Case Study on Environmental Health Food Safety Division Program

Running head: ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH DIVISION FOOD SAFETY PROGRAM Environmental Management Department of Sacramento County: Environmental Health Division Food Safety and Protection Program Table of Contents Abstract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 History and Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Goals and Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Description of Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Levels of Intervention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Goal and Objective Relevance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Target Population . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11 Program Evaluation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12 Program Funding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Personnel Qualifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Current Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 Future Needs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Changes to the Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26 Appendix A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28 Appendix B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29 Appendix C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30 Appendix D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32 Abstract Food is a vital ingredient to the survival of life on earth. Food gives people the energy to carry out everyday tasks. With food being so important to life, should it not be of highest quality? Food is prepared, cooked and consumed every minute of every day. How do consumers know that the food is safe? The group members of We 8 A Lot went on a mission to find out exactly how food consumers are protected and by whom. Through research and interviews with the Environmental Management Department of Sacramento County, it was found that there are a group of individuals who work diligently to protect food consumers by inspecting the 6,000 food facilities in Sacramento County. ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT OF SACRAMENTO COUNTY: ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH DIVISION FOOD SAFETY AND PROTECTION PROGRAM Introduction For the case study, our group chose to investigate the Food Protection Program that resides within the Environmental Health Division which operates under the umbrella of the Environmental Management Department (EMD) of Sacramento County. The functions of this department not only protect residents and consumers of this county in the matter of retail food safety but, also by the regulation and enforcement of water protection and hazardous materials. On October 1, 2004, an interview was conducted at the Environmental Health Division office located at 8475 Jackson Road, in Sacramento, with June Livingston, Communications and Media Officer and Richard Sanchez, Environmental Program Manager. In the interview, Mr. Sanchez revealed that there are â€Å"close to 6000, food facilities in this [Sacramento] county† (personal communication, October 1, 2004) With this many retail food facilities in Sacramento County and the consumer culture of Americans, the potential for food-borne illness is staggering. Just one instance of improper handling, storage, or cooking of foods in retail food facilities can cause serious outbreaks of infections or in severe cases, death. On average, each day in the United States alone, â€Å"over 200,000 people fall ill with a food-borne illness and of those, fourteen will die† (Sizer & Whitney, 2003, p. 511) Keeping this in mind and the fact that food is one humanity's most basic needs for survival, this agency most definitely warrants study. Since our team was quite large, 8 members, and relative to food, we decided to name it, â€Å"We 8 a lot†. Similarly, due to our team size we decided to split it into halves. One-half of the team devoted their efforts to online and print research while the other half focused on interview and personal communication research. Project tasks were divided between the team members and each member was deemed responsible for his or her content area. Moreover, leadership positions of paper editor, Power Point manager, and team recorder were established on a volunteer basis to avoid any confusion during the project. The members of this team, listed alphabetically are: Simranjot Bains, David Chan, Lynn Gervacio, Safiya Nuur, Joy Pastones, Shantell Payne, Valerie Quitoriano, and Yvonne Rains. History and Development Prior to becoming a department, EMD program elements were housed in the County Health Department. But in 1988, the Sacramento County Environmental Management Department (EMD) became a consolidated, freestanding department consistent with separate City and County advisory body recommendations to merge and augment environmental regulatory activities. Initial program elements included Air Quality, Environmental Health (includes Food Protection Program), and Hazardous Materials Divisions. The Sacramento Air Quality Management District separated from EMD and County Government in 1995. The Environmental Management Department currently has three operating divisions, with Water Protection which was added in 2003. The organizational chart in Appendix A shows the various divisions of the Sacramento County. The Environmental Management Department is one of ten county service agencies. The organizational chart in Appendix B shows how the EMD is further divided. Within the Sacramento EMD, there are three subdivisions that have been listed above. Under the Water Protection, Environmental Health and Hazardous Materials Divisions, there are also a number of subdivisions. Goals and Objectives The Food Protection Program, which is part of the Environmental Health Division (EHD), is responsible for regulation and enforcement of state and local health codes at all retail food facilities in Sacramento County and all incorporated cities. The mission of the agency is to protect the health of the public from unsafe food, water and hazardous materials. The Food Protection Program's goal is to ensure food safety practices at all retail food facilities in Sacramento County and to become a world leader in terms of clean and uncontaminated food (http://www. hs. ca. gov/ps/fdb/HTML/Food/indexfoo. htm). Achieved Goals The Food Protection Program of Sacramento County has achieved many goals. First, the agency has increased the number of inspections from once a year to twice a year for facilities that prepare food. Second, it has developed an enhanced â€Å"Prioritized Inspection Frequency Compliance† on their website to assist businesses in the county (http:/ /www. emd. saccounty. net/Documents/Info/Bulletin0503-prioritized_inspection_frequency. pdf. ). This site answers many questions and has information about the laws and requirements. Third, as of July, 1 2003, the Food Protection Program has mandated all businesses to post their most recent inspection report in a visible place for customers to read. Fourth, the agency has â€Å"initiated an ‘Award of Excellence' in Food Safety to recognize operators of food facilities in Sacramento County and all incorporated cities who exhibit excellent food safety and sanitation standards† (http://www. emd. saccounty. net/EH/EMDFoodSafetyAwards. htm. ). Long Term Goals The Food Protection Program also has many long-term goals. First, the program seeks to increase the surveillance on food markets such as Raley’s, Bel-Air, Albertsons, Safeway, and smaller, family owned markets. The program wants to inspect these businesses twice a year instead of the current one-year inspection. The second long-term goal of the program is to change from hand written inspection reports to computer-based inspections. In order to do this, the program needs to purchase additional equipment such as laptops or some other computer devices that would allow employees to type their inspection. In order to achieve these goals, the program needs to save money and implement additional training for their employees. (personal communication, September 18, 2004). The third, long-term goal of the Food Protection Program is to generate more interest in this field. Ms. Livingston, who is the Communications and Media Officer of the Environmental Management Department, commented that â€Å"the people [public] are not quite sure who does th[is] work†, referring to the functions of EMD. Ms. Livingston also commented that they will do more â€Å"outreach and awareness programs to let people know that food protection is profession (personal communication, September 18, 2004). Description of Services Some of the services the Food Protection Program provides are permitting, inspecting and re-inspecting of retail food facilities. The agency also provides food safety education to train employees of food facilities to improve compliance in terms of food safety regulations and reduction of the incidence of food borne-illness. It also issues permits for new businesses and provides outreach programs for the public. The Food Protection Program investigates complaints and suspected cases of food borne-illnesses when they do occur. Finally, as a last resort, the agency can enforce closure of food facilities with consistent non-compliance (http://www. emd. saccounty. net/pdf/CURFFL. pdf. ). Levels of Intervention The levels of intervention of the Food Protection Program function on primary, secondary, and tertiary levels. Primary prevention of the agency is enacted through education, outreach, regulation, and inspection. The agency inspects food facilities to prevent contamination of food and food borne-illnesses from the public. Secondary prevention of the Food Protection Program is accomplished through the re-inspection process. When businesses have major violations, they are given a two week period to correct the problem. Once the problems have been corrected, the re-inspection process ensures compliance. Finally, the tertiary level of prevention of the Food Protection Program closes food facilities that have consistent major violations and or violations that are not corrected in a timely fashion. Major violations are those that pose public health hazards such as contaminated equipment (personal communication, September 18, 2004). Goal and Objective Relevance The goals and objectives of the agency address the human ecology and heath studied. The agency provides educational programs through scientific principals to protect the heath of the public and the environment. The Food Protection Program Agency completes these tasks through teamwork and a cooperative approach (http://www. emd. saccounty. net/pdf/CURFFL. pdf). As Richard Sanchez, emphasized, â€Å"the point [of the program] is not to try and fine people, but the first thing we want to do is to educate people and help them understand what it is that they are supposed to do (2004). † Mr. Sanchez also mentioned that â€Å"when people know what food borne-illness is, they are less likely to violate the laws. One of the big ones is hand washing. Something so simple can prevent so much† (personal communication, September 18, 2004). Target Population The Environmental Health Division goals are to deliver outstanding service to all Sacramento County residents including the incorporated cities of Isleton, Folsom, Elk Grove, Galt, Rancho Cordova and Citrus Heights. They also aim to service the visitors in the area as well. The population of this county is over 1. 2 million residents, which is about 1200 persons per square mile. There are food venues developing everywhere to meet the demand of the consumers. The venues where food is served, either cooked or prepackaged, will be subject to an inspection and will be given a permit once it has passed. The typical venues consist of: restaurants (fast food, ice cream shops, delicatessens, coffee shops, sandwich shops), mobile food units, bars, taverns, commissaries, bed and breakfasts, school cafeterias, day/child care facilities, senior non-profit nutrition programs, convenience stores, dairies, and farmers markets as well as special or temporary events such as the fair, and craft or street fairs. During the inspection, even the smallest attributes of food preparation and serving styles are observed. EHD is now striving to complete two inspections per year to better the service of the community and lessen the risk for any food-borne illnesses in the future. Program Evaluation The Environmental Health Division of the Food Safety Protection Program does not have a formal evaluation process; however, they do participate in voluntary evaluations. The purpose of an evaluation is to determine whether the objectives of the program are being met and to provide feedback to improve the program. If we were to evaluate this program, we would use summative evaluations, which are used to determine how well the program has met their predetermined short term and long-term goals and objectives. Summative evaluations use two types of procedures, impact and outcome. Impact procedures are used mainly for immediate, short-term effects while outcome procedures are used for long-term effects. For the EHD Food Safety Protection Program, we would assess a set number of food-borne illnesses and a set number of food safety violations and then evaluate how well the program worked to make sure they did not exceed those limits. Even though the food protection program does not have a formal evaluation process, ironically, they won a 2004 Challenge Award from the California State Association of Counties. Out of 163 Challenge Award entries from 38 counties, the Sacramento County Food Safety Education for Restaurants Program was one of the 10 recipients of the Award. The award was based on demonstrated leadership, innovation, creativity, resourcefulness and effectiveness, as well as the potential for successful elements of the program to be used as a model for other counties. One of the reasons hypothesized why they might have gotten the award was because of their affiliations. The Food Safety Program is a member of the California Restaurant Association (CRA), where the annual membership fee is based on the gross revenue of the program. CRA has been representing approximately 20,000 foodservice establishments in California since 1906. Some of the benefits of membership in the CRA are discounts and savings on essential products, programs and services. Moreover, members are also kept informed on the latest industry issues through newsletters, publications, and resources. Program Funding The Environmental Health Division's financing sources come from four different areas: reimbursements, charges for services, reserve release, and other revenues. The department receives no tax money from the government; however, the department does receive some government grants, but not of any significant amount under the food program. Most of the Environmental Management Department’s large grants are given to the Hazardous materials division, rather than the Environmental Health division, under which the food program is directed. The U. S. Federal Drug Administration did give the food program a small grant in the amount of $5,000 to get their staff training sessions. These grants are listed under the reimbursement area. The charges for services category consists of re-inspection fees, which are billed when food facilities use more time than what the permit pays for. These fees are allocated at the hourly rate of up to $149. 