Golden Palace Hotel Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Golden Palace Hotel - Case Study Example 2. Human resources management. Golden Palace Hotel is understaffed during high seasons and some departments / areas (reception in particular) require full-time as well as well-trained and experienced staff. In present circumstances, Mr. Jones and Mr. De Souza are particularly interested in external business factors (more likely to impact Golden Hotel Palace directly) assessment of which authors' findings and recommendations are based. Given clients' particular request of an assessment of external business environment's implications for Golden Palace Hotel, current report mainly scans Golden Palace's market positioning considering political, social and cultural givens. Given Golden Palace Hotel's location on Fulham Road - a 3-minute walk from South Kensington underground station, a major asset in terms of accessibility (Department for transport 2009) - Golden Palace Hotel enjoys a strategic market location, one well situated close to London's most promising business and shopping hubs. This is particularly convenient for hotel's customers, typically business men and women, whose busy schedules limit mobility options. Additionally, Fulham Road's serene culture (Streetsensation n.d.) makes Golden Palace Hotel especially well suited for a businessperson's hectic schedule during evenings and particularly for attractions and entertainments in surrounding area (e.g. Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, Kensington museums, Harrods and Harvey Nichols). Golden Palace Hotel's plan of facility expansion and additional amnesties for current and potential customers is both a sound and forward-looking business strategy. Given unprecedented falling property prices (Stevenson 2009) as a result of current economic and financial global crisis, Golden Palace Hotel has a major opportunity in investing in asset values. Further, planned gyms and swimming pools cater particularly to a growing influx of young Chinese and American visitors. The antique and collectible allure of Fulham Road is, moreover, a viable future opportunity for market segment expansion into one, basically young American and Chinese visitors, who both seek 'safe areas' for stay and 'valuable gifts' to take back home. Considering investment in hotel's IT infrastructure and online business strategy, Golden Palace Hotel lags a long way behind given current practices in hospitality business world over (AllBuisness 2001), let

Critical Review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Critical Review - Essay Example In general, there is a strong relationship between the oil prices in the world market and the number of registered vehicles in each country (Kenworthy). Basically, when oil prices in the world market suddenly increases, the urban transport systems within the U.S. will be negatively affected. To avoid sudden disruption in the U.S. transport system, the U.S. government is being challenged to promote the efficiency with the excessive consumption of crude oil on vehicles. Aiming to solve the vehicle problem related to energy wastage, air pollution and traffic congestion, a list of recommended strategies that can reduce the U.S.’s automobile dependence will be thoroughly discussed. There is a strong relationship between the high cost of maintaining private vehicles and the use of public transportation. (Kenworthy and Laube) Since the U.S. urban cities consume a large volume of gasoline for transportation use as compared to other developed countries like Canada and Europe (Kenworthy; Kenworthy and Laube; Khisty and Ayvalik), government internvention is necessary to effectively control the number of private and public transportation that travels around the city each day. As recently proposed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, there should be a US$0.50 cents increase in transportation sales taxes in order to solve the problem related to highway congestion (McGreevy and Vogel). Aside from increasing sales tax from the costs of public transportation, there was also a plan to increase the state excise tax on the sales of gasoline (Riphagen). Because of the added tax on gasoline, more people with private vehicles would eventually consider the use of public transportation like AC Transit or BART. On top of increasing the costs of gasoline through excise tax, increasing the number of metered parking places throughout each state is another way to encourage the people to reconsider taking the public transportation, the use of bicycle, and/or walking (De Turenne;

