Sleep Deprivation And Its Effects On Society Essay

Success in life is typically measured by the result of what is accomplished during the waking hours. The degree of effectiveness of those hours however, depend on effective rest. â€Å"Sleep is integral to the health and well-being of all people† (Wells 233). Sleep is simply defined as the body’s rest cycle – a time to recharge. The widely accepted metric for normal or sufficient sleep is about 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep. When this metric is not met, either through total sleep loss or accumulated sleep debt, the effect can be dire, â€Å"Sleep deprivation results in poor memorizing, schematic thinking, which yields wrong decisions, and emotional disturbances such as deteriorated interpersonal responses and increased aggressiveness† (OrzeÅ‚-Gryglewska 95). Sleep deprivation hinders the abilities of the mind, harms the body, and shortens length of life. Executive functions, sometimes also called higher-order functions of the brain refer to working memory, response selection, and inhibition. Insufficient sleep has a detrimental impact on these functions, â€Å"tasks that rely on executive processes have been reported to be particularly disrupted by sleep deprivation and this has led to the notion that Executive Functions are particularly sensitive to sleep loss† (Lo, Groeger, Santhi, Arbon, Lazar, Hasan, and Dijk 2). Cognitive performance is undoubtedly a key component for both short-term successes i.e. remembering to pick up the kids from school to accurately meeting the boss’s dailyShow MoreRelatedSleep Deprivation And Its Effects On Society1431 Words   |  6 PagesBeing a full time student and avid participant in the community, sleep usually falls by the wayside as the struggle to maintain a healthy balance of activities and work continues. Sleep deprivation can actually be very devastating, having a huge affects o n work ethic and focus. Sleep deprivation is â€Å"the condition of being robbed of sleep,† according to Dictionary.com. â€Å"A chronic sleep-restricted state can cause fatigue, daytime sleepiness, clumsiness, weight loss or weight gain,† giving it a substantialRead MoreSleep Deprivation And Its Effects On Society1443 Words   |  6 PagesIntroduction Very nearly everybody encounters sleep deprivation occasionally, which is a developing issue, can influences a huge number of individuals on the planet particularly found in ladies, and more established. Additionally individuals who are separated or widowed have a more noteworthy chance than the individuals who are hitched to be casualties of sleep deprivation. A sleeping disorder originates from the Latin words for no slumber, which can be characterized as a reason or evident multifacetedRead MoreEssay On Sleep Deprivation801 Words   |  4 Pagesthe world sleep deprivation could be detrimental to people lives and health. Without sleep Im a angry person I get real snappy and grumpy. I would like to know more about the effects of the lack of sleep that effects people’s lives. I know that without sleep you can’t function properly. Why do people choose to push themselves to the limit when they are tired? Who do sleep issues mainly effect? These are some of the questions that I have pertaining to sleep deprivation. Sleep deprivation is a globalRead MoreThe Effects Of Sleep Deprivation On Teenagers939 Words   |  4 Pagesteenagers can cause many problems such as sleep deprivation. Sleep deprivation in teenagers can cause a lot of problems, in addition to that sleep deprivation is the leading cause of sleep disorders and depression. Sleep deprivation in teenager can have negative effects in their lives, especially academically and socially. There are different causes of sleep deprivation, two of the main causes are, Technology and Sleep Disorders. Teenagers in today’s society students are plague with the world of technologyRead MoreEffects of Sleep Deprivation881 Words   |  4 PagesSleep is an essential part of life. Without sleep, the body does not get the energy that it needs to function. Yet a large amount of people do not get anywhere near the amount of sleep they need. Whether it is because of medical reasons or because there just is not enough time in the day, sleep deprivation is a major problem in todays society. The many people who do not get enough sleep usually end up suffering the consequences. No good can come from not getting enough sleep. Sleep deprivation hasRead MoreSleep Deprivation Is A Wide Spread Phenomenon1277 Words   |  6 PagesSleep is one of our most basic physiological needs and getting enough of it is paramount to keeping our bodies and minds functioning at optimal performance. Th e amount of sleep needed varies and decreases by age. From 12-18 hours needed by a newborn to 7-9 hours needed by a health adult. The basal sleep need varies by individual with some people requiring more or less sleep than others (Czeisler 2014). When an individual does not get enough sleep they enter a state of sleep deprivation. Sleep deprivationRead MoreSleep Deprivation Negatively Influences Driving Performance1722 Words   |  7 Pagesaverage person is generally awake for around 16 hours a day, however sometimes within busy lives sleep may become a last priority between family and work, and thus extending the period a person is awake (Williamson Feyer, 2000). In this essay, it will be argued that sleep deprivation negatively influences driving performance, as it has been found that driving for long periods of time or after sleep deprivation leads to poor driving performance as levels of alertness are low. Two empirical studies haveRead MoreLack Of Lack Sleep Deprivation767 Wo rds   |  4 PagesWhat exactly is sleep? Sleep not only allows the human body to rest and reset after a long day but it also plays a critical role in immune function, metabolism, memory, learning and our vital body functions (Harvard Medical School, n.d.). When the human body becomes warn down and unable to properly regenerate and rest, it becomes more and more susceptible to disease, infection and health complications. In the American culture society burns the candle at both ends which often spirals into a wholeRead MoreSleep Loss Or Sleep Deprivation860 Words   |  4 PagesSleep Loss Sleep loss, or sleep deprivation, is very common throughout the world. It is very important to make sure you get at least eight hours of sleep each night for you to be ready to get up and go. It has been said that teenagers need an average of nine hours and fifteen minutes of sleep, according to my psychology teacher. It is very dangerous to go without sleep, hallucinations can and sometimes will occur. It is always easy to tell when a person is not getting enough sleep. They have bagsRead MoreThe Effects Of Sleep Deprivation On Stress1352 Words   |  6 PagesSleep is very important for proper human functioning. Sleep deprivation occurs the body does not get an adequate amount of sleep regularly. The lack of sleep can affect many aspects of life. This topic affects many Americans especially college students. American culture values being very busy and cramming in many activities to daily schedules in which often requires sacrificing sleep. Different age groups reactions to sleep d eprivation was investigated. Physical effects of lack of sleep were examined

