Walmart Free Essays

WAL-MART’S COST LEADERSHIP STRATEGY HISTORY OF WALMART ? 1962, Sam Walton starts WAL-MART ? In 5 years expanded to 24 stores revenue more than 12. 6 million in sales ? 1972, listed in New York Stock Exchange MARKETS OF WAL-MART (2003) o Total Sale of Wal-mart o Total Retail Area o Total Employers US $ 313 Billion 663 Million Sq. ft. We will write a custom essay sample on Walmart or any similar topic only for you Order Now 1700,000 SALES INCOME GROWTH (PAST 12 MONTH) COMPANY INDUSTRY SALES GROWTH INCOME GROWTH 12. 00% 5. 20% 11. 50% 5. 90% NET PROFIT MARGINS (%) COMPANY COMPANY 5YEAR AVG. INDUSTRY 3. 6% 3. 5% 3. 6% WAL-MART TODAY ? Operates 6,500 stores in 15 countries ? Serves more than 176 million customers around the globe ? Employs 1. 8 million worldwide ? Health plans insure more than 1 million people ? Saves the average American household more than $2,300 per year Let us start the journey†¦. 1960’s†¦.. The Success Term was EDLP ? EVERY DAY LOW PRICING ? To provide customers – a wide variety of high quality, branded and unbranded products at the lowest possible price, offering better value for their money EDLP : The strategy ? To procure products in bulk at the lowest possible prices from the manufacturers ? Sharing the savings with customers ? Wal-Mart’s products were usually priced 20% lower than its competitors Wal-Mart’s advertisement describing EDLP said: â€Å"Because you work hard for your every dollar, you deserve the lowest price we can offer every time you make a purchase. You deserve our Every Day Low Price. It’s not a sale; it’s a great price you can count on every day to make your dollar go further at WalMart † Explaining his pricing strategy Mr. Sam Walton said: â€Å" By cutting your price, you can boost your sales to a point where you earn far more at the cheaper retail price than you would have by selling the item at the higher price. In retailer language; you can lower your markup but earn more because of the increased volume† EDLP : WAS A HIT ? This led to increase loyalty from priceconscious rural customers. ? The surplus generated was re-invested in – Building facilities of an efficient scale – Purchasing modern business related equipment – And employing the latest technology Other areas where the cost was checked ? The stores were set up in large buildings, while ensuring that the rent paid was minimal ? Not much emphasis was laid on the interiors of the store ? Did not invest in standardized ordering programmes ? Did not even have a standard distribution system in place ? Accounting data were manually written-up ? There was a high check in recruiting the staff 1970’s†¦. ? Wal-Mart became public-held company ? Equipped with funds, it started reorganizationing its business activities. ? The foremost challenge was to put in place a standard distribution and interstore communication system ? So it came up with the most popular Hub And Spoke Structure The Hub And Spoke Structure ? Goods were centrally ordered ? Assembled at the distribution center (hub) ? From where they were dispatched to the individual stores (spokes) as per the orders received from stores. STORE STORE D. C. STORE STORE The benefits of Hub and Spoke structure ? Centralized purchase of goods in huge quantities ? Distribution of them through its own fast and responsive logistics infrastructure to the retail stores ? By passing all intermediaries, they managed to get the goods at lowest price ? The company was able to replenish the store twice a week ? In 1978, Wal-Mart became the first company to establish a fullyautomated distribution center Claude Harris once stated that : â€Å"Don’t ever feel sorry for a vendor. He always knows what he can sell, and we want his bottom price. We would tell the vendors ‘ don’t leave in any room for a kickback because we don’t do it here. † Massive expansion strategy ? Strategy was to build stores around the distribution centers ? That is to be effectively served by the center and controlled by district managers and to management at Bentonville ? The store needs to be a maximum of a day’s drive away from the center Benefits of massive expansion strategy Wal-Mart was able to accelerate its revenue growth and reap significant economies of scale ? As the number of store increased the popularity of the company increased ? Since the company generated tremendous word of mouth publicity, it was able to minimize spending on advertising and promotion activities 1980’s†¦.. Maintaining cost through re-investment ? In 1983, Wal-Mart ventured into the membership club business – called Sam’s Club ? Installed the Point of Sale (POS) scanning system to further reduce the cost Maintaining cost through re-investment (contd. ) In 1987, it installed a Satellite Communication System (SCS) ? In December 1987, Wal-Mart opened its first hyper-mart in the US 1990’s†¦.. ? Supercenters and Sam’s club were more focused to fuel the growth ? In 1994, Wal-Mart bought 99 Pace membership warehouses Wal-Mart’s store count (1991-2003) Format________ year 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 Discount Sam’s club stores 1573 1720 1850 1953 1990 Super center 3 6 30 68 143 Neighbourhood markets – 148 208 256 419 428 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 1995 1960 1921 1869 1801 1736 1647 433 436 443 564 721 888 1066 219 44 441 451 463 475 500 1 1 7 19 31 2003 1568 1258 525 49 Source : Wal-Mart Annual Report 2003 ? Employed improved inventory m anagement practices and upgraded its IT systems ? Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) AND THE RESULTS WERE GOOD†¦. ? Amount of inventory reduced by an estimated $ 2 billion ? Savings of $ 150 million on interest cost were generated 2000’s†¦.. ? Wal-Mart launched a programme called ‘Store of the community’ ? ‘Global Sourcing’ was initiated (2002) Strengths of Wal-Mart Wal-mart’s SUBSIDIARIES Discount stores Neighbourhood market Sam’s Club Super center Yearly sales Total employees across the globe (approximately) Number of stores worldwide Number of new stores opened in 2003 (worldwide) Total number of suppliers Wal-Mart’s rank/position among all retailers across the globe (in terms of sales) Number of pallets shipped by Wal-Mart truck every week (2002) Total occupied floor area of Wal-Mart (2002) Yearly advertising expenditure (2002) Highest one-day sales record till date (November 28, 2003) Number of customers every week at Wal-Mart stores worldwide (approximately) Estimated market capitalization of Wal-Mart in 2020 Source : Wal-Mart Annual Report 2003 244. 5 billion 1. 3 million 4,688 274 65,000 1 50 million 18. 3 square miles $498 million $1. 52 billion 138 million $11. 1 trillion Revenue (%) of the major consumer goods companies in the US through Wal-Mart Company PG Tandy Brand’s Accessories RJR Tobacco Dial’s Del Monte Foods’ Clorox’ Revlon’s % Share (As a % of total sales) 17 % 39 % 20 % 28 24 % 23 % 23 % Source : BusinessWeek, October 2003 †¦. and the journey still continues †¦ PRESENTED BY :~ o o o o o o Prashant Wankhede Prajakta Sane R. Maruthi Yeshwanth Vikram Gharmalkar Mehul Chheda Nitin Agrawal How to cite Walmart, Papers

Investment Program for Energy Efficiency

Question: Describe about the value for money and Government sources of finance and funding decision making for Investment Program for Energy Efficiency? Answer: Introduction UK is one of the most developed nations of Europe. As the council of UK is looking to improvise its resources like electricity and water conservations which will helps to gain the clean energy system within its public offices and schools and hospitals (Albareda et al. 2010). In order to do so the company is looking for the several prgrammes and the projects this will be helpful in gaining clean energy resources within the UK public offices. This will helpful the company to gain the top position in the EU and world for clean energy resources within the UK public offices (Bladh, 2010). The study will also takes us through the various investment appraisals system which will help to analyse the best alternative programmes for the UK council. The study will also focus on the funding part of the study which will shows the council where to avail the funding. Value for money: UK is known for the low carbon economy in the current world market, public sector of UK is looking to lead by examples (Aras and Crowther, 2012). The prime minister of UK Mr. David Cameron on may 2010 has announce that, government offices, schools and hospital will be removed which may become the company to make them greenest government ever. The central government would come up new ideas and new form of energy resources which will help to reduce its carbon dioxide by 11% within the coming 12 months. prime minister of the also committed to 5 year plan to reduce the green house gases by more than 30% in coming years from the public offices, schools and the hospitals (Johansson, 2014). Local council has announced to invest more than 5 million for the introducing the clean energy system within these local offices. With the help of the project called Greening, Government Commitments is only for the public companies where government is looking to reduce more than 25% of the carbon emission via Led light , water conservation programmes and solar form of energy to save electricity (Bozorgi, 2015). Some of the explains of the public sector organization in UK are been able to successful reduce the energy consumption are Depart of energy and Climate change and Hospital like South Manchester has bale to reduce the electricity by 44% and electricity by 6% which makes the saving worth of more than 400,000 per annum (Easley and OHara, 2009). With the help of case study of the Kent county council, it has been found that, these council has been able to invest in the renewable form of energy and water efficiency improvements across the state and schools by upgrading the street lamp by LED and implementing the large solar PV installations in schools which was one of the project where the council has invested more than 358000 just for 3 years (Bacher, 2009). Apart from that, another major cases like oxford case of air conditioning system to save 161/Co2 per years which helps the council to gain worth of 42000 per years. However, the government of the local council of the oxford has invested more than 45000 (Barth and Wolff, 2009). Sources and uses of finance information for local government One of the major assessment shows that, making capital investment should be made as per the long term goals not the short goals (Campbell, 2009). The funding requirement considers the actual life of the project in compare top the sources of