An Analysis of Burger King :: Business Management Studies

An Analysis of Burger King Burger King is a reliable burger company which has had its ups and downs. In 1974, it came out with a slogan of "Have it your way" and at this time it also had a 4 % market share. Burger King's idea was to have the customer have their burger done their way rather than a standard burger. In the early 80's Burger King was trying to keep sales growing so they had to keep changing their advertising. In 1982 "Battle of the burgers" and "Aren't you hungry for a Burger king now?" were the slogans used. In 1983 "Broiling vs. frying" and 1985 "The big switch". All these ads throughout the years helped increase market shares from 7.6% to 8.3% from 1983 to 1985. "Search for herb" was a slogan used by BK about a person that has never tasted a whopper burger, this campaign was supposed to increase market share by 10% but in reality only increased it by 1% it was a disaster. In 1986-1987 "this is a burger king town" and "best food for fast times" brought a lot of attention to the company. In 1988 "We do it like you do it" was used often but a year later they came out with two new slogans which confused the customer. In 1989 "Sometimes you gotta break the rules" and "BK tee vee" with MTV and Dan Cortese with "I love this place". This was another huge setback for BK because people on the go and parents found this ad loud and irritating. BK at this time has failed to establish a solid image that would differentiate it from its competitors. Ads if anything only confused consumers as to what advantages BK offered. In 1993 it had a market share of 6.1% were McDonalds had 15.6% and BK's sales were growing slower than its rivals. Failed advertising campaigns weren't the only problem's, they also had internal problems. Management lacked focus and direction and has struggled with marketing mix decisions. Franchises became confused and angered, service was slow and food preparation wasn't consistent. Burger King lost its core product-flame broiled burgers, made the way the customer wanted them. Another thing that hurt them was the fact they didn't lower prices to keep competing with their competitors this led to a below average sales growth. Many in store promotion also failed. In 1993 a new CEO was introduced, this allowed for huge turnaround and in fact it did. He helped please the franchises and responded to their problems and listened to their recommendations. Then later he lowered prices and hired a new advertising agency.

What Is Social Anxiety Disorder?

