Accelerated Reader Student Software Program Review

Accelerated Reader Student Software Program Review Accelerated Reader is one of the world’s most popular reading programs. The software program, commonly referred to as AR, is designed to motivate students to read and to assess their overall understanding of the books that they are reading. The program was developed by Renaissance Learning Inc., which has several other programs closely related to the Accelerated Reader program. Although the program is designed for student’s grades 1-12, Accelerated Reader is especially popular in elementary schools across the country. The programs main purpose is to determine whether or not the student has actually read the book. The program is designed to build and encourage students to become lifelong readers and learners. In addition, teachers can use the program to motivate their students by providing rewards that correspond to the number of AR points earned by the student. Accelerated Reader is essentially a three-step program. Students first read a book (fiction or nonfiction), magazine, textbook, etc. Students may read individually, as a whole group, or in small group settings. Students then individually take the quiz that corresponds to what they just read. AR quizzes are assigned a point value based on the overall level of the book. Teachers often set weekly, monthly, or yearly goals for the number of points they require their students to earn. Students who score below 60% on the quiz do not earn any points. Students who score 60% - 99% receive partial points. Students who score 100% receive full points. Teachers then use the data generated by these quizzes to motivate students, monitor progress, and target instruction. Internet-Based Accelerated Reader is Internet-based meaning that it can be accessed easily on any computer that has Internet access. Being Internet based allows Renaissance Learning to automatically update the program and to store key data on their servers. This makes it much easier on a school’s IT team. Individualized One of the best things about Accelerated Reader is that it allows the teacher to dictate how the program is used including the ability to limit students to a reading range that is on their level. This keeps students from reading books that are too easy or too difficult. Accelerated Reader allows students to read on their own levels and to read at their own pace. It does not dictate which book a student reads. There are currently over 145,000 quizzes available to students. In addition, teachers may make their own quizzes for books that currently are not in the system or they may request that a quiz is made for a particular book. Quizzes are added continuously for new books as they come out. Easy to Set Up Students and teachers can be quickly added to the system either through large batch enrollment or individualized addition. Accelerated Reader allows teachers to customize individual reading levels. Teachers can get these reading levels from a STAR Reading Assessment, standardized assessment, or individual teacher assessment. Classes can be quickly set up to allow the teacher to monitor whole class reading progress and to compare individual students within that class. Motivates Students Every quiz in the Accelerated Reader program is worth points. Points are determined by a combination of the difficulty of the book and the length of the book. Teachers often set goals for the number of points each student must earn. The teacher then rewards their students by giving things such as prizes, parties, etc as motivation to meet their goals. Assesses Student Understanding Accelerated Reader is designed to determine whether or not a student has read a particular book and the level at which they understand the book. A student cannot pass the quiz (60% or higher) if they have not read the book. Students who pass the quizzes demonstrate that they not only read the book, but they have a proficient level of understanding of what the book was about. Uses the ATOS Level The ATOS book level is a readability formula used by the Accelerated Reader program to represent the difficulty of a book. Each book in the program is assigned an ATOS number. A book with a level of 7.5 should be read by a student whose reading level is somewhere around the 7th grade and fifth month of the school year. Encourages Using the Zone of Proximal Development Accelerated Reader encourages the use of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). The Zone of Proximal Development is defined as the range of difficulty that will challenge a student without causing the student to become frustrated or lose motivation. The ZPD can be determined by the STAR Reading assessment or the teacher’s best professional judgment. Allows Parents to Monitor Progress The program allows parents to do the following: Monitor a student’s progress towards reading goals.Conduct book searches.Review results, view the number of books read, words read, and quizzes passed. Provides Teachers With Tons of Reports Accelerate Reader has about a dozen fully customizable reports. These include diagnostic reports, history reports; quiz usage reports, student point reports, and many more. Provides Schools With Technical Support Accelerated Reader allows you to receive automatic software updates and upgrades. It provides live chat support to answer questions and provide immediate resolution to any issues or problems you have with the program. Accelerated Reader also provides software and data hosting. Cost Accelerated Reader does not publish their overall cost for the program. However, each subscription is sold for a one-time school fee plus an annual subscription cost per student. There are several other factors that will determine the final cost of the programming including the length of the subscription and how many other Renaissance Learning programs your school has. Research To date, there have been 168 research studies that support the overall effectiveness of the Accelerated Reader program. The consensus of these studies is that Accelerated Reader is fully supported by scientifically based research. In addition, these studies concur that the Accelerated Reader program is an effective tool for boosting students’ reading achievement. Overall Assessment Accelerated Reader can be an effective technological tool for motivating and monitoring a student’s individual reading progress. One fact that can’t be ignored is the program’s immense popularity. Observations show that this program benefits many students, but the overuse of this program can also burn many students out. This speaks more to how the teacher is using the program than it does to the overall program itself. The fact that the program allows teachers to quickly and easily assess whether a student has read a book and the level of understanding they have from the book is a valuable tool. Overall, the program is worth four out of five stars. Accelerated Reader can have immense benefits for younger students but can lack in maintaining its overall benefits as students get older.

