History Of Whole Foods Inc. - 1934 Words

Introduction History of Whole Foods After dropping out of the University of Texas in 1978, John Mackey and friend, Renee Lawson (Hardy) were able to borrow $45,000 from Mackey’s family to open a small health food store, Safe Way Natural Foods, in Austin, Texas. A few years later in 1980 they met Craig Weller and Mark Skiles, who owned the Clarksville Natural Grocery, they decided to merge their stores. Thus Whole Foods Markets was born. The first Whole Foods was hardly a small market. It was a 10,500 square foot supermarket with only nineteen employees. And although it wasn’t the first natural food supermarket, the threesome found instant success. Their stores not only included the typical natural food fare such as organic fruits and†¦show more content†¦This strategy proved to be quite successful as the Whole Foods label included more than five hundred SKUs in over twenty-two categories. In the early 1990’s Whole Foods bought out Wellspring Grocery in Raleigh spawning the birth of their presence in the southeast region of the United States. However, Whole Foods decided to keep the name Wellspring for these two stores, even opening another just months later. The third store however, was launched as a central distribution center for the region. In 2004, Whole Foods expanded globally when they acquired the Fresh Wild chain of seven natural food stores in the United Kingdom. In 2007, they opened a three level store in West London. (Whole Foods Market History) Over the course of their existence they have acquired multiple stores that have added to their growth, including Bread Circus, Mrs. Gooch’s, Fresh Fields, Bread of Life, Amrion, Merchant of Vino, Allegro Coffee, Nature’s Heartland, Food for Thought, Harry’s Farmers Market, Fresh Wild and Wild Oats Markets. In 2002, the company opens its first store outside of the United States in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Their mission statement and eight core values are the underpinning of their company culture. The eight core values include: 1) Selling the highest quality natural and organic products available, 2) satisfying, delighting and nourishing its customers, 3) Supporting team members excellence and