United States as expansionist country Essay Example for Free

United States as expansionist country Essay The United States has been an expansionist country since the pilgrims landed. Until the US established them selves as a definite world power, they had shown themselves to be a very expansionist country. The imperialism of the 1900s may have departed from past actions in terms of size and ambition, but the fundamental reasons and drive for expansion remained the same throughout much of America’s history. Past expansion of the US includes the Manifest Destiny-driven push to the West coast, the annexation of Texas, and the purchase of Alaska. Around the close of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth, the United States was an expansionism; such events include the Spanish-American War and the annexation of Hawaii, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines. The Spanish-American war was fought in Cuba and the Philippines and was the result of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence. The U.S. joined because of the Spanish’s treatment of the Cubans and they blamed Spain for the sinking of the USS Maine. The war only lasted for ten weeks; however, the U.S. gained Hawaii as the fiftieth state and received Guam, Puerto Rico and the Philippines as territories. At the time, the U.S. was very jingoistic and thought they could just take what they wanted (B). This idea is what led to expanding outside of the continental U.S. The U.S. gained Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines as a result of the Treaty of Paris in 1898. The U.S. also gained temporary control of Cuba, which somewhat still exists today with Guantanamo Bay. The U.S. definitely received the favorable end of the deal. The Kingdom of Hawaii was sovereign from 1810 until 1893 when resident American businessmen overthrew the monarchy. Hawaii was annexed by the U.S. but did not become a state until 1959. The United States’ began expanding ever since the original thirteen colonies. Every country desires additional land for resources and economic reasons. After the United States had established itself as a world power, its expansionism did not stop there, the US then set its sights on the countries it sought, in particular the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Guam, and Hawaii. Not to mention that the other world powers were not picking and choosing what they wanted as well, Britain and Japan were claiming all the weak territories they could on the other side of the world (A). America has also always been very interested in its own economy and making sure that no European countries such as Germany and Britain could dominate economically (C).

Scarlet Letter :: essays research papers

Love, affair, disowning! One may think that this is a soap opera, but one is fairly mistaken. In the novel, The Scarlet Letter written by, Nathaniel Hawthorne, love, lies, mistrust are a few of the many situations that confront his characters. In Boston Hester Prynne commits a sin of adultery landing her the punishment of wearing the scarlet letter â€Å"A† for the rest of her life. The man whom with she has an affair with is Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. Roger Chillingworth is Hester’s husband, and he will do anything in his power to make Dimmesdale repay for what he has done. The physical and metal guiltiness that Dimmesdale undergoes for not confessing the truth of being Pearls father leads him to death. The theme of the novel is sin, isolation, and reunion. Through out the novel Nathaniel Hawthorne uses setting, plot, and the characters to develop these themes. Hawthorne uses the setting to develop the theme of sin, isolation and reunion. In the market place one of the guards opens the jail cell and announces to all the spectators and to Hester shouting, â€Å"Open a passage; and I promise ye Mistress Prynne shall be set where man, woman, and child may have a fair sight of her†¦ Come along! Madam Hester and show your scarlet letter in the marker place† (Hawthorne 52). Hester is being displayed on the scaffold, which Hawthorne uses to show sin. While Hester is walking out of the jail a woman murmurs to one of the other women, â€Å" This woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die!† (Hawthorne 49) This scene clearly shows isolation between Hester and the community. The setting of the scaffold scene also illustrates the reunion between Dimmesdale, Hester and Pearl. When Dimmesdale admits on being the father of Pearl to all the townspeople, this scene reunites Pearl with herself by making her normal. The forest is as well as a major setting that instigates sin. Isolation in the forest occurs when Hester meets Dimmesdale to achieve some reunion, but instead drives them selves further into isolation. The use of the settings greatly structures how the theme of sin, isolation and reunion came about. The plot is utilized to support the three themes. There are five basic parts to the plot: conflict, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution. On top of the scaffold Dimmesdale interrogates Hester’s in revealing the identity of Pearl’s father.

