Olivia Lum President and CEO of Hyflux Ltd Essay Example

Olivia Lum President and CEO of Hyflux Ltd Essay Example Olivia Lum President and CEO of Hyflux Ltd Paper Olivia Lum President and CEO of Hyflux Ltd Paper Ms Olivia Lum is the founder of Hyflux a leading water treatment company listed on the mainboard of the Singapore Stock Exchange. Where the names of Sim Wong Hoo of Creative Technology and Ron Sim of Osim were often heard, Olivia Lum is Singapores very own true-blue female entrepreneur. To her belt of titles are the Ernst Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2003, Singapores Most Creative Entrepreneur 2003 and Her Worlds Woman of the Year 2002. The Making Of An Entrepreneur Olivia was born in Perak, Malaysia, in the neighbourhood of Kampar. She is an orphan and was brought up by a kind elderly lady whom she called grandma. It was in this poverty-stricken village that she subtly learnt values from Grandma, values which would later helped shaped her as an entrepreneur. Grandma had an unwavering faith in Olivias abilities to compete and win. At every sports day of Olivias, grandma would bring along with her a big box. When asked why, grandma explained that it was meant to be filled up with the prizes that Olivia would win that day. Once, Olivia was bullied and when she came home scratched and bruised, grandma taught her a lesson of survival. She told Olivia that if she could put her mind to beat the bully, she could do it. Olivia confronted the bully again and did exactly what grandma believed she could. In another instance, Olivia was in an art competition where she had only colour pencils. Disheartened by the other children who had colour paintboxes, brushes and other art materials, Olivia almost wanted to give up. However, grandma assured Olivia by telling her she had the talent. Olivia, inspired and spurred on by grandmas confidence and faith in her, won the second prize. 1 From a tender age, Olivia was inculcated with self-confidence, determination and perseverance characteristics innate of an entrepreneur which served to become her bedrock of success. 2 Living amid poverty, Olivia realized that year after year, there were no improvements to the life of the people in the village. The thought of living in constant poverty propelled Olivias desire to achieve higher things in life and improve her standard of living. When Olivia was older, on the advice of her headmaster, Olivia came to Singapore to study. She supported herself through college and university by taking on a host of odd jobs like selling insurance and working in the retail and FB industries. It was through taking all these jobs that Olivia discovered her gift for sales.3 Deep down, Olivia was convinced of her personal potential and with her passion for business, she knew she could succeed in the business world. After Olivia graduated from the National University of Singapore with an honours degree in Chemistry, she was employed by Glaxo, a multinational company. While working as a chemist in charge of environmental treatment in Glaxo, she realized that if more and more small firms cannot afford to treat and discharge waste in a proper manner into the water bodies, in time, there would not be anymore fresh water for consumption. Olivia identified the need to purify water in an affordable manner. With her years of experience with water treatment systems and membrane technology, and more importantly, her strong conviction that she could be a successful entrepreneur, Olivia made a bold move to quit her stable job at Glaxo and founded Hyflux with $20,000. A Growing Hyflux As of any other startup phase, Olivia did not have an easy time selling her products. Because Singapore companies required proof of track record of her product which Olivia did not have, she went to Johore Bahru to sell her products instead. At Johore Bahru, Olivia would work from as early as 5am to promote her products and would refuse to rest until her targets were met. With her hard work and perseverance, the company finally began to take off. While many startups failed because of a lack of focus, Olivia has kept a clear direction for Hyflux. It continued to research on developing cutting-edge membrane technology and strived to become a leading water-treatment company. Also, what had distinguished Hyflux from other water treatment industry in Asia was its ability to provide integrated solutions for customers. Hyflux was able to customize membrane structures to suit individual customers requirements.4 Turnkey was a term coined to in Hyflux for total project management of its filtration system. In this way, Hyflux offered the convenience and cost-efficiencies of a one-stop solution provider.5 Hyfluxs success was recognized by been awarded the Worlds 200 Best Small Companies for 2002 by the Forbes Magazine and winning the Enterprise Award at the Singapore Business Awards 2004. Indeed, a clear focus for Hyflux has been one of pillar of success for Hyflux. Future Challenges As the company is making waves and entering the bigger league of the industry, Olivias entrepreneur spirit continues to propel the company forward. To quote Olivia, theres all that space, all that potential, why not fly higher, if you dont keep on improving, people will overtake you. 6 Olivias sense of survival nurtured since childhood is still part of her modus operandi as an entrepreneur. Hopefully, she will continue to bring Hyflux greater heights and help the world to conserve on its increasingly scare resource.

Cost-Effective vs. Cost-Efficient

Cost-Effective vs. Cost-Efficient Cost-Effective vs. Cost-Efficient Cost-Effective vs. Cost-Efficient By Maeve Maddox A reader has asked about the use of these two terms: I was wondering if you would care to comment on the difference between cost-efficient and cost-effective. In both, Oxford and Webster (the free online versions), cost-effective is properly defined while the cost-efficient page points to that of cost-effective. It looks like cost-efficient is a tolerated synonym of a lesser status. As always, my starting place is The Oxford English Dictionary. There I find a reference to cost-effective in the entry for cost: cost-effective adj. designating or pertaining to a project, etc., that is effective in terms of its cost. The first OED citation given for cost-effective is dated 1967. I find no entry for cost-efficient. Merriam-Webster Unabridged provides entries for both terms: cost-effective adjective:  economical in terms of tangible benefits produced by money spent. cost-efficient adjective: cost-effective. M-W gives 1970 as the â€Å"first known use of cost-efficient.† I conclude that there is no difference of meaning between cost-effective and cost-efficient. Is one term of â€Å"lower status† than the other? The most that can be said is that one is more common than the other. The OED and M-W date the terms from 1967 and 1970, but the Ngram Viewer shows that cost-effective was present in printed sources as early as 1836. Both terms are documented in works printed in 1887. Cost-effective shows a bump on the graph in the 1940s, but then both terms remain more or less even until the 1960s, when cost-effective soars ahead. A Google search also shows a preference for cost-effective: â€Å"cost-effective†: about 83,600,000 results â€Å"cost-efficient†: about 7,840,000 results   My advice is to use the more common term: cost-effective. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:12 Signs and Symbols You Should Know15 Types of DocumentsWords Often Misspelled Because of Double Letters