Federalist Essay essays

Federalist Essay essays In order to protect the safety and welfare of this country, the states which it is comprised of must come together to form a unified society. History has indeed shown us that the unification of the people of America has enabled us to achieve our goals. Unfortunately at this time, in what hopes to be only a minor obstruction in this countys future, we once again find ourselves divided among causes. The Constitution has become an object of this great debate. To most, it is not a matter of the importance of government, but more a matter of the certain liberties that must be forfeited to create a national government. The union of this countrys 13 states holds the key to this newly forming nations vitality. The widely accepted Constitution holds a promise for the aforementioned vitality of this land. Initial efforts at unity were admirable, but at the same time were lacking. The Articles of Confederation never held any potential for this land. They were merely a starting ground that brought this country together enough to begin to form, as written in the preamble of the constitution, a more perfect union. The Constitution does exactly so, it creates a firm union of the people. As previously stated, a union in crucial to this country. With England and Spain feuding over the Mississippi and St. Lawrence Rivers, war could let loose. A unified nation is the best possible defense plan. By being able to reap the benefits of the brightest and most talented, by being able to enact foreign policy that treats all foreign threat the same, and by acting in the interests of this county as a whole, it becomes quite easy to ward of any threat to us. The Constitution lays out rules and guidelines for federal agencies (i.e. Congress, and The Supreme Court). A system was created that is fair for all states, which makes it fair for this country as a whole. Under the Constitution, there are ...

Is Gatsby Great Analyzing the Title of The Great Gatsby

Is Gatsby Great Analyzing the Title of The Great Gatsby SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Most often, your first sense of a book is your reaction to its title. The best titles make novels sound mysterious, exciting, or interesting, attracting readers. Well-chosen titles also give readers a sense of what they can expect to find within the pages of the book. At the same time, a title is usually an author’s way of declaring what is and isn’t important in the book. A title can reflect a work’s theme or focus, pointing out the right frame of mind for reading. So how does the title of The Great Gatsby work? What is it showing us about the book that we are about to read - and how does our understanding of the title shift as we make our way through the story? Is Gatsby really great? In this article, I’ll dissect the different meanings of this title and explain the other titles that Fitzgerald was considering when he was writing the book. What Can We Learn From The Title of The Great Gatsby? In order to really explore the ways that this title reflects the novel, let’s first cut it into its parts, and then consider them back to front. The Title Features the Name of a Character Usually, when a novel is titled with the name of one of the characters, that either means that we’re about to read a biography or that the named personis the main character (for instance, Jane Austen’s Emma or J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter). So, here, the fact that â€Å"Gatsby† is in the title shows us that the focus of the story will be on him. In this case, this focus goes both ways. The novel is biographical, meaning, the novel is the story of Gatsby’s life. But also, Gatsby is, in fact, the protagonist of the story. It’s helpful for the title to show us this, since in this book the first-person narrator turns out not to be the main character. Great? Great! Great. Now let’s investigate four possible readings of the second part of the title, which all depend on the meaning of the word â€Å"great.† 1. Shallow and Straight-Faced This version takes â€Å"great† as a straightforward compliment, meaning â€Å"wonderful.† In this version, Gatsby is great because he is the richest, coolest, handsomest dude, who drives the best car and throws the most banging parties. In this take, the title means total admiration: Gatsby is nothing but greatness. This reading of the title applies best in the beginning of the novel, when Gatsby is all mysterious rumors, swirling success, and unimaginable luxury, and when Nick is in his thrall. 2. Mocking and Ironic On the other hand, we could be dealing with the â€Å"oh, that’s just great.