Phase 2 Individual Project Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Phase 2 Individual Project - Assignment Example The primary objective of this case study is (a) to define fixed, variable, and mixed costs; (b) to determine cost behaviour patterns, and (c) to explain how these different patterns affect operating and pricing decisions. II.Cost Analysis a. Definition of Variable Costs + Example All expenses incurred that increase as the Production Output and Sales increases and decreases whenever the Production Output and Sales decreases should be considered as variable costs. Albrecht, Steve W., et.al.(2010, p.1062) defined variable costs in a more general way by saying that they are the costs that change in total in direct proportion to changes in activity level.. In the SAC operations, an example of the variable cost would be Raw Materials. The higher the demand for the product which would be evident in the increase in Sales volume, the higher the required Production Output, and a corresponding set of Raw Materials will be needed to produce the desired order quantity. b. Definition of Fixed Cost s + Example All expenses that are incurred whether or not operations are at high or low level should be called Fixed Costs. Rich, J.S., et. al. (2009, p.757) defined fixed cost as constant costs â€Å"within the relevant range as the level of of output increases or decreases.† At SAC, an example of that fixed cost is Depreciation Expense – Factory. Each month, whether or not the factory produces for high demand or for low demand, the value of depreciation expense will not change. c. Definition of Mixed Costs + Example Some costs known as mixed costs are made up of a combination of fixed cost and variable cost. Weygandt, J.J. et.al. (2009, p.209) teaches the need to separate these two in order to properly perform a cost-volume-profit analysis. Kinney, M.R. and Raiborn, C.A. (2012, p.70) also refers to the â€Å"high-low method† of determinine variable costs per unit and then separating it from fixed costs. That is, the formula to determine the portion that is var iable in a mixed costshould be as follows: Cost at High Level of Operations less Cost at Low Level Operations divided by High Activity Level expressed in volume of production or sales less Low Activity Level also expressed in volume of production or sales. The result will be the variable cost per unit within that mixed cost. Variable Costs may then be computed for its total and then separated from the total mixed cost in order to arrive at the fixed cost total within the mixed cost. In the case of SAC, there are data from two years, 2005 and 2006. Cost of Goods sold in 2005 was 50.81% whereas in 2006, the percentage increased to 59.30%. This means Cost of Goods Sold (CGS) may not be considered as 100% variable costs. A closer look at the details of CGS in the 2006 journal entries shows the following accounts: Cost of Goods Sold Raw Materials Labor Overhead Classification: Fixed, Variable, Mixed Supplies-Factory 3,500 MC Insurance-Factory 800 FC Indirect Labor 16,000 MC Factory Salar ies 12,500 FC Factory Property Tax 7,500 FC Maintenance Expense- Factory 8,700 FC Depreciation Expense-Factory 1,600 FC Utilities- Factory 3,650 MC Raw Materials RM, beg.=19,360 Purchases=33,710 RM, end= 10,000 RM, used 43,070 WIP, beg.= 1,800 RM processed = 41,270 WIP,end= 7,000 FG added=34,270 FG,beg.= 25,360 FG,total= 59,630 FG,end= 36,360 FG,sold= 23,270 VC Direct Labor 8,500 VC Selling Expenses 1,560 MC Admin.

