Native Americans- Minority Role Essay example -- essays research paper

Thesis Since the arrival of the Europeans in 1492 the Native American has systematically been dehumanized, decivilized and redefined into terms that typify a subordinate or minority role, restricted life opportunities persist today as a result. I. Introduction-Majority/Minority group relations- the role of power II. Historical Overview A. Native American life before contact with the White man. B. Early contact, efforts at peaceful co-existence. C. Conflict and its consequences for Native Americans III. The continuing role of power A. Control techniques used by the majority group B. Native American life today, SES, housing, education, etc. Power and Minority Group Position: The Case of Native Americans Majority/Minority group relations can be illustrated by studying the role of power and how it is distributed between groups. The majority, or group that wields the most power, directly affects the circumstances for the minority. In most cases power struggle leads to racial and ethnic inequality. This scenario describes the case of the Native Americans. Since the arrival of the Europeans in 1492 the Native American has systematically been dehumanized, decivilized and redefined into terms that typify a subordinate or minority role, restricted life opportunities persist today as a result (Farley, 2000). When European settlers arrived on American shores to settle a New World, around 7 million Native Americans had been settled in the wilderness north of present-day Mexico for some time. It is believed that the first Native Americans arrived during the last Ice Age, approximately 20,000 - 30,000 years ago, by crossing the Bering Strait from northeastern Siberia into Alaska. Over thousands of years, â€Å"spiritual kin-based communities† had survived by living off the land and bartering goods. Their diversity was reflected by their societies, which ranged from small, mobile bands of hunter-gatherers in the Great Basin to temple-mound builders in the Southeast (DiBacco, 1995). The encounter of early explorers with the people of the Americas would ultimately set in motion the destruction of long existing Native American life and culture. Engrained into the minds of the Europeans were prejudiced images and stereotypes of the Native Americans, which we struggle still today to eradica... ...ypes. Even still, today’s 2.1 million Native Americans have proved their resilience by surviving oppression in a world dominated by other races and cultures. Unlike other minorities who have fought for equal rights in American society, Native Americans have fought to retain their land and cultures and have avoided assimilation, at a hefty cost. Works Cited Bataille, Gretchen. The Pretend Indians: Images of Native Americans in the Movies. Iowa State University, Ames: 1980 Berkhofer, Robert F. The White Man's Indian. Alfred A. Knopf Publishers, New York, 1978. DiBacco, Thomas V., Lorna C. Mason, and Christian G. Appy. History of The United States. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1995. Keohane, Sonja. â€Å"The Reservation Boarding School System in the United States, 1870-1928.† http://www.twofrog.com. 3/19/2005 Jordan,Winthrop D. and Leon F. Litwack. The United States. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1991. Todd, Lewis Paul and Merta Curti. Triumph of the American Nation. Orlando: Harcourt Brace Joranovich, Inc., 1986. Zinn, Howard. A People’s History of the United States. New York: Harper-Collins, 1980. Farley, John. Majority-Minority Relations. New Jersey: Prentice Hall,2000.

The Chemistry of Blood Colours

Blood is a necessary component of the majority of living organisms (all vertebrates and some invertebrates); it carries vital nutrients, oxygen and proteins to body tissues and carries away waste products. Blood, although most commonly red, can also be found in such colours as green, blue, clear, pink and violet. However, the common misconception surrounding the idea that human blood is blue before oxygenation is false. All human blood is varying shades of red; these wild alternate colours are found in other animal species such as certain species of crabs and insects. This colouring of the blood can be seen as an indicator of oxygen carrying ability or make apparent the metal with the highest concentration in the blood. The colour containing portions of blood are known as respiratory pigments; these pigments are metal containing proteins which combine reversibly with oxygen. Respiratory pigments are found within cells of blood and their primary function is to aid in the transportation of molecular oxygen. There are four unanimously recognised respiratory pigments, these are; hemoglobin, followed by hemocyanin, then chlorocruorin and Hemerythrin. These four pigments occur in greater percentages and are far more efficient in carrying oxygen than the few other pigments known. These lesser known pigments (not all fully recognised as respiratory pigments) include; vanadium chromagen and pinnaglobin. Haemoglobin, the most common respiratory pigment on earth is the pigment found in all vertebrates (excluding a few Antarctic fish) including humans. Hemoglobin is located within the platelet component of blood giving the distinctive red colouring associated with blood both when oxygenated and deoxygenated, when oxygenated it is a bright red and by the time it is traveling In the veins back to the heart, blood containing haemoglobin is a dark red in colour. This colour is due to the presence of iron in the haemoglobin. Iron is the central atom of the heme group ( Without iron in the heme group, there would be no site for the oxygen to bind) One molecule of haemoglobin, with iron at the centre, can carry four oxygen molecules. Fig 1: Hemoglobin structure Image: (Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 2013) Fig1. 