Areas of Learning

|Area |Extending learning and development | |Quiet/reading area |The quiet area allows children to develop their understanding of the written word; they learn that words convey meaning and that| | |this is mirrored by the pictures that are in the books. | |They develop interaction with others through the use of books and listening | | |They learn to share and co-operate | | |They learn concentration and self control | | |They learn about the world around them, concepts, ideas and morals | | |They learn to take care of possessions | |Small world |The children learn to role play and to share and take turns with others | | |They learn social interaction and effective communication | | |The learn tolerance and understand of other people’s ideas and beliefs | | |The develop their fine motor skills | | |They learn about the world in which they all live | |Role play |The children learn to role play, to pretend and to accept other’s as part of that pretence | | |They learn to socialise, to share toys and ideas | | |They develop their imagination | | |The imitate talk and behaviour | | They learn to dress themselves | | |The develop their ability to take on a role and develop it | | |They share and take turns | | |They mark make | | |They mimic and copy | |Mark making |In mark making they learn to use different mediums to create marks | | |They develop their fine motor skills | | |They extend their language | | |They make decisions, take turns and share | | |They develop an understanding of the written word and learn that words convey meaning | | |The improve their manual dexterity and hand eye co-ordination | | |They develop their understanding of topics and show pride in their achievements They learn to write, draw and recognise colour | | |They develop control and concentration | |Maths/ICT |In this area they learn more/less | | |They will develop problem solving and logic | | |The children will learn to communicate and develop the use of mat hematical language | | |They will learn hand eye-co-ordination, fine and gross motor skills | | |They will develop their understanding of number, counting and it’s symbolic representation | | |They will compare, contrast, match and sort (using various criterion) | |They will develop and awareness of computer and mouse control | | |They will learn to share and take turns | |Craft |The children will use a variety of different mediums to create | | |They will develop fine motor skills and hand eye co-ordination | | |They will learn about colour, pattern and texture | | |The will use their imagination and draw upon their understanding of the world in which they live. | |The children develop their creative awareness and independence | | |They will use imagination and problem solving | | |The will develop their social skills, communication and co-operative skills | | |The will begin to develop self-expression , confidence and creative flair | |Outside |The children will under stand the environment, learning about weather and the world in which they live | | |They will develop their spatial awareness /gross motor skills | | |The will explore their manipulative skills/sense of balance/agility skills/risk taking | | |The will develop their spatial awareness/fine manipulative/gross motor skills | | |They will develop their hand-eye and foot-eye co-ordination/ locomotive skills | | |They will develop social skills, turn taking, sharing and creativity | | |They will develop their language and communication skills | |They will develop their confidence and awareness of their own capabilities as well as pushing themselves a little more to learn | | |new skills | Whilst the children are learning through their play and through all the skills and areas above we will monitor and support them in order to help them develop in the right way. We will encourage good behaviour and discourage negative behaviour. We will give the children confidence to develop their skill set, confidence and capabilities. We keep a continual record of their achievements so that we can monitor their progress and highlight and areas for special consideration. In this way we will engender high levels of expectation and achievement.

Black & Decker Case

1)Why is Makita outselling Black & Decker 8 to 1 in an account which gives them equal shelf space? †¢Trade is asking for advertising allowances and rebate money on products, profitability in the Tradesmen segment is near zero. †¢The B&D brand in the Tradesmen segment may be regarded as â€Å"weak† due to the fact that B&D dominated the consumer segment. †¢The â€Å"heavy do-it-yourselfers† may have a misconception on the quality/reliability/durability of B&D professional line. These individuals make a living from using these tools and simply cannot risk the aforementioned features. )Why are Black & Decker's shares of the two professional segments — Industrial and Tradesmen — so different? Wouldn't you expect them to be similar? †¢Tradesmen segment is growing faster than the industrial segment. B&D did not initially capture or dominate the tradesmen segment, hence the share differential. †¢Decision influencers in the industrial segm ent viewed B&D as a high-quality brand. Similarly, the consumer segment regarded B&D as a strong brand which helped B&D attain the #1 position in the marketplace. This did not spill over to the tradesmen segment, which needs more differentiation. Strong influencers in outlets such as â€Å"Home Depot† educate the consumer to â€Å"stay away from B&D†. 3)What, if anything, do you learn from Black & Decker's consumer research? †¢B&D uses very similar branding strategies for their tradesmen and consumer segments. †¢Brand perception is the main issue with B&D strategy for capturing a larger market share. †¢Durability/Quality issues are not substantiated. Blind tests of B&D products in the tradesmen segment reveal that B&D products are comparable to other major competitors’ products. In some instances, B&D products are elected as leaders in their product categories. )Joe Galli's objective is â€Å"to develop and gain corporate support for a viable pro gram to challenge Makita for leadership† in the Tradesmen category (p. 1). To gain support, the minimal share objective would have to be â€Å"nearly 20% within three years, with major share ‘take away' from Makita. † How realistic is this? †¢This is realistic due to the fact that there are a number of negative perceptions of Makita’s products including â€Å"arrogant & dictatorial†. The problem is that no single brand dominates all the product categories in the tradesmen segment.This means that product selection may be circumstantial and mostly influenced by tradesmen in-store influencers etc. †¢Currently, B has ~9% market share, meaning that it would have to take ~11% market share from Makita who has ~50% market share. Makita has the most to lose in this industry segment. †¢Since, B is financial strong and is not making much money in the tradesmen segment, the financial risk would be limited. 5)If you think Galli should pursue a â₠¬Å"build share† strategy, what actions do you recommend? Does the DeWalt idea have any merit?How about the subbranding option? †¢Gallie should pursue a â€Å"build share† strategy but only under a different brand. Choosing a different brand name such as DeWalt that already has positive resonance in the tradesmen segment would not only disassociate the current perception of B within that segment, but could help reduce B risk of â€Å"embarrassment† in the other two segments in case the DeWalt brand fails. †¢The sub branding option still carries the B brand with it. At this point in time the tradesmen segment is not a new & emerging market, but a well developed growing market.Sub-branding at best could help drive some product categories, but not the overall brand as a whole. †¢The yellow color choice would help the DeWalt brand truly stick out from the competition. Currently, the most exotic color in the tradesmen segment is teal – Makita†™s color. The yellow color choice would less likely backfire since yellow is a familiar job site color associated with safety. 6)Be specific about what you would do and remember you have at least three audiences to please: the consumer (the Tradesman), the retailer, as well as Nolan Archibald and Gary DiCamillo. Consumer oIntroduce DeWalt brand with yellow coloring oOffer rebates and incentives †¢Retailer oIntroduce DeWalt with limited supply to generate â€Å"pull† oPromote demonstrations of products that demonstrate superiority oMaintain existing B line as a benchmark for DeWalt’s success oSlowly phase out B and replace with DeWalt oOffer volume discounts to large retailers such as Lowes and Home Depot, since this channel is the fastest growing one †¢Bosses oPresent above and maintain sub-branding exit strategy

Analysis On Financial Statements Economics Essay

Analysis On Financial Statements Economics Essay ATandT Inc. (NYSE: T) is a United States telecommunications corporation headquartered in Texas. Founded in 1983 as SBC Communications, it became AT&T Inc. upon purchase of AT&T Corporation in 2005. It is the leading U.S. provider of wire-line and wireless communications. AT&T delivers 3G wireless services through AT&T Mobility LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary. Other major segments include broadband internet, digital television, directory publishing, and business communications. In 2006, AT&T Inc. acquired BellSouth communications corporation, valued at $86 billion, absorbing its wire-line, wireless, and broadband interests. AT&T has stated specific future goals in 4G wireless, speech recognition, telehealth, and digital convergence. Recently, AT&T selected Alcatel-Lucent and Ericsson as equipment providers for its LTE (4G) wireless deployments. AT&T has over 150 million customers and 280,000 employees. AT&T reported a $124 billion operating revenue and $23 billion net income as of Dec . 31, 2008. Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) is a United States telecommunications corporation headquartered in New York. It was founded in 1983 as Bell Atlantic. Bell Atlantic acquired GTE Corp. in 2000 and changed its name to Verizon Communications Inc. It is the second largest U.S. provider of wire-line and wireless voice services. Verizon Wireless is a joint venture, with Vodafone Group holding 45 percent ownership. Through its FiOS product, Verizon provides fiber-optic delivery of internet, television, and digital voice. Other major operations include IP networks, applications, and professional services for business. In 2008, Verizon stated its goal to surpass AT&T as the U.S. market leader in wireless voice and data communications in the United States. It is aggressively pushing fiber-optic deployments to combat industry-wide access-line losses. Verizon has over 91 million customers and 220,000 employees. Verizon reported a $97 billion operating revenue and $6.5 billion net income as of Dec. 31, 2008. Balance Sheet – unusual items AT&T:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  At Dec. 31, 2008, AT&T reported a current ratio of 0.53, and a long-term assets / long-term liabilities ratio of 1.92. This mismatching indicates that too much short-term financing has been used to acquire long-term assets. AT&T may have problems meeting its short-term obligations without additional refinancing. If additional financing cannot be obtained, a lack of asset liquidity poses a bankruptcy risk. At Dec. 31, 2008, AT&T reported goodwill at $71.8 billion, accounting for about 27% of their total reported assets. This stems from AT&T’s aggressive acquisition strategy. The high amount poses a great asset impairment risk. Only losses, not gains, can be recorded for goodwill. If the acquired entities lose value, as judged by an annual impairment test, the loss of recorded assets and corresponding write-offs against stockholders’ equity can be subst antial. Verizon:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  At Dec. 31, 2008, Verizon reported wireless licenses valued at $62.0 billion. These are indefinite-lived intangible asset which account for 30.6% of Verizon’s total assets. Wireless licenses are extremely important for a telecommunications company, but placing such large valuation on an intangible is a serious risk. Estimating fair value is very subjective, and any significant write-offs (as judged by a periodic impairment test) could threaten stockholders’ confidence. At Dec. 31, 2008, Verizon reported cash and cash equivalents of $9.8 billion. Having such a large amount of cash and cash equivalents (investments with a maturity of 90 days or less) is good for liquidity. However, a significant portion of this $9.8 billion could be converted to less-liquid, higher-interest investments that mature within a year, or even long-term investments. Having so much cash-on-hand is a problem because it is not being inve sted to return additional value to the business.

Olympia Machine Company Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Olympia Machine Company - Case Study Example However, there are weaknesses in the current compensation plan. Regardless of the large volume of sales, there are high fixed selling expenses and also common measures that determine salary increases of the salespeople have not been established by the management. Some of the key issues that any new compensation plan must address include how to poise a balance between capital equipment and sales. A salesperson must be able to not just take any order that comes along but sell. Secondly, a weighted plan that allows a salesperson to assess what pays off and what does not should be addressed, in order for him or her to be more resourceful. Finally, there has to be a common standard where salary increases for all like employees should be known. This is of importance since the management is able to weigh how prolific a salesperson is. In the point system, together with a salary, a salesperson is given bonus points in relation to his or her performance in the sales activities. However, with this system, detailed reports about the performances of the salespeople are required thus increasing the organization’s overhead cost. In this plan, a salary, expenses and a commission on sales were taken into consideration. This way, the salespeople had security because they were assured of a salary and were still motivated due to the commission rates incurred on several products. However, this would mean that the commission plan with specifications would result to a cut in current salary base for most salespeople. The bonus plan involved giving the salespeople an opening to earn bonuses from their sales, without putting a boundary past a target. They also received the same salary as before. However, upholding a liable sales-expense-to-sales ratio would go against the Company’s philosophy of upholding such. I would therefore recommend the

