Apple Computer, Inc. Strategic Review and Analysis Essay Example

Apple Computer, Inc.: Strategic Review and Analysis Paper EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Apple Computer Inc. ’s strategy to gain market share dominance by market penetration has achieved poor results. This report finds that the industry has consolidated around six companies. The industry is unattractive for new entrants but for the existing firms, there is much market growth to be exploited. The financial analysis of Apple indicates that the strategies have not provided a strategic fit with the critical success factors of the industry. The company may come to bankruptcy if quick implementation of recommended strategies are ignored. The company may seem profitable but due to its high borrowings, tis profit cannot be reinvested to further the company’s competitive advantage. Consequently, the reduced attention and focus on the current, non-profitable market such as Japan will be necessary to restructure the balance sheet and strengthen the financial position of the company. Driving Apple’s growth strategy has been the desire for the company to increase its distribution and availability through the introduction of clones. Unfortunately, this strategy has not provided the company with a strategic fit with its major strength which is the company’s innovation. Apple’s reputation is that of reliability and quality and should look to exploit these characteristics. Its pure performance is partly attributed to this failing of not matching its strength with its strategy. It has been recommended that Apple must refocus on its strength which is achievable by product differentiation. We will write a custom essay sample on Apple Computer, Inc.: Strategic Review and Analysis specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Apple Computer, Inc.: Strategic Review and Analysis specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Apple Computer, Inc.: Strategic Review and Analysis specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Furthermore, immediate attention must be given to the high cost structure that it currently has. Apple has not been able to fight in a price war and the likelihood of it recurring is high. To combat this, Apple needs create a niche market in which it can compete and still reduce its costs by making strategic alliances or merging to facilitate economies of scale, improvement in its distribution channels, increase quality and increase market share in the future. It is also recommended that Apple moves quickly into the developing regions such as India and China whilst the market is still unsaturated and establish a strong presence there. Upon implementation of the strategies outlined above over the next few years, Apple can expect to have cemented its position as the market leader in the premium personal computer segment of the market. In addition, a strong balanced sheet and improved profitability will be realised.