2: Hemoglobin, human adult, heme group Image: (Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 2013) Hemocyanin is the second most evident form of respiratory pigment, found in mollusks, arthropods and some insects. Blood containing Hemocyanin is blue in colour when oxygenated and transparent in appearance when deoxygenated. Oxygenation causes a colour change between the colorless Cu(I) deoxygenated form and the blue Cu(II) oxygenated form. This blue colour is due to the presence of Two copper atom at the centre of hemocyanin particles and unlike haemoglobin, only two oxygen molecules can reversibly combine with the metal proteins at the centre of the hemocyanin particles therefore it is four times less efficient as an oxygen carrier than haemoglobin. Fig. 2: Hemocyanin, deoxygenated and oxygenated Image: (htt) Chlorocruorin is an iron, metalprotein, respiratory pigment with many similarities to hemoglobin. The most notable of the differences between hemoglobin and chlorocruorin is the abnormal heme group structure of chlorocruorin and unlike hemoglobin it floats freely within the plasma of blood rather than being confined to red blood cells. The chemical colour change of chlorocruorin bears resemblance to both hemoglobin and hemerythrin, changing from a green when deoxygenated to red when oxygenated (two oxygen molecules reversibly combine one iron atom). This ration puts chlorocruorin at 25% the efficiency of hemoglobin. Fig. 3: Chlorocruorin structure Image: (Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 2013) Hemerythrin is the third respiratory pigment containing iron, found in marine invertebrates (sipunculids and brachiopods) and used for oxygen transfer and/or storage. Although containing the same metal protein, hemerythrin differs from both haemoglobin and chlorocruorin as it contains two more iron atoms which reversibly combine and are connected by an oxygen molecule. This means that the efficiency of this pigment is 25% as effective as haemoglobin and on par for effectiveness with chlorocruorin. When the oxygen molecule combines directly (no heme group) with the iron atoms a colour change occurs; deoxygenated hemerythrin is near colourless changing to a pink/violet colour when oxygenated. Fig. 4: Hemerythrin structure found in sea worms Image: (Coleman, 2009) Other than the four major respiratory pigments, giving blood colour, there is dispute over two other pigments, little is known of these pigments. They are; Pinnaglobin, a brown pigment found in the blood of a mollusc of the genus Pinna, this pigment demonstrates similarities to the pigment Hemocyanin but contains manganese as the metal atom in place of copper. The other proposed pigment (idea is disputed) vanadium chromagen, is said to be light green in colour, contain metal atoms of Vanadium and is found in sea squirts, ascidians and tunicates. Bibliography (n. d. ). Retrieved from http://web. tock. com/kalee/chem32/spec/ (2008, 04 13). Retrieved from http://www. klingon. org/smboard/index. php? topic=1377. 0 Wiktionary. (2012, 11 11). Retrieved from http://en. wiktionary. org/wiki/vanadium_chromagen Coleman, W. F. (2009, 04 11). Dept. f Chemistry, Wellesley College. Retrieved from http://academics. wellesley. edu/Chemistry/Flick/chem341/hemoglobin1. html Department of Biology, Davidson college . (2005). Retrieved from http://www. bio. davidson. edu/Courses/Molbio/MolStudents/spring2005/Heiner/hemoglobin. html Encyclopedia britannica. (n. d. ). Retrieved from http://www. britannica. com/EBchecked/topic/260910/hemocyanin Frey, R. C. (n. d. ). Hemoglobin and the Heme Group. Retrieved from Department of chemistry, Washington University:

Leadership Failure at Tyco Essay

William B. Lytton remembers the aura of working in the White House in 1987, amidst the power and the personalities that surrounded President Ronald Reagan. Lytton had taken leave from his Philadelphia law firm for six months to act as Deputy Special Counselor for Reagan during the Iran-Contra investigation. â€Å"I would mentally pause and think of how fortunate I was to be there,† Lytton recalled. But as if to check that emotion, he would summon the lessons of John Dean, the young White House lawyer who found himself caught up in the Watergate scandal after allowing himself to become â€Å"dazzled,† as Lytton put it, by the blinding light of power. Speaking to several hundred Vermont Law school students, Lytton recommended they readBlind Ambition, Dean’s memoir about the Watergate years. The book, he said, would serve as a vehicle for young lawyers to question themselves on how they might behave in such a situation. Lytton’s Oct. 6 lecture, entitled â€Å"Just Say No,† laid out the ethical challenges faced by lawyers in a culture where it is often difficult to speak up to power, whether it be in a politically charged atmosphere such as the White House or in a corporate culture such as Tyco International. Lytton stepped in as general counsel at Tyco in 2002 as the company was enmeshed in a multi-billion accounting fraud scandal. Lytton’s role was to resolve the legal issues and clean up the culture, no small feat in a $38 billion company that employed 260,000 people worldwide. His friend was among those under indictment. In the Tyco failure, Lytton said, â€Å"They failed as leaders. They forgot that leadership was about serving others and not themselves. † But it was also a failure of those who follow the leaders, the corporate lawyers who failed in their duty to keep the leaders in check. Like John Dean during Watergate, Tyco lawyers wanted to please their bosses. When the scope of the corporate corruption became clear, Lytton said, the remaining questions were, â€Å"Where were the lawyers? Where was the harsh spotlight of scrutiny? † Yet while the public clamors for criminal prosecutions in such cases, Lytton maintains that it is not illegal intent, but rather the culture of the corporate world and the pressure â€Å"to make your numbers† that often drives corporations into such scandals. Most of the people who became infamous for their misdeeds&helip;were not evil people,† said Lytton, who also serves as a VLS Trustee. As he sees it, they lost sight of the cultural boundaries, blinded by their own career advancement goals. That, he said, is where the role of the corporate lawyer becomes critical. â€Å"As a lawyer, you have a greater and a different responsibility than everyone else,† he said. While it might prove difficult to stop bad th ings from happening, â€Å"Sometimes,† he said, â€Å"you do need to just say no. † A