00. The third area, the reserve release, makes improvements possible and makes additional money available if needed. This financial source comes from saving extra money left over from the previous month’s finances. Once there is a need for money that isn’t being met by the three other financial resources, then money is taken out of the reserve. Also if improvements need to be made, such as a new computer system, then the reserve covers this cost. The Environmental Health Division earns the majority of their revenues from the services they provide, which is listed under the other revenue area. Every food facility requires a permit from the Environmental Health Division and is charged a fee for their inspection. Some facilities are inspected once a year, but recently the requirements changed for higher-risk facilities (food preparation sites) to be inspected twice a year. The total budget for the food program is $2,840,243, while the entire budget for the whole program is close to $13 million. Another service the Environmental Health Division provides and earns revenues from is the Food Safety Education program (FSE). The program encompasses two classes about food safety, in which they charge $20 per person for attending. They also offer to perform the classes at the actual food facility site for $400. Despite the fact that the Environmental Health Division receives no tax money from the government, Richard Sanchez believes it is a good thing. He states that when there is a tax cut in government funding, then agencies start having to cut people. He proudly claims that they have never had to cut people, but rather they are adding positions (personal communication, September 18, 2004). In fact, most of their expenditures are from staffing fees. The other two financial uses the department covers are reserve provisions and services and supplies. As mentioned earlier, the reserve provisions consist of extra money that is saved until further needed for improvements or in case financial sources are running low. The money spent on services and supplies is directed towards rent and office provisions. Some of the services the Food Program uses are classified into special interfund/intrafund charges and reimbursements. This would include lab analysis services from a Sacramento County agency. If the inspectors want to have a closer look at a particular facility’s food quality, then an analysis of that food would be performed. The services used by the Food Program would not be paid in cash, rather it would be seen as a trade out to the other Sacramento agency in return for services from the Food Program such as a permit or inspection of that agency’s food facility. Personnel Qualifications Currently, in the County of Sacramento Environmental Management Department there are 110 employees. Of those 110 individuals, 27 are employed within the Food Protection Program. Employment opportunity of the Environmental Health Division varies from what is referred to as a Level I to a Level IV position of Environmental Health Specialist. The minimum qualifications of the Level I position require one year of experience performing technical support or a completion of twelve semester units from a college or university in physical science, life science, or engineering. The salary offered to the Environmental Health Specialist I is $2509. 00 to $3398. 00 per month. The variation in salary is due to experience. If the employee has just started, the salary begins at $2509. 00, but as the person gains experience within the field, the salary increases up to a certain point; which is $3398. 0 per month. In order to grow within the field at all levels, the employee needs to complete the supplemental questionnaire, which encompasses: the employee’s level of education, experience in technical support and public health contact work, possession of current California driver’s license, knowledge of different cultures, and English fluency. Once the questionnaire is submitted, the panel group sets a date for the employee to take a test. The test is divided into ranks, and usually the first three ranks are chosen for the job. Once, the employee has qualified, then the new title given. The position of Environmental Health Specialist II, ranges in salary from $3659. 00 to $4447. 00 per month. This employee should be able to research, interpret, and apply environmental laws and regulations. This position requires the candidate to have: (1) graduation degree in health science, public health, natural science or physical science, (2) one year of experience in environmental research or regulation, or (3) Registered Environmental Health Specialist certification. The third level of employment known as the Environmental Health Specialist III covers field inspections and research. Some of the duties performed are: organization and analysis of environmental data collected, development and preparation of studies related to regulatory compliance, meeting with business owners to develop solutions to achieve compliance, training and guiding other staff members, and preparation of written analyses and recommendations. This position’s salary starts at $4367. 00 and ends at $5308. 00 per month. In order to qualify for this position, the candidate must have a Master’s degree in health science, public health, physical science, or environmental health and a one-year experience in environmental inspection, enforcement, regulation, analysis, or a previous title of Registered Environmental Health Specialist II certification. Environmental Health Specialist IV is the last level of employment and in this position, the candidate is considered a supervisor and is responsible for a team of scientific, professional, and technical staff. At this level, the candidate is paid from $5392. 00 to $5945. 00 per month. He or she plans, organizes, and reviews the work of the team. The candidate also participates in developing and implanting new policies, procedures, programs, regulations, and guidelines related to inspections, enforcement, compliance, and scientific studies. Besides these positions there are also student intern positions which require the student to perform basic duties such as answering the phone, filing, distributing the mail, and helping in research. The students are allowed to work a maximum of 24 hours per week and the only students who qualify for this position are those who are in their last year of completing their degree. Current Status Currently, the services provided by the food safety program are mandated by the State of California in accordance with local provisions and the California Uniform Retail Food Facilities Law (CURFFL), which finds and declares that the public health interest requires that there be uniform statewide health and sanitation standards for retail food facilities to assure the people of this state that food will be pure, safe, and unadulterated. It is the intention of this Legislature to occupy the whole field of health and sanitation standards for these food facilities . . and regulations adopted pursuant to its provisions shall be exclusive of all local health and sanitation standards relating to these facilities. (http://www. Emd. saccounty. net/pdf/CURFFL2004. pdf, p. 4) Since this program is mandated by the state, the food safety program of the Environmental Health Division is at no risk for disruption or dismantling. Twenty-seven, Registered Environmental Health Specialis ts will continue to inspect retail food facilities twice annually (effective July 1, 2003). Although the state mandates inspection twice yearly, Mr. Sanchez, conceded in the interview that markets such as Raley's are only getting inspected once annually. As of the end of September, 2004, the Environmental Health Division has completed â€Å"6,132† inspections of retail food facilities and â€Å"742† inspections of area dairies (http://www. saccounty. net/pdf/EMD-2004-10_Update. pdf. , p. 4). Aside from routine inspections and re-inspections of retail food facilities, Environmental Health continues to offer food safety education and certification classes as well as community outreach events designed to inform consumers and retailers about food safety and compliance with state and local health codes. This group attended an outreach event held at Carmichael Park, on September 18, 2004, where the Environmental Health Division booth activities included a hamburger cooking demonstration to demonstrate proper cooking temperatures as well as safe food handling techniques. Other activities performed by the Environmental Health Division include responding to consumer complaints, investigation of cases of food-borne illness, there have been â€Å"180† cases in Sacramento County as of the end September of this year, evaluation of plans for new food facilities, as well as the granting of permits for these new food facilities (http://www. accounty. net/pdf/EMD-2004-10_Update. pdf, p. 4). Moreover, the Environmental Health Division continues to collect fees for their services and proudly distinguishes qualifying retail food facilities with their â€Å"Award of Excellence† for food safety. Last year, ninety-three area establishments were the recipients of this award. Future Needs The Food Safety and Protection Program is a growing program. As the number of food facilities in the Sacramento area increase, so do the needs of the program. Some of the future needs of the program include an increase in the number of employees for the program, improved outreach programs, software program to improve inspections and inspection reports, and an implementation of a restaurant grading system. The first need of the program is an increase in the number of employees. With only 27 employees who actually do work under the Food Safety and Protection Program, the job of inspecting 6,000 food facilities plus other required tasks is certainly overwhelming. One might think, â€Å"Why don’t they just go ahead and hire more people? Working for the EHD not only requires a college degree but employees must also obtain certification deeming themselves Registered Environmental Health Specialists. Now one might think â€Å"What is a Registered Environmental Health Specialist? † To answer the above question, the program needs to create an awareness of the position. This leads us to the second need of the program. The Food Safety and Protection program is in need of an improved outreach program. Up until finding out what personnel qualifications were needed, we did not know what a Registered Environmental Health Specialist was. More concentrated efforts in outreach programs that introduce and educate people about the validity of their profession may generate more interest in the academic setting thus creating more potential professionals. Another need of the program involves a software program to improve inspections and inspection reports. This program needs to make the change from hand-written reports to typed reports. Going from hand-written to automation would make it much easier for people to read and understand the reports. The final future need of the Food Safety and Protection Program is to implement a restaurant grading system. The restaurant grading system would provide to customers knowledge of where the restaurant stands in terms of food safety compliance. According to June Livingston, â€Å"The restaurants would be given a grade ranging from A-F. â€Å"A† of course being the highest grade to be received and â€Å"F† the lowest. A grade of â€Å"C†, would mean that the restaurant meets minimum compliance requirements† (personal communication, October 27, 2004). The program is still working on the grading system in terms of how it will work and getting legislation to approve the system. Changes to the Program The Food Safety and Protection Program is an extremely successful program under the Environmental Management Department. For 27 employees to be able to inspect 6,000 food facilities is an incredible feat. However, with their measured success, there is some room for improvement. If we were administrators of the program there are a few things that we would do differently. One of the changes that we would make is to the outreach programs. Despite the fact that one of the goals of the program is to have more outreach programs, there is something that we would like to add. In addition to having more outreach programs, we would have the programs target people as early as high school. The outreach should also be targeted at people in colleges and universities. By doing this, a larger audience of people would become knowledgeable of the profession and quite possibly decide to take the path to becoming a Registered Environmental Health Specialist. Another change would be to hire on more employees. With more employees, more work can be done and the current practice of multi-tasking would cease to exist. More employees will allow for more inspections of food facilities thus reducing risk to the public. Increasing inspections of food facilities from annually/biannually to quarterly is another change that we would make as administrators. Food facilities currently undergo one, maybe two inspections a year. Every day new discoveries are made in terms of proper food handling, food-borne illnesses and much more. With these new discoveries, it would be particularly helpful and beneficial that inspections be made on a quarterly basis. Also, more frequent inspections would encourage food facilities to really meet compliance and go above and beyond what is needed for food safety. The final change that we would make to the program is to improve inspection report legibility and visibility. If one were to take a look at an actual inspection report and read the comments written, it usually is difficult to read. We would make the inspection reports typed so that everyone would be able to read exactly what was found at the inspection. We would also improve the visibility of the report. Truth be told, not every food facility has their inspection report visible to the public. We would change this by requiring that establishments post the reports either by the cash register, the doors, in the waiting area if applicable or even by the bathrooms. We would further enforce this requirement by charging the facility a certain fee if the inspection report is not fully visible to the public. The addition of a fee for not having the report visible would not only create added revenue for the program, but it would also get the food facilities to comply more strongly in order to avoid getting fined. With these reports visible, the public would have the ability to find out whether or not they are eating at a food safe establishment. References County of Sacramento Environmental Department Website. (2004). Award of Excellence in Food Safety. Retrieved November 12, 2004 from http://www. emd. saccounty. net/EH/EMDFoodSafetyAwards. htm County of Sacramento Environmental Department Website. (2004). California Uniform Retail Food Facilities Law (CURFFL). Retrieved November 3, 2004 from http://www. Emd. saccounty. net/pdf/CURFFL2004. pdf. County of Sacramento California Website. (2004). County Organization Chart. Retrieved October 16, 2004 from http://www. saccounty. net/portal/about/docs/county-org-chart. pdf. County of Sacramento California Website. (2004). Food Safety Program, Retrieved November 12, 2004 from http://www. dhs. ca. gov/ps/fdb/HTML/Food/indexfoo. htm. County of Sacramento Environmental Department Website. (2004). Prioritized Inspection Frequency, Retrieved November 12, 2004 from http://www. emd. saccounty. net/Documents/Info/Bulletin0503 prioritized_inspection_frequency. pdf County of Sacramento Environmental Department Website. (2004). Update. Retrieved October, 16, 2004 from http://www. saccounty. net/pdf/EMD-2004-10_Update. pdf. Sizer, F. , & Whitney, E. (2003). Food safety and food technology. In E. Howe, & J. Boyd (Eds. ), Nutrition: Concepts and controversies (pp. 509-556). Belmont,USA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning. APPENDIX A: THE ORGANIZATION CHART [pic] Note. From â€Å"County of Sacramento California Website† http://www. saccounty. net/portal/about/docs/county-org-chart. pdf Copyright 2004 by County Executive. Reprinted with permission. APPENDIX B: ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT ORGANIZATION CHART Figure 1. The subdivisions within Environmental Management. APPEDNDIX C: PROPOSAL Proposal This case study seeks to explore the Environmental Health Division within the Environmental Management Department of Sacramento County. Investigation in this agency will reveal how the County of Sacramento protects its residents and consumers from potential health hazards and illnesses originating from retail food facilities. Today, the average consumer rarely worries about the risk of dining out or â€Å"grabbing a bite†; however, factors such as improper storage, cooking and handling of foods or poor sanitation practices have the potential to create serious illness and even death. This agency warrants investigation since food is one of man's most basic and vital needs for survival. ———————– Management Plans Private School Inspections Land Use Evaluation Toxic Site Clean Up Well Monitoring Septic Tanks Recycled Water Industrial Storm water Program Risk Evaluation Accidental Release HazMat Land Use Incident Response Storage Tanks Business Plans Mold Information Lead Illness Investigation Tobacco Retailer Program Medical Waste Recreational Health Food Protection & Safety Education Water Protection Hazardous Materials Environmental Health Environmental Management

