Investigating Tesco Supermarket free essay sample

The following paper provides an overview of Tescos current environment, their competitors, their ICT configuration, how their ICT configuration conforms with their business needs and the potential for Tesco in future markets.? This paper uses key marketing tools such as PEST, SWOT, Ansoff Matrix, Five Forces Model and Product Portfolio Balance throughout its analysis. These tools help show where Tesco is at currently and where they will be in the future. The final section includes recommendations and cautions in making a decision to pursue investment opportunities with Tesco. From the paper: Tesco has a very strong presence in the UK and is quickly expanding internationally. In fact, they recently received the distinction of being named as one of the top ten grocery retailers. With this distinction, the board decided it was worth investigating Tesco as an investment opportunity. The investigation must take a good look at Tesco?s ICT configuration. We will write a custom essay sample on Investigating Tesco Supermarket or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Their configuration and potentially future configuration is important due to the role technology plays in keeping a company organized and serving its customers.

Essay on INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOCULTURAL AND LINGUISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY

Essay on INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOCULTURAL AND LINGUISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY Essay on INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOCULTURAL AND LINGUISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY Essay on INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOCULTURAL AND LINGUISTIC ANTHROPOLOGYThe history of linguistics and philosophy contains different views on the nature of metaphor and its function from understanding of a metaphor as a linguistic expression and a rhetorical means to hyperbolizing its role in man’s cognition of the world. Modern science recognizes the metaphor as the tool and the result of the interpretation of reality, a way and the fact of thinking; metaphor gets a definition as not merely linguistic but a conceptual phenomenon.From a formal point of view, the metaphorical transfer consists in using words (phrases, sentences) intended to denote certain objects (situations) of reality to name or characterize other objects (situations) based on a conditional sameness of the predictive signs attributed to them. At the level of the structural pattern of a sentence, the metaphorical transfer is expressed in the use of the structural pattern that describes a particular extralinguistic s ituation to refer to the situation of a different kind. From a content-related point of view, according to linguists and cognitologists, metaphor at any level is a cognitive/conceptual mapping of one area of human experience over another (Landau, Meier, Robinson, 2013).As the basic objects of analysis in metaphorology researchers (G. Lakoff, M. Johnson et al.) distinguish three groups of cognitive structures of metaphorical expansion:Source domain (war, theatre, man, inanimate nature, plants, animals, sport, disease, monarchy, family, school, etc.);Target domain (politics, parties, states, the President, elections, parliament, economy, laws, inflation, terrorism, etc.);Basic cognitive structures (ours/theirs, us/them, good/bad, etc.) (Lakoff, Johnson, 2003).Here are some explicit examples of metaphors cited by Max Black (1962):The chairman plowed through the discussion.A smoke screen of witnesses.An argumentative melodyBlotting-paper voices (Henry James)The poor are negroes of Europ e (Sebastian Roch Nicolas de Chamfort)Light is but the shadow of God (Sir Thomas Browne)Oh dear white children, casual as birds, Playing amid the ruined languages (Auden)In this way, when we use a metaphor, we have in mind two thoughts about two different things with these ideas interacting with each other within a single word or an expression, the meaning of which is the result of this interaction. Let us analyze an example from this standpoint: â€Å"The poor are negroes of Europe† (Chamfort). According to substitutional point of view, the statement implicitly says something about poor people of Europe. But what exactly? Is it that they are the oppressed class, the eternal challenge to officially proclaimed ideals, that poverty is indelible and inherited trait? According to a comparative point of view, this expression contains a comparison between the poor and illiterate (taking into account the time when the statement was made). In contrast to both of these points of view, Richards (2004) would say that our thoughts about the poor Europeans and American negroes interact and penetrate each other to generate a new meaning.This means that in this context the focal word â€Å"negroes† gets the new meaning of which we cannot say that it completely coincides with its literal meaning, or that it is equal to the literal meaning of any other word allowable in this context. New context (â€Å"frame† of the metaphor) causes the expansion of the meaning of the focal word. Richards implies that for a metaphor to work, the reader must constantly be aware of the expansion of the meanings and refer to the old and new meaning simultaneously (Black, 1962; Richards, 2004).Peter Newmark, known in linguistic circles as a translator-practician, in his â€Å"Textbook of Translation† highlights two functions of the metaphor: connotative and aesthetic (cited in Geary, 2012). Connotative function refers to the ability of metaphor to describe in more detai l both specific and abstract concepts, to express ideas brighter and deeper characterize the quality of the described object. And it is important to correctly assess whether the semantic domain of a metaphor is positive or negative. Let us consider the following sentence: â€Å"German bosses of the 1990’s were Jack Welches of Germany†. What did the author have in mind comparing the heads of major German companies to Jack Welch? We know that in 1999, Jack Welch was voted the manager of the century. Thus, the metaphor has obvious positive overtones. We can paraphrase the sentence as follows: â€Å"Talented managers headed the major German companies.† Aesthetic function, in turn, refers to the ability of metaphors to have aesthetic impact on the reader, interest and surprise (Geary, 2012).In many areas of social communication, for example, in politics, metaphor serves as an important means of cognition and explanation of the world, an effective means of pragmatic i mpact on the consciousness of the mass audience.Thus, opposition in the Bundestag (German Parliament) uses a metaphor for the negative characteristics of the Kanzler Merkel’s performance: â€Å"Merkel-Regierung hat versagt, sie selbst sei nur noch â€Å"Geschftsfà ¼hrerin† der Regierung† (Merkel’s government is not doing its job, and she is only a manager and not the head of the government) (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung). Accepting the metaphorical model proposed by a politician (e.g., the economy is a sick person), we at the same time accept all the consequences that follow from it (for example, the fact that the patient (the economy) can be saved by the doctor (head of the state) and new methods of treatment (economic reforms). Here it is appropriate to recall the well-known term â€Å"shock therapy†. To illustrate this, we offer the examples of metaphorical newspaper titles in Germany: â€Å"Union und FDP: Die lange Nacht der Gruppentherapie † (CDU and FDP: The Long Night of Group Therapy), â€Å"Regierungserklrung zur Energiewende: Eine Herkulesaufgabe† (Government Statement on Energy Policy: a Herculean Task), Ein Maulwurf in der FDP (A Mole in the FDP) (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung).Thus, metaphor is a powerful means to influence or even manipulate the audience. Should a metaphor be considered a lie then? Based on the definition a lie as a statement of the imaginary as the real, and/or the real as the imaginary, we can infer that metaphors state the true, however, in a misleading way. They contain a cipher. Metaphor is a lie, which does not particularly seek to appear as the truth, because both the speaker and listener as implied understand that the statement is not the truth (Geary, 2012). They seem to wink at each other and slyly smile, and the listener already begins to look for a different meaning of the said (if the one understands the lies, and has a key to deciphering the metaphor). Both are i nvolved in a social game, because the first innocently lies, and the second solves the riddles.On a whole, metaphor is not limited to the sphere of language: the very processes of human thinking are largely metaphorical. As a phenomenon of consciousness, metaphor is manifested not only in communication as such, but also in thought and in action, social and political patterns, as well as involves intercultural meanings and conceptual reality.

