Pasific Blue and House of Fraser Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Pasific Blue and House of Fraser - Essay Example Internal forces are called Strengths if they add to the prowess and ability of a firm, and Weaknesses if they dilute its power and capacity. In this paper, we will be analyzing the cases of Pacific Blue in New Zealand’s airline industry and the House of Fraser in the context of the UK’s department store industry, looking at their problems and recommending solutions. Porter’s Five Forces Model Michael Porter in his book ‘Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Competitors (1980) points out that there are five forces acting upon all firms in an industry that determine its chances of entry, exit and survival. Industrialists and producers set up barriers to entry or exit that can prevent or delay the entry of competition- so that they in the meantime reap the profits and revenues available from the interested consumers. These forces are the (1) likelihood of new entrants; (2) power of buyers; (3) power of suppliers; (4) degree of rivalry and (5) threat o f substitutes. Thus any one and all of these forces can impact a firm’s chances of success or failure in a particular industry at any given time. Porter maintains that an industry is a group of firms that market products which are close substitutes for each other. Thus we have the airline industry, the retail industry, the automobile industry etc. which deal in products and services that are close substitutes for each other. Porter also uses the concept of industrial groups according to whether the degree of segmentation of products or services is wide or narrow i.e. they are loosely or tightly segmented (Porter, 1980). The Pacific Blue Case Study Coming to the case of Pacific Blue, it seems that it is stuck between a rock and a hard place. At the one end it has Air New Zealand, the dominant competitor and national airline of New Zealand, for which locals have affinities mainly due to the reason that most industries are foreign operated and dominated. However since the entry of Qantas and Pacific Blue, the degree of competition has intensified. Both Qantas and Pacific Blue are foreign owned, one being Australia’s national carrier and the other a joint ownership between UK’s Virgin Group and Toll Holdings of Australia. With Air New Zealand having the major market share and most of the routes, the newer entrants are struggling to compete. Air New Zealand’s response to Qantas’s entry was to cut down on its costs and offer no frills basic flights that enabled passengers to travel very easily and inexpensively. Qantas has been constrained to operate with just four airplanes on New Zealand routes. It had also to build its own terminals since Air New Zealand got the best preferences here as well. Pacific Blue entered the arena in 2007 and chose to operate on a small scale only, choosing two or three main routes on which it can serve the most passengers i.e. Wellington, Christchurch and Auckland. It focuses on low cost but high servi ce. Meanwhile the entry of Pacific Blue has also forced Air New Zealand and Qantas to reconsider their strategies. While there has been an increase in the number of flights on the most travelled routes- a price war has also been triggered, with seats priced as low as $1 and $9 if booked well in advance. Air New Zealand has planned to attack at both ends, looking at the low price segment on no frills flights

Diabetes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Diabetes - Essay Example Additionally, the paper gives a clear outline of the management, complication, and multi professional diabetes services that are relevant to type 2 diabetes. 1.2 Case Study Sarah is 39 years old lady admitted to the ward due to abdominal pain, loss of weight, dehydration, and generally feeling unwell. On admission, Sarah does not have past medical history but genetically has diabetes and heart disease. Through examinations such as chest x-rays, ECHO, blood and urine test, it is clear that there is glucose in the urine, with further investigations showing that she has type 2 diabetes. Finally, the study gives evidence on the evaluation of education strategies in relation to the effective self management on Sarah, and evidence based knowledge with regard to assessment, treatment and management based on the best treatment. ... Apparently, type 2 diabetes is caused by a combination of genetic factors that are related to the secretion of insulin, resistance of insulin and environmental factors such as lack of exercise, over eating and aging. Besides, type 2 is a disease that is caused by multi factors that entail multiple genes and environmental factors, which vary depending with the situation (Barnett, A., 2011). None the less, the advancement of type 2 diabetes is purely associated with a family history of diabetes like in the case of Sarah. The considerable higher concordance rate between monozygotic twins as compared to that between dizygotic twins indicates the involvement of genetic factors. Hence, it is assumed that pathogenesis is involved in the genetic abnormality, in the molecules related to the regulatory system of glucose metabolism. The role of environmental factors such as aging, obesity, insufficient energy consumption among others are independent risk factors that are associated with type 2 diabetes. Impaired secretion of insulin and its actual resistance contribute to the advancement of path physiological conditions. Essentially, impaired insulin secretion is a reduction of the response of glucose, which is present at the onset of diabetes. The tolerance of glucose is induced by reduction of glucose response in the early phase of insulin secretion, over and above, the reduction of insulin secretion after any meals (Winter et al., 2002). This reduction is crucial as it plays a basis path physiological change especially when the disease is at the early stage. If not treated it results to a decrease in pancreatic and cell mass in a human being a situation that affects the long term of blood glucose, (Williams

Art History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 4

Art History - Essay Example The Plan of St. Gall shows an entire monastery compound, which includes things like churches, houses, a brewery, kitchens, stables, and an infirmary. While this plan was never actually built, much can be learned from it because it was probably a typical plan during this time period. The plan was actually made by combining five different parchments that were sewn together. This includes room for this like an orchard and a road. The buildings are marked with red, while everything else is marked in brown. There are over forty buildings that are present in this plan and although the buildings were never built, they are an excellent guide to how people lived during this time period. The plan itself is actually quite interesting, as things like the scriptorium and library are located on the inner concourse of the plan, while lodging and a hostel are located on the outer half. Also, the Abbott’s house in located near the scriptorium, which could symbolically mean that he is closer to God than the other monks. Many of the buildings that are present would be for economic reasons, as the monks had animals and places to grow fruit and vegetables located at these places. The plan was meant to depict a place that was entirely self-sufficient, meaning that the monks would not have to leave this monastery for any reason. This means that every aspect of life had to be explored in order to come up with a plan that would accomplish this goal, which is what makes this plan so important historically. The largest buildings that were present at this monastery were the buildings of worship and study, with these building also being located in the middle of the plan. The schools, houses, and stables were also quite large, but they were located on the outside of the plan. The entrance also led right up to the largest buildings. These large buildings were mostly meant for guests,

Critical Thinking - Academically Adrift Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Critical Thinking - Academically Adrift - Essay Example Students must be critical. Critical thinking is about questioning the conventional system of doing things especially when it is dysfunctional. Students must concentrate on solution finding academic procedures that are born through innovation (Padget, 2012). Critical thinking leads to increased concentration and outright improvement. Educators are duty bound to provoke students to be solution oriented. Students must look at innovation as the only way of survival (Sullivan, & Rosin, 2008). Methods of learning should be modeled to allow flexibility and educational engagement that is firmly committed to purposeful living as opposed to presentation of credentials. Lack of rigor has been cited as a major reason for declining educational standards. Many graduates are said to be living below the poverty line. The syllabuses have to be criticized. Students must take units that encourage them to be part of the solutions. The education system should be both preparatory and solution based. The intensity of successful education model should be in bent on answering the present day challenges (Sullivan, & Rosin, 2008). The culture of socially responsible education system must be entrenched in the future education systems. Units that enhance creativity and social engagement with an aim to get solutions must be given preference. This calls for funded research and innovation centers. The syllabuses should be regularly reviewed to counter the emerging challenges with cheap and sustainable