...Gustav Streismann, elected chancellor of Germany in 1923, had several problems facing him. Due to their defeat in the First World War, Germany was forced to sign the treaty of Versailles, which was very unpopular. This resulted in problems as Germany was unable to keep to some of the treaty. Germany’s economic problems in 1923 stemmed from the treaty of Versailles: one of the points of the treaty was that Germany had to pay reparations to France, Belgium and the United Kingdom as a payment for the allies’ loss in the war. However, the huge sum of 132000 million marks was practically impossible for Germany to pay, especially after the devastation of the First World War, when a lot of the country’s money had been spent on industry, making war materials. France and Belgium saw this as a refusal to keep to the terms of the treaty; they therefore invaded the Ruhr (the part of Germany where its industries were) to take the money by force. The Germans could not resist this invasion physically as their arms had been dramatically reduced by the treaty of Versailles. Instead, they fought back by passive resistance and refused to work for their occupiers. But, as they weren’t working, they didn’t get paid – so the Weimar government began to print millions of marks to keep up their payment. Consequently, the German economy spiralled into massive hyperinflation – in November 1928, one egg cost 80000 million German marks. Workers’ wages simply could not keep up with the rate of inflation...
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...the job for three months, his boss explained that things did not seem to be working out, and said that Pat would be discharged with 30 days severance pay. Pat was surprised because his employer gave no indication of any problem on the job. Newcorp's Personnel Manual, which had been provided to Pat upon his acceptance of employment, outlined the process for dealing with unsatisfactory employees: Notice of Unsatisfactory Performance/Corrective Action Plan If the job performance of an employee is unsatisfactory, the employee will be notified of the deficiency and placed on a Corrective Action Plan (CAP). If the employee performance does not improve to a satisfactory level within the specified period of time, termination will follow. Pat acknowledged that upon employment, he signed an understanding that the company observed employment at will with respect to employment and discharge, but believed that the above provision limited Newcorp's freedom to fire him at will. Finally, Pat observes that Newcorp senior management was "noticeably unfriendly" after Pat had been vocal at a local school board meeting. In the meeting, Pat insisted that school sports funds should be equally allocated among all student athletic programs, not just concentrated on the boy's football and basketball programs. His position on the matter was unpopular, and although no...
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...How a Healthcare Bill Caused A Government Shutdown What to do about the rapid rise of healthcare costs has become a contentiously argued subject by the United States two major political parties. The finale of this debate sees us two weeks into a government shut down with a small but determined faction of ideologue republicans threatening to default on our nations debt unless President Obama scraps the biggest piece of legislation he’s gotten passed into law since his election in 2008, a healthcare bill, commonly referred to as Obamacare. The president, on the other hand, is saying he won’t pay a ransom to Congress in order for them to reopen the federal government. He’s making his case against his opponents in congress by siting his reelection as vindication that Americans overwhelmingly want this legislation to move forward. The two sides are using an overwhelming amount of social media to air their views and ideology to the American public. While the Republicans spread doubt and fear about the bill, the democrats, conversely, overselling the probable effectiveness of Obamacare. With all this information swirling around the national discussion it is difficult to know exactly what’s true about the bill and what isn’t. Perhaps the most important consequence of this political battle is that currently 500,000 government workers are out of work and not being paid while this shut down plays itself out. This furlough is not only hurting those workers and their families but also proving...
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...Introduction A case study is a puzzle that has to be solved. The first thing to remember about writing a case study is that the case should have a problem for the readers to solve. The case should have enough information in it that readers can understand what the problem is and, after thinking about it and analyzing the information; the readers should be able to come up with a proposed solution. Writing an interesting case study is a bit like writing a detective story. You want to keep your readers very interested in the situation. In this case study we try discuss about Southern California Supermarket Strike. The Southern California Supermarket Strike of 2003-2004 was a strike among supermarket workers in Southern California. The walkout lasted for twenty weeks. In this case study, we try to discuss common issues related to the strike of Southern California Supermarket's staff. We are discussing various alternatives and solutions related with it. To prepare this case study we follow Goggle, Wikipedia and various article related with this situation. Overview Grocery clerks in Southern California are fairly well paid when compared to other grocery workers in the US. Their health benefits are not as good as the benefits of, say, most K12 teachers, but better than most other wage workers -- also true of their pensions. This gave the grocery workers what they themselves see as a middle-class income, whether that is in fact the case or not. Wages of...