Research Methodologies Applied To Evaluate The Impact Of Stimulant Assignment

Research Methodologies Applied To Evaluate The Impact Of Stimulant Energy Drink - Assignment Example Methodology Collection Of Data The first thing for any study is the process of data collection and the method of sampling. Data is collected on the basis of sampling which can be randomized, or purposive with respect to the variable that has to be analyzed. Randomized data means each individual will have equal probability to be included in the sample. Purposive data is considered by some criteria fixed by the experimenter (effects of a drug on diabetic patients).Sampling makes sure that the results are based on non biased assumptions and simply random sampling reduces the chance of bias. So in this study we will fix inclusion criteria with a purposive sampling- that means people who use computers whether desktops and laptops will be included and the others in the population will not be included- thus our purposive sampling will narrow it to population of computer users. The exclusion criteria would be non computer users and having vision problems other than technology related. Data will be collected through a set of questionnaire method:- a. Energy severity score: Rate your self energy on a scale of 1 to 10( more energy feeling more score) b. Rate your sleep scale from 1-1 0 ( more score more awake) We would see then whether our distribution obtained is symmetrical or asymmetrical and conform to normal distribution and whether undue weightage has been given to extreme values during data collection. Collected data can have a symmetrical representation and in that case mean, median and mode will be the same for a particular variable and when these value changes it is called asymmetrical and this measure is called skewness, On the other hand there can be incidences such the data is collected more on the upper and lower sides of a variable(tails) it will be called leptokurtic data and if the middle values of a variable are collected it is called platykurtic data. In the former the distribution looks pointed and in later it has a plateau shaped. Ideally if a data is ideally collected then the curve should look mesokurtic with frequency of the scores evenly distributed at upper and lower and middle limits. This is called a normal distribution. The normal distribution has a unit area of one and this is helpful to measure testing of hypothesis.(Chance,2005). Thus the need for data representation becomes important Analysis of Data Testing of Hypothesis: We will take the mean scores of sleepiness and energy in both the groups and go for a testing of hypothesis Data can be analyzed for statistical significance based on the normal distribution. This means if the computed probability value or p value as measured from t test or Anova is

Discussion Board Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 4

Discussion Board - Essay Example A disaster recovery plan includes such modules and applications which saves data in case of failures. A disaster recovery plan assesses all aspects of data and puts proper procedures in place to make the data as secure as possible. I have sent the proposal regarding creating, testing, and maintaining a proper disaster recovery plan to ensure data safety. Although it will take some time and money to create and implement an effective disaster recovery plan, but the benefits associated with the implementation of plan will overshadow the costs. Nothing is more important to an IT based company than data security because every function of an IT company needs analysis of data. Therefore, implementation of disaster recovery plan will be very beneficial for the company as it will not only make the data secure but also will prevent disruption to the computing environment. I have also proposed the use of intrusion detection software to the company in order to prevent unauthorized access to the sensitive data. Installation of such system will not be cost; rather it will provide a strong mechanism to deal with the issues of data stealing and unauthorized access. Some of the main benefits of installing such system include defense against data stealing, prevention of network hacking, continuous network monitoring, update of firewall settings, and many other benefits. Therefore, both of my proposals should be accepted because they will ensure data security to the company. A hot site is a part of a disaster recovery service using which a company can continue its activities in case of a disaster. Benefits of hot sites include availability and convenience for the customers whereas disadvantages include cost and complexity (Moore, 2011). A cold site is also a part of a disaster recovery service but using these, customers need to install necessary equipments to perform data related activities in case of a

Social Psychology and Ethics . What are attributions and why are they Essay

Social Psychology and Ethics . What are attributions and why are they so important for understanding human behaviour - Essay Example either to their internal dispositions or to their external situations.† There are actually two kinds of attribution: the dispositional attribution and the situational attribution. An example given is a teacher who wonders whether a child’s hostility either reflects an aggressive personality which is the dispositional attribution or the child is reacting to stress or abuse which is the situational attribution. There are instances where a person, perhaps a girl named Ana does not say much in class while a boy named Jose always talks nonstop (Myers, 1995:613). According to their dispositional attribution, Ana is shy while Jose is outgoing. These attributions are valid for people usually have stable personality traits. But this is not always the case for sometimes Ana could be an outgoing person in a party while Jose is as quiet as Ana when she’s in class. This act of overestimating the influence of personality and underestimating the situation is called the fundamental attribution error. To prove the theory, there is an experiment conducted by David Napolitan and George Goethals with Williams College students and a young woman (Myers, 1995:613). The young woman interacted with the students whom responded differently to her. Beforehand, the students were told that the woman’s behaviour would be spontaneous. Then the students were told that the woman was also told to act friendly or unfriendly. But the students ignored the information. They created different inferences about the woman. If the woman acted friendly, they thought she was a warm person. If the woman acted unfriendly, they thought she was a cold person. In simpler words, the students make their inferences or attributed her behaviour based on the personal disposition even when they were told that the woman’s behaviour was situational, meaning she was just acting that way for the experimental purposes. People often make the same fundamental attribution error (Myers, 1995:614). Having knowledge of

US and Saudi Stock Markets Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

US and Saudi Stock Markets - Essay Example The Saudi stock market is the largest stock market in the Middle East. It is not only the largest stock market in the Middle East, it is also considered to bigger than the combination of the stock markets of all other gulf countries (Hankir and Baltaji, 2015). As a stock market there are great opportunities that are offered by the Saudi Stock market. However, until recently only citizens of Saudi Arabia and other gulf countries were allowed to trade in the stock market of the country. The people of other GCC countries were allowed to trade in the Saudi stock market subject to the restrictions that are imposed by the respective GCC country. Till recently the people from non-GCC countries were allowed to enter only through the closed investment funds. NYSE is considered as the largest and the most powerful stock exchange in the world. The rising power of the stock exchange was in line with the rise of the economic power of the United States. There are two major stock exchanges in the United States. The other stock exchange in the United States is NASDAQ which has the most number of companies listed in the country. However, by means of market capitalization, NYSE is larger than the combination of the NASDAQ, Tokyo and London. The merger of NYSE and Euronext has increased the appeal of the stock exchange on a global scale. It is found that the stock market in the United States is the most important in the world and has the capability to influence all the stock markets across the world.

Homeschooling Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Homeschooling - Essay Example Critics of homeschooling usually point out the lack of socialization skills learned at public schools which is a valid concern but quality time with parents is important as well and is also productive time for the student. Parents are in control of the subject material and control the topics. This is a definite advantage for the homeschooled child. Homeschooling is a growing in popularity because it is the most effective way to educate children. The best teachers are those who possess a passion to convey knowledge with a sense of purpose. Parents motivated with a passionate spiritual conviction have a sustained energy for teaching their child more so than a relative stranger of unknown conviction at public school. These parents generate an infectious enthusiasm about whatever subject they are teaching, a virtue that motivates kids. Homeschooling allows a parent to weave their spiritual convictions into every facet of their curriculum. Nothing is more important to the heart of people’s motivation than their personal beliefs. Everyone has convictions of some description; something that has alters their lives in a positive way, something that is etched in deep in their soul. Some people can express it, some cannot find words for it, but everyone has it. When that intangible something is employed, put to use, people demonstrate a passion and direction that can be explained. For many this describes their religious convict ions, a way of life for some. People who have these convictions people make excellent home-school teachers. Their sense of passion and purpose help them keep going throughout the rough times in life. This passion motivates them to continue reaching for higher goals, for themselves and their children. The homeschooled child benefits from socialization skills that are community-based rather than socialization based

Job Description and Recruiting Strategies Worksheet Essay Example for Free

Job Description and Recruiting Strategies Worksheet Essay Conduct an interview with someone who has a career or job position that is different from your own. Identify the duties associated with his or her position, as well as any skills and abilities necessary for the position. Use the information gathered in the interview, as well as the Week 3 readings, to complete the following worksheet. Answer each question in paragraph format. JOB ANALYSIS 1. What are the duties and job responsibilities associated with the position held by the individual you interviewed? The responsibilities for a Project Manager: Undertake management responsibilities for some or all aspects of the design and construction of new construction or refurbishment projects Obtain all necessary entitlements Plans and specifications. Tracking, and distribution. Plan check and permits. Tracking timelines, and pulling permits Plan review and bidding Office preparation for the start of construction Jobsite preparation for the start of construction Subcontracting. Prepare contracts, changes and additions to contractual agreements with consultants, suppliers, and subcontractors. Construction budgets and timelines Prepare and submit budget estimates, progress, and cost tracking reports. Implement quality control programs Take actions to deal with the results of delays, bad weather, or emergencies at construction site. Jobsite demobilization. Final budget reconciliation and close out with accounting. After action preparations. Coordination with Property Management, either GLB or building owner. 2. What are the types of knowledge, skills, and abilities that are needed to successfully accomplish the job responsibilities? 1. Bachelor’s degree in Architecture, Engineering, Construction Management, or related field; 2. Professional license/registration/certification preferred; 3. Building and Construction knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction of a building or other structures 4. Experience in negotiating and writing contracts for design professionals and contractors 5. Demonstrated knowledge of applicable laws and regulations governing environmental and construction permitting; and 6. Demonstrated knowledge of OSHPD (in California) procedures and requirements for assignments to projects under OSHPD jurisdiction. 7. Outstanding written and verbal communications skills including the ability to establish goals, set clear expectations, prioritize activities, and follow through to project completion. 8. Strong attention to detail.  9. Ability to weigh business and technical requirements to produce project plans and estimates. 10. Strong organization, time manage ment, and multitasking skills. 11. Strong understanding of all aspects of corporate software development; strong client, server, database, and reporting skills. 3. Does the position require any physical tasks? If so, describe the physical tasks and state their frequency. Is there any additional information about the job that would be beneficial to include in the job description? The overall nature of the position is deskbound in nature requiring little physical effort and occasional light physical exertion. There is occasional exposure to environmental conditions such as heat, cold, temperature changes, industrial noise, and construction hazards usually accompanied by business travel and visits to construction sites. The constant physical demands of the position are talking and hearing. The frequent physical demands of the position are sitting, standing and walking. The occasional physical demands of the position are carrying, pushing, pulling, handling, repetitive motions, and eye/hand/foot coordination JOB Description Compose a 350- to 500-word job description based on the data acquired in your interview. The Project Manager position will be responsible for leading the design build team in the process of design, permitting and construction of all construction projects assigned as your responsibility. This position will be responsible for planning, directing, coordinating, and or budgeting activities concerned with the construction of facilities. This position will also participate in the conceptual development of a construction project and oversee its organization, scheduling, entitlement and implementation. This position requires strategic and analytical thinking skills as well as attention to detail. Recruiting Strategies 1. What are three recruiting strategies that could be used to recruit for this job position? a. Internal through promotion or transfer b. Internet c. News paper 2. In 350- to 500-words, compare and contrast the recruiting strategies you have chosen. Which recruiting strategy would you use to recruit for this position? Why? Obtaining and retaining high-quality employees is critical to an organization’s success. As the employment market becomes increasingly competitive and the available skills grow more diverse, companies need to be more selective in their recruiting choices. I selected three options to compare and contrast: Internal recruiting: This recruiting process can be favorable as the employee will have history of the organization and the training can be minimal. It also builds morale within the organization as you are giving employees the opportunity for career growth. Recruiting internally can also be less costly than going outside to recruit. The downfall for recruiting internally is that is does not always produce the number or quality of  personnel needed. It can also be negative since you are not receiving new outside ideas. Another downfall is that you may cause rivalries between employees. External sources such as the internet and newspaper will provide greater exposure. Advertising in public sources provides the opportunity for more qualified people to apply for the position. The downfall is that it can be more expensive to advertise. For the project manager position, I would advertise the position in external sources such as the internet. Because it is such an important role and has so many responsibilities, you want to get as much exposure to insure a qualified individual.