i. Introduction Social Anxiety is a worldwide disorder that can affect anyone, no matter what ethnicity or gender they are. Social anxiety is an intense fear of social situations, especially when you are being judged or watched by others. Such as presentations, being the center of attention, public speaking, making phone calls or eating and drinking in front of others. I chose to study this topic because I find it interesting how certain social situations can cause fear in people.Also, I show some symptoms of having social anxiety and I wish to learn more about this topic. Social anxiety disorder is also known as social phobia. It is defined as the fear of social situations that involve interaction with other people. It is the fear and anxiety of being judged and evaluated negatively by other people or behaving in a way that might cause embarrassment or ridicule. This leads to feelings of inadequacy, self-consciousness, and depression. The person with social anxiety disorder may beli eve that all eyes are on him/her at all times.Social situations that provoke social anxiety are eating or drinking in front of others, being the center of attention, public speaking, presentations, talking on the telephone and asking questions. People with this disorder will do whatever it takes to avoid social situations. The symptoms of Social Anxiety Disorder are extreme self-consciousness, immense fear of being judged or watched, nausea, rapid heartbeat, sweating and trembling. ii. Overview There are many different perceptions about people with social anxiety. Statistics show that this disorder is the third largest mental disability in the world and can affect 19. million Americans at any time. Even though it can occur at any time in people’s lives, it happens most often in childhood, adolescence and adulthood. Statistics also show that women are more likely to get diagnosed with Social Anxiety, than men. People who do have it are often seen by others as just being shy, u neasy or quiet. The people who are diagnosed with social anxiety may be conflicted by these perceptions, so they may fail to seek treatment. The problem is generally unheard and they may think that they are the only ones who suffer from it.People who do seek treatment are often misdiagnosed and labeled as â€Å"personality disorder† or â€Å"manic depressive. † This is because social anxiety is not well understood by the general public, or medical or health care professionals. Those with the disorder usually know that their anxiety, thoughts, and fears are irrational. They realize that it is angst and terror that they are experiencing. They know that people around them are not really judging them or evaluating them. They understand that everyone is not out to degrade or embarrass them.But despite this logical knowledge and sense, they still continue to feel and believe differently, which causes thoughts and symptoms of anxiety usually persist with no indication of goin g away. People with social anxiety may usually experience extreme distress in some of these situations: when they are being introduced to other people, being teased or criticized, being the center of attention or meeting important people or authoritative people. Or by being watched while doing something, announcing something in a public situation and getting embarrassed easily.Social anxiety may be selective. A person may have an extreme fear of one occasion, such as public speaking, but be perfectly comfortable in any other situation. People with a social phobia are nervous, anxious, and afraid about many social situations. Simply attending a business meeting or going to a party can be highly nerve wracking and intimidating. Although people with social anxiety want to be social with everyone else, their anxiety about not doing well in public is strong and hinders their efforts. They freeze up when they meet new people. ii. What Causes Social Anxiety Disorder? What Are The Symptoms? Knowing the exact causes of social anxiety is still an ongoing research and there is no single known cause. However, there are environmental and psychological factors that will play a role in its development. This development of this disorder can be from a humiliating experience the patient has experienced in the past. People diagnosed with social anxiety may have developed this disorder by seeing what has happened to someone else when that person has been embarrassed.As mentioned before, there are also emotional, physical and behavioral symptoms of social anxiety. Emotional symptoms can range from fearing that other people will notice that you’re nervous, to worrying for days or weeks prior to a social situation. Physical symptoms are nausea, sweating, rapid heartbeat, feeling faint, trembling and shaking. The behavioral symptoms are avoiding any type of social situation to an extent where it disrupts your life and hiding â€Å"behind the scenes† to escape from being noticed. iv. Treatment for Social Anxiety DisorderTwo types of treatment may be used to help patients suffering from social anxiety. A certain type of therapy can be used, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and it has proved to be effective in most cases. Medication is also useful in treatment. Antidepressant, such as MAOI’s, in contrast with CBT, is the most beneficial. Benzodiazepines like Xanax, Valium and Ativan are prescribed to people who have social anxiety to treat it. But research has shown that if the two treatments are not used together, success is only temporary.Also, treatment must include a therapist and an active behavioral therapy group. Group therapy for social anxiety use CBT techniques includes role-playing and training of social skills. This group therapy uses acting or mock interviews to work on the social situations that will make you anxious. The most important steps in defeating social anxiety disorder is understanding, becoming aware of the problem, and c ommitting to go through all treatments, including therapy. v. Conclusion I learned that Social Anxiety Disorder can affect millions of people at any given time.I think I show signs of Social Anxiety Disorder because during social situations, such as presenting, I show the symptoms. I get anxious, shaky, nervous and rapid heartbeats. In my opinion, this is probably one of the worst mental disorders that someone can have, because it is so misunderstood and misdiagnosed. What makes the situation even more difficult is the fact that the disorder does not just come and go like other disorders. A person is faced with it every day of their life, every time they have to go out anywhere or are put in a situation where others are involved.They have to deal with this all the time, until they are treated. Unfortunately, most people do not know that they have it. Without some kind of formal education, knowledge, or treatment, social anxiety continues to ruin their lives. And if they finally do t ry to seek help, chances are that they will not find. This is the reality for 19. 2 million Americans, but yet there is very little being done in the way of trying to help them realize that they are not just shy or introverted, they really have a problem. REFERENCES Websites: Stein MB, Stein DJ. Social anxiety disorder.Lancet. 2008;371:1115-1125 – (http://www. ncbi. nlm. nih. gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001953/) Jaffe-Gil, Ellen, M. A. ; Smith, Melinda, M. A. -www. helpguide. org ;(http://www. helpguide. org/mental/social_anxiety_support_symptom_causes_treatment. htm) www. nimnh. nih. gove/index. shtml (http://www. nimh. nih. gov/health/publications/social-phobia-social-anxiety-disorder-always-embarrassed/what-is-social-phobia. shtml) www. wikipedia. org (http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Social_anxiety  ) www. webmd. com (http://www. webmd. com/anxiety-panic/guide/mental-health-social-anxiety-disorder)