† version of this word. As we - and the novel’s characters - learn more about Gatsby, the initial fascination with him turns into disappointment. In this reading, the â€Å"great† turns bitter. In reality, Gatsby’s money comes from crime. His parties, house, and material wealth don’t make him happy. He’s a moral bankrupt who is chasing after a married woman. And he hates his real self and has created a whole new fake persona to live out a teenage fantasy. This reading of the title works when Gatsby seems like a sad, shallow shell of â€Å"greatness† – he’s like a celebrity brand with no there there. 3. Deep and Soulful Another possibility is that â€Å"great† here means â€Å"intense and grand.† After all, even though Gatsby is a hollow shell of a man who’s propped up by laundered money, Nick firmly believes that he stands head and shoulders above theold money set because everything Gatsby does, he does for the truest of true love. Nick, who starts out being on the fence about Gatsby, comes to think of his love for Daisy as something that elevates Gatsby. For Nick, this love marks Gatsbyas the only one who matters of all the people he met during that summer ("They're a rotten crowd....You're worth the whole damn bunch put together" (8.45)). 4. Theatrical The final possibility is that this â€Å"great† sounds like the stage name of a magician (like â€Å"The Great Cardini,† master card illusionist). This version of Gatsby is also completely fitting: after all, he literally transforms into a totally different man during the course of his life. And, it wouldn’t be the last time that the novel was interested in the way Gatsby is able to create a spectacle, or the way he seems to be acting on a stage rather than actually living. For example, Nick says Gatsby reminds him of a â€Å"turbaned ‘character’ leaking sawdust at every pore† (4.31), while one of Gatsby’s guests compares him to David Belasco, a famous theater producer (3.50). The Title Is a Timeline So which of these versions is the correct one? All of them. One of the interesting things about this novel is that the title’s meaning shifts depending on how far we’ve read, or how much time we’ve spent reflecting on what we’ve read, or what we ultimately choose to believe about Gatsby’s motivationsand driving ambition. Which version of the â€Å"great† Gatsby appeals to you? Gatsby: always a little larger than life. Famous Alternate Titles Did you know that Fitzgerald actually was not a huge fan of the title The Great Gatsby? It was pushed on him by Max Perkins, his editor, who was facing a deadline (and probably by his wife Zelda as well). Fitzgerald had a list of titles he actually preferred to this one, and each of them reveals something about the novel, or at least about Fitzgerald’s sense of what the novel he wrote was all about. Unlike the actual title the novel ended up with, the alternate titles vary in how zoomed in they are onto Gatsby. Let’s go through them to see what they reveal about Fitzgerald’s conception of his work. Trimalchio, or Trimalchio in West Egg This was Fitzgerald’s favorite title - it’s what he would have named his book if Max Perkins hadn’t interfered to say that no one would get the reference. Perkins may have been right. Trimalchio is a character in The Satyricon, a book by the Ancient Roman writer Petronius. Only fragments of this work survive, but basically, it’s a satire that mocks Trimalchio for being a nouveau riche social climber who throws wildly elaborate and conspicuously expensive dinner parties (sound familiar?). Trimalchio is arrogant and vulgar and very into displaying his wealth in tacky ways. In the fragment we have, Petronius describes one party at length. It ends with the guests acting out Trimalchio’s funeral as an ego-boost. It’s important to note that in The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald does refer to Gatsby directly as Trimalchio at one point: "...as obscurely as it had begun, his career as Trimalchio was over" (7.1). Since The Satyricon is a satire, this alternate title suggests Fitzgerald originally wanted to present Gatsby as a figure to be mocked rather than to appear more grand/mysterious. This attitude towards the novel’s main seeker of the American Dreampaints Gatsby’s ambition to join elite society in an even darker and less flattering light than the noveldoes now. Among The Ash Heaps and Millionaires, or On The Road To West Egg These titles pan out, away from Gatsby and toward the geographic, social, and economic environment of the book. Both of these titles do this by giving us a sense of being between things, primarily the places with money and those without. Character-wise, these titles seem more Nick-focused, since he is the one who shows us the differences between these two worlds. Also, by referring to the physical space that separates Manhattan and the Long Island towns where the wealthy live, both of these titles directly reference the book’s climactic death, which takes place on the road back to West Egg, right at the place where the richly symbolicvalley of ashes is. Gold-Hatted Gatsby, or The High Bouncing Lover These rejected titles are both references to the epigraph that opens the book: Then wear the gold hat, if that will move her; If you can bounce high, bounce for her too, Till she cry â€Å"Lover, gold-hatted, high-bouncing lover, I must have you!