Business report on the ‘Kentucky Fried Chicken Corporation (KFC) Essay

In evaluating how well a company’s present strategy is working, a proper understanding of the company’s resource capabilities and deficiencies, its market opportunities, and the external threats to its future is essential. The really valuable part of SWOT analysis is understanding and evaluating the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats and drawing conclusions whether a firm’s business position is fundamentally healthy or unhealthy. In a nutshell, SWOT analysis is a basis for action. KFC, being one of the world’s most recognizable brands, has its own internal strengths and weaknesses and external opportunities and threats, which are identified and analyzed below. ‘Kentucky Fried Chicken Corporation (KFC) was the world’s largest chicken restaurant chain and the third largest fast-food chain in 2000’ (Krug 2001, cited in Thompson and Strickland 2003, p. C-203). The statement suggests that the brand-name image or the company reputation of KFC is very strong. Such buyer goodwill can be classified into valuable intangible assets, which is an internal strength itself giving KFC enhanced competitiveness. Also, KFC was one of the first fast-food chains to go international in the late 1950’s and was one of the world’s most recognizable brands. This means that KFC had a high degree of organizational agility in gaining wide geographic coverage and had a strong global distribution capability. Such competitive capability can be identified as KFC’s internal strength. KFC’s international strategy was to grow its company and franchise restaurant base through several high-growth markets. This suggests that the company was able to evaluate the right market opportunities available of serving additional customer groups or expanding into new geographic markets and market openings to extend the company’s brand name or reputation to new geographic areas. ‘According to the National Restaurant Association, food-service sales increased by 5.4 percent, to $358 billion, in 1999’ (Krug 2001, cited in Thompson and Strickland 2003, p. C-207). This was a result of a number of  demographic and social trends, which influenced the demand for food eaten outside of the home. The full-service and fast-food segments were expected to make up about 65 percent of total food-service industry sales in 2000. This could be identified as KFC’s external market opportunity since it could use its ability, internal strengths and resource capabilities to grow rapidly because of sharply rising demand in the fast-food industry. However, such a boom in the fast-food industry could also be identified as a potential external threat to KFC’s well-being since increasing intensity of competition among industry rivals may cause squeeze on profit margins. According to the National Restaurant Association, other food items that were growing in popularity since 1990s through 2000 included chicken, which offered and external market opportunity for KFC to expand. ‘During 1999, KFC continued to dominate the chicken segment, with sales of $4.4 billion’ (Krug 2001, cited in Thompson and Strickland 2003, p. C-210). This is because KFC’s customer base remained loyal to the KFC brand because of its unique taste. This could be identified as KFC’s distinctive competence, since KFC did the fried-chicken well in comparison to its competitors. Such uniqueness provided KFC with a competitively valuable capability, which proved to be a corner stone of every strategy. Despite its dominance, KFC was losing market share as other chicken chains such as Chick-fil-A and Boston Market increased sales at a faster rate. Such mounting competition from potent new competitors could be identified as a potential external threat to KFC’s market position. However, KFC’s leadership in the U.S. market was so extensive that it had fewer opportunities to expand its U.S. restaurant base, which again was an external threat to KFC’s future profitability and competitive well-being. The greatest concern for fast-food operators was the shortage of employees in the 16-to-24 age category since many high school and college graduates enjoyed a healthy job market. This was a result of low unemployment, since U.S. economy began to expand during early 1980s through 2000. Such environment is again an external threat for KFC’s profitability. Also, the labor costs made up about 30 percent of a fast-food chain’s total costs. Mounting competition made it difficult to increase prices, since consumers  made decisions about where to eat primarily based on price. Such labor costs and increasing intensity of competition among industry rivals which squeezed profit margins posed external threat to KFC’s profitability. However, the demographic trends offered KFC with a potential opportunity by which costs could be lowered and operations made more efficient by increasing the use of technology. ‘According to the National Restaurant Association, most restaurant operators viewed computers as their number one tool for improving efficiency’ (Krug 2001, cited in Thompson and Strickland 2003, p. C-213). Hence, computers which could improve labor scheduling, accounting and payroll can be identified as KFC’s external market opportunity which is a big factor in shaping the company’s strategy. However, higher costs and poor availability of prime real estate was one of the adverse demographic change that negatively affected profitability of such fast-food chains and hence posed an external threat. International operations carried by fast-food chains like KFC carried risks not present in domestic-only operations. Long distances posed several problems such as quality, transportation, servicing and support problems. Moreover time, culture and language differences increased operational problems. Such problems could be identified as potential threats to KFC’s international strategy, which was focused on several high growth international markets. However, rising per capita incomes worldwide and the development of the Internet, which was quickly breaking down communication and language barriers were wildly attractive market opportunities for food-chains such as KFC seeking to quickly develop global brands and a worldwide consumer base. KFC had