Does the World Still Care About American Culture Essay

Pells – Does the World Still Care About American Culture? What does Pells mean by the statement, â€Å"American culture used to be the elephant in everyone’s living room†? â€Å"Elephant in the room† is a term used for an obvious truth that is going unaddressed or being ignored. It also applies to an obvious problem that everyone is ignoring or no one wants to state it. In the article when Pells mentioned â€Å"American culture used to be the elephant in everyone’s living room.† he meant that the American culture is being forced on everyone whether they like it or not it. If we look back after WWII everyone wants to study in the US because the American culture was the dominant culture in the world whether you are fan of the culture or not, it will still affect you. Just like an elephant in the living room whether you are comfortable or not you still can not deny the existence of the elephant. (Pells has a very different perspective on globali sm when compared to O’Connor and Verdu and even Rice-Oxley. When we go back to O’Connor’s and Rice-Oxley’s article we can see that both authors main point is that America is forcing its culture to the world. Moreover, they both believe that American culture is the dominant culture of the world. In the other hand, Pells believe that the American culture used to be the dominant culture in the world back in the 20’s centuries. Furthermore, Pells states that we are living in an era where the American culture is one of many other competing cultures in the world, in other words we are living in a new world order and a globalization era where everyone have many options of cultures to adapt from. Rice-Oxley writes about a cultural backlash against America. What is Pells saying here that is different? Do you agree with Pells’s assessment? After reading Pells article I’ve realized that the author believes there is no backlash against american because nowadays the American culture is just another another item on the shelves of the global supermarket. Pells states that in the 90’s many people assumed that the emergence of what they called global culture is just another mechanism for Americanization, but the truth is that globalization has strengthened the culture of other nations. Now the American culture is competing against other culture in shaping people’s values and tastes. Furthermore, Pells strongly believe that the world we are living is not a hegemonic American culture, instead it is a multiple form of art and entertainment.

How well is Whole Foods Market performing from a strategic perspective? Essay

The chief elements of the strategy There are chief strategies are WHOLE FOOD, WHOLE PEOPLE and WHOLE PLANET. * Selling the Highest Quality Natural and Organic Products Available This is brand image of whole food market. And John Mackey created the first market in highest quality natural and organic products. It is successful. * Satisfying and Delighting Our Customers Worth of mouth is better than advertisement. Though the price more expensive than the other market, if customers have enough money, they are willing to buy highest quality and price natural and organic products in whole food market * Team Member Happiness and Excellence Make employee excellence; make customers happiness, Whole Food Market put customer in first, employees in second, shareholders in the end. * Creating Wealth Through Profits & Growth Sell highest quality health food in higher price not only earn more money but also can Survey of most or worse market demand * Caring About Our Communities & Our Environment Good environment about produce natural and Organic Products such as vegetable and animals growth in their growth cycle without chemical pesticide and Hormone WFM’s core values These core values are the soul of Whole Foods Market. * Their deepest purpose as an organization was helping support the health. Selling the highest quality natural and organic products is their goal. Now our life is becoming better and better, and many people more and more attention to their health. The price of Whole Foods Market are more expensive than other similar market, but customers also want to buy it. Because they have high quality products. * The customer is God. Company provides with the best customer service, more meaningful value products and has a competitive price to customers. Try to achieve or exceed customer expectations as much as possible, and then help company to improve other performance. So, satisfying and delighting customers is very important. * The company has a good internal environment. Let employees can try their best to get a good job. Team members will communicate and cooperate with each other and obtain the many kinds of information and knowledge. Employees can creative more ideas. Using the power of groups to make an effort to company. The key of contributed to Whole Foods Market success are highest quality, satisfying customers and team force. How well is Whole Foods Market performing from a strategic perspective? Is the strategy working? Does the company have a winning strategy? The Whole Foods brand stands for best- quality, organic goods, is performing well from a strategic prospective as they are increasing their locations and markets. They continue to provide healthy high quality foods and brands that are good for consumers, the environment, and their own growth in the industry. Whole food appeals to a greater social responsibility and has a strong distribution network. They have a competitive advantage to other supermarkets because of their high and fine products that they carry. This company had different acquisitions. One of the acquisitions Whole Food had was when they bought Wild Oats Market. This was a good acquisition Whole Foods made because it opened a lot of opportunities to success as a better company. Whole Foods also has the advantage of a well-known name that’s associated with a higher quality for supermarket products at more competitive prices. Whole Foods has a variety of products and brand selection. These included some 30,000 natural, organic, and gourmet food products and nonfood items. The company has a broad range of products including beverages, snacks, frozen items, pantry staples and different supplements. In addition, Whole Foods appraise quality by nutrition, freshness, and appearance. This company put a lot of emphasis in the health of their customers; therefore the company wants to offer the best quality possible. Recommendations 1. Deferment of Expansion Market: carrying cooperation approach is more cost-effective. You can also detection of this place is whether or not suitable for whole food to survive. The characteristics products and self-owned brand of the food put on the supermarket of cooperation to sale is very good way. 2. Adjust Measures to Local Conditions each busy section or prosperous business district faces high-end consumers is not the same. For example cooperation with the Chinese market , if whole food will open in Shanghai, because the Shanghai is the cosmopolitan city, The high-end supermarket target consumer groups will be mainly focused on a foreign high-end consumers. High quality high level of the organic food will no longer be whole food characteristics, but can afford a high price of people would not less. If whole food market will locate in Xiamen, high quality high level of the organic food can be whole food characteristics, not like Shanghai that would have so many people to buy. 3. Local Culture: Internationalization is a huge barrier, China is a large agricultural country, cooperation with the Chinese Farm, into some of the local culture, it can cut down the price, and also can helps to keep food fresh cooperation with the local farm, launch of the local characteristics of organic food, so as to attract more high-end consumers. Road transport conditions of China are good; it has a great degree of protection for fresh food