leader plays very important role in the success of the organization. Good leader has vision and he can take the organization forward, a not so good leader finds himself unable to influence the employees and lacks vision and he may cause the failure of the organization. A good leader has exceptional quality to influence his followers . A leader has extraordinary effect on followers and followers become committed to the leader. So, if leader is taking his followers towards the organizational goal, it is positive for the organization. A good leader has power to motivate the followers to contribute individually and hence collectively to the organization. Leader helps the followers (employees) to achieve the goals and objectives set for the organization. A participative leader includes the employees in decision making process. He encourages the employees to share their ideas and views which is considered in decision making process. It makes the decision making like a team work and employees feel themselves a part of the decision making team. So, participative style of leadership motivates the employees to contribute more and increases the belongingness. The leader has vision to foresee the future of the organization. He motivates the employees accordingly. He has influence among employees and he leads from front. By sharing that vision with other followers, and allowing them to take part in achieving that vision, all individuals will benefit from the successful results (Bateman, & Snell, 2007). Any organization’s long term goal is more than just making profit. Organization needs to manage its resources including human resource, efficiently to achieve the set long term goal. Leader plays very crucial role in achieving the goal. He can lead the organization to success or failure. All leadership styles try to achieve same goal, i. e. o help the employees to contribute more individually as well as collectively, and take the organization forward. Organizational culture plays major role in the success of an organization. A successful leader helps in creating healthy organizational culture which allows individual as well as organization to grow and sustain the growth. The failure of the leader is reflected in the weak organizational culture which may result in the failure of the organization. Other important factor which decides the success or failure of an organization is management and organizational structure. Management is responsible for long term planning and setting up the goal of the organization. They have the control of the organization. Top management executes Planning function of management as per POLC model. Other activities of the organization are directed to achieve the goal set in planning phase. If top management fails in setting right long term goal of the organization, all other activities will also be directed in wrong direction and hence, organization may not sustain for long. Organization’s structure and hierarchy delegates power(authority) and responsibilities. It dictates who will do what and who has got what level of authority. Organization’s structure tells who is in charge of taking what decision and who is responsible for a specific act and decision. A successful organization should have clearly defined delegation of authority so that if something goes wrong, management can track the responsible person and know the reason why it went wrong. Sometimes organization deliberately create the organization structure in such a way that any mischief can not be determined easily. In short term organization may be benefited from such organizational structure, but in long term kit may be fatal for the organization’s very existence. TYCO International Tyco International is a diversified global manufacturing and service provider company, having stake in electronics and telecommunication, security, healthcare, flow control etc. Tyco Tyco has been victim of many scandals. It has been acquiring so many businesses and in year 2002 it posted extensive loss. In an effort to cut losses, Tyco divested Tyco capital business through IPO. Tyco healthcare segment also divested its Surgical Dynamics. As a result, in 2002, turnover rose to $35 billion but company incurred a loss of $9 million, including asset impairment write-down of $3 billion. In addition to the financial woes, Tyco faced another massive scandal in 2002- Its former chairman and CEO, L. Dennis Kozlowski was charged for excesses. In 2002, Edward D. Breen was appointed CEO of Tyco for three years. In 2004 Annual Report, then CEO Edward D.  Breen said- † Our success was based on a simple strategy: to make operational excellence a core competency, to build a platform for sustainable organic growth, to invest in our people, and to hold ourselves to the highest ethical standards†¦ † (Allen, & Hartman, 2008). Tyco was pursuing organic growth strategy. In organic growth, company seeks to grow by increasing revenue of existing business rather than acquiring other companies. This was a part of long term plan of Tyco. Tactical plans are made for shorter period to implement the long term plan successfully and achieve the long term goal set by the management. Tyco started working on reviving its corporate image and enhance consumer awareness. In order to build brand value, Tyco launched a global print campaign ion 2004 – â€Å"Tyco a vital part of your world. † Tyco started reviewing its core business and sold rest of the businesses. As a part of this strategy, Tyco sold TGN in 2004 (which was almost entirely written off by that time). In total, Tyco divested 21 businesses and liquidated 4 non-core businesses. In line of the strategic plan and tactical plan, Tyco’s operational plan was also showing same trend. Operational . Tyco had set very good operational plan as well. [pic] Failure of Tyco was the failure of management and leadership. All wrong decisions, lack of control, absence of any internal control system, organizational structure with flaw and weak organizational culture caused the failure of the giant Tyco International. Its former chairman and CEO, L. Dennis Kozlowski and senior managements faced prosecution for â€Å"larceny and conspiracy, falsifying business records