Microeconomics and faber-castell Free Essays

The perfect definition of a purely competitive market in microeconomics states that there should be specific factors which must be followed in order to guarantee that firms who are participating in the business for companies which are moving in the markets do not have control of prices.   Such factors are easy transportation, perfect communication, and a host of many other variables. However, practicing the most important factor in determining a perfectly competitive states in the economy and a perfectly competitive product is the homogeneity of a certain good. We will write a custom essay sample on Microeconomics and faber-castell or any similar topic only for you Order Now And this is where our definition of commodity comes in.   In microeconomics, a commodity is usually defined as an object or a good in which there is a certain demand, but however which is supplied by firms without differentiation between the other products.   And although we are all to used associate the word commodity with absolutely anything that has to do with a good or service that we should be purchasing,   in its purest sense and definition, a commodity is characterized by something in where it is the market which defines their prices, and not any other factor of control. Note that our keyword for this point of discussion is that a quantity should not be differentiated from other goods because if it is so, then it would theoretically be able to define the market price in its own, and not because as an effect of other factors imperfect competition (Mankiw, 2006). We then come to the discussion of an article by the economist.com website where in it discusses the history of the pencil company Faber-Castell. Our discussion of Faber-Castell as a commodity now becomes sacrificed, for he can now say, after being given a definition of what a commodity is that Faber-Castell cannot possibly be a commodity.   The reason for this is that as the article discusses, unlike the many other pencils available to our global markets, both in the local and international sense, today are more or less homogeneous in nature (Economist, 2007).   Meaning that although of course they can have many other brands which define their names, we do not necessarily care among the brands because each pencil is basically the same as the other.   The case of Faber-Castell, however, is that its pencils are produced in such a way and distributed in such a way that it may be further identified as a pencil with true quality and a much higher value therefore than the other pencils available in the market. Again of course one may argue that a pencil is still a pencil.   However, as we have discovered in the reading of the article, because of the nature of how the pencil is created specifically the lead content, the wood used in creating its frame, even its eraser and design has specifically put the user into mine even up to the point of already creating a steady following for its use. The article stated extremely popular names as the handful of the people who are loyal to the use of such a pencil. The shifting of the brands classification from commodity may even be thought of as a move where in is the owner of the company, Count Anton Wolfgang von Faber-Castell .net actually classify it as not a commodity, that it would eventually do so because the quality of the pencils themselves creates its own definition (Mulligan, 2007). as we have perhaps learned in many of our economics and management courses, as well as to the floor of the many here ethical marketing books out in the market today, product integrity plays an important role in the popularity and eventually the profit maximizing value of outputs of products.   Not only would there be higher revenues and therefore higher profits in London was to say able to maintain the integrity of the company’s products, it will also serve as a self advertising method for the companies. Perhaps the closest thing that we could compare to our model of Faber-Castell is the company of General Electronics headed by Jack Welch, where it is also product integrity as low as quality of the outputs being produced that displays at the highest importance and role in the company. If we were to use a theoretical model for microeconomics in understanding the issue of product integrity, perhaps you could relate it most closely to the demand equation of the supply and demand model. although the movement in the demand curve and eventually the demand schedule is determined specifically by price, the shifting of the said curve is affected by many other variable such as the income of consumers, the tastes and preferences of consumers, the price is up for latent or substitute goods, and the other factors except for price.   It is here that we see that if we were to factor in integrity into such economic variables, ceteris paribus, we arrive at the conclusion that product integrity may also be able to shift the demand curve further upward if product integrity is maintained or increased. The opposite may also be true, however, and that is essentially the danger in economics, where in unlike the labor supply of macroeconomics by John Keynes which is sticky upwards, micro economic models such as the demand function and to demand equation are effected both ways and both sides.   Increasing the integrity of a product may be able to increase its demand and therefore increase revenues and profit, but a decrease in the integrity of the product may also be able to perform the opposite effect, which is to decrease revenues and profits as well as increased costs, therefore moving the company closer to shut down point or already above the equilibrium price. Also, if we take in Faber-Castell to our situation, we also realize that the firm’s economic model is at actually a perfectly competitive model or not even close.   What it does close to, however, is a monopoly model for the economy where in the demand curve for certain firm is downward sloping and its marginal revenue curve is also below the demand curve where in decreasing quantity produced results in an increase in price. Because of the impacts on welfare of a monopoly model of a firm in an economy, it is more or less cited as negative by economists.   However, in the real world situation where it is money that rules, we could not ignore the fact that Faber-Castell has achieved a monopoly setting again because it has shifted its commodity into a monopoly good. We therefore arrive at the final question of efficiency.   Economic efficiency highlights that there is no welfare loss, which is explained by the Pareto Optimality condition of the production possibilities frontier.   However, real world definition of efficiency states clearly higher profits (Sutton, 2007).   And in the case of our Faber-Castell model, we can perhaps say that it has achieved efficiency within itself because of how it has been able to market its good so effectively that demand is higher. Works Cited â€Å"At the sharp end; Face value.(Faber-Castell Corp.).† Economist (US), The, March   3, 2007. Mankiw, N. Gregory.   Principles of Microeconomics. Mason, OH:   South-Western College Pub, 2006. Mulligan, Mark. â€Å"Pencil me in: the CEO of Faber-Castell, the world’s top pencil maker, sets his sights on Latin America. Why not? Most of his production is already in Brazil.† Latin CEO: Executive Strategies for the Americas , June   1, 2001. Sutton, John.   Sunk Costs and Market Structure: Price Competition, Advertising, and the Evolution of Concentration. Cambridge, Massachusetts:   The Mit Press, 2007.    How to cite Microeconomics and faber-castell, Essay examples

Baseballs Development Into Americas National Pas Essay Example For Students

Baseballs Development Into Americas National Pas Essay time In an era whenpeople worked extremely hard day in and day out, to only make a meagerliving, people searched for something more. Men would work endlessly longhours and seek anything to release their tension. They would long for ahobby , or as some would say, a pastime. However, here in the United statesthere was yet to be such a thing. Americans desired a game to call theirown. They longed for an American pastime. The development of baseballaffected the countries economy, aided in the unification of the nation,resulting in it becoming the symbol for Americas culture and society. Aseverything has a story as to where it came from, or how it came about,baseball has its own. It has been said that baseball was started inCooperstown by a man with the name of Abner Doubleday, but that is only astory. According to Ken Burns in Baseball an Illustrated History he states,The games real past, like that of the country that claims it, is morecolorful and more complicated. Both the nation and the national pastime arethe creation of many hands from many places: the history of each is filledwith low comedy and high drama, reactionaries and revolutionaries

