Book summary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Book summary - Essay Example Kracha is not hitherto focused to lead an American life. During his search he meets Zuska ,a young married woman and falls in love with her. Unfortunately he spends all his money on her birthday by buying her whiskey but does not win her love. His extravagance nature forces him to proceed the rest of the journey on foot. At White Haven, he meets his brother and a Slovak Immigrant Puskin and Dubik respectively. Dubik develops a strong relationship and become best friends. As a result he is Dubik’s best man during his wedding.Even after Dubik moves to Andrews steel mill he encourages Kracha to join him. Kracha emulates the American lifestyle of power and money as he despises his wife-Elena consequently; ignoring her existence for over two years with the hope of winning Zuska’s love .Kracha ignores Elena’s feeling and declares Zuska as her second wife prompting the Americans to retract from purchasing from Kracha’s butcher shop. As a result the business falls and resolves to drinking revealing showing his incompetence in the business as opposed to what is expected in the US .Kracha ends up losing everything including his second wife. In contrast the second immigrant, Mike Dobrejcak is educated and is more accustomed to the Americans way of life. However mike falls in love with Kracha’s daughter, Mary .At that time she was working for an American family that resides near the beach. The two marry and live a happy life. Unlike other immigrants Mike’s education equips him with the necessity of making his family to live the best life and consequently the luxuries that come with it. However, his job does not support his desire. Unfortunately his mysterious death prompts a series of difficulties as the wife has to take care of their daughter. Thereafter his wife and daughter suffer influenza and she could not visit the sanatorium as

Oil Company and Pipeline Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Oil Company and Pipeline - Case Study Example The case fall under the Alberta’s Pipeline Act, Pipeline Regulation, and applicable Canadian Standards Association (CSA) standards. Lance was hired by Bikal within the contract period to inspect the pipeline. Bikal’s contract was under the following condition â€Å"to maintain Akel’s refinery with the agreement of payment only during the uptime of the refinery†. This shows that Baikal was in the line of duty and sought to hire an outside company to work on the inspection. It is professionally ethical to consult with other companies to provide services. Baikal therefore, was to enforce a contract with Lance by having a written agreement so that the contract between the two was enforceable by law. Lance duty was to ensure proper inspection was done. Engineering allows for non-destructive testing of the materials in this case the refinery has the pipelines. What lance did was to work on the minor aspects of the pumping system as well as keep time as required by Baikal. This case is based on the pressure in the system where they were right to check the source of the pressure that is the pump. Engineering formulates guidelines on how to undertake such measures to prevent leakages in the drainage and unnecessary pressure build up, the material under testing. This provides necessary actions and safety measures for pressure testing. Akel the contracting company who owns the refinery plays a role in the case as the paying party. Failure of the system to operate means the termination of the Baikal contract. This case has incurred Akel several expenditures from the replacement of the pump as well as the broken pipeline. Akel is obliged to ask what went wrong as he enquired and found out that the first report submitted by Lance engineers was inadequate, missing standard tests. The problem was primarily due to erosion in the pipe and could have possibly led to a disaster. Lance engineers cited that â€Å"Baikal had given them

