...Someone once told me "I know you'll be successful." But what is success? I think the definition of success cannot be pinned down to one single thing. Aspects of life must intermingle and converge, resulting in a fusion of moments and a synthesis of ideas. Because one man's idea of a successful and fruitful life may not be the same as another man's hope for a brighter future. How one defines success is therefore integral to that person's experience of life in and around him. As we are creatures of habit, we can proceed through life with preconceived notions of what is and what should be, convinced that what has worked in the past must also work in the future. In that way we deny ourselves the virtue of malleability. We are often our own worst enemies. The Chinese philosopher and military tactician Sun Tzu likened the successful soldier to water. "Water shapes its course according to the nature of the ground over which it flows; the soldier works out his victory in relation to the foe whom he is facing." The brilliance of this idea is not in the likening of life to war, rather in revealing the simple truth that we are a product of our experiences and how we adapt determines our success, along with what path we take. Each hill and valley we encounter provides us with an opportunity to adapt and change, gives us the chance to use our talents within the realms of our potential to evolve our life in new and sometimes unexpected ways. God's plan may be unknown and unfathomable...
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...Outliers: The story of success, I agree with his statement. Malcolm Gladwell established multiple individuals who took important responsible risks and were given opportunities that lead to their success in life. Two individuals that stood out were Joe Flom and Louis Borgenicht. They came with nothing and worked their way to the top of success. Flom appears to be shaped from the experiences in his environment. Even though he had great characteristics like talent, ambition, and intelligence, it was not adequate to succeed because he was a Jew. In order to illustrate the the validity of this...
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...In Outliers: The Story of Success, the book is made up entirely of a series of studies done to make connections to theories that have are well-known. Malcolm Gladwell’s style for writing Outliers includes having many examples to originally pinpoint the theory he has tested out. Malcolm Gladwell has his own theory of Success in the novel. He believes success is made up of many key points such as, personal opportunity, class background, what parenting styles you’ve been exposed to, and working habits. All in all, he believes an individual's success can be determined by a few key things. Chapter One of Outliers is titled “The Matthew Effect”. This chapter begins by accessing the place where the theory first came to exist. The chapter opens...
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...Malcolm Gladwell, in his nonfiction book Outliers: The Story of Success (2008), asserts that although success is somewhat related to innate talent and ambition, the ones who are truly successful have the ability to recognize and seize opportunities as well. Gladwell also states that seemingly unrelated external factors such as birth dates, culture, and environment are a crucial part of becoming a success. Throughout the book, the author strives to thoroughly explore the mystery of success. He reinforces his main idea through a multitude of stories pertaining to success and failure; the book includes stories of the Beatles, Bill Gates, and Korean Air. In the first chapter, Gladwell proves to us that the the birthdates of junior hockey players...
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...Malcolm Gladwell book Outliers: The story of success writes about the various direct and indirect factors that lead towards mastery and renown. This book structure as a series of case studies that reach different cultures and different time periods which are related to some theories. According to Gladwell, success does not come simply with the talent, high IQ or personality. Successful individuals often are grateful to the right combination of hard work, community support, and meaningful opportunity. Under the Matthew Effects, Gladwell states that an individual’s success depends heavily on external factors. In the case of the hockey players, he says that the timing of person birth plays a significant role to the success in their life. For...
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...Practice makes perfect. In Outliers: Story of Success written by Malcolm Gladwell shows you what you must do to reach that level of greatness and achievement. Gladwell discusses some very good points into this research discussing him claim for the research, his reasoning behind or for the research and his evidence for the research of perfection. There is a reason why there is so much greatness in this world. For Gladwell, this pathway to perfection is through practice. Practice makes perfect this is the idea of Gladwell. “The idea that excellence at performing a complex task requires a critical minimum practice surfaces again and again in the studies of expertise.” This shows that it don't matter how much evidence is shown towards the practice makes perfect situation there is always an outside source saying that you naturally can do outstanding task. That in fact is not so, Gladwell's claim towards the idea of more practice to get to the place of achievement that the person needs. “”The emerging picture from the studies is that ten thousand hours of practice is required to achieve the level of mastery associated with being a world-class expert--in anything,” writes the neurologist Daniel Levitin.” Gladwell pulls this but of information to use in his...
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...Outliers THE S T O R Y OF S U C C E S S MALCOLM G LAD W E L L # 1 bestselling author of The Tipping Point and Blink $27.99 $ 3 0 . 9 9 in C a n a d a Why d o s o m e p e o p l e succeed far more than others? T h e r e is a story that is usually told a b o u t extremely successful p e o p l e , a story that focuses o n intelligence a n d ambition. In Outliers Malcolm Gladwell a r g u e s that the true story o f s u c c e s s is very different, a n d that if we want to u n d e r s t a n d h o w s o m e p e o p l e thrive, we s h o u l d s p e n d m o r e time l o o k i n g around them — at s u c h things as their family, their birthplace, or even their birth d a t e . T h e story o f s u c c e s s is m o r e c o m p l e x — a n d a lot m o r e interesting — than it initially a p p e a r s . Outliers e x p l a i n s w h a t the B e a t l e s a n d Bill G a t e s have in c o m m o n , the e x t r a o r d i n a r y s u c c e s s o f A s i a n s at m a t h , the h i d d e n a d v a n t a g e s o f star athletes, why all t o p N e w York lawyers have the s a m e r é s u m é , a n d the r e a s o n y o u ' v e never h e a r d o f the w o r l d ' s s m a r t e s t m a n — all in terms o f g e n eration, family, c u l t u r e , a n d c l a s s . It matters w h a t year y o u were b o r n if y o u want to b e a S i l i c o n Valley billionaire, G l a d w e l l a r g u e s , a n d it matters w h e r e y o u w e r e b o r n if y o u want to b e a s u c cessful p i l o t . T...
