A profit margin Essays

A profit margin Essays A profit margin Essay A profit margin Essay Already highly competitive and overcrowded market; establishing a new name in this area would be very difficult and an expensive business.  As Giusti is a well established firm in this sector with a worldwide customer base it has already overcome these threats of entry. The company however is constantly looking to widen its product range; recently in the field of storage silos and homogenisers for cosmetic creams. In the new product range these barriers do exist and Giusti struggles in this area, as it does not have sufficient personnel to develop these new ranges. As a result we find that new products are evolutionary rather than revolutionary. The company tends to develop products on the job, and this is a practice common with small engineering companies. It is beneficial in that it keeps overheads low but when the newly developed product does not perform as anticipated then the rectification costs can escalate as generally the unit is on site at a customers factory.  Becomix, who are a German competitor of Giusti, have similar problems but a higher level of manning so development can be carried out along side production engineering. Threat Of Substitutes  Manufacturing in the United Kingdom has been on a general slow down for a number of years now and this is reflected in the customer base Giusti has in this country. Along with other process equipment suppliers Giusti has accepted that, especially in the food sector, the use of second hand vessels and pumps etc is becoming more and more common due to constraints on expansion budgets. As a result the company has formed close ties with second hand equipment stockists and, where appropriate, will offer the option of using new or pre-used equipment. Bargaining Power Of Suppliers  The price of stainless steel is elevated due to surcharges for nickel content, but this is fairly constant and common to competitors. Occasionally a customer may specify that a particular manufacturer of ancillary equipment be used in a project and in cases like these it is very difficult to negotiate significant discounts.  Giustis prices have been known to be at the upper end of the market scale in the past and great efforts have been made over the last nine years to reduce the cost of the equipment by increasing the efficiencies in the factory (purchasing seam-welding equipment, the increasing use of computer controlled laser cutting, economic batching of standard components, etc.), value-engineering the equipment to reduce materials used, required fabrication, machining, polishing, and fitting time on the shop floor. The efficiency increases have resulted in the company being able to use a nine year old pricing list for current, and much improved, equipment. The area that is still expensive is the control systems and bought out components.  The company has been aware for some time that many bought out components (valves, pumps, gear units, electrical equipment, etc.) are manufactured in India and the Far East, shipped to Europe and then distributed on to the customer. In setting up an office in India three years ago the company is endeavouring to cut out the European middle-man and gain the cost saving. Ironing out the reliability and quality issues with these suppliers is key to this initiatives long-term success. Bargaining Power Of Buyers  In recent years the customer base serviced by Giusti has seen a rationalization; with pharmaceutical companies merging, e.g. SmithKline Beecham and Glaxo Wellcome now knows as Glaxo SmithKline (GSK), and firms such as Avon Cosmetics relocating to save on production costs, i.e. moving production from Northampton to Poland. As a supplier to these companies Giusti now have fewer customers but the buyers that remain now have greater bargaining power. In a suppliers seminar held by GSK in the last year they stated that all suppliers were to reduce prices across the board by 21% if they were to remain on the recommended suppliers list. As stated earlier Giusti has made great efforts to reduce production costs in an attempt to maintain profitability but when customers such as H. J. Heinz hold tendering auctions on-line and award the contract to the lowest bidder then there is a point where a line is to be drawn between maintaining a busy factory and maintaining a profit margin.  Becomix do not enter into pricing or delivery time battles, relying on the quality of their products. The price on the box is the price that everyone pays and stated delivery may go back, but never be improved on. They have a perceived added value that is high and is sufficient to bear a price and delivery premium.