Federal Highway Act Essay

The accounting part of the airline industry focuses on the financial statements. The financial statements are composed of the balance sheet, the income statement, and the statement of cash flows. The customers and the general public are more interested in the passenger ticket prices as well as the cargo shipping rates. The following paragraphs expounds on some of the many issues on the United States Airline Industry. In the article The Future of American Transportation Policy, the Federal Highway Act of 1956 was an important milestone in the history of American airline transportation and travel history.  For, it focused on the finished the interstate highway system. Finally, the completion occurred in the early 1990s which where the general agreement on transportation among the Americans had faded away. Many economists had expressed their concern over the American government’s management the transportation infrastructure. (Dilger, 2003). And, in the article The Law on Securities, was approved into law within the market economy development and the entrepreneurship program as the 1989 era closed. It was again revised in June of 1990. For, many airline companies trade their shares of stocks in Wall Street and other stock markets to any one who wants to own a part of airline companies. This law gives the guidelines on the issuance of treasury bills, commercial notes and bonds. This law gives a wide interpretation on how people can ‘buy’ a share of an airline company. Meaning, any airline company that has a profit character can freely offer its shares to the moneyed public. These shares are generally divided into ordinary (common) shares, preferred (as to dividend payments), cumulative, non –cumulative, bearer and registered shares of stocks. In addition, the airline companies can also enter into a creditor –debtor relationship when it offers bonds and other short term liability securities. However, the stocks offered in the stock markets must be branded as profitable in order to sell like hotcakes. To accomplish this, the airline companies offer to the interested investors free copies of their income statements that show that they have been making (passing) the grade because profits is the bottom line of the company for the past year or years of actual airline operations. And, to further give credence to the airline companies’ balance sheet and income statements, the companies attached an auditor’s reported that the financial statements are fairly presented. On the other hand, an auditor’s report stating that the financial statements are adversely presented means that the financial reported issued by the company are falsely  presented. Also, an auditor’s report that gives a â€Å"no opinion† portion shows that the financial statements have not been audited for one reason or another (Skof & Vukmir, 1993). Further, the article The CEO as an Organization Designery states that Professor Germeshausen, a Professor Emeritus in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology opined that many senior officers in the airline companies can comfortably assess ahead of time the effect ad influence of their many policies on the stableness, growth nuances and the monetary behavior of the organizations that they manage and are responsible for. (Keough & Doman, 1992) Also, the article A Problem –Finding Approach to Tactical Planning states that questions should be answered by the airline managers for tactical planning in terms of strategic planning environment. Some specific and important questions that could be asks include â€Å"What Corporate planning information is needed by top management and corporate planners to give direction to the company tomorrow? † should be renovated to the better â€Å"What tactical plans are needed by middle –level managers to insure a high level of sales (such as an annual increase in prior sales by a minimum benchmark of fifteen percent). Another good question would be to â€Å"did the company generate profits generated after deducting total costs and expense from the net sales? † One way of answering this question well is for the managers to implement a budget. A budget will state the maximum costs and expenses that the company will pay and the projected net sales and collections of accounts receivables in advance (a month or more ahead of the actual use of the expenses and cots). The budget shows the estimated amounts that will occur in the future such as the budgeted sales, budgeted purchases, budgeted production, budgeted administration expenses, the budgeted marketing and promotion expenses, budgeted balance sheet and other budgets. In addition, the planning strategy using the â€Å"what if this happens? †, and the accompanying â€Å"what must be done to win here? † approach will be a very useful tool to plan for a future action to resolve a future problem in terms of cost, expenses, sales, production and the like. To resolve this, the company must continuously update its information database because lack of information may result to a wrong decision or interpretation of data.