History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 10

History - Essay Example Judy Morley asserts these districts were created more to make money than to preserve historical sites. Both motives are involved in creating historical districts. As American towns and cities grew and changed urban planning became necessary. Buildings and houses were torn down to create new business and houses. Soon as the cities became bigger and bigger a need to create historical sites became necessary. Some of these neighborhoods were planned; others had natural benefits to the creation. The Old Town District in Albuquerque was merged into the town solely to become a historical district. The LoDo District in Denver was planned due to it being the oldest part of Denver. Pike Place Historical District was created due to Federal funding. Whatever the reason all three cities created a historical district for one reason or another. The Old Town District in Albuquerque was originally formed around the San Felipe de Neri Church. Settlers built homes around the church (Morley 22). In the 1800s, trade created stores and outposts in the Old Town District. Morley points out that like most Western towns, Albuquerque’s Old Town was by the railroad tracks (11). This helped settlers, supplies, and other goods to be delivered. The only main transportation in the beginning was the train. Roads and interstates were not even imagined during this time. As the town spread and transportation evolved, land expansion grew. When Albuquerque grew a New Town emerged that was distinctly separate from the Old Town. Only after the growth in the 1940s did the New Town want to merge with its historical past of the Old Town. New Town was made up of whites; where as Old Town was made up of Latinos. The annexation of the Old Town was done for the sole purpose of creating a historical district. This was a purposeful move on the part of the New Town. As the city continued to grow, Albuquerque moved beyond