funding. Budget preparation as one of the major techniques which will help the council to understand which project would be feasible for the UK offices (Amihud and Mendelson, 2010). Although energy efficiency project gives the long term gain in future which is also an investment opportunity but maintenance of the energy efficiency cost is another major part which is also one of the major concern for the local council (Campbell, 2006). While assessing the energy efficiency schemes maintenance cost and operating cost must need to taken into considerations. With the help of various project appraisals system like NPV (Net present value), Payback period, and IRR will give an insight to the total return on investment in future (Carroll, 2008). However, each of them has own strengths and weakness: Payback period: It is one of the most effective ways to understand the ROI return years. The lower the year the higher would be chances of the accepting the project. However, it does not consider the time value of money (Vine, 2008). NPV: It is one of the most permanent way to appraise the chosen project. It considers time value of money. However, the difference between the cost of energy and differs can be differ from the wider level of inflations (Liddle, 2012). Apart from the above other major funding would be expected budget for the project will set the standard cost. The expected budget considers the profit and loss statements, balance sheet and cash flow statements (Cheney and Roper, 2010). The expected budget with more than 3 years would give the idea of the investment and return of investment which will help the council to work as per set standards (La Port et al. 2009). Expenditure day book: Expenditure day book will have credit and cash information where the local council will be able to understand actual cost spending. Apart from that, with the help of startup funding, council will be able to keep track of the project (Crane et al. 2009). There is been ample evidence which that expenditure day is one of the major information which will help the council and government to understand whether the project is variable or not (Ibrahim and Parsa, 2007). Apart from the above, public sector organization to fund energy efficiency project along with consideration of risk management , due diligence , audit trail and transparency compliance are some of the obligations which is needed to be fulfill before going to purse the implementation of energy efficiency resources within the UK (Jones, 2010). Government sources of finance and funding decision making Some of the major sources of finance are given below: Foundation and trust: One of the major funding of the projects comes from the foundation and trusts which regulate and monitor the prudential borrowings (Bozorgi, 2015). For hospitals, NHS is one of the major foundations where the prudential borrowing limited is being reviewed and foundation gives the long term borrowings to the hospital for the implement the energy efficiency project within the public hospitals (Cooper, 2010). Universities: Another major funding comes from the British universities which take active part in energy efficiency environment to ensure future surroundings would be more energy efficient. The British universities have their own Treasury Management policies which help the council adequately sufficient of the fund for the energy efficiency projects (Kesicki and Yanagisawa, 2014). Salix scheme: Salix funding is scheme which has been granted by the DECC and which is interest free loans for the energy efficiency projects for public sectors units (Faulkender and Petersen, 2009). Loans are given with certain criteria like maximum period and actual carbon saved by the public companies with programmes like solar and LED lamp (Johansson, 2014). Salix Scheme has helps the Bristol council for the funding of the up gradation of street light lamp from high energy bulb to the ceramic metal LED lamp (Lopez et al. 2011). This new and advance technology helps them to level the lightening as per the weather conditions which ultimately reduce the energy (Bozorgi, 2015). Salix scheme has funded worth of 2.1 million which was now generating annual savings of the more than 5000,00 within the 2 years. Apart from that, Salix scheme also helps St. Andrews university by funding the with 2 million which saves more than 600,000 per annum by installing, boiler , motor control system sand LED lamp within the colleges with average payback period is 4 years (Maignan and Ferrell, 2008). Green Investment bank of UK: The introduction of this bank is to fund only the energy efficiency projects within and across the UK. The GIB has been one of the major funding houses for the government in order to support the non domestic energy efficiency projects (Lichtenberg, 1977). GIB financing is not only funding the project but also taken initiates to self help implementation of LED street lamp and NHS energy efficiency. Some of the major work of GIB over the years is very much related to the building remunerations by led lamp and insulation (Van Marrewijk, 2011). Renewable heat and Green transport like bicycle within the university are some of the major landmark achieve by the banks. Accounting and financing helps the council to understand the actual cost and excepted cost which will be