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...1. TO WHAT EXTENT WAS THE RISE TO POWER OF HITLER AND THE THIRD REICH, THE RESULT OF PREVIOUS POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS? Introduction Paragraph: Hitler was able to become Germany’s chancellor in 1933 and after 6 months he was already able to establish a dictatorship. It is surprising how such an abominable personage was able to gain total control over Germany, which had been able to become a democratic republic. As Kershaw stated, “the future of Weimar looked promising. And without the onset of the world economic crisis from 1929 it might have remained so”. Thesis: The rise to power of Hitler and the Third Reich was to a large extent the result of previous political and economic problems, such as Germany’s authoritarian origins, the minimum support the Weimar Republic had, WWI and the Great Depression. Body Paragraph 1 – Political and social structure of German authoritarian origins Germany had always favored nationalism, militarism, and anti-Semitism; all emotions in the German people that went back to Germany’s roots and history. Before the Third Reich and the Weimar Republic, Germany lived a prosperous period known as the Second Reich, during which they became a great empire due to the authoritarian traditions and the military success. This is a view extremely supported by the “structuralists”, who believe that Nazism and Hitler were simply products of German history and that they were forces that still dominated...
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...Becoming a High Performance Organization: A study of Alpha Newspaper Group. Introduction The subject of my course project is Alpha Newspaper Group. Alpha is a print media company that I worked for in 2009. They own regional newspapers throughout the country that are published on a weekly basis. Alpha operates two main headquarters; one in the north of the country, where the business was established and where the owners reside, and one in the midlands where I worked. Our office oversaw the publication of 5 newspapers in the local area with a staff of 30 or so journalists, editors, production designers, HR personnel and management. The print media industry is going through tough times. Technological advances and access to free information have had a negative effect on sales and revenue raised through advertising. It’s led to serious questions being posed about the future of the industry. The need to adapt like any other industry in today’s climate is present. Added to this the economic recession has not helped. Newspapers are a staple in people’s expenditure however value for money is still sought. There is plenty of competition and the product needs to maintain high standards. Whilst I was working for the company Alpha were looking down every avenue in order to reduce costs. Alpha had an organizational structure that placed a lot of power in the northern headquarters. The owners worked predominantly from there and had far less direct contact with the midland office. They...
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...Vermont. This position is responsible for activities related to maintaining leased office space. Pat supervised 51 employees and lower-level supervisors, and he dealt with tenants who leased commercial space. Pat relocated from another city 300 miles away, moved his family, and sold and bought a home. His wife quit her job to seek employment in Vermont. After Pat worked for three months with NewCorp, his supervisor explained that things were not working out and that Pat would be discharged with 30 days of severance pay. Pat was surprised because his employer gave no previous indication of any problem. NewCorp’s personnel manual, which had been provided to Pat upon his acceptance of employment, outlined the process for dealing with unsatisfactory employees: Notice of Unsatisfactory Performance/Corrective Action Plan If the job performance of an employee is unsatisfactory, the employee will be notified of the deficiency and placed on a corrective action plan. If the employee’s performance does not improve to a satisfactory level in the specified time period, termination will follow. Pat acknowledged that he signed a document to show his understanding that the company observed employment at will with respect to discharge, but he believed the provision limited NewCorp’s freedom to discharge him at will. Pat also stated that NewCorp’s senior management was noticeably...