Development of a UAV for Team Purpose

Development of a UAV for Team Purpose Career Episode 3 CE 3.1 Introduction During my final year of my Bachelors Degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering I made a project known as Loon Copter. This was a group project as it held a lot of importance in my career. It was completed in the allocated 6 months semester duration of my 8th i.e. final semester of my engineering. I completed my bachelors degree in engineering from Medi Caps Institute of Science Technology, Indore, India. My project guide was Prof. Sachin Puntambekar. CE 3.2 Background The primary need for this project is for the development of a UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) which can be used for collaborative teaming purposes. The main intension behind configuration of this loon copter was to develop a UAV suitable for operations in dangerous situations like in forests or urban areas. They are mostly termed as MAV i.e. micro air vehicle. To keep the replacement cost low, the overall cost and complexity of the MAV should be kept low. Thus, components used by remote control flight hobbyists should be accessible for commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) should be the area of target. It is a cost-effective project with future scope. CE 3.3 The basic ideas behind this project was to make one that could be either purchased or can be built in-house. For adding new feature and functionality I had to undergo surveys that could help find out the unmet needs and that can be added to the drone. So, from my survey I decided upon a drone that is not only waterproof but that can be submerged into the water and function there. The idea was inspiring as it was creative and innovative. There has been a development on waterproof drones that could land in water with the help of air floatation devices but homemade DIY drone that could go underwater was something new. CE 3.4 Loon copter is a multi-mode vehicle which was named after a diving duck in Michigan that has the ability of traditional exploration vehicle for rescue and research work like: 1. on land: it can hold sensors that are below waters surface and it is buoyant. 2. in air: it can hover over large areas like traditional drones. 3. underwater: it can replace the remotely operated underwater vehicles i.e. ORVs. The objective and aim behind this project is that using the combination of aerial, underwater and on surface in a single drone that would help to develop new possibilities. Due to its size and its feature of underwater use it can travel large distance in short span of time when compared to submarines. It also has the feature to enable sensor loitering over large area of interest to hover upon as a multi-copter when compared to a winged aircraft. CE 3.5 For the development of this loon copter I had to start with various research work and had to look at the problem statements. I started by undergoing various literature review from various engineering technology magazines and from the internet. Then my duties as a team leader, further involved diving the entire project into various parts and designing of its structure and work flow so that I could assign it accordingly to my team mates. I had to divide the project in parts along with assigning time slot for it so that the whole project is completed on time. The later part involved deciding upon the component requirement based on its precision to work and its ability. Then preparation of schematic diagram for the hardware had to be done so that I could start with the implementation of the hardware outer structure based on the layout designed for the PCB i.e. printed circuit board. I had to look at all the safety rules and regulation and take proper measures when needed as being a team leader. And then it involved the final software coding part so that the project comes alive. At the end, it ended with a preparation of a small presentation along with detailed description of the project in the report. CE 3.6 Professional Engineering Activity After involving in research on various loon copters, I involved myself in designing rationale of the 3D model of loon copter. It generally uses a design that makes use of an open-air mount for electronics systems. A watertight box had to be installed in the electronic system so that the quad can be submergible in water. In my project, I bought an outdoor surge box which was used as the watertight box for the exterior frame of the quadcopter. It was suitable for my system due to its large volume that was enough to hold the flight controller along with the mounts for the arms along with being light enough in terms of weight for the flight. The box can be designed in customized form to house electronics in the outdoor environment such that it has gaskets that are surrounded on the outer side of the box.ÂÂ   This helps to open and close as per the need and requirement to the interiors of the box along with keeping it watertight at the time of flight or submersion. Below Diagram shows the 3D model of my project loon copter. CE 3.7 The next step involved designing of the arm which was made up of ÂÂ ½ inch PVC piping that are connecting the watertight electric housing box to the rotors and the flight motors. PVC was chosen as it is light in weight and strong and can be waterproofed by applying PVC cement. And the wires can pass through them as they are hollow. The main issue with the arms is the buckling force at the PVC tube at its hub connection point. It is calculated based on the following formula: They are fixed at the connection point and the motors will be used to apply the force at the end, and using the following formula the buckling force is calculated to be 5440 lbf. CE 3.8 The next stage was about selecting the propeller and for that the load that the quadcopter will lift had to be considered and was the main concern. For my project the all up weight (AUW) would be approx. 2.5kg i.e. 5.5 lbs. considering the safety factor and versatility of the quadcopter, it should be able to lift double the AUW. Thus, propeller was designed to lift at least ÂÂ ½ the AUW. For this the most convenient was to use long propeller with slow spinning rate. It involved a lot of trial and error methods in terms of the size and pitch. The later process was the selection of the motor that would run the whole system. It was selected based on the weight and the type of propeller and bearing in mind the AUW of the quadcopter. So, looking at the calculation of 2.5kg AUW and 12 x 3.5 prop, a minimal 708kv/motor was required to lift at least 5kg of weight. And with this criterion, I found a motor that could be used for this process that was Aero sky performance brushless multi-rotor motor MC2217 of 800KV. CE 3.8 After choosing the right components based on its requirement and looking at various calculations, I then started with working on the wiring and the connection of the hardware structure of the quadcopter. The wiring diagram can be seen below. It can be said that the drone was designed and implemented using this wiring schematic diagram and it was such that it weighs 8 pounds and the motors and propellers were purchased within the assigned budget. Also, a ballast was constructed to increase its natural buoyancy from -1.5lbs to +3lbs of the craft and it can be adjusted to -2lbs. The arms could yield 5000 times higher to the expected max. load which was much higher than that was required. The deflecting arms wouldnt have any effect on the propellers too. CE 3.9 Therefore, after its complete design and structure it self-stabilized with the help of arrays of sensors integrated on it. The camera attached and mounted at the top of it are used to provide surveillance of the terrain and the loon copter attains an appropriate lift. The remote controller is used to give commands to the copter so that it can work and function as per the user requirements. The areas that are in-accessible to humans physically can be reached using this loon copter and it will provide a real-time audio-video transmission. CE 3.10 There were certain difficulties I faced while executing this project like first was to stabilize the flight, when I used an aluminum frame there was no stability and the frame didnt absorb the vibrations of the motor. So, to overcome that problem I used PVC. The other problem faced was with the weight of the frame. Due to the use of wooden frame, more power was required to lift such heavy weight. So, for that I made use of powerful motors with the velocity of 980KV and 18000rpm approx. so they could easily lift the whole structure. The third problem that occurred during this project was the concern of power supply. As the motor that was used was more powerful so it would in the end require high power for execution and for that regular batteries would not be sufficient. Therefore, I made use of lithium polymer battery also known as LiPo battery that was fulfil my requirement of battery that would provide 2000-2200 mAh current rating approximately. CE 3.11 Summary It can be further extended to monitor hazardous parameters like overheat or gas leakage. One can apply SMS technology to send commands for it to function. It can be used to have a feature like it can be expanded to control the air and mobility of air power roles and for cross governmental cooperation. These are few examples. Overall, after this project I learned to manage a team and how to handle tough situations. I had to coordinate with my project guide as well as the team mates. I had to keep a balance of work and keep into account all the progress that was made. I applied a lot of my engineering knowledge into this project and in return I also gained relevant knowledge though rigorous and intensive research and analysis on various components and related topics. It was a great learning experience. At the end a detailed project report was made on my project.

Humorous Wedding Speech from the Father of the Bride -- Wedding Toasts

Humorous Wedding Speech from the Father of the Bride Well, good afternoon everyone, for those of you that don?t know me my name is Lee and I?m Janie?s dad, and in keeping with tradition, it is my honor and privilege to deliver the ?Father of the Bride Speech?. Having to make this speech is one of the few opportunities in a married man?s life when he is allowed to do all of the talking...and I intend to make the most of it. Now, giving a speech can be a little stressful so I will put into practice what I preach, that is...always remember the ABC to the XYZ of public speaking. ABC..Always Be Confident, ?XYZ..Xamine Your Zipper. (check zipper). It won?t be a long speech on account of my throat?.no, it?s not sore, it?s just that Janet threatened to cut it if I go on too long! So I?ll start...Distinguished guests, those of dubious distinction and those of absolutely no distinction whatsoever, family, relatives, friends, relatives of friends, friends of friends, hotel staff, freeloaders and hangers-on, on behalf of Janet and myself, I extend a warm welcome to Janie and Martin?s wedding celebration reception. You know, delivering the ?Father of the Bride? speech feels a bit like a sheikh walking into his harem for the first time...you know what to do, but you don?t know where to start. I will start however by taking this opportunity to thank especially Janet for not only being chief worrier and organise... ... we marry. It is very obvious that they have found in one another a perfect match; their happiness shines like a beacon. Janie and Martin, there is no challenge in a marriage that cannot be overcome by the following three, three word sentences: I was wrong. You were right. I love you. So, approaching the toast, ladies and gentlemen, please stand and make sure your glasses are fully charged?mine is being charged to Barclaycard? Janie and Martin? Here?s to the past for all that it taught you Here?s to the present for all that you share And here?s to the future for all that you can look forward together Ladies & gentlemen please raise your glasses. The toast is?Janie & Martin, Bride and Groom

Parent-Child Relationship Essay -- Self Esteem, Struggle for Control

Parents play a major role in the development and the life of a child. According to the Encyclopedia of Psychology, parenting practises is universal because of three common goals: ensuring children's health and safety, preparing children for life as productive adults and transmitting cultural values. Although, the modern days inventions as well as peers pressures are affecting children's behavior,however parents that are not overly controlling can use these traits to develop their children for the good. Perhaps this is why Amy Tan's story, â€Å"Two Kinds,† is so interesting. This story helps us to better understand relationships between parents and children by showing us how parents struggles for control with their children, why parents fight child for control, and why parents cannot control their children , but can only guide them. To begin with, â€Å"Two Kinds,† helps us to better understand relationships between parents and children by showing us how parents struggles for control with their children. First, Amy Tan, a second -generation Chinese describes parents and children using power and control to get their needs and wants met. She demonstrates that as children grow, they try to gain power in order to get control over their lives. For example in the story her mother believed that she could be anything in America. Consequently, she wanted her to become a prodigy. Amy would take tests from her mother every night. However, she was frustrated with every test and the drive inside her began to vanish as she decided to be disobedient to her mother. â€Å"And then I saw what seemed to be the prodigy side of me because I had never seen that face before. I looked at my reflection, blinking so I could see more clearly. The girl staring b... ...hild development may help parents give children choices to help parents give children choices to help them develop their guidelines as they matures. However, parents need to take responsibility for the choices they make. Excessive control is not a forced decision. With the adequate public information and dedication, parents can guide their children to become productive citizens. When a parent confront an obstinate child, all it takes is for her not to take it personally, or overreact by saying abusive things, giving her severe punishments or physically hurting the child. Work Cited Tan, Amy. â€Å"Two Kinds.† Literature Reading, Reacting, Writing. Ed. Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell. 8th ed. Boston: Wadsworth, 2013. 687-695. print. Kazdin, Alan E., Phd. Encyclopedia of Psychology, Volume 8, March 2000. Parent-Child Relationship Essay -- Self Esteem, Struggle for Control Parents play a major role in the development and the life of a child. According to the Encyclopedia of Psychology, parenting practises is universal because of three common goals: ensuring children's health and safety, preparing children for life as productive adults and transmitting cultural values. Although, the modern days inventions as well as peers pressures are affecting children's behavior,however parents that are not overly controlling can use these traits to develop their children for the good. Perhaps this is why Amy Tan's story, â€Å"Two Kinds,† is so interesting. This story helps us to better understand relationships between parents and children by showing us how parents struggles for control with their children, why parents fight child for control, and why parents cannot control their children , but can only guide them. To begin with, â€Å"Two Kinds,† helps us to better understand relationships between parents and children by showing us how parents struggles for control with their children. First, Amy Tan, a second -generation Chinese describes parents and children using power and control to get their needs and wants met. She demonstrates that as children grow, they try to gain power in order to get control over their lives. For example in the story her mother believed that she could be anything in America. Consequently, she wanted her to become a prodigy. Amy would take tests from her mother every night. However, she was frustrated with every test and the drive inside her began to vanish as she decided to be disobedient to her mother. â€Å"And then I saw what seemed to be the prodigy side of me because I had never seen that face before. I looked at my reflection, blinking so I could see more clearly. The girl staring b... ...hild development may help parents give children choices to help parents give children choices to help them develop their guidelines as they matures. However, parents need to take responsibility for the choices they make. Excessive control is not a forced decision. With the adequate public information and dedication, parents can guide their children to become productive citizens. When a parent confront an obstinate child, all it takes is for her not to take it personally, or overreact by saying abusive things, giving her severe punishments or physically hurting the child. Work Cited Tan, Amy. â€Å"Two Kinds.† Literature Reading, Reacting, Writing. Ed. Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell. 8th ed. Boston: Wadsworth, 2013. 687-695. print. Kazdin, Alan E., Phd. Encyclopedia of Psychology, Volume 8, March 2000.