Where is Cole Group vulnerable What should it watch out for Free Essays

Question 2: Where is Cole Group vulnerable? What should it watch out for? As a company with millions of customer throughout 2, 900 stores, The Coles Group certainly be one of the top companies in Australia and New Zealand. However, it has lost its market share to the more enhanced and focused Woolworths company. The loyalty program battleground between two companies seemed more advantages over the Woolworths side since it gained 40% of market share with less on 50% advertising spending. We will write a custom essay sample on Where is Cole Group vulnerable? What should it watch out for? or any similar topic only for you Order Now There are some possible problems the Coles Group has to consider while managing its broad relationship marketing programs. First, their customer may find it very difficult to understand and remember all the complexity of saving points promotion. Second, it may cost even more in advertising and marketing to inform the customer all the benefits they can get from the diverse collection of Coles Group promotions. People are confused to count all the points, discount, actual value they can get from the FlyBuys card. On the other hand, The Woolworths offered the simple, logical program of discounts points via Woolworths Credit Card, so the Woolworths can deliver these loyalty programs to the customer better. Moreover, with millions of members through FlyBuys and Coles Group Source MasterCard, the system may misreport the reward points for the customer and cause some serious customer complaints. References: Bianca Hartge-Hazelman. (2012, 11 July). The loyalty program battle ground .The Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 11 July 2012 from http://www.afr.com/p/personal_finance/portfolio/the_loyalty_program_battle_ground_4hwbD00hKdMWP6verYnLpN Madeleine Ross(2012, 7 Dec). Coles vs Woolworths: Who’s winning?. Bandt.com.au. Retrieved 11 July 2012 from http://www.bandt.com.au/features/coles-vs-woolworths-the-battle-of-the-mega-marts http://wps.pearsoned.com.au/au_be_kotler_mktgmgt_1/85/21977/5626312.cw/-/5626314/index.html References cá » §a Case Coles Group. (2007). Welcome to Coles Group Limited. 1 November 2007, from http://www.colesgroup.com.au/Home/ Fenner, R. (2006, 31 July). Coles plans comeback to recoup market share [Electronic Version]. Retrieved 3 November 2007 from http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/07/31/bloomberg/sxcoles.php. Fenner, R., Choudhury, A. (2006, 13 March). Coles Myer to offload its department stores [Electronic Version]. International Herald Tribune. Retrieved 1 November 2007 from http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/03/13/bloomberg/sxcoles.php. FlyBuys. (2007). Frequent Questions [Electronic Version]. Retrieved 1 November 2007 from https://www.flybuys.com.au/flybuys/content/information/faq.html. Howarth, B. (2007, 3 October). Beer and nappies and so much more [Electronic Version]. The Age. Retrieved 1 November 2007 from http://www.smh.com.au/news/businessinnovations/beer-and-nappies-and-so-much-more/2007/10/22/1192941044453.html. smh.com.au. (2004, 19 July). Woolworths reports $27.9b annual sales [Electronic Version]. Retrieved 1 November 2007 from http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/07/19/1090089068573.html?from=storylhs. Woolworths. (2007). The fresh food people. Retrieved 3 November, 2007, from http://www.woolworths.com.au/ How to cite Where is Cole Group vulnerable? What should it watch out for?, Papers

Basic Organizational Design free essay sample

Once managers are done planning, then what? This is when managers need to begin to â€Å"work the plan. † And the first step in doing that involves designing an appropriate organizational structure. This chapter covers the decisions involved with designing this structure. Focus on the following learning outcomes as you read and study this chapter. LEARNING OUTCOMES 10. 1 Describe six key elements in organizational design. 10. 2 Contrast mechanistic and organic structures. 10. 3 Discuss the contingency factors that favor either the mechanistic model or the organic model of organizational design. 0. 4 Describe traditional organizational designs. A MANAGER’S DILEMMA How can we design an organizational structure that will help us accomplish our company’s goals? Should our structure be tall or flat? Traditional or contemporary? Will our chosen design enhance our capacity to continuously learn, adapt, and change in a dynamic global environment? As tomorrow’s man agers, many of your students will soon face these questions. In Chapter 10, students learn about various elements of organizational structure, the contingency factors that influence organizational design, and traditional and contemporary design. In addition, they will study design challenges encountered by managers who work in a variety of organizational structures. â€Å"A Manager’s Dilemma† highlights some of the problems in store for Eli Lilly Company, a major US pharmaceutical company. Eli Lilly Co. stands to lose $10 billion in annual revenues between now and 2016 as three of its major drug patents expire. As CEO, John Lechleiter’s job is to find foster new drug development to replace the projected loss revenue. While other pharmaceutical companies are seeking a merger route to acquire new drugs, Eli Lilly One has decided to revamp the company’s operational tructure into five global business units and create an improved product research and development center. Students should address other organizational design elements Lechleiter might use to ensure that Lilly achieves its goal of speeding up its product development process? From the information presented here, it appears that Eli Lillyâ⠂¬â„¢s has adopted a product structure which offers the advantage of being more responsive to changes in the external environment. Eli Lilly may also want to create more teams in their structure as well as take advantage of technology with virtual teams. Designing organizational structure involves the process of organizing (the second management function) and plays an important role in the success of a company. Managers need to establish structural designs that will best support and allow employees to do their work effectively and efficiently. Several important terms must be defined in order to understand the elements of organizational structure and design: 1. Organizing is arranging and structuring work to accomplish the organization’s goals. This process has several purposes, as shown in Exhibit 10-1. 