trouble breaking into the German market during the 1970s and 1980s, however McDonald’s had a greater success penetrating the German market, because it made a number of changes to its menu and operating procedures to appeal to German tastes. This could be identified as KFC’s internal weakness since there was a lack of competitively important skills or expertise to attract new customers as rapidly as McDonald’s did. Moreover, many of KFC’s problems during the 1980s and 1990s surrounded its limited menu and inability to quickly bring new products to market, which could be identified  as KFC’s potential weakness, since it was behind its rivals such as McDonald’s in putting capabilities and strategies in place. An example of this is when KFC suffered one of its more serious setbacks on experimenting with the chicken sandwich concept when McDonald’s test-marketed its McChicken sandwich in the Louisville market. As per the circumstances, Latin America could be identified as KFC’s wildly attractive market opportunity because of the size of its markets, its common language and culture, and its geographical proximity to the United States. KFC could well evaluate the market opportunities available from Latin America and identified its own resource capabilities required to capture it, the result of which was KFC’s Latin America Strategy, which represented a classic internationalization strategy. KFC’s early entry into Latin America gave it a leadership position over McDonald’s in Mexico and the Caribbean with 438 restaurants in 2000. Mexico, in Latin America could be identified as highly attractive market opportunity for KFC because of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which went into effect in 1994 and created a free-trade zone between Canada, the United States, and Mexico. Other fast-food chains such as McDonald’s, Burger King, and Wendy’s were rapidly expanding into other countries in Latin America such as Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, and Chile. Such mounting competition from potent new competitors was an external threat for KFC’s competitive well-being. Another threat came from Habib’s, Brazil’s second largest fast-food chain, which opened its first restaurant in Mexico in 2000. Another potential external threat to KFC’s well-being was the long-term value of the peso, which has depreciated at an average annual rate of 23 percent against the U.S. dollar since NAFTA went into effect. This translation risk lowered Tricon Global’s reported profits and damaged its stock price, subsequently affecting KFC’s profitability and market position. Industry and Competition Analysis An industry’s competitive conditions and overall attractiveness are big strategy determining factors. In other words, good industry and competitive  analysis is a prerequisite to good strategy making. Hence, it is very essential for a firm to evaluate whether the industry environment it is in is either attractive or unattractive to protect its future profitability. Porter’s Five Forces – A MODEL FOR INDUSTRY ANALYSIS The industry and competitive analysis used to evaluate an industry’s environment involves a process to discover what the main sources of competitive pressure are and how strong each competitive force is. Porter’s five-forces model is a powerful tool for identifying the principal competitive pressures in a market and assessing how strong and important each one is. Michael Porter provided a framework that models an industry as being influenced by five forces, which are discussed below in context to the FAST-FOOD INDUSTRY and KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN CORPORATION. ?a Rivalry: – If rivalry among firms in an industry is low, the industry is considered to be â€Å"attractive†, however the competitive structure of an industry is clearly â€Å"unattractive† from a profit-making standpoint if rivalry among the firms is very strong. Looking at the fast-food industry there was increasing intensity of competition among rivals. In the chicken segment, KFC was losing market share as other chicken chains such as Chick-fil-A and Boston Market increased sales at a faster rate. Many industry analysts predicted that Boston Market would challenge KFC for market leadership. Popeyes and Church’s were potent new competitors, trying to compete head-on with fried-chicken chains. McDonald’s, Burger King, and Wendy’s were rapidly expanding into other countries, which subsequently posed a threat. However, even when the rivalry among firms in the fast-food industry is very strong, the industry can be competitively attractive for KFC whose market position provides a good enough defense against competitive pressures. Moreover, to formulate a better strategy and pursue an advantage over its rivals, KFC could lower prices to gain a temporary advantage, improve product differentiation, creatively use channels of distribution, and exploit relationships with suppliers. ?a Barriers to Entry / Threat of Entry: – The competitive structure of any  industry would be identified as â€Å"unattractive† from a profit-making standpoint if low entry barriers are allowing new rivals to gain a market foothold. ‘According to the National Restaurant Association, food-service sales increased by 5.4 percent, to $358 billion, in 1999. More than 800,000 restaurants and food outlets made up the U.S. restaurant industry, which employed 11 million people’ (Krug 2001, cited in Thompson and Strickland 2003, p. C-207). Also as the U.S. market matured, many restaurants expanded into international markets as a strategy for growing sales. After McDonald’s, KFC, Burger King, and Pizza Hut, at least 35 chains had expanded into foreign countries by 2000. This suggests that the fast-food industry had relatively low entry barriers, allowing new rivals to gain a market foothold. Such low entry barriers could possibly result from common technology, easy access to distribution channels, little brand franchise, and low scale threshold. Hence, as per the above discussion, fast-food industry is clearly â€Å"unattractive†. However, it depends on the incumbent firms such as KFC to offer only passive resistance against a new entrant or aggressively defend their market positions using price cuts, increased advertising, and product