and violating business law. † (Tyco Worldwide, 2004, 1). They were accused of misappropriating money and assets from the company for personal use totaling in the range of $210 million dollars. cover their theft, they entered into secret contracts, further damaging the company’s integrity. The executive’s unethical behavior resulted in huge debt and decoration of the value of shareholders. Tyco reached at the verge of bankruptcy. This kind of incident indicates how weak organizational culture was prevailing in Tyco. The leader himself was involved in unethical and illegal activities. A leader can cause success or failure of the organization. In case of Tyco, leader was the caused of the failure. Later, CEO and senior management had to resign and law indicted them. What happened in Tyco can be called failure of leadership and failure of management in checking unethical practice. All organizations have ethics code in place but it is merely a guideline. Organization should monitor how actively ethical code is followed. Moreover, a leader should take initiative and motivate and inspire the employees to follow the ethical practices so that slowly it becomes a part of the process and organizational culture.

Air travel

Aircraft Utilization: The most basic metric for an airline is aircraft utilization. This is a measure of the average number of hours that each aircraft is flying in each 24 hour period. Planes that are flying are probably making money. Planes that are sitting on the ramp, whether undergoing maintenance, suffering delays due to weather or waiting for crews to fly them are not making money. Utilization is a statistic that varies from carrier to carrier and is normally considered a closely guarded corporate trade secret and is not tracked by government. Part of the art in running an airline is keeping utilization high. Load Factor: The next most important metric for an airline is the Load Factor, which measures the percentage of available seats that are filled during a specific period. In 2007 load factors for major airlines ranged from 72-84%[citation needed]. In 2008 U. S. airlines averaged a Load Factor of 79. 74% on domestic flights and 78. 74% on International flights [1] Available Seat-Miles (ASM): The ASM metric is used to track seat supply among airlines. ASM is equal to the number of available seats times the number of miles flown. Revenue Passenger-Miles (RPM): RPM measures the number of seat miles flown for which the company earned revenues. That is, RPM equals the number of filled seats times the number of miles flown. Yield: The amount of revenue earned per RPM is known as the airlines yield. This metric is generally expressed in cents and ranged from 9. 8-13. 1 cents for the major airlines in the first half of 2007[citation needed]. Fuel Costs: Most factors that affect the profitability of airlines are fairly stable, except for fuel costs. Fuel costs are facing extreme risk from the threat of Peak Oil. During January 2009, airline fuel costs averaged $1.76 USD per gallon[2]. Trends and Forces Joseph Weisenthal said in a recent post Airline-In-A-Box: Few businesses have as many variables and challenges as airlines. They are capital-intensive. Competition is fierce. Airlines are fossil fuel dependent and often at the mercy of fuel price volatility. Operations are labor intensive and subject to government con trol and political influence. And a lot depends on the weather. The Dual Mandate Problem The general public, including most investors, is not aware that congress long ago created what is referred to as a dual mandate for regulation of the airline industry. This means that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which is a sub-agency under the U. S. Department of Transportation (U. S. DOT), is charged with both the promotion of the airlines and the safety regulation of the airlines. This creates an obvious conflict of interest and the dual mandate has been questioned and criticized for decades. The question has been asked if the FAA should be divided into two separate divisions, one that would function as a Department of Airline Promotion and another that would function as a Department of Safety. Another proposed solution is to shift the sky police functions involving safety to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Although the NTSB seems like it might be a good solution to police safety, the political realities of the U. S. Congress, the FAA hierarchy and the extreme size and funding imbalance between the two agencies make it impractical and unlikely that any shift would be feasible. The FAA generally maintains that they do not directly promote the airlines, which is true in the sense that the public doesnt see billboards and television commercials and email campaigns from the FAA promoting airlines. However, the FAA indirectly promotes the airlines in a huge way on a daily basis by imposing generally lax standards and enforcement. In fact, it is a well known historical fact that the FAA is so bad at safety enforcement that there exists what is called in the airline industry the Tombstone Imperative which refers to the fact that over and over again the FAA has known about serious safety issues and refused to correct them and the result was dead people. PGSanalyst 21:11, March 14, 2009 (PDT) The Railway Labor Act Problem The general public, including most investors, is also not aware that labor in the airline industry is regulated by the Railway Labor Act. This is arguably amazingly strange and curious that one of the major modern industries, developed in the early 20th century, and now providing part of the industrial backbone for commerce and industry in the 21st century, is regulated by a body of law that was originally passed to protect wealthy railroad investors from railroad strikes in 1877. As a general rule, airline labor is not allowed to strike, similar to the prohibition on strike actions for Federal Employees and employees of some states. For example, the Airline Pilots Association (ALPA) functions as the collective bargaining agent for most, but not all, of the airlines in the U. S. and most ALPA collective bargaining contract terms provide very, very limited