† by THOMAS PARKE D'INVILLIERS. Thomas Parke D'Invilliers is a secondary character in Fitzgerald’s semi-autobiographical first novel, This Side Of Paradise. In the novel, D’Invilliers is a poet who befriends the main character and whose poetry seems never to reflect the darker realities of life. The poem gives advice to a lover who is willing to go to desperate lengths to get the woman he is interested in to return the feeling (again, sound familiar?). A title based on this poem would place the novel’s emphasis squarely on Gatsby’s longingforDaisy, reorienting our sense of Gatsby as a striver to his function as a love interest. Under The Red, White, and Blue Rather than referencing any part of the book - a character, a place, or even an idea - this title instead broadens the reader’s perspective to a patriotic or nationalistic view of the United States. The effect is that we could easily be looking at a war story, or some political tract - there is simply nothing in this title that gives us any sense of what the underlying novel might be about. If Fitzgerald had gone with this title, we would read this novel much more squarely as a more direct indictment of America, or at least the myth of the American Dream. This is certainly one of the enduring themes of the novel, but since Nick ends up contrasting the midwest and the east coast’s totally different ideas about success and the American Dream, this title would actually dilute Fitzgerald’s disapproval by making all of the U.S. complicit. The symbolism of that lasttitle may have just been a bit too heavy-handed. The Bottom Line: Is Gatsby Great? The title is the reader’s first encounter with abook, which means it usually declares the focus or theme of that book. The Great Gatsby is a title that can be read Straightforwardly, as a declaration of Gatsby as a man who actually achieved the American Dream Ironically, since Gatsby’s greatness is a hollow sham and he is an amoral striver As a measure of the depth of his inner life As a stage name of sorts for Gatsby’s great performance of â€Å"upper-class WASP† Fitzgerald wasn’t particularly happy with the name and instead was considering An allusion to Trimalchio, which would link Gatsby to another famously vulgar new-money guy Titles that focused more on the geography of the novel’s climactic scene A broad American flag reference that calls into question the American Dream What’s Next? Learnwhy The Great Gatsbybegins the way it does-with a poem written by Fitzgerald himself, but disguised asthe work of someone else. Analyze the character traits of Jay Gatsbyto see which meaning of the word â€Å"great† really applies. Investigate the key themes pointed to by the various alternate titles: the American Dream, social status, and unrequited love. Read our summary ofThe Great Gatsby, and find links to our many otherGreat Gatsbyanalysis articles. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Biography of Walter Cronkite, Journalist and Anchorman

Biography of Walter Cronkite, Journalist and Anchorman Walter Cronkite was a journalist who defined the role of network anchorman during the decades when television news rose from being the  neglected stepchild of radio to a dominant form of journalism. Cronkite became a legendary figure and was often called the most trusted man in America. Fast Facts: Walter Cronkite Known For: Broadcast journalist and anchorman who covered key moments in American historyAlso Known As: The Most Trusted Man in AmericaBorn: December 4, 1916 in  St. Joseph, MissouriDied: July 17, 2009 in New York City, New YorkEducation: University of Texas at AustinSelected Awards: Presidential Medal of Freedom, NASAs Ambassador of Exploration Award, Four Freedoms Award for the Freedom of SpeechNotable Quote: And thats the way it is. Originally a print reporter who excelled as a battlefield correspondent during  World War II, Cronkite developed a skill for reporting and telling a story which he brought to the embryonic medium of television. As Americans began receiving much of their news from television, Cronkite was  a familiar face in living rooms across the