Occupational Safety and Health Act Essay -- essays research papers

Introduction Workplace safety is a commonly used phrase that many do not consider until an accident occurs within the workplace. Throughout the U.S., workplace injuries occur on a daily basis. This has been an issue in the workforce for many years and is still an ongoing issue. Are there laws that protect employees from an unsafe work environment; what is the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA); and how did the labor unions affect the law? In this paper these following questions will be addressed, as well as the background and driving force of OSHA. Definition of the OSHA Law According to the OSHA website, www.osha.gov , retrieved August 27, 2004, it states â€Å"OSHA's mission is to assure the safety and health of America's workers by setting and enforcing standards; providing training, outreach, and education; establishing partnerships; and encouraging continual improvement in workplace safety and health†. In addition, as of the enactment of the Occupational Safety and Health Act in 1970, each employer shall furnish his employees a place of employment free from recognized hazards that cause and/or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees; before the enactment employers were only bound by common law to provide a safe work environment for its employees. OSHA also enforces that employees are not exempt and shall comply with occupational safety and health standards under this Act. Employee conduct, must comply with the OSHA rules and regulations and orders which are applicable to their own action and conduct (Bennett-Alexander-Hartman: Employment Law for Business, Fourth Edition, p 690 p. 2-3). Background and Driving Force   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Getting started, the impetus to OSHA was to develop a new safety and or health standard in the workforce. Congress collected information indicating the status quo in the working environment included unacceptable hazards in the workplace. The OSHA act was passed through congress based on a series of information collected through sources such as the Department of Health and Human Services' (DHHS); National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH); Environmental Protection Agency's Toxic Substances Control Act (TOSCA) referral; public petitions; or requests from OSHA advisory committees.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Empowered with the knowledge of existing workplace hazards a... ...ed to workplace safety and are very personally involved, watching legislative decisions, protesting presidential nominees and lobbying. Conclusion While workplace safety and health standards have improved due to OSHA, the mission of the Act is still being carried out for America’s workers. Both employers and employees are responsible to be in compliance with the Act’s rules and regulations. References University of Phoenix. (Ed.). 2004. Employment Law [University of Phoenix Custom Edition e-Resource]. Bennett-Alexander-Hartman: Employment Law for Business, Fourth Edition. Retrieved August 27, 2004, from University of Phoenix, Resource, MGT/434-Employment Law Web site: https://mycampus.phoenix.edu/secure/ resource/resource.asp OSHA Home Page August 27, 2004. http://www.osha.gov Retrieved from http://www.osha.gov/as/opa/oshafacts.html on Monday, August 30 University of Phoenix. (Ed.). 2004. Employment Law [University of Phoenix Custom Edition e-Resource]. Bennett-Alexander-Hartman: Employment Law for Business, Fourth Edition. Retrieved August 32, 2004, from University of Phoenix, Resource, MGT/434-Employment Law Web site: https://mycampus.phoenix.edu/secure/ resource/resource.asp

Developing a “National Culture:” The Impact of Radio Network Systems

Over the years, culture has obtained a broad and extensive definition that covers tangible to intangible elements that establish the basic dimensions of culture, to theories and ideologies that represent a deeper and more significant meaning of culture aside from shared common beliefs, traditions, and such. Indeed, culture may be defined in so many ways, under various circumstances, including how it frames race and ethnicity, how it shapes the structure of society within the national and international setting, and such.Therefore, the meaning or significance of culture, as well as the understanding of how it is developed depends upon the contextual backdrop or circumstances under which it is used. For instance, national culture refers to the kind and structure of culture that governs a nation or a country, despite cultural differences based on race or ethnicity, age, religion, location, and such. National culture is the kind of culture that keeps a nation together, identifying a kind of society and way of life that only exists and are attributed to a particular state or country.The establishment of national culture also differs from other types of culture. If culture founded on religion is established through shared beliefs based on spiritual principles or philosophies, national culture which encompasses a larger scale of population and coverage is developed through tools or instruments that directly attaches and unites the masses – that is the media, from broadcasting to advertising, and such. With this in mind, the remainder of this text will focus on culture and how it is developed, narrowing the broad area of culture to national culture.Moreover, the discussion will review the different network systems, specifically advertising, entertainment, and political broadcasting as mediums in cultivating national culture. National culture, as aforementioned, refers to the kind of culture that establishes the distinction between nations. It sets nations apart b y determining how one differs from another in terms of beliefs, traditions, norms and mores, ideologies, and such.National culture seeks to explicate why the act of spending time in the afternoon sitting down and drinking tea in the garden is a known English culture, and why resting for a short time in the afternoon or the siesta is credited to the Spanish culture. As simple as it may sound, national culture is the kind of culture that is present in beliefs, traditions, ideologies, norms and mores, and other practices that the majority, if not all, of a country’s population puts into practice.Since realizing that national culture is a phenomenon that necessitates massive influence to a large population, one might begin to wonder how this particular culture is cultivated due to its standards when it comes to population. We are looking into a tool, a device, or a system that facilitates the transfer of knowledge and information to many people all at the same time as a means of promoting or encouraging the large-scale practice or observation of a specific culture. This tool, device, or system is known as a network system which is fuelled by the structure and dimensions of mass media.Historical accounts will reveal how network systems have contributed to the development of national culture. The radio system was established before the television and television networks. Before people relied on television sets to bring them live video coverage of new features and breaking news here and abroad, and people went online to obtain various kinds of information from different places when and where they want it, they used to rely on radios for these particular purposes.In the 1920s, people relied on radios for news and other information and entertainment. People placed great importance on the radio system since it was able to become a variety of things all at once while reaching large populations in the process. For these reasons, corporations and organizations have identified an opportunity to develop their businesses out of the far-reaching powers and influence of the radio despite the fact that it was first introduced to the public as a means of disseminating significant information.Following the realization of the future of business and entrepreneurship in radio broadcasting, numerous radio stations and networks were established all over the nation transmitting what they feel the public wants and needs to know and grasp from radio transmissions. (Dominick, Messere, & Sherman, 26-28) The radio system was utilized for various purposes, for advertising various goods and services available in the market, to entertainment in the form of music and other programs or shows, and to promote political agendas through broadcasting.Radio stations and networks were clever enough to incorporate various segments that appeal to diverse populations set during time slots that are most likely to draw large population of viewers, specifically the target viewers . For instance, news segments will be set at time when the entire family is at home sitting down to together to listen to new information and such. Other shows include musical segments, radio commentaries, and with advertisements in between.(Dominick, Messere, & Sherman, 10-19) Since people during that time only had the radio as their means of linking themselves to the rest of the country and the world, radio stations and networks were in control of the information that goes through the system. This means that the kind of information or its contents being announced over the radio are the ones that people will have the opportunity of knowing and assimilating within their minds.This kind of exclusivity that exist between the radio system and its listeners is strengthened by the psychological fact that people clang to the radio since it made them feel involved and allied to the rest of the country and the world. The phenomenon, that is the connection between the radio and the public du ring that time, is similar to living inside a community isolated within a bubble or a dome wherein the structure of society is shaped and controlled by the structure and dynamics that springs within it. This metaphorical illustration depicts how the radio system has shaped national culture during that time.Business organizations who advertise through the radio, the kind of music most often played during musical segments, the coverage of news that radio stations are able to broadcast, as well as the kind of political information from public speeches, to press releases, and such, that the government announced through the radio system, were the only kind of information that the people obtained by listening to the radio all at the same time. Since the things or situations that people experience, by seeing, feeling, and in this case hearing, influences their state of mind, beliefs and ideologies, character, personal opinion, etc., and the things or situations that people experience by li stening to the radio are similar, their overall state of mind are shaped and influenced in the same manner more or less, consequently leading to the development of national culture through shared experiences by simply tuning in to the radio. The impact of the radio system is observed by reviewing history, particularly those that relate to politics since they reveal the greatest influence to national culture. For instance, China’s history reveals how the radio played a role in promoting the communist government of Mao Zedong.He controlled the kind of information that radio stations are allowed to broadcast to the public, particularly those that promote his government through the announcement of party decisions, knowledge and information that uphold communist ideologies, etc. , limiting knowledge and information that the Chinese people are allowed to learn, and also setting boundaries on how the nation is supposed to act, practice beliefs and traditions, promote ideologies and such. (Dominick, Messere & Sherman, 317-319)Another historical evidence which points to the influence of the radio system to shape national culture was the presidential elections in the United States in 1928. Apparently, the Republican Party chose to operate for the campaign by utilizing the radio system. Five speeches were allowed to be broadcasted through the radio convincing the people to vote for the party’s representative come election time. Sensing that the Republican Party has made a bold yet smart move in reaching the majority of the nation’s population, the Democratic Party followed in their opponent’s footsteps by broadcasting several speeches through the radio.The competition between the two parties commenced by their decision to make the radio a battle ground wherein the parties’ representatives aired their opinions through arguments and debates concerning major political, social, and economic issues that they believe the public wants and need s to know and understand in order to make a well-informed decision on who to vote for the presidency. However, the competition turned sour by scandalous attacks coming from both parties to weaken the momentum of the other party.The result of the antagonistic rivalry between the two parties was the involvement of the majority of the population in the election. Millions of people decided to register in order to vote since they believed that it was their role as citizens of the country to end the conflict by deciding who they want to become their national leader. (Rudel, 1-2) The influence of radio, being the only existing electronic medium during that time, was undeniable.The radio system, through its established capacity to influence majority of the nation’s population, was structured to monopolize everything that mass media offers to the public satisfying business organizations and political leaders, from advertising to entertainment, and even political broadcasting. The radi o’s ability to control and limit that kind of information being broadcasted through the airwaves to the people who constitute majority of the population led to the establishment of a national culture that was shaped by shared experiences through the radio system.