Florence Nightingale and her Philosophy of Nursing Term Paper

Florence Nightingale and her Philosophy of Nursing - Term Paper Example The reason she observed was absence of sanitation, lack of food and warmth for the wounded soldiers. After enduring with these circumstances she formed a theory which was successful and is practiced and followed by many. The main focus of her theory was on the environment and the patient’s reaction to it. Her belief was, if alternation in the surroundings are made nature helps patient to heal. The foundation of her theory depended upon environment, patient, health and nursing. NURSING THEORIES: A general view Theories are composed of concepts, definitions, models, propositions and sometimes even assumptions derived from nursing models, to acquire the knowledge regarding patient’s health and betterment. Nursing theories aims to identify and predict the phenomena of nursing. The theories of nursing assist the nurses to describe, explain and predict everyday experiences as well guide to review interventions and evaluation of the nursing care system. FLORENCE AND HER THEORY OF NURSING Florence Nightingale’s theories were basically regarding the ideal nursing requirements and one of the essential requirement was of course the â€Å"home sister† and after that practice of the skills required by the profession, for this purpose she wrote two articles, â€Å"Nursing the sick† and â€Å"Nursing, training of†, her aim was to combine the training from the wards and supervise learners abilities and moral development. The home sister’s duty in fact is to train the nurses, however Florence herself, was the nurse trained without the Home sister. â€Å"Observation tells how the patient is; reflection tells what is to be done; training tells how it is to be done. Training and experience are, of course, necessary to teach us, too, how to observe, what to observe; how to think, what to think† (Nightingale, 1882). She explained her environmental theory in her book â€Å"What it is and what it is not† According to Florence process of learning should carry on from the initial formal training and it should never be discontinued because nursing requires a solid educational base. It is however, quite surprising that Florence fought against the idea of requirement of license for the nursing professionals as it would undeniably affect their training and will be a cause of self-importance for the nurses where as actually this profession wants a feature of kind heartedness and down towards earth temperament. Profession of nursing should be considered as a higher calling other then just a profession, was Florence’s vie w, and that can just be secured when a nurse recognizes her responsibilities for the well being of the patient because nursing is

Price collusion in oligopolies

Price collusion in oligopolies   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  An oligopoly market exists when a few large firms dominate the industry. This form of market structure lies in between the realms of the unattainable structure of Perfect Competition to the structure of Monopoly. Each firm competes in order to maximise its market share. Oligopolies are defined as per their behavioural aspects rather than their market structure. As a result oligopolies are characterised upon two fundamentals; high barriers to entry and interdependence. Even though each firm competes with one another, each firm is still tied with each other, in the sense that each firm is interdependent. When faced upon decisions, the firm must take into consideration the likely reaction of rival firms, as one wrong move can end with a devastating consequence; the loss of market share. Incumbent firms are protected by barriers to entry; however each industry varies in terms of contestability. The goods and services that firms produce within an oligop oly are differentiated, in the sense that similar goods vary in terms of its branding, quality and after-sales services etc. A few good examples of firms competing in oligopolistic markets are the car industry, supermarket chains and banks etc.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Oligopolies tend to behave either competitively or collusively. In accordance with the kinked demand curve theory, homogeneous oligopolies are fairly restricted in terms of price competition, as shown by the following diagram. Each firm must take into account the reactions of rivals; hence if a firm decided to raise prices, with the hope of gaining extra profits, from point P1 to P2. Other firms anticipate this increase, therefore keep their prices untouched. Quantity sold would plunge from point Q1 to Q2. This fall in sales is greater than the increase in price, and so leads to an overall fall in revenue; hence the elastic demand curve (curve A). However if this firm chose as an alternative, to lower its prices from point P1 to P3, other firms would follow suit, with the intentions of not losing market share to its rival. Consequently quantity sold would only increase from point Q1 to Q3. The fall in price would have to be larger for it to accommodate the increase in sales, hence the inelastic demand curve (curve B). Again this decision would result in a reduction in revenue, bearing in mind a fall in market share. Thus firms are reluctant to change prices due to the effects mentioned. Therefore, price stability is imposed under oligopoly markets; in turn firms focus on aspects of non-price competition. Such practices may include extra after-sales services, longer opening times, extended warranties and extensive advertising campaigns etc. Non-price competition would therefore shift the demand curve or the firm successfully makes the price elasticity of demand for the product less elastic, thus developing brand loyalty amongst consumers.