Architecture of the New Capitalist Society Essay examples -- essays re

Architecture of the New Capitalist Society INTRODUCTORY THEME Daniel Libeskind’s winning design for the new World Trade Center takes a sentimental and metaphorical approach. He claims that the completed WTC would become the representation of America’s belief in humanity, its need for individual dignity, and its beliefs in the cooperation of human. Libeskind’s original design focused on restoring the spiritual peak to the New York City and creating an icon that speaks of America’s vitality in the face of danger and her optimism in the aftermath of tragedy. The design considered the city’s neighborhood and residents, rather than simply the economic demands of the commissioners. However, Libeskind’s revised plan that revealed in September 2003 altered his original humanistic vision of creating buildings that respond to the neighborhood, and an environment that will have richness and openness. Pressured by the leaseholder of the WTC site Mr. Silverstein, Libeskind’s new plan added an emphasize on the commercial purpose of the site. The marketability of office and retail spaces has become the major concern of the project. The new World Trade Center project has stirred a significant amount of debates among authorities and the public since Daniel Liberskind first revealed his original mater plan in February 2003. Some have proposed to redesign and decentralize lower Manhattan; others have questioned that if New York really needs another world’s tallest building, or maybe something more modest like affordable housing, linear parks, and true public spaces and institutes. However, beyond these issues, there is a far more intricate question cannot be easily answered: How the architecture profession has been influenced by the new capitalist society? And what is the role of the architects in the twenty-first century? Architecture has been known as the product of aesthetics, structure, and function that serves to address social needs, resolve environmental and humanitarian problems through built form. Architecture not only shelters, but also has the ability to consolidate boundaries within our society. It realizes the role by physically defining space and by imposing its symbolic, representative meaning onto our living environment. As Ludwig Wittgenstein once said, â€Å"Architecture immortalizes and glorifies something†. Indeed, architecture must be documentary and didac... ...uld be one of the most significant lessons September 11th attack has taught us. BIBLIOGRAPHY Abby Bussel, â€Å"As the World Trade Center Turns†, Architecture, V. 92, N.9 (Sept 2003), 11. Andrew Mead, â€Å"Close Inspection of a Capitalist World [book and exhibition review]†, Architects’ Journal V. 206, N. 17 (Nov 1997), 59. Anthony Burke, interview held during meeting, University of California, Berkeley, November, 2004. Colin St. John Wilson, â€Å"Speer and the Fear of Freedom,† Architectural Review V. 173 No. 1036 (June 1983):22. Christopher Hawthorne, â€Å"Not the Object but the Emptiness†, Metropolis V. 23, N.9 (May 2004), 113. Joseph A. Demkin. The Architect’s Handbook of Professional Practice (John Wiley & Sons, Inc: 2002), 13. Karrie Jacobs, â€Å"The Power of Inadvertent Design†, Metropolis, V. 23, N. 6 (Feb 2004), 50. Peter J. Larkham, â€Å"Planning the twentieth-century city: the advanced capitalist world [book review]†, Planning Perspectives. V. 18, N. 8 (Apr 2003), 245. Reg McLemore, â€Å"City Planning in an Economy in Transition†, Plan Canada, V. 39, N. 4 (Sept 1999), 22. Sam Lubell, â€Å"Libeskind’s World Trade Center Guidelines Raise Doubts†, Architectural Record, V. 192, No. 6 (June 2004), 47.

Hortensia’s Decision Essay

From an early age most people are taught what to do and what not do. Our upbringings also involve the way our society around us interacts. We follow the common saying, â€Å"Monkey see, monkey do.† In â€Å"If You Touched my Heart,† Isabel Allende uses the character’s personal backgrounds and upbringings also adding the society they live in to justify the way they act. First, Allende gives the readers a taste of the lifestyle of the main character Amadeo. For instance, she writes Amadeo as growing up in the â€Å"midst of his father’s gang, and like all men [in the] family, [growing] up to be a ruffian.† Amadeo was taught very early on in life that a man only needed â€Å"balls and quick wits.† In addition, Amadeo’s use for women was only â€Å"[to] seduce†¦ and abandon them.† To Amadeo using women just for copulation and leaving them didn’t affect him, so it was easy for him to use Hortensia. Also, Allende describes Hortensia’s upbringings. At the tender age of fifteen, Horetensia lived in a village in Agua Santa. While she was working on a graveling a pathway and singing a song to entertain her though her work, Amadeo met her. He was so captivated by her and her music he had to have her. Since, Hortensia was so young the naà ¯ve, she fell for Amadeo’s â€Å"recitation of seduction, all of which [Amadeo] could have omitted because the girl was simple†¦ she did not understand the meaning of his words.† After their brief encounter, he left her village not even knowing the girl’s name. She was the one who came running to look for him because he was such an important part of her life now. Since Amadeo knew she was simple minded and she was in love with him, he could do as he pleased with her. Overall, Amadeo knew he was taking advantage of a child who was enchanted with him. Allende tries to show the reader exactly what made Hortensia decide to stay with Amadeo for forty-seven years in an abandoned sugar mill. Amadeo’s excuse to himself for hiding Hortensia was because â€Å"[she] was the one who searched for him; it was she who planted herself before him and clung to his shirt with terrifying submission of a slave;† Amadeo didn’t love Hortensia the way she loved him. He had more of a need that only Hortensia could fulfill. In addition, Hortensia was never interested in the outside world. People said she was a â€Å"woman [with a] calling to be a slave and was happy being one†¦ she never exhibited any curiosity about the world [and]  complained about nothing.† Hortensia was just content with what she had. She believed she had more love from Amadeo than anyone else. Amadeo made her believe she was the only one for him by promising her a life full of â€Å"gifts, and dresses and jewels fit for a queen.† In the fina l analysis Hortensia stayed because to her it didn’t matter she was all by herself in the sugar mill; she was in love and she knew Amadeo would always love her. Allende also shows how the society can be connected to the incident with Hortensia and Amadeo. She shows how the communities that Amadeo and Hortensia live in justify the actions Amadeo took. Allende shows the readers that Amadeo’s society is very machismo. In the beginning Allende introduces the readers to an â€Å"era of undisguised plunder [which] had been replaced by corruption and bribery.† All around Amadeo, his society seemed to be full of deceitful and conniving men who used those skills to get ahead in life. Also, Allende shows how domestically dominated by men women were in the story. When â€Å"reporters asked Amadeo why he locked [Hortensia] up like a miserable beast,† he just answered, â€Å"because [he] felt like it.† To him the way treated Hortensia, was the right way â€Å"he could not understand the belated outcry over something that happened so long ago.† Women in this society were never asked their opinions or how they felt. In co ntrast they were told how to feel, act, and behave. Finally, Allende shows the readers a glimpse of Amadeo’s upbringings, but never mentions Hortensia’s. It can thus be concluded that Hortensia might not have any family, which is why no one came to look for her after she was missing for so many years. To Hortensia having no family and being an orphan might have had an impact to drive her to be with Amadeo because he was the only one who never loved her at all. In the end, Isabel Allende shows how Hortensia and Amadeo through their upbringings justified how they acted toward one another and also showed how their society played a part in their attitudes. It shows how the way people are raised and the society around them can play a vital role in their development.