The eNotes Blog Why College Students Today Can’tWrite

Why College Students Today Can’tWrite Todays post is brought to you by   Braintrack.com, an online resource for university, college, and career searches.  You can check out their blog here! College professors have been bemoaning the lack of solid writing skills in their students for decades (see  this article  from 1974 for proof), but statistics gathered over the past few years suggest that student writing skills are in an even more dismal state than they were in 1974. Today, 28% of college graduates produce writing that rates  as deficient, even with tuition reaching record rates and many colleges being more selective than ever. These poor writing skills have had serious ramifications not only in higher education but in the business world, as our information-driven society makes it ever more critical for students to develop the ability to communicate through the written word. While it’s easy to point out the problem, it’s much harder to figure out a solution. A promising first step can be to pinpoint just what is causing students to arrive and leave college without the skills they’ll need to get by in the real world. That’s easier said than done. The decline of writing abilities in students is a multifaceted issue, impacted by teachers, students, and administrators alike and encompassing all elements of writing education from support to motivation. While not comprehensive, this list addresses some of the biggest reasons so many students struggle with writing in colleges today, from freshman year to graduation. Colleges don’t demand high-quality writing. One of the biggest reasons college students can’t write may simply be due to the fact that most college courses and degree programs don’t demand it of them. In the book  Academically Adrift  most freshmen reported â€Å"little academic demand in terms of writing† and half of college seniors reported never having written a paper longer than 20 pages during their last year of college. Students who aren’t being required to submit papers that are academically challenging have little opportunity to learn and grow as writers, which can hold them back academically. In fact, the same study showed that students who took classes with high expectations (those with 40 pages of reading a week and 20 pages of writing a semester) gained more from their courses than their peers in less demanding courses. High schools aren’t preparing students with writing skills. Many students enter college with sub-par writing skills because of inadequate writing instruction in their high school courses. A report by the National Assessment of Educational Progress in 2007 found that just 24% of high school seniors could score proficient or better on a writing exam. Things haven’t changed much for the better since then, and many fear that high schools are failing students when it comes to teaching writing. Why is this happening? At some schools, teachers simply don’t have enough time to leave adequate feedback on lengthy student papers when they have 120 or more students in their courses. Another problem that many experts have pointed to is that high schools simply don’t focus on writing instruction. Schools are often so caught up in boosting scores in skills that are tested in state exams like math, science, and reading, that writing simply falls by the wayside.  There are schools  trying to make improvements, with some making writing a central part of their curricula, but there’s still a long way to go before America’s high school students will graduate with improved writing abilities across the board. College professors don’t want to spend time playing catch-up. Whether it’s fair to students or not, many college professors don’t want to dedicate class time to teaching students remedial writing skills they should really already know by the time they reach college. Giving increased attention to writing means that not only do professors have less class time to focus on the true subject of the course, they also have to dedicate hours of time outside of class to rigorously correcting student papers in order to make progress in improving student writing. This kind of grading is time-consuming and frustrating, and with many writing-intensive courses no longer being simply English classes, it’s often a distraction from learning other material. Students don’t get enough feedback. It isn’t just professors and employers who’ve taken note of the dwindling writing skills of college students. Students themselves are also well aware that they need a little more help in their writing. In a national study of 30,000 undergraduates, fewer than 50% felt that their writing had improved over the four years they were in school. A similar study reported that just 27.6% of students saw improvement in their writing by graduation. The reason students cited for the lack of progress? Inadequate feedback and support. Eighty percent of students in the study said they felt they would have become better writers if they had received more feedback and direct interaction from professors. Graduation doesn’t depend on demonstrating writing skills. At the majority of American colleges, writing requirements are fulfilled by passing a couple of courses deemed as â€Å"writing intensive.† Yet that doesn’t always ensure that students will graduate knowing how to write or be any good at it. Some schools, like  Old Dominion University, used to require that students pass a writing test before graduation, but tests like these are being phased out or dropped. Why? Too many students failed them. While they may have represented an outdated model for assessing student abilities, the fact that a significant portion of students couldn’t pass them is troubling to say the least. At most colleges, a C or better in a handful of writing courses is a ticket to graduation, but with grade inflation rampant it’s unclear what degree of writing ability that truly represents. With little motivation to push themselves to learn to improve writing, many students graduate without ever mastering grammar, syntax, or analytical wr iting. Grading isn’t harsh enough. Grade inflation is a very real phenomenon (today,  43% of all grades are A’s, an increase of 28% since 1960) and one that is slowly starting to take a serious toll on what students actually get out of their educational experiences. Students don’t just hope to earn a good grade, many actually expect it, whether their work warrants it or not. Sadly, a growing number of professors are happy to oblige, as student feedback on faculty ratings can be key to helping them keep jobs, get tenure, and get ahead. This has had a serious impact on the level of writing that many college students produce, as those who don’t feel compelled to do more than the minimum to pass courses are getting by with less than ever before. Harsh, strict grading and evaluation of papers used to be common practice. The lack of this same kind of rigor may just be a contributing factor to why students can’t write as well today. Web and text habits seep into academic writing. From the Ivy League to community colleges, read a classroom’s worth of essays and you’re bound to come across a student using â€Å"text speak† or overly casual vernacular in their academic writing. While these kinds of abbreviations and words might work in everyday conversation, they’re generally unacceptable in college level writing. The problem is that many students don’t understand that what works in speech or in a casual discussion doesn’t quite cut it in a college essay. Even worse, many are allowed to get by with these language blunders in their courses, both in high school and beyond. It doesn’t bode well for academic standards or for students who want to earn respect in the workplace. Required writing courses often aren’t writing-focused. Many colleges have done away with the basic freshman comp courses in lieu of courses in the social sciences that are writing-intensive. While writing intensive courses in the social sciences aren’t a bad idea in and of themselves (and many social science professors are great writers), they aren’t really a substitute for writing-focused courses that are designed to give incoming students rigorous foundation in writing. R.V. Young, a professor at North Carolina State, recalls that in 1970, students at the school were required to take a composition course spanning two semesters. During the course, students had to write 25 papers all of which were graded harshly by professors. These kinds of courses have largely disappeared in colleges nationwide and have been replaced with other hybrid courses, with few containing the same rigorous, focused attention on writing. Students aren’t taught the fundamentals. Before students can become great writers, they have to learn (at least) two basic things: the rules of good writing and how to think critically and creatively. Yet many education experts have pointed out that schools fail to adequately teach students either of those things in secondary school and beyond. Students are more often taught what to think, not how to think, and as a result often don’t understand how to expand on ideas, apply rules in a broader sense, or even begin to understand what constitutes great writing. Of course, there’s a line to walk between the structure and creativity that sometimes just doesn’t get through to students. One example? Students learn to format writing in forms that are rarely seen in the real world (how often do you see the five-paragraph essay?), causing them to have to unlearn what they’ve learned just to progress to the level of their college peers. Why does it matter if today’s college grads aren’t great writers? It should matter to college students themselves, as those who enter the working world without writing skills, even those who aren’t working in a writing-centric profession, may find it harder to get a job or to perform the duties their employers require. More seriously, however, poor writing can have a negative effect on the economy. The National Committee on Writing estimates that poor writing costs businesses as much as $3.1 billion annually. If students are pouring tens of thousands into a college education, shouldn’t more than half graduate believing they’ve improved their writing skills? Shouldn’t employers be able to trust that students have basic skills in reading, writing, and mathematics if they hold a college degree? While ideally, the answer to both of those questions should be yes, the reality is that neither is a guarantee in today’s world. Featured Image via Unsplash