Using examples taken from at least two emerging markets critically Essay

Using examples taken from at least two emerging markets critically analyse the view that the only successful entry strategy into emerging markets for European a - Essay Example local collaborators, the company can create good relationships with different organisations which are located in other parts of the world or even within the same geographic region. In the age of globalisation, a Company can have a head office in London while the production work is carried out in a factory near Beijing and the research and development of the product itself is conducted in Oslo. Companies have moved out of the nationalist image which was the mainstay of their identity of the past (Martin, 1999). Of course, it is still possible to say that BMW is a German company and Toyota is a Japanese company or GE is an American firm, but the nature of the multinational enterprise means that companies may be based in one country while the problems and issues they face could be of a global nature. To counter these problems, companies simply need to have relationships with local collaborators if they wish to enter emerging markets. These relationships will bring an easy understanding and efficient information transfer as well as create an open exchange for ideas between various cultures followed in other countries (Levy and Powell, 1998). Expansion itself is a useful pursuit for a company and there are several reasons why a company may wish to expand its business to global levels. However, the evidence provided in research materials as well as the practical examples of expanding companies show us that expansion without local collaboration might be a futile effort. To fully understand and critically appraise the question we must first understand why a policy of expansion is necessary and why collaborators are important for an expanding company. The first part of the question is rather easy to answer but the second part comes with two primary markets that are analysed for entry. The two markets selected for this are Hungary and China. These were selected because they both represent very different cases for analysis and are quite representative of the surrounding

Biometrics Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Biometrics - Research Paper Example Biometrics recognition is, therefore, the automatic recognition of users based on behavioral and physiological characteristics. Biometrics seeks to establish a users identity based on who she is rather what she possesses like an ID card or what she remembers like passwords. Biometrics gained popularity when body measurements were used by Alphonse Bertillon to identify criminals in the 19th century. It prompted law enforcer to take criminals fingerprints and store them in a database. The stored fingerprints could then be compared with fingerprints lifted from crime scenes. Biometrics are extensively used to identify criminals but has also gained use in employee clearance for sensitive jobs, determining fatherhood, forensics, identification of prisoners. Performance – refers to the achievable recognition speed and accuracy, the resources to be used in achieving the desired recognition accuracy and speed and the environmental and operational factors that affect the accuracy and speed. Different body parts are being used as a form of biometric recognition. Biometrics ranges from DNA matching, chemical biometric, visual biometric, eyes biometrics ( iris recognition, retina recognition ), finger geometry recognition, Hand geometry recognition, signature recognition and behavioral biometrics (typing recognition), vein recognition and gait. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) matching is the process used in the identification of persons by their DNA profiles. DNA profiles are hidden sets of numbers that reflect an individuals DNA composition, which can also be used as a persons identifier. DNA profiling is different from a full genome sequencing that is used in parental testing and criminal investigation. Even though 99.9% of human DNA sequences are similar in every person, unless they are identical (monozygotic) twins. DNA matching uses repetitive sequences that are highly variable, known as variable number tandem repeats (VNTRs), particularly

Santa Ana Winds Essay Example for Free

Santa Ana Winds Essay Weather can affect people’s behavior, positively and negatively. When the weather is nice and hot, it affects people positively by encouraging them to enjoy the outdoors, however, when the weather is bad, like when a hurricane hits this effects people negatively by worrying. Similarly, in the essay â€Å"Santa Ana Winds†, by Joan Dideon, the winds are so abrasive and obstructive that it engenders people to actually commit suicide. This occurs in Los Angeles. Even though Dideon provides a scientific explanation for the soft winds, she characterise hem as evil by showing their effects on people and on the environment. Dideon characterizes and demonstrates the winds as evil. She explains that the winds have an effect on people, making them act unusual. â€Å"Indians would throw themselves into the sea when the bad wind blew† Dideon is describing how the winds would permit people to actually commit suicide. The winds would create such a violent disturbance that townsmen would not even want to deal with such a thing, they would just kill themselves. The horrifying winds would also create paranoia in people. â€Å"Her husband roamed the place with a machete† This man thought there were trespassers and rattlesnakes roaming his yard. His obvious beliefs were due to scare. Dideon not only demonstrates the wind having an effect on people, but also the environment. Having a harsh effect on the hills and Route 66. A hot wind from the northeast whining down through the Cajon and San Gorgonio Passes, blowing up sandstorms out along route 66, drying the hills† Here, Dideon is explaining how the winds create sandstorms along route 66 and the hills are drying up. This not only affects the hills and highways, but in the long run will effect global warming, and drying out farms and hills will eventually create a drought. This leads to many other effects on the environment. The Santa Ana W inds effect the environment in more than one way. â€Å"For a few days now, we will see smoke back in the canyons†. Dideon is signifying wildfires occurring on the canyons. With this wildfire, not only will this wildfire burn down tree’s, but will also spread around disease. The Santa Ana Winds have many effects on the environment and people, when it is a nice, hot and a sunny day, people become encouraged to get out and spend time with their family. However, when a hurricane blows in, it creates many disturbing things, such as paranoia, droughts and wildfires. It is important to be alert and recognize the warning signs of dreadful things yet to come. Otherwise, anyone can get trapped in the middle of a storm.

The Self in Beloved, Secrets and Lies, and One Flew Over The Cuckoos N

Self in Beloved, Secrets and Lies, and One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest One's personality resides directly within ones self. The self ultimately determines the characteristics of an individual. The self is composed of many different qualities that make one unique. Everyone has "self." However, there are varying degrees of sense of self. Many people enjoy a strong sense of self while others do not. The question though, is what truly characterizes a strong sense of self from a weak one? In Riverside Webster's II dictionary it defines the word "self" as "the essential being of one person as distinct from any other. A particular aspect of a person" (Webster's 614). While factually this definition is correct, I believe the true definition of self is considerably more complex. In returning back to my question about the different senses of self, the unique qualities that compose the self must first be analyzed. Personality is one of the most significant components of self. I believe if one has a weak sense of self-sense then they are easily swayed by others opinions. Decisions are difficult to make on they're own and they need the constant companionship of others to make them feel complete. Conversely, I believe that an individual, who is very confident and independent, exhibits a strong sense of self. These types of individuals are not afraid to stand up for their beliefs. An emotionally and socially strong person assesses a situation and does not take the easy way out. They strive to achieve what is best and do what is morally necessary to achieve their goals.&nbs... ...its such a disillusioned image of self and she cannot resist from stealing the spotlight, even on Roxanne birthday. Cynthia reverts to these low level because her of weak sense of self. Overall, I believe that one's personality is a direct reflection of one's self. Self defines and determines the unique characteristics portrayed in an individual. The are many different levels of "self" that people portray. An individual who is very passive and allows others to take advantage of them demonstrates a weak sense of self, much like Sethe and Cynthia. On the other hand, McMurphy proves to be an excellent representation of a man with a strong self-awareness. He forbids other people, such as nurse Rachet from controlling him. McMurphy shows the true definition of a strong sense of self.