Cafes Monte Case Essay

The company located in Milan, Italy. It was found by Mario Salvetti as a manufacturer and distributor of premium finest coffees. The company faces a hard decision that may affect their future. The company wants to know whether or not they should keep working in the same investing. An important meeting was there among the top management team’s members to discuss the future of the company. The company’s performance was good in 2000. Profit was shown at the financial statement. Giacomo Salvetti the CEO of the company needs to decide which to choose as the business strategy for the company: 1) Keep working in the premium coffee market. 2) Transfer to the private brands market. The current capacity of the coffee production in 2000 was 350,000 K/M , with added additional capacity of 150,000K/M. The cost of the additional units was 6 billion liras. More facts about the profitability and the liquidity were required beside the cash flow and the profit plan to quantify strategic alternatives and to help in making this decision. The idea of changing was not easy to the CEO to accept without a clear image of the financial consequences. The report was provided by the marketing manager showed that the premium market is very volatile. On the other hand, the private brands market is more stable. (Full capacity at the price of 8,800 liras). Price is lower in the private market than the premium. The volume is depending of the number of retailers. ( Every additional retailer need at least 500,000 K/Y). The report was provided by the manufacturing director showed that costs are different in each amount of the volume and quality of beans. These costs include the cost of beans, labor and fixed cost. The company is able to save 65% of selling costs, 75% of R&D costs and 50% of administrative costs, if they choose the private brands market.(Director of strategic planning). Private brands’ retailers will pay slowly- 90 days instead of 30 days. (Financial officer). I took the sales price as the current price 8,800 liras. Most of the expenses are decline compare to what they were in 2000 beside also the profit. Marketing expenses were no longer there because the marketing percentage became 0% in this volume of the private market. The reason of having this decline is the gross margin of the private market comparing to the margin of the premium market. Sales price and cost in private market are less than what they are in the premium market. Cash flows are not stable during the year. It looks vary from quarter to another. In the cash flows, the retailers will pay in 90days (3months) period of time as what it is in the private market. The cash opining was 50% in the first month and 25% in next 2 months. The other expenses were divided by the 12 months equally. Variable and selling costs are showing in page(5). I don’t recommend the full transition to private market. The profit will be lower than what it is even if it is less volatile. There is no reason for the company to lose its premium market if the profit is low, too. I would support the chance of mixing the premium and the private markets together, because of the profitability there.