circumstances under which a strike is legally authorized. Another example of the difficulty of labor expressing its grievances by means of a strike is the 1981 Professional Air Traffic Controllers (PATCO) strike that ended with President Ronald Reagan firing the controllers by using the authority of the Taft-Hartley Act that was passed in 1947 to greatly reduce the power and influence of unions in the U.S. The basic thing for a wise investor to understand about labor issues is that happy people are generally more productive than unhappy people and limiting by means of regulations peoples right to express their grievances may not promote happiness of the labor pool and thus adds risk to investments in those businesses in industries affected by labor relations ris ks. PGSanalyst 21:11, March 14, 2009 (PDT) Consolidation After the events of 9/11, the domestic commercial airline industry went into a precipitous freefall, prompting consolidation of several airlines and bankruptcies of others. Elimination of airlines, through consolidation or bankruptcy, benefit both revenuesthrough higher faresand costs by eliminating redundant expenses and routes. Additional terrorist attacks or declines in the overall domestic economy could accelerate consolidation as weaker airlines get acquired by financially stronger ones or become insolvent. Airlines worldwide have also sought to share costs by creating partnerships or alliances. Through these agreements, airlines can share facilities and operational costs (e. g. , maintenance facilities, sales offices) and negotiate volume discounts on large purchases. Passengers benefit from lower prices (due to lower expenses) as well as optimized routes and pooled loyalty rewards, especially in regards to international travel. Since the deregulation of the airline industry begain, airline ownership has been limited to companies and individuals of the operating country. THis has prevented major international mergers and acquisitions from occuring. Recently, the US government has announced its intentions to relax these regulations and clear the way for international ma deals in the airline industry. This could create significant cost-saving and synergy in the rapidly deteriorating industry. The three major global alliances are: Spotlight on Oil Prices Oil Prices are a key factor for airline operations because Jet Fuel costs are directly linked to the cost of the oil that must be refined to produce Jet Fuel. In 2008 fuel is constituting about 34% of an airlines costs, as opposed to about 13% in 2002. [4] For the budget airlines such as Jet Blue and AirTran, this share rises to nearly 50%. The rise has been very drastic just in the first six months of 2008. At the start of the year, jet fuel cost $850 a metric ton. As of June, the cost is now approximately $1300 a ton. [6] Jet fuel is extremely correlated with spot petroleum prices, which have risen significantly over the past several years. On the flip side, the stock prices of domestic airlines tends to be highly negatively correlated to jet fuel prices, indicating the sensitivity of this historically low-margin business to fuel expenses. In an exogenous event for the fuel procurement of airlines, oil companies are increasingly making airlines pay up front for fuel. In the past, the airlines were allowed to use fuel on credit and pay up to weeks later. Now, the oil refiners are eliminating this free credit line and making the carriers prepay. This will cause a negative shift in the short term cash situation for the airlines as they can no longer keep cash from revenues on the books for this credit line period. On June 4, the International Air Transport Association drastically lowered their profit forecasts for the industry. The group now projects that global airlines will collectively lose $2. 3 billion if oil averages $107 for 2008. If the price averages $135 for the last six months of the year, airlines will lose $6. 1 billion. [8] However, on 1 October 2008 Northwest Airlines (NWA) CEO Doug Steenland claimed that his company can maintain profitability even if oil stays at $100 a barrel. [9] Some airlines have utilized hedges to lock in the price of fuel and hence insulate themselves from oil price volatility. Southwest was perhaps the most forward-looking of airlines, and has hedged significant portions of its fuel expenses through 2010 at various prices per barrel below the current market rate. The company will reap benefits compared to other airlines if oil prices continue to rise or remain at current levels. On the other hand, if prices fall below Southwests hedging levels, they will be at a disadvantage to other airlines. American Airlines and United Airlines, on the other hand, have no remaining fuel hedges in the foreseeable future as of 2008. Other airlines have limited remaining hedges. Peak Oil Peak Oil experts from the oil industry are already warning of impending catastrophic drops in oil production that will severely limit the future growth of the airline industry and cause extreme increases in Jet Fuel costs and other oil related costs including fuel for airline support infrastructure such as maintenance vehicles, External Ground Power Units (GPUs), crew transportation vans, airline food costs, etc. , etc.. Some scientists and industry experts are seriously discussing the viability of the entire global airline industry and asking the question of whether their grandchildren will ever even fly on a commercial aircraft? The mere fact that these questions are being asked and remain unresolved should cause a wise investor to carefully consider the long and short term impacts of Peak Oil on the airline industry as a whole. PGSanalyst 21:23, March 14, 2009 Business vs. Leisure Travel Business travel is important to the commercial airline industry for two major reasons. First, it commands a much higher average ticket cost, approximately 5 times higher than the average leisure fare. Second, business travel is less elastic changes in macro-economic trends than leisure travel, which may be considered a form of luxury. In the past 24 months, leisure fares have dropped slightly, ranging from $110 to $100 In the same time frame, business fares have increased