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Price/non-price competition involves firms behaving interdependently. Seeking to eliminate market uncertainty is a key desire for a market dominated by a few large firms. Thus businesses are keen to collude with competitors to reduce the effects of interdependence, either collude openly (formal agreements), or tacitly (informally under the radar). Formal collusive agreements bring forth the formation of a cartel. The advantages of such cartels, is that firms are able to achieve joint profit maximisation. Each member of the cartel is given an output quota usually depending upon each firms market share, which as a whole will maximise the cartels profits at the profit maximising price. Cartels therefore act as if they were a monopoly, taking control of the whole industry, whereby it is able to restrict output and raise prices (disadvantages of a monopoly structure). Consumer surplus is restricted and producer sovereignty exploited. As an assumption, there are a total of five firms in the industry, each agreed to be a member of the cartel. For the members to achieve joint profit maximisation, the cartel thus has to produce at its profit maximising level at point where marginal costs (MC) equals marginal revenue (MR). Thus the cartel, therefore the industry produces 4000 units which are then sold at the price of  £6. Assuming that each firm shares an equal amount of the market, for that reason each firm is given an output quota of 800 units. By analysing each firm independently (figure 3), the quota of 800 units does not lie at their profit maximising level. For this reason, the firm is likely to cheat, maybe undercut the cartel price or increase output to maximise its utility. Assuming the firm agrees not to change the price, for the firm to maximise its profits, it would have to increase output to 2400 units at the point where the cartels price (MR) equals the firms MC curve. At the cartel output, it would ac hieve revenue of  £4800. By increasing output to 2400 units it can boost revenue to  £14400; a good 200% increase in revenue. This would only occur if the firm can control total market share, taking the other members out of the equation. In turn if the firm wished to profit maximise using its own curves, it would therefore sell 1600 units at a price of  £4 at where MC=MR. By undercutting the cartel price the firm can attract extra customers, therefore increase supernormal profits. Interestingly, other member firms are also likely to lower their prices in the midst of cheating, which could lead to a price war, eventually leading to the breakdown of the cartel.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  For the reasons mentioned above, i.e. cartels behaving as a monopoly and the breakdowns of the cartels can lead to increased price fluctuations; in the interests of consumers, cartels are deemed illegal in many countries including the UK. Cartels, being against the public interest, its in the interests of the Competition Commission and the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to investigate such cartel behaviour and counteract the cartels intentions. Bearing in mind that cartels are against the public interest, there is one cartel being in favour of consumers and the economy as a whole. It is not formed by a group of member firms, but formed with member countries; OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries). As stated, OPECs mission is to coordinate and unify the petroleum policies of Member Countries and ensure the stabilization of oil markets in order to secure an efficient, economic and regular supply of petroleum to consumers, a steady income to producers and a fair return on capital to those investing in the petroleum industry (OPEC, http://www.opec.org/home/ ). Assuming OPEC keeps to its mission, it is truthful to say that OPEC aims to strengthen the global economy, bringing price stability in the commodity market. However other firms caught with price fixing have not had the same treatment. Just recently the New York Times has published LCD makers fined $585 million for price fixing (New York Times, Published; November 13 2008, by Steve Lohr). LG Display, Sharp and Chunghwa Picture Tubes were investigated and pled guilty of fixing the price of their liquid crystal display panels and were fined a total of $585 million by the U.S. Justice Departments antitrust division.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The difficulties faced with open collusion, and the consequences (the Competition Commission can fine the firms involved in cartel behaviour 10% of their worldwide turnover), means that firms are often reluctant to form cartels, therefore take the chances to collude tacitly. There are a few methods of tacit collusion, the popular being Dominant-firm Price Leadership. In simple terms the dominant firm in the industry becomes the price leader, at which the other firms tactically follow the dominant firms price changes, yet also keeping a close eye on their rivals. There is some evidence linking the supermarket industry to this method of dominant-firm price leadership, whereby Tesco being the dominant of all supermarkets. As published by TNSGlobal, for the 12 weeks ending 1st November 2009 show that Tesco has grown its market share from 30.6% a year ago to 30.7% now. TNSGlobal claims that, Tescos growth rate of 