country. During his career Cronkite covered combat up close, putting himself at risk on a number of occasions. In less dangerous assignments he interviewed presidents and foreign leaders, and covered critical events from the  McCarthy era  to the early 1980s. For a generation of Americans, Cronkite provided a highly credible voice and a steady and calm manner during tumultuous times. Viewers related to him, and to his standard closing line at the end of each broadcast: And thats the way it is. Early Life Walter Cronkite was born in St. Joseph, Missouri, on December 4, 1916. The family moved to Texas when Cronkite was a child, and he became interested in journalism during high school. While attending the University of Texas,  he worked for two years part-time for the Houston Post newspaper, and after leaving college he took a variety of jobs at newspapers and radio stations. In 1939, he was hired to be a war correspondent by the United Press wire service. As World War II intensified, the newly married Cronkite departed for Europe to cover the conflict. Formative Experience: World War II By 1942, Cronkite was based in England, sending dispatches back to American newspapers. He was invited into a special program with the U.S. Army Air Force to train journalists to fly aboard bombers. After learning basic skills, including firing the airplanes machine guns, Cronkite flew aboard an Eighth Air Force B-17 on a bombing mission over Germany. The mission turned out to be extremely dangerous. A correspondent from the New York Times, Robert P. Post, who was flying  on another B-17 during the same mission, was killed when the bomber was shot down. (Andy Rooney, a correspondent for Stars and Stripes and a future CBS News colleague of Cronkite, also flew on the mission and, like Cronkite, made it back to England safely.) Cronkite wrote a vivid dispatch about the bombing mission which ran in a number of American newspapers. In the New York Times of February 27, 1943, Cronkites story appeared under the headline Hell 26,000 Feet Up. On June 6, 1944, Cronkite observed the D-Day beach assaults from a military plane. In September 1944, Cronkite covered the airborne invasion of Holland in Operation Market Garden by landing in a glider with paratroopers from the 101st Airborne Division. Cronkite covered the fighting in Holland for weeks, often putting himself at considerable risk. At the end of 1944, Cronkite covered the German offensive that turned into the Battle of the Bulge. In the spring of 1945, he covered the end of the war. Given his wartime experiences, he probably could have gotten a contract to write a book, but he chose to keep his job at United Press as a correspondent. In 1946, he covered the Nuremberg Trials, and following that he opened a United Press bureau in Moscow.   In 1948. Cronkite was back in the United States. He and his wife had their first child in November 1948. After years of travel, Cronkite began gravitating to a more settled life, and began to seriously think about jumping from print journalism to broadcasting. Early TV News In 1949 Cronkite began working for CBS Radio, based in Washington, D.C. He covered the government; a focus of his job was to broadcast reports to stations located in the Midwest. His assignments were not very glamorous, and tended to focus on agricultural policy of interest to listeners in the heartland. When the Korean War began in 1950, Cronkite wanted to return to his role as  an overseas correspondent. But he found a niche in Washington, delivering news about the conflict on local television, illustrating troop movements by drawing lines on a map. His wartime experience seemed to give him a certain confidence on the air, and viewers related to him. At that time, TV news was in its infancy, and many influential radio broadcasters, including even Edward R. Murrow, the legendary star  newsman of CBS Radio, believed television would be a passing fad. Cronkite, however, developed a feel for the medium, and his career took off. He was essentially pioneering the presentation of news on television, while also dabbling in interviews (once taking a tour of the White House with President Harry S. Truman) and even filling in as the host of a popular game show, Its News to Me. The Most Trusted Man in America In 1952, Cronkite and others at CBS put serious effort into presenting, live on the air, the proceedings of both major party political conventions from Chicago. Before the conventions, CBS even offered classes for politicians to learn how to appear on television. Cronkite was the teacher, giving points on speaking and facing the camera. One of his students was a Massachusetts congressman, John F. Kennedy. On election night in 1952, Cronkite anchored CBS News coverage live from a studio at Grand Central Station in New York City. Sharing the duties with Cronkite was a computer, Univac, which Cronkite introduced as an electronic brain that would help tally votes. The computer mostly malfunctioned during the broadcast, but Cronkite kept the show moving along.  