...De Certeau, Michel. The Practice of Everyday Life. Translated by Steven F. Randall Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984. In this insightful and thought provoking book, de Certeau endeavours to establish his theory of productivity and consumption being innate in everyday life. To add, de Certeau explores Foucault’s concept of social practices in Disciplines and Punishment, Bordieu’s habitus, and others, as his introductions to the procedures of everyday creativity, or practices. Furthermore, he explains the system of “the relations between consumers and the mechanism of production” while distinguishing two uses of practices: strategy and tactics. By opening the discussion with the “everyman” or the “nobody” he is talking about the philosophy of anonymity. There seems to be some mixed emotions towards this everyman, both praising yet somewhat negative. For how he is shown with “already democratic in inspiration” but has also “embarked in the crowded human ship of fools.” (pg. 1) The character noble in his struggle of existence against hostile systems, but is ironic in simplicity. Saying that, trivialities stand between the everyman’s paths. De Certeau claims that there is a must in using common language as a means to understand common, anonymous, people, when his language is anything but. Anonymity, the mass, hides within general society’s perception and are unknown to all, even to themselves. Saying that common is so unanimous that it is hard to differentiate...
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...exercise keep my stress level low. I feel great, and I sleep well. Professionally, I will make sure that I keep a calendar that allows me to do things like get to the gym before work, or take a walk at lunchtime. The self-care strategy that I would like to implement is working on self-boundaries. These boundaries include being able to say no, or putting things that I need to do first. Norm Dasenbrook indicates that a person who is unable to say no, risks being irritable and becoming overwhelmed (Laureate Education, 2010). One way that I can implement this in my personal and professional life is to keep a calendar that reflects a reasonable schedule. Scheduling time for the things that I enjoy will keep me from over committing. Another tactic that I can employ is to not give someone an answer immediately. Saying “I need to think about it and get back to you,” will give me time to decide if it is the best thing for me to do. Counselors often become negligent regarding taking care of their health and welfare. Cummins, Massey & Jones detail the importance of taking care of oneself in order to be...
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...was very considerable since it covered a major route into Roman Mesopotamia and beyond into north Syria or northwestwards into Asia Minor (Haldon, 2008). The Battle of Dara takes place outside the city walls in the summer of 530. It is at this pivotal battle that the Roman forces reinforce the small force theory that is used on the modern battlefield (Leonhard). The Roman Commander Belisarius had proven himself a resourceful commander, known to do a great deal with very little. History has shown that Belisarius takes his soldiers into battles vastly outnumbered and yet they end up victorious. THESIS The intent of this battle analysis is to highlight three key events, causes, effects, and lessons learned as it relates to the battle tactics that the Romans used at the Battle of Dara. It has been argued by historians that the larger force usually end the battle victorious. By examining this Battle, we will prove that warfare has evolved throughout the years. Small forces of highly trained and disciplined soldiers can out maneuver and be victorious in armed conflict against a much larger force despite having limited resources. KEY EVENT 1 The previous year relations between the Roman emperor and the Persian king had started to deteriorate drastically. The Persian king viewed the outpost at Dara as a direct threat to the Persian Empire. Dara was located along a major route into Roman Mesopotamia and north Syria. King Kavadh of Persia was determined to remove the Romans...
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...In military tactics, a flanking maneuver, or flanking manoeuvre (also called a flank attack), is an attack on the sides of an opposing force. If a flanking maneuver succeeds, the opposing force would be surrounded from two or more directions, which significantly reduces the maneuverability of the outflanked force and its ability to defend itself. A psychological advantage may also be present, as the confusion and threat from multiple directions is often problematic for morale. An ambush is a long-established military tactic, in which combatants take advantage of concealment and the element of surprise to attack unsuspecting enemy combatants from concealed positions, such as among dense underbrush or behind hilltops Penetration of the Center This maneuver involves concentrating superior force at the center of the opposing line in order to punch a hole and then to exploit the gap with a reserve force. This maneuver is usually attempted if flanks are protected by obstacles such as rivers Envelopment of a Single Flank This maneuver involves pinning attacks on the opposing center, sometimes a flank as well, while using mobile forces to try and turn the other flank and roll up the line towards the center. This maneuver is one of the most frequently used. Advantages include the possibility of enveloping a portion of the opposing army and usually offer less risk of disaster than other maneuvers. However, disadvantages still include the risk of a counterstroke against one’s weakened...
