Management Case Study on Sara Lee Corp Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Management on Sara Lee Corp - Case Study Example What is your assessment of the long-term attractiveness of the industries represented by Sara Lee Corp’s business portfolio? Sara Lee Corp is represented in four industries: packaged meat products, retail coffee and tea, bakery products and household and body care products. In two of this industries, packaged meat products and retail coffee and tea, Sara Lee had huge market shares that is could leverage to sustain its profitability and thus retain their attractiveness. In the packaged meat industry Sara Lee held huge market shares in several categories within North America: 30% smoked sausage, 23% hotdogs, 14% lunch meat and 58% breakfast sausage (Thompson & Gamble, 2010). Given the aging of the US population and general mean rise in per capita incomes, we expect the demand for convenience food to remain high. In retail coffee and tea, Sara Lee held huge market shares in the US, a few European countries and Brazil. Furthermore, it also sold the most single-serving coffeemake rs in Europe. With the global retail coffee market expected to grow from $51billion in 2009 to $62 billion in 2013 we can presume the industry will remain very attractive to Sara Lee. The bakery products success was limited to Spain and the US. With Spain’s economy doing poorly and huge costs incurred in the US while to secure shelf space in US supermarkets we find the long-term attractiveness of this industry to be low. In the household and body care industry Sara Lee’s Kiwi harbors the greatest potential to long-term attractiveness given that it was the number one shoe care brand worldwide with a global market share of 30%. We believe that the firm could use the income it obtains from Kiwi to sustain the brand’s competitive advantage. What does a 9-cell industry attractiveness/business strength matrix displaying Sara Lee’s business units look like? What is your assessment of the competitive strength of Sara Lee Corp’s different business units? Sa ra Lee’s North American Retail division, North American Foodservice division and International Beverage divisions all have very high competitive strength largely because they have strong portfolio of market leading brands within industries that have been projected to grow in future. The global retail coffee market is expected to grow from $51-62 billion by 2013, and with ageing populations in US and Europe, we expect the demand for convenience food to also rise. We also see the company innovating in the meat business (e.g. in meat slicing) and offering complimentary products in its coffee business (single-serve coffee machines). Sara Lee could leverage its market share as bargaining power over its suppliers and customers or enter into alliances to strengthen it further. On the other hand, the North American Fresh Bakery division, International Bakery and the International Household and Body Care divisions are not as convincingly as strong as the other three divisions. North A merican Fresh Bakery has well performing brands and strong market share however; we are informed that its revenue arose when the company negotiated for increased shelf space at supermarkets and other selling stores. Assuming that â€Å"negotiating† for more shelf space implies extra costs we would expect less profits accruing to the company in this arrangement. The fact that Sara Lee has to negotiate for extra shelf space to improve its revenues lowers this division’

Daily Assignment 8&9 Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Daily 8 - Assignment Example They claim that paternalism is essential when preferences do not match the choice frame and paternalism is guided by the failure to validate the preference of welfare to liberty. According to Thaler and Sunstein, Paternalism occurs when organizations or planners adopt policies or decisions that have positive impacts on the options of the non-planners. They argue that paternalism is inevitable since people do not want to make their own decisions even after being coerced by planners to do so. People are also unable to assess the benefits of the decisions they make and the planners are always benevolent such that if two options are available and only one is beneficial to both parties, they will adopt that one. Thaler and Sunstein believe that paternalism should not be coercive and morally demeaning. They assume that individuals behave according to the expectations of the economic models and do not act voluntarily and rationally for their own benefit. The argument that 60% of Americans are either obese or overweight shows that they believe that people do not make beneficial decisions. Every human being knows that obesity poses risks to heart attacks, and it would be misguiding if one assumes that most of the Americans choose their diet optimally. They argue that peoples choices are influenced by the legal and organizational