CBS executives came to recognize Cronkite as something of a star. To viewers across America, Cronkite was becoming an authoritative voice. In fact, he became known as the most trusted man in America. Throughout the 1950s, Cronkite reported regularly on CBS News programs. He developed an early interest in Americas early space program, reading anything he could find about newly developed missiles and plans to launch astronauts into space. In 1960, Cronkite seemed to be everywhere, covering the political conventions and serving as one of the journalists asking questions at the final Kennedy-Nixon debate. On April 16, 1962, Cronkite began anchoring the CBS Evening News, a position he would hold until he chose to retire in 1981. Cronkite made sure he wasnt merely the anchorman, but the managing editor of the newscast. During his tenure, the broadcast expanded from 15 minutes to a half-hour. On the first program of the expanded format, Cronkite interviewed President Kennedy on the lawn of the Kennedy family house at Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. The interview, conducted on Labor Day 1963, was historically important as the president seemed to be adjusting his policy on Vietnam. It would be one of the last interviews with Kennedy before his death less than three months later. Reporting on Key Moments in American History On the afternoon of November 22, 1963, Cronkite was working in the CBS newsroom in New York City when bells indicating urgent bulletins began ringing on teletype machines. The first reports of a shooting near the presidents motorcade in Dallas were being transmitted via wire services. The first bulletin of the shooting broadcast by CBS News was voice-only, as it took time to set up a camera. As soon as it was possible, Cronkite appeared live on the air. He gave updates on the shocking news as it arrived. Nearly losing his composure, Cronkite made the grim announcement that President Kennedy had died from his wounds. Cronkite stayed on the air for hours, anchoring the coverage of the assassination. He spent many hours on the air in the following days, as Americans engaged in a new sort of mourning ritual, one conducted via the medium of television. In the following years, Cronkite would deliver news about the Civil Rights Movement, the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, riots in American cities, and the Vietnam War. After visiting Vietnam in early 1968  and witnessing the violence unleashed in the Tet Offensive, Cronkite returned to America and delivered a rare editorial opinion. In a commentary delivered on CBS, he said that, based on his reporting, the war was a stalemate and a negotiated end should be sought. It was later reported that President Lyndon Johnson was shaken to hear Cronkites assessment, and it influenced his decision not to seek a second term. One big story of the 1960s that Cronkite loved to cover was the space program. He anchored live broadcasts of rocket launches, from projects Mercury through Gemini and to the crowning achievement, Project Apollo. Many Americans learned how the rockets operated by watching Cronkite give basic lessons from his anchor desk. In an era before TV news could utilize advanced special effects, Cronkite, handling plastic models, demonstrated the maneuvers that were being performed in space. When Neil Armstrong stepped onto the surface of the moon on July 20, 1969, a nationwide audience watched the grainy images on television. Many were tuned into CBS and Walter Cronkite, who famously admitted, after seeing Armstrong make his famous first step, Im speechless. Later Career Cronkite continued covering the news through the 1970s, anchoring events such as Watergate and the end of the Vietnam War. On a trip to the Middle East, he interviewed Egyptian president Sadat and Israeli prime minister Begin. Cronkite was given credit for inspiring the two men to meet and eventually forge a peace treaty between their countries. For many, the name Cronkite was synonymous with  the news. Bob Dylan, in a song on his 1975 album Desire, made a playful reference to him: I was sittin home alone one night in L.A.Watching old Cronkite on the seven oclock news... On Friday, March 6, 1981, Cronkite presented his final newscast as an anchorman. He chose to end his tenure as anchor with little fanfare. The New York Times reported that he had