Groupe Ariel Sa Case Analysis Essay

This case discusses Cross-Border valuation of projects. This kind of analysis is common for companies that are operating in many countries. Groupe Ariel is one such company that is considering investing in a project in its own subsidiary in Mexico. The company manufactures and sells printers, copiers and other document production equipment in many countries. As far as, expansion into new markets is concerned, company is very slow in taking initiatives as compared to its competitors owing to the recent recession. But the management of the company believes that better durability and lower after-sales service costs of their products enable the company to build customer loyalty. The company is now considering replacing the manual equipment used for recycling in Mexico by new equipment that requires less material and labour costs. But, the uncertainty linked with certain macroeconomic factors like exchange rate, inflation and interest rate has made the valuation of the project very comple x. Compute the NPV of Ariel-Mexico’s recycling equipment by counting incremental peso cash flows at a peso interest rate. How should this NPV be translated into Euros? Assume expected future inflation for France is 3% per year. For the purpose of calculating NPV in Pesos, incremental cash flows of the project for the next 10 years should be calculated first. The initial outflow of cash flow at time â€Å"0† is the cost of new equipment. This cost is 3500,000 Pesos. The cash value of 175,000 Pesos obtained by selling the manual equipment should be subtracted from this amount to come up with the net out flow. As far as, the inflows of cash for next 10 years are concerned, they can be calculated by taking the difference of the cost of operating both manual and new equipments. The tax savings owing to the depreciation of the new equipment can be calculated by multiplying the corporate tax rate of 35% with the amount of depreciation each year. These amounts of tax savings should be added to the incremental cost savings for each year to come up with the total cash inflows. The present value of all thes e cash inflows and outflows can be calculated by discounting them at 12.19%. This rate is calculated by assuming that the purchasing power parity holds in this scenario. The company can do the feasibility analysis by looking at both from the subsidiary’s and parent’s perspective by assuming that the purchasing power  parity holds. Hence, this rate can be regarded as opportunity cost of investment because it is the second best alternative for the company for investment purposes. So, the NPV can be calculated by taking the sum of present values of all the cash flows. This NPV comes out to be 3,703,176 Pesos. This NPV value can be converted into Euros by dividing the NPV value by the spot exchange rate. The spot exchange rate is 15.99 MXN/EURO. Hence, by dividing 3,703,176 by 15.99, NPV value in terms of Euro comes out to be 231,593 Euros. Compute the NPV in â‚ ¬s by translating future peso cash flows into â‚ ¬s at expected future spot rates. Note Ariel’s â‚ ¬ hurdle rate for this asset class was 8%. Annual inflation rates are expected to be 7% in Mexico and 3% in France. NPV calculated for this scenario comes out to be 231,507 Euros. The first thing required for calculating NPV in Euro is the forward premium. It is calculated by adding 1 to the inflation rates of France and Mexico respectively, and then by taking their ratio. This ratio comes out to be 1.0388. This ratio is then multiplied by current exchange rate of 15.99 MXN/EURO for every year. This exercise gives the prediction of exchange rates for next 10 years. The cash flows in pesos are then converted into Euros by dividing them by the relevant exchange rate. Once the cash flows are obtained in Euros, their present values can be calculated by using the hurdle rate of 8% as the discount rate. NPV can then be obtained by taking the sum of presen t values of all the cash flows. Compare the two sets of calculations and the corresponding NPVs. How and why do they differ? Which approach should Arno Martin use? Relate your answer to the textbook’s treatment of parity disequilibria in capital budgeting. NPV calculated for the first question is higher than that calculated for the second question. The difference (231593-231507) is 86 Euros. This difference explains that the project has more value for investors in Mexico. The value addition of this project is more to the subsidiary of the company in Mexico as compared to the parent company in France. Hence, the company should hedge the foreign exchange risk to reduce exposure to the currency risk. Hedging provides the company with higher expected value and lower risk. Suppose Mexican inflation is projected at 3% instead of 7% per year. Assume French inflation remains at 3%. How does this affect the NPV calculations? If, the inflation rate for both the countries remains the same i.e. 3%, then in that case, the forward premium comes out to be 1. Hence effectively, the exchange rate remains the  same for next 10 years i.e. 15.99 MXN/EURO. By dividing the cash flows in Pesos by this exchange rate for every year, cash flows in Euros are obtained calculated for this scenario. These cash flows are then discounted at the hurdle rate of 8% used for assets in France by the company. The present value of these cash flows is then added to come up with the NPV. This value comes out to be 332,459 Euros. Hence, the value of NPV has increased by decreasing the inflation rate of France in the analysis. Since, the inflation rate is the same in both countries, exchange rate also remains the same and the values of cash flows in Euro terms come out higher for every year. Suppose Ariel expects a significant real depreciation of the peso against the Euro. How should Martin incorporate this expectation into his NPV analysis? For simplicity, assume inflation is expected to be 3% in each country. What is its effect on NPV under each of the approaches in questions 1 and 2? This expectation of a real depreciation of Peso against Euro is essentially an exchange risk. Real depreciation of Peso against Euro means a greater exchange rate. Hence, this aspect can be incorporated in our analysis by increasing the exchange rate for every year that reflects the real depreciation in value of Peso. This change will not have any effect on the NPV calculated in Pesos. However, since the cash flows for NPV calculation in Euros are obtained by dividing the cash flows in pesos with the exchange rate, their value in Euros will be lower. Therefore, NPV of these cash inflows and outflows should be less. Firms can face violations of the parity conditions in addition to the parity violation in Question 5. What might these violations be, and what might be their consequences? Besides real depreciation in the exchange rate, there are many other ways in which parity conditions can be violated. Any sort of risk that is unique and effects businesses more in one country than another leads to the violation of parity conditions. Risks like political risk and exchange risk may lead to the violation of law of one price. These risks emerge from changes in government policies related to tariffs, quotas, trade agreements and inflation. These violations make the valuation of international projects more complex. The local perspective of a project in a country may be lead to very different conclusions as compared to an international. So, a project may prove to be very profitable for a local investor, but the same project may not be as attractive for an international investor. Similarly, some  projects appear good for an international investor while a local investor may incur losses by investing in the same project. Are there any real options embedded in Ariel’s decision? What is a real option, anyway? Yes, there is a real option embedded in Ariel’s decision. This real option refers to the option of replacing the manual equipment by the new equipment to increase the profitability. Real options are similar to the options of financial markets as far as the option of investing, or abandoning is concerned. Real options essentially mean having the real and tangible option of accepting or leaving a project if circumstances change. NPV analysis ignores this option and hence it is normally regarded as a more conservative capital budgeting technique. Just as, a call premium or put premium is the price of having the option, initial investment is the cost of real option. When an option is in the money, it means that the option holder can earn that amount by exercising the option. Similarly, in case of real options, a positive NPV refers to the value addition if the project is accepted. Should Group Ariel approve the equipment to purchase? A positive NPV of a project means that the project will give a return higher than the hurdle rate and the dollar value of NPV is the value addition to the company. The NPV in all the scenarios has a significant positive value. Hence, the company should approve the equipment purchase because the project adds value to the company. As far as, exchange risk is concerned, it can be minimized by the parent company through hedging. If the firm does not choose to hedge, then the discount rate should be adjusted upwards to reflect higher risk.