Fast Food Whos to Blame On-Demand Essay

You will have 45 minutes to plan and write an essay on the topic assigned below. Before you begin writing, read the passage carefully and plan what you will say. Your essay should be as well-organized and carefully written as you can make it. As Americans add pounds, critics are increasingly blaming the fast-food industry. Teenagers have filed lawsuits blaming McDonalds for their health problems, and a public health group in California has asked the governor to declare childhood obesity a state of emergency. But parentsnot the fast food companies, not the governmentare in the best position to fight the epidemic of overweight children. Parents are responsible for teaching healthy eating and exercise habits. Parents are to blame if they let their kids eat unhealthy foods and sit in front of the television or computer for hours at a time. We have laws against parents leaving a loaded weapon where children can find and use it to hurt themselves or others. Its time to get parents to take the same responsibility to protect their children from unhealthy foods and lack of exercise. Adapted from Daniel WeintraubsThe Battle Against Fast Food Begins in the HomeThe Sacramento Bee, December 17, 2002 Explain Weintraubs argument and discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with his analysis. Support your position, providing reasons and examples from your own experience, observations, or reading. The sample student essays that follow reflect the EPT Scoring Guides criteria. Sample student essay with a score of 6 Daniel Weintraub, in The Battle Against Fast Food Begins in the Home, states that parents are responsible for the increasing epidemic of child obesity. Parents need to be responsible enough to teach their children healthy eating exercise habits. In our world today, children sit around play video games all day, if they are allowed to. Weintraub argues that parents need to step up to the plate and get children involved in some type of exercise. I agree that parents need to take more responsibility for child obesity, but schools, fast food companies the government also need to take that same initiative. Parents have a lot of influence on their children from the day that child is born. Children learn how to talk from their parents, how to respect their elders and they should learn healthy eating exercising habits from their parents. There are many steps to take in showing a child what is healthy unhealthy. A parent could make sure that a child receives a serving of fruits or vegetables at lunch  dinner, eliminate soda from the house and even eliminate all junk food from the house. From a young age, my parents taught me to have an apple for a snack instead of a cookie that I should be getting 5 servings of fruits or vegetables a day. This lesson has influenced me even until today when my friends I will go and eat a salad at lunch instead of pizza or chips. I have also eliminated all soda from my diet. Parents need to show their children that exercise is not a bad thing. At a young age, parents need to show children that there are other things to do, like playing tag or playing at the park, than just watching t.v. Parents could introduce their children to different sports until the child finds one that he or she is interested in. My parents entered me in dance class were lucky in finding that that was what I enjoyed. I have been dancing since I was three years old I also played soccer for 8 years. It isnt very difficult to turn off a t.v. and send your children outside to play. Parents are not solely responsible for child obesity schools, fast food companies the government also need to take action against child obesity. Schools today do not provide a great selection of healthy food. My student body is luck that we have an off-campus lunch but even then it is difficult to find healthy food. Fast food companies definitely need some blame. With advertising that appeals to children, it is no wonder that America is fat. Through whining for that toy that a child can get with a kids meal, the parent is pressured to go to a fast food place. Daniel Weintraub argues that parents are responsible for child obesity. I agree with Weintraub but schools fast food companies also need to help in the fight against child obesity . Commentary This essay illustrates the EPT Scoring Guides criteria for a score of 6. The superior response indicates that the writer is very well-prepared to handle college-level reading and writing. The writer clearly explains Weintraubs argument regarding childhood obesity in the first paragraph and takes a thoughtful position, contending that Weintraub is right to a degree but that schools, fast food companies the government also need to take that same initiative. The writer skillfully restates Weintraubs argument in the first paragraph and makes a further connection in the second paragraph by saying, they should learn healthy eating exercising habits from their parents. However, the emphasized should suggests that the writer questions whether this always happens. The conclusion again refers back to Weintraub. The essay demonstrates quality  and clarity of thought with its careful analysis of both the strengths and weaknesses of Weintraubs somewhat overstated position. The essay reflects an effective use of topic statements and strong personal examples to both support Weintraubs argument that parents are responsible for childhood obesity with respect to eating and exercise habits and make the case that others are responsible as well. Sentence structure is varied and word choice is precise. The essay has few errors. Sample student essay with a score of 5 America is now known as the fattest country in America. Many of our countrys people blame the fast food industry for over-advertising, selling unhealthy food, and selling oversized portions. However, others feel that Americas obeisity is a matter of personal responsibility. In his article The battle against fast food begins in the home, Daniel Weintraub explains that parents need to take responsibility for the eating habits of their kids, and I agree with his opinion in this matter. As Americans, we are given the freedom of choice, however, before we become adults, it is our parents that have to teach us how to make the right decisions. This is Weintraubs point. If parents are not willing to teach their kids the dangers of eating too much fast food and not getting enough exercise, then those kids have no way to make the right choices. Kids learn best at an early a ge, therefore, teaching them good habits will allow them to make the correct decisions later. I agree with Weintraubs opinion that parents are responsible. Obviously, fast food companies are going to market towards kids they are more impressionable. Because of this, if parents would start teaching kids early on, they could use that impressionable quality to their advantage. The benefits of education are apparent in almost everything we do. For example, a better educated person can solve problems quickly and easily. The same goes for someone educated in terms of health habits. They can make the best choices because they have been taught to do so. Fast food companies provide a service. It is up to us, or our parents if we are not yet of age, to decide how much of that service we should use. In conclusion, Daniel Weintraub is correct in his assesment of one of the causes of Americas obeisity. The truth is that no child can grow up to be an intelligent human being without a proper education, wether it be in mathematics or eating habits. Fast food companies are always going to compete for customers and try to make money, but they cannot control our  decisions. The only people that can make choices for us our ourselves, and we canno t make the right choices without proper education from our parents. We cannot blame others for our own problems. Only when parents and the population of American in general are educated and choose to live healthy lifestyles will the countrys obeisity cease. Commentary This essay illustrates the EPT Scoring Guides criteria for a score of 5. The clear competence of the essay indicates that this writer is quite ready to handle college-level reading and writing. The writer addresses the topic of childhood obesity clearly, summarizing and then agreeing with Weintraubs position. Further references to Weintraub in the body and conclusion maintain a clear focus on the argument. The essay presents a well-reasoned response, indicating that various factors contribute to childhood obesity but finally siding with Weintraub in placing the responsibility on parents We cannot make the right choices without proper education from our parents. The essay shows some depth of thought in making the case that adults are responsible for making their own sound choices while parents are responsible for the choices their children make. However, the writer simply dismisses the responsibility of the fast-food industry without analysis. The essay is fairly clearly organized around the ideas that parents are responsible for their childrens choices and that the best way to counter fast-food advertising is through education however, some repetition and a lack of strong examples weaken the writers argument. The sentences are varied and word choices are generally precise and effective. The essay has only a few minor errors failure to use a semicolon with however, misspelling of obesity, and the distracting repetition of America in the first line. Sample student essay with a score of 4 Obesity Can Be Stopped Within the Home The article titled, The battle against fast food begins in the home, is the authors Daniel Weintraub, point of view on the rising obesity problem in America. Mr. Weintraub wrote this particular piece with one intention to educate the readers with his own views. Mr. Weintraub doesnt blame the Government, or advertising for Americans weight problem. But, instead he feels that parents are the sole component. He not only blames parents for their childrens poor eating habits, but also for they lack of exercise, and physical activity. I strongly agree with Mr. Weintraub because of the dynamics and regimne of parents lives today and parents wanting to blame  everyone and thing but themselves. I strongly agree with Mr. Weintraub because of the dynamics and regimne of parents lives today. Mr. Weintraub makes the point in his article that, Fast Food is fast., and It can also seem cheap. (Weintraub) This is just what parents who work all day want. They want to feed their children, not cook but feed, and relax after a hard days work. They may not mean to, but they are already to blame for their childs eating habits. However, taking the easy route, they have already put their children at risk. The dynamics of their daily regimne naturally allow them to feed their child junk. Not only do I believe that Mr. Weintraub is correct because of the dynamics and regimne of parents lives today, but I also strongly Agree with Mr. Weintraub because of parents wanting to blame everyone and thing but themselves. First off, in an article written by Shannon Brownlee titled, Its Portion distortion that makes America fat, a mother who was suing McDonalds stated, 1 always believed McDonalds food was healthy for my son. (Brownlee) This statement shows a parent who is willing to blame a company, whose sole purpose is making money, for her childs obesity. All the while parents eat, themselves, the exact same food as their child. They dont hold any responsibility that maybe their child will mimic these same habits. In the Letters to the Editor section a woman, Patricia Gonzalez, poses a good question Why arent they (parents) home cooking them (children) healthy food (Letters to Editor) Instead of parents complaining about how companies made their kids fat, or how advertising hooked their kids, why dont they eliminate these factors and cook their children a meal they know is healthy I strongly agree with Mr. Weintraub because of the dynamics and regimne of parents lives today and parents wanting to bl ame everyone and thing but themselves. Mr. Weintraub expressed the right point. As Americans, we need to take responsibility ourselves and not just blame other people. Parents could eliminate obesity before it became a problem in their childs life. That is why I strongly agree with Mr. Weintraub. Commentary This essay illustrates the EPT Scoring Guides criteria for a score of 4. This adequate response to the topic suggests that the writer should be able to handle college-level reading and writing. The writer clearly addresses Weintraubs argument that parents are responsible for the epidemic of childhood obesity but fails to explain why the fast-food companies, whose sole purpose is making money, do not share responsibility.  The writer generally understands the passage and develops a sensible, if somewhat simplistic, response why dont they . . . cook their children a meal they know is healthy The essay has a clear organization around the issues of parents lack of timedynamics and regimne of parents livesand parents desire to shift blame to others. However, wel l-chosen examples would strengthen the support for this argument. The essay demonstrates adequate use of syntax and language however, word choice is sometimes imprecise. For example, The article . . . is the point of view . . . and hold any responsibility. Dynamics and regimne are used both imprecisely and repetitively. The writer has general control of grammar and usage however, errors in punctuation and capitalization are frequent and distracting. Sample student essay with a score of 3 Who is to blame the parents, fast food companies, the government or yourself People now a days are so quick to sue fast food companies for making them fat but its all about self control. One should know his or her own body and watch what they eat. Fast food places are on almost every corner but doesnt mean their making you eat there. In New York a teenager is sueing McDonalds for making her fat. He weighs in at 400 pounds. His mother says I always believed McDonalds food was healthy for my son. How is this possible Two patty cheeseburgers, deep fried potatoes, and a large cup of soda is clearly not healthy. This kid probably ate at McDonalds majority of the time but I doubt he ate there everyday for every meal so how is McDonalds fully to blaim. Whatever happen to exercising, if this teenager was getting the required exercise there is no way he could way in at 400 pounds. Dont get me wrong Im not just on the fast food companies side. Yes McDonalds super-sizing most of their meals is a little extreme. Having good deals like dollar nugget Tuesdays is also a big temptation. Fast food companies could cut down on the location of there restuarants. Being that its so convinent that its close to your house, cheap and fast is another way that makes Americans so addicted. In conclusion, Both Americans and Fast Food Companies can change for the better. Americans start taking some responsibility for what you put into your own body. Fast Food Companies think of how many lives are at risk because of what your feeding them and cut back on expanding your franchises. Commentary This essay illustrates the EPT Scoring Guides criteria for a score of 3. Although the essay indicates a developing competence on the part of the writer, it is flawed in  significant ways that suggest the writer needs additional practice before being able to succeed in college-level reading and writing. The writer does not arrive at a thesis until the conclusion, which states, In conclusion, Both Americans and Fast Food Companies can change for the better. Even if this thesis had been presented in the introduction, however, it would need to be made more specific. The writer does not summarize or explain Weintraubs argument and fails to respond to the argument that parents are primarily responsible for their childrens eating and exercise habits. The writer does not use Weintraubs argument about the role of parents to develop the response as a result, the essay is not focused on Weintraubs argument but instead focuses entirely on the responsibility of the individual and the fast-food industry. The essay demonstrates simplistic thinking. It ignores the socioeconomic and developmental issues that can impede children and parents from making wise decisions about what they eat. It also ignores the imperative for businesses to make money when it suggests that McDonalds could cut down on the location of there restaurants. A skeletal organization is present, with the two body paragraphs each addressing a single idea that is summarized in the conclusion. The paragraphs are underdeveloped they need additional specifics and analysis. In addition, the role of parental responsibility needs to be explored. The paragraphs need effective topic sentences relating back to a controlling idea or thesis. The writers language is highly informal, relying on a series of rhetorical questions and colloquial comments (Who is to blame . . . How is this possible Whatever happen to exercising Dont get me wrong.) in place of analysis. The writer uses vague or incorrect pronoun reference (one should know . . . and watch what they eat but doesnt mean their making you eat there), and sentence structure is weak (Being that its so convinent . . . is another way that makes Americans so addicted.). The main errors, however, are in the mechanics, with numerous errors in punctuation, spelling, and capitalization. Sample student essay with a score of 2 Bigger isnt always better Last year a Bronx teenager who weighted in at a wooping 400 pounds sat in a confrence room while their mother tryed to file a suit againt McDonalds for make her kid fat. When ask why she replyed I always believed McDonalds food was healthy for my son. More and more americans are trying to blame fast food for the reason they are fat, but is it what they eat or how  much. Shannon Brownlee asked this question and this is what she found. Portion sizes has been creeping up ward science 1972. That when McDolands introduced its large size fries. (which now was smaller than a medium today.) And now they make more money then ever, they do it by consumer manipulation. Example 7-Eleven can sell the 64-ounce Double Gulp for only 37 cents more the 16-ounce 89 cent regular Gulp. Youd feel ripped off if you bought the s maller size. And thats just the way I feel when I go to fast food why not get the bigger size your pay just as much as a regular. After reading Shannon Brownlees article I understand and agree that people arnt getting fat from the food but from how much they eat. So maybe all those moms should stop getting mad that their kid are getting fat and be mad at their kid for eating so much and throwing away money on food that 70 of the time they dont finish Commentary This essay illustrates the EPT Scoring Guides criteria for a score of 2. The serious flaws here indicate that this writer will need considerable additional practice before being able to succeed in college-level reading and writing. The writer does not summarize or respond to Weintraubs argument, instead lifting portions from another article by Shannon Brownlee about fast food. The writer does not use the passage at all. Sample student essay with a score of 1 Many people blame the fast food industry for making them obese. But its not their fault it is the fault of the parents. It is theirs for not teaching the person how to eat right. It is the parents responsibility to teach their children o eat right and to excise at lest once a day. Americans have taken the blame of obesity and put it one that fast food industry. Many parents have filled lawsuits against McDonalds for their health problems. Commentary This essay illustrates the EPT Scoring Guides criteria for a score of 1. The fundamental deficiencies of this essay clearly indicate that the writer needs much additional practice to be ready to succeed at college-level reading and writing. The essays lengthsix sentencesis insufficient to respond to the question. The writer misunderstands the passage and fails to refer to it. The essay is repetitive. The first and fifth sentences repeat each other, as do the second, third, and fourth sentences. The writer culls the idea of parental responsibility from the passage but offers no support, reasons, or examples as the prompt instructs. The essay appears to be incomplete. It ends with a (misstated) statement of fact from the passage  that either belongs in the summary portion of the essay or should be omitted in lieu of the writers own opinions and supportthe better option. The writer lacks basic control of syntax and vocabulary. The writer has serious and persistent errors in grammar, usage, and mechanics that severely interfere with meaning. Pronoun confusion (It is theirs . . . ), preposition misuse (blame of obesity), and punctuation errors are profound.