2. Organizational structure is the formal arrangement of jobs within an organization. 3. Organizational design is developing or changing an organization’s structure. This process involves decisions about six key elements: work specialization, departmentalization, chain of command, span of control, centralization/ decentralization, and formalization. Chapter 10 examines each of these structural elements. A. Work Specialization. Work specialization is dividing work activities into separate job tasks. Most of today’s managers regard work specialization as an important organizing mechanism, but not as a source of ever-increasing productivity. Exhibit 10-2 illustrates the human diseconomies from division of labor—boredom, fatigue, stress, low productivity, poor quality, increased absenteeism, and high turnover— eventually exceed the economic advantages created by work specialization. B. Departmentalization. When work tasks have been defined, they must be arranged in order to accomplish organizational goals. This process, known as departmentalization, is the basis by which jobs are grouped. There are five major ways to departmentalize (see Exhibit 10-3): 1. Functional departmentalization groups jobs by functions performed. 2. Product departmentalization groups jobs by product line. 3. Geographical departmentalization groups jobs on the basis of geographical region. 4. Process departmentalization groups jobs on the basis of product or customer flow. 5. Customer departmentalization groups jobs on the basis of specific and unique customers who have common needs. 6. Popular trends in departmentalization include the following: a. Customer departmentalization continues to be a highly popular approach because it allows better monitoring of customers’ needs and responds to changes in the needs of customers. b. Cross-functional teams, which are work teams composed of individuals from various functional specialties, are being used along with traditional departmental arrangements. C. Chain of Command. The chain of command is the line of authority extending from upper organizational levels to the lowest levels, which clarifies who reports to whom. Three concepts related to chain of command are authority, responsibility, and unity of command. 1. Authority is the rights inherent in a managerial position to tell people what to do and to expect them to do it. a. The acceptance theory of authority proposed by Chester Barnard says that authority comes from the willingness of subordinates to accept it. Barnard contended that subordinates will accept orders only if the following conditions are satisfied: 1. They understand the order. 2. They feel the order is consistent with the organization’s purpose. 3. The order does not conflict with their personal beliefs. 4. They are able to perform the task as directed. b. Line authority entitles a manager to direct the work of an employee. It is the employer–employee authority relationship that extends from the top of the organization to the lowest echelon, according to the chain of command, as shown in Exhibit 10-4. c. Staff authority functions to support, assist, advise, and generally reduce some of their informational burdens. Exhibit 10-5 illustrates line and staff authority. 2. Responsibility is the obligation to perform any assigned duties. 3. Unity of command is the management principle that each person should report to only one manager. D. Span of Control. Span of control is the number of employees a manager can efficiently and effectively manage. 1. The span of control concept is important because it determines how many levels and managers an organization will have. (See Exhibit 10-6 for an example) 2. What determines the â€Å"ideal† span of control? Contingency factors such as the skills and abilities of the manager and the employees, the characteristics of the work being done, similarity and complexity of employee tasks, the physical proximity of subordinates, the degree to which standardized procedures are in place, the sophistication of the organization’s information system, the strength of the organization’s culture, and the preferred style of the manager influence the ideal number of subordinates. 3. The trend in recent years has been toward wider (larger) spans of control. E. Centralization and Decentralization. The concepts of centralization and decentralization address who, where, and how decisions are made in organizations. 1. Centralization is the degree to which decision making is concentrated at upper levels of the organization. 2. Decentralization is the degree to which lower-level employees provide input or actually make decisions. 3. The current trend is toward decentralizing decision making in order to make organizations more flexible and responsive. 4. Employee empowerment is giving employees more authority (power) to make decisions. . A number of factors influence the degree of centralization or decentralization in an organization (see Exhibit 10-7). F. Formalization refers to the degree to which jobs within an organization are standardized and the extent to which employee behavior is guided by rules and procedures. 1. In a highly formalized organization, employees have little discretion, and a high level of consistent and uniform output exists. Formalized organizations have expl icit job descriptions, many organizational rules, and clearly defined procedures. 2. In a less-formalized organization, employees have much freedom and can exercise discretion in the way they do their work. 3. Formalization not only fosters relatively unstructured job behaviors, but also eliminates the need for employees to consider alternatives. 