Ap History Compare and Contrast Essay: Egypt and Mesopotamia

Ethan Sua 10/16/10 Mr. McGrath AP World History A Compare and Contrast Essay of Egypt and Mesopotamia Egypt and Mesopotamia developed different and similar political and religious civilizations. Mesopotamian civilizations such as the Sumerians, the Akkadian kingdom, the Assyrian empire and the Babylonian city-state, were all too dependent on the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Egypt’s natural isolation and material self-sufficiency fostered a unique culture that for long periods had relatively little to do with other civilizations.Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of eastern North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. In politics, Mesopotamia culture created compact self-governing political units- the city-states. It was due to the geographical barriers of the rivers and rough terrains that made it impossible to unite the many different settled communities under one rule. The Nile River was the total opp osite of the rivers of Mesopotamia. These kings emerged mainly by their military status and role.Through their powers they created mechanisms such as military forces, laws, and taxations. Similarly, in Egypt, the control of wring mean control of knowledge and thus power. It is easy to see where they come to these conclusions. The Pharaoh controlled all political instruments of power and is also the authority in terms of religious beliefs. By the third millennium B. C. E. the concept of king (lugal) developed, quite possibly because of arguments about natural resources. Religious leaders decreased in power, as the power of kings increased. Although the kings subdued the temples, Mesopotamian kings did not have divine power.Political changes occurred in Mesopotamia because of the succession of people that followed the politically dominant Sumerian civilization. By 1750 B. C. E. , the written law code of King Hammurabi (the first ruler of the Old Babylonian state) , was used to maintai n political authority and continuity. In contrast to Mesopotamia, Egypt spent most of its history as a unified monarchy, whereas Mesopotamia seems to have begun as a collection of city-states (under the politically dominate rule of Sumer) and progressed to being dominated by a pair of mutually hostile powers: Assyria and Babylonia.In ancient Egypt, legendary King Menes united Upper and Lower Egypt into one nation that lasted with continuity of culture from 3,100-1070 B. C. E. with thirty dynasties. Unlike Mesopotamian kings, the Egyptian king was represented as Horus and as the son of Re, and fit into the pattern of the dead returning to life and the climatic renewing life of the sun-god. No written law code was developed in Egypt. Egypt was substantially more self-sufficient than Mesopotamia with copper and turquoise. The pharaoh governed the country through a large efficient bureaucracy.In highly urbanized Mesopotamia, central powers, and the use of written records allowed certain groups to obtain mass amounts of wealth. Male domination of the position of a scribe- an administrator or scholar charged by the temple or palace with reading and writing tasks- further complicates efforts to reconstruct the lives of women. Women were able to: own property, maintain control of their dowry, and even engage in trade but men monopolized political life. The females also worked outside the home in textile factories, breweries or as prostitutes, tavern keepers, bakers, or fortune tellers.Inside the home women wove baskets, cooked, cleaned, and collected water. For the most part, their writings reflect elite male activities. Temple leaders and the kings controlled large agricultural estates, and the palace administration collected taxes from subjects. How elite individuals acquired large private holdings is not known, since land was rarely put up for sale. In some cases debtors lost their land to creditors, or soldiers and priests received land in return for their service .The lowest class, the slaves and peasants, of Mesopotamian society worked on the fields and used their strength, when harvest season ended, to build large public works like ziggurats- a multistory, mud-brick, pyramid-shaped tower with ramps or stairs. Women were subordination to men and had no property rights. In Mesopotamia by the second millennium B. C. E. merchants had gained in status and in power through gilds. In the Old Babylonian period, the class of people who were not dependent on the temple or palace grew, the amount of land and other property in private hands increased, and free laborers became more common.Hammurabi’s Code written in the eighteenth century B. C. E. identifies three classes: 1. Free landowning class- royalty, high-ranking officials, warriors, priests, merchants, and some artisans and shopkeepers; 2. The class of dependent farmers and artisans, whose legal attachment to royal or temple, or private estates made them the primary rural work force; and 3. The class of slaves; primarily used in domestic service. Penalties prescribed in the Law Code depended on the class of the offender. The lower orders received the most severe punishments. Slaves were mainly prisoners of war from the mountains.Egyptian class structure was less defined and more pyramid in shape. Compared to Mesopotamia, a far larger percentage of the Egyptian population lived in farming villages and Egypt’s wealth derived from a higher degree from cultivating the land. When not need for agriculture the peasants labored to build the tombs of the pharaoh. Slavery existed on a limited scale and was of limited economic significance. In contrast to Mesopotamia, Egyptian merchants had a low social status. For women subordination to men is evident but they are represented with dignity and affection in tomb paintings.Legal documents show that Egyptian women could own property, inherit from their parents, and will their property to whomever they wished. Marriage, us ually monogamous, arose from a couple’s decision to establish a household together rather than for legal or religious ceremony. Both parties could dissolve the relationship, and women retained rights over her dowry in case of divorce. At certain times, queens and queen-mothers played significant behind-the-scenes roles in the politics of the royal court, and priestesses sometimes supervised the cults of female deities.In general, the limited evidence suggests that women in ancient Egypt enjoyed greater respect and more legal rights and social freedom than women in Mesopotamia and other ancient societies. State-organized religion stands out in Mesopotamia. City-states built temples and showed devotion to the divinity or divinities that protected the community. Priests attended this divine image with rituals that reflected the message of the Babylonian Creation Myth that humankind existed only to serve the gods and  a  priest  would actually read from that text to the god ’s image.Many subsequent activities in the temple reenacted the events of the myth. The Sumerian gods embodied the forces of nature: Anu the sky, Enlil the air, Enki the water, Utu the sun, Nanna the moon. Egyptians also believed in amulets and in magic. Religion was state organized there also. A primary difference in Egyptian belief is that the Egyptians believed in the afterlife. They prepared for a safe passage and a comfortable existence once they arrived. The Egyptian Book of the Dead, present in many excavated tombs, contains rituals and spells to protect them.In Mesopotamia, they felt that their deities were not loving, care-taking beings. They felt that their gods were vengeful, jealous, and malicious. This view developed from the many natural obstacles they were burdened with. Geography and climate did influence different and similar development in the political, and religious systems of both Egypt and Mesopotamia. Quite possibly Egyptian civilization enjoyed greater longevity than that of Mesopotamian because the Mesopotamia culture was started from scratch by the early Sumerians where as Egyptians were able to borrow from Mesopotamia.