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...ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT PROGRAM The Big Picture Beacon of Hope supported by different sponsors has been conducting trainings on Food security and nutrition. Sensitization forums has been key in empowering OVC and their households on how to improve food security situations as well as empowering them economically to provide for their families livelihoods. The initiatives have enhanced sustainable wellbeing among the communities. Strategies used by the project include; partnerships and collaboration with the government under Ministry of Agriculture on trainings and capacity building sessions, networking with other Agri-based institutions like AMIRAN and Self Help Africa for provision of resource leveraging/startup kits, follow-up visits done by the project staffs to ensure caregivers initiate kitchen / sack gardens. More so, linking OVC HHs to available markets and embracing the agribusiness initiatives and benchmarking for enhanced farming practices. The project has had continuous workshops and trainings for different clusters namely Olekasasi, Kiserian, Rongai, Kware and Kajiado empowering food security and nutrition skills to 150 HHs. Notably, the project has held sensitization sessions through caregivers’ forums, monthly monitoring and supervisory visits to 509 HHs . So far, 215 HHs have initiated kitchen gardens and keeps small livestock like Rabbits and chicken. AMIRAN through Beacon of Hope project provided greenhouse to one support group in Olekasasi...
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...Personality Success Stories In my experiences with working in team group environments and working as a supervisor with a large company I have observed several different personality traits. I think the most common one among my observations is identifying type A and type B personality’s developed by Friedman and Rosenman. I have observed these personalities throughout my studies and my work environments because they have become easy for me to identify. Type A individual are identifies as ambitious, organized, highly status conscious, impatient, proactive, and obsessed with time management (Bryce 2008). People with Type A personalities are often high-achievers who push themselves with deadlines, and hate delays. Type B individuals live at a lower stress level and typically work steadily by not becoming stressed. They are often reflective, thinking about the outer and inner worlds (Bryce 2008). Type B personalities may have a poor sense of time management. I have personally come across more type B personalities then I have with type A. I myself am a type A so this has become somewhat of a hardship for me because we tend to knock heads. By being a type A and working with type B’s I have had to find ways to help them to become more productive and meet deadlines in a more efficient manner. One way I have accomplished this is by pulling the individual to the desired goals rather than pushing them. By pulling them or leading them to the objective duties you allow them to work above...
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...2012 Karim Mqadmi IAE Montpellier DUGCI [UPS SUCCESS STORY UPS STORY] International trade & logistic report Contents: Introduction & UPS Fact sheet I. Company history a. How it all began b. Era of retail c. Era of growth d. Commercial freight and services e. The golden link f. Still growing? g. UPS in the air II. Corporate profile a. Competitive strengths b. Growth Strategy III. Competition Conclusion Sources International trade & logistic report Introduction: This report is about the world's largest package delivery company and one of the leading global providers of specialized transportation and logistics services. My aim here is to explain, thanks to its story and its strategies, how UPS managed to be on the top in the shipping market. We will first, go through its history, from its creation by talking about all the important steps the company experimented. Then the corporate profile of the company will be enlighten in order to, finally make a significant comparison to its main competitors. UPS Fact Sheet Founded in Seattle, Wash. Headquarters Worldwide web address Chairman and CEO 2011 revenue Employees Service area August 28, 1907 Atlanta, Ga. www.ups.com Scott Davis $53.1 billion 398,300 (324,000 U.S.; 74,300 International) More than 220 countries and territories; Every address in North America and Europe Customers 8.8 million daily (1.1 million pick-up, 7.7 million delivery) Online tracking Retail access Average 32.1 million daily tracking requests ...
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...Assignment “ZARA” 1.Zara designs majority of it cloth in Spain (about 80 percent). It focuses on shorter response time enabling it to meet the constantly shifting fashion trends. However such moves do not take months, but this process is complete within in 30 days; during which Zara identifies the latest trends, design it clothes and supply material to its stores. Such strategy means catching up a trend when it is in vogue in the fashion circles. On the other hand H M company needs about two months to do the same job. It is this difference which makes Zara unique from others. Zara has teams in the international arena, who observe the latest fashion trends and report leads to head office. The mangers are also involved in tracking customer demands through sales analysis; this process enables Zara to meet customer's needs and be ahead of its rivals. Its research style is not traditional, but it includes consistent emails and phone calls from various stores to head office and responding to it instantly. H&M offers online shopping to customers in eight of its 48 markets around the world: Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK. What's more, Inditex's vertical integration lets it respond to fashion trends much faster than H&M. For Hennes & Mauritz, better known as H&M, expansion can't come quickly enough. The Swedish giant already has about 2...
