems ) Competition: Baskin & Robbins and Haagen-Dazs have already become incumbents in the premium ice cream space. Regional players have a big cost advantage so a price war or a move into a low cost strategy would be difficult. 2) Distribution: Ice-Fil i’s products have fairly limited availability. Distribution was also highlighted as a factor for the failure of other players in the Russian ice-cream market Reccomendation Possible Strategies The main goal of our recommendation is to stop the decline of Ice-Fili’s return on equity which has fallen from 27. 3% in 1996 to 14. 4% in 2001 (Figure 1, Appendix).We will look to do this through a combination of sales growth and margin expansion. We outline several possible options, and choose one which looks to be the most optimal: 1) Focus on a low cost approach to grow sales 2) Focus on restaurants and cafe’s to improve margins 3) Focus on a few key products and improved distribution system to grow sales Analysis of alternatives and final recommendation 1) Ice-Fili currently still has 25% of their products produced with old machinery which results in higher costs in relation to regional players who have recently emerged and structured their operations around more eff icient machinery.Ice-Fili could firstly invest in their equipment to modernize the rest of their machinery and improve the cost structure of their whole operation. They would then need to lower their pricing from the current 6 rubles closer to 1. 5 rubles to improve volumes. This could potentially be a lucrative strategy. However, the main problem we see with this is the possible reduction in margins that could emanate from this (although it could be made up through increased volumes and lowering of costs). Also, since almost 80% of sales come through Gastronoms and Kiosks with limited space, sacrificing price for volume may not be optimal. ) If Ice-Fili focus or even just expand into restaurants and cafes, they could potentially improve margins due to the higher price points seen in this space. Ice-fili is a market leader with the number one market share in the industry as a whole, and they have also been around for much longer than both regional players and foreign competitors. Th is bodes well for their ability to still sell significant volumes at higher prices. The downside to this strategy that we foresee is the fact that Ice-Fili is not the incumbent in this high end space with foreign competitors like Baskin-Robbins already fairly established.Secondly, we see that Baskin-Robbins’ factory utilization for 2001 was very low at 7%-12%. Although this may not be representative of the high end industry as a whole, it is still a concerning sign. 3) Our final alternative, and the one we recommend is the focus on a few key products, and the improvement of Ice-Fili’s distribution chain. Ice-Fili’s Lakomka was one of the three most recognized brands of ice-cream in Russia, but Ice-Fili was not able to trademark it. However, the industry has not historically spent much on advertising, and Ice-Fili is still a market share leader.This means there is still time to brand Lakomka as Ice-Fili’s product, just like how people think about Coke when thinking about Cola drinks or â€Å"Googling† something when thinking about doing an internet search. By focusing on a few key products, Ice-Fili can capitalize on their storied tradition, and take advantage of the limited space in their main distribution channel (kiosks). Along with this strategy to grow sales through taking of market share, we also recommend growing sales through improving availability.There are heavy capital requirements for building a strong distribution channel alone, but a joint venture with Baskin Robbins would be an efficient way to achieve this since these companies compete in different parts of the market, and a partnership with an international company will make foreign debt and equity investors more open to financing Ice-Fili. Appendix Figure 1. Financial Calculation (in thousands of U. S. dollars) Figure 2. Ice-Fili’s Current Market Position Price Price Brand Equity Brand Equity

Final Analysis Paper on General Motors - 3742 Words

OUTSOURCE INSOURCE FINAL BUSINESS ANALYSIS PAPER ON GENERAL MOTORS (GM) 1 Outsource Insource Final Paper Patricia J Helligar Capella University ISTM 5010 Dr Mike 03/15/2013 OUTSOURCE INSOURCE FINAL BUSINESS ANALYSIS PAPER ON GENERAL MOTORS (GM) Table of Contents 2 Part 1 – General Motors - The firm I will analyze for my final project and the major topic that will be addressed .................................................................................................... 3 References ................................................................................................................................ 4 Part 2 - Identify the specific business unit and service component in final project analysis†¦show more content†¦This shifting to insourcing the work back is about the thousands of new GM jobs throughout the world that will be ready for the job market. GM has done the necessary evaluations and realizes that these contracts have no idea of the car industry business and no experience on how cars are designed, made and then sold. Therefore, the data centers will be handled by GM employees around the USA and the world. Now the data center is in house now or OUTSOURCE INSOURCE FINAL BUSINESS ANALYSIS PAPER ON GENERAL MOTORS (GM) 4 insourced, this will greatly improve GM’s ability to design the kind of software and data systems it needs to make popular vehicles. General Motors (GM) outsourced 90% of their IT department but recently made changes to insourced their IT department to GM employees. This move was not about saving money at all but the increase in jobs for potential new and existing employees at GM. References Schepp, David, (2013). GM vows to insource most of its IT Jobs. Document retrieved from http://www.minyanville.com/sectors/technology/articles/outsourcing-in-the-us-GMgeneral/7/10/2012/id/42298 Part 2 - Identify the specific business unit and service component in final project analysis The business unit and service component that will be used in final project analysis isShow MoreRelatedGoogle Car Essay1084 Words   |  5 PagesGoogle Car: In the paper, the point of view will be Google’s. Questions that will be answered in the paper including but not limited to the economical and technical viability for Google to produce Google car in a large scale, reasons that Google will succeed or fail, the best strategy for Google to adopt. For the industry analysis, Porter’s five forces (Appendix 1) will be used to explore the environment of the automobile industry and if Google will be able to enter the industry and produce automobilesRead MoreEssay about Tesla Motors1688 Words   |  7 PagesTesla Motors faces is the society and subcultures. 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