Vinal Barbaros's Options Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Vinal Barbaros's Options - Essay Example From this study it is clear that when the issues are revealed, conflicts may arise from agency interests, as the uncertainty in the company's future due to its failing operations may threaten the status quo, especially when it comes to cost-cutting activities such as downsizing in order to address the problem on profitability. One of the key stakeholders in this case is the company's major investor, the creditor National Bank of Australia. If the company reports the true amount of the cost estimates, the bank will have to protect its position with regard to its investment in the company. This can be done by downgrading the company's credit rating and increasing the interest payments due to default, or look for a second way out when it comes to getting the amount that is due. In this case, the owner or the major shareholder is deprived of knowing the true performance of the company. Because he does not know, he cannot do something in order to preserve his wealth or shareholder value. As for the company's employees, they will not be informed of the company's shortcomings with regard to dealing with its efficiency and operations productivity. As for the company's major investor, its creditor the National Bank of Australia, it will be able to grant a renewal on the company's loan by assuming that nothing is wrong in the company's operations, which puts its financial position in the company at risk because of misleading information. If the company continues to fail during its subsequent operations, the bank will have to suffer and absorb the losses with regard to the company's failure to pay on time. If the company has been able to recoup its losses, the bank has still been misled by the company because of the act; when it is found out, the bank can resort to proper means in order to compensate it for the possible losses from such act.

Mise en scene in Juno (Jason Reitman, 2007) Essay

Mise en scene in Juno (Jason Reitman, 2007) - Essay Example this girl Juno finds a way to get out of this sticky situation not by resorting to abortion but by instead going through with the pregnancy and finding good adoptive parents and securing a better future for her child. The film is, first of all, divided into the 4 seasons starting with autumn and so on. Somehow, this division of the film by season assisted in the transition of the whole story from Juno realizing her problem up to the time she gives birth and after. The movie starts with a long shot of Juno looking at a living room lounging chair, with a gallon of orange juice on her right hand, a closer shot of the same scene and then Juno’s face in close-up showing the actress’ face as reminiscent, sad and worried all at the same time. Juno narrates the cause of her mood then a flashback is shown and the viewers begin to understand the importance of the chair to the story – it was where Juno had sex with her boyfriend and the reason she got pregnant. The scenes are set in the local village where Juno resides, her home, her school, the local store, etc. Some scenes are shown of the house where the adoptive parents of Juno’s baby lived which left a good impression on Juno and her plans to give her baby to a good couple who love each other and who are capable of raising an equally good family. Narratives by the lead actress are used all throughout the film to shorten parts of the story which would otherwise draw attention from the main character to the other sub-plots. Although the main topic of the film is sex and teenage pregnancy, the presentation of the shots was tastefully done and only suggestive scenes were shown especially in the part when Juno and her boyfriend did the act. Scenes significant to the pregnancy like the ultrasound and the actual delivery of the child were also included which rendered more credence to the film since it seemed like the actress really got pregnant and gave birth. The costumes were also r ealistic with the lead