International Human Resource Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

International Human Resource Management - Essay Example Such differences mainly include labor cost factors, cultural factors, industrial relations norms, and economic factors. Key Issues in Selection of Expatriates Expatriate assignments fail quite often. The stress process of expatriates is shown in Fig. 1. Careful selection of international assignee can help improve the results. Most of the managerial positions are held by locals instead of expatriates, though it does not always happen so. The attitude that prevails in the ethnocentric corporations is that local managers are superior whereas host-country managers are considered superior in the polycentric corporations. In contrast to them, the most suitable manager for a certain position in the geocentric firms is selected from the global workforce of the firm. Fig. 1: Stages of Expatriates’ Stress Process (Koteswari and Bhattacharya, 2007, p. 91). The training of expatriates before assignment typically revolves around cultural differences, factual knowledge about the country of assignment, and the way behavior is influenced by attitude. The approach that is most commonly used in the formulation of expatriate pay is equalization of the power of purchasing across the countries. This term used for this is the â€Å"balance sheet approach†. ... Culture of China and India is significantly different from that of England. Everything ranging from dress code to work ethics, norms, values, trends, and traditions are different among the three countries. This induces perceived inability of adjustment in the expatriates. â€Å"Perceived inability to adjust may indicate a lack of cross-cultural skills such as cultural empathy, intercultural Selmer† (Selmer, 2004, p. 805-806). Apart from the issues of expatriation, employees also become hesitant to become expatriates if they think that their organization does not support the repatriates (Black, 1991). Fig. 2: Problems Experienced by Different Age-Groups of Expatriates (Just Landed, 2012). Recommendations The need of having both home-office and local supervisors as reviewers of the expatriates’ performance complicates the process of expatriate appraisal. The process of expatriate appraisal can be improved by stipulating the level of assignment difficulty, weighing the app raisal of on-site managers more heavily, and getting background advice from the managers that have been to the foreign country before. These managers should also assist the expatriates in developing connections in the host country. Research by Wang and Kanungo (2004, p. 775) has shown that the network characteristics of expatriates have a significant and direct impact on their psychological well-being. Fig. 3 shows the factors influencing expatriates’ participation in social networks. This would create awareness in the selected expatriates regarding the culture of the host country and the impact of culture shock on them would be reduced. Fig. 3: Factors Influencing Expatriates’ Participation in Social Networks (Harvey, 2008). The problems of repatriation are commonly