helpful for the implementation of projects (Valerie et al. 2010). The financial statements are very much useful because of the timeliness of the information that helps to gain actual time finishing of the project. Accounting language helps in processing document all aspect of business financial performance from payroll cost, capital expenditure and sale revenue etc (MariĆ¡ et al. 2011). Conclusion From the above study, it has been found that sources finance required for the funding the energy efficiency resources within the UK offices and hospitals. There are various programme like solar panel and LED lamp are some of the major value for money projects which will help the council to earn more than 120000 per annum from the investment of more than 5 million. There has been numerous sources of finance houses like GIB, Foundation like NHS and EIB. Reference List Books Albareda, L., Lozano, J. M. and Ysa, T. (2010) Public policies on corporate social responsibility: The role of governments in Europe. Journal of Business Ethics, 74, 391407. Aras, G. and Crowther, D. (2012) Business Strategy and Sustainability. 4th ed. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Bacher, C., (2009). Corporate Social Responsibility. 4th ed. New York: Business Expert Press. Barth, R. and Wolff, F. (2009) Corporate Social Responsibility in Europe: Rhetoric and Realities. 6th ed. New York, London: Routledge. Campbell, J. L. (2009) Why would corporations behave in socially responsible ways? An institutional theory of corporate social responsibility. Academy of Management Review, 32, 946967. Campbell, J. L. (2006) Institutional Analysis and the Paradox of Corporate Social Responsibility. American Behavioral Scientist 49(7): 925-938 Carroll, A.B. (2008) The Pyramid of Corporate Social Responsibility: Toward the Moral Management of Organizational Stakeholders. Business Horizons 34(4): 39-49 Cheney, G. and Roper, J. (2010) The Debate Over Corporate Social Responsibility. 4th ed. London: Prentice Hall. Crane, A. et al. (2009) CSR: Readings and Cases in a Global Context, 6th ed. Sydney: Routledge Journals Bladh, M. (2010). Energy efficient lighting meets real home life. Energy Efficiency, 4(2), pp.235-245. Bozorgi, A. (2015). Integrating value and uncertainty in the energy retrofit analysis in real estate investmentnext generation of energy efficiency assessment tools. Energy Efficiency. Johansson, M. (2014). Improved energy efficiency within the Swedish steel industrythe importance of energy management and networking. Energy Efficiency. Kesicki, F. and Yanagisawa, A. (2014). Modelling the potential for industrial energy efficiency in IEAs World Energy Outlook. Energy Efficiency, 8(1), pp.155-169. Lichtenberg, A. (1977). Energy efficiency and energy savings. Energy, 2(3), pp.283-286. Liddle, B. (2012). OECD energy intensity. Energy Efficiency, 5(4), pp.583-597. Vine, E. (2008). Breaking down the silos: the integration of energy efficiency, renewable energy, demand response and climate change. Energy Efficiency, 1(1), pp.49-63. Husted, B. W. and Allen, D. B. (2009) Corporate social strategy in multina- Corporate social strategy in multinational enterprises: Antecedents and values creation. Journal of Business Ethics, 74, 345361. Ibrahim, N. and Parsa, F. (2007) Corporate Social Responsiveness Orientation: Are there differences between US and French Managers? Review of Business 26(1): 27-33 Jones, D. R. (2010) Leadership strategies for sustainable development: A case study of Suma Whole foods. Business Strategy the Environment, 9(6), 378389. Lopez, M., Garcia, A. and Rodriguez, L. (2011) Sustainable development and corporate performance: A study based on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. Journal of Business Ethics, 75, 285300. Maignan, I. and Ferrell, O.C. (2008) Measuring Corporate Citizenship in Two Countries: The Case if the Unites States and France Journal of Business Ethics 23(3): 283-297 Tebo, P. V. (2011) Building business value through sustainable growth. Research Technology Management, 48(5), 2832. Van Marrewijk, M. (2011) Concepts and dentitions of CSR and corporate sustainability: between agency and communion. Journal of Business Ethics 44: 95105 Valerie, G., Cook, C. and Ali, A. (2010) "Using net present value methods to evaluate quality improvement projects", International Journal of Quality Reliability Management, 27(3), pp.333 - 350 MariĆ¡, B., KamberoviĆ¡, B. and Radlovacki, V. (2011) Observing the dependence between dynamic indicators of investment profitability - Relative net present value and internal rate of return, African Journal of Business Management, 5(26), pp. 10331-10337 Amihud, Y. and Mendelson, H. (2010) The liquidity route to a lower cost of capital, Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, 12, 525 Easley, D. and OHara, M. (2009) Information and the Cost of Capital, The Journal of Finance, 59(4), 1553-83. La Porta, R., Lopez-de-Silanes, F., Shleifer, A. and Vishny, R. (2009) Investor Protection and Corporate Valuation, Journal of Finance, 57, 114770 Cooper, I. (2010) Asset pricing implications of nonconvex adjustment costs and irreversibility of investment, Journal of Finance 61, 139-170 Faulkender, M., and Petersen, M. A. (2009) Does the source of capital affect capital structure?, Review of Financial Studies 19, 45-79.