Football as an Intramural Essay

Abstract Intramural sports present a fun way for students to spend their time at school, and provide an excellent opportunity to introduce themselves in the new world of college. Students get the chance to meet new people by playing against them in various sports such as softball, volleyball, and basketball. These sports are also co-ed, meaning that men and women can play on the same teams or against one another. Intramurals is also a great way to improve attendance or boost student’s motivation to improve their grades. However, there is only a select variety of options for sports. Most of the sports would fall under women’s sports, with their being softball over baseball and volleyball over football. There aren’t many options for men to get involved in intramurals with no men’s sports to play. Adding one sport that’s a men’s sport will give men more options in participating in intramurals. The addition of football may be what this school needs to get more people involved in intramural sports at Alexandria Technical and Community College (ATCC). With a chance for more men to participate, and more women to get involved in men’s sports, it’s a sport that cannot fail if the right conditions are met. Too much contact could be an issue, but if it were even touch football (2-hand touch), there wouldn’t be very many problems. Adding football to ATCC intramurals is what this school needs to not only offer more options for students, but to help attendance and boost student motivation to improve grades. It will be beneficial for the school, and fun for the students. 1. 0 Introduction Alexandria Technical and Community College is a great place to get to know other students. One of the ways to meet the students is by joining their intramural sports and getting on teams that compete against the other teams of the school. 1. 1 Problem With having intramural sports comes the privilege of choosing what you want to do with your time. However, there are not many options for intramural sports. There is softball and volleyball, just to name a couple, but not many options for the students. This may be why there are a lot of ATCC students not participating in intramurals. We believe that the addition of one particular sport will attract more students, and that sport is football. 2. 0 Discussion 2. 1 Benefits to ATCC One of the main focuses of ATCC is to get their students involved in the school and the community. One of the ways they stride for this goal is to encourage students to join in intramurals. Our idea is that if football is added to the intramural list, it may bring in more students to participate in intramural sports, and bring more students together. 2. 2 Benefits to Students According to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Proposition 48, students who participate in school activities and sports must maintain a GPA of 2. 0 on a 4. 0 scale [ (Begnaud, 2007) ]. With that being said, this would prove that students who participate in extracurricular activities would have to motivate themselves and push themselves to maintain a high enough GPA to still participate. This motivation would be beneficial to students, and with more students wanting to play football, this would motivate more students to succeed in school. So now the question is, â€Å"How do you know football is a popular sport? † Well, according to studies done by many colleges such as MSU Moorhead, football has been ranked the number one popular sport in the United States [ (Walter) ]. This means that given the choice, football would be the top pick for the majority of the nation. With that being said, if football is added to intramurals then students would choose it for their intramural and would be motivated to do well in school to be able to participate in intramurals. Figure 1. 1 2. 3 Effects on Attendance As was stated in section 2. 1, students would be more likely to do good in school because they must maintain a GPA of at least a 2. 0 on a 4. 0 scale. If students are to good in school, they must attend school and do well. Attendance is important to do good in school, so intramurals must effect attendance, right? This can be proven if the rules of the NCAA Proposition 48 are followed. 2. 4 Effects on Grades Again, the NCAA Proposition 48 proves that sports do have a major impact on grades, but only because they have to. Students must do good in school if they want to participate in intramurals. Figure 1. 2 2. 5 Right to Give Students a Choice in Sports According to the Constitution, we all have the right to free speech (Amendment 1). If this is true, then it should also give us all the right to a vote. So shouldn’t students be able to vote on whether or not to include football in intramurals? In addition to that, students should also have the right to vote on whether or not to choose if they want to play football as their intramural if it is added to intramurals. The point to be made here is that we all have a right to vote, so we feel that there should be a vote at ATCC on whether or not to add football to the list of intramurals. Our voices should be heard if there is something that we truly believe will benefit the people and the school better. 2. 6 Comparison to Schools with Football as an Intramural Sport It is very difficult to compare ATCC with other schools with intramural sports, and especially since ATCC doesn’t have football as an intramural. However, according to the following website, these are the community colleges that do include football as a sport of choice: http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/List_of_community_college_football_programs This website gives all of the schools that have football as a sport of choice. On this list, some of the schools are also listed on the list of the top community colleges in the US. ATCC ranked #8 on the list, while St. Paul College ranked #1, and they do have football as a sport [ (Washington Monthly, 2010) ]. So, could football actually help our students do better in school? It appears that it could, since 57% of all men in colleges played football [ (Heinlien, 2007) ]. 3. 0 Conclusion In conclusion, due to the facts given in the above sections, we believe that students should be able to participate in a vote for football as an intramural at ATCC. Also, whether the vote happens or not, football should be added to the intramural list to improve student participation, and to improve not only attendance, but grades too. 4. 0 Appendix 5. 0 Glossary Intramural-involving only students in the same school or college. That’s the only word we feel the need to define 6. 0. Works Cited Begnaud, B. (2007, February 15). The Effect of Athletic Involvement on GPA. Retrieved November 28, 2012, from Yahoo Answers: http://voices. yahoo. com/the-effect-athletic-involvement-gpa-benefits-201277. html? cat=25 Heinlien, E. (2007, October 28). The Benefits of Intramural Sports. Retrieved November 29, 2012, from Helium: http://www. helium. com/items/670511-the-benefits-of-intramural-sports Mueller, J. (2012, February 16). Do Sports Have an Affect on GPA. Retrieved November 29, 2012, from Stat Crunch: http://www. statcrunch. com/5. 0/viewreport. php? reportid=23966 Walter, T. (n. d. ). How Do Professional Sports in the US Rank in Popularity. Retrieved December 1, 2012, from Wiki Answers: http://wiki. answers. com/Q/How_do_professional_sports_in_the_US_rank_in_popularity Washington Monthly. (2010). College Guide. Retrieved December 1, 2012, from Washington Monthly: http://www. washingtonmonthly. com/college_guide/rankings_2010/community_colleges. php.