Leisure and Tourism in Santa Fe in New Mexico Assignment

Leisure and Tourism in Santa Fe in New Mexico - Assignment Example Current list of services available at the city Private nonfarm establishments. Retail sales services. Merchant wholesale services Manufacturer shipment services Food and accommodation services Non-employer establishment services (Nelson Velvet, 45-6). Major and minor league sport industries American Basketball Association, which were the New Mexico style founded in 2005 (Nelson Velvet, 78-9). Santa Fe Roadrunners, which was North American Hockey team but later moved to Kansas and became Topeka Roadrunners. Santa Fe Fuego was formed in 2012 at Santa Fe and became a professional baseball club. Community/Municipal Recreational Departments New Mexico Museum, which is an art collection of Southwestern collections Institute of American art museum, which is native American arts possessing political aspects (Nelson Velvet, 56-7). Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, which devotedly worked for O’Keeffe New Mexican History Museum, which was located behind the governor’s palace. Site Santa Fe, which was described as a contemporary art space A children’s museum known as Santa Fe Children’s Museum Other areas of attraction include the â€Å"Museum Hill† and Santa Fe Fork art market, which was the site of major city’s art museums. Some visitors also get attracted to Santa Fe during the week of September when Sangre de Cristo Mountains’ aspens turn yellow as the skies become blue and clear. The locations in Santa Fe that are frequently visited during the day by the tourists include certain locations like the town of Taos, which is about 113 km north of Santa Fe. The historic Valles Caldera and Bandelier National Monument can also be found 48 km away. In addition to that, Ski Santa Fe, which is around d Santa Fe’s ski area, is approximately 26km north of the city. Santa Fe has always had communication and association with science and technology through the help of Santa Fe Institute to research on complex matters related to tourism and political sciences (Nelson Velvet, 102-3).

Console Games vs PC Games Essay Example for Free

Console Games vs PC Games Essay Let’s start with the console’s themselves. Maybe you’ve heard it before, but some people say PC-gaming is dying. Can PC games still compete with Console games? Gamers have never been so spoiled for choice. While the console vs. PC war has been around for ages, consoles today have bridged the gap by finally providing decent multiplayer capabilities. Is this the end of the PC as the dominant gaming machine? Gaming has been around for a long time. It is serious business nowadays. With a host of companies creating everything from award-winning games to those collaborating with businesses on workforce training and development, the area is poised for continued success. And we are creating this success by buying all kinds of games. So what is the difference between the total price of playing games on a console or on a PC? While it is possible to get a PC at about the same cost of a console, it would be such a stripped down version that it wouldnt be able to play the latest games. Consoles such as the Nintendo Wii, PS3 and Xbox360 still offer the best price in terms of gaming power. Even if you buy a 800 pounds PC, it would only be able to play the latest games for about three years. If you look only at the three biggest consoles, the Nintendo Wii is the cheapest console, starting at about 180 pounds. The Xbox 360 will cost you about 200 pounds and a Playstation 3 about 250 pounds. Certainly the Xbox 360 and the PS3 would be able to play the latest games for many more years. Well, there actually is a way to expand the time you can play games on your PC, but it will only cost you more money. A PC has the availability to upgrade. For example, you can change the graphics card for a newer one. This is the most important part of a PC for playing games. This will not cost you as much as buying a total new PC, but in total it will still be way more expansive than a console. But one thing is cheaper for the PC-gamers in comparison to for example Xbox 360-gamers and that is that you have to pay to play online multiplayer games on a Xbox. In most situations this will be free for a PC game. So maybe you are asking now if there are any more advances of playing games on a PC instead of a console. Of course there are. There are still way more games available for the PC than for consoles. On a PC with windows as operating system, you can play like almost every game that exist for windows, even older versions of windows. But on a console you probably can’t play previous generation games. When for example the first PS3 was announced it actually could play PS2 games, but Sony removed this option quite quick. Another reason to play games on a PC is that if you have a very expansive PC it can probably play games with better graphics, but at that point you are limited to the games that are already playable. Future games will probably need a better pc to play it on full resolution. A PC is also the only option for playing big online games where thousands of people can meet each other online, like World of Warcraft. This just isn’t possible (yet) on consoles. You’re choice for playing games on a console or a PC can also depent on the controller. Whereas you play with the traditional keyboard and mouse on a PC, you can play with other kinds of controllers on consoles. The Wii is the best example of that with the motion sensitive Wii remote. There is also a different kind of consoles for playing ‘on the road’. These are called handhelds and aren’t very powerfull, but their advantage is their portability.