significantly, from around $350 to $500 Domestic vs. International Travel International travel accounts for about one-third of all traffic and capacity for the major carriers. Comparing 2007 year to date to the same time period in 2006, these major carriers saw international travel increase by about 5% , which is faster than domestic travel, which was relatively flat. Growth in domestic travel has been soaked up in large part by the regional discount carriers such as Southwest and AirTran. History of Airline Bankruptcies Raises Risk Concerns For Investors Over the period from 1990 through 2006 the Air Transportation Association of America reports that domestic airlines posted a cumulative loss of $22 billion on cumulative revenues $1,866 billion. Since 1978, when commercial aviation was deregulated, no fewer than 137 carriers have filed for bankruptcy protection. And from the end of World War II, when aviation started to become big business, through 1994, the sum of the industrys profits and losses was less than zero. Warren E. Buffett once remarked that it would have been a blessing for shareholders if someone had thought to shoot down Orville Wright at Kitty Hawk. [11] One reason the major airlines are at higher risk for bankruptcy is that they use huge amounts of fixed capital wide-body jets go for $100 million each and cant be readily liquidated which explains why many airlines do not own their aircraft but lease them instead. Airlines also depend on a highly skilled labor force that requires large cash flow into training, benefits and pensions. Consider some other businesses for a moment: Microsoft has highly skilled programmers but little invested capital. Merrill Lynch has both, but its assets stocks and bonds mostly could be liquidated overnight. Steel has high fixed capital, but it can replace its workers more easily. Unbundling of costs usually bundled in ticket prices Business practices for much of the history of the airlines included bundling all costs of travel into a single ticket price. Although some unbundling of the costs in tickets has occurred to various degrees at some airlines in different parts of the world, since the summer 2008 spike in fuel costs many airlines have chosen to broaden the practice, for example, charging the passenger for each piece of checked baggage b) Forces in the macro environment In terms of the case, it suggests that the environment of airline companies is not very stable, especially the increasing price of fuel which is the key driver of change. From Ryanair profit statement (Exhibit 1a) it shows the fuel and oil cost has increased by â‚ ¬200 million from 2005 to 2006. The increase in fuel costs is 74 percent. The impact to the airlines companies is obvious and the budget airlines may face the trouble more so than normal airlines. Moreover, airline companies also have to concentrate on some other issues. For example, according to the case, they are facing the risks from terrorist attacks which are difficult to predict. It is not difficult to find the changeability, however it is complex to the airline environment. Some factors, such as legal action and customer demand, also have influence on them. Some of these such as the price of fuel and oil can be predicted, while some of them cannot. Audit environmental influences The Pestel Analysis is employed to identify macro-environment influences of the airline industry. Political: Government wants to strengthen the economy and, consequently, will support local airlines by setting rules, such as preferential rights. Every government however, will probably do so. Therefore there’s no obvious advantage between competitions. The political issues have a wide range of effect, so they are not the key points that budget airlines are facing. Economic: This is identified as the most crucial factor to airline companies, especially to budget airlines. The influences refer to the macro-economic factors such as the national growth rates and the exchange rates. As budget airlines, they will pay more attention to the operation costs such as fuel cost. It became a big issue for budget airlines because of the increasing cost of fuel. That may reduce the advantages and the companies will be less competitive than before. On the other hand, the recession will lead more people to choose budget airlines. Social: With the development of Asian countries in particular China, there are more and more people deciding to study or travel in Europe. In recent years, the lifestyle of local people has also changed. They tend to travel abroad to enjoy their lives. Most of these people are not wealthy such as student. The budget airlines therefore, will be their best choice to reduce the travel costs. Technological: The innovation of technology helps the airline companies reduce costs and carry out tasks more effectively. The new type of aircraft can help to reduce the burning of fuel; and new technology can also make the security check more efficient and accurate. Environmental: European countries pay more attention on environmental issues, especially greenhouse gases from carbon emissions. Moreover in terms of the case, airline companies have to pay the environmental taxes for the contributions they make to global warming. In particular, it is bad news for budget airlines. Costs will increase and the companies want to maintain good brand image in the consumer’s perception. Furthermore, noise pollution and energy consumption cannot be ignored under such conditions. Legal: Some legal actions such as preferential airport rights are directed against the specific airlines. As budget airlines, which have higher competitive power, they should pay more attention to the legal forces to prevent loss. On the contrary, they can also take the initiative over illegal aid to rivals. Stage 3 – Determine industry specific factors (this stage will be analysed in Question 2) Stage 4 – Identify competitive position (this stage will be analysed in Question 3) Stage 5 – Identify key opportunities and threats There are many potential opportunities for the airline companies. For instance, the recession may lead to more people choosing the budget airline rather than the expensive ones; new