The Personal Attack: The Logical Fallacy of Argumentum

The term â€Å"ad hominem† is a Latin phrase that translates to â€Å"against the man† (â€Å"Ad hominem†).   It is one of several logical fallacies that may appear (intentionally or otherwise) in the rhetorical mode of writing or speaking known as Argument.   The use of the ad hominem indicates that an argument (or counter-argument) is focusing not on the issue or cause, but on the issue’s presenter, and it generally takes the form of a personal attack of the presenter’s character (â€Å"Introduction to Ad Hominem Fallacies†). The soundest ad hominem attacks are made up of two steps.   The first step is to discredit the speaker/presenter/sponsor, and the second step is to imply that because the speaker/presenter/sponsor is a â€Å"bad† person, the issue or cause must be bad as well (â€Å"Introduction to Ad Hominem Fallacies†). For example, prior to the last local election, I attended a debate between two city council candidates regarding a public school bond measure.   Having read about the issue, I was aware that the facts proved the bond’s cost would far outweigh the anticipated minimal benefits—benefits that had not been shown to occur in similar communities.   I had seen no evidence to support any logical argument to encourage citizen’s to support the bond issue, so I was not surprised when one candidate turned the factual debate into a personal attack of his opponent. The argument: that his opponent had no school-aged children and because of this, his opponent has no vested interest in the success or failure of the community’s public school system. Obviously the candidate who was attacking his opponent (via the ad hominem) hoped that people would equate his opponent’s lacking school-aged children with an inability to assess a public school bond issue properly. The logical counter to this fallacious argument would be to return the focus to the facts: if  passed, would the school bond result in improvements or would it not?   If passed, would the  costs of the school bond be worth the benefits or not?   I would quickly point out that whether or  not one has children has no bearing on one’s ability to assess the fiscal impact of a set of facts,  and I would add to that, that if this were a logical supposition, that only those who had children  should be allowed to vote on the bond issue as obviously only those with children have  the capacity to make a sound decision in this area. References Ad hominem.   (2000).   In The American heritage dictionary of the English language (4th ed.).   Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Introduction to ad hominem fallacies.   (n.d.).   Mission Critical.   Retrieved October 17, 2006, from http://www.sjsu.edu/depts/itl/graphics/adhom/adhom.html

Journal Review.Describing Trends & Reading Closely Essay

Journal Review.Describing Trends & Reading Closely - Essay Example Also, economic concepts can be explained in a much simpler way to others by creating similarities or analogies to things which may be expected to be well-known to most audiences. Thus, I have gained a wider perspective on the range of applicability, the importance of an accumulation of experiences for better understanding of theories and ideas found in books, and the possible uses of most theoretical concepts that I have learned so far and will still learn in my chosen field. Compared with other popular publications such as magazines, newspapers, books, and other kinds of printed media that are most often freely published without much scrutiny and are available to a wide variety of audiences, academic or scholarly journals are more often than not the product of numerous and rigorous screenings and editing of it wholly, from grammar to soundness and validity of the content (Olson 52). Due to a much more focused or narrow-ranged audiences that are mostly within specific lines of work, research, or subjects, academic or scholarly journals are the kinds of publications which are not readily available to common folk, and even among most academicians or learned folk the information contained in these publications are not necessary applicable for them in their everyday lives since most of these journals and their individual articles have more or less specificities in their intended audiences. In addition, there is a higher rejection rate among these kinds of articles, mainly due to the possible stance of the information that if disseminated, could change the course of different disciplines. The need to scrutinize is rather a daunting task since not all members of the discourse community are easily swayed by the content, and oftentimes have their own counterarguments based on their own knowledge, experiences, and if possible, theories. The discourse community that reviews or screens the content of such journals can be said to be rough and rather unforgiving, while at t he same time dynamic since â€Å"over time, certain issues are put to rest and new issues are explored† (53). In a way, the information being assimilated and gathered in most academic or scholarly journals can either become pioneering or disposable, depending on the speed in updating or affirming certain ideas or concepts released in these kinds of publications. For explaining the contents and the scopes of scholarly or academic journals, the Journal of Economic Essays published by Wiley-Blackwell, a part of the John Wiley & Sons group is the journal chosen for this project. As an aspirant coming from the field of economics, I have chosen this journal since I am confident that with the knowledge that I have learned in my studies on my field of specialization, I may be able to translate the concepts embedded in some articles from the journal to inform others outside of my field not just about this journal’s visions and objectives, but of the idea of economics as a whole . Also, this publication is a rather inclusive one, as it is indicated in the author guidelines that most of the articles acceptable for publication were written in a way that more people can appreciate the content due to lesser economic jargons and more colloquial terms that many readers can understand (John Wiley & Sons). Also, in my opinion using a journal that has lesser technical jargon can be an inviting way to make people or readers from other fields to become relieved from being overwhelmed or

Essay Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Essay - Assignment Example The decision by the New Plymouth District Council to bring to an end the water fluoridation is seen as thetermination of the practice in New Zealand. According to Mary Byrne of the anti-fluoride group, the Fluoride Action Network New Zealand, the New Plymouth District Council decision could bring a domino effect to other councils leading to the chemicals rejection (Stare, 1990). Fluoride, an ionic compound, contains the fluorine components. Fluoride, naturally found component in most of the rocks in New Zealand and worldwide, is the single most reactive element in water. Approximately 90 percent of the fluoride components added to the municipal water supplies come from the chemicals known as silicofluorides. The silicofluorides chemicals production is from the by-products of the manufacture of phosphate fertilizers. In most of New Zealand’s District Councils, fluoride is added to the municipal water supplies at the concentration of about one part per million or even slightly below. Fluoride concentrations occurring in surface waters depend on location, but concentrations are low, and in most cases do not exceed 0.3 ppm. Groundwater can however contain much higher concentration levels. Fluoride should not be included to the water supplied by district councils to the residents of cities and towns in New Zealand. A move by New Plymouth District Council is welcome and should act as a precedent to other district councils in New Zealand. Proponents of fluoridation argue that the fluoride helps by binding to tooth enamel. Enamel is primarily composed of hydroxylapatite; a crystal made up of phosphorus, calcium, oxygen and hydrogen. By replacement of hydroxyl molecule on hydroxylapatite, the resistance of the tooth to acidity attacks from bacteria will increase because of the fluoride components (Wagner, 1993). The proponents have however been

Responsible Corporate Governance Ayuso and Argandona (2007) Assignment

Responsible Corporate Governance Ayuso and Argandona (2007) - Assignment Example Evaluation criteria marking are marked on a scale of 0-10 where 9-10 is excellent, 7-8.9 is notable, 5-6.9 is passed and 0-4.9 failed. Coca-cola Company has been awarded 9 in the scale of marking criteria due to its global market existence and recognition. Coca-cola has established its roots in many countries in almost all the continents. Coca-cola has most consumers and recognition compared to most of the existing soft drinks globally. The company has created great employment opportunities due to its establishment in many countries. 1. Evaluation criteria marking assist an organization to know its category and performance according to the provided scale. This will help a company to set objectives on how to improve or maintain their position. 1. Companies which find out that they are marked high on the scale may embrace laxity tending to maintain their daily practices while modern methods of management emerge on daily basis. This may have a negative impact in future. Coca-cola company is a global manufacturer and retailer of beverage based in Georgia, united states. The coca-cola company comprises many brands and products but the core product is the coca-cola drink. Various types of media are used in order to advertise the coca-cola brand in general and coca-cola drink in particular. These types of media include visual and published media. This has helped the brand to reach global markets which is considered as a huge success. The company aims at profit maximization and all efforts of the company are directed towards the achievement of this primary objective. The company has been able to expand its roots in various countries. The companies have their specific objective which one of them is to create awareness of the product to each and every person thus resulting to great sales of the product. This is the selection of different ways used for the evaluation process. Evaluation