improvements to give them a hard time. ?a Threat of Substitutes: – The competitive structure of an industry remains â€Å"unattractive† if competition from substitutes is strong. As a rule, ‘the lower the price of substitutes, the higher their quality and performance, and the lower the user’s switching costs, more intense is the competitive pressures posed by substitute products’ (Thompson and Strickland 2003, p. 88). There are no such substitutes in any other industry to stand in competition with the firms in fast-food industry, which is very unique. However, there are various segments in the fast-food sector of the restaurant industry, which may be identified as substitutes for each other. These segments are sandwich chains, pizza chains, family restaurants, grill buffet chains, dinner houses, chicken chains, nondinner concepts, and other chains. Usually, such chains have price cuts and improved quality and performance as a part of their strategy and since the buyers can switch to any segment of the fast-food industry easily, there are comparatively high competitive pressures among such segments. Hence, for KFC (chicken chain), the fast-food industry is not an attractive one to be in, since sandwich  chains made up the largest segment of the fast-food market and dinner houses made up the second largest and fastest-growing fast-food segment in 1999. ?a Buyer Power: – The power of buyers is the impact that customers have on a producing industry. Looking at the fast-food industry, it is more likely that the buyers (customers) can exercise considerable bargaining leverage, which again makes the competitive structure of the industry â€Å"unattractive†. This is because buyers’ costs of switching to competing brands or substitutes are relatively low in the fast-food industry. Moreover, the mushrooming availability of information on the Internet is giving added bargaining power to individuals. It is relatively easy for buyers to use the Internet to compare the different prices offered by various fast-food outlets in the industry. In a nutshell, the more information buyers have, the better bargaining position they are in. Also, the prospect of losing a brand loyal customer not easily replaced often makes a seller more willing to grant concessions of one kind or another. ?a Supplier Power: – A producing industry requires raw materials – labor, components, and other supplies, which are received from suppliers. Suppliers, if powerful, can exert an influence on the producing industry, such as selling raw materials at a high price to capture some of the industry’s profits. However, in the fast-food industry, the suppliers possibly have little or no bargaining power or leverage over rivals since the items they provide are commodities available on the open market from numerous suppliers. In fast-food industry it is relatively simple for rivals to obtain whatever is needed from any of several capable suppliers. Hence, the suppliers being able to exercise little or no bargaining power or leverage over rivals’ makes the competitive structure of the fast-food industry clearly â€Å"attractive†. As a conclusion, the collective impact of competitive forces in the fast-food industry is relatively stronger, which subsequently lowers the combined profitability of participant firms. However, even when the five competitive forces are strong, an industry can be competitively â€Å"attractive† or â€Å"favorable† to firms such as KFC whose market position and strategy provides  a good enough defense against the competitive pressures to earn above-average profits. Key Industry Success Factors Key industry success factors (KISFs) by their very nature are so important that all firms in the industry must pay close attention to them. In other words, KISFs are the prerequisites for industry success and are the rules that shape whether a company will be financially and competitively successful. Looking at the fast-food industry, there are various KISFs necessary to gain sustainable competitive advantage. Manufacturing-related KISFs for the fast-food industry would be low-cost production efficiency (to permit attractive retail pricing and ample profit margins), quality of manufacture (to provide customers with better taste in comparison to the rivals), high-labor productivity (to reduce cost since labor costs are about 30 percent of a fast-food chain’s total costs). Distribution-related KISFs would be short delivery times and having company-owned retail outlets. From the marketing point of view, clever advertising (to induce customers to buy a particular brand repeatedly), courteous customer service and attractive styling of packaging would be identified as important KISFs for fast-food industry. Skills-related KISFs would be quality control know-how and an ability to develop innovative recipes. In apparel organizing, the KISFs would be an ability to respond quickly to shifting market conditions, superior ability to use Internet and other latest technology to conduct business and managerial experience. Some other important KISFs are favorable image or reputation with buyers, convenient locations of the stores (important for food-outlets), and access to financial capital (important in newly emerging industries). Hence, the above stated key industrial success factors for the fast-food industry are cornerstones for a firm’s strategy formulation and trying to gain sustainable competitive advantage over its rivals. Company Analysis Kentucky Fried Chicken Corporation (KFC) is one of the successful fast-food chains, which was the world’s largest chicken restaurant chain and the third largest fast-food chain in 2000. KFC dominated the chicken segment, with sales of $4.4 billion in 1999 through 2000. KFC was in the lead position in the U.S. market, however had fewer opportunities to expand its U.S. restaurant base due to the entry of new rivals such as Chick-fil-A and Boston Market. Despite gains by Boston Market and Chick-fil-A, KFC’s customer base remained loyal to the KFC brand because of its unique taste, which could be identified as one of the most important resource strengths of KFC. However, KFC faced several internal problems under its various owners, which adversely affected its financial performance and competitive strength. Heublein, Inc., which