The Impact of the Domestic Regulatory Environment on Competition and Case Study

The Impact of the Domestic Regulatory Environment on Competition and Corporate Strategy Development - Case Study Example Now a days, after the globalization and liberalization policies, the competition is not only from companies located with in a nation but also from firms established globally. All these factors that affect the competition and firm’s strategic management plans would be further influenced by domestic regulatory environment. The domestic regulatory environment includes the government policies that aim at social and economic justice, tariff structure in different services and technical regulations that aim at enhancing the growth rate. The influence of external environment and government polices on the corporate strategic options was well established (Venkatraman and Prescott, 1990). Though it was proved that the role of management positively influences the company’s performance, still the constraints caused by the domestic environment may result in negative growth rate (Thomas et al., 1991). This may happen at higher intensity when the domestic regulatory environment discou rages the products of the company by putting environmental safety norms. The government policies may also aim at bringing welfare state of the society for which the companies may be asked to follow the steps fulfilling the social obligations which in turn negatively influence the firm’s performance (Bryer, 1982). ... Similarly, the companies which are involved in fruit juice making may get huge benefit if the government policy encourages the export environment by giving tax concessions. At the same time, the companies that are involved in electronic goods may incur losses if the domestic environment encourages the imports from other nations at a cheaper price. Hence, the private or corporate business firms must have dynamic strategic management development options which provide higher adaptation compared to its competitors in the market (Teece et al., 1997). The element of diversification gives remarkable edge to the corporate houses in making flexible adjustments in response to any domestic regulatory environment. The advantage of mixing several products that suit the customer needs in terms of competitive edge and firms performance was well established (Simmonds, 1990). Those firms which concentrated only on one product have higher risk due to change in domestic regulatory environment. These fi rms may respond well to the technical regulations laid down by the government from time to time, but they fail in their competitive ability and adjusting to the new tariff structure in the market and to the regulations related to social and economic justice in the society. The companies which have strong and dynamic strategic development / management team strive well in the market as they predict the new changes in domestic regulatory environment and hence they respond faster to the changes with highest competitive ability. The corporate houses must respond to the domestic regulations as early as possible to reduce the losses and to capitalize the new situation

How does the Rule of St. Benedict schedule reflect the medieval world Essay

How does the Rule of St. Benedict schedule reflect the medieval world - Essay Example The medieval worldview revolved around a sense of community rather than individualism. Society was divided into three divisions: those who pray, those who work, and those who fight. These different groups of people had to work together to meet the community’s needs. The values of the medieval world reflected a focus on eternity rather than mortality, an economic structure that privileged land and traditions, and a focus on the community rather than the individual. Monasticism (from Greek ÃŽ ¼ÃŽ ¿ÃŽ ½ÃŽ ±Ãâ€¡ÃÅ'Ï‚, monachos, derived from Greek monos, alone) is a religious way of life characterized by the practice of renouncing worldly pursuits to fully devote oneself to spiritual work (Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia). Monks would live in communities and live a life characterized by celibacy, poverty, and obedience. Monks would move into secluded areas, separating themselves from society in order to live as monks under the authority of an abbot. A monk’s daily life was divided into three parts: holy work, holy study, and holy prayer. Monks followed a very strict and rigorous schedule and were expected to do exactly as they were told without any hesitation, delay, grumbling, or complaint (St. Benedict of Nursia 3-4). Everyone living within the community would work together for one common purpose and goal. They all would do holy work, holy prayer, and holy study. Each individual in the monastery had to fulfill his orders and be obedient to make sure the community needs were met. The main value emphasized by monasticism was the priority of the community before the individual. All members of the community must work together to meet a common purpose as heirs of the kingdom of heaven. Monasticism deemphasizes the individual. All members of the religion share the common goal of dwelling in the tabernacle, so they must grow in religious life and faith. They shall learn to follow God’s commandments

Communication Memo Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Communication Memo - Assignment Example manager, allow me to share some relevant techniques and strategies in enhancing group communication, as well as in introducing the new employees to their teammates. I would initially provide some insights regarding potential barriers that might exist in group communication. Subsequently, I would describe relevant techniques to overcome those barriers and enhance group communication; prior to delving in expounding on the role of conflict in effective group communication. Authoritative sources are listed as a reference page for your perusal. Our organization welcomes new employees through an orientation program which aims to provide crucial information regarding the organization’s brief history, member of the executive management team and the organizational structure, policies and procedures, code of conduct and discipline, as well as the employees’ roles and responsibilities in their respective departments. The human resources department (HRD) has recently hired five (5) new employees to assume the position of HRD personnel in charge of assisting in various human resources functions: acquisition, development, and maintenance, among others. Currently, there are ten (10) human resources personnel who have effectively assisted the manager in undertaking these functions in the most effective manner. It was, therefore, recognized that effective group communication is a relevant aspect of the development of a cohesive group through collaboration and camaraderie. With the entry of five (5) new employees, there is a need to immerse these members to the HRD through the assumption of their respective roles. As such, theoretical frameworks of group development, conflict management, and application of effective group communication techniques through identification of barriers in group communication, would be proposed, as deemed necessary. There are barriers to communication that impede the flow and affect the ability to understand the messages transmitted in the most