technology which helps to reduce the usage of fuel; government set the tax at a lower percentage. On the other hand, the increasing cost of fuel may be the most significant issue most budget airlines face. What’s more, the compensation to passengers, terrorism and security, and customers’ satisfactions will all have potential negative impacts on the airline. In order to achieve lower costs, budget airlines will have to reduce costs from many departments and operations. That’s why lots of customers are not satisfied with the budget airlines except for the price. Question 2 Prepare a Porter Five Forces analysis of the budget airline industry. Express Ryanair’s perspective of these forces. The threat of entry There are high barriers to enter the budget airline industry. i) High investment requirements. Economies of scale are important in the airline industry. It is difficult for new entrants to match others existing competitors. In addition to this, the operational experiences cannot be acquired in such short space of time. ii) Expected retaliation. Retaliation will take place when new entrants appear for budget airlines, it will probably be in the form of a price war due to costs of entry being very high for them. iii) Legislation or Government action. Government won’t let new entrants enter the market if the industry is saturated. With regards to Ryanair in the budget airline industry, there will not be large impacts to existing budget airlines if new entrants appeared. Budget airlines always focus on the costs and price, so does Ryanair. According to the case, Ryanair was the first budget airline in Europe and now its ticket prices are much lower than the other rivals’. Therefore it will be impossible for new entrants to set a low price to win the market. The threat of substitutes Before discussing the threats, some comparative data is showed below. London Stansted Milan Going Out Regular Fare Adult 8. 99 GBP Tue, 2 Dec 08 Flight FR 4184 8:15 Depart 11:15 Arrive Coming Back Regular Fare Adult 12. 99 GBP Sun, 8 Dec 08 Flight FR 4185 6:45 Depart 7:50 Arrive (Source: Ryanair. com) One way by Rail Europe: London (ST Pancras) Milan Standard Class Adult 227 GBP Tue, 2 Dec 08 8:40 Depart 21:20 Arrive (Source: Raileurope. co. uk) Most of the travellers will prefer the short journey, in addition to the cheaper way to travel. From the tables it is obvious that taking a plane from Ryanair is much cheaper than taking the train in a similar situation. Although some airlines may be expensive, budget airlines such as Ryanair will usually be the best choice. The impact of substitutes, therefore, has less impact on the budget airlines. The power of buyers Buyers of airlines tickets can sometimes be the travel agency. In other cases, Ryanair caters to ultimate consumers. Majority of the buyers are not concentrated buyers and they come from all over the countries. Individuals can select the budget airlines according to their preference, because the switching costs are low and the differentiation of such service is weak. It is extremely expensive for people to own an aircraft. When there is a choice of budget airlines to use, with low prices. So there is a low buyer competition threat. Like Ryanair, with less concentrated buyers and buyers’ competition threat, the power of buyers is low. The power of suppliers The high power of suppliers may be one of the most significant threats among the budget airline industry. The increasing price of fuel, which leads to a high cost for airlines, is a basic issue they are facing. As we know, fuel industry is now concentrated in the hands of few producers. Therefore, in this situation it is difficult to cut the price for this essential material. In addition to this, it is useless to change fuel suppliers when the global price is growing. Moreover there are no practical substitutes. Ryanair is facing this problem with other budget airlines. Furthermore Ryanair sells all the ticket directly through the website. Thus there is no intermediary. Competitive rivalry Rivalry is influenced by these four competitive forces and each of them may have different levels of impact on the competitive rivalry. In this market, every airline provides the same services which are poorly differentiated. Low differentiation and switching costs in this industry, therefore, cause the price competition. Ryanair, which has the first mover advantages, still holds the dominant position. Although many of the competitors were losing money or even have been taken over, Ryanair remains steady in incremental growth. For industry growth rate, this industry is in the maturity situation of life cycle, which means the growth is low. Price war is therefore playing a crucial role throughout the competition. Question 3 Evaluate Ryanair’s particular strengths and weaknesses and explain, with reasons, what Ryanair must do to retain a sustainable competitive advantage. As the first-mover of budget airline industry, Ryanair still holds the dominant lowest-cost position. This is also the one of the strengths it has. What’s more, Ryanair was announced being the most profitable airline in the world according to the case. The revenue is still increasing, despite the price of fuel did not stop growing in recent years. The brand image of Ryanair is also one of its strengths. Customers are attracted by the lower price. Its traffic is the highest among the competitors (see Exhibit 2) and it is still increasing due to the enlargement of the company. On the other hand, there are still some weaknesses of this budget airline leader. In terms of the case, Ryanair win the market mostly depends on the costs. However, the costs of its major raw materials are increasing rapidly these years. This will be a serious issue. Further, minimize costs largely will cause the lack of service and training quality and so on. The Skytrax star rating (See Exhibit 2) indicates Ryanair is below the average level. Besides, competitors contribute big influence to Ryanair. For example, Easyjet which is a young upstart of the European budget airline industry grows quickly with a large number of market shares. It is obvious Ryanair makes success base on its price advantage, and how to