spent the day, as usual, preparing the newscast. In the following decades, Cronkite appeared often on television, at first doing specials for CBS, and later for PBS and CNN. He remained active, spending time with a wide circle of friends that came to include artist Andy Warhol and Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart. Cronkite also kept with his hobby of sailing in the waters around Marthas Vineyard, where he had long kept a vacation home. Cronkite died at the age of 92 on July 17, 2009. His death was front-page news across America. He is widely remembered as a legendary figure who created and embodied a golden age of television news. Sources Brinkley, Douglas. Cronkite. Harper Perennial, 2013.Martin, Douglas. â€Å"Walter Cronkite, 92, Dies; Trusted Voice of TV News.† New York Times, 17 July 2009, p. 1.Cronkite, Walter. Hell 26,000 Feet Up. New York Times, 17 February 1943, p. 5.

Can Porters Value Chain Help Us Identify the Source(s) if Tesco's Essay

Can Porters Value Chain Help Us Identify the Source(s) if Tesco's Competitive Advantage - Essay Example With more than 240,000 employees, Tesco operates 164 and 2715 in USA and UK respectively (Annual Report, 2011). Tesco is widely known, as it always thrives to constantly communicate its brand message to potential customers, as a company that ‘creates value for customers to earn their lifetime loyalty’. Tesco’s Value Chain Analysis The primary aim of Value Chain analysis is to find sources of a company’s competitive advantages. In order to do this, company can be divided in to several activities so that the strategically relevant activities become evident (Bischoff, 2011, p. 3). More specifically, value is an extremely important concept to strategic management and marketing as well. Porter’s Value Chain proposes an organizational system composed of systematic transformation process with inputs and outputs to a distinct stage. Customers perceive and measure value in consideration of money they are willing to pay. If the marketer can make a difference b etween the total cost and the value which in turn equal to that of product’s price, he can generate profit. ... The support activities include administrative infrastructure management, HRM, IT, procurement etc. When it comes to the Value Chain Analysis of Tesco, it can be observed that the company has taken measures to ensure delivering of maximum values to its customers. As depicted below, Tesco’s seven strategies explained in its Annual Report, 2011 exhibit its focus on consumer choice. It is giving greater emphasis on green-retailing. As a global business, it is trying to make a difference in how effectively it can tackle the climate change issues (Annual Report, 2011, p. 15). Both these and its online home delivery system, which was reckoned as highly successful (Child, 2002, p. 135) are major inbound logistics that contribute to its values offers to the customers and profits it proposes to generate as well. In both its home and foreign markets, Tesco operates through a replenishment systems and distribute its goods in its own brands. Moreover, the company thrives on innovation. As far as outbound logistics are concerned, the company is highly successful in going global. As Child (2002, p. 135) noted, Tesco is very successful in delivering fastest organic growth of any retailer in the world. Its non-food business has grown by 18 % in 2000. Tesco was not simply globalizing its business, but rather, it thought of a strategy ‘Think Global, Act Local’ by which it positively approached to understanding of responsiveness of cultural vagaries as well as attitudes of foreign customers (Griffith, p. 4). Tesco in UK has emerged as part of routine, and therefore, it not just seized opportunities but rather it became part of a country where it launched its store and people too became part of it. This has eventually contributed greater to

Analyze the ways in which controversy over the extension of slavery Research Paper

Analyze the ways in which controversy over the extension of slavery into western territories contributed to the coming of the Ci - Research Paper Example In fact, slavery was already in rapid decline in the Border States and cities, because they could not compete with free labor. In the 1850s, tensions between revived by the same problem that produced dating back to the Missouri Compromise of 1820: slavery in the territories. Northerners and southerners in fact came to define "Manifest Destiny" in different ways, undermining nationalism as a unifying force. The Compromise of 1850 relating to the acquisition of territory after the Mexican-American War. It includes a provision for the execution of fugitive slave who led a