Master of Information Technology

Question: Discuss about the Master of Information Technology. Answer: Introduction: The Grand Wines Ltd. Organization is working on changing their manual working system to automatic working system. The change in working platform helps the organization to overcome the issues associated with the manual working of the system such as it helps in raising the confidence and satisfaction in the employees, helps in attracting new customers which in turn raise the profit of the enterprise, reduces the loss of inventory, provide the products to the customer within time, raise the satisfaction of the customer, easy retrieval of information, and much more. The proposed system to develop the automatic platform is by the implementation of wireless data entry system by making use of wireless data entry devices (Hall, 2012). The recommended system helps in reducing the error done by the human in regards of updating the information of availability of stock in the database which results in the wrong calculation of profit. The employees of the Grand wines company have the calibre to a dopt the new system in the working curriculum (Bakorous, 2013). The profit of the organization can be maximized by using the new system i.e. Wireless Data Entry System. The implementation of the new system requires some changes in the traditional working environment such as installation of the remote server at Sidney (Head office of Grand Wines Ltd.) and wireless data entry devices at remote offices of the firm. The customers and employees can retrieve accurate information from the database about the availability and non-availability of the stock (Bodea, 2012). In scope activities Out of Scope activities Acceptance Criteria Assumption The recommended project of wireless data entry system should be able to provide correct information regarding the availability of stock (Patrick, 2015). The recommended system helps in reducing the error done by the human in regards of updating the information of availability of stock in the database which results in the wrong calculation of profit. Profit of the organization can be maximised (Leus, 2008). No physical meeting should be arranged for gathering information regarding the requirement of the customers (Sawant, 2014). The recruitment of new employees in not needed for using the proposed system The proposed project is acceptable if it is able to build satisfaction and confidence in the employees. The new system should provide accurate information of the stock. It resolves all the problem of the manual working environment. The employees of the Grand wines company have the calibre to adopt the new system in the working curriculum. New customers can be attracted Work Breakdown structure of Wireless Data entry System: The following diagram shows the complete breakdown of activities which are required in developing the wireless data entry system for the organization. There are four phases involved in the development cycle of the proposed system which are categorised as planning, analysing, designing, and implementation. Every phase is composed of sub-activities. The planning phase of the new system will start on 26 January, 2017 and the process of implementation will be completed on 26 July, 2017. The owner of the company has provided six months to develop the project for the organization to make working platform automatic within the budget of 60000. Gantt chart for Grand Wines Ltd.: Budget Details: Items Proposed Cost(AWD) Cost of hardware in installing wireless data entry system 21500 Software cost related with making compatible use of wireless data entry devices 13500 Implementation cost of wireless data entry system and devices 8500 Testing cost of new system 10500 Training and development program cost 3500 Miscellaneous and other cost 2500 Total Budget 60000 Risk Register: Risk associated with the project Explanation The technology is not proved to its full extent The complete functions of the new system are not used by the employees (Ahuja, 2014). Defective wireless data entry system The defective system gets implemented in the organization which results in improper working of the system Technology is inefficient The proposed technology is inefficient in resolving all the issues associated with the manual working environment The hardware and software are incompatible to each other The wireless data entry devices are incompatible with the existing hardware and software of the organization Documentation The difference can be seen in the actual working of the system and its associated documentation Employees incompatibility The employees are not readily admit the proposed system References: Hall, N. (2012).Project management: Recent developments and research opportunities(1st ed.). Retrieved from https://www.google.co.in/url?sa=trct=jq=project%20management%20research%20papersource=webcd=cad=rjauact=8ved=0ahUKEwiSzaePl9rRAhXEKo8KHZfSBD0QFggjMAEurl=https://wiki.rit.edu/download/attachments/67469449/text1.pdfusg=AFQjCNH8_OlIzV6T5R3DM_FjDub458qZ9g Bakorous, B. (2013).Project management: Dissemination of innovation and knowledge management technique (1st ed.). Retrieved from https://www.adi.pt/docs/innoregio_pmanagement.pdf Leus, R. (2008). Project scheduling under uncertainty: survey and research potentials (1st ed.). Retrieved from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/e67b/103f35f7ab52bb8412ed027f2458830ecf38.pdf Bodea, N. (2012).Complex Project scheduling using multi agents methods: A case study for research project (1st ed.). Retrieved from https://ie.technion.ac.il/serveng/References/MultiProject_Scheduling_and_Control.pdf Sawant, K. (2014).Survey paper for software project scheduling and staffing problem (1st ed.). https://www.ijarcce.com/upload/2014/march/IJARCCE7G%20%20%20a%20nandkishor%20SURVEY%20PAPER%20FOR.pdf Patrick, N. (2015). Research Grant Proposals: Sample Section.(1st ed.). Retrieved from https://www.shrm.org/about/foundation/research/Documents/Sample%20Proposal-Schedules.pdf Ahuja, V. (2014). Project scheduling and monitoring: current research status (1st ed.). Retrieved from https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/14714170410814980