4. The degree of formalization can vary widely between organizations and even within organizations. 10. 2 MECHANISTIC AND ORGANIC STRUCTURES Organizations do not have identical structures. Even companies of comparable size do not necessarily have similar structures. A. Two Models of Organizational Design. See Exhibit 10-8) 1. A mechanistic organization is an organizational design that is rigid and tightly controlled. It is characterized by high specialization, rigid departmentalization, narrow spans of control, high formalization, a limited information network, and little participation in decision making by lower-level employees. 2. An organic organization is an organizational design that is highly adaptive and flexible. It is characterized by little work specialization, minimal formalization, and little direct supervision of employees. 3. Under what circumstances is each design favored? It â€Å"depends† on contingency variables. 10. 3 CONTINGENCY FACTORS Appropriate organizational structure depends upon four contingency variables: A. Strategy and structure. The organization’s strategy is one of the contingency variables that influences organizational design. 1. Alfred Chandler originated the strategy-structure relationship. His finding that structure follows strategy indicates that as organizations change their strategies, they must change their structure to support that strategy. . Most current strategy/structure frameworks focus on three strategy dimensions: a) Innovation needs the flexibility and free flow of information present in the organic organization. b) Cost minimization needs the efficiency, stability, and tight controls of the mechanistic organization. c) Imitation uses some of the characteristics of both mechanistic and organic organizations. B. Size and structure. Considerable historical e vidence indicates that an organization’s size significantly affects its structure. Larger organizations tend to have more specialization, departmentalization, centralization, and formalization, although the size-structure relationship is not linear. C. Technology has been shown to affect an organization’s choice of structure. 1. Every organization uses some form of technology to transform inputs into outputs. 2. Joan Woodward’s study of structure and technology shows that organizations adapt to their technology. She found that three distinct technologies have increasing levels of complexity and sophistication. a) Unit production is the production of items in units or small batches. ) Mass production is the production of items in large batches. c) Process production is the production of items in continuous processes. 3. Woodward found in her study of these three groups that distinct relationships exist among these technologies, the subsequent structure of the organization, and the effectiveness of the organization. Exhibit 10-9 and provides a summary o f these findings. LEADERS WHO MAKE A DIFFERENCE As the first female CEO of Avon, Andrea Jung has held that position for a decade—the most-tenured female CEO in the Fortune 500. Ms. Jung clearly understands the importance of organizational design in helping her global company prosper in good times and bad. This part of her job is especially challenging considering that 70 percent of Avon’s sales are in developing countries. Ms. Jung has made tough decisions to restructure, refocus, and redefine the company’s strategies and created an organizational design to help it continue its success as the leading women’s beauty products company. D. Environmental uncertainty and structure Environmental uncertainty is the final contingency factor that has been shown to affect organizational structure. Environmental uncertainty may be managed by making adjustments in the organization’s structure. The more uncertain the environment, the more flexible and responsive the organization needs to be. 10. 4 TRADITIONAL ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGNS A number of different organizational designs can be found in today’s organizations. Exhibit 10-8 summarizes the strengths and weaknesses of each of these designs. A. A simple structure is an organizational design with low departmentaliza-tion, wide spans of control, authority centralized in a single person, and little formalization. . Strengths of the simple structure are its flexibility, speed, clear accountability and low maintenance costs. 2. The major limitation of a simple structure is that it is most effective when used in small organizations. B. As an organization grows, its structure tends to become more specialized and formalized. When contingency factors favor a bureaucratic or mechanistic design, one of the following two options is likely to be used: 1. A functional structure is an organizational design that groups similar or related occupational specialties together. . A divisional structure is an organizational structure made up of separate, semiautonomous units or divisions. Contact Channel Manager Sears Holdings Corporation Loves Park, IL Cindy offers several recommendations for Eli Lilly Company. To better the structure of the organization, she recommends the use of more flexible structures, i. e. a divisional and organic structure, while at the same time including a mechanistic structure to help speed up certain aspects of the drug approval process. Her final recommendation, to ‘create cross-functional teams across the business units to share best practices and key learning to increase the product development process’ is an insightful one in that it leverages the power of teams to aid in the decision making process and at the same time create a learning/innovation based climate. Answers to Review and Discussion Questions 1. Discuss the traditional and contemporary views of each of the six key elements of organizational design. Traditionally, work specialization was viewed as a way to divide work activities into separate job tasks. Today’s view is that it is an important organizing mechanism but it can lead to problems. The chain of command and its companion concepts—authority, responsibility, and unity of command—were viewed as important ways of maintaining control in organizations. The contemporary view is that they are less relevant in today’s organizations. The traditional view of span of control was that managers should directly supervise no more than five to six individuals. The contemporary view is that the span of control depends on the skills and abilities of the manager and the employees and on the characteristics of the situation. . Can an organization’s structure be changed quickly? Why or why not? Should it be changed quickly? Explain. The speed with which structural changes can be implemented depends partly upon an organization’s size. A small organization is usually able to change its structure more rapidly than a larger one because a smaller company has fewer employees who are involved in the restructuring process. However, a large organization can change its structure and often does in response to changing environmental conditions and changing strategies. 