Voices of Protest :: essays research papers

Voices of Protest: The Politician and the Radio Priest   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Alan Brinkley, the author of Voices of Protest, wrote about Huey Long and Father Coughlin who launched attacks on Roosevelt’s administration during the years of 1933 – 1935. This period of time was during the great depression. The book described in great length and detail about Huey Long and Father Coughlin, who were extremely influential politicians, and their opposition to the new society of big business and high technology. They felt that the owners of large companies such as Rockefeller, Carnegie and Pullman were to blame for the financial woes of the United States. Long and Coughlin were successful in taking their arguments and beliefs to the American people in the 1930’s.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Huey Long was an energetic, passionate young man at a very young age. In fact, at the age of twenty he stated he planned to run for election. He said, â€Å"first to secondary stated office Louisiana, then for governor, then for United States Senator, and finally for president.† He wrote in the New Orleans Item, â€Å"that about 65 or 70 percent of the entire wealth of the U.S. is owned by two percent of the people†¦wealth is fast concentrating in the hands of the few.† He had the combination of ambition, along with the love and compassion of the less fortunate Americans. He was known throughout Louisiana as â€Å"the kingfish† because of the power and influence he possessed, almost to the point of dictatorship. For several years he was in the limelight and news constantly, in part before of his very colorful and extravagant lifestyle. Even after his death, the people of Louisiana still supported him even though his life was the center of greed and controversy. During his term as Governor, he built hundreds of miles of paved highways, provided free textbooks, constructed bridges, built hospitals, schools and a major university, Louisiana State University or better known as â€Å"LSU.† He obtained his law degree from Tulane and age the age of twenty-one, he moved back to Louisiana to practice law. At the age of thirty-five, Huey Long was elected Governor of Louisiana. He did a couple of things that no governor had ever done before such as consolidating his personal power over all levels of state government and forcing through a program of progressive legislation, thus enabling him to fulfill his promise to the common people of the state.

Why Did the Us Introduce Marshall Aid

Why did the US introduce Marshall Aid? The main reason why the US introduced Marshall Aid was to prevent the spread of Communism. In 1946 almost the whole of Eastern Europe was Communist, this was due to the actions of Stalin, he wanted to build up a line of countries around Russia and use them as a â€Å"buffer zone† to protect the USSR from being attacked. Britain had troops in Greece and was fighting a Civil War against the Communists in fear that it too would fall under Stalin's Communist rule.The USA stepped in when the British announced that they could no longer afford to keep their troops in Greece, Truman feared that the whole of Eastern Europe would become Communist (the idea of Communism was very popular in times of hardship, the communists believed that the wealth of the richest people should be shared out among the poor) so he agreed to pay for military supplies, weapons, economic aid and British troops to be sent to Greece and Turkey.The USA's aid soon became know n as The Truman Doctrine. This was the idea that communism should not be allowed to grow and gain territory, and that it was America's ‘duty' to fight for liberty. It was agreed that they would send resources to any Government that was threatened by communism. The Truman Doctrine was significant as it divided the world, showing that Capitalism and Communism were in opposition, which suggested that the East and the West could no longer co-operate.This emphasised the many difference between them. The Marshall Plan started the Truman Doctrine in June 1947, when it was announced that $17 billion should be given to Europe to help rebuild their inefficient economy and prevent the spread of communism. For the USA, Marshall Aid was introduced to make the idea of Capitalism appear more appealing, it was also introduced to try and prevent communism spreading.This now highlights how terrified they were of Communism and to what extent they would go to prevent it influencing the whole of E urope. For the countries in Europe that received aid through the Marshall Plan it was seen as a way of rebuilding their economies and preventing communism in their own country.