Architecture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Architecture - Essay Example The Tama Art University Library was designed by Toyo Ito. According to Bognar (1985), Ito deals with forms which are pure and abstract. He strives to make building unique by playing with their surfaces, which, in his mind, according to Bognar (1985), â€Å"carry the meaning and the quality of space† (p. 323). The Glasgow School of Art Library was designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, who, having designed around the turn of the 20th Century, was considered one of the pioneers of modernism (Nuttgens, 1988). Each of these buildings have distinctive features, themes and ways of playing with light, and, in the case of Arets, sound. Each of these buildings resemble one another in critical ways, yet are different as well. This paper will explain the three buildings, their unifying principles and the way that they differ. University Library in Utrecht The qualities embraced by Arets are on display with the University Library in Utrecht. From the outside, at a glance, it appears to be box-like and black, and looks to have a strong aesthetic. The building is made almost entirely of glass, so it reflects the light and the environment. The facade, according to Beek (2005), consists of alternating opaque and transparent panels, glass and concrete. On the glass is printed jungle trees, while the jungle trees are etched, in relief, on the concrete portions of the facade. However, although the building is dark, it plays with light in different ways. McCarter (2012) explains that the building plays with light by alternating the panels of concrete and glass, and some of the glass panels are double paned and slightly off-kilter. This gives the building a three-dimensional effect, and also allows the sunlight to be filtered through and regulated. Between the panels shifting, the alternation between the concrete and the glass, and jungle patterns on the glass and concrete, the building plays with light in a way that is dynamic. Once inside, Beek (2005) describes the interio r as a contrast, as the floor is reflecting and white, and this contrasts with the dark concrete panels. Once the individual comes in through the main entrance, McCarter (2012), states that there is a gallery there, and this leads to a large staircase. The main idea is that the white reflecting floor, and the contrasting dark concrete, is repeated throughout the interior. When one reaches the first level, there is an atrium that is at full height. On the inside, one understands that there are spatial volumes which correspond with the solid outside walls. Meanwhile, the glass panels vertically close the facade line. Beek (2005) states that the interior of the library consists of lecture rooms, bookshelves and archives, all on different levels, and that each of the different levels have a different style. Some of the levels feature open terraces. Some feature rooms which are enclosed with balconies. One meeting room is cantilevered, and facing the atrium completely. There is some colo r inside, notably red, which is the color of some of the fixed furnitures. The textures and relief on the outside glass and concrete turn out to be functional, with regards to the acoustics and the light inside the building, according to Beek (2005). This is because the relief texture on the concrete absorbs the outside sounds. The glass imprintations regulates the sunlight. Therefore, the inside building is silent and open, because of this light and sound regulation. Therefore,

Love in Indian culture Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Love in Indian culture - Research Paper Example The same is especially applied to humans, where love enjoys central place in their life and activities in general. There are multiple types of love observed by the humans, which include spiritual love, natural affection, physical attraction and carnal desires and others. Spiritual love is generally viewed to be one’s sheer feelings of reverence for the deity, faith, scriptures and the holy personalities in which one has established profound and unflinching belief. The individuals maintain love for their faith, and even sacrifice their lives for the cause of faith. Moreover, the parents’ deep feelings for their children could also be stated to be the example of the purest and selfless love. While elucidating the love between the young members of society, it becomes evident that the adolescents start developing the love emotions along with their physical and mental growth (Lv & Zhang, 2012:357). The love generally appears while the development of unseen attraction towards the members of the opposite gender. It is the time when the individuals witness tremendous excitement with the imagination of feeling the person of opposite gender close to his/her heart, though sometimes far from the eyes; almost the same is the situation with the south Asian cultures. South Asian cultures, including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka, are unanimously declared to be the conservative and religious-minded societies of the world. An overwhelming majority of these states is the follower of Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism, Buddhism and Christianity, all of which regard morality, chastity and virtuousness to be the essential parts of everyday individual and collective human life. Since the religions these societies have adopted lay stress upon love after marriage, pre-marital dating is strictly discouraged by the social values. As a result, the mixing of the members belonging to opposite genders in public is not approved by these societies (Orsini, 2006:52). Henc e, the concepts of dating and physical contacts are not very open and common in these cultures. Not only this that families impose severe restrictions on their female members to have any contact with boys before marriage, but also deviation from the same invites wrath of fathers and brothers, who do not hesitate in killing their daughters and sisters provided they find them meeting with the adult males beyond the marital-knot. It is therefore still mostly the marriages are arranged by parents and elders in these conservative societies (Dasgupta, 1998:968). Although globalization has introduced significant alterations in the concept of love and dating, and the educational institutions offering girls and boys education facilities under one roof, which have increased the level and frequency of meetings between the young and adult couples to a great extent. However, still the trend of dating and physical encounters are confined to the elite stratum of society consists of politicians, in dustrialists, feudal lords, civil and military bureaucrats, corporate class and showbiz communities, which maintain seldom care for religious cults, social norms and moral values in their individual and collective life (Orsini, 2006:221). Nevertheless, the Indian and Pakistani cultures still do not allow open illicit sexual relationship in society. It is therefore the immoral, adulterer and dissipation-inclined politicians and actresses aptly become the target of the

Critically assess whether ecological modernisation is essential, or Outline

Critically assess whether ecological modernisation is essential, or not, for the achievement of sustainable development - Outline Example much agreement among all stakeholders that this is a necessity that cannot be overlooked.2 The problem however arises when talks of approach to attaining sustainable development is made.3 This is the core problem that the research paper will seek to address, by outlining the place of ecological modernisation as an important modern day approach to achieving sustainable development. Ecological modernisation is selected as the approach to sustainable development due to the clear and distinct differentiation the concept makes between ecology and economy, and how these two cannot be used together if sustainable development can be achieved.4 A. The evolution of sustainable development shall be taken from the perspective of the Brundtland Report, which defines sustainable development as a state of â€Å"Global economic development sufficient to meet current needs while allowing future generations to achieve their needs†.5 B. The need for an evolution on the approach to sustainable development has largely been influenced by rising activities of humans that pose great threat to the sustainability of the environment and for that matter the economy of the future.6 The evolution of sustainable development shall also stress on various global interventions that have been put in place to achieve sustainable development. Examples of such discussions include the Stockholm Declaration Principle 1, Nairobi Declaration (1982), World Summit on Sustainable Development, Johannesburg (2002), and Rio +20 (2012). C. From the Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development, 3 pillars of evolutionary sustainable development are identified, which are economy, environment and social7. All these pillars shall be discussed by the writer in the evolution of sustainable development. B. An underpinning claim and pragmatic approach to ecological modernisation emphasises that economic growth and environmental protection are not compatible and thus the need to use a modernised approach that

Cultures. African Culture Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Cultures. African Culture - Research Paper Example This persuasive essay looks at the African culture and its significance. The African continent consists of two main cultures, which are the Sub-Saharan Africa and North African cultures. These cultures have a number of ethnic, tribes, social groups. One of the main features of this way of life is the large number of cultural groups where some nations can have twenty or more ethnic groups, and the variety of their principles. The African culture is varied and diverse. Like other cultures in the world, it has been obstructed upon by both external and internal forces, which in turn affect it negatively and positively. Their art, music, literature, and African cultural customs of Africa have motivated interest and admiration all over the world (Barakat79). The African continent has a rich custom of arts and crafts. Their arts and crafts observe manifestation in an assortment of leather arts, woodcarvings, brass, and other metal works. These art and crafts consist of sculptures, woodwork paintings ceremonial, pottery, religious ornaments, and other dresses. According to Barakat, African art must be innovative and in being revolutionary, the artists ought to be collective, functional and committed to their works (80). Barakat continues to note that art is socially functional within the society (81). The African culture places a lot of emphasis on the appearance and jewelry, which has endured an important individual accompaniment. Most pieces of this jewelry are crafted using cowry shells and metallic materials (Namulundah 23). In the same way, the masks are crafted using elaborate objects and are significant part of the culture. During ceremonies, these masks are used as symbols of spirits and ancestors, deities and mythological characters (Namulundah 23). Certain themes are significant in the African arts and crafts, and these themes keep on recurring from one art to another. They include men carrying weapons, women carrying children, men posing as hunters with anim als on their shoulders. Pairs may symbolize ancestors, society founder, married people, or twins (Namulundah 23). The couple subject rarely displays intimacy of the married people. The mother carrying a child or children as argued by Namulundah shows strong aspiration of the African women to give birth to her own children (23). The theme is also an agent of woman mars and the communities as her children. On the other hand, the man carrying a weapon or animal subject represents principle and power (Namulundah 23). An alien or a stranger may be someone from other ethnic groups or somebody from a different nation, and accurate representation of the stranger signifies fairly better gap from the stranger (Namulundah, 23). Oral presentation is very important in African arts and crafts. African oral literature includes arts like origin fables, myths, history, folklore, lineage, folk therapies that are very common with the African continent. Initially this information was not recorded in wr itten materials, but instead passed from one generation to another through word of mouth. Storytelling and singing are very common and highly appreciated in this society. Just like other human culture, the African religion and folklore represents different aspects of social issues within the African community (Namulundah 21). Similarly, like all other civilization and cultures, myths have been presented in different parts of the African continent. Religion and culture share space and deeply rooted in the African cultures. For example, the Ethiopian culture consists of their African culture and informs dietary customs together with rites and rituals (Namulundah 21). The pygmy myth