Herman Miller Inc Essay

From the headquarters of Herman Miller Inc. , Curt Pullen talks amid the unmistakable pounding sounds and commotion associated with a construction work site about his company’s plan to rebound from the recession. Pullen, the firm’s executive vice president and president of North America, says the workers are installing new lower-height Herman Miller workstations designed to accommodate a growing trend in offices toward more open, collaborative environments. The new product, called Canvas, is part of the company’s market-shift strategy after the demand for office furniture fell hard during the economic downturn. The plan also involves diversifying into the health care and academic furniture markets and more emphasis on emerging economies. The plan appears to be paying off. For the first time in nearly four years the company reported two consecutive quarters of double-digit percentage sales growth after releasing its second-quarter earnings statement on Dec 15th. Orders in the second quarter rose 34% to $462 million. CEO Brian Walker noted the company’s expanded market reach as a contributing factor to growth. Significant increases occurred in international markets where sales rose 33%. In 2010 the company acquired UK-based ergonomic workstation manufacturer Colebrook Bosson Saunders and purchased assets from Australian furniture maker Living Edge Group. In 2008, the company announced a partnership with China’s Posh Office Systems Ltd. to expand in the Asia-Pacific region. The company attributed a year-end surge to gains in its international, health care, learning and retail vertical markets. The expanding health care industry has become one of the company’s key growth targets. One of the more recent expansions into the health care field came on Jan. 31 when Herman Miller completed its acquisition of health care furniture manufacturer Nemschoff Chairs LLC based in Sheboygan, Wis. Herman Miller designed the Canvas workstation at a lower height than traditional workstations to facilitate a workplace trend toward more collaborative environments. The design also allows more light into work areas and saves space, the company says. Including sinks and headwalls, to be reconfigured to meet patient needs. 2. Business Strategy: Broad Differentiation Strategies This strategy pursues the buyer’s needs and preference to make them satisfied with the product. And to be different from other rivals, the product must have unique product attributes that a wide range of buyers find appealing and worth paying for. The strategy achieves its aim when an attractively large numbers of buyers find the customer buyer value proposition. Herman miller is pursuing this strategy as we refer to the case study that their products are based on the design which is designed according to the people who use the furniture. Like the president of Herman Miller said: ‘people are important not the furniture. Furniture should be useful’. Besides, this company emphasizes on product design and environmental friendly, these are two basic things that they have been practicing for many decades. Furthermore, they also invest more in research and development for product innovation. Take an example of office design product, Herman Miller’s Insight and Exploration team observed various workplaces to analyze how people collaborate and the ways in which their interactions vary over the course of a day, and throughout the life of a project by differentiating the subtleties of how, when, where, and why people connect independent of content or industry. Senior Researcher Shilpi Kumar notes that, â€Å"outlining these collaborative work behaviors will empower designers and decision makers with a greater understanding for how people really work, and will enable more informed choices in regards to office spaces. Herman Miller takes advantage of the growing desire for green products to create a better world and increase ergonomic furniture, because the consumers are willing to pay a premium for such quality and social responsible product. Since the designer of Herman Miller emphasized quality, excellence, and the continual improvement of their products, obviously one of their product which is designed by Charles and Ray Eames since its launch in 1950 had developed from plastic chair to wood chair in 2000. She also confirmed that this wood chair is 100 times recyclable since Herman Miller is concerned about environmental friendly, and Eames Molded Wood Side Chair earns â€Å"Gold† award at NeoCon 2013 in the Guest Seating category. 3. Functional strategy: Research and Development (R&D) This category focuses on strategy that is concerned with the actions in managing particular functions within a business especially in R&D. In terms of Herman Miller R&D, they invested in research and development (R&D) financially. Although there was downturn in financial, Herman Miller still invested tens of millions of dollars in R&D. The investment in R&D was code named Purple. A result of investment in R&D was an outgrowth of project Purple. The goal of this project was to spread beyond the boundaries of normal business. Herman miller created a special team called the accessories team in which the team-identified a potential growth area. This team is made to recruit people with different disciplines needed to support that goal. In addition, this team focuses on contributing ideas to the success of the team from all resources and also to develop a particular product as it goes through that piece of work. This project is in line with functional strategy of R&D in which a company’s product development represents the plan for keeping the company’s product in accordance with what buyers are looking for (Thompson et al, 2014). In the case of Herman Miller Inc, they began with research in every real design solution in which the exploitation and insights of the best research leads to human-centered design and problem solving. Herman Miller Inc is doing many things for R&D in the case of education, sustainability, performance, healthcare, manufacturing, architectures design and ergonomics. Herman Miller Inc has its major R&D activities and projects, i. e. its way to support and develop a company’s product. According to Herman Miller’s financial statement for fiscal years 2006-2011, there was a decline in design and research in 2009 due to the ongoing economic downturn. Figure 1. 1: Spending on Design and research So far, they have done some research projects regarding education such as; student’s research work behaviors behind innovation spaces. In the fall 2012, there was a project Herman Miller funded as a way of investing in the next generation of workers by giving students the chance to apply what hey learn in a real-world setting. Herman Miller wanted them to look at the business objective of the company. Besides Herman Miller providing the funds, the employees of the company also participated in the project. After the field research, the goal of this project was that the students shared what they had learned from going to the company for a workshop. The company also wanted to discover more about places that encourage creativity and the places of creative people. Besides Herman Miller providing the funds, the employee of the company also participated in the project. In regarding with the research in technology, the research starts by understanding which technological trends are creating new behaviors in the workplace. So from that, they can produce new design solution. Over the last three years, a group of designers, engineers, and researchers, the Insight Herman Miller and Exploration Team (I & E) has focused on emerging technologies and how they alter social behavior in the workplace. Herman Miller’s goal is to identify the technology trends that are relevant to the office and also understanding new behaviors that allow the designers, architects and manufacturers to bring new workplace design. For healthcare, Herman Miller Healthcare saw the opportunity to study and analyze by doing the research from the discussion of Bluewater health in which prior to design development and also the satisfaction and safety of patients and staff members. Herman Miller Healthcare is sponsoring a research project that will explore how changes in the built environment have affected staff in three important areas: Ambulatory Care, Intensive Care Unit and Emergency Department. 3 4. Functional Strategies: Marketing Marketing is one of the strategies used under functional strategy. First and foremost, Herman Miller products were sold internationally through wholly owned subsidiaries in countries including Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Australia, Singapore, China, India, and the Netherlands. Hence, they use the international strategy to compete its products in each country. In other words, they use the foreign subsidiary strategies because it seemed that they prefer to have a direct control over all aspects of operating in a foreign country that is the reason why they established wholly owned subsidiaries. As a result, this strategy was successful as their brand was recognized by customers and increased customer base spreading over 100 countries. Moreover, they used green marketing strategy to sell their products. This is because they mainly focus on environmental friendly such as Mirra chair, one of their products which was made of 45 percent recycled materials, and 96 percent of its material were recyclable. Therefore, the chairs used 100 percent renewable energy. Due to this strategy used, Mirra chair was recorded as one of the Top 10 Green Products by Architectural Record and Environmental Building News. Hence, this can indicate the success of using this strategy. In addition, Herman Miller engaged in cooperating advertising with strategic partners. As the example of Hilton Garden Inns which they equipped the Mirra chair in some room and on the desk in the room, was a card that explain how to adjust the chair while also providing the advertisement of Herman Miller’s website, how to purchase the products. Likewise, this is one of the advertising used to promote their products by using the strategic partner. As a result, they can reduce the advertising cost and gain more brand awareness. . Operating Strategy: Lean Production Initially, at Spring Lake, Herman Miller had invested in a giant robot assembly that welded supports inside file cabinet housings, including a tractor-trailer-length automated welding line with 1,000 sensors to drive labor completely out of the process. Unfortunately, big customers like Hewlett-Packard and AT&T were pulling their orders of 100 instead of 500 and some wanted file cabinets in two weeks instead of six with much higher quality. The Spring Lake plant could not deliver, and certainly not for the lower prices customers demanded. 995, they adapted Toyota’s leading-edge formula for plant-floor management into an approach they called the Herman Miller Performance System (Booz&co. , 2010, para 20). Based on the above quote, it depicted that Herman Miller’s decision to employ Herman Miller Performance System (HMPS); lean production, was to maintain efficiencies and cost savings by minimizing the amount of inventory on hand through a just-in-time process. To ensure a fluid flow on the order – driven production, Herman Miller collaborated with reliable and strategic suppliers. HMPS created competitive advantage through large assembly – manufacturing based. For example, direct materials and components purchased as needed to meet the demand and some suppliers delivered parts to Herman Miller production facilities five or six times per day. This resulted in a standard lead time of 10 to 20 days for majority of the products and low inventories on hand. Interestingly, HMPS managed to increase the variable costs rather than fixed costs while retaining proprietary control over manufacturing process. It was reported that â€Å"the plant managers across Herman Miller have learned that the best-run plants rely on people, not machines. Only people can solve problems to make assembly lines go faster, run cheaper, and deliver higher quality† (Booz&co. , 2010, para 25). Therefore, it can be concluded that labor intensive approach tend to outperform machine intensive approach especially when the products demand further customization with limited time and the majority of industry products are built to each customer’s unique order. Question 2: Culture at HMI: healthy and largely supportive of good strategy execution. Herman Miller had codified its long-practiced organizational values, intended as a basic for uniting all employees, building relationship, and contributing to society. Herman Miller started in 1905 with the Star Furniture Company and created the Herman Miller furniture company with his son in law named Dirk Jan De Pree. From the beginning, De Pree committed himself to treating all workers as individuals with specials talents and potential. This was part of Herman Miller’s corporate culture which continued to generate respect for all employees and take advantage of the diversity of skills possessed by all. This is one of the functional strategies in corporate culture in Herman Miller Inc in which included the company’s approach to people management, procedures and operating practices that provide the guidelines for the behavior of the company. The impact of this culture became one of the competitive advantages that make strong management and employee satisfaction in the company. The business principles and ethical standard of Herman Miller are the management practices as the key of company’s culture. Herman Miller was one of the furniture company named to Fast Company’s â€Å"Most Innovative Companies† in both 2008 and 2010. Herman Miller had pursued a path of reinvention and renewal. Herman Miller has many ways to develop their products and its culture is also unique. Through the growing of the company, Herman Miller maintains the relationship with the employees. Herman Miller’s commitment to innovation included sharing ideas and opinions from the employees. On January 1979, Herman Miller established new organization structures that included all employees were to be given the opportunity to discuss new plan in small group settings. In addition, Herman Miller also established a plan in which all employees became shareholders. Herman Miller Inc. also focuses on more efficient and environmentally friendly by taking a major initiative in 1981. It is in line with a better world value which is pursuing sustainability and environmental policy. They established environmental quality action team whose goal was to coordinate environmental programs worldwide that involves many employees. A Herman Miller’s culture is grounded in and resides to certain core value and some sets for ethical behavior. Herman Miller had long practiced organizational values that were still used in 2012. The values are as basis for uniting all employees, building relationship, adapt the implied attitude, behaviors and work practices. The company adopted inclusiveness which means they include all the expressions of human talent and potential that society offers. As mentioned before, Herman Miller corporate culture continued to create respect to all employees and looking for and utilizing the skills possessed by anyone. The second value is design in which it is important to Herman Miller Inc. in order to make innovative products. It is the way for them for looking at the world and how it can work. The results of this value are Herman Miller established many innovative products and designs. In 1971 and 1984, they introduced products based on ergonomics principles such as the Ergon chair and Equa chair. For another groundbreaking design, it introduced the Aeron chair which was almost added to New York Museum of Modern Art’s permanent design collection in 1990. Other important values are based on Herman Miller’s best performance that focuses on enriching the lives of employees, customers and create value for the shareholders. The result of this value has made Herman Miller share the gains and pains with the employees especially about the compensation. All employees received a base pay and they also participated in a profit sharing program where they received stock in accordance to the company’s financial performance. The company also offered to the employees the employee stock purchase plan (ESPP), retirement income plan, offered annual bonus to all employees based on company’s performance, and in regard to profit sharing both the employees and executives have same calculation of bonus potential. High performance culture In Herman Miller Inc. there is a strong sense of involvement on the part of company personnel and emphasis on individual initiative and creativity. Two of the greatest strengths lie behind our heritage of research-driven design. Respecting and encouraging risks, exploring new ideas and freedom of speech. Owners actively committed to the life of the community called Herman Miller, pride in doing things right, sharing in its success and risks. The strengths and payoff really comes in when engaging in people’s own problems, solutions and behavior. Performance is required at the highest level possible. Herman Miller enriches employees’ lives, delight its customers, and create value for its shareholders. Herman Miller includes all the express human talent and potential, everyone should have a chance to realize his or her potential regardless of color, gender, age, sexual orientation. It believes that skill; different educational background could bring the company uniqueness. Adaptive Culture Herman Miller always keep innovating its products to serve their customers better. Herman Miller’s corporate culture, which continued to generate respect for all employees, had fueled the quest to tap the diversity of gifts and skill held by all. The company designs products according to what people want the most, and it is a way of looking at the world and how it works or does not. To design a solution, rather than simply devising one, required research, thought sometime starting over, listening and humility. Manager and employees support each other in dealing with working environment. Herman Miller designed the Canvas workstation, at a lower height than traditional workstations to facilitate a workplace trend toward more collaborative environments. The design also allows more light into work areas and saves space, the company says. Additionally, the company also keeps changing its production designs from time to time according to the needs of the people and follow ergonomic system. Herman Miller hired much expertise to design its furniture, and it is costly to spend on R;D but company the company was willing to take risks on new innovation. Financial performance Year 2008 2009 2010 2011 Revenue ($ millions) $ 2,012. 1 $1,630. 0 $1,318. 8 $1,649. 2 R;D to Sales Ratio R;D/Sale 51. 2 / 2,012. 1 = 2. 5 % 45. 7 / 1,630. 0 = 2. 8 % 40. 5 / 1,318. 8 = 3. 1 % 45. 8 / 1,649. 2 = 2. 8 % Table 2. : HMI’s Revenues and R;D to Sales ratio from 2008 to 2011 Figure 2. 1: Research and development (R;D) to Sales ratio from 2008 to 2011 The above graph shows the trend of R;D sales ratio which increases from year 2008 until 2010. However, it decreased slightly in 2011 due to low R;D investment because of recession. However, it is not clear whether measuring the R;D ratio is a good metric to represent its efficiency towards a company. This is because it takes into consideration the R;D expenses rather than R;D investment thus it is easy to manipulate the number by lowering the R;D expenditure. Even, in the balance sheet of Herman Miller, the R;D investment is not disclosed under assets. If R;D is capitalized as asset, then it depicts the efficiency of R;D towards business revenues. In brief, due to that constraint, we assume that at least the R;D sales ratio increases and contributes positively towards Herman Miller’s business structure as Herman Miller invests heavily in R;D to create the furniture. Figure 2. 2: HMI’s Revenues from 2008 to 2011 The above graph illustrates that the trend of sales revenue decreases from year 2008 until 2010. However, it started to increase in year 2011. Thus, in brief, Herman Miller is improving in their sales through investment in Research and Development and produces competitive design. Question 3: HMI’s Financial situation: prior years and its competitors 1. HMI’s financial situation In order to measure the financial performance of Herman Miller Inc, we have used different ratios, such as liquidity, profitability, leverage and activity ratios. Besides, we also compare the financial performance of HMI in relation to its competitors – HNI and Steelcase Inc from 2008 until 2012 based on the above mention ratios. For our case, we have used the current ratio to measure the extent to which the three companies (HMI, HNI and Steelcase) can meet their short term obligations as shown in the figure below. Figure 3. 1: HMI’s current ratio versus its competitors’ ratio The figure above shows the current ratios for the three manufacturers’ of office furniture and equipment for five consecutive years. In the case of Herman Miller Inc. , their current ratio showed some slight increase of about 1 percent from 2008 to 2009. However, a drop of about 21 percent was xperienced in 2010 but they were still able to maintain a current ratio of greater than 1. In the year 2011 and 2012, there had been a tremendous increase in their current ratio to 1. 