was in business of producing alcoholic beverages and had a little experience in the restaurant business, acquired KFC in late 1970s. Conflicts quickly erupted between Colonel Sanders and Heublein management since the quality-control and restaurant cleanliness badly deteriorated under Heublein, Inc. By 1977, the restaurant openings had slowed down, since service quality declined under Heublein management. However, KFC did fairly well under the management of R.J. Reynolds Industries, Inc., which had little more experience in the restaurant business than Heublein. PepsiCo introduced several changes after the acquisition of KFC. Staff at KFC was reduced in order to cut costs and many KFC managers were replaced with PepsiCo managers. ‘KFC’s culture was built largely on Colonel Sander’s laid-back approach to management’ (Krug 2001, cited in Thompson and Strickland 2003, p. C-206). Employees enjoyed good job security and stability. However, PepsiCo’s culture was characterized by a much stronger emphasis on performance, which reinforced the feelings of KFC managers that they had few opportunities for promotion. As a result, a strong loyalty created among KFC employees over the years was lost. The Original Recipe Chicken allowed KFC to expand through the 1980s without significant competition from other chicken chains and thus new product  introductions was not a part of KFC’s marketing and overall business strategy. Such limited menu and inability to quickly bring new products to market made KFC face several problems during the 1980s and 1990s. However, KFC’s current strategy has been refocused. The cornerstone of its new strategy was to increase sales in individual KFC restaurants by introducing a variety of new products and menu items that appealed to a greater number of customers. Also, from the marketing point of view, KFC introduced a three-pronged distribution strategy that increased sales to a considerable level. The strategy firstly focused on building smaller restaurants in non-traditional outlets such as airports, chopping malls, universities, and hospitals. Secondly, it continued to experiment with home delivery. Third, KFC established â€Å"2-in-1† units that sold both KFC and Taco Bell (KFC/Taco Bell Express) or KFC and Pizza hut (KFC/Pizza Hut Express) products. KFC’s early entry into Latin America gave it a leadership position over several other food-chains in Mexico and the Caribbean. KFC’s Latin America Strategy was an example of a classic internationalization strategy. KFC firstly expanded into Mexico and Puerto Rico because of several external opportunities such as geographical proximity and other political and economic relations with United States. As KFC’s experience in Latin America grew, it expanded its franchise system throughout the Caribbean. Only after sustaining a leadership position in Mexico and the Caribbean did it venture into South America. However, KFC faced difficult decisions in regards to the formulation of an effective Latin American Strategy over the next 20 years, since limited resources and cash flow limited KFC’s ability to aggressively expand in all countries at the same time. Statement of alternative options Looking at the fast-food industry and the highly intensive competition prevailing, a better possible option for KFC would be to merge with other growing chicken chains such as Popeyes, Chick-fil-A, Boston Market, Church’s, and El Pollo Loco. Such merger would possibly create one of the largest chicken chains in the fast-food industry. Merging with another company would dramatically strengthen KFC’s market position and open new  opportunities for competitive advantage. In the fast-food industry, such mergers enable the companies to have much stronger technological skills, more or better competitive capabilities, a more attractive lineup of services, wider geographic coverage and greater financial resources to expand into new areas. However, it would still be essential for KFC to tailor a strategy that fits its particular strengths and weaknesses so as to hold a lead position in Latin America by operating several company-owned restaurants in the targeted countries. Recommendations Kentucky Fried Chicken Corporation, the world’s largest chicken restaurant chain and the third largest fast-food chain, has several internal weaknesses and resource deficiencies which needs to be identified and improve to gain a competitive advantage over its rivals. Moreover, today’s fast-food industry offers several external opportunities and poses potential threats to the rivals’ well-being and market position. It would be essential for the managers of KFC to identify firm’s resource strengths and weaknesses and its external opportunities and threats, which would provide a good overview of whether a firm’s business position is fundamentally healthy or unhealthy. This would further complement in formulating strategies so as to expand firm’s business activities over a wider geographic coverage. Latin America is an attractive location for investment because of the size of its markets, its common language and culture, and its geographical proximity to the United States. However, it would be difficult for KFC to penetrate the market successfully as a result of mounting competition from several competitors. It would be a wise recommendation for KFC to merge with other growing chicken chains, which would possibly fill the resource gaps and allow the new companies to do things, which KFC could not do alone. Such a merger would allow KFC to operate several franchised and company owned restaurants in the targeted countries of Latin America, which is more effective in building a significant market share in individual countries. This is because market leadership often requires a country subsidiary that actively manages both franchised and company owned restaurants. Such  strategy would also enable KFC to better control quality, service and restaurant cleanliness. REFERENCES Aaker, DA 1992, Developing business strategies, 3rd edn, Wiley, New York. Faculty of Business and Law 2003, Guide for students, 4th edn.   Perry, C 1992, Strategic management processes, Longman Cheshire, Melbourne.   Thompson, AA & Strickland, AJ 2003, Strategic management, 13th edn, McGraw-Hill, New York, NY.