4.7% year-on-year beats the market avera ge of 4.4% (TNSGlobal, www.tnsglobal.com ). Being the dominant in the industry, it therefore acts as a price setter, resulting in the other firms following the price changes. However this strategy has been a prime condition of Tesco (to control the market), up until the moment one of the supermarket firms cheats by undercutting the price and not following the price leadership strategy. This has been the case recently (from personal experiences), that Asda is the better value supermarket, and may be voted as the credit crunch climate favourite. Asdas main advantage for the consumer is that there are a wide range of discounted products, that even Tesco and other supermarkets cant match. Instead of the price leadership tactic, oligopolies may indulge in price parallelism, whereby each firms price movements are parallel with their rivals. Such a policy requires no dominant firm imposing price changes. Besides firms who dominate the industry being the price leader, firms may become a barometer of market conditions, whereby firms engage in the tactic of barometric price leadership. This form of approach unfolds when a firm can successfully anticipate future market conditions in the short run, applying their knowledge to price changes. Firms neither have to be dominating the industry nor be a large firm. Price changes thus reflect changes in market demand or supply, where the firm who predicts such changes in the market becomes the barometer in the industry in which fellow competitors follow. From such a policy, it is important to note that firms frequently switch between the roles of a price leader to a price follower. As a precaution, following firms may delay their price changes in order to be sure that the price changes by the barometer is consistent with the results obtained of the current market situation. Therefore a time lag may arise, or firms may decide that results are inc onsistent with the barometer, thus leave their price unchanged, undercutting the price leader. In the interest of each firm, costs may rise as a result of marker research, therefore in order to minimise the costs, firms may just follow the price changes of the price leader without undertaking research, in the hope that the barometer is correct about current or future market conditions. Firms may compete in terms of the Bertrand model. This model assumes that there are two firms in the industry (duopoly). Both firms aim for price stability in order to reduce menu costs. Hence both firms set their prices at where it would have been in a perfectly competitive market, usually making normal profit. This point refers to the Nash equilibrium. This ensures that neither firm can undercut the price, avoiding any price wars.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  To conclude, it can be suggested that there is some correlation between the policies in which oligopolies compete at, and the contestability of the industry in which they operate in. A highly contestable market in which barriers to entry are low, pressurises firms to compete more aggressively, whereas if incumbent firms have successfully erected high barriers to entry, whether natural or man-made barriers; the industry becomes less contestable, providing incentives to collude to maintain market share. There is a high probability that the formation of cartels will inevitably lead to the breakdown of the cartel, for reasons of cheating. Price fixing or other forms of agreement never maximises each firms benefit. However, this statement only relates to the short term, but an agreement with other firms does reduce uncertainty, therefore benefiting firms in the long run to maintain supernormal profits. Member firms must find ways to restrict other membe rs from cheating on the cartel price. Therefore the profit loss incurred by deviating from the cartel should exceed the profit loss by remaining in the cartel. As shown by figure 3, this is difficult to achieve. Theoretically, it is easy to form a cartel when approached via the text-book assumptions. However in the real world, it is difficult without perfect information being available. Research suggests that, differences in product life cycles and fluctuations in demand create instability among agreements, which naturally fractures the cartel (Haltiwanger and Harrington (1991)). Collusion to mimic operations as a monopoly allows investment in research and development to be funded collectively via joint profit maximisation, benefiting consumers in the long run. In essence, firms who compete without any form of collusion or agreements, have greater scope to maximise personal utility, by developing brand loyalty among consumers, thus being able to successfully increase market share. T his would be the best policy to approach benefiting both the firms and the consumer, yet avoiding any government intervention. References Garner, E. (2009). Tesco Share Turnaround. Available: http://www.tnsglobal.com/_assets/files/worldpanel_marketshare_oct2009.pdf. Last accessed 03/12/2009. Haltiwanger, J. and J. Harrington (1991), The impact of cyclical demand movements on collusive behaviour, Rand Journal of Economics, 22:89- 106. Lohr, S. (2008) LCD makers fined $585 million for price fixing, New York Times, 13 November. Available: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/13/technology/13iht-13panel.17777580.html?_r=1scp=1sq=LCD%20makers%20fined%20%24585%20million%20for%20price%20fixingst=cse. Last accessed 03/12/2009 OPEC. (n.d.). OPECs Mission. Available: http://www.opec.org/home/ . Last accessed 02/12/2009.