The strategic plans of Procter and Gamble Essay Example for Free

The strategic plans of Procter and Gamble Essay INTRODUCTION   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This study is being undertaken in order to review the strategic plans of Procter and Gamble. The Human Resource activities of the company will be identified including their estimated costs and benefits. Also, the study will identify the strategic activities and how it match the strategic goals of the company.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Finally, this study will formulate recommendations on how the organization might better match its human resource activities with its strategic benefits. COMPANY BACKGROUND   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Procter and Gamble Company is a U. S. based global corporation based in Cincinnati, Ohio. It manufactures a wide range of consumer goods. The company is the 25th largest U.S. company by revenue in 2007. It is the 18th largest by profit, and 10th in Fortune’s most admired companies list as of 2007.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The company was founded by William Procter, a candle maker, and James Gamble, a soap maker in 1837. These two men were immigrants from England and Ireland respectively. The company grew tremendously and throughout the twentieth century, it continued to prosper. The firm expanded into other countries and introduced Tide laundry detergent in 1946 and â€Å"Prell† shampoo in 1950. In 1955, the company began selling its first toothpaste to contain fluoride which is known as â€Å"Crest† (Dyer et al., 2004).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Currently, the company is ranked in the top ten by the Harris Interactive/Wall Street Journal list of companies with the world’s best reputation, the number one ranking in Fortune’s U.S. Household and Personal Products most admired list. It is ranked number two on the Hay Group list of Best Companies for Leaders, and the Market Sector Leader for Household Products in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (PG Annual Report, 2007).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   PG ranks among the top companies for Executive Women (National Association for Female Executives), African Americans (Working Mother and Women of Color Magazines), Working Mothers (Working Mother Magazine), and Best Corporate Citizens (Business Ethics Magazine) (Ibid).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Supplier diversity is a fundamental business strategy of the company. In 2007, the firm spent over $1.9 billion with minority-and women-owned businesses. It is a member of the Billion Dollar Roundtable, a forum of 14 corporations that spend more than $1 billion annually with diverse suppliers (Ibid). Overview of Operations   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The business of Procter and Gamble is focused on providing branded consumer goods. The company’s goal is to provide products of superior quality and value to improve the lives of consumers around the world. The company believes that this will result in leadership sales, profits and value creation, allowing employees, shareholders and the communities in which the company operate to prosper (Ibid).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The firm’s products are sold in more than 180 countries mainly through mass merchandisers, grocery stores, membership club stores and drug stores. It is continuing to expand their presence in â€Å"high frequency stores,† the neighborhood stores which serve many customers in developing markets. The firm on-the-ground operations in over 80 countries. The market is highly competitive, with global, regional and local competitors. In most markets and industry segments wherein the company is selling their products, it compete against other branded products as well as retailers’ private-label brands. In addition, many of the product segments in which it compete are differentiated by price. Essentially, Procter and Gamble compete with premium and mid-tier products and are well positioned in the industry segments and markets in which it operates. It is most often holding a leadership or significant share position (Ibid). Organizational Structure   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Currently, the organizational structure of the company was comprised of three Global Operations Units (GBUs) and a Global Operations group. The Global Operations group includes the Market Development Organization (MDO) and Global Business Services (GBS). The heads of the three GBUs and Global Operations each would report to the Chief Executive Officer (Ibid). Global Business Units   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   During 2007, the three GBUs were Beauty and Health, Household Care and Gillette GBU. The main responsibility of the GBUs is to develop the overall strategy of the brands. They identify the common needs of the consumer, develop product innovations, marketing and sales. In the United States, the business units comprising the GBUs are integrated into seven segments: Beauty; Health Care; Fabric Care and Home Care; Snacks, Coffee, and Pet Care; Blades and Razors; and Duracell and Braun (Ibid). Growth and Strategies   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Procter and Gamble’s sales have grown from $39 billion to $76 billion in the past seven years. The firm have more than doubled the number of brands that generate $1 billion or more in sales each year, and now have 23 of these leading billion-dollar brands in its portfolio. The company also have more than quadrupled the number of brands that generate at least $500 million in sales, and today have 18 of these brands poised to be the next billion-dollar brands. The firm have nearly doubled the number of countries in which it generates a billion dollars or more in sales each year, and now have 12 billion-dollar countries (Ibid).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Procter and Gamble (PG) have more than a billion dollars in sales each year with seven retail customers, up from two in 2001. PG have generated more than $43 billion in net earnings and $50 billion in free cash flow. PG’s   market capitalization has increased more than $100 billion since 2001. Currently, the company is among the ten most valuable companies in the United States (Ibid).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Procter and Gamble designed a diversified business portfolio to grow consistently and reliably. It designed its core strengths to win in the industry. It designed strategic, operational, and financial processes that ensure discipline to deliver. It also designed a management team and organization to lead (Ibid). 2007 Results of Activities   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The year 2007 brought results to the company’s strategic plan for growth. It was the most demanding year that the company faced since the beginning of the decade. As energy and commodity costs continued to rise, competitive pressure also intensified. Nevertheless, the company continued to grow well and attained its target growth range. The following were the highlights of its operations: Net sales increased 12% to $76 billion. Organic sales increased 5%. Diluted net earnings per share increased 15% to $3.04. Free cash flow from operating activities was $10.5 billion, or 101% of net earnings. Fabric and Home Care grew organic sales 8%, with double-digit growth in developing markets and mid-single-digit growth in developing regions. The key growth drivers included Tide Simple Pleasures, Gain Joyful Expressions, and Febreze Noticeables. Blades and Razors organic sales grew by 8%. Beauty organic sales increased 5%, led by strong growth in feminine care, prestige fragrances, and hair care. Billion-dollar brands Always, Olay, and Head Shoulders each grew sales double-digits for the year. Health Care organic sales incremented 6% which is driven by very strong growth in oral care. In the United States, Crest extended its category market leadership to 38% behind the success of the Pro-Health line. Baby and Family Care organic sales increased 4%. This growth was due to the continuing expansion into developing markets and robust results on Pampers Baby Stages of Development and Baby Dry Caterpillar Flex products in North America.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Growth across geographic regions was also broad-based. This was led by mid-single-digit organic volume growth in North America and double-digit organic growth in developing markets. Also, it made excellent progress on the integration of Gillette. This was the biggest acquisition in the consumer products industry and in the history of the company (Ibid). Growth Strategies, 2001-2007   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The basic strategy is to grow from its core competence. This is done through maximizing on its leading brands, big markets, and top customers. Specifically, this strategies are as follows (Ibid): Volume up 7% on average, for PG ‘s 23 billion dollar brands; Volume up 8% on average, for PG’s top 16 countries; Volume up 8% on average, for PG’s top 10 retail customers. Develop faster-growing, higher-margin, more-asset efficient businesses and this is done specifically through: Beauty sales doubled to $23 billion profit more than doubled to $3.5 billion; Health Care sales more than doubled to $9 billion; profit increased 6-fold to $1.5 billion; Home Care sales up nearly 85% profit more than tripled.   Ã‚   Accelerate growth in developing markets and among low-income consumers as follows: Developing market sales up 18% per year; Over one-third of total company sales growth from developing markets; Developing market profit margins comparable to developed market margins. New Strategic Design   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The first element of the company’s strategic design is a portfolio that balances growth and consistency.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In the 1990’s, two businesses accounted for 85% of all the value created by the firm through the decade. Today, the firm have a much stronger and more robust business portfolio. It is competing in 22 categories that include a balanced mix of faster growing, higher-margin asset-efficient businesses, such as beauty or home care, and large, foundation categories such as laundry, or baby care. PG also have an attractive geographic mix, with about half coming from the rest of the world. The firm is focusing on achieving disproportionate growth in fast-growing developing markets. These markets have contributed more than a third of the company’s top-line growth over the past five years, and their contribution has been accelerating. Nearly 40% of PG sales growth came from developing markets this past fiscal year, and it is expected that the contribution would be even greater in the year ahead. The company’s diversified portfolio reduces exposure to single and competitive events, and maximizes future growth opportunities. Traditional businesses, like fabric care and baby care, are strong and growing in their own right, and they create scale that makes PG’s beauty and health care businesses more competitive (Ibid).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Geographically, the firm’s North America home base is rock solid, with dependable growth that allows them to invest in developing markets. Also, the breadth and diversity of the firm’s businesses and the breadth and diversity of the technological expertise that supports these businesses enable the company to transfer technologies from one business to another. For example, Crest Whitestrips was created by combining bleach stabilization technology from laundry care with film technology from corporate Research and Development (RD) to provide in-home teeth whitening. The Swifter Wet Jet pad combines absorbent cores from feminine care with flexible surface lawyers from baby care. Olay Daily Facials combines structured paper from family care with skin conditioning and mild cleansing from beauty to provide a mini-facial in the home. The company’s ability to combine technologies from so many diverse businesses cannot be rivaled in the industry because no other consumer products company has the scope of science and technology found at PG. The firm’s business portfolio is not static. It uses the operating total shareholder return (TSR) delivered by each business to continuously ensure its portfolio is maximizing shareholder value. TSR is a cash flow return on investment (CFROI) model that measures sales growth, earnings growth and cash flow to determine the rate of return that each business earns (Ibid).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The firm’s researchers and entrepreneurs around the world working in areas that are relevant to their business. They are establishing the company as the preferred commercialization partner for these external innovators, and it is making a huge impact. The firm’s ability to innovate is most evident in the net present value of its innovation pipeline and the organic incremental sales growth generated by innovation. Innovation-driven value creation for shareholders and incremental sales growth from innovation have nearly doubled in this same time period (Ibid).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   These are just two examples of how the company designed an institutional capability to grow. The firm’s core strengths create sustainable competitive advantages, and it is continuing to get stronger in every area.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The third element of the company’s design for growth is the disciplined way it managed its business. Discipline is part of the company’s culture and it is applied to every aspect of the business: strategic, operational, and financial. The company set and stick with clear strategies. It does its homework before going to market with new products and ideas (Ibid).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The second element of the firm’s design for growth is its combination of core strengths. Early in the decade, the firm determined that it did not have sufficient competitive advantage in the five areas that are critical to winning in consumer products: consumer understanding, brand building, innovation, go-to-market capability, and scale. It invested substantially in every area and it is paying off. For example, the company invested more than a billion dollars in consumer understanding since 2001. It transformed one of the industry’s more traditional market research organizations into a consumer understanding powerhouse. Its external benchmarking indicates that the company has the industry’s strongest suite of proprietary consumer research tools and methodologies. These tools make the firm learn faster and more effectively, and it helps discover the often unarticulated needs and aspirations that lead to breakthrough innovation (Ibid).