The Glorification and Horrors of War Through the Arts

Artistes have always painted scenes of war from the Ancient worlds of Egypt and Greece. The relief inside the Abu Simbel Temple showing Ramses in the Battle of Kadesh and of his victory over the Hittites is an excellent example. The Athena Frieze depicting the battle of Greeks against the Persians, which are some of the earliest example of a specific historical event being, sculptured (Greek Art). To the photographs that are coming from the current war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the flagged draped coffins of the dead in the cargo hull on their way home. In the periods of art, before Goya’s the Third of May tended to glorify war and make it seem romantic and heroic without the effects of the bloodshed and horrors that war brings. Benjamin West’s The Death of General Wolfe does show the effect of war, however, he has made a martyr of General Wolfe surrounded by his officers making this painting seems to be Romanizing the death (Class Lecture-The Neoclassical 2 of 3). Benjamin West was an American Neoclassical painter who turned art historical order upside down by not depicting a classical theme and used clothing of the time (Gehmacaher). The Neoclassical period of art was a reaction to the Baroque and Rococo style of art where a renewed interest for classical antiquity of the ancient Greek and Roman seeking the geometric harmony of the time (Kleiner 330). The Neoclassical period of art was during the Enlightenment period where critical thinking of the world and humankind spurred the great political, social and economic changes resulted in Revolutions in France and America (Kleiner 319). Writers such as Rousseau, Voltaire, and Jefferson help the change the critical thinking in political, social and economic toward humankind and what was going on in the world helped inspired the French and American Revolutions (Class Lecture-The Neoclassical 1 of 3). This influenced the people to put a new light on all thinking and question the traditional ideas and ways of doing things whether it was in painting, sculpture, writing, science, politics, and nature (Smart History). The Death of General Wolfe is the final stages of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, which takes place in Quebec, Canada, when the French and British fought during the Seven Year’s War for control of Canada or as it was called then New France (Gehmacher). General Wolfe, a British officer, won the battle but lost his life in this campaign on September 13, 1759, the French surrendered Quebec five days later and by 1760 surrendered in Montreal after a failed attempt to regain control of the capital (BBC). West has distorted the events surrounding General Wolfe death to heighten the drama in this painting (Gehmacher). West does not depict General Wolfe in armor like that of ancient soldiers but he has paid close attention to the details of the uniforms and the clothes of the Indians (Stacey). To me, West has made a martyr of General Wolfe by having him surrounded by his officers and Indians with the front lines not far off. This also glorifies and romanizes war, everyone around the dying General seem unaffected by the battle that is raging nearby. Jacques-Louis David preferred the ancient and Renaissance works, and agreed with the Enlightenment philosophy that the subject matter should have a moral balance reflect the artwork of ancient times and depicting noble events in history would civil virtues and patriotism (Kleiner 332) inspire. David’s Oath of the Horatii is an excellent example of the Enlightenment philosophy and of Neoclassical style. David became the painter of French Revolution and was on the board that voted to behead the King; he also became the official painter for Napoleon (Zucker). Oath of the Horatii is keeping with the neoclassical style, by the David has used colors and by classicizing contemporary subject matter (Gersh-Nesic). David has used diagonal movements with heroic poses of the father and sons, and grouping the women behind the focus of the painting to give this painting the classic feel, that it has (The Neoclassical 3 of 3). Oath of the Horatii is about three brothers swearing on oath on their swords with their father gives them, the sons swear to fight to the death for their country (Zucker). David has a group of women that seem in despair over the oath of the brothers, he has also bathed the women in light to show their despair. David has used the dark archways to give depth to this painting and light on the swords and arms of the brothers to show their bond with their father. The one thing I have noticed about David style of painting is that has fluidness about his work and there are no brush strokes visible. David’s male figures appear statuesque and virile like the ancient Greek and Roman soldiers; he has also used soft colors to make this painting more alluring and dramatic. This painting like that of West seems to glorify the act of war. These painting are done in the Neoclassical style but they both have a different feel to them. West’s has the act of dying on the battlefield and has used the clothing of the times and no reference to the past. David on the other hand has depicted an ancient Roman scene. To me this is the last art period that depicts war as heroic and glorifies it. The Romantics were about getting back to nature and the common people to evoke individualism, subjectivism, imagination and emotions (Romanticism). The Romantics were the first group of artists to turn away from the academic style of the Neoclassical, this movement started in the late 18th century and early 19th century because of the Napoleonic wars (Romanticism). The transition from Neoclassicism was a shift from reason to feeling and uses the social and political climate to draw their inspiration (Kleiner 340). Goya, a Spanish Romantic artist, Third of May is an example of the radical shifts from the Neoclassicism. Here Goya has used light and dark to emphasis the scene that is unfolding before us. The Spanish King, Charles IV, asked Napoleon to help Spain defend them against Great Britain, Napoleon saw this as a weakness and took control of Spain by putting his brother in control of Spain (Zucker). The Spanish who first liked the idea of the French getting rid of the British, the Spanish people soon realized the French as invaders and on the 2nd of May, the Spanish attacked Napoleon’s men in a violent clash (Kleiner 341). Napoleon’s men then responded by executing several Spanish citizens, Goya is painting that massacre. The Third of May is the result and Goya has done an excellent job here is showing the senseless act by the French soldiers. Goya has used the light on the man in the front with his arms outreached about to be executed to draw your attention to the brutal act of the soldiers and to evoke empathy to common man. Goya has the French soldiers back to the viewer so they cannot see their face to show the injustice unfolding. He has used the mountain or hill in the background to show the people as trapped and no way to get away from the soldiers and dead bodies around to show how helpless these people are (Zucker). Goya has used several things to draw attention to what is going on in this painting, the rifles pointing at the man in the white shirt on his knees, the blood in on the ground in front of him, the lantern to shed light on the man about to be shot and his face that shows no fear. All of this helps show the