5 Secrets to Getting Never-Ending Job Offers! - Guest Post by David Mensah

5 Secrets to Getting Never-Ending Job Offers! - Guest Post by David Mensah Last week I wrote about the importance of follow-up and feedback for success in your business or job search. The article, Do These * 2 * Things and Get Amazing Results in Your Business OR Job Search, really was about how to have fruitful conversations and build valuable connections. This week, my good friend and long-time business writing client, David Mensah, shares his wisdom on a very related topic: how to create a stream of job and work offers through  the art of talking to people. Guest post by David Mensah Imagine this experience: You’re in the middle of a conversation with a friend, colleague or new acquaintance, when that person suddenly interrupts the flow of the conversation to offer you some form of employment! For most of my life, I have had that experience on a regular basis, and I have ultimately built a career as a leadership trainer and executive coach as a result. So when I started to expand my consulting practice to include career coaching, I wanted to see whether I could train people to do what I have done successfully in my own professional life: generate employment opportunities consistently, both in official interviews and everyday conversations, whether or not they are looking for a job. Here are my top 5 recommendations for creating â€Å"the never-ending job offer†: BE EXCITED: Choose a career that sparks your passion, and let that passion show! Your excitement is contagious. I can always tell when others are passionate about their careers. Genuine excitement is interesting and contagious, while feigned excitement is forced and boring. Discover your true calling, even if it doesnt make sense or scares you (are you an accountant who always wanted to be a dancer?) Your career is as personal as it gets and it’s worth finding out- and sharing- what lights you up. BE INTERESTED IN OTHERS: When people are authentically curious about me, I feel lucky and safe and I want to know more about that person in return. That’s the type of interest you want to create in others. When talking about your life, make sure to make time to explore the lives of those around you. You might ask questions about people’s background, work successes and challenges, or families. Explore their values and what’s important to them. Train yourself to find something interesting about everyone, including friends, networking contacts, and yes, even interviewers! In every conversation I make it my practice to find 10 things I like about the other person in the first 5 minutes. It makes me listen differently. Keep asking questions until you find an area where the other person is energized, and focus there. You might be surprised at the benefits that come back to you. IN AN INTERVIEW, ASK QUESTIONS: Come prepared to every job or informational interview with questions you want to ask. And don’t stop there. Frankly, if you are not interested enough in the middle of an interview to have a few spontaneous questions, you are probably not interested in the job or the company. Questions emerge from a natural desire to know more- to delve deeply into things that matter to you. When you ask people questions, they learn a lot about how you think and feel about them, their company, and, if applicable, the available position. Your questions reveal something about you at the same time as you learn about someone or something else. BE CONNECTED: People hire people they feel good about and this feeling arises from a sense of connection. To create affinity with people where it might not exist automatically, consider telling stories about yourself emphasizing your humanity. I have been known to talk about my most recent business failure or how my ego gets in the way of my dreams. Stories about our failures and flaws allow others to connect deeply with us and push people quickly past the surface differences that keep us separate. While connecting with others comes easily to some, it can be challenging to some people. Do your personal growth work so that you can easily connect to the new people in your life without internal stories about you or them getting in the way. SPEAK ABOUT YOURSELF USING THEIR LANGUAGE: As any conversation progresses, I learn more and more about the person I am speaking with. Once you know enough about someone, it is much easier to tell them about yourself, because now you can reference the parts of their life that help them understand yours. When I am talking with someone who values their family over everything, it is natural for me to use my love and appreciation for my puppy to describe how relationships motivate my professional successes and failures. When I talk to people who care primarily about making a difference for others, I describe my interest in coaching as a way to teach skills that they can pass on to everyone they touch. The more you truly listen to someone, the more you can use the language they use and speak to their values. You will make deep connections with people who feel seen and understood by you, and who will want to find ways to spend more time in your presence- perhaps by offering you a job. When my clients embrace these practices, not just in interviews but in every interaction with others, they start generating job opportunities. Getting excited about your own career and cultivating an authentic interest in others results in others’ sitting up and taking notice. Your never-ending job opportunity will happen one conversation at a time. David Mensah is a leadership trainer and executive coach living and working in New York City. Please connect with him on twitter @DKBWAVE or learn more about his work at www.DKBWAVE.com.