Structural functionalism from a post modern perspective

Structural functionalism from a post modern perspective Jay, Lara and their children would be considered as a family. It is in examining the institution like the urban family and its wide range of issues and other intricate social arrangements where sociologists do most of their theorising. In sociology there are three broad areas of sociological study structural functionalism, symbolic interactionism and conflict theories (including feminism and postmodernism) but for the purpose of this paper structural functionalism will be looked at and critiqued by a post modern perspective in terms of the context of Jay and Laras family. Structural Functionists would observe the role the family provides and the purpose that they perform. In investigating the different parts of societys structure in relation to others, functionalists look at how different institutions contribute to the continuation and survival of the social system as a whole. The family operates in a society characterised by rules and these rules are ordered and reoccurring and these relationships occur throughout societies and can therefore be put under scientific rigor and testing in terms of a positivist quantitative outlook and this can be considered almost universal in application. So in simple terms the institution of the family contributes to socialisation of new members of society as this is the rule or function the family provides to society. Parsons (1951) argued the family plays a number of roles in socialisation of individuals. Two roles being key in Jay and Laras case are the socialisation of children into suitable values and norms. The other key point Parsons makes is the stabilisation of the adult personality through marriage which helps to cushion parents from the stresses and strains of day to day life. (These ideas will be discussed further later in terms of criminological theory). Jay and Lara are therefore the primary socialisers of their children. They are (perhaps unwittingly) passing along a belief that crime does pay if Jay is to continue to offend and move back into selling drugs, also that it is usual to carry a knife to protect yourself in their neighbourhood. It would also suggest that the family as a buffer to stresses and strains is perhaps one more characterised by conflict than harmony as originally suggested by Parsons. Parsons theory has very little argument as to what makes a family dysfunctional and other family pathologies or to recognise a family different from the nuclear American dream family of the 1950s era. Norms of family structure have changed overtime, and these changes in families can be thought of as the move toward a newer post-modern idea of family. For example, Weston(1991: 3) argues that Familial ties between persons of the same sex that may be erotic but are not grounded in biology or procreation do not fit any tidy division of kinship into relations of blood and marriage. There is increasing variation in family types. It is not that the nuclear family has been replaced it is more so a case that individuals move in and out of different family types throughout the course of their lifetime. Coontz (1992) has suggested central to these different types of families are the decline of child rearing and marriage as central defining characteristics. These define less of a persons identity and have less influence over the life course decisions and are no longer socially universal. The family is now, she suggests, characterised by greater freedoms to choose your own style of life. Leading individuals in either positive or negative directions as the family now presents less constraints to those who are a part of it. Post-modernism has tried to suggest that rather than a family serving a function in society it is more characterised by multiplicity, difference, particularity, locality, temporality, and the scattered and shifting character of contemporary social processes (Outhwaite 2002). This can account for Jays change in behaviour from a family centric one with the success of the job, which could be argued by functionalists as a success of the family socialisation to buffer Jay from stresses and strains of his local community to one where his individuality has been expressed by losing his job, and heading out for himself with no regard for his family and the outcome of his actions would have had on them which holds to be a very post modern dilemma. (put something here about the ramifications for social work from these two perspectives.) Writers and theorists with sociology disagree to the way actions of the state interfere with the family. Mclennan et al (2000) have noticed that modern families have come under state intervention more so than other periods in time. Some policy outcomes, such as the welfare state, have been seen as something that should be a function of the family rather than a function delivered by the government. Sociologists, however, do recognise that social policy can be an area which provides social change by changing individual behaviour (Wallerstein 1989). Jay and Lara and their family are affected directly by these policies but this paper shall look at family and child policies and how they affect social work and the family unit. During the past 10 years there have been a lot of changes in government policy regarding children and families. With the introduction of every child matters (HM Treasury 2003) which outlines how this agenda will restructure current services with multidisciplinary working and better information sharing, it also details how early intervention should be concentrated on. The ideas set out in every child matters suggests that early intervention is more cost effective and early prevention is possible because of the vast knowledge about risk factors and the negative impact these can have and that parenting is vital. The report also suggests that services such as social work fail to intervene in a positive way because they lack accountability and have not been sharing information well. The states policy is therefore one of a more active interventionist role in relation to children and their development. The sure start programme being an example of this and has been directly mentioned in the Conservative party Manifesto paying for more than 4500 new sure start workers and refocusing onto early intervention once more (Conservative Party website 2010). A further focus of Policy over the past 10 years has been to look at the role of parents. Parents have been suggested as the background for changes in anti-social behaviour and social exclusion. The state has also increased its role in parenting support asking local authorities to develop a parental support strategy and employ a single commissioner of parenting support services (family and Parenting Institute 2009). Further to this the Government committed itself to getting rid of child poverty by 2020 and halving it by 2010 (Conservative Party website 2010). This is due to the evidence from studies such as the millennium cohort study which followed 16 000 children and noted a difference in child performance based on socio economic status. Parents have also been called to be more involved with their Childs education including the hard to reach (Reynolds, 2006). This message is echoed in the Childrens Plan (2007) which states, Parents support for their childs learning is an essential foundation for achievement. Parents told us they want to be more involved in their childrens education, and schools see the benefits of greater engagement with parents (Department for Children, Schools and Families, 2007a, p53). To achieve this, direct transfers to families through benefits and tax credits have increased, focusing particularly on low-income families in employment. These have been accompanied by measures aiming to raise the employment rate among parents. Lone parents have been singled out as a target group for welfare reform, alongside measures to improve childcare availability and affordability. There has also been a major expansion in maternity leave provision, along with the introduction of the right for parents to request flexible working, in an attempt to make it easier for parents to balance work and family responsibilities. The final section of this report focuses on shifting family forms and family relationships, and the states role in helping couples to stay together and to parent their children after separation. Many challenges still remain in family policy, such as: integrating adult and childrens services to meet families needs; ensuring families have access to both good universal services and specialist ones; achieving child poverty targets; and creating real choice for parents in how they balance paid work and family responsibilities. The changes of the past 10 years have taken place against a background of national economic prosperity. The current recession is imposing new challenges on both families and public services, and even if the recovery is quick, the context for the next decade will be one of high public debt. It can be seen that the current conservative government hold that the family function is on that needs to be upheld. The previous labour government taking a more liberal (postmodern) view and less moral overtone to the ideas of family as can be seen with the policies introduced pre conservative government such as a focus on tax breaks and increasing resources being moved to low income families regardless of their married or unmarried status. With the new administration it may be argued that a more functional view of the family situation will be adopted where the ideal of the nuclear family as suggested by Parsons (1951) will be supported. The role of the social work will be therefore to protect these family institutions. Interestingly in light of the recent review of child protection after the Baby p case Henricson (2007) pointed out there was too much focus on structures and procedures and less emphasis on well trained social workers and other professionals with appropriate caseload s. Allowing them to fully understand the family situation and use their professional judgement in a more appropriate way. In reality practice is however fraught with resource limitations and need to provide help to those already in crisis rather than early intervention. In Building Britains Future the Prime minister promises a move from a system based primarily on targets and central direction to one where individuals have enforceable entitlements over the service they receive (Prime minister 2009, p18). This could have a great impact on Social Work services and service provision