12 Angry Men sociological analysis

12 Angry Men focuses on a Jurys deliberations in a capital murder case. A 12- man Jury is sent to begin deliberations in the first-degree murder trial of an 18-year- old Latino accused in the stabbing death of his father, where a guilty verdict means automatic death sentence. The case appears to be open-and-shut: The defendant has a weak alibi; a knife he claimed to have lost is found at the murder scene; and several witnesses either heard screaming, saw the killing or the boy fleeing the scene. Eleven of the Jurors immediately vote guilty; only Juror No. Mr. Davis) casts a not guilty vote. At first Mr. Davis bases his vote more so for the sake of discussion after all, the Jurors must believe beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant is guilty. As the deliberations unfold, the story quickly becomes a study of the Jurors complex personalities (ranging from wise, bright and empathetic to arrogant, prejudiced and merciless), preconceptions, backgrounds and interactions. That provides the backdrop to Mr. Davis attempts in convincing the other Jurors that a not guilty verdict might be appropriate. A huge feel of the film is gotten through the time period it took place in. Peoples views on race were made very publicly within the Jury. Many of them seemed to have personal vendettas against different races. They deemed the boys Hispanic race to be slum and nothing more than that. A universal problem that is shown in several ways throughout the film is personal prejudice getting in the way of Judgment. Juror number tens reason for saying the accused boy was guilty was because he felt people from slums should not be trusted and that they kill one and another for fun. His prejudice lead him to discriminate against the boy initially by voting guilty earlier in the film, before being convinced in voting not guilty. This was during the civil rights era and all of that. We all know blacks werent treated equally and this makes it apparent that it wasnt easy for any minority within the US. Theyd rather lock them up and throw away the key than give them a fair trial. Tensions run high the second the Jury went into the private room to deliberate. It was a very hot day outside and the fan wasnt working nor would the windows open. No man wanted to spend more time than what they thought would be efficient to determine the verdict. Some even spoke about their plans for right after, thinking it would be a sure bet theyd be out of there soon with the whole night ahead of them. They were wrong. From then on the film turned into an example straight out of a sociology textbook. Everyone didnt deviate from the norm of the group All except one, Juror #8. The rest of the Jury was outraged and deemed him a radical. They could not believe two things. One, that he voted not guilty, and second, hat he went against the group norm. He tried not one bit to conform. Rather, he stood up in grand fashion and presented his doubts to his fellow Jurors. Slowly but surely his grand scheme was working. He did not know for sure whether he was guilty or not guilty, but he had a reasonable doubt and thats all about what the justice system stands tor. Its so interesting when you bring a group o t 12 random people into a setting like a Jury and see what you come up with. All of these men, from different walks of life , they all brought something special to the table that was ital to their key decision. The sociological theory that tone of this film could easily fall under is the conflict perspective. At the very beginning, viewers can clearly see the tension is between the Jurors whom most have a personal prejudice against the boy for certain reason. Some Jurors simply expected that a boy from the slums would commit an act like that they were stereotyping that all people who come from slums are criminals. Even if a person is not personally prejudiced against and individual or group, stereotypes can have them make discriminatory actions such as vote guilty. The reason most of the Jurors stereotyped the actions of the accused boys is because of socialization. The way of transmission was most likely through media; crimes shown by television new or new papers are frequently from neighborhood of low economics standing. Deviance a topic I touched on earlier, is another sociological aspect that can be examined in this film. Deviance is a very relative term where depending on the group and situation, it varies. Juror 8 was the only that felt from the beginning the boy was not guilty. When the first vote most of the other Jurors by he fact he could think the boy was innocent and even were upset at him for thinking that. As the film progressed the Jurors began changing their votes, eventually the roles were reversed; Juror number 3 appear to be the one committing the deviant act since it is revealed his own reason for voting guilty is because of issues with his own son. One of the most important things I learned in observing the sociological aspects of this film is how easy norms can change. The norms of eleven out of the twelve men voted guilty, changed entirely to guilty as the film came to a chose.

Performance and Interpretation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Performance and Interpretation - Essay Example An art master great Rokem's Introduction cautiously delimits the range of his question to productions concerning the Shoah and the French Revolution two main turning points in history that Rokem declare "have formed our modern consciousness, in exacting our intelligence of the historical past as a series of disastrous failures of basic human values". Working from this underlying assumption, Rokem endeavors to explore "the restorative potentials of the theatre in trying to counteract the destructive forces of history", to examine how these two "failures of history" have been represented on stage, and to address "the ways in which these performances have communicated in different national and ideological contexts"(Theater Journal, 323-347). Great Rokem's exploration of these issues proceeds primarily through his detailed, insightful analyses of live or recorded performances, but also makes productive use of published production reviews, programs, interviews, artists' memoirs, and production-related archival documents. Performance Production And Reception The Introduction establishes the centrality of the actor in works that perform history, arguing that an actor performing a historical figure on stage "in a sense becomes a witness of the historical event". The actor is, in Rokem's conception, a "hyper-historian" who serves "as a connecting link between the historical past and the 'fictional' performed here and now of the theatrical event". Rather than attempting to elide the differences in time between the historical event and its theatrical performance as happens in many traditional historical and documentary dramas Rokem's "notion of performing history is based on strengthening or reinforcing the dialectics between" those times(K. K. Seet, 2000. 305). The first three chapters of Performing History provide theatrical case studies allowing Rokem to articulate the concepts of performing history and the actor/witness as "hyper-historian" in greater, more concrete detail. This section devotes less attention to the national or ideological context of performances as it considers productions acting, performance and interception which examined in this research relate to the French Revolution, the plays form a less unified grouping than found in history of the plays deal with the Marquis de Sade, the other does not; two are considered experimental works of collaborative creation, the other is not; two feature metatheatrical elements, the other does not; two depict "public events from the French Revolution which had very obviously distinct effects on the public sphere", the other does not. As a result, it is difficult to draw broader typological conclusions regarding these works; one of the plays generally stands as an exception to the principle under investigation. The consistency