How Donald Trump Won - The 2016 Presidential Race

How Donald Trump Won - The 2016 Presidential Race Voters and political scientists will debate how Donald Trump won the presidential election in 2016. The businessman and political novice stunned the world by winning a presidential election most analysts and voters believed had firmly been in the hands of Hillary Clinton, who had far more experience in government and had run a more orthodox campaign.   Trump ran his campaign in the most unconventional of ways, insulting large swaths of potential  voters and shunning  the traditional support from his own political party. Trump won at least 290 electoral votes, 20 more than the 270 needed to become president, but got more than 1 million fewer actual votes than Clinton did,  reigniting the  debate over whether the U.S. should scrap the Electoral College. Trump became only the fifth president to be elected without winning the popular vote. The others were Republicans  George W. Bush in 2000,  Benjamin Harrison in 1888 and Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876, and Federalist John Quincy Adams in 1824. So how did Donald Trump win the presidential election by insulting voters, women, minorities, and without raising money or relying on support from the Republican Party? Here are 10 explanations for how Trump won the 2016 election. Celebrity and Success Trump portrayed himself through the 2016 campaign as a successful real-estate developer who created tens of thousands of jobs.  I’ve created tens of thousands of jobs and a great company, said during one debate. In a separate speech, Trump proclaimed his presidency would create job growth like you’ve never seen. I’m very good for jobs .In fact, I will be the greatest president for jobs that God ever created. Trump  runs dozens of companies and serves of numerous corporate boards, according to a personal financial disclosure he filed with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics when he ran for president.  He has said he is worth as much as $10 billion, and though critics suggested he is worth much less Trump projected an image of success and was one of the most well known brands in the county. It also didnt hurt that he was host and producer of NBC’s hit reality series  The Apprentice. High Turnout Among Working-Class White Voters This is the big story of the 2016 election. Working class white voters- men and women alike- fled the Democratic Party and sided with Trump because of his promise to renegotiate trade deals with countries including China and levy stiff tariffs on goods imported from these countries. Trumps position on trade was seen as a way to stop companies from shipping jobs overseas, though many economists pointed out taxing imports would drive up costs to American consumers first. His message resonated with white working-class voters, especially those who live in former steel and manufacturing towns. Skilled craftsmen and tradespeople and factory workers have seen the jobs they loved shipped thousands of miles away, Trump said at a rally near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Immigration Trump promised to essentially lock down the borders to prevent terrorists coming in, an appeal to white voters who were not necessarily worried about crimes being committed by undocumented immigrants by jobs being filled by them. What we are going to do is get the people that are criminal and have criminal records, gang members, drug dealers. We have a lot of these people, probably two million, it could be even three million, we are getting them out of our country or we are going to incarcerate, Trump said. Trumps position contrasted starkly with Clintons position on illegal immigration. James Comey and the FBIs October Surprise A scandal over Clintons  use of a personal email server  as secretary of State had dogged her through early parts of the campaign. But the controversy appeared to be behind her in the waning days of the 2016 election. Most national polls in October and the first days of November showed Clinton leading Trump in the popular vote count; battleground-state polls showed her ahead, too. But 11 days before the election, FBI director James Comey sent a letter to Congress stating he would review emails found on a laptop computer belonging to a Clinton confidant to determined whether they were relevant to the  then-closed investigation of  her use of the personal email server. The letter cast Clintons election prospects into doubt. Then, two days before Election Day, Comey issued a new statement that both confirmed Clinton did nothing illegal but also brought renewed attention to the case. Clinton directly blamed Comey for her loss after the election. Our analysis is that Comey’s letter raising doubts that were groundless, baseless, proven to be, stopped our momentum,† Clinton told donors in a post-election telephone call, according to published reports. Free Media Trump didnt spend a whole lot of money trying to win the election. He didnt have to. His campaign was treated by many major media outlets as a spectacle, as entertainment instead of politics. So Trump got lots and lots of free airtime on cable news and major networks. Analysts estimated Trump had been given $3 billion of free media by the end of the primaries and a total of $5 billion by the end of the presidential election. While free media has long played an important role in our democracy by fostering political discourse and disseminating electoral information, the sheer enormity of coverage on Trump puts a spotlight on how the media may have influenced the course of the election, analysts at mediaQuant wrote in November of 2016.  Free of earned media is the widespread coverage he received by major television networks. He also spent tens of millions of dollars of his own money, mostly fulfilling a vow to finance his own campaign so he could portray himself as being free from ties to special interests.  I dont need anybodys money. Its nice. Im using my own money. Im not using the lobbyists. Im not using donors. I dont care. Im really rich. he said in announcing his campaign in June 2015. Hillary Clintons Condescension  Toward Voters Clinton never did connect to working class voters. Maybe it was her own personal wealth. Maybe it was her status as a political elite. But it most likely had to do with her controversial portrayal of Trump supporters as deplorable. To just be grossly generalistic, you can put half of Trump supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right? Racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic, you name it,  Clinton said just two months before the election. Clinton apologized for the remark, but the damage was done. Voters who were supporting Donald Trump because they were fearful over their status in the middle class turned solidly against Clinton. Trump running-mate Mike Pence capitalized on Clintons mistake by crystallizing the condescending nature of her remarks.  The truth of the matter is that the men and women who support Donald Trumps campaign are hard-working Americans, farmers, coal miners, teachers, veterans, members of our law enforcement community, members of every class of this country, who know that we can make America great again, Pence said. Voters Didnt Want a Third Term for Obama Regardless of how popular Obama was, its incredibly rare for presidents from the same party to win back-to-back terms in the White House, partly because voters become fatigued by a president and his party by the end of eight years.  In our  two-party system, the last time voters elected a Democrat to the White House after a president from the same party had just served a full term was in 1856, before the Civil War. That was James Buchanan. Bernie Sanders and the Enthusiasm Gap Many- not all, but many- supporters of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders did not come around to Clinton after she won the brutal, and what many thought ,  rigged, Democratic primary. In a scathing criticism of liberals Sanders supporters who didnt support Clinton in the general election, Newsweek magazines Kurt Eichenwald wrote:   Awash in false conspiracy theories and petulant immaturity, liberals put Trump in the White House. Trump won slightly fewer votes than Romney did in 2012- 60.5 million compared with  60.9 million. On the other hand, almost 5 million Obama voters either stayed home or cast their votes for someone else. More than twice as many millennials- a group heavily invested in the â€Å"Sanders was cheated out of the nomination† fantasy- voted third-party. The laughably unqualified Jill Stein of the Green Party got 1.3 million votes; those voters almost certainly opposed Trump; if just the Stein voters in Michigan had cast their ballot for Clinton, she probably would have won the state. And there is no telling how many disaffected Sanders voters cast their ballot for Trump. Obamacare and Health Care Premiums Elections are always held in November. And November is open-enrollment time. In 2016, as in previous years, Americans were just getting notice that their health insurance premiums were rising dramatically, including those who were purchasing plans on the marketplace set up under President Barack Obamas Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. Clinton supported most aspects of the health care overhaul, and voters blamed her for it. Trump, on the other hand, promised to repeal the program.