Free cash flow Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

Free cash flow - Research Paper Example It is therefore the cash flow that remains after the firm makes investment in property, plant and equipments. Often, financial analysts consider free cash flow to be more efficient in measuring the strength of a business than the cash flow from operating activities. To remain competitive large companies and other forms of businesses will need to invest in new equipments in order to maintain its competitive nature. These investments affect the level of free cash flow that the business is able to maintain (Yuangchih, 412). â€Å"This study investigates the ability of Free Cash Flow to predict performance in capital intensive and non-capital intensive industries†. (Nunez, 120). Nunez argues that, â€Å"many financial scholars and researchers have focused on studying the effectiveness of operating cash flow as a measure of a firm’s performance although other researchers have proved that free cash flow is a better measure since it greatly considers capital intensity†. â€Å"Free cash flow as a measure of a firm’s performance is not easy to manipulate compared to the other measures such as earnings, Nunez states. He further states that, â€Å"there are various methods used by different firms in determining their actual free cash flow but there is however no specific guidance given regarding the calculation and this is because its disclosure is not a requirement by the US GAAPs†. â€Å"The few firms that report their free cash flow therefore use the operations based met hod while others use the income based method† (Nunez, 121). Nunez stresses that, â€Å"Firms that base their calculation on operations use a capital maintenance perspective whereby free cash flow is calculated as cash flow from operating activities less capital that are necessary to maintain the firm at a productive capacity and this observes the guidance provided in the International Accounting Standards Board (IAS 7)†. â€Å"The operations based method also uses a perspective

Blackberry outperform iphone in features and users Research Paper

Blackberry outperform iphone in features and users - Research Paper Example Methodology This research employed the benefits of secondary research. The primary source of secondary data for this research was journals, periodicals, e-articles and annual reports of these companies. . Internet, printed articles, books, videos etc will be used for collecting secondary data about iphone and blackberry. The secondary data collected though the research was analyzed through qualitative analysis. This involves relying on various sources for collecting the data, analyzing it comparatively and then arriving to conclusions. The sales data of the two brands would be interpreted using graphical techniques. Analysis The primary strength of both Apple and RIMM is its strong presence in the market. It could be realized from the fact that it is the world’s number one brand in Asia, US and Europe. This gives both the companies, the opportunity to promote their brands and make distributions channels for them easily. The analysis part involves analysis of features and usabi lity of iphones and BlackBerry to conclude a better proportion. The iPhone from Apple is a device combining a mobile phone, an iPod (a separate product from Apple) including touch controls, and a device enabled to communicate through internet (Apple Annual Report , 2010). The iPhone is based on Apple’s Multi-touch user interface giving facilities of fast email, web browsing and many other features at a world class format. The device is compatible with both windows based PCs as well as Macintosh PCs. It also has a searching and maps feature used to give directions by connecting through internet (Apple Annual Report , 2010). The series of iPhone was launched into the market by announcing iPhone one, which was continuously upgraded by the company. The company has till now launched iPhone 4 and is planning to launch iPhone 5 in the coming few months. The iPhone 4 has many new features such as video calling including face time, high display and resolution, 5MP camera as well as a front camera, HD video recording (Apple Annual Report , 2010). The processor used by the company for this series was A4 processer. The price of iPhone as consistent with all Apple products was on the premium pricing format wherein the company employed cost plus pricing strategy to price the product (BlackBerry Vs iPhone, 2010). BlackBerry on the other hand has more variety of smartphones compared to that of Apple under its brand name. Recently the company had launched a new operating system named BlackBerry 6 for smartphones which distinguishes it from the other brands in the same category along with giving a disntingushed yet powerful experience to its users. The brand is registered by the company named Research in Motion (Reserach In Motion Annual Report, 2010). Majority of the company’s phones that are launched or had been launched in the market are equipped with multimedia capabilities, having music, high resolution camera, HD playback, high resolution gaming and access t o applications with the help of BlackBerry App world. The categories of smartphone under BlackBerry includes BlackBerry Bold series, The BlackBerry Torch, BlackBerry Curve series, BlackBerry style, BlackBerry storm series, The BlackBerry Tour and the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet (Reserach In Motion Annual Report, 2010). The range of smartphones by BlackBerry is certainly higher as compared