Definition and Examples of Eponyms in English

Definition and Examples of Eponyms in English An eponym is a word that is derived from the proper name of a real or mythical person or place. Adjectives: eponymic and eponymous. Over time, the name of a well-known person (such as Machiavelli,  Italian Renaissance  author of The Prince) may come to stand for an attribute associated with that person (in Machiavellis case, cunning and duplicity). Etymology: from the Greek, named after   Pronunciation: EP-i-nim Examples and Observations We are well-armed for battle in a Machiavellian world of reputation manipulation, and one of our most important weapons is the delusion that we are noncombatants.(Jonathan Haidt, The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom. Basic Books, 2006)Jeff: You probably just Britta’d the test results.Britta: No, I doublewait! Are people using my name to mean ‘make a small mistake’?Jeff: Yes.(Joel McHale and Gillian Jacobs in Horror Fiction in Seven Spooky Steps. Community, October 27, 2011)[Alton] Brown can fill an entire episode on popcorn, teaching you how to MacGyver a nifty, cheap popper (hint: a stainless-steel bowl and some perforated foil).(Entertainment Weekly, August 14, 2009)The crowd parted reluctantly, and [Lance Armstrong] glided off, Batmanning through the crowd toward the start line.(Daniel Coyle, Lance Armstrongs War. HarperCollins, 2005)Lily: Dont Ted-out about it.Ted: Did you just use my name as a verb?Barney: Oh, yeah, we do that behi nd your back. Ted-out: to overthink. Also, see Ted-up. Ted-up: to overthink with disastrous consequences. For example, Billy Tedded-up when heTed: All right, I get it!(Matchmaker. How I Met Your Mother, 2005) Americans now nibble their way through two billion popsicles a year; their favorite flavor is a Jaggeresque red cherry.(Oliver Thring, Consider Ice Lollies. The Guardian, July 27, 2010)Sandwich: named after John Montagu, the Fourth Earl of Sandwich (1718–1792), a British politician.Cardigan: a knitted garment, such as a sweater or jacket, that opens down the front. Named after the Seventh Earl of Cardigan, James Thomas Brudenell (1797–1868), a British army officer.Andy Bernard: I really schruted it.Michael Scott: What?Andy Bernard: Schruted it. Its just this thing that people say around your office all the time. Like, when you screw something up in a really irreversible way, you schruted it. I dont know where it comes from though. Do you think it comes from Dwight Schrute?Michael Scott: I dont know. Who knows how words are formed.(Traveling Salesmen, The Office, Jan. 11, 2007)Lets not Rumsfeld Afghanistan.(Senator Lindsey Graham, quoted in Time magazine, Aug. 24, 2009)S axophone: named after Belgian instrument maker  Adolphe Sax. Other eponyms in English include boycott, braille, camellia, chauvinist, dahlia, diesel, dunce, gardenia, gerrymander, guillotine, hooligan, leotard, lynch, magnolia, ohm, pasteurize, poinsettia, praline, quixotic, ritzy, sequoia, shrapnel, silhouette, volt, watt, and zeppelin.​ Achieving Wordhood As a word,  eponymous is a bit anonymous itself. Its moment in the sun came with the release of REM’s album Eponymous, a subtle dig at musicians who name records after themselves, such as Peter Gabriel, whose first four albums are all entitled, Peter Gabriel. In short, an eponym is anything that’s ever been named after anybody. . . .But a name only crosses into true wordhood once it is no longer used as a reference. When we speak of hectoring wives and philandering husbands, it is without a picture of valiant Hector or lover-boy Philander popping into our minds, the way a bespectacled Viennese man with a pipe does when we say Freudian slip.(John Bemelmans Marciano, Anonyponymous: The Forgotten People Behind Everyday Words. Bloomsbury, 2009) Eponyms and Allusions An eponym is similar to an allusion, referring to a specific famous person to link his or her attributes with someone else. Using an eponym well can be something of a balancing act; if the person is too obscure, no one will understand your reference, but if its too well known, it may come across as a clichà ©.(Brendan McGuigan, Rhetorical Devices: A Handbook and Activities for Student Writers. Prestwick House, 2007) Skutniks When CNNs Jeff Greenfield assured the crowd, I havent planted a Skutnik here, I stopped him: I had heard of a Sputnik, the Russian word for the first Soviet satellite, but what was a Skutnik?Greenfield directed me to his book Oh, Waiter! One Order of Crow! about the media failure on election night: A Skutnik is a human prop, used by a speaker to make a political point. The name comes from Lenny Skutnik, a young man who heroically saved lives after the Air Florida plane crash in Washington in 1982 and who was introduced by President Reagan during his State of the Union speech.The introduction of heroes became a staple in presidential addresses to joint sessions of Congress. In 1995, the columnist William F. Buckley was one of the first to use the name as an eponym: President Clinton was awash with Skutniks.(William Safire, On Language. The New York Times, July 8, 2001) The Lighter Side of Eponyms First the doctor told me the good news: I was going to have a disease named after me.(Steve Martin)