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...of concerns they closed the communication channels and PETA, being left in the dark regarding progress, went about their usual shock tactics for garnering KFC’s and the public’s attention. The communications were handled via e-mail and phone, eventually developing into a promise for face-to face communications. Unfortunately, this may have been a ploy by KFC to “buy time” or at least let the heat die down from the backlash of a negative media report. The communication was cordial and polite, however, the responses began to take longer and longer to be received by PETA and they grew concerned that action would not be taken by KFC. The communications began to deteriorate and PETA began to use harsher methods of indirect communication with KFC to get their attention. By leaking details to the press and handing out shock items, they were hoping to back KFC into a wall where they would have to respond immediately. The messages that were sent by KFC were messages intended to keep PETA believing that they were actually working on the concerns that were brought to their attention. They were delay tactics made to make the recipient feel good. Meanwhile, PETA was quite aware of the tactics used and were prepared to deal with them. While KFC was the giant in this case, PETA was surely well versed in responding to their non-action and delay tactics with actual responses that were tried...
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...STUDY ON THE EFFECTS OF ECONOMIC WAR ON ORGANIZATIONS FROM A LEADERSHIP AND ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR PERSPECTIVE. Individual Term Paper Table of Contents I. A. 1. 2. B. 1. 2. II. A. 1. 2. B. 1. 2. C. 1. 2. III. A. B. Background of the topic ............................................................................................................... 3 What is Economic War and what are its practices? .............................................................. 3 Pre-technological Era ........................................................................................................... 3 Technological Era ................................................................................................................. 3 How Competitive Intelligence translates into companies’ life? ............................................ 6 As a tool of Corporate Strategy ........................................................................................... 6 As a part of the Corporate Culture ..................................................................................... 6 Economic War and Corporate Culture .................................................................................. 7 Organizational Leadership....................................................................................................... 7 Where Economic War becomes a problem: advocating ethical behaviour ..................... 7 Where Economic War benefits: crisis leadership ................
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...gourmet grocery store that offers shoppers the finest baked goods, meats, cheese and dairy, produce items and an assortment of domestic and imported wines. Kudler Fine Foods offers all customers a wonderful shopping experience and the finest quality of foods and wines. Leaving room to expand its current services and opening new locations. The company’s growth span is leading to an increased customer base. Kudler Fine Foods is increasing and looking to drive revenue upward while leaving the current prices as set. Kudler Fine Foods is ready to develop changes to increase their revenue . I will discuss in this paper the important elements needed in Kudler Fine Foods goal towards advancement in marketing and the role of using the competitive intelligence tactics. This could include other ways to successfully achieve goals of growth. Marketing Research “Although marketing research isn’t perfect, it seeks to reduce risk and uncertainty to improve decisions made by marketing managers” (Armstrong, , 2011) . Marketing research can help develop new product ideas and offer a fine tuning in slimming down products and services. Businesses use market research t o help determine who will be interested in purchasing their products and services. Marketing research will reach out to a target group of people based on certain feelings, needs, income and age. Mrs. Kudler conducted surveys to reach out to customer and receive feedback in areas of potential improvements. Pointing them in the directions...
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...Kudler Fine Foods After searching for opportunities for a different lifestyle, Kathy Kudler had a vision of opening her own gourmet food department. On June 18, 1998, Kathy Kudler’s first store front of Kudler fine foods opened their doors, in La Jolla, California (Kudler Fine Foods.) Within two years later she open an additional establishment in Del Mar, California, which is within 30 minute distance from the La Jolla Store. Five years later she open a third store located in Encinitas, California. Kudler fine foods’ businesses have been doing great with the exception of one of the stores making enough money to break even. Kathy wanted her store to sell the finer items of the international cultures. Kudler Fine Foods consist of freshly bake breads, the finer meats, freshly organic produce, gourmet cheese, and superior selection of wine. Importance of Marketing Research Kudler Fine Foods is an upscale food supplier that will attract customers who are of a median to upper income. Marketing research is of importance when dealing with this any organization, especially when the products exceed the average price the same items. Kathy would need to know the target market of her customers. The target market consists of the characteristics and dimensions of their present and potential clients. Kathy needs to be aware of the average income of individuals in the area of the store, their lifestyle, population, sex, marital status, and the commute from Kudler fine foods to their home...