ruthlessness of the French soldiers. He has also used earth tones in this painting with strong brushstrokes and used shadows that show the Romantic styles break from the Neoclassical style. While I find this painting, somewhat disturbing Goya has used his coloring, shadowing, and lines to draw to viewer into this painting and feel the helplessness of the Spanish people and Goya has made a martyr of the man about to be shot. Realism was a moment the developed out of the Industrial Revolution when artist in France rejected the fantastic and focused on the reality of the world and painted the everyday life (Photography and Realism 4 of 6). Painters like Gustave Courbet and Jean-Francois Millet painted wonderful scenes of the everyday peasant life in The Stone Breakers and The Gleaners but it was during this time that photography came into the world and could capture life and preserve that moment forever. Timothy O’Sullivan’s photography A Harvest of Death, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania shows the true horrors of war; this was taken after one of the worst battles during the American Civil War. The Civil War was due to the Industrial Revolution effects of the northern states becoming more industrial than the south that was still an agricultural society that was using slaves for the work. In this photograph, there is a fog over the battlefield in the distance you can see men on horses, as you look closer at the dead soldiers you can see that the Confederate soldiers’ shoes have been removed. The shoes of the dead were removed for use of surviving soldiers who needed them and it did not stop at the shoes for once again the Confederate soldiers’ pockets have been gone through for their pockets appear turned out (Cornell University). This photography shows the true reality of the horrors of war in the awful details this photography has taken. Photographs of other wars also show the horrible reality of war, and the power of the picture speaks for the horrors of war. The photos of the oncentrations camps after World War II are excellent examples of man’s inhumanity to man, and I will not describe any of these here because to are too horrific to look at. The photograph of the flag being raised on Iwo Jima shows six men raising an American flag after a battle for the island. This picture is showing a simple act of raising the flag to show their support for their country. While this photo does not show the horrors of war, it shows that despite the battle that fough t and the loss of life there can be a simple act that defines us. Then there is the photograph of the aftermath of a napalm attack in Vietnam taken by Nick Ut, here you see Vietnamese children running through the streets screaming and one little girl has no clothes on, soldiers are behind the children and in the background you can see the smoke of the bombs. Photographer Ut said that he had seen two airplanes and each one dropped four bombs and minutes later he saw the people running away and the little girl that appears to be the focus of the image yelling for water because she was to hot (BBC News). The terrified face of the children screaming speaks volumes in this photo and shows how war affects everyone not just the soldiers fighting the battles. Photographs show the reality of war in unflinching view, while painters interrupt what they see. The German Expressionists did just that after World War I. German Expressionists used disorganized outlines and angry brushstrokes to connive their message in their works and to illustrate the injustice of society that was growing during this time of global uncertainty (German Expressionism). There were several movements in the German Expressionist; the first was called Der Brucke (The Bridge), Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider) and Neue Sachlickeit (New Objectivity). Franz Marc was one of the founders of the Der Blaue Reiter, which got its name from Marc and Vassily Kandinsky’s interest in horses and the color blue (Kleiner 386). However, Marc did not paint Fate of the Animals during World War I, but while serving during the war he wrote a letter to his wife that â€Å"is like a premonition of this war—horrible and shattering. I can hardly conceive that I painted it† (Kleiner 388). Here Marc is showing us a forest that is being destroyed uses vivid colors and jagged forms to connive his message (Labedzki). I have used this painting because I think had Marc lived through World War I, he would have painted another form of this to show the horrors he saw during that time. He said to his wife that this was a premonition; I can only image what he would have painted after the war. Wilhelm Heinrich Otto Dix, known for his work under the name Otto Dix, was a German Expressionists in the Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity). This movement formed after World War I by artist that severed in the German army and their experiences military influenced their art (Kleiner 400). Otto Dix’s aim was to show the world those experiences with wrenching, ruthless and harsh depictions of the war as depicted in his Shock Troops Advance under Gas and The Trench (Henshaw). The Trench is filled dead bodies at different stages of decomposition did cause a public outcry that the museum director show the painting was forced to resign (WWI, Otto Dix). Dix said of his work â€Å"that life is not colorful at all. It is much darker, quieter in its tonality, much simpler. I wanted to depict things as they really are† (Heller). Dix depicted the war as it actually was and drew great criticism for his works with the war as the subject. Dix’s medium for Shock Troops Advance under Gas was an etching, portraying the soldiers need to wear gas masks due to the invention of mustard gas used in World War I. Once again showing man’s inhumanity to man. This reminds me of Munch’s Scream.

Girl powdering her neck Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Girl powdering her neck - Essay Example The essay "Girl powdering her neck" concerns The painting â€Å"Girl Powdering her Neck†. The figures of women that he portrayed through his art served to provide them with a voice in a society where they were often marginalized and oppressed. Utamaro’s paintings serve to show women in their positions of vulnerability and seek to show the forces of the society that place them in these positions of vulnerability. The painting â€Å"Girl Powdering her Neck† is one where the reflection of a woman’s face assumes the centre stage on the canvas. The vulnerability of a woman in the society is revealed through the depiction of a frail and delicate woman who is grooming herself so as to maintain her beauty, her only asset in a masculinist and patriarchal society. The painting shows the reflection of the woman and thus serves to remind one that what is seen of a woman in public is often nothing but her reflection. Her real self is never revealed to the world because of the constraints of the society which frames her in a mirror and confines her identity to her physical self. Utamaro questions this structure if the society and talks of how it would be possible for women to come out of their cloistered existence only if they were given the chance to express their real selves. What Utamaro does, ironically, confines the woman within a painting without giving her an alternative existence. The poem â€Å"Girl Powdering Her Neck†, talks of this very inability of the woman to break out of the moulds that were made for her.