3. Contrast mechanistic and organic organizations. A mechanistic organization is a rigid and tightly controlled structure. An organic organization is highly adaptive and flexible. 4. Would you rather work in a mechanistic or an organic organization? Why? Students’ answers to this question will vary. Many students prefer the structure provided by a mechanistic organization, whereas others would be less productive in an organization with structural rigidity. Note that SAL #III. A. 1 â€Å"What Type of Organization Structure Do I Prefer? † addresses whether each of your students would like to work in a bureaucracy (a mechanistic organization). Students might want to revisit this assessment in answering this question. 5. Explain the contingency factors that affect organizational design. An organization’s structure should support the strategy. If the strategy changes, the structure also should change. An organization’s size can affect its structure up to a certain point. Once an organization reaches a certain size (usually around 2,000 employees), it’s fairly mechanistic. An organization’s technology can affect its structure. An organic structure is most effective with unit production and process production technology. A mechanistic structure is most effective with mass production technology. The more uncertain an organization’s environment, the more it needs the flexibility of an organic design. 6. Contrast the three traditional organizational designs. A simple structure is one with low departmentalization, wide spans of control, authority centralized in a single person, and little formalization. A functional structure groups similar or related occupational specialties together. A divisional structure is made up of separate business units or divisions. 7. With the availability of advanced information technology that allows an organization’s work to be done anywhere at any time, is organizing still an important managerial function? Why or why not? Although an organization’s work may be done anywhere at any time, organizing remains a vital managerial function because the work that must be accomplished still must be divided, grouped, and coordinated. 8. Researchers are now saying that efforts to simplify work tasks actually have negative results for both companies and their employees. Do you agree? Why or why not? Studies as far back as 1924 show that simplified jobs lead to boredom. In 1950 other researchers found that highly segmented and simplified jobs resulted in lower employee morale and output. Other consequences of low employee motivation include absenteeism and high employee turnover, both very costly for businesses. ETHICS DILEMMA Shortly after the BP oil spill, BP engaged in a campaign to improve their image including buying domain names that referred to terms like ‘oil spill’ and ‘oil spill claims. ’ A company spokeswoman said â€Å"the strategy is to assist those who are most impacted and help them find the right forms and the right people quickly and effectively. Is this an ethical issue? What ethical concerns do students see in BP doing this? What stakeholders might be affected by BP’s actions (buying the search terms)? In what ways might these stakeholders be affected? While some students may not see this as unethical, there is a question as to whether BP acquired the domain names to better inform the public or to control information access. By controlling information, BP could put their ‘spin’ on events or even keep the domain names idle so that they could not be used by others to distribute negative information about the company actions. Ultimately, with a disaster as large as this one, there were many stakeholders affected – fisherman, rig workers, hotel owners, management, and employees. Without access to information, these stakeholders may be unaware of their rights to sue or file claims against BP. SKILLS EXERCISE: DEVELOPING YOUR EMPOWERING PEOPLE (DELEGATING) SKILLS A manager’s job is to do things through other people. This requires that a manager learn to trust and empower those they supervise. In this exercise, the author gives five behaviors for effective delegation. Students are to then to read through the scenario and write a paper describing how they would handle the situation described. In the scenario, Ann is already following several of guidelines given for recommendation, by clarifying the assignment and allowing Ricky to participate. In Ricky’s meeting with Bill, he will have to follow his Boss’s lead and follow the recommendations as well. He should first clarify the assignment and what Bill will be able to include (and not include) in the manual. It will also be a good idea if Ricky and Bill get other employees’ input on the policy manual – since it will be used by everyone in the organization. Students should be prepared to share their chart with the class. If this is done outside of class as an assignment, it may be a good idea to have students use Microsoft PowerPoint to prepare the chart. PowerPoint has an option to draw organizational charts in the Smartart menu. Your Turn to be a Manager †¢ Find three different examples of organizational charts. In a report, describe each of them. Try to decipher the organization’s use of organizational design elements, especially departmentalization, chain of command, centralization–decentralization, and formalization. Survey at least 10 different managers about how many employees they supervise. Also ask them whether they feel they could supervise more employees or whether they feel the number they supervise is too many. Graph your survey results and write a report describing what you found. Draw some conclusions about span of control. †¢ Draw an organizational chart of an organization with which you’r e familiar (where you work, a student organization to which you belong, your college or university, etc. ). Be very careful in showing the departments (or groups) and especially be careful to get the chain of command correct.