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...Competitive Intelligence Term Paper Dr. Ahmed Nassar Prepared by Ahmed Ibrahim Ahmed El Mizayen 1. What is CI? he process of collecting and analyzing information about competitors’ strengths and weaknesses in a legal and ethical manner to enhance business decision-making. Competitive intelligence activities can be basically grouped into two main types – 1) Tactical, which is shorter-term and seeks to provide input into issues such as capturing market share or increasing revenues; and 2) Strategic, which focuses on longer-term issues such as key risks and opportunities facing the enterprise. Competitive intelligence is different from corporate or industrial espionage, which use illegal and unethical methods to gain an unfair competitive advantage. Competitive intelligence means different things to different people within an organization. For example, to a sales representative, it may mean tactical advice on how best to bid for a lucrative contract. To top management, it may mean unique marketing insights to gain market share against a formidable competitor. The ultimate end goal of competitive intelligence is to help make better decisions and enhance organizational performance. While most companies can find substantial information about their competitors online, competitive intelligence goes way beyond merely trawling the Internet, on the premise that the most valuable information is seldom – if ever – easily accessible online. A typical competitive intelligence...
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...their reach of planning. Companies need to set goals that generate pressure and enthusiasm for competitive innovation and this cannotbe done by setting goals which are too conservative (Hamel and Prahalad, 1989:76). The Process of Surrender: * Unseen strategic intent * Underestimated resourcefulness of smaller rivals * Unconventional entry tactics made by new entrants to the markets (Hamel and Prahalad, 1989:72). To achieve strategic intent, organizations must take in larger, better financed competitors and carefully manage their competitive engagements so that scarce resources are conserved. Four approaches to competitive innovation: building layers of advantage, changing the terms of engagement, searching for loose bricks and competing through collaboration (Hamel and Prahalad, 1989:69). Establish clear milestones and review mechanisms: this is done to keep track of progress and make sure the challenge is inescapable to every person in the company (Hamel and Prahalad, 1989:68). Give the organization time to digest one challenge before launching another: (Hamel and Prahalad, 1989:67). Provide employees with the skills they need to work effectively: e.g. training them in areas like statistical tools and team building exercises and so on (Hamel and Prahalad, 1989:67). Strategic Intent Companies like IBM and Ford that set corporate challenges to create new competitive advantages soon find out that in order to engage the entire organization, top managers need to...
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...Proctor & Gamble Competitive Intelligence Case Tristen Leeder RES/351 January 14, 2013 Instructor: Steve Roussas Abstract In this paper I will show the usefulness of corporate intelligence. While this tool is helpful in making solid business decisions effort needs to go into monitoring of the gathering process. Intelligence gathered by unethical means does more harm to an organization then good. The financial repercussions of involvement in corporate spying are steep, and the damage it does to an organizations reputation can take years to repair. Management teams must continually monitor how intelligence is gathered to make corporate intelligence work for their benefit. Proctor & Gamble Competitive Intelligence Case In spring of 2001 John Pepper, then chair of Procter and Gamble was faced with a dilemma (Tuck School). It had been brought to light that P&G’s competitive analysis department had engaged in corporate spying (CNN). An outside firm hired by P&G had engaged in spying on Unilever, P&G’s main competitor in the hair care industry. According to Jordan and Finkelstein “the spying operation gathered about eighty documents detailing Unilever’s plans for its U.S. hair care business over the next three years, including information on its launch-plans, prices, and margins (Tuck School, p. 1).” In April 1999 John Pepper was the keynote speaker at an SCIP CEO Roundtable, held in Montreal. In his address Mr. Pepper...