Careers in the Operating System Field Essay -- Information Technology

The significance of the role of the Operation System (OS) in the overall Information Technology employment sector cannot be undervalued. Indeed, it is hard to talk about technical skill-sets or the practical application of such skill-sets without at least some underlying understanding of their context within a computer operating system environment. From hardware specifications and requirements, user technical support, system administration and security, to software development and system implementation, operating systems are an integral part of the information technology and computing world in all its aspects, and it is difficult to form a concrete demarcation between specialized careers in this industry and the concept of the computer operating system. Probably the most common thought of career position within the information technology arena that garners the most OS-centric job description specifics is that of the system administrator or network administrator. A system administrator is a person employed to maintain and operate a computer system or network for a company or other organization. The duties of a system administrator are wide-ranging, and vary widely from one organization to another. Sysadmins are usually charged with installing, supporting, and maintaining servers or other computer systems, and planning for and responding to service outages and other problems. Other duties may include scripting or light programming, project management for systems-related projects, supervising or training computer operators, and being the equivalent of a handyman for computer problems beyond the knowledge of technical support staff. Unlike many other professions, there is no single path to becoming a system administrator. Few co... ...roblems, I have found that the creative outlet offered by developing applications is much more satisfying to me in terms of my personal career development. I plan to re-enter the software application development job in the very near future, following graduation from RVCC. References The Enterprise Systems Staff (2006, August 8). 2006 ESJ Salary Survey, Part 1: Salaries Grow for All IT Staff Positions. Retrieved November 10, 2006, from http://esj.com/enterprise/article.aspx?EditorialsID=2052 The Salary Wizard Basic Report(2006, September). Retrieved November 10, 2006, from http://swz.salary.com/salarywizard/layouthtmls/swzl_compresult_national_IT10000135.html Salary Survey Report Job: Computer Technical Support Specialist(2006, November) Retrieved November 11, 2006, from http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Computer_Technical_Support_Specialist/Salary

Invictus summary

Mandela is released from prison after having spent there so many years. Later, he is elected president and a newspaper issues appears with the headline â€Å"He can win an election but he can't ran a country' as a legitimate question. These were the common threats between British people and natives at that moment. Reconciliation was an important matter for Mandela during his commandment, this was showed in a part were a black officer, who requested for help at his sector, ninnies to cooperate with the help of white men even though Mandela had authorized it.Media, as black people call him, stands by the phrase â€Å"forgiveness liberates the soul, that's why it is such a powerful weapon† making clear that he believes that both cultures don't have to eliminate and discriminate each other but to merge. After he found out that there was a conspiracy in the rugby team to change the t-shirt as a demonstration that now British people were no longer related to the rugby team and engi ne there still were waving apartheid flags, he said it was time for everyone to move on.Mandela's daughter was offended or disgusted to see how her father accepted British men in spite of the fact that they had considered him a terrorist. As a consequence, Mandela explains to black people, who were planning the conspiracy, not to change the team at all so as not to show fear and show they were way better than the British. Mandela had studied there and also knew his â€Å"enemy' very well. He tried to convince them not to seek revenge because It was time to build a new nation ND that, by doing this, It would only reinforce the circle of evil.Mandela recognized that the country needed to feel greatness so that Is why he points out that through rugby they could achieve It. To do so, he decides to meet the captain of the team with the purpose to motivate, stimulate, Inspire and get him to know that he trusted his leadership and In the whole Springboks rugby team. The captain needs to d evelop skills throughout effort, skillfulness and the constant training with motivation and passion.