sustain this advantage become very crucial issue in recent situation. Keep first mover advantages. Long history with experiences, well-known brand image and economy of scale, these are the unique resources of first mover advantages. It is difficult for competitors to get these resources at a similar level. Therefore, in order to prevent the competitors from copying the same strategy as cost reduction, Ryanair must make good use of these unique resources and try to dominate the market. Technology. Purchase and introduce the latest technological support. Although the fixed costs will be high, they can help the airline carry out tasks more efficiently and effectively such a new security check machine. Moreover it can also help to reduce the variable costs. For example, according to the case, new type aircraft produced 50 percent less emissions, 45 percent less fuel burn and 45 percent lower noise emissions per seat. They help Ryanair reduce the fuel cost with a lower pollution to environment. Unique cost structure. A cost structure which aims to minimize the costs must be set up. In particular to fuel cost, the fluctuations are subject to unpredictable and volatile world events according to the case. It is important for Ryanair hedge the risks before the price goes up suddenly. On the other hand, choosing the secondary and regional airport destinations is a good way of the structure. Moreover, the internet is used to reduce distribution costs. Service quality / Customers’ satisfaction. Customers will normally associate low price with low service benefits. Ryanair was voted the world’s least favourite airline due to its bad service such as unfriendly staff and poor legroom. However it still won a great number of customer base on the price. Thus if some competitors cut down the ticket price to a low level, Ryanair will get into a big trouble due to the similar prices but lower service quality. Therefore it must not only focus on the price but also the service. In order to gain competitive power, for example, brand loyalty can be one of the aspects. Government / legal actions. Ryanair should take care of the government and legal actions and moreover, can take the initiative over illegal aid to rivals. These may prevent the unnecessary loss. In summary, Ryanair, as the cost leader in budget airline industry should not only focus on the costs but also lots of other issues. Although it is developing rapidly and successfully, the future is unknown. The uncertain environment is changing all the time, thus Ryanair should always follow it and make the long-term plans in order to retain a sustainable competitive advantage. Grasp the opportunities, and it will has a bright future. c) Sources for collecting information Collecting your info: We may collect personal information that can identify you such as your name and e-mail address, as well as other information that does not identify you. When you provide personal information through the Site, the information may be sent to our servers located in the United States and other countries around the world. User Provided Information. We may collect and store any personal information that you enter into the Site or provide to us in some other manner. This includes identifying information (such as your name, address, e-mail address, and telephone number), and any other personal information you choose to provide while using the Site or the Services. Third Party List Information. We may also obtain both personal and non-personal information about you from third party data gathering sources. We may match this third-party collected information with the personally identifying information that you provide to us. When obtaining this information from third parties, we seek assurances from such third parties that they have the right to provide the information to us. Cookies, Web Beacons, and Other Information Collection Technology. We and our business partners, such as advertisers, may use various technologies to collect information from your computer and about your activities on the Site. For example, we and our business partners may collect and store non-personally identifying information through technologies such as cookies, log files, clear gifs (also known as web beacons), and other tracking pixels and third parties to help determine user viewing preferences for advertising and other purposes. We collect information at several stages during your interaction with . When you first enter our site, we note your IP address and time of your visit. As you browse the site, we record your zip code via a cookie so we can serve more location specific information on your next visit. We will not collect any personally identifiable information about you. Cookies do not recognize you as a person, just your computer. 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We will use information in accordance with the privacy policy under which the information was collected. If, however, we are going to use users personally identifiable information in a manner different from that stated at the time of collection we will notify users by posting a notice on our Web site for 30 days. d) Collection tools and methods Prior to 1992, the length of time that aircraft deicing fluids (ADF) provided protection was overestimated by most commercial airlines. This was realized after the crash of U. S. Air Flight 405 at LaGuardia Airport, in which a long queue caused ice to re-accumulate on the planes wings and airframe after ADF had been applied. Bryan Wagoner, the Environmental Programs Administrator at Detroit Metropolitan Airport (DTW), says this incident spurred a nationwide focus on deicing practices. The FAA mandated that every plane must be absolutely free of snow at the end of the runway prior to take-off, he explains. This resulted in a significant increase in the quantity of ADF used nationwide. Midwestern winters, however, can be unpredictable. Months can go by with little to no precipitation, and then a snowstorm worthy of national news can hit with a fury. W

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Evian Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

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