Globl operations mngement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Globl operations mngement - Essay Example Kim (2001) for instance talks of the issue of globalization, which makes it extremely important for companies to practice global management approach. With a global management approach, companies are at an advantage of experiencing cross-boarding learning exposure (McCarthy, 2011). This is a situation whereby the experiences tapped in one area of the companies operations that have proven to be workable and useful are transferred to other parts of the companies operations. Again, there can be cushioning in terms of financial gains whereby areas that have better financial fortunes can be used to supplement management duties in other areas of the company’s operations where financial turn-up is low. These merits have however been affected by certain advancement in operations management as exists in other countries; thereby inhibiting certain companies from accruing the entire benefits as discussed. For instance there are different economic and trade clients from one country to another. For this reason, if a centralized global management system is practiced, chances are that such management approaches would not work perfectly from country to country. Finally, in the United States, most companies have had their global management approaches being affected the rate of economic development in other countries. For this reason, even when revenues and sources of expenditure are carried over to some of these countries, the branches of the companies there still find it very difficult to align their levels of output thought the entire operations management may be

Life Span and Human Growth Development Assignment

Life Span and Human Growth Development - Assignment Example Erick Erikson is one of the reputable psychologists who provided convincible structure and elaboration of the concepts. Adequate understanding of growth stages such as those of Erick Erikson is important to counselors in shaping and designing effective treatment approach (Ungar, 2011) Client: as young child in his early childhood years, I struggled to overcome shame and doubts and at the same time, work towards achieving autonomy. These manifested through activities such as struggling to carry loads that were either loads or desire to things in my own way despite being a child. Client: I consider 18 years as the earliest time a child should be independent of the parents. The earliest I will part ways with my parents will be when I attain 22 years old and probably employed to be able to sustain my needs. Client: being adolescent is difficult. This relates to the availability of many vices ready targeting the adolescents. Societies also tend to profile adolescence as a stage characterized with vigor and violence. Client: as I said earlier, adolescence is a huge responsibility to bear considering the numeracy of challenges including powerful peer pressure that leads people into doing things that they would never wish to do. To this point of interview, the counselor is trying to explore the basic information and details regarding the client. In response, the client depicts to have undergone through some aspects of Erick Erikson’s of growth in human beings. The client has indicated to have great trust in the members of his family bewaring their abundant loving nature on the client. According to Erick Erickson, proper feeding is the basic way that an adult earn the trust of an infant (Magnavita, 20050. The client has also hinted that he used to struggle for autonomy during his early years of growth while tackling shame. Erick explained that during early childhood, children struggle to develop

Balance Sheet, Income Statement and Objectives of Accounting and Firms Assignment

Balance Sheet, Income Statement and Objectives of Accounting and Firms - Assignment Example Contra Asset accounts are accounts that are offsetting accounts for certain asset accounts which are often called valuation allowances. Credits increase contra asset accounts, and debits decrease these accounts. Accounts such as doubtful accounts, and accumulated depreciation. Liability accounts are accounts that increase credits and decrease with debits. The examples of the liability accounts are accounts payable, long-term debt (loan), taxes payable and wages payable. Contra liability accounts are accounts that are offsetting accounts for certain liability accounts which are often called valuation allowances. Debits increase contra liability accounts, and credits decrease these accounts. The short-term portion of the mortgage payable is an example of a contra liability account. The accounts in the income statement are closed out every ending period and transferred to Retained Earnings and entered into the Income Statement. The two types of accounts used in the Income Statement are called Revenue and Expense accounts. Assumption: Cash would increase thus increasing the Cash account in the Balance Sheet, and Equity would increase thus increasing the Equity account in the Balance Sheet. Both sides of the Balance Sheet increase by $5000. The primary objectives of accounting are to fairly present the financial information in the financial statements with necessary disclosures in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) so that users of the financial statements can use them to make informative decisions. This fulfills one of the main objectives which is to give assurance to the public about financial statements. The main objective of the firm producing financial statements is to monitor business performance throughout the year and possibly compare with past results. When comparative financial statements are compiled, a better understanding of the level of consistency can be obtained.