Dislocation and strengthening mechanism on various materials Essay - 1

Dislocation and strengthening mechanism on various materials - Essay Example Composites are strengthened in a similar fashion by reinforcing the material matrix with particles or fibers. Fiber reinforced plastics (FRP) are the most commonly used composites [2]. The fibers act as load carrying mediums while the surrounding filler works to transmit the load to the fibers. At times polymers possessing higher material strength are required. There are three basic fundamental means of increasing material strength for polymers; these are crystallization, cross-linking and chain-stiffening [3]. Crystallization causes polymers to gain regularity in their molecular arrangement. Cross-linking is a process by which adjacent molecular chains are bonded with one other through covalent bonds. Chain-stiffening involves a number of methods through which chain bending is restricted. . Strengthening mechanisms for metals include grain size reduction, solid-solution strengthening and strain hardening. Grain size reduction involves reducing the grain size of the metal. The reduction in grain size obstructs dislocation motion when stress is applied. At a macro level, the material appears to have more strength. Solid-solution strengthening involves introducing impurity atoms in the interstitial solid solution. Strain hardening is also known as work hardening or cold work. Cold work is a process by which a ductile metal is plastically deformed resulting in a metal that is harder and stronger. Furthermore, recrystallization is a process by which a cold worked material regains its precold-worked properties. As mentioned afore, cold work or strain hardening is a inexpensive process by which a ductile metal is hardened through plastic deformation. The process is performed well below the absolute melting point of the metal [4]. There are a number of advantages related to strain hardening. The materials maybe strain hardened and molded into desired shape simultaneously while still being able to achieve superb dimensional tolerance and surface

Societal Changes Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Societal Changes - Assignment Example We just know we do not want any part of it. Introduction The issue of stereotyping, which also leads to a form of racism, can be seen in both the population and within the police force and the type of interactions that occur. When looking for someone to blame for why certain crimes happen, it is easy to think automatically that if someone thinks, looks and acts within a narrow visual framework, then it is easy to blame that person and that group of people (Bradshaw & Roseborough, 2005). The issue of Muslims has a tender spot in the minds of many Americans who see all Muslims as perpetrators of bombings and terrorism in the country. Whenever something happens in the country, people automatically assume it was done by a Middle Eastern Muslim terrorist. As we have also seen, the bomber can also be a Western Muslim terrorist, such as in the case of the Shoe Bomber in 2001 (Elliot, 2002). 1.With the recent bombing of the Boston Marathon, and the near-beheading and death of a British soldi er on a London street, tensions have been running high with the public, particularly in England. There have been numerous protests, and police, both in England and in the United States, have been told to look for groups of people, who might commit crimes against Muslims directly, or on or around property owned by Muslims. It is very hard for people to understand that when one, or a few, members of a group have committed a crime against others, it does not mean that all people of that group will be doing that same sort of crime (Gabbidon & Greene, 2013). When people look for the enemy, the only thing they have to go on is what the enemy would typically look like. In a war, one side knows that a certain uniform represents the enemy, and that there may be other physical identifications, such as an Asian appearance, for wars conducted in World War II and Vietnam. In a more modern day, and in modern warfare conducted today, appearances are far more deceiving and it is hard to know who th e enemy is. Some have dressed up in Western army uniforms and then turned guns on unsuspecting Western soldiers. Even seeing women with burkas and, especially with full face veils, promotes the concept of hiding something that makes identification possible (Moore, 2010). Therefore, those who hide behind veils, or ski masks, are potentially considered an enemy. It would be easy to suspect that some other person may be under that burka and veil besides a normal Muslim woman. While in Muslim countries, veils are rarely given a second thought, in Western countries, it is important for Muslim people to respect parts of the society they are now living in, and to let women remove the veil so it is not so threatening. Integration with their new society is essential to their success. Living as if they were still in their own land and observing their own rules without regard to the new country, is not acceptable (Moore, 2010). 2. There are several solutions to the issue of racial profiling. A ) In the first case, Muslims can take matters into their own hands by meeting law enforcement members of their community and getting to know the neighborhood police who conduct regular beats in the area (Bradshaw & Roseborough, 2005). Making friends, or at least, acquaintances, allows the police: to 1) know who they are individually; 2) establish