High School Uniform Polices Essay -- Teaching Public Schools

High School Uniform Polices Hello, I am here today to tell you about a problem that I see in our high schools. This problem is that there is not a uniform policy in all of schools. There are many arguments for and against having a uniform policy in the school systems. Some would argue that having a uniform would limit kids from their self-expression and individuality. While others believe that this is a good idea so that there is not any â€Å"labels† in our schools. By this I mean that poor and rich kids will not be noticed by what they wear. No matter what the outcome in this matter there will always be people that get upset about the outcome. I am here to give you my reason for supporting the idea that all high schools should have a uniform policy. Today the way we dress can non-knowingly segregate people into groups, especially in people’s younger years of middle and high school. Also the way you dress can represent different gangs. I am not saying that if there were a uniform policy in all o f our schools that this would completely stop these problems but it would help to reduce them. Today in our schools people’s dress represent a lot more than just self-expression. It is a representation of social classes and groups. Most of the time a person can pick out the poor people and the rich as well just by the clothes that they wear. If it is that easy to look at someone and know something about them just from the clothes that they wear then this automatically segregates ...

Cases on Contract Essay

The defendant made the highest bid for the plaintiff’s goods at an auction sale, but he withdrew his bid before the fall of the auctioneer’s hammer. It was held that the defendant was not bound to purchase the goods. His bid amounted to an offer which he was entitled to withdraw at any time before the auctioneer signified acceptance by knocking down the hammer. Note: The common law rule laid down in this case has now been codified in s57(2) Sale of Goods Act 1979. Fisher v Bell (1960) A shopkeeper displayed a flick knife with a price tag in the window. The Restriction of Offensive Weapons Act 1959 made it an offence to ‘offer for sale’ a ‘flick knife’. The shopkeeper was prosecuted in the magistrates’ court but the Justices declined to convict on the basis that the knife had not, in law, been ‘offered for sale’. This decision was upheld by the Queen’s Bench Divisional Court. Lord Parker CJ stated: â€Å"It is perfectly clear that according to the ordinary law of contract the display of an article with a price on it in a shop window is merely an invitation to treat. It is in no sense an offer for sale the acceptance of which constitutes a contract.† PSGB v Boots (1953) The defendants’ shop was adapted to the â€Å"self-service† system. The question for the Court of Appeal was whether the sales of certain drugs were effected by or under the supervision of a registered pharmacist. The question was answered in the affirmative. Somervell LJ stated that â€Å"in the case of an ordinary shop, although goods are displayed and it is intended that customers should go and choose what they want, the contract is not completed until, the customer having indicated the articles which he needs, the shopkeeper, or someone on his behalf, accepts that offer. Then the contract is completed.† Partridge v Crittenden (1968) It was an offence to offer for sale certain wild birds. The defendant had advertised in a periodical ‘Quality Bramblefinch cocks, Bramblefinch hens, 25s each’. His conviction was quashed by the High Court. Lord Parker CJ stated that when one is dealing with advertisements and circulars, unless they indeed come from manufacturers, there is business sense in their being construed as invitations to treat and not offers for sale. In a very different context Lord Herschell in Grainger v Gough (Surveyor of Taxes) [1896] AC 325, said this in dealing with a price list: â€Å"The transmission of such a price list does not amount to an offer to supply an unlimited quantity of the wine described at the price named, so that as soon as an order is given there is a binding contract to supply that quantity. If it were so, the merchant might find himself involved in any number of contractual obligations to supply wine of a particular description which he would be quite unable to carry out, his stock of wine of that description being necessarily limited.† Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Co (1893) An advert was placed for ‘smoke balls’ to prevent influenza. The advert offered to pay  £100 if anyone contracted influenza after using the ball. The company deposited  £1,000 with the Alliance Bank to show their sincerity in the matter. The plaintiff bought one of the balls but contracted influenza. It was held that she was entitled to recover the  £100. The Court of Appeal held that: (a) the deposit of money showed an intention to be bound, therefore the advert was an offer; (b) it was possible to make an offer to the world at large, which is accepted by anyone who buys a smokeball; (c) the offer of protection would cover the period of use; and (d) the buying and using of the smokeball amounted to acceptance. Harvey v Facey (1893) The plaintiffs sent a telegram to the defendant, â€Å"Will you sell Bumper Hall Pen? Telegraph lowest cash price†. The defendants reply was â€Å"Lowest price  £900†. The plaintiffs telegraphed â€Å"We agree to buy †¦ for  £900 asked by you†. It was held by the Privy Council that the defendants telegram was not an offer but simply an indication of the minimum price the defendants would want, if they decided to sell. The plaintiffs second telegram could not be an acceptance. Gibson v MCC (1979) The council sent to tenants details of a scheme for the sale of council houses. The plaintiff immediately replied, paying the  £3 administration fee. The council replied: â€Å"The corporation may be prepared to sell the house to you at the purchase price of  £2,725 less 20 per cent.  £2,180 (freehold).† The letter gave details about a mortgage and went on â€Å"This letter should not be regarded as a firm offer of a mortgage. If you would like to make a formal application to buy your council house, please complete the enclosed application form and return it to me as soon as possible.† G filled in and returned the form. Labour took control of the council from the Conservatives and instructed their officers not to sell council houses unless they were legally bound to do so. The council declined to sell to G. In the House of Lords, Lord Diplock stated that words italicised seem to make it quite impossible to construe this letter as a contractual offer capable of being converted into a legally enforceable open contract for the sale of land by G’s written acceptance of it. It was a letter setting out the financial terms on which it may be the council would be prepared to consider a sale and purchase in due course. Harvela v Royal Trust (1985) Royal Trust invited offers by sealed tender for shares in a company and undertook to accept the highest offer. Harvela bid $2,175,000 and Sir Leonard Outerbridge bid $2,100,000 or $100,000 in excess of any other offer. Royal Trust accepted Sir Leonard’s offer. The trial judge gave judgment for Harvela. In the House of Lords, Lord Templeman stated: â€Å"To constitute a fixed bidding sale all that was necessary was that the vendors should invite confidential offers and should undertake to accept the highest offer. Such was the form of the invitation. It follows that the invitation upon its true construction created a fixed bidding sale and that Sir Leonard was not entitled to submit and the vendors were not entitled to accept a referential bid.† Blackpool Aero Club v Blackpool Borough Council (1990) BBC invited tenders to operate an airport, to be submitted by noon on a fixed date. The plaintiffs tender was delivered by hand and put in the Town Hall letter box at 11am. However, the tender was recorded as having been received late and was not considered. The club sued for breach of an alleged warranty that a tender received by the deadline would be considered. The judge awarded damages for breach of contract and negligence. The council’s appeal was dismissed by the Court of Appeal. ACCEPTANCE Brogden v MRC (1877) B supplied coal to MRC for many years without an agreement. MRC sent a draft agreement to B who filled in the name of an arbitrator, signed it and returned it to MRC’s agent who put it in his desk. Coal was ordered and supplied in accordance with the agreement but after a dispute arose B said there was no binding agreement. It was held that B’s returning of the amended document was not an acceptance but a counter-offer which could be regarded as accepted either when MRC ordered coal or when B actually supplied. By their conduct the parties had indicated their approval of the agreement.