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...individual must adjust his expenditure to his income. 2: Budgeting: the unit for the public budget is one year but an individual needs not balance his budget during a given period. 3: Deficit financing: deficit financing is a peculiar privilege of government but an individual can not do it, unless he is prepared to go behind the bars. 4: Different objectives: an individual tries to maximize his satisfaction or profit from a given amount of resources but the objective of government expenditure is to maximize social benefit. 5: Publicity of finance: budgets are published and the widest publicity is given to them. On the other hand, the secrecy surrounds individual finance. 6: Coercion: a government has to pass a law and compel the citizen to pay a tax while an individual lacks the coercive authority. How public finance related to the economic system? Explain Answer: Public finance describes finance as related to sovereign states and sub-national entities (states/provinces, counties, municipalities, etc.) and related public entities (e.g. school districts) or agencies. It is concerned with: Identification of required expenditure of a public sector entity Source(s) of that entity's revenue...
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...supplier stating that they plan to continue support for the DOS system that Zara uses, it should be a red flag that the vendor is unwilling to sign any contracts stating such. The fact that Zara is the only customer on the old system should be motivation enough for Zara to upgrade its system. The system will eventually need to be upgraded anyway, and the longer that Zara’s executives wait, the higher the risk of loss as a result of trying to quickly upgrade the unsupported system in the case that the vendor discontinues DOS support. As we assess the current system compared to the future benefits of an updated POS system, it is easy to see that the current version has become decrepit and out-dated. The current system offers the benefits of a low operating cost, stability, and easy installation for new setups. After a relatively short learning curve, a new system would offer those same benefits. Most of the benefits of the current system are just a result of managers being familiar with the system. Given the time to learn a new system, installation would be just as easy, and stability comes with improvement, the same way the current system came to be stable. We shall see in further analysis that the low operating cost of the current POS system is overshadowed by the cost and time that employees have to take to work around the current system as well. Although the cost of a new system would initially be quite substantial, that initial expense would more than pay itself off in the long...
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...level of supervision and control. His scope of employment is about three months. NewCorp’s liabilities and risks: If Pat Grey’s contract is writing, the authority of discharge must be in writing. In this case, the discharge order gave by oral instead of writing. Pat informed upon his employment, he signed and understood that NewCorp observed employment at will. This provides the right for NewCorp to terminate Pat Frey’s employment even Pat is a contract employee. Pat Grey’s boss informed Pat about his term of leaving without any indication of his deficiency or clear business-related reasons for this dismissal. At same time Corrective Action Plan (CAP) was not in place. This action did not following NewCorp’s personnel Manual. This is potentially considered as a wrongful discharge suit. Pat Grey risks and opportunities: Pat understood the employment at will upon his employment. He believed his unpopular behavior in school broad meeting contributed to the NewCorp decision to discharge him . Since on formal business related notice or CAP was not in place, He believed the discharged from NewCorp would not be performance-related. Pat could request a ‘Peer Review’ which means Pat cannot get an adequate response from his supervisor has the opportunity to present his cases to a panel of fellow employees and managers (three employees, two managers is the general configuration). (Jennings, M. M, 2006). Pat could submit the...
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...on past experiences, training, education and cognitive capabilities. Finally making decisions by generating alternative response action to control the situation, identifying the objectives, constraints, and factors that influence the feasibility and desirability of each alternative. In BA the management did not form an awareness of key elements; they did not realize that the move was being interpreted to manipulate their working patterns. The management did not understand the importance of not introducing an unpopular system before the peak season. Finally, this was not a decision made by examining different alternatives and evaluating them properly. This was an ad hoc decision taken by the management without considering its consequences. From the point of view of change management; there strength of organizational dissatisfaction, vision for the future and possibility of immediate, tactical action must be stronger than the resistance within the organization. In case of BA, the resistance was greater than the organizational dissatisfaction with the present system, the vision for the future and the...