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...Zalando – A CRM Success Story « Business Development Strategies http://wearedevelopment.net/2012/03/11/zalando-a-crm-success-story/ BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES Emerging Markets Zalando – A CRM Success Story MAR 11 Posted by Sebastian S. Vlasich 1 von 4 05.08.12 16:45 Zalando – A CRM Success Story « Business Development Strategies http://wearedevelopment.net/2012/03/11/zalando-a-crm-success-story/ Zalando GmbH, was founded by David Schneider, and Robert Gentz, in 2008. The company engages in the online retail of apparel and shoes and is based in Berlin, Germany. It is one of the most conspicuous and likewise mysterious start-ups in Germany. Founded only three years ago, Zalando has become the market leader, mainly due to operational excellence; and partly thanks to fancy television advertising in the online shoe retail market. Revenues in 2010 were 160 Million Euros and are expected to increase at least threefold in 2011. Recently, Yuri Milner’s DST Digital Sky Technologies (DST) joined the Samwer brothers as an investor in Zalando, due to the fact that the company has a professional management team an impressive growth record and great potential to capitalise on the fast-growing European e-commerce market. As a matter of fact, the Samwers and Mr. Milner were both early investors in the social media giant Facebook. Zalando builds relationships with its final consumers whom are the actual people who goes on the webpage and order products. The end consumer...
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...1. Swatch is a unique Success story. Why has the company been so successful? Was it important that the Swiss watch industry company recapture the lower end of the market?why? why not? The outstanding success of a Swiss watch manufacturer during the 1980s was the result of a careful and well-executed marketing plan, brought on by necessity. For years the Swiss were world leaders in the watch industry. In 1974 their worldwide market share was 30%. Then the Japanese actively began to produce and market quartz watches, which the Swiss viewed as a passing fashion. Quartz digital watches were, however, no fad and by 1983 the Swiss share of world markets for watches had fallen dramatically to 9%. The Swiss manufacturer SMH carried out extensive research in its watch markets and carefully analysed patterns of consumer behaviour. Marketing experts advised the company that a turnaround was possible if an inexpensive, good-quality quartz analog watch could be developed, since the market was saturated with digitals. Gradually, a marketing plan was devised and implemented resulting in the introduction of the Swatch in 1984, which has since revolutionised the world watch industry. Based on their extensive analysis of consumer behaviour and lifestyle, SMH adopted a strategy that completely changed the concept of a wrist watch. Watches were to be a fashion accessory first and a watch second. They would also be analog rather than digital. Product planning developed...
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...A SUCCESS STORY: EVALUATING BUNGE’S STRATEGY Abstract This section will determine the scope, aims and objectives of the report. The rational of selection of Bunge Limited in context of operations strategy analysis along-with the report purpose and pattern will be briefed. Introduction This section will contain a brief history of Bunge Limited over 180 years, summary of involved business will be observed by segregating core and non-core activities of the group, core activity is influenced by agribusiness in the fields of grain origination, oil seed processing and international marketing, while non-core business will contain textile, paint, chemical, cement, banking, and insurance and real estate ventures. Agribusiness Trends The competitiveness in agribusiness sector depends on technological, socio-political and economic factors (Esterhuizen, 2006: p72). This section will discuss agribusiness trends, nature of required capabilities for sustainability and will associate three sub sections a) Scenery- This section will examine the contents of business and its products; wheat, corn, soybeans, vegetable oil and protein meals. b) Factors- This section will detail the factors affecting business both in terms of negativity and positive ness. Impacts of population rate, role of non-Americano markets, Asian crisis, technology innovation, export conditions, business contracts and customer’s trends will be presented c) Risks- Turmoil in financial markets and volatility...
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...| Success Story of Ford Motor Company | MO Project Report | | | | | 1. INTRODUCTION 2. ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS 3. COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE 4. NEW STRATEGY 5. EMPLOYEE COMMUNICATION 6. ROBUST ORGANIZATION CULTURE OF FORD 7. THE ROAD AHEAD 8. CONCLUSION 9. REFERENCES 10. APPENDICES 1. INTRODUCTION Ford Motor Company, established in 1903, is a multinational automaker based out of Detroit, US. This century-old organization had to face a great turmoil in terms of the economic recession that hit the US market hard in 2008-09. This project examines the nature of the environmental change, the strategy adopted by the senior leadership team to overcome the crisis, the communication process that took place to institutionalise the new strategy amongst the employees and ultimately, make it a part of the corporate culture. 2. ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS: The task environment of the company includes suppliers of raw-material for manufacturing automobiles, its customers, competitors in the industry and its partners, with which it directly interacts. The macro-environment of the organisation includes the factors that are common to all the firms in the industry as depicted in Exhibit[1]. The 2008 economic recession was a change in the macro-environment and it hit all the big three players viz. GM, Chrysler and Ford. The already struggling auto industry had an abysmal year that the sales of cars and light-trucks in the US dropped...
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