76 and 1. 81 respectively. This current ratio of greater than 1 provides additional cushion against unforeseeable contingencies that may arise in the short term. In the case of HNI, their current ratio showed a moderate increase of about 7 percen t from 2008 to 2009. However, for the subsequent years, HNI experienced a decrease in their current ratio of approximately 10 percent from 2010 all the way to 2012. Nonetheless, they were able to maintain a current ratio of at least 1 to ensure that the value of their current assets covers at least the amount of their short term obligations. As for Steelcase, their current ratio showed a moderate increase of about 8 percent from 2008 to 2010. On the other hand, the company experienced a decrease of roughly 8 percent in the year 2011 but they were still able to maintain a current ratio of greater than 1. However, Steelcase managed to have an increase in their current ratio from 1. 37 in 2011 to 1. 52 in 2012. Overall, Herman Miller Inc. as shown a significant increasing trend in their current ratio as compared to the other two companies. This may suggest improved liquidity of the company or a more conservative approach to working capital management. ii. Profitability ratios: Profitability ratios measure management’s overall effectiveness as shown by the returns generated on sales and investment. There are a number of ratios under profitability but for our case, we have used the Return on Assets (ROA) to measure the after-tax profits per dollar of assets and Gross Profit Margin which measures the total margin available to cover operating expenses and yield a profit. These two ratios have been used to evaluate the three companies (HMI, HNI and Steelcase). Figure 3. 2. 1: HMI’s return on asset ratio versus its competitors’ ratio The figure above shows the Return on Assets for the three manufacturers’ of office furniture and equipment for five consecutive years. In the case of Herman Miller Inc. , there has been a decreasing trend of ROA in the year 2008 to 2010 from 19 percent to 4 percent respectively. This shows that the profitability of the company is deteriorating. Nevertheless, rom the year 2010 to the year 2012, the company has shown some slight increasing trend of ROA from 4 percent to 9 percent respectively. This indicates that the company’s profitability is quite improving over the years. When it comes to HNI, it has also shown a high decreasing trend of ROA in the year 2008 to 2011 from 5 percent to -0. 6 percent respectively. This shows that the profitability of the company is extremely deteriorating. However , in the year 2012, there was an increase of about 4 percent as compared to the previous year. The company was able to move from -0. 6 percent to 3. 8 percent. This signifies that the company’s profitability is slightly improving. Lastly for Steelcase, there has also been a high decreasing trend of ROA from the year 2008 to 2010 with about 6 percent and -0. 8 percent respectively. This shows that the profitability of the company is extremely deteriorating. However, there was a slight increasing trend of ROA in 2011 and 2012 of 1. 02 percent and 3. 33 percent respectively. This means that the company’s profitability is somewhat improving. Overall, Herman Miller Inc. has shown a considerable increasing trend in their ROA over the years as compared to the other two companies. This may imply effective use of assets and creation of high margins by the company as well as gauging how well the company uses its financing from borrowing and bonds. Figure 3. 2. 2: HMI’s gross profit ratio versus its competitors’ ratio The figure above shows the Gross Profit Margin for the three manufacturers’ of office furniture and equipment for five consecutive years. In the case of Herman Miller Inc. , there has been a slight decrease of the Gross Profit Margin in the year 2008 to 2009 from 34. 72 percent to 32. 37 percent respectively. However, from the year 2010 to the year 2012, the company has shown some slight increase in their Gross Profit Margin from 32. 49 percent to 34. 26 percent respectively. This indicates that the company can make a reasonable profit. For HNI, there has been an increasing trend of the Gross Profit Margin from the year 2008 to 2011 with about 33. 66 percent and 34. 6 percent respectively. However, in the year 2012, there was a slight decrease of about 1. 3 percent as compared to the previous year. The company’s Gross Profit Margin moved from 34. 86 percent to 34. 39 percent. This also signifies that the company can make a reasonable profit. Lastly for Steelcase, it has shown a slight decreasing trend of Gross Profit Margin from the year 2008 to 2010 with 32. 12 percent and 28. 35 percent respectively. However, there was a slight increasing trend of Gross Profit Margin in the subsequent years amounting to 29. 5 percent in 2012. This means that the company can still make a reasonable profit. Overall, HNI has shown a steady increasing trend in their Gross Profit Margin over the years as compared to the other two companies. This may indicate how efficiently the company is using its materials and labor in the production process and gives an indication of the pricing, cost structure, and production efficiency of the company. iii. Leverage ratios This ratio is used to determine the companies’ financing methods, or the ability to meet the obligations. There are many ratios to calculate leverage but the important factors include debt, interest expenses, equity and assets. In this section, we will examine two ratios which are debt to assets and debt to equity ratios. Figure 3. 3. 1: HMI’s debt to asset ratio versus its competitors’ ratio The debt to asset ratio gives us a quick measure of the amount of debt that the company has on its balance sheets compared to its assets. In general, the debt to asset ratio for Herman Miller fluctuated over the years as compared to its competitors – HNI and Steel case. In 2008, the debt to equity ratio for Herman Miller was above 80 percent and rose approximately to 100 percent in 2009, whereas this ratio was just about 61 percent and 57 percent for HNI and Steel case respectively in 2008; and about 58 percent in 2009 for both competitors. This indicated that almost 100 percent of Herman Miller’s assets were financed by debt or creditors which implied that the Company has high level of leverage and risk, while its competitors had roughly 50 percent of their assets financed by the owners. However, Herman Miller’s ratio significantly dropped in 2010 to about 40 percent which was below its competitors who almost maintained their position over the years. In 2012, 70 percent of Herman Miller’s assets were financed by debt. In general, although the company debt to assets ratio is still high in relation to its competitors, the financial performance of the company is improving after the financial crisis. However, the Company needs to further reduce the amount of debt resulting to the reduction of risk; this is because it may affect the company’s survival in the long-run. Figure 3. 3. 2: HMI’s debt to equity ratio versus its competitors’ ratio A debt-to-equity ratio measures the amount of debt a company uses to fund its business for every dollar of equity it has. In other words, it is a measure of a company’s ability to repay its obligations. Generally companies with less debt equity ratio are less risky than the companies with high ratios. As we can see from the graphs, Herman Miller Inc. has the highest ratio over the year in relation to the other companies. For instance, its ratio fluctuated significantly over the years which were at 32. 7 and 94. 91 in 2008 and 2009 respectively. This might be due to the effect of the financial crisis, which caused the company to increase its debt financing heavily. Also, this indicates that the company had substantial high amount of debt as compared to equity which can endanger the long term survival of the firm since the company may not be able to generate enough cash to satisfy its debt obl igations. Meanwhile, debt to equity ratio for HNI and Steel case was roughly lower than 2, which was acceptable for large public companies. For Herman Miller, however, this ratio sharply dropped over the next years to just about 8. 62 in 2010 and 2. 37 in 2012. In contrast, its competitors still can maintain their ratio below two over the next years. In order to improve this ratio, Herman Miller had sold its common stock and tried to lower the mount debt financing, this can be seen by the amount of long-term debt decreasing. This implies that the company’s financial performance has been improving after the financial crisis. In terms of leverage, overall, it can be said that the performance of the company has been improving over the years and regaining its position in the furniture market after the economic downturn. Although it may not do well as compared to its competitors in terms of financing the debt and equity, there is a sign of improvement and effort in positioning its self in the market industry in U. S. iv. Activity Ratios Figure 3. 4. 1: HMI’s Inventory turnover ratio versus its competitors’ ratio The inventory turnover is commonly used to measure the operational efficiency in managing its assets. Based on the figure 4. 1 illustrated above, in 2009, Herman Miller Inc. has the highest ratio compared to other years. This high ratio could indicate two conditions, such as; whether the company has strong sales during the year or it has an ineffective buying activity. However, it is perceived that the company did have strong sales proven from the lowest level of inventory and high sales revenue which are seen in the annual report during the year. While in 2010, Herman Miller Inc. ’s turnover ratio drops significantly compared to the other years. Its cost of sales for the year has the lowest and showed a decrement of 24% from previous year which simultaneously contribute to low ratio as well as indicating the lack of effectiveness particularly in turning its inventory into sales. One of the reasons is that it could be due to the recession which highly affected the company, and hence making them to reduce the cost of sales. However, Herman Miller Inc is getting better in turning its inventory into sales proven from the increment of its ratio by year. Additionally, compared to competitors, the position of the ratio shown for Herman Miller Inc. is located somewhat in the middle. Steelcase is somewhat faster in turning their inventory into sales compared to others. In contrast, HNI has the lowest rate. This proves that Steelcase is more effective in managing its operational assets. Figure 3. 4. 2: HMI’s Average collection period versus its competitors’ ratio Average collection period is the number of days it takes a company to collect its account receivables. As illustrated from the figure 4. 2 above, Herman Miller is getting better in obtaining its receivables shown by the average days taken which was from 58 days in 2008 and 34 days in 2012. This demonstrates that Herman miller Inc. onstantly improve its credit policy effectiveness confirmed by a dramatic slump by years. Comparing to other competitors, originally HNI was the most effective company in managing its credit term policy, as the company only took 38 days in collecting its account receivables compared to Steelcase or Herman Miller. However, the company ended up to be the highest rate at 2012 showing that it is not effective in evaluating company’s credit policy. As a result, when a company possesses a lower average collection period, it is seen as optimal as it indicates that the company does not take very long to turn its receivables into cash. . HMI’s current strategies: an issues of need to change its strategies during poor economic conditions The current Herman Miller strategy which focuses on growth strategy, through innovative products and related diversification made the company to survive the Great Depression early in its history, multiple recessions in 20th century and in early 21st century the company recovered from the dot-com bust and was able to continue expanding overseas. The furniture industry is an economically volatile industry. The office furniture segment of the industry was hit hard by the recession. Industry sales decreased 26. 5 percent during the 2009 economic downturn. However, because of the innovative and diversification, Herman Miller was able to outperform its competitors in terms of sales and profitability, during that time Herman Mill’s sales dropped by 19% which is relatively low in comparison with its competitors HNI Corporation and Steelcase which had dropped by 33 percent and 28% respectively. The furniture industry is at its maturity stage, thus Innovation is crucial to the company’s survival. If Herman Miller continues to successfully innovate, it will enable them to compete in the market strongly. The industry had been negatively impacted telecommunication which had reduced the need office furniture. Yet, more employees were spending more hours in front of the computer screens than ever before. Because of Herman Miller’s effective innovation, they were able to respond to the need of ergonomically correct office furniture that had helped to decrease fatigue and injuries like carpal tunnel syndrome. In summary, the company does not need to radically alter its main strategy which focuses more on innovation and diversification as it’s the reason they were not dramatically hit by recessions and competitions among the rivals. 3. Recommendation: i. Reduced current benefit and incentive schemes There are several incentives that had been eliminated by Herman Miller’s management due to the economic downturn in 2009. The suspend of 401(k) contribution plans (saving contribution plan), cut-off 15 percent of current workforce and 10 percent reduction in salary for remaining workforce had been implemented during the crisis. However the pay cuts was discontinued because of Herman Miller’s quick turnaround. The company was stable starting the year 2011, but the selling, general, and administrative were the highest contribution of the operating expenses. Specifically, â€Å"†¦$3. million and $16. 6 million of additional operating expenses during fiscal 2011 due to the reinstatement of all of our employee benefits and employee incentive expenses† (Herman Miller’s Annual Report, 2011). The company believed that the large benefit and incentives had created motivated and skilful employees which are the key of its competitive advantage. Even though the company has increased in sales as compared to the year 2010, it is important to cut the costs by eliminating some of the less important incentives schemes and benefits such as $100 rebate on a bike purchase, concierge services and one-site services to name a few. Previously, the company had eliminated the 401(k) contribution plan so that they could stop providing some percentage on the employees’ contribution. It is crucial since it could allow the company to save a significant amount of money in the long run (Richardson, 2009). It can be done by communicating the problems and issues which need to be addressed to the staff before they get out of hand. Address the problems proportionately and regular communication could make the staff be aware on their role to support the company throughout the economy downturn. By having it, the staff might accept the decision positively and provide effort to help the company to fully recover after the recession (‘Recession Business Cost Cutting†, 2013). ii. Reduction in company’s cost of sales According to Herman Miller’s Annual Report (2011), the increase in cost of sales for the year 2011 was due to the increase in sales volume that was driven primarily by cost leverage on higher production, which was partially offset by deeper discounting, higher employee benefit and incentive costs, and higher costs of key direct materials, most notably steel and steel components. Besides that, the cost of direct material increased as compared to previous years which there was increase in the cost of commodities and the increase in discounting, which has the effect of reducing net sales The costs of certain manufacturing materials used in producing finished products are sensitive to the volatility of commodity market price. The cost of direct labor and overhead were increased due to increase in product volume while the cost of freight expenses had increased during the year because of increase in product volume as well as increase in fuel costs in 2011. First recommendation to cut the cost of sales in terms of direct material is substituting lower cost material where possible to replace the expensive one and each angle should be considered for better decision. For example, the substitution of carbon steel to replace expensive stainless steel could reduce the cost but the corrosion protection might not last longer. This method should be applied if only the benefit from the substitution is higher than the cost of reduction in quality (Lewis, n. d. ). Second recommendation is by eliminating unnecessary product features to reduce cost. The company should produce a product that really suits customers’ preferences in buying their products. For example, the company should identify whether customers are purchasing its products because of their unique looks, lower price or high quality. If customers buy the products because of their lower price, unique features may not be needed (Lewis, n. d. ). Third recommendation which is the most effective one is by hedging the price of the steel through futures contract. According to Herman Miller’s Annual Report (2011): The company believes market prices for commodities in the near term may move higher and acknowledges that over time increases on its key direct materials and assembly components are likely. Consequently, it views the prospect of such increases as an outlook risk to the business† (p. 34). By locking the price in the contract, it could eliminate any risk of price volatility (â€Å"Hedging in Practice†, 2013). For example, if there is a huge possibility that the price of steel will increase in a certain period of time. Due to that, the company will engage in future contract and lock-in the price for a specific period in the future. Regardless of increase in steel price, the company is eligible to buy the commodity at a lower lock-in price as stated in the agreed future contract. Conclusion Herman Miller Inc. has implemented different strategies in order to improve its performance and expand its self in furniture market, such as diversified strategy, broad differentiation strategy, green marketing, product development and innovation. In addition, besides focusing on those strategies to achieve the business goals, the company also concerns about how it communicates and treat its employees. â€Å"All workers as individuals ith special talents and potential† can be considered as one of the healthy culture at Herman Miller since 1927 and the Company continued to generate respect for all employees and fueled the quest to tap diversity of gifts and skills held by all. According to one of the verse in chapter 42 of the Qur’an: â€Å"Those who hearken to their Lord, and establish regular Prayer; who (cond uct) their affairs by mutual Consultation; who spend out of what We bestow on them for Sustenance† (Quran 42:38) The verse above explains the importance of mutual consent in making a decision. Islam encourages Muslims to decide their affairs by consulting with those who will be affected by the decision. Thus, in the case of Herman Miller, it empowers its employees and nurture participative decision making so that the employees feel as part of the company. Surviving in matured furniture industry and the economic volatility such as recession, demand full cooperation from the whole organization. It is not easy to integrate the diverse nature of employees with different backgrounds and behaviors to achieve goal congruence. Thus, Herman Miller’s healthy culture leads to its employee’s readiness to accept any relevant decision by Herman Miller such as cutting their salaries as the employees work with Herman Miller and not just work for it. Furthermore, in term of design value, the designer team of Herman Miller always emphasized on quality, excellence, and the continual improvement of their products. â€Å"At Herman Miller the products we made decade ago are still sold after today, and products we make today we will do for a decade to come. † All in all, Herman Miller should pursue its current strategies and continue to expand those strategies such as product innovation, diversification and so on. We believe that these strategies have made and will make Herman Miller one of an outstanding and award winning Company. They will continue to provide the Company with the ability to renew and reinvent itself in the furniture market and outperform its rivals in the future. From the explanation above, it gives us a broad view of how the company’s long-term strategy and objective affects all their business: from product design to decision-making process to the culture of the Company.