Synposis of Plutarch’s Life an Example by

Synposis of Plutarch’s Life Mestrius Plutarchus, better known as Plutarch, lived his life in a Greek town called Chaeronea. He was a priest at the temple of Apollo at Delphi which was about 20 miles away from his abode. He was popular in the Roman empire because of his writings and lectures. He preferred to participate in the local affairs of his community rather than bask in his glory. Need essay sample on "Synposis of Plutarchs Life" topic? We will write a custom essay sample specifically for you Proceed One of his great works is called the Moralia which contain 78 essays and dialogues that are based on concerns he took seriously. His essays and lectures attracted Romans to his ideas because it was a relief from the problems they faced after the tragedies that Nero and Domitian brought about. Plutarch planned to write Parallel Lives, which are essays on the lives of Roman heroes and their counterparts in Greece. However, his most popular work that people appreciated even up to centuries after was Lives, a collection of his essays on Roman heroes and how they lived. It is written in Attic Greek which accounts for its unpopularity right now in our generation. Demetrius Poliorcetes, considered one of the best engineers of his time, was the son of Antigonus I Monophthalmus, a Didochi of Alexander the Great and also known as founder of the Antigonid dynasty. He sailed to Rhodes, upon his fathers orders, and captured the city in 307 BC using many siege contraptions that he and his men built. Some of the contraptions or siege engines he used were the Elepolis, a huge tower built by Epimachus of Athens, catapults that throw 80 kilogram rocks up to 150 meters away, the Tortoise, a very tall wooden structure with wheels and a battering ram, and drills that were about 25 meters long that can bore through the enemys walls. He also constructed the Stoa of Cleisthenes or Stoa of Demetrius:Sicyon in around 300 BC for his friend, Lamia and a fortified garrison for the Macedonian Guard atop the Hill of Muses in 294 BC. Paraphrase of at least 15 paragraphs about Demetrius (Source: Lendering) Antigonus and Demetrius lost in the Battle of Ipsus. Asia, Turkey, Syria, Phoenicia and Palestine divided as spoils of war because of Antigonus and Demetrius defeat. The three leaders who won felt unsafe because Demetrius was able to escape form Ipsus. He still led a large navy. Because of this, Cassander, Lysimachus and Ptolemy made a treaty by marrying their children. Ptolemy also needed his allies because he was wary of Seleucus, the new king of Asia. Seleucus knew that Ptolemy was preparing for war so he married his daughter to Demetrius. Their tandem was successful to the point that Ptolemy accepted a treaty. The Greeks betrayed their alliance to Demetrius by making a peace treaty with Cassander which gave Demetrius reason to attack them. He seized Athens and denied it its freedom and autonomy. He also retook Peloponnesse in 294. Demetrius wanted Macedonia. When Cassander died, his two brothers, Antipater and Alexander divided the territory. To secure his property, Alexander got the support of Demetrius and Pyrrhus. Pyrrhus invaded Macedonia for the two brothers and won. When Demetrius entered Macedonia, Alexander tried to kill him but Demetrius turned the tables on him. Demetrius was the new king and Antipater fled to Lysimachus. Demetrius had to give up Asia because of his desire for Greece and his enemies immediately seized the territories. Demetrius was content in conquering Greece except for Sparta and Aetolia. When he tried to invade Aetolia, Pyrrhus sided with the Aetolians and tried to invade Macedonia to no avail. They simply signed a peace treaty after. Demetrius had the smallest kingdom but his army was the largest and strongest. The three other kings attacked against him. The Macedonians also revolted. He installed his son, Antigonus Gonatas, as governor before attacking the east. He hoped to win Turkey and defeat Seleucus t o increase his troops. He won against Ptolemy but his soldiers deserted him which forced his surrender. Seleucus captured him and treated him kindly but he decided to drink himself to death. Three Quotations and Reflections Plutarch remarked, Such an unsociable, solitary thing is power, and so much of jealousy and distrust in it. This has been true in his time just as this truth still has its grip on the present. When one is powerful, one has to choose his friends wisely. One is lucky if he already had his friends beside him before he became powerful. Even then, it is easy to lose these friends once jealousy sets in. For those who gained power before attracting new friends, the questions that would abound will always concern the loyalty and true motives of the new friends. Power can set people apart from society and alienate them whether they like it or not. When Demetrius asked the famous philosopher, Stilpo, if any of his property had been stolen during his siege of Megara. No, replied Stilpo, I have not met with anyone to take away knowledge. I believe that one of the most valuable thing someone can be given is education. Knowledge can be a very strong foundation for success if it is put into good use. I also believe that a successful man will always meet failure in his lifetime. However, his good use of knowledge can always turn these failures into new successes. Antigonus advised Demetrius to marry Phila (a much older woman) for her status in society and wealth by saying, A man must wed where profit will be got. Horrible as it may seem, this type of decision-making can still happen nowadays. However, I believe that the only reason people should wed is their commitment to love each other eternally. Wealth can easily be managed and collected by two married people, if they make wise decisions and work together well as a team. Making wealth the primary reason for marriage makes it insulting, especially to women like Phila. However, in those days, men were considered far more superior than women. These days, though, women like Phila would have had a better chance to keep their wealth from gold diggers. References Demetrius Poliorcetes. (2001). Technology Museum of Thessaloniki. Lendering, J. (n.d.). Alexander's successors: the adventures of Demetrius. Plutarch-Priest of the Delphic Oracle. (2000). Wilmot H. McCutchen.