Zagu Co. Background

CONTENT : Topic Page Analyze Russia at the time of the case, 1992, 1-2 (Using the PEST and Geography framework) Analyze Pepsi as a company using only the information in the case 3-4 Recommendations for Pepsi to become successful in Russia4-5 Answer the specific questions asked by Bill Shaddy in the last paragraph of the case 5-6 Pepsi challenge – Russia 1992 Pepsi is a soft drink produced and manufactured by PepsiCo. It is sold in many retail stores, places, restaurants, schools, cinemas and from vending machines. However, the article of â€Å"The Pepsi Challenge-Russia 1992† discusses on the challenge of hiring people as well as develop staffing compensation and training for the new Russia organization after finding the ineffective business. It is very important that an organization as Pepsi considers Russia environment before beginning re-organization. In fact, environmental analysis should be continuous and treat all aspects of planning. One of marketing tools that often uses to analyze environmental economic is PEST including political factors, economic factors, social factors, and technological factors. Political factor; According to beginning of year 1992 in Russia, the politics at that time is concerned to be communist before changing to democracy in May 1992. The regulation of business is based on government. Government policy influence laws that regulate all businesses and every international business agreement involve government to participate in every activity. The one of examples is that Pepsi hires employees through one of the government employment bureaus unless Pepsi forms a joint stock company, which is the window that allows foreigners to hire Russians directly. The politics in Russia seems to be unstable such as the sensitive between Russia and Ukraine resulting to Pepsi cannot hire people from Ukraine to be the part of PepsiCo in Russia. The country also lacks a legal framework for property rights. The movement of privatization is slow and controversy between different republic. The business contract has to renegotiate under turmoil situation. It can be conclude that the government influence in economics and social aspect. Economic factor; This is the one of significant factors which influences on PepsiCo. Business needs to consider the state of economy in short and long terms, and economic factors are the important tool for international marketing. In Russia, the economics seems to be capitalism, and a free market, but in fact people still stick to the communist system, so that the free looks unreal. There is less competition on market due to government regulation and control system. The economic environment has the unappreciated sign. The workers are inefficient, the organization presents overstaffing and nepotism, and the system also identifies as nepotism. The people are employed as presenting high employment rate, but they work with low efficiency and effectiveness. All of these result to low productivity and high inflation rate that is also mention on first paragraph; economic output declines around 20 percent on an annual basic, and the monthly inflation rate is double digits. The country lacks of a financial system and knowledgeable business. The writer compares the economic system of Russia with another country; In Russia does not have a well developed business system like India. If comparing GNP with Ukraine and Kazakhstan, Russia is quite lower than others. The number of GNP presents only US$ 5,400 per 149 million people. A globally traded currency should serve as a reliable and stable, but it does not act in Russia. â€Å"Some companies have paid in hard currency which fuels expectations of locals. Other companies have paid only rubles†(Honorio, P. 10) In the same business Coke dominates Russia market more than Pepsi; Pepsi has around six percent of the market in total soft drink sales. Therefore, this is the one talent issue for Pepsi to make more market share. Social factor; The social style and culture affect on international business. One problem why Pepsi cannot rapidly grow in Russia is language and cultural barriers. The culture is traditional. There are not many people who have English knowledge. Moreover, confidential issue should be careful because everyone alks and share information to each other in their society. The other interesting point is that Russians are not get use to western style resulting to difficulty of working in western company. Russian system is flexible and no specific rule in some topics; for example businesses cannot get reference checks for their employments. Because of social factors, Russians are less interest in foreign business even tho ugh there are many western companies in Russia, so that it creates the difficult work for HR department when they want to hire efficient labor. Technology factor; Technology is competitive advantage for international business. In Russia, there are fewer technologies to allow customers to easily access to products. All technologies base on the local resources. However, Pepsi use the technology to be the media of their advertising, such as television, and newspaper. Pepsi also adds the technology such as vending machine in their selling instead of using middle man or personal selling. Even though Pepsi want to use the high effective technology, it is useless because the distribution is state-owned and controlled. Analyze Pepsi as a company. In term of marketing process, there are many interesting key points which contribute its performance. 1. Research: Pepsi tries to build the Russian organization. Bill Shaddy is the company representative to do the research and analyze situation including culture, politics, resource and technology, social environment, demography, business, and human behavior. Even though there is another competition as coke that dominates the soft drink market in Russia, Pepsi wants to expand its market, and it is talent for Pepsi. 