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Innovation has always been the firm’s lifeblood, and it created significant advantage in this area. It has the best-in-class expertise in about a dozen technology areas that are the foundation for innovation in the industry, including enzymes, perfumes, and flavors, polymers, structured substrates, and surfactants. The firm multiplied this internal capability through an effort we call â€Å"connect + develop,† which is proving to be an enormous source of innovation and competitive advantage. It has about 8,500 researchers within the company and another 1.5 million outside the company (Ibid). Strategic Focus   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The growth strategy of the company will exploit opportunities focusing on these areas: PG’s Core. The firm is widening its share advantages versus competition. For example, in fabric care, it is the number two player worldwide in the early 1990s. Today, the firm has a 34% share of the global fabric care market, almost double the next competitor, and its share has grown for six consecutive years. There are plenty of opportunities to keep growing all of the company’s billion dollar brands. It is proving in category after category that a leading share, even a relatively high share, is not a barrier to growth. The company aims to continue leverage its brand line-up and category-leading innovation to keep core businesses healthy and growing. Faster-Growing. Higher-Margin Businesses. The company has even greater upside in businesses such as beauty and health care. The beauty and health categories in which PG competes are   a combined $360 billion market today, and are projected to grow 3% to 4% a year for the balance of the decade. The firm has almost doubled its share of beauty and health over the past decade although the firm’s share of this combined market is only about 10% globally. Developing Markets and Lower-Income Consumers. The firm can still grow significantly in developing markets by increasing household penetration and consumer usage frequency, and by entering categories   where it has not yet competed. For example, the average U.S. householder buys five to ten times as much PG product per year as the average household in developing markets. In addition, there is a large number of households in developing regions that do not yet purchase any PG product. Closing this gap, the company is confident that it can do it over time. It will continue to drive strong growth for years to come. There are significant bottom-line growth opportunities as well. The firm will continue to leverage its economies of scale. It will reduce overhead costs by simplifying work and eliminating duplication between global business units and market development organizations. It will be more effective and efficient in how it will manage smaller country organizations and brands. It will continue to increase productivity in all of its businesses. It will continue to improve gross margins. The company’s current margin is about 52% (Ibid). Human Resource Management   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Procter and Gamble have the most diverse and broadly experienced leadership team in its history. The top 45 leaders came from a dozen countries, and most of them have experience leading businesses in both developed and developing markets (PG Annual Report, 2007).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The firm is proud that they have recognized as one of the world’s best leadership development companies. PG have been ranked as one of the three best companies for leaders. Human Resources Executive magazine ranked PG as the best company among the Fortune Most Admired for â€Å"management quality†(Ibid).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Human Resource department of PG have developed advanced leadership training or senior managers. The new General Manager College is targeted to the 135 general managers who run PG businesses globally. GM College focuses on Purpose and Value, leadership strategy, capabilities, systems, and culture. They have also designed a sequel to GM College which is called the Executive Leadership Program. This program is targeted to the most-senior managers in the company and focuses on agility and flexibility, embracing leading change, and sustaining growth (Ibid).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The firm is concerned with getting the right people into the right jobs at the right time is always a primary responsibility of management. Also, equally important and more difficult is the need to anticipate leadership capabilities that will be required in the future, and ensuring that managers get the experiences and coaching they need to be ready (Ibid).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   One of the most visible example of the company’s ability to develop strong leaders is the number of former PG employees who are now CEOs of major companies. The president of PG himself is personally involved in succession planning for every organization in the company. They review succession plans and the progress of key leaders with the Board once a year, and with the senior management team three times a year (Ibid).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The human resource management values and culture of PG is reflected in their principles as follows (www.pg.com): We show respect for all individuals. We believe that all individuals can and want to contribute to their fullest potential. We value differences. We inspire and enable people to achieve high expectations, standards and challenging goals. We are honest with people about their performance.   Ã‚  Ã‚   The interests of the Company and the Individual are inseparable. We believe that doing what is right for the business with integrity will lead to mutual success for both the Company and the individual. Our quest for mutual success ties us together. We encourage stock ownership and ownership behavior.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   We are Strategically Focused on Our Work. We operate against clearly articulated and aligned objectives and strategies. We only do work and only ask for work that adds value to the business. We simplify, standardize and streamline our current work whenever possible.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Innovation is the Cornerstone of Our Success. We place great value on big, new consumer innovations. We challenge convention and reinvent the way we do business to better win in the marketplace.   Ã‚  Ã‚   We are Externally Focused. We develop superior understanding of consumers and their needs. We create and deliver products, packaging and concepts that build winning brand equities. We develop close, mutually productive relationship with our customers and our suppliers. We are good corporate citizens. We incorporate sustainability into our products, packaging and operations.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   We Value Personal Mastery. We believe it is the responsibility of all individuals to continually develop themselves and others. We encourage and expect outstanding technical mastery and executional excellence.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   We Seek to be the Best. We strive to be the best in all areas of strategic importance to the Company. We benchmark our performance rigorously versus the very best internally and externally. We learn from both our successes and our failures.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Mutual Interdependency is a Way of Life. We work together with confidence and trust across business units, functions, categories and geographies. We take pride in results from reapplying others’ ideas. We build superior relationships with all the parties who contribute to fulfilling our Corporate Purpose, including our customers, suppliers, universities and governments.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As such, it is very clear in â€Å"Our Principles† of PG that they really value their human resources and that they value the individual, the team and their development to become leaders and their corresponding search towards excellence (www.pg.com). Employee Benefits   Ã‚  Ã‚   The company sponsor several post-employment benefits throughout the world. These include pension plans, both defined contribution plans and defined benefit plans, and other post-employment benefit (OPEB) plans, which is comprised mainly of health care and life insurance for retirees (PG Annual Report, 2007). Stock-Based Compensation   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The company have a primary stock-based compensation plan under which stock options are granted every year to key managers and directors with exercise prices equal to market price of the underlying shares on the date of grant. A total of 229 million shares of common stock were authorized for issuance under plans approved by shareholders in 2001 and 2003, of which 73 million remain available for grant. An extra 20 million shares of common stock were authorized for issuance under a plan approved by Gillette shareowners in 2004 and assumed by the firm in conjunction with the acquisition of the Gillette Company in October 2005. A total of 14 million of the shares remain available for grant under this plan. There are also five million shares available for grant under this plan. There are also five million shares available for grant under Future Shares Plan approved by the Board of Directors in 1997. This plan will terminate in October 2007. Grants issued under the firm’s shareholder approved plans since September 2002 are vested after three years and have a 10-year life. Grants issued under these plans from July 1998 through August 2002 are vested after three years and have a 15-year life, while grants issued prior to July 1998 are vested after one year and have a 10-year life. In addition to the key manager and director grants, the company makes other minor stock option grants to employees for which vesting terms and options lives are not substantially different (Ibid).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Total stock-based compensation expense for stock option grants was $612 million, $526 million, and $459 million for 2007, 2006 and 2005, respectively. The total income tax benefit recognized in the income statement for these stock-based compensation arrangements was $163 million, $140 million and $125 million for 2007, 2006 and 2005, respectively. The company also makes minor grants of restricted stock, restricted stock units and other stock-based grants which are generally expensed at grant date was $56 million, $59 million and $65 million in 2007, 2006, and 2005 respectively (Ibid). Defined Contribution Retirement Plans   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Procter and Gamble have defined contribution plans which cover the   majority of U.S. employees as well as employees in other countries. These plans are fully funded. The firm generally make contributions to participants’ accounts based on individual base salaries and years of service. The main U.S. defined contribution plan comprises the majority of the balances and expense for the firm’s defined contribution plans. The contribution rate is set annually. Total contributions for this plan approximated 15% of total participants’ annual wages and salaries in 2007, 2006 and 2005. Procter and Gamble maintains the Profit Sharing Trust and Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) to provide a portion of the funding for the D.C. plan in the United States as well as other retiree benefits. Total defined contribution expense was $273, $249 and $215 in 2007, 2006, and 2005, respectively. The accumulated benefit obligation for all defined benefit retirement pension plans was $ 8.6 billion and $8 billion at June 30, 2007, and June 20, 2006, respectively (Ibid). MATCHING OF HUMAN RESOURCES WITH STRATEGY   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The development of key managers through the General Managers’ College of PG matched its strategy of growth and diversification as discussed above. The continuous growth of the company requires a constant supply of managerial talents. The employee benefits also matched the strategic goals of the company since these benefits are the motivators that will make the employees and managers work hard since the company spends a lot of money for their insurance, health care, pension plan, and stock-based compensation wherein the company spends billions of dollars.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Also, the â€Å" Our Principles† of the company as discussed above is also supportive of the strategy of the company wherein these principles promote a culture of independence and at the same time work as a team. It also encourages hard work and excellence for employees in their jobs. RECOMMENDATIONS   Ã‚  Ã‚   PG is an excellent company. Most of its strategic management practices are state of the art as well as its HRM practices. However, in order to match the strategic goals of the company, the human resources function should do the following: Conduct intensive training to all of its employees and not only their candidates for senior managers. These trainings should be in line with their respective functions of the employees in their respective divisions, and In order to motivate employees, the stock compensation option should be offered to everyone and not only for key managers.   PG’s infrastructure requirements consist of those functions and activities necessary for the effective management of a companys human resources. The major purposes of these activities traditionally have been to attract, retain, and motivate employees. We refer to them as human resource management (HRM) practices (Schuler, 1984), and the key HRM practices include: Human resource planning Staffing, including recruitment, selection, and socialization Appraising Compensation Training and development Union-management relationships   Ã‚  Ã‚   The result of effectively managing human resources is an enhanced ability to attract and retain qualified employees who are motivated to perform, and the results of having the right employees motivated to perform are numerous. They include greater profitability, low employee turnover, high product quality, lower production costs, and more rapid acceptance and implementation of corporate strategy. These results, particularly if coupled with competitors who do not have the right people motivated to perform, can create a number of competitive advantages through human resource management practices. CONCLUSION   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Although there are many ways by which companies can gain a competitive advantage, as MacMillan (1983) has suggested, one way often overlooked is through their human resource management practices. HRM practices enable companies to gain a competitive advantage in two major ways: One is by helping themselves and the other is by helping others. So there appears to be a significant benefit from having HRM considerations represented in the strategy formulation stage rather than only in the implementation stage. Once the strategy is formulated and the appropriate HRM thrust identified, specific HRM practices need to be developed. These practices, such as staffing and compensation, are the ones that actually create the competitive advantage for the company. In addition, selection of the most appropriate practices should be appropriate to the strategy and lead to behaviors that are supportive of the strategy; for example, if cooperative behaviors are needed among employees, then group or organizational level compensation incentives should be provided rather than an individual-level incentive system. If product quality is critical, quality circles and union-management cooperation should be developed.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Once the strategy is formulated, the determination of the needed behaviors comes from job analysis. The HRM practices that stimulate those behaviors must be identified. They must be implemented so as to ensure consistency across HRM practices. It is this hard-won consistency which will help ensure that a competitive advantage through HRM practices is gained and sustained because of the barriers we have just discussed.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In addition to using their HRM practices on themselves, companies can also gain a competitive advantage through using their HRM practices on others. Specifically, companies can gain a competitive advantage by helping their suppliers, customers, or servicers/distributors with their practices     Ã‚      REFERENCES    ^ a b http://www.pginvestor.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=104574p=irol-fundSnapshot ^ CNN Fortune ranking ^ http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/mostadmired/2007/top20/index.html ^ Dyer, Davis; Frederick Dalzell, Rowena Olegario (2004). Rising Tide: Lessons from 165 Years of Brand Building at Procter Gamble. Harvard Business School Press. ISBN 1591391474. ^ Wherrity, Constance. Dial Agrees to Buy PG Deodorant Brands, Pierce Mattie Public Relations New York blog, 2006-02-21. Retrieved on 2006-09-06. ^ John G. Smale: He rebuilt PG and city, too, The Cincinnati Post, 11 October 2005. ^ 2007 Annual report, pg 71 ^ Reasons for Selection, 2007 Canadas Top 100 Employers. ^ Trademark of the Beast by David Emery, June 10, 1998 ^ Trademark of the Devil by Barbara Mikkelson, snopes ^ Mikkel MacMillan, I. C. Seizing Competitive Initiative. The Journal of Business Strategy, 1983, pp. 43-57. Peters, T. J., and Waterman, R. H. Jr. In Search of Excellence. New York: Warner Books, 1982. Schuler, R. S. Personnel and Human Resource Management (2nd ed.). St. Paul, MN: West Publishing, 1984. Skinner, W. Big Hat, No Cattle: Managing Human Resources. Harvard Business Review, September-October 1981, pp. 107-118. Schulerson, Barbara and David. 2005 December 31