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...Mariam Diab ID:10931041 Sec: C Date: 19-4-2014 Dr.Ali Dirani IMGT497 Entrepreneurship 1- Competitive intelligence is the action of defining, gathering, analyzing, and distributing intelligence about products, customers, competitors, and any aspect of the environment needed to support executives and managers making strategic decisions for an organization Competitive intelligence is an ethical and legal business practice, as opposed to industrial espionage, which is illegal Competitive intelligence essentially means understanding and learning what's happening in the world outside your business so you can be as competitive as possible. It means learning as much as possible as soon as possible about your industry in general, your competitors, or even your county's particular zoning rules. Ethics has been a long-held issue of discussion among CI practitioners. Essentially, the questions revolve around what is and is not allowable in terms of CI practitioners' activity. A number of very excellent scholarly treatments have been generated on this topic, most prominently addressed through Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals publications. The book Competitive Intelligence Ethics: Navigating the Gray Zone provides nearly twenty separate views about ethics in CI, as well as another 10 codes used by various individuals or organizations. Combining that with the over two dozen scholarly articles or studies found within the various CI bibliographic entries, it is clear...
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...TABLE OF CONTENTS I. Abstract II. Problem Statement III. Evaluation IV. Hypothesis V. Procedure/Design VI. Introduction VII. Definition and Examples a. Case I b. Case II c. Case III VIII. Origin of Competitive Intelligence IX. Why Collect Intelligence? X. What is Ethical? XI. Methods of Intelligence Collection XII. What Resources Are Used to Collect Information XIII. How Companies Utilized Collected Information XIV. Keeping Companies Secrets Secret a. Buildings b. Communication Systems c. Administrative XV. Conclusion I. ABSTRACT Intelligence gathering is considered commonplace in corporate America. Companies struggle to maintain the high ground within a competitive marketplace. One source for maintaining an elevated position is through information gathering on competitors, better known as Competitive Intelligence (CI). Collection of this information can be accomplished through numerous means. History has shown that the collection of CI is not a new practice, only that the methods used to collect the information have evolved over the past century. Intense pressure for turning profits, winning contracts, and avoiding expensive research and development costs drive the methods used in CI collection. With an increase in CI collection, companies are required to protect themselves from inside and outside intruders. II. PROBLEM STATEMENT Corporate America has become oblivious to the information being divulged concerning company trade secrets. ...
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...Analyzing Your Competition Overview Almost everyone in business understands the principle of trying to offer something better than what their competitors are offering. Gaining an advantage is the key to success and even survival. But many of the so-called advantages that businesses rely on are not sustainable. They can be easily copied, stolen or negated. Real competitive advantages — things like brand name recognition, patented manufacturing processes or exclusive rights to a scarce resource — cannot be easily copied. Every company has a unique set of strengths, and it's critical that you determine yours, as well as your competitors'. Hold a brainstorming session with your staff and advisors to perform a formal SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis. This analysis helps you to see how your strengths stack up against your competitors' weaknesses and suggests ways to take advantage of marketplace opportunities. After you have performed the analysis, there are four basic competitive strategies to consider. 1. Become the low-cost supplier. By under-pricing the competition, you can achieve greater volume, which can drive your costs down even further by realizing economies of scale. Of course, it's important to still maintain a healthy profit margin so the key here is to lower costs, not just prices. 2. Achieve product or service quality differentiation. Think about the hundreds of companies that have achieved such differentiation for themselves...
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...INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS AND GROUP PROCESSES Going Green to Be Seen: Status, Reputation, and Conspicuous Conservation Vladas Griskevicius Joshua M. Tybur University of Minnesota University of New Mexico Bram Van den Bergh Rotterdam School of Management Why do people purchase proenvironmental “green” products? We argue that buying such products can be construed as altruistic, since green products often cost more and are of lower quality than their conventional counterparts, but green goods benefit the environment for everyone. Because biologists have observed that altruism might function as a “costly signal” associated with status, we examined in 3 experiments how status motives influenced desire for green products. Activating status motives led people to choose green products over more luxurious nongreen products. Supporting the notion that altruism signals one’s willingness and ability to incur costs for others’ benefit, status motives increased desire for green products when shopping in public (but not private) and when green products cost more (but not less) than nongreen products. Findings suggest that status competition can be used to promote proenvironmental behavior. Keywords: altruism, environmental conservation, costly signaling, status competition, consumer behavior ported that the number one reason for purchasing the car is because it “makes a statement about me.” What statement does the Prius make? “It shows the world that its owner...
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