2. Target customer: all genders and ages are the target customers. The middle class is the main target of company that we can see example in India. There are several criteria to analyze its performance which are: * Defendable: it is competitive in its market because it preserves a great quality because Pepsi technicians trained the partners on quality control, and good service in store and out store. Moreover, it has loyal customers in America that can prove by marketing share. There is only one big company as Coca cola that produces the same product. Accessible: Pepsi is dispensed out of sidewalk fountain machines, and distribution to many retailers. * Expandable: there is an opportunity for selling its products, since there is high demand. Pepsi has a lot of franchises, and also creates the new taste for their products; for example, a lemon-flavored soft drink in the Soviet market. * Serviceable: generally, Pepsi relies on shelf space and positioning, as well as convenience packaging and provides the good service for all customers, but in Russian stores do not compete on service. Profitable: it is profitable because Pepsi has a lot of customers and the cost cut in building like the situation in Russia that Shaddy tries to find the cheapest office. Moreover, Pepsi hires many locals, so it can cut excessive payment. 3. Position: the Pepsi captures the code of worldwide business and value. Pepsi reserves the leader in soft drink market in U. S. and try to achieve in other regions. 4. Marketing Mix * Price: price is reasonable; the same price as local soft drink brands. In Russia, suppliers in the same product do not compete on price. Product: Good quality soft drink, and convenient package. * Promotion: Pepsi uses various channels to promote its product, such as news paper, television commercial, outdoor, kiosk displays, sponsored promotion, and events. * Place: Providing in everywhere, especially in American market. 5. Execute: to penetrate the existing market by using many promotion, keeping quality, and developing products. From the above points that make Pepsi achieves its success goal, we can conclude that the Pepsi marketing strategies meet the need of its customers. This situation can be called as touch point. Moreover, Pepsi also uses push and pull of marketing strategy. It advertises in public. This can be called as creating a demand strategy. When people hear or receive information about it, they go to get the product. Moreover, word of mouth is another channel of advertising which is useful for Pepsi. Recommendation; As we can see that Pepsi gains market share leadership in U. S. food store sales, but in most European and Asian markets where Coke has higher market share than Pepsi. Therefore, researching in all factors, and developing in those markets should be considered in order to be leadership in soft drink market. In Russia, 1992, there are many problems issued, such as politics, economic system, social factors, technology; all we know as PEST. There are some suitable ways to solve those problems as below, Political factor : The politics still bases on communist even it changed to democracy system. The polictics influences in business. Pepsi should slow down in its investment due to adjusting period of Russian government. Economic factor: Considering in international financial institution due to unstable economics in Russia during this period. Social factor: Education is the key factor to develop the system. Creating the organize culture to all Pepsi’s employees to make them to be proud in organization. Training is required to improve productivity. Using reward or bonus motivates employees to increase efficiency. Technology factor: Using more technologies offer consumer and business more innovative products and services. The company should hire the specialists to develop programs which support marketing plan, and Human Resource Management. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) should apply. The specific questions asked by Bill Shaddy; According to the last paragraph, the writer mentions on the Bill Shaddy question that â€Å"How to go about finding Russians that could become successful â€Å"Pepsi† people. How would he select them? And how should they be compensated, trained and managed? In my point of view, those questions are related to human resource management on recruitment and selection process. Shaddy has to consider all factors about Russia, especially social issue such as culture, education, demographics, and then all components should be included into the recruitment process and selection process in order to get the right person to the right job effectively. The first job is to identify the job opening as a Sales Manager and a Technical Engineering Manager through HR planning based on organizational values and code of conduct. Next step is to delicately determine the job description and job specification. This process should be clear and easy to understand. If lacking of candidate-qualification’s detail, it is difficult to find the right person due to under qualified applicants. Both a Sales Manager and a Technical Engineering Manager position are in management level; thus the minimum experience should be significant important qualify to handle the jobs. The other important part of recruitment is that recruiting sources and methods are chosen. There is no single, best recruiting technique, and the most appropriate for any given position depends on a number of factors. In this case, Russia is considered to be the communism, old fashion, and technology is not widely used, so that Shaddy should invest online recruitment in low proportion of recruitment cost. The method should be considered such as government employment agencies, searching through direct networking from foreign company, and print advertising. The reasons why government employment agencies should be used because Russia government plays high role in every activity of Russians. Another reason is talking with local people might make Russians more comfortable, confidence, and feel more reliable. They will not want to work for western companies because of development aspect; therefore, using government representative to