Trifles Gender Conflict Essay Essay Example

Trifles Gender Conflict Essay Essay Example Trifles Gender Conflict Essay Paper Trifles Gender Conflict Essay Paper Essay Topic: Trifles In the drama Trifles. at that place seems to be one struggle that stays consistent through the full drama. The struggle of gender functions between male and female. The drama itself is about the probe and slaying of Mr. Wright. Who has been found dead in his bed that looks to be a slaying from a rope around his cervix. The drama takes topographic point where the organic structure was found. inside the Wrights family. Investigating is County Attorney George Henderson. and Sheriff Henry Peters. Included in the drama besides is Lewis Hale a adjacent husbandman. and the married womans of Mr. Peters and Mr. Hale. The background of the drama was written by Susan Glaspell in 1916 as a adult female sensitive to feminist issues. An evident ground of why gender struggle is so apparent through the full drama. From the really start of the drama you can see the separation between brand and female. â€Å"The adult females have come in easy. and stand shut together near the door. † ( 1366 ) Susan Glaspell has a really good authorship manner in her stage way of giving the drama a cliff-hanging feel. From the really first line of the drama you can see the separation between male and female. â€Å"This feels good. Come up to the fire. ladies. † Says the County Attorney. â€Å"I’m not-cold. † responds Mrs. Peters. † ( 1367 ) Intriguing and thoughtful the struggle continues straight after. â€Å"not much of a housekeeper. would you state ladies? † says Hale. â€Å"Theirs is a great trade of work to be done on a farm. † Mrs. Hale answers and goes on to state â€Å"Men’s custodies aren’t ever every bit clean as they might be. † ( 1369 ) Continuously throughout the drama the adult females when asked for sentiments defend their sex. They stand their land multiple times. as if Susan Glaspell is seeking to acquire work forces of her clip to see life through a woman’s eyes and the prejudice differences. The work forces finish their probe up downstairs and continue upstairs to go forth the ladies to roll up and look into on some things at the petition of Mrs. Wright. The minute the work forces leave Mrs. Hale provinces. â€Å"I’d hatred to hold work forces coming into my kitchen spying about and knocking. † This line creates tenseness and animus of how the ladies feel towards the work forces. The ladies continue to speak about Mrs. Wright and the alterations they have heard about her over the old ages. â€Å"I heard she use to have on pretty apparels and be lively. when she was Minnie Foster. one of the town misss singing in the choir. But that-oh. that was 30 old ages ago. † ( 1370 ) This starts to arouse ideas of what could hold changed such a nice lady into a slaying suspect. The remainder of the scene is composed of Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters seeking to make up ones mind if they think Mrs. Wright was truly capable of making such a hideous act. Mrs. Peters says â€Å" Mr. Peters says it looks bad for her. Mr. Henderson is atrocious sarcastic in a address and he’ll make merriment of her sayin’ she didn’t wake up. † ( 1370 ) They continue on in the probe and happen a comforter. Mrs. Hale says â€Å" I wonder if she was merely traveling to quilt it or knot it! † followed by a sarcastic response by the Sheriff â€Å"They wonder if she was traveling to quilt it or merely knot it! † ( 1371 ) It could now non be more apparent that the work forces do non take anything serious that the adult females are stating. As if they are naif and cognize nil a adult male could cognize. The work forces so proceed out to the barn to look for more grounds as if there could be something out at that place. The adult females stay in and go on to look around. They find a bird coop that has been broke unfastened and look to be handled approximately. â€Å"I s’pose possibly the cat got it. † says Mrs. Hale. â€Å"No. she didn’t have a cat† replied Mrs. Peters. ( 1372 ) This comes of import in the gender struggle subsequently in the drama as the work forces arrive back subsequently. The adult females continue on to garner things for Mrs. Wright while she is in gaol. They so make the startling find of the dead bird. Somebody-wrung-its-neck. ’’ Says Mrs. Peters. ( 1373 ) This both frightens the ladies and so they start to hear the work forces come back and conceal what they have merely discovered. â€Å"Well. ladies have you decided whether she was traveling to quilt it or knot it? † The County Attorney says. â€Å"We think she was traveling to-knot it. † Replied Mrs. Peters. ( 1373 ) A sarcastic inquiry from the work forces non cognizing this tied straight into the slaying. The County Attorney asks about the bird and the Mrs. Hale replied â€Å"We believe the cat got it. ( 1373 ) A much different answer so earlier in the drama when they knew she had no cat. The work forces so leave to look into back upstairs and give the ladies a minute to truly hold on the find they have merely made. After the silence. they talk about Mr. Wright how he would of hated the bird and hated kids. He hated vocalizing and referred to him as being the ground Mrs. Wright must of stopped. They lived out in the center of no where with non many contacts with anyone. and made a point to see the bird was all Mrs. Wright had.