series of small local events in the North, which has expressed concern about slavery. Most people think of the compromise amendment was finished as a regional problem, but Stephen A. Douglas again in 1854, and the name of democracy. Douglas proposed the Kansas-Nebraska Bill aims to open a huge new range of high quality, clearing and settlement. As an American of Chicago, Chicago was particularly interested in the track link in Kansas and Nebraska, but it was a moot point. More importantly, Douglas was a firm believer in democracy at the grassroots level that the actual settlers have the right to decide on slavery, not politicians from other states. Finally, the popular reaction has come, but the leaders had the spark. Chase Appeal of Independent Democrats "did much to educate the public. In New York, William H. Seward finally took charge of organizing a demonstration against the Nebraska bill, since none had arisen spontaneously. Press as National period, the New York Tribune, and local magazines free of soil, condemned the bill. Convinced that Northern society was better than the south and more convinced than ever a threat to the efforts of the South to expand the slave power of its current borders, the north has been a global approach, which has a risk of conflict, but conflict required power of the Republican Party. Republican Party - a people's campaign, emotional release of "free country" is the border - took over the White House after only six years of existence. The Republican Party was born of the controversy over the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Once the Northern reaction against the Kansas-Nebraska Act took place, its leaders have acted to promote a different political reorganization. Henry Wilson said the death Whig Party and vowed to oppose any attempt to revive it. Horace Greeley Tribune has called for the formation of a new party of the North, and Benjamin Wade, Chase, Charles Sumner and others have talked about the union of all opponents of the law of Nebraska. Tribune Gamaliel Bailey was involved in calling a caucus of anti-slavery Whig and Democratic Party members of Congress in May. Meeting in a church in Ripon, Wisconsin, congregations, February 28, 1854 some thirty opponents of the law of Nebraska called for organizing a new political party and suggested that "Republican" would be the most appropriate name ( to link their cause with the Declaration of Independen ce). rights activists, the mind has played a leading role in creating the Republican Party in most northern states during the summer of the 1854th While conservatives and moderates were content to call for the restoration of the Compromise Missouri or prohibition of slavery extension,

Foreign Exchange Risk Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Foreign Exchange Risk - Essay Example Exporting and importing also implies considerable foreign exchange risks for the companies involved. Importers will have to pay a higher price if their home currency depreciates against the exporting foreign country and vice versa. International retailing operations also entail high exposure to foreign exchange risk as the exchange rate of any of the two countries fluctuates. The fluctuations in exchange rate â€Å"†¦result in direct changes in the relative prices of domestic and foreign goods†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Bartov and Bodnar, 1994, p. 1758) It ultimately increases the exposure of virtually all forms of international operations to foreign exchange risk. Foreign exchange or currency risk affects a company in several different ways viz. sales level, future cash flows, financial reporting, product price and production etc. Bartov and Bodnar propound that exchange rate fluctuations â€Å"†¦influence both the current and future expected cash flows of firms with international operations.† (1994, p. 1758). Fluctuation in exchange rate can affect a company’s future cash flows by increasing or decreasing the price of goods and services in the domestic or foreign country. It can also affect a company’s operational performance by increasing or decreasing the cost of importing raw material. Currency rates have a significant impact on the reporting of sales level. If the foreign exchange rates are favourable, the company’s reported sales will rise (Bartov and Bodnar, 1994). Therefore, apart from affecting its real future cash flows, exchange rate fluctuations bear the capacity to influence its reported revenues. Exposure to foreign exchange risk can also affect a company’s production level and its prices. It will be costlier for companies to import products from a foreign country having a high exchange rate as compared to the domestic