Outline and Evaluate the Psychological Research Into the Link Between Stress and the Immune System Essay

The main function of the immune system is to protect the body from infectious agents such as viruses and other toxins. The immune system can fail us in two ways-either by, letting infections enter the body, or being over-active, so that it is the immune system itself, rather than an infectious agent that causes illness. Most studies of the relationship between stress and the immune system have focussed on acute stressors and have found a decrease in immune cell function. One study which relates to stress and the immune system was Cohan (1993). Cohen investigated the role of general life stress on vulnerability to the common cold virus. Three hundred and ninety-four participants completed questionnaires on the number of stressful life events they had experienced in the previous year. They also rated their degree of stress and their level of negative emotions such as depression. See more: argument essay format The three scores were combined into what Cohen called a stress index. The participants were then exposed to the common cold virus, leading to 82% becoming infected with the virus. . The findings were that the chance of developing a cold was significantly linked with stress index scores. A strength of this study was that it did measure health outcomes, showing a relationship between life stress and illness. This can be compared with studies that use measures of immune function rather than illness outcomes. Also, this was an indirect study in the sense that there were no direct measures of immune function. However it is supported by Evans and Edgington (1991) who found that the probability of developing a cold was significantly correlated with negative events in the preceding days. However there are many limitations. During the study participants should be constantly monitored to check for any reactions to the viral challenge which had affected their health and the scientific value of the study should be balanced against any psychological or physical distress to participants. Another study which looks at the link between stress and the immune system was a study carried out by Brady in 1958. He linked high levels of stress to increased hormone production and the development of ulcers. In an early study he placed monkeys in â€Å"restraining chairs† and conditioned them to press a lever. They were given shocks every 20 seconds unless the lever was pressed in the same time period. This investigation came to an abrupt halt when many of the monkeys suddenly died. After 23 days of 6 hours on, 6 hours off schedule the executive monkey died due to a perforated ulcer. He tried various routines, such as 18 hours on and 6 hours off, or 30 minutes on, 30 minutes off. However, no monkeys died from ulcers. He then tested the stomachs of executive monkeys on a 6 hour on, 6 hour off schedule, and found that stomach acidity was greatest during the rest period. Brady concluded that it was clearly stress, not the shocks that created the ulcers. One criticism made of Brady’s study in general was that the monkeys were not randomly selected, the â€Å"executive† was chosen because it was faster at learning an avoidance response. This may of course have parallels with the human world. Also, the fact that the study was carried out on monkeys means that the results cannot be generalised for humans. Also another limitation was that a more serious problem was raised in the research by Marshall et al (1985). They found strong evidence of another cause of stomach ulcers, a bacterium called Helicobacter pylori not stress related.