Nurse Burnout and the Work Environment Effects Essay Example

Nurse Burnout and the Work Environment: Effects Paper However, there has been many researches done on Magnet hospitals being able to decrease their nurse burnout rates and job satisfaction, but there hasnt been a study done on emergency nurses in Ireland on nurse burnout and their working environment (Mahoney, 2011). A review of research study published by Inurn Mahoney (201 1) is able to provide insight by data from a group of Emergency Room nurses in Ireland. This paper will provide information reviewing the background of the issue, the methods used, the researchers findings, ethical considerations, and the impact this study may have on urging practices in hospitals around the world. Background This research study focused determining if nurse burnout and the characteristics of the work environments of emergency nurses in Ireland went hand in hand. The researchers identified that previous research focused on hospitals that held Magnet Status attracted and retained nurses better that others (Mahoney, 201 1, p. 0). Its important to determine the relationship between burnout in emergency nurses and emergency department working environments due to the increase in nurse turnover and poor job satisfaction cores. (Mahoney, 2011). Methods Mahoney (2011) utilized literature and quantitative reviews to describe the relationship between nurse burnout and the work environment of the emergency nurses at Cork University Hospital Emergency Department. Wi th the recent nurse turnover rate being 40 percent the research study was limited. We will write a custom essay sample on Nurse Burnout and the Work Environment: Effects specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Nurse Burnout and the Work Environment: Effects specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Nurse Burnout and the Work Environment: Effects specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer There were 86 studies sent out to the emergency nurses. Both men and women participated in the study but the majority was women with experience between 6 and 10 years of service. The ages of the respondents averaged between 30 and 40 years of age. The literature review consisted of retrieving multiple articles pertaining to emergency room nurses burnout and contributing factors (Mahoney, 2011, p. 31 Multiple databases were explored by using key terms related to emergency nurse, stress, work environments and many more. There were 21 articles used. The researcher used The Mammals Burnout Inventory (MBA) Manual created by Mismatch and Jackson to identify three dimensions of burnout, they were: emotional exhaustion (E), diversification (DIP), and reduced personal accomplishment (as cited by Mahoney, 2011 Out of the three dimensions f burnout Mahoney (2011) kept emotional exhaustion and diversification because they related more to nurse burnout and the work environment. The second part used was the quantitative method which consisted Of using a form with two series of 22 statements about nurse burnout and 30 statements about the working environment. The MBA pertained to burnout and the statements about the working environment came from a 31- item from Lakes (2002) Nursing Work Index Practice Environment Scale (NNW-PEES) (as cited by Mahoney, 2011). The respondents, which completed the MBA, were able to indicate how often each of the 22 statements best matched their individual beliefs (Mahoney, 2011). The respondents that completed the 30 statements of the NNW-PEES were broken down into subcategories including adequate staffing nurse-physician relationship, leadership support, and nurse participating in hospital affairs (Mahoney, 2011, p. 1 Analysis Mahoganys (201 1) research shown that emergency departments nurses in Ireland were overburdened, ignored, undervalued by administration and that nurse burnout is somewhat related to nursing work environment. Respondents involved in hospital affairs went coincidentally with emotional exhaustion, which meant that participation in hospital affairs were less likely going to happen. The re lationships respondents had with physicians that were perceived as collegial were shown to be less emotionally exhausted and less dependencies. Mahoney, 201 1, p. 34). Increase teamwork, collaborate and reduce levels of burnout by encouraging and developing good relationship skills between nurses, leaders, and physicians. Teamwork was also part of the study but wasnt of any concern between the exponents and physicians. One of the last major items from the working environments was if administration listens to and responds to their employees gained a negative response of 89 percent of respondents (Mahoney, 201 1). The respondents results also shown to be overburdened, ignored inadequately staffed, undervalued by administration, but yet are expected to provide quality care to patients (Mahoney, 201 1). Respondents also noted that administration was punitive with learning from mistakes and lacked in recognizing nurse (Mahoney, 2011). Emotional exhaustion and personalization was significantly associated with the working environments suggesting that the better the nurses working environment the less likely they would suffer from nurse burnout (Mahoney, 2011 , p. 5). Nurses are vulnerable to physical, interpersonal, and social effects of burnout that could have serious implications for the nurse and the patient. It is the duty of health care organizations to maintain a healthy work environment for all healthcare professionals including nurses, to minimize the risk of burnout , provide quality care to patients, and ensure patient safety (Ballard, 2003). Nurse burnout and the work environment impact all areas of nursing so if there isnt a solution then organizations will always have a problem. Ethical Considerations Cork University clinical research ethics committee gave ethical approval regarding the research. A letter describing the purpose, duration and method of research accompanied each copy of the form. Respondents received information, which made them aware that their consent to participate in the study implies consent. This study was coded using Statistical Package for the Social Science Software to ensure their privacy was protected. Conclusion This research study implies that with an overall burnout level of 60. Percent is worrisome and could be closely tied to the work environment (Mahoney, 2011 This writer suggests that organizations including nurse administration can benefit from this information and should listening to their nurses frequently. Administrators need to be encouraged to work toward developing systems supporting nurses ability to experience and manage emotion in ways that improve the quality of patient care and reduce the possibility of burnout (E rickson Grove, 2007). Administration should make sure that when an issue is addressed or a concern is brought up that they truly follow through. If nurses fail to achieve providing quality care to their patients with excessive workloads it will lead to exhaustion, diversification, and demutualization and will most likely increase nurse turnover reducing the organizations capacity to meet the needs of the patients by providing quality care (Mahoney, 201 1 , p. 36). This writer sees the benefit of future studies of obtaining Magnet Status Hospitals in Ireland to see if the percentage of emotional exhaustion will drop from the reported rate of 67 percent.