Home Health and Hospice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Home Health and Hospice - Essay Example Medicare is composed of three parts; Part A, Part B, and most recently part D. Part A and B were the initial divisions of the Medicare Program. Part A covers the health care received in hospice and health care without monthly premiums. It is the insurance portion of Medicare. Part B covers doctors’ services as well as other outpatient care absent in part A with an added monthly premium, which in 2008 cost about $96.40 every month (Shi & Singh, 2010). Changes in payment permitted people to make hospice services payment on a prospective basis under four care levels and adjusted by the wage index in an area. The local adjustment was important because it allowed low rates in regions with low wage levels and high rates in regions with high wage levels. This was followed by a new wage index, which comprised of a mix of both new and old wage indexes however; the new index was still based on hospital wage data. The Medicare hospice rates also varied according to the level of care that a beneficiary received. Initially, the payment system by Medicare was linked to the â€Å"Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (BBA)†, and it had a huge influence on the number of home health as well as hospice care agencies. Initially, the implementation of BBA led to the exit of these agencies from the market as it reduced medical reimbursement, and the number of providers. Implementation of the prospective payment system (PPS) generated improved growth and financial stability of agencies. It stopped the decline in the number of home health providers. With the PPS, Medicare paid home health and hospice providers for every 60-day â€Å"episode of care.† The amount paid for the 60-day period was a set amount based on a standard rate and adjusted to the type as well as the intensity of care offered known as a case mix formula. The home health PPS depended on a 153-category case mix adjuster to set payment rates anchored in patients attributes like functional status, clinical ri gorousness, and the requirement for rehabilitative therapy examinations (Shi & Singh, 2010). Initially, Medicare hospice coverage consisted of 290-day benefit periods and an indefinite number of 60-day benefit time. Coverage can extend beyond this period given that a six-month prognosis is the doctor’s best estimate. There is also provision for patients to move out of and back into hospice care. When out of the care, patients regular Medicare or other insurance cover them. Medicare reimburses the providers of home health and hospice care on a per diem basis. This kind of payment covers all services offered by the hospice (Shi & Singh, 2010). There are numerous different rates that vary according to the level and type of care offered. Concerning eligibility for home and health care under Medicare, a patient has to present a medical justification to qualify hospice and home health benefits. Initially, eligibility criteria varied, depending on the hospice program. However, patie nts had to have a progressive, irreversible illness limited life expectancy, and they had to opt for palliative care instead of cure-focussed treatment. The presence of a family member or another caregiver was required continuously when the patient was no longer able to care for him or herself. Initially, for a person to be qualified for Medicare benefits, he or she had to be qualified f