How to Build an Effective Marketing Schedule (Includes Template)

How to Build an Effective Marketing Schedule (Includes Template) You may believe that spending time getting organized takes time away from getting work done. Variations on this thought are sometimes common among creatives who pride themselves on thriving under chaotic conditions, or just aren’t inclined toward getting organized. The thinking goes that if one focuses on the work itself, everything else can be set aside, and things will somehow work out. This is a dangerous belief. Failing to get organized leads to inefficiency, which leads to less productivity and ultimately less effective work. In fact, according to a survey, marketers who are organized are 397% more likely to report being successful. According to that same survey, only 14% of respondents considered themselves Very Organized. An additional 51% say they’re Somewhat Organized, which is encouraging, yet suggests room for improvement. But, how can marketing teams actually begin getting organized? Developing a clear marketing schedule for projects and campaigns is a good start. This can mean planning everything around a calendar, some sort of list, a kanban board, or whatever format helps your team work best (and as an aside, supports visualizing your work in all three of these ways). In this post, you’ll learn: What goes into scheduling projects. From determining resource availability to actually managing the work. How to get your team on board with process change and getting organized. In case not everyone is willing to buy in right away, or abandon old ways of working. An effective way to plan and manage everything on your schedule. A step-by-step process for putting this advice into practice. Plus, you’ll find a downloadable template to help you get started. What Do We Mean By Marketing Schedule? In simplest terms, a marketing schedule can be anything thats used to track the following: Projects and campaigns your team will work on. Which team members will be responsible for each one. The deadlines and ship dates for deliverables. Plus, it can also include any other information your team might find useful. This may vary depending on what you’re working on. Our template included in this post, then, is intended to be flexible in order to suit your own organizational needs. There are a lot of reasons to use a schedule for all your content, too. Here’s a short list: Stress less. Working without a clear strategy sucks. It leaves team members frantically scrambling to produce directionless content at the last minute. Ultimately, this leaves everyone feeling exasperated and undermines success. Work more efficiently. When you don’t have to think about what you’re going to do in a day, you’re mentally free to focus on what matters. That leads to getting more done in less time. Increasing transparency across your team. Not knowing what the rest of your team is working on can lead to misunderstandings and frustration. Laying out all your projects in one shared space makes it easier for everyone to see what everyone else is doing (and plan projects accordingly). Its important to note were not talking about a public schedule of marketing events (like an event calendar, or something to that effect). Some Tools to Consider Before You Start Whether youre looking for a tool, a scheduling process, or both, youll need capable software to do this right. And there are lots of different options available with different strengths and features to consider. Here are some different types that are out there: Paper Planners: These are great for keeping personal notes and projects. For marketing teams though, they may not be ideal. Spreadsheets:  Theyre not great, but theyre (mostly) free and theyre better than nothing. This is often where marketing teams will start. Dedicated software: Marketing organization software like or other general-purpose project management tools are the premium route. Make Things Easy With This Downloadable Template If you dont have the budget for paid tools, or dont want to build your own spreadsheet, you can use this template to get up and running right away. This post will explain how to use its different fields to map out a complete marketing schedule (and for when youre ready to upgrade, itll also walk through how to use for this purpose). Step 1: Determine Projects to Place on Your Schedule So, you've decided you’re ready to build out a complete marketing schedule for your content. The first thing you’ll need to do is figure out which projects need to go on your schedule. Start by listing out all your recurring project types. Possible content types could include: Blog posts Design projects Videos Podcasts Email newsletters Essentially, what we want to first establish is which recurring types of content do you know you’ll create regularly on an ongoing basis. Once you have this figured out, start planning out the specific ideas for each content type you’ll create. This means developing a list of specific titles and working headlines for each piece. Fill Your Schedule With an Effective Brainstorming Process We’re big believers in group brainstorming here at . If you don’t have any specific ideas for content lined up yet, this quick process may help you change that. Here’s how our 30-minute three-step brainstorming process works: Have everyone on your team spend 10 minutes writing down ideas. Don’t worry if they’re good or not. Just get them down on paper. Then, spend 10 minutes reading those ideas aloud, and have everyone score them silently. Use a three-point scale, where three’s are the best ideas you absolutely need to create, two’s are average ideas that need work, and one’s are duds to be tossed out. Expect to see a mix of ideas that fall into all three buckets. Last, spend ten minutes discussing every idea that everyone agreed was a three. From these, choose the ideas you’ll actually execute on. Depending on how much content you typically produce, you can expect to generate a month’s worth of ideas this way (that’s typically the result we get, but your results may vary). Once you have a list of awesome ideas, hold onto them. These are the content pieces you’ll use to kick off your organized marketing schedule. Recommended Reading: The Best 30-Minute Content Marketing Brainstorming Process Assign Projects to Team Members Next, determine who will be creating each piece of content on your schedule. This means including everyone involved in seeing each project through from ideation to completion. Possible team members could include: Writers Designers Programmers Project Managers And anyone else involved Recommended Reading: How to Boost a Marketing Workflow Process That Will Reduce Work By 30-50% Establish a Color-Coding Scheme Color-coding your schedule makes it easier to tell projects apart at a glance. Assign one color to each type of project. For example, all your blog posts might be green, while videos could be orange, and so on. Alternatively, you might also want to color-code projects based on the teams or individuals they’re assigned to. Tip: If you’re using , you can use Custom Color Labels to color-code everything on your calendar: Step 2: Determine the Steps Required to Complete Each Project If you have recurring project types you create on a regular basis, odds are you have pre-defined workflows for each project. If you don’t, it’s time to consider documenting checklists you can use to make sure every project on your schedule is completed thoroughly. This helps prevent wasting time to fix errors later and enables teams to work more efficiently and effectively. Get out a text editor and lay out your steps like this: Step 1: [INSERT STEP] Step 2: [INSERT STEP] Step 3: [INSERT STEP] For a blog post, a hypothetical checklist might look like this: Step 1: Find a target keyword Step 2: Write 20 headline options Step 3: Craft an outline Step 4: Write