Retirement income Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Retirement income - Essay Example The accumulation of personal savings and income during my working period will form the largest bulk of my retirement income. This is because it requires a huge amount of retirement income to sustain a pre-retirement lifestyle. Examples of investment options that I am including in my retirement income plan are money in savings accounts, stocks and bonds investments, tax free savings accounts, and RRSPs and RRIFs (Brown, Chambers & Currie, 2001). The other investment option is accumulated property including a home and business assets. The overall savings and investments strategy is long-term and this will involve a diversified savings and investment portfolio. The advantage of maintaining a diversified portfolio is that I will be in a good position to get returns in the long-run. It also eliminates the dilemma of deciding when to return to the market after making an exit when the market performance is low. I would also like to adjust my asset mix on a regular basis because this provides the opportunity to take advantage of differences in the performance of the different classes of assets. Rebalancing will also ensure that I re-align my portfolio with my goals and level of risk tolerance. I will be making progressive and consistent financial contributions to a RRSP on an annual basis. RRSP have the benefit of generating earnings that grow on the basis of tax-deferral and its contributions provide a significant amount of tax savings (Brown, Chambers & Currie, 2001). I can use the savings to make additional investments or even pay existing debts. Employers offer two types of pension plans for their employees including defined benefits plans and defined contribution plans. A defined benefits plan will involve getting a pre-determined amount of my income upon my retirement. On the other hand, a defined contribution plan will use my accumulated investment income and contributions in providing a pension benefit. I will go for a defined contribution plan

Depression in mothers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Depression in mothers - Essay Example Depression among women has been known to be caused by a myriad of issues that affect the world globally and in the local communities. This is especially in the third world, where poverty is one of the leading causes of depression among mothers and women in general, unlike other factors that affect the first world and other well to do women that have all their basic needs. Poverty has led to depression amongst many women following the lack of basic needs to sustain a comfortable life, even at the lowest level of just being alive and having a meal on the table, as well as clean water to drink. This is in addition to having access, to health and medical facilities in order to cater for the overall wellbeing of women and communities in question. However, due to the sensitivity of the issue, we shall dwell more on the depression of women as they tend to shoulder the burden of poverty, especially in Africa. Studies show that African women are more likely to contract type 2 diabetes than wo men with greater economic resources or wealth only serves to show the impact of poverty on depression in African women (De Groot et al 172). The above studies approach depression in poor African women from the perspective of coming from a poor environment, where their depression is a reaction to the said environment. In addition, poverty is considered to be the strongest factor leading to depression amongst mothers with young children, especially considering their inability to provide for their young (Grant et al 1). This also includes the lack of suitable facilities, in which to live, which, in turn, leads to insecurity. The whole situation of depression revolves around the concept of poverty, especially in the third world, which covers most of the globe and Africa is a major concern followed by parts of Asia. Oxfam as an international organization works towards the wellbeing of the global society by working to eliminate overtly across the globe. As a result, it can be taken to mea n to be an institution that works towards bettering the lives of women and lowering the risks of depression among women and mothers. The Oxfam website can be considered to be substantially user friendly with the ease of use and navigation along the lines of the information it provides. With this in mind, the institution’s website provides bulk of information on its role on an international scale to improve the lives of those caught up in poverty. Considering this, Oxfam labels poverty as a condition that can be eradicated off the face of the earth and have all members of society living comfortably. The above is because; Oxfam works with vulnerable people in the face of poverty to overcome their difficulties in making ends meet in relation to food, education, development and citizens’ rights, as well as climate change, where those affected receive assistance from the organization to improve their lives substantially. The website provides information on how one can work together with Oxfam to alleviate poverty by donating to the organization for the good of the society, a means that can be viewed as a one that caters for the depressed women. This is through the collection of financial and other forms of resources that are used to put up facilities to improve their livelihoods considering their vulnerability to poverty (â€Å"Oxfam†). In the third world, especially Africa, this translates to fewer depressed women following the delivery of