Where people look online - Emphasis

Where people look online Where people look online Recent eyetracker research reveals that users of news websites look at the headlines first, rather than the images. The study, called Eyetrack III, from The Poynter Institute in the US, looks at how peoples eyes move, focus and skip while reading news websites. It found that people zoomed in on headlines first, although they tended to read only the first few words of the headline. Similarly, they scanned down the left-hand menu of headlines until something prompted them to read on. This and other findings from the research have important implications for those involved in creating online content. That people are attracted by headlines first online (as opposed to in print, where photos are generally viewed first, according to a 1990 study from the same institute) highlights the importance of gripping online readers in the first few words. The research also found that people devote less than an average of one second to scanning a headline, so your words need to captivate visitors almost instantly. Short and snappy headlines are clearly the order of the day when it comes to attracting and more importantly keeping website visitors. There are implications for email writing too. Subject lines should be fairly short and as self-explanatory as possible, with the key words first. Text: bigger is not always better Surprisingly the study found that smaller fonts encouraged people to focus and read content, rather than just scan it. This finding seems a little counter-intuitive, but suggests that if you want people to read closely, making the text size smaller may be a good idea. Obviously, this could be taken too far: try not to induce squinting, but choosing a small(ish) font may encourage your visitors to read more closely. People tended to just scan those news websites using large fonts. Paragraphs, too, should err on the side of short. The research found that people focused on shorter paragraphs twice as often as they did on long ones. Images: faces and click-throughs Although they werent the first thing the study participants looked at, pictures did tend eventually to draw the eye. And the bigger the image, the more attention it got. Seventy per cent viewed an average size photo, compared with a postage stamp sized picture, which caught the eye of only ten per cent. Pictures of clean, clear faces were the biggest draw (though not on stamps, presumably). Many of the test subjects tried to click on photos even though it got them nowhere. Picture links that lead somewhere useful could be a good way to cash in on this apparent reflex. And its an area that is often underutilised or overlooked when creating online content. Be careful with visual breaks Those participating in the study often didnt read blurbs beneath an underlined headline, and researchers found a similar phenomenon with adverts. Adverts were read less frequently if they were separated from editorial content and preceded by white space or a rule. So use lines, rules and other visual breaks with care. Eyetracking and the future The process of eyetracking, which youve guessed it tracks and records a persons eye movements while they are reading, has advanced greatly in the last 20 years. Where subjects once had to wear cumbersome (and, frankly, unflattering) camera headgear while under observation, now the technology consists of a small video camera, which is placed under the computer monitor being viewed. From there it locks onto and records the subjects gaze, making for a more natural experience and therefore providing more realistic results. The researchers themselves point out that research in this area is far from exhaustive (test subject groups tend to be quite small and variables are not always tightly controlled), but theyd like to see it continue. We hope that Eyetrack III is not seen as an end in itself, but rather as a beginning of a wave of eyetracking research that will benefit the news industry, say Steve Outing and Laura Ruel, the studys project managers. And with over 1.73 billion people currently logging on worldwide and the paperless office potentially just around the corner, it looks like this area of research is definitely something we should all keep an eye on. Emphasis runs a one-day course, called Writing web content with clout, which explores the specific skills required to write compelling web copy. Call us on +44 (0)1273 732 888 or email us to find out more.