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...#1 Liabilities Facing Newcorp When an employee fills out an application, the form concludes with the acknowledgement of employment at-will. This practice is widely used unless employment parameters are established by a contract. Pat acknowledges signing a statement of employment at-will, but he claims the employee manual illustrates the procedure used when contending with unsatisfactory performance. The case of Dillon v. Champion Jogbra, Inc. examined the ambiguity of the manual. On the first page of the manual, according to Jennings (2006), “The policies and procedures contained in this manual constitute guidelines only. They do not constitute part of an employment contract” (p. 728). As the reader reads each section, he or she may misinterpret a policy as binding. The court ruled that the manual stated the company’s intentions on the first page. Pat’s assumption of outside related concerns is merely an assumption. The company did not express any knowledge of Pat’s opinions made at the school board meeting. The first amendment of the Constitution would have protected Pat’s freedom of speech. Suggestions for Newcorp The employment at-will statement does not always protect employers from possible litigation. Employees at-will may still establish a claim for wrongful termination under promissory estoppel if that employee can prove the termination breached a specific promise made by the employer (Jennings, 2006). A jury would determine if the promises substantiated a change from...
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...Multiculturalism and the International Company MGMT - 415 American InterContinental University January 13, 2013 Abstract This paper will cover issues that a company may face in a foreign country, as well as what can happen if cultural barriers and diversity is ignored, the importance of diversity in the international arena and the importance of these items in PPQ Parts expansion in Germany and Japan. Multiculturalism and the International Company When it comes to a company wanting to expand their business in a foreign country there are some issues that they may face. A barrier that a company will have an issue with is language, as this is the most important factor and tool for an international business to communicate with their clients. An example of a company having a language barrier issue is Pepsi in Taiwan. Pepsi’s slogan was “Come alive with the Pepsi generation”, which translated in Taiwanese as “Pepsi will bring your ancestors back from the dead”. An error like this can happen when a company is too focused on branding themselves with the same marketing campaign that worked in the domestic market. Words have different meanings in different cultures due to the language spoken. Pepsi’s slogan could have possibly been taken as being offensive and therefore, could have cost Pepsi many new clients in Taiwan. Pepsi could have kept from having this problem by preparing, decentering and recentering the bridge between cross-cultural...
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...Whether a company’s goal is to expand into new markets, introduce a new product or service, or gauge customer reactions, even the smallest of small businesses can benefit from a simple but well-planned market-research study. Market research will help Kudler Fine Foods understand their market, their customers, their competitors, and larger industry trends. Good research will reveal details about their current customers, and help them target new customers. For example, before opening a gourmet food shop, find out if there's a demand for the very best foods and wine and if customers will pay for it. In addition to giving insight into customer needs, market-research studies can help avoid costly mistakes, such as introducing unpopular goods or developing a service that no one really wants. By performing a study beforehand, and asking people what they thought of the new vision, the company could have an idea of the publics’ reaction and avoid potential public-relations headaches. When you set up a market-research study for your business, follow these basic guidelines: Use the right sample. The research sample — the study’s group of participants — has to be just the right size. Too large a sample costs too much, and too small a sample offers inaccurate results. Also make sure to have the right samples from the overall population, a sample as small as one percent of a market or group will work as long as the sample truly reflects the overall geographic area or...
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...Case Analysis – Southwest Airlines Corporation Jerry Pierce California Southern University Case Analysis – Southwest Airlines Corporation Introduction Southwest Airlines is America’s largest low-fare carrier, serving the most domestic customers than any other airline due to their unique combination of low fares, friendly customer service, record of safety, lack of fees, and “an extraordinary corporate Culture that extends into the communities (they) serve.” (Southwest, 2013) Incorporated on June 18, 1971 in Texas, Southwest airlines commenced, serving three Texas cities with three Boeing 737 aircrafts under the direction of its’ founders, Rollin King and Herb Kelleher. Their philosophy was simple and consisted of an idea that getting passengers to their destinations when they wanted to get there, on time, at the lowest possible cost, “and make darn sure they have a good time doing it”, customers will show loyalty to the airline and ensure its success. (Southwest, 2013) Proof of the company’s success was confirmed in 1989 when it exceeded one billion dollars in revenue and established itself as the highest ranked in customer satisfaction among all major airlines. Analysis The mission statement of Southwest Airlines boasts a “dedication to the highest quality of Customer Service delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and Company Spirit.” (Southwest, 2013) Additionally, Southwest confirms a loyalty to its employees by creating a stable work...
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