Struggling with identity (or forming identity and what that means) in Essay

Struggling with identity (or forming identity and what that means) in the stories - Essay Example In these works characters are in the quest for their identity. In Tillie Olsen’s ‘I stand Here Ironing’ we find that Emily is seeking her own identity. Her mother, her family members, her teachers and schoolmates, all are in search of identity. We find Emily’s mother’s feelings of sadness and lack and her inability to connect with her daughter Emily. Emily had an inner sadness in properly understanding her own position in the social fabric that existed during that period. A diametrically opposed pattern is evident here. Emily’s mother feels that she must have acted in a different way to influence the behaviors of Emily. Emily, on the other hand, feels that her out of home behaviors were wrong. She thinks that she must have been more positive. She had a strange mix of childhood and motherhood. The very first sentence reveals the mood of the complete story. Emily’s mother explains with a mood of despair her daughter’s hard attempts to locate her own identity being in a self-limiting environment. The story raises several questions individual identity. In the story, both mother and daughter are searching for their identity though they face numerous limitations brought by social constraints and their history of poverty. The constraints that surround them make them search for their identity. Sherman Alexie’s ‘The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven’ is yet another works that involves characters who are in search of their identity. Racial and ethnic identity does matter in the lives of individuals. Racial identity and cultural identity symbolize the cultural existence of an individual. Racial identity and cultural identity often shapes the lives of individuals. The story presents several cultural barriers and difficulties where individuals are in search of their identities. The story describes the life of an young native American man whose life is focused in his ethnic identity. Being an Indian he was brought up on a reservation. He however was constantly on travel. He lived in Seattle. His constant shifting between two cultures and two environments created a big question about his identity. In Tim O'Brien’s ‘The Things They Carried’ also we find a striving for identity. The dual personae that are found in the story often gets intertwined and even become indistinguishable. The narrator himself says that the identity that lives inside is what really matters (Napersteck, 1991). The real identity of the narrator is not always visible in the story. Locating the identity of the narrator is a big threat to the readers also. The identity of the narrator is quite confusing in all the stories in ‘The Things They Carried’. Critics and readers have always been puzzled by this. The narrator himself is unidentified in the title story. However in other stories we find the narrator as Tim O'Brien a fictional character. The author himself admits the identity strife evident in the story. The third-person narrator in the story is nameless or without identity. However as the stories are interrelated we can consider this third-person narrator as fictional Tim O'Brien. The story includes constant shift of identity. The central character or the narrator is striving for identity. Junot Diaz’s ‘How to date, a Browngirl, Blackgirl, Whitegirl, or Halfie is yet another work in which we see a struggle for identity. Here the character is striving for her racial identity. Here th

Landscape painting of China Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Landscape painting of China - Essay Example Monumental landscape was ordinarily depicted to express power and dominance. In principle, their encompassed mountains as the dominant feature and other features belittled to reduce their significance. Also, it showed or compared the insignificant nature of the natural human being relative to the natural grandeur. It is safe to assert that the natural power and eminence could be compared to political power. The metaphoric aspect of the landscape on the other hand, was used to show the hierarchy and social structures of the human society. For instance, â€Å"A solitary Temple amid Clearing Peaks,† was associated and attributed to Li Cheng had a gigantic mountain in the background and a temple in the middle of picture. There is also other features of people on the lower periphery of the picture being depicted as little and insignificant at the might of the ruling political class. Li Cheng was a ruling family in the political imperialism of Sony dynasty. Thus, the painting had de ep political meaning and symbolism. Generally, the painting symbolized political stability and peace of the Sony dynasty. It is important to note and mention that the huge structure of the mountain is express and easy to notice. The mountain represented the power of the emperor, the ruling class and political might. The situation was deliberate so as to compare of juxtapose the little figure of the people at the bottom of the painting as little or even insignificant. In all aspects and fairness, this is a representation an intuition.

Survey for my psychology class Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Survey for my psychology class - Essay Example In general there was similarity to the answer on the nature of psychology, except for the youngest, who had no previous exposure to any study on psychology. The answers from the others were satisfactory as all of them have had exposure to psychology in their student days, as could be seen from their response to the second question. The best answer came from the participant undergoing a nursing course, and as such had the best exposure to the nature of psychology in her study classes. The only erroneous answer came from the youngest with the least experience, and no exposure to psychology in his study classes. He has confused psychology with psychiatry, which is a branch of psychology that deals with abnormal functioning of the brain or mental illness. Taking into consideration his exposure, he has exhibited a perception that most people would, when not aware of psychology, as psychiatry is commonly used in the treatment of mental illness. This brings us to the possibility that often perceptions derived from the environment around us need not necessarily be factual, and yet to the human mind it remains otherwise. The third question is relevant to the experiences that the participants have had during their tenure in the college. To the majority the institution is a great place, and this perception arises from the good experiences that they have had. Yet, these perceptions are expressed by members of the faculty and administration. They are bound to say nice things even if they feel otherwise. The nature of the institution from the students’ perception drops to an all right situation from the older student, and a downright condemnation of the institution from the young student, who must be having pretty bad experiences in the institution. Depending on which side of the fence the individual assesses the institution the perception changes. Therefore experience, position and age do