SanGrafix Video Game Company Business Process

SanGrafix Video Game Company Business Process The BMI was part of analyzing and selecting vital areas of SanGrafix Video Game Company. It was prepared on March 22, 2017. Regardless of how well the company plans for downtime errors, there is a chance that this will happen and the main point of consideration is how fast the company is able to recover from such errors. Purpose The purpose of this document is to identify and prioritize various system components in line with business processes that the system supports. It has the following parts: Determining business processes and the areas that require critical recovery Identifying resource requirements as per their urgency within the company Identifying recovery priorities for system resources based on the urgency of required production (Gadir et al., 2015). 2. System Description SanGrafix is a video game company of the 21st century that endeavors to create a scintillating experience with each video game they create. They are known to take the gaming experience to the next level as they aim to create a gaming experience that completely assimilates the real life experience. The company has a majority of its first-hand market in America. It offers a great variety of games from car racing to combat games all of which are the state of the art quality. The company works under the principles of getting better and making the customer experience better and improved with each new product that is launched to the market. The company is highly reliant on top notch technology which drives the innovation behind each of their amazing products and hence its competitiveness is highly dependent on its ability to ensure they minimize errors or enhance their capability to recover from such errors within the shortest time (Master, 2014). The company is setting its footprints in an industry where the competition from other companies is fierce, and the chance of being kicked out and rendered irrelevant are beyond high. The company has a huge basement of employees all performing different specialized tasks aimed at ensuring continuous provision of services to its clients. There are the technical engineers who are in charge of developing and maintain the companys system performing at optimal levels which include the network infrastructure, the hardwar e and software components. They are also in charge of creating the gaming programs that the company uses. The company as well has developers who come up with the games as well as constantly improving on them now and then according to developments in the market. The business has a vibrant marketing department which is always at the forefront of letting the consumers aware of any new products. The marketing team is as well in charge of creating and coming up with news ways through which the company can increase its reach to the market. The marketing team has been using the online platform as the main channel of marketing. 3. BIA Data Collection The company as earlier mentioned uses the online platform as the main tool of marketing. The majority of the sales are recorded through the online shop while other sales are through and online catalogs. Calls can also be made to the head of the department where assistance is offered regarding sales or any other queries that the clients might have. 3.1 Determine Process and System Criticality E-commerce processes are the heart and soul of SanGrafix Company since a huge percentage of the sales are recorded through the e-commerce platform. The majority of the clients do not even have the idea of where the company is located physically their interaction with the company is mostly limited to the e-commerce platform. As a result, the e-commerce processes are quintessential to the firm. The e-commerce processes of online payments include the transfer of funds from the buyers account to the banks accounts. The majority of companies in the gaming industry is set on creating profits and so does SanGrafix and among the key supporters in the gaming profit generators is the E-mail based communications and the network that allows for multi-player support over a network for the company. Far away clients reach the company through emails where they place their orders waiting for delivery or response through the emails. The same emails are highly used within the company structure to pass information from one source to another every time it is deemed necessary to pass information around. The same email communication platform is highly utilized to get information about customers reaction towards certain products as the company has made it their traditions to seek the feelings of the customers towards services delivery and product performance. The customers are encouraged to use the email services more than the telephone mode to let the company know their reactions. The company is practically in existence due to its online presence more than the physical presence. As a result, the Marketing and public relations sector are as well critically dependent on the online platform. The company conducts most of its marketing through its website as well as another host of social media pages it operates. The company has a lot of followers across the various social platforms who keep on increasing every so time. The followers are always keen and eager to learn of new products or any new information regarding their favorite product while at the same time there is a team of dedicated personnel who is always ready to feed the market with any form of information deemed necessary. Through this continuous exchange, the company can expand its market while at the same time maintain a high level of public relations with the clients. Other departments that require the online presence within the company but at a lowered rate include the Research and development activities where research on how to improve on the current products is carried out. A team of developers who work on flexible working durations requires the online platform to expand the creativity into making the video games of the future. Customer service handling can be carried out through the online platform as well as through the telephone channels. Mission/Business Process Description e-commerce processes processes through which the company accepts payments for products Marketing and public relations Mechanism through which the company markets its products to the market Research and development activities Process of coming up with new products and improving existing ones Customer service handling Might require both online and telephone lines 3.1.1 Identify Outage Impacts and Estimated Downtime Some of the potential outages that face the company include power outages which are normally rare and far in between. Nonetheless, the company is well equipped with a secondary source of energy that automatically reconnects as soon as a power outage is experienced which narrows the downtime experienced as the switch the second source of energy is almost immediate. A server crash also negatively affects the operations of the company since most of their online activities would be brought to a halt. Nonetheless, the downtime experienced in this is short since it would only take a few moments to get hosting from other servers while a repair is being done to the companys server. A website hack would also be catastrophic to the company since lots of business is done through the website. The downtime in this would be long since tracking hacking activities could be tedious and long to trace (Cordero et al., 2011). Outage Impacts Severe = a lot of money and time Moderate = low fees and limited time Minimal = limited cost and time If of a power outage the company suffers minimal impact since business is barely affected by the power outage given the time lapse between switching the secondary power source is almost immediately. As a result power outage is a minimal impact outage to the company. Server crash carries the medium impact since getting another web to host the company is both costly and could take some moments hence negatively affecting the business. A hacking problem could have severe impact on the business since the amount of time and data lost in the process is a lot and could compromise the integrity and public confidence of the company besides violating the federation laws of protecting the client information and this could be followed by unending lawsuits that could push SanGrafix out of the gaming industry business (Wiggins, 2008). Estimated Downtime Maximum Tolerable Downtime (MTD) by the company is the least time possible to get the business functioning again at the least cost Recovery Time Objective (RTO) allocated to a power outage as well as server crash is minimal while the RTO for hacking could be extended. Recovery Point Objective (RPO) for the company is daily hence it will lose a days data which is not so devastating for business. Mission/Business Process MTD RTO RPO Power outage Less than 1 hour Less than 1 hour Less than 1 hour Server crash 6 hours 4 hours 12 hours Hacking 72 hours 48 hours 12 hours 3.2 Identify Recovery Priorities for System Resources The recovery time required for several outages is variant from each other. Priority System Resource/Component Recovery Time Objective Power outage Electricity Almost immediately to rebuild Server crash Optiplex GX280 Less than 12 hours to get another host Hacking Optiplex GX280 Less than 72 hours to reconstruct References Master, L. L. (2014). Assessing threats and setting priorities for conservation. Conservation of networks, 5(4), 559-563 Cordero, A., Gonzalez, N., Chen, Z., Campos, R., Polanco, A., Melfi, D., Ouchaou, M. (2011). U.S. Patent Application No. 09/789,834. Gadir, O. M., Subbanna, K., Vayyala, A. R., Shanmugam, H., Bodas, A. P., Tripathy, T. K., Rao, K. H. (2015). U.S. Patent No. 6,944,785. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Wiggins, C. (2008). U.S. Patent No. 5,717,604. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