Llean Implementation Using VSM and Simulation Assignment

Llean Implementation Using VSM and Simulation - Assignment Example Thus, this report will be an attempt towards depicting the use of the Lean manufacturing technique for optimizing the supply chain of ACW. Technology drives industry. This is true for industrial sectors especially those belonging to the developed economies of the world. Until the last decade, industries in the United States and Europe (which were some of the most heavily industrialized countries of the world) were so heavily dependent on technological Research & development so much so that a major chunk of companies' budget used to be allocated exclusively for R&D purposes. But, the most glaring phenomenon was that there were no research initiatives in the direction of management let alone waste management. Here waste must not be confused with physical waste, as the following sections will go on to depict. It was not until two decades ago that manufacturing industries realized their folly. They had learnt an important lesson from their fellow counterparts in Japan who had successfully implemented & popularized the use of "Just in Time" policies. The "Just in Time" policy was a conglomeration or in other words, a fusion of the concepts of mass production and scientific management methodologies. ... With the passage of time, the concept of lean manufacturing has gained immense popularity with its varied application in fields ranging from mass production to the services industry. Thus, lean methodologies have been successfully implemented in many disciplines.If one were to look down at history towards various sectors of the industry, it can be understood as to how lean principle have come into being. The roots of lean come from the word-CUTTHROAT COMPETITION. Since the 1970s, regardless of the nature or the services provided by the industry, the emphasis is laid more on how fast can the final product be delivered with optimum quality. If one were to look at Dell's strategy, it would be imperative that dell manufactures custom desktops in less than a week so as to remain a step ahead of its competitors. FedEx has been known to deliver packages within a day and this is the reason for the company's huge customer base and its dominance in the courier industry. Thus, their main strate gy is to think on the basis of adding value to the supply chain, which in managerial jargon, would be known as Lean thinking. Under the lean strategy, the industry strives to identify critical elements connected to the industry that add value to the product along with minimizing the production time.The same is the case with the company that is under focus as far as this report is concerned. The company here is called ACW that is based in Tonypandy. The main objective of this report would be to analyze the current state of workflow using some popular methods under the lean manufacturing techniques and thereupon propose further strategies and changes in order to optimize the work processes further. But before that, a major

Information Sharing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Information Sharing - Essay Example As such, it is critical to create a suitable platform for information sharing from people outside the agency, within the agency and among various federal agencies. Federal Government ought to invest in more institutions involved in the capture and sharing of criminal information across the globe. Currently, the US government has invested heavily in such institutions (Jackson, 2009). Such institutions include National Crime Information Center, Regional Information Sharing Systems and the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Service that works together with over 18000 such organizations among others. Sharing of criminal information among citizens is a delicate issue, and some individuals fear to provide such useful information, basing their argument on the need to safeguard their welfare. Reports of various retribution acts from criminal gangs evidently justify their concern. As such, concerned federal agencies ought to ensure these security and anonymity of such individuals, in their efforts to motivate them to share their information (Jackson, 2009). The rewarding of information providers should also be secretive. Creating awareness on the need to share criminal information and other critical information among communities is also significant in combating numerous atrocious crimes currently experienced. This may be through organizing awareness seminars and advertisement through diverse media forms. Online provision of useful information by individuals should also be rewarded. Such rewards should be remote and confidential. Establishment of local information centers throughout v arious societal settings will significantly boost information sharing (Jackson, 2009). Proper implementation of technology within an agency and across agency will significantly aid in law enforcement and information sharing (Jackson, 2009).

International Investing-IP3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

International Investing-IP3 - Essay Example One way to diversify is to buy financial securities of the same asset class, but in different industry sectors that are directly affected by a different kind of variables (Yahoo, 2011). For example one can invest in stocks from the energy sector, while simultaneously investing in stocks of the computer technology related stocks. Since economic and market factors affect different industries differently, by investing in a variety of sectors, there is always a good chance of having one or more of your investments outperforming the market average. Diversification also focuses on investing in different classes of assets. For example since bonds historically have a tendency to perform better when stock performance is declining it serves well for a savvy investor to allocate a percentage of their investment portfolio in the bond market depending on the investors level of risk aversion. 2) As many investors already know the market value of a security is determined by a variety of financial, market and socio-political factors. The volatility of the market value of investments is a risk all investors have to accept and plan for. Since the world economies are becoming more interconnected and correlated changes in one market can spread like wildfire to other financial markets. Some argue that for U.S. investors the benefits of investing internationally might be less compared with other countries due to the wide variety of highly diversified multinational corporation stocks available to U.S. investors though local markets as a well developed and diversified economy. There is still a lot of room for the savvy investor to allocate part of its investment portfolio in the international markets especially in emerging markets or underdeveloped economies. Even when due to their degree of correlation, international markets and domestic markets move in the same direction the degree of response to the same situation might be completely different. There are more opportunities for abov e average returns between emerging economies and industrialized nations since the level of correlation between them is much less. Therefore opportunities abound for extraordinary returns in international markets, albeit at the expense of an increased level of overall investment risks and potential losses. 3) There are many reasons to invest in international markets: Maximum portfolio performance - many investors shy away from investing internationally since they view it as too risky or complex. As a matter of fact although most U.S. investors tend to focus their portfolio domestically, more than 75% of the global economic and over 50% of the total world’s equity market capitalization comes from the international markets (Ishares, 2011). As a matter of fact, international IPO’s now outnumber domestic IPO’s and while international investments are typically more volatile than their U.S. counterparts. They are forecasted to have higher rates of growth than their dom estic counterparts. Lower portfolio volatility-By investing in international securities investors can lower portfolio volatility and maximize their return on investment. The use of a single type of investment instrument increases the risk associated with the investment alternative. When investors invest in both the domestic and international markets they are opening the doors of opportunity due to the fact that the investor has the