Preston Hall Museum Essay Example for Free

Preston Hall Museum Essay Preston Hall Museum was originally built in 1825 by a solicitor called David Burton Fowler. The museum is situated on the A135, on Yarm Road. In 1828 David Burton Fowler died, and it remained in the Fowler family, until 1882 when his great nephew sold the house for 27,500 to Robert Ropner. The family lived there until the 1920s-30s. During the 1st World War, it was used as a base for safety. Stockton Borough Council bought the house in 1948. In the summer of 1953 the Hall was opened as Stocktons first public museum to commemorate the coronation of H. M. Queen Elizabeth II. The museum was developed later when the service wing was transformed into a Victorian Street of shops with working craftsmen. The museum provides opportunities to visit rooms from the 1880s to 1960s. The museum also offers special displays, events and changing exhibitions. The aims of Preston Hall museum are to provide a service that caters for people; who need educational purposes; interests in the arts; social events e.g. days out and art fairs.  The objectives are the goals set by the businesses; they can be short term, e.g. 1 year, or long term e.g. 5 years. Preston Hall Museum objectives are to provide; educational purposes; better services for schools and people who have interests in the Arts and leisure activities. It also wants to monitor advertisement campaigns. Overall, it wants to provide a better service for the community. The external influences that affect the museum are the opening and closing times. For example, the museum is open on weekdays from 10:00am to 4:30pm. This is a large period of time that students or children are at school and parents are working, meaning that a large part of the target market cant get to the museum, only on school holidays and school visits. Another external influence is the changes in lifestyle, for example a large majority of the younger market have games consoles, e.g. Xbox 360s and Play station 3s, this means that less of the younger market will be interested in the visiting the museum, therefore there will be low profits. Another external influence would be the council and government. Funding from the council and government would mean that the museum could afford to stay open due to the costs for new displays and events and promotional methods. Another of the museum external influence would be the availability of workers, if the museum can find people to work for the museum. Slept analysis  A slept analysis is an internal influence in a business.  Social- The change in lifestyles, for example more people concerned about their physical self and people having games consoles. Other changes in lifestyles could be using the Internet and eating out. Also the pressure groups in the local community e.g. the cleanliness of the museum and an improvement in the service of the museum. A further point would be the competition surrounding the museum, like cinemas, swimming pools and bowling. Legal- Legal influences could be if the museum is complying with laws like employment law. This would mean if the staff at the museum are being treated fairly and equally. Other laws which can be link in with the employment law are: sex discrimination act; males and females should be given the same opportunities in the same job and the disabled at work act; disabled people should have the same chance to work for a business as a person who is not disabled. Legal could often involve trade unions; if a business is treating and providing the staff to an efficient standard, e.g. maternity leave, or legal action will be taken against the business. A further point is the consumer protection law; the museum cant give away any personal details to 3rd parties. The office of fare trading; if the products promoted by a business arent what they claim to be. Economic VAT can affect the museum, so if VAT is added to prices the consumers will have to pay higher prices for the products. Excise duties will affect a business through what profit it makes and the prices of their products. Excise duties are taxes charged on products produced in the country. Corporation tax is a tax on a companys profits- if they are limited companies. Also the latest economic climate (the credit crunch) could mean low profits due to the lack of money people have to spend this means the museum might not be able to pay for labour or there electrical bills, possibly meaning it has to close down of the company. Political A political influence could be British Standards (BSI), BSI is the UKs National Standards body, and was the worlds first standards. BSI certifies products and provides product testing services. This could affect the museum by being recognised as selling and providing efficient products and services, if consumers recognise the museum as being to these standards, this will encourage them to go and visit the museum. Technological Technology could affect the museum through if it can keep up with the advancements in technology, e.g. promotional methods on the internet, booking on the internet and efficient cash registers- so they can maximise their profits and have awareness to consumers.  The task I have been set is important because if Preston Hall Museum does not make enough money to make significant profits, how will the museum be able to pay labour wages, electrical and gas bills, and be able to benefit from having the museum open. If they can increase visitor numbers, this would mean that these problems would not affect the museum. The tasks I have been set are to provide a brief introduction- what are the external influences that affect the hall, to carry out a SLEPT analysis, the target marketing of the Hall: to find out who is Preston Hall Museums target market and how to increase their target market. A further task I have been set is the current marketing mix- to give details on the museums product, place, price and promotion. Other tasks are market research- such as questionnaires, displaying my data clearly and to produce and give an overall marketing plan to try to increase the numbers at the museum. I am going to solve this problem by going through the questionnaires- to see how much consumers know about the museum (through advertising campaigns), how do they feel about the products on offer and are the prices right. Additionally, the consumers could give details on how to improve the museums 4ps. I will also try to solve this problem by putting the 4ps into a SWOT analysis, to see how well the museum is doing overall.