your post Step 5: Proofread /  edit Step 6: Schedule publish date Simple stuff. To build your own checklists, ask yourself: Which steps do we usually follow to complete this task? Are there steps we could consider adding, to make this process more effective? Are there unnecessary steps we should remove to increase efficiency? If you’ve never thought about this in detail before, you might discover you’re either missing key steps in your processes, or are wasting time on things you can eliminate. Either way, you can easily boost your productivity this way. Tip: If you’re using , you can easily build reusable checklists called Task Templates: Why Are Checklists Important? Checklists are essential for making your marketing schedule more useful. Planning projects ahead of time loses its value if those projects aren’t completed properly. Plus, if part of our goal is to increase efficiency and effectiveness, ensuring steps aren’t missed is crucial. For more insight into the power of checklists, watch this video of Atul Gawande, author of The Checklist Manifesto: Recommended Reading: The Ultimate Marketing Campaign Checklist That Will Get You Proactive The Best Content Marketing Checklist to Make You More Successful How to Maximize Your On-Page SEO in 2017 With One Awesome Checklist How to Write Amazing Posts With This Blog Writing Checklist Step 3: Place Projects on Your Marketing Schedule Now that you’ve got all your ducks in a row, it’s time to start dropping your content onto your marketing schedule. Set (Realistic) Deadlines Every project should have a clear and realistic deadline. But, how do you determine what a realistic deadline looks like? There’s a data-backed solution to help you figure out. Start by roughly estimating the amount of time it usually takes you to complete a certain type of task or project. Set your first deadline accordingly. Then, track your actual time spent working on those types of projects over time. Set realistic deadlines by tracking the actual time it takes to complete projects.You can do this by creating a time-tracking spreadsheet (like this simple free Google Drive spreadsheet) and a timer. You can either use a timer on your phone  or the free desktop timer app Timer-Tab.com: Eventually, you’ll start to see a pattern. Once you have about ten completed projects on your time sheet, calculate the average time it took to get from start to finish. You’ll now have a clear idea of how long a project should typically take. Set Up Deadline Alerts What happens if you forget to check your schedule and blow a deadline? Odds are, your boss will look something like this: And you’ll feel something like this: Avoid catastrophe! Use Google Calendar to set up an alert for each deadline. That way, you’ll get an email reminder to make sure you don’t forget. Start by clicking a time on your Google Calendar and give your project a name: Then, click Edit Event to control how frequently you receive reminders. Adjust to your own preference: Now, you won’t have an excuse for blowing that deadline.  If you’re a user, you’ll receive email and in-app notifications to show you when deadlines are approaching. They're all visible upon logging in on your dashboard as well:Now, Finally, Let’s Add Your Projects to Your Marketing Schedule If you haven’t done so yet, download the marketing schedule template included in this blog post. Then, click the Marketing Schedule tab in the lower left: Here’s what you’ll see in there: At first, you’ll see a ton of columns. Let’s break down what each one is for: Title. Self-explanatory. This is your headline. Article Type: For a blog post or article, list the article type. Ex: How-To, News Announcement, etc. Image Type: If your post will include an infographic, image gallery, or other design-intensive graphic, list it here. Deadline: If it’s not done by this date, there had better be a good reason. Step In Process: Update your progress here. Ex: Ideation, Writing, Design, Editing, etc. Subject Matter Expert: If you’re depending on an internal subject matter expert to support and review your content for factual accuracy, include their name here. Designer: Who’s creating your graphics† Author: Who’s writing your content? Notes: Keep miscellaneous notes about your project here. In Edit Folder?: If this content is ready for editing, denote that in this column. That’s it. You can start by filling in the Title field, and then updating your progress as you move along. Next, let’s look under the Workflows tab: Here’s what you’ll see next: To complete this tab, edit the Project Type to reflect the types of content you create (blog posts, social campaigns, videos, etc). Then, fill in each field accordingly: Steps: List out each step to complete that project type. Hours: Include how much time each step should take (on average). Explanation: Write out a short description of what each step entails. This will help you keep each project you create consistently on track. Here's how to keep every content marketing project you create on trackUsing Your Marketing Schedule Template Now you know how to get your spreadsheet set up. The next step is to actually use it. Follow these steps to get the most out of it. Color-Code! This sounds like a simple step, but it makes a big help when you want to look at your schedule and see what’s up fast. Use the Color Key section of your template to keep track of which colors you’re associating with which projects or team members: Decide Who Will Own Your Schedule There are a few approaches you can take here. You can either have everyone on your team add their own projects, or have one person in charge of adding updates and maintaining the document. There’s also a third option, where team leads can manage projects for their respective staff. Stay Consistent By Making Organization a Habit Tools only work as well as your ability to use them. Make it a habit to look at your schedule every day. Once you get into a routine of using a planning schedule, working productively will become something you just do, without having to think about it. In order to build a habit successfully, it helps to understand how habits are developed. According to Duhigg, studies show that repeating processes enough times literally causes your brain to require less effort to complete that same task. To get yourself to keep doing that task, you’ll need to develop a cue to spark that action. This could be sitting down at your desk first thing in the morning, or maybe pouring that first cup of coffee for the day. If you do something at the same time every day, or have something to cue the habitual response in your brain to perform that action (like getting coffee), you’ll start doing it without thinking about it. Eventually, it’ll become a routine, and you’ll feel good about being organized. Your brain will then want to keep those positive vibes flowing, and so you’ll feel a sense of reward each time you use your schedule. And, as author Charles Duhigg says in his book, The Power of Habit: â€Å"Champions don’t do extraordinary things. They do ordinary things, but they do them without thinking, too fast for the other team to react. They follow the habits they’ve learned.† So, be a champion. Use your marketing schedule. 'Champions don’t do extraordinary things. They do ordinary things ... too fast for the other team...Scheduling Projects and Campaigns with is an extremely feature-rich marketing organization software suite for marketing teams. Part of that suite is the Marketing Calendar, which allows teams to plan, organize, and schedule every project on one calendar: Now Plan Some Projects on Your Schedule Now you’ve got everything you need to keep all your content and marketing projects planned and organized. That means you’ll be able to: Work with less stress. Hit all your deadlines consistently. Be a marketing rock star. Sound good? Then stop wasting time and get started!