One Time Offer: Sell your Soul, Receive Eternal Life: Note: Do as I do, or Be Punished :: essays research papers

â€Å"Believe nothing just because a so-called wise person said it. Believe nothing just because a belief is generally held. Believe nothing just because it is said in ancient books. Believe nothing just because it is said to be of divine origin. Believe nothing just because someone else believes it. Believe only what you yourself test and judge to be true.† (Buddha)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  We were not given the gift of life to adhere to other’s dreams, we were not born to live in the shadow of another being, and we were not bequeathed with the right of freedom to dwell on other’s visions.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Has our society fallen to such contemptible levels? Are we really that misplaced, that we must look to someone else’s ways to feel whole? We must look somewhere else for guidance? That, to me, is one of the sorrowful things I have ever heard. I fear for our future; I fear that independent thought will someday begin to seize to exist. There is nothing left to fear except the persistent refusal to find out the truth.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Religion; the satisfaction for your needs, a place to turn when you are too weary to continue searching for the truth. You should never believe those who claim they found truth, but only those you are still yearning for it. Religious persons do, have positive virtues, they do, have optimistic morals, but they settle for not their own vision, but someone else’s vision.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Your elders should always be respected, but just because they contain some higher ranking, does not mean that you should follow intently to what they say, and what they tell you to do. It is in your own will, and your own right, to flourish in your own visions, in your own heart.