find the effective people should be concerned. The benefit from using foreign company network is that company can be confident the knowledge and language ability of people who are hired. However, some situation might happen when Shaddy find the right people, but they are working for other companies. In this case, Pepsi should consider investing more money to motivate them to come to be the part of organization. There is another way is printing advertising. This way is the lowest investment, but getting high result. Pepsi has many retailer, outdoor events, and kiosks in Russia. Shaddy should use these channels to post a job advertisement. Many Russian might interest in job advertisement, and directly come to Shaddy. After finishing recruitment, a pool of qualified recruits is generated. Then, Shaddy should go to the step of selection. First, the people not meeting the essential selection criteria are eliminated first. The remaining are examined and those of them who most closely match the job specifications are identified and consideration. The job positions however require the experience to handle the job. The situation is that there are few Russians with relevant business experience, thus the intensive training program such as oversea training should be provided to them. Second, the test should be used for finding the appropriate Russians by testing ability, emotional intelligence, and specific thinking skill. The world-wide values of organization should be included in the test. For example, challenging assumptions to generate new ideas and approaches by situation testing. Next, the most important part of selection before hiring decision is the selection interview. Given people, who are selected, higher valid in prediction job performance, the focus should be on situational and behavioral questions. Shaddy should consider both their aspects and actions when they respond the questions. If Shaddy pays attention to all steps of recruitment and selection, Pepsi will get the efficient people to do the jobs. However, when getting the right people, how they should be compensated, trained and managed. The simple idea is that providing effective training programs in term of practice and theory, and these programs have to be analyzed and evaluated. The foreign assignment in the countries, in which PepsiCo succeeded, is helpful for new managers. There is the need to manage with a workforce and management colleagues whose cultural factors may be dramatically different from their own, and the considerable stress in foreign land can bring to bear on manager position, but they can learn other things from effective organizations in foreign countries so as to apply to use in Russia. The experience is also helping new managers to solve the problems which might be occurred during working. If Shaddy carefully consider in all above issues, he will hire the proficient Russians to become successful â€Å"Pepsi† people, and significantly contributes to be successful. Zagu Co. Background I. Company Background It took several months of experimentation, product sampling and planning before the first Zagu store was launched in April 0f 1999. Zagu was pioneered by a young enterprising lady with a degree in Food Science from University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. To this date, Zagu has blended more than 40 million pearl shakes. This is a pretty good number for something that they just call a passing fad. Zagu has grown from a tiny kiosk to a current network of over 290 outlets nationwide. Zagu has also gained recognition locally through awards such as the National Consumer Quality Awards and the Parangal ng Bayan People’s Choice Awards, and International recognition through our partner in Sydney, Australia. From Its humble beginning to its present success, Zagu has proven that it is not just a passing fad. 85% of their current stores have been occupying the same leased space for more than three years. Zagu foods can be found in malls, supermarkets and roadside locations. Behind the success of every Zagu store is the professional management team and dedicated employees committed to putting the customer first and achieving excellence in everything. The company bears the vision of providing fun, deliciously appetizing, uniquely enchanting food and beverage products while maintaining their commitment to uncompromised quality at economical rates with a heartening purpose to cater to society’s needs, taste and preferences; rather than simply convincing their customers to try and like whatever products they develop. The company’s mission is to provide the best quality, reasonably priced products in the Food and Beverage Industry and to continuously generate awareness, interest and desire for their products, resulting in frequent purchases. The objective of the company is to promote, protect and maintain their image at all times. Another is to make sure that each employee provides quality products and offer excellent service to all customers. Last is to make sure that all outlets are properly laid out, maintained and profitable. We have chosen Zagu – SM Manila outlet to have our study conducted. We would like to make a study regarding the process of making a shake in one of the famous shake store in the Metro – Zagu. Standard time data are element time standards, from time studies, that have been proven to be accurate and reliable. Analysts classify and file element standards so they can be readily abstracted when needed. The application of standard time data is fundamentally an extension of the same process used to arrive at allowed times through a stopwatch time study. Standard data can have several levels of refinement: motion, element, and task. The more refined the standard data element, the roader the range of usage. Standard Data are compiled from different elements in time studies of a given process over a period of time. Time Study is a technique for establishing an allowed time standard for performing a given task. This technique is based on measuring the work content of the prescribed method.