Ice Breaker for Classrooms - The Name Game

Ice Breaker for Classrooms - The Name Game This icebreaker is ideal for almost any setting because no materials are needed, your group can be divided into manageable sizes, and you want your participants to get to know each other anyway. Adults learn best when they know the people surrounding them. You may have people in your group who hate this icebreaker so much they’ll still remember everyone’s name two years from now! You can make it harder by requiring everyone to add an adjective to their name that starts with the same letter (e.g. Cranky Carla, Blue-eyed Bob, Zesty Zelda). You get the gist. Ideal Size Up to 30. Larger groups have tackled this game, but it becomes increasingly harder unless you break into smaller groups. Application You can use this game to facilitate  introductions in the classroom or at a meeting. This is also a fabulous game for classes involving memory. Time Needed Depends entirely on the size of the group and how much trouble people have remembering. Materials Needed None. Instructions Instruct the first person to give his or her name with a descriptor: Cranky Carla. The second person gives the first person’s name and then his own name: Cranky Carla, Blue-eyed Bob. The third person starts at the beginning, reciting each person before her and adding her own: Cranky Carla, Blue-eyed Bob, Zesty Zelda. Debriefing If you’re teaching a class that involves memory, debrief by talking about the effectiveness of this game as a memory technique. Were certain names easier to remember than others? Why? Was it the letter? The adjective? A combination? Additional Name Game Ice Breakers Introduce Another Person: Divide the class into partners. Have each person talk about himself to the other. You can offer a specific instruction, such as tell your colleague about your greatest accomplishment. After switching, the participants introduce each other to the class.What Have You Done Thats Unique: Request each person introduce himself by stating something hes done that he thinks no one else in the class has.  If someone else has done it, the person has to try again to find something unique!Find Your Match: Ask each person to write two or three statements on a card, such as an interest, goal or dream vacation. Distribute the cards so each person gets someone else’s. The group has to mingle until each person finds the one who matches their card.Describe Your Name: When people introduce themselves, ask them to talk about how they got their name (first or last name). Perhaps they were named after someone specific, or maybe their last name means something in an ancest ral language. Fact or Fiction: Ask each person to reveal one true thing and one false when introducing themselves. The participants have to guess which is which.The Interview: Pair up participants and have one interview the other for a few minutes and then switch. They can ask about interests, hobbies, favorite music, and more. When finished, have each person write three words to describe their partner and reveal them to the group. (example: My partner John is witty, irreverent, and motivated.)

Present Value Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Present Value - Assignment Example The monthly profits of this business seem not to be any stable. In this case, the profits vary a lot through high ranges, hence show possibility of not remaining stable at any moment. In as much as the yearly profits show steady increase, the monthly profits show staggering values that may make the business not that stable during the year. The gross margin of this project also shows a high monthly decrease. This shows that revenues increase but at a decreasing rate. The cost of sales also increases even as the sales increase. Therefore, the project experiences a reduction in its net profits from 24.19% to 16.38%. There is also a staggering increase in the net cash flow as shown in the graphs. The monthly profits of Shaved Ice Beverage project seem to be fairly stable, hence not so much risky. The yearly profit for this business seem to be stable and increasing each year. The gross margin will increase in the first year, but get back to normal in the third year, showing staggering growth. Operating expenses, however, increases yearly, hence reducing on the profit. The net profit percentage, however, increases at some significant rate, hence the business is not hat risky. A problem only sets in during its net cash flow where the values are very low, and sometimes go to negative. The third project, the Truck stop business, show fairly stable cash flows throughout the year except for the first two months of the year when the net cash flow becomes too high and too low. Income received from operations, however, increases steadily year after year. The monthly profits is also very high and very stable throughout the year. This is one significant reason that shows that this business is free from risks. However, when one looks at its net profits, it is clear that it increases on the second year, but not with a big range, then gets back on the third year. This probably shows indications of