Management, Work and Society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Management, Work and Society - Essay Example It also gives an idea of about when and how the recognition and measurement of intangibles assets are done in a business corporation. Further it also elaborates the condition needed to be an intangible asset. The paper thoroughly describes elements associated with intangible assets like why corporations purchase or internally develops them and what are the examples of intangible assets. Furthermore the paper describes value of intangible assets for a business corporation. Nowadays it is a very sensitive area regarding accounting of intangible assets in a business combination. Further it also shows the importance intangibles assets held by the acquiree’s business while going for business combination. It also describes the growing importance of the various types of intangible assets like human resources, technology & etc. It also helps us to understand the basis of valuation of an intangible asset in the context of sports players in corporate teams. It highlights the trend of bu ying sports teams by the corporate houses and naming them after their name. These corporate houses treat these sports teams and their players as intangible and their valuation is major concern for them (Cohen 2011). Intangible assets Intangible assets can be defined as non-monetary assets which cannot be seen, touched or measured physically. These are identified as separate assets and are created through time or efforts. Hand and Lev (2003) has stated that intangibles can be identified in two basic forms viz. legal intangibles and competitive intangibles. Legal intangibles comprises of copyrights, patents, trademarks whereas competitive intangibles comprises of various activities related to the acquisition of knowledge , various collaboration activities, leverage activities, various structural activities, human capital, competitive advantage etc. Legal tangibles are generally called as intellectual property and the one who possess these assets have the legal right to defend these as sets in the court of law. On the other hand competitive intangible assets cannot be owned legally but are of great importance. It has a direct influence on the effectiveness, productivity, costs, revenue, customer satisfaction, market value and overall performance of an organization (Hand and Lev 2003). Intangible assets can also be categorized as the one that are being included for the accounting purposes and are included in the balance sheet of the companies. Such intangible assets include licenses and patents, purchased goodwill and capitalized R&D costs. The other category includes the intangible assets that are not being considered while accounting and are considered assets from the economics perspective. Various intangible assets that are generally excluded under accounting rules includes staff training, brand value, the development of IT systems, and customer networks. As per IAS 38 an intangible asset other than goodwill can be defined as non-monetary asset which do not have any physical substance. An asset can be recognized as intangible asset only if it is expected to yield future economic benefits and

Spinneys Supermarket Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Spinneys Supermarket - Research Paper Example Spinney's supermarket has adopted the strategy by involving value chain and customer segmentation to ensure that it remains ahead of its competitors, while at the same time increasing its revenue. This paper will seek to address the differentiation generic strategy by Spinney’s Supermarket. The resources and capability of the firm in implementing this strategy will also be addressed. Differentiation generic strategy is the manner in which a company generically differentiates its products by classifying them in any possible aspect. The main aim of the strategy is to fight Porter’s five factors of competition, and to win the firm’s products brand loyalty from customers. Indirectly, points out Pradhan & Pradhan (2009),  this helps in eliminating any potential competition by the rest of the firms operating in the same industry. The direction taken by the organizations is influenced by the strategic plans of the organization. Factors organizations could consider as its strengths include brand superiority, resources available, market share, and employee capabilities (Bhatia, 2008). Although the manner in which these strategies are implemented is what is important, the selection criterion is equally important. There are various sources of differentiation that a firm can exploit. Some organizations choose to differentiate their operations in terms of their products and services, but others opt to align theirs with the market they serve (Harrison, 2010). Spinney’s grocery retail store has chosen to undertake both value chain and customer differentiation as methods of differentiation generic strategy. Through this strategy, the retail chain hopes to achieve customer intimacy and operational excellence, so as to improve on its revenue. Value chain is the specific chain of activities followed by a particular firm operating in the specific industry in order to offer goods or services that are of high quality to the customers. Products follow a series of activities in the value chain, and in every stage they are added value to improve their qualities. At the end of the chain, a product ready for the market is achieved (Bhatia, 2008). Two types of value chains according to their activities include physical value chain and virtue value chain. While traditional value chain, also known as physical value chain involves physically performed activities to improve the quality of products through experience, virtue value chain is the use of computer aided systems to produce goods. Each has its own perks and limitations. The preference is thus upon the strategic management team of the organization. Little comparison however exists between the two, as virtual value chains are more superior, offering quality products and increased ease of operations than the traditional systems. The choice by Spinneys to adopt virtual systems has significantly increased the quality of its products, in relation to other firms in the retail business. Al though not every operation in the store is computer operated, most of its operations are computer aided. Therefore, the speed of churning out quality products with increased ease has given the firm a competitive advantage over other firms in the industry. Fresh juices by the supermarket as well as its drinks are appealing to their customers due to quality. Along the various stages in a value chain, a number of differentiation sources can be exploited. Product differentiation is the diversification of a