You Shouldnt Even Think About Buying a Research Paper

You Shouldn't Even Think About Buying a Research Paper Its the night before your paper is due, and you havent even started. Are you tempted to go online to buy a ready-made project? Dont do it! This could ruin your academic career. Here are a few things to know about buying a paper. 1. It is plagiarism, which is an academic crime. Plagiarism comes in many forms, but the basic definition is claiming credit for work that is not your own. The punishment for plagiarism is different from place to place, but every college or high school should have an honor code to deal with academic crime.2. Chances are, youll get caught. Teachers are pretty smart. If you turn in a paper that you didnt write, there will be lots of things about that paper to tip off your teacher. The tone and the research will not match your past work. As for college professors- please! These people research for a living. Dont try to outsmart someone who went to college for eight or ten years! Theyll catch on.3. The work is not reliable. Of course, the web site that offers great papers will claim the work is original and reliable. That is advertising. Dont believe it! The sources could be fake, the research could be sloppy, and the format wont match the assignment.4. Papers are sold and re-sold. Just imagine turning in a paper that the teacher has seen before!5. A fake paper wont match the assignment. If you buy a paper, it probably wont match the teachers assignment exactly. Teachers often word their assignments in a way to make them less generic, so students cant cheat.6. There is software for catching plagiarism. Many university faculty have access to software that scans papers and compares them to thousands of papers available on the web.7. Sometimes, parts of papers are used in several papers. People who write papers to sell often use the same phrases or sentences in many different papers. You could buy a paper that is guaranteed to be one-of-a-kind, but that paper could still contain phrases from other papers. Plagiarism software will pick up on this!8. It costs a lot of money! Do you really want to spend a hundred dollars or so, just to get out of an assignment? Is it worth the risk?9. Its not worth the risk. Students are kicked out of school for plagiarism or honor code violations all the time. Once that happens, its on record for good. There goes your future.10. You wont learn anything! Seriously. When you cheat at school or college, youre really only cheating yourself. Sound cheesy? Just think about it. Youre going to have lots more assignments in the future, and you cant buy your way out of all of them. It will catch up with you, one way or another. Â   Take a Cheating Quiz!

Loophole in the Legal System Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Loophole in the Legal System - Essay Example More specific questions regarding the influence of race on jury decision-making have also emerged from this spate of well-publicised cases: How does a defendant's race influence juror's perception and judgement How does the racial composition of a jury affect its deliberations and final decision Is the influence of race on jurors the same in all trails What difference, if any, would it make if more of the lawyers representing criminal defendants were racial minorities Studies show that Justices of the courts who served from 1789-1962 were socially atypical of the average American background: they came from upper-class families, attended the best law schools, were white male and generally protestant (Abraham, 1962; Ulmer, 1973). This unrepresentative nature of the courts can challenge the legitimacy of an institution. A judicial system of white men can be seen as producing only white man's justice. Another reason one can posit for the desirability of minorities in the judiciary is assimilation. America's heterogeneous population is clustered in groups that thrive along racial, religious, and national-background harmonization (Gordon, 1964). With the Hispanic population growing at a rapid rate, with blacks, Native American Indians, Asians, Jews, and White Anglo-Saxons, America, as a nation, faces the problem of how these groups can exist alongside one another. The United States is a pluralistic society.

Risk Management on Solar Thermal vs. solar photovotaic system in the Dissertation - 1

Risk Management on Solar Thermal vs. solar photovotaic system in the Uk - Dissertation Example ulation Trend in UK 36 Appendix VIII – Trend of Oil and Gas Reserves 36 Appendix IX – Employment and Unemployment Trend in UK 37 Appendix X – Computation of 5 x 7 meters Solar Photovoltaic System Facing North, East, South and West 37 Introduction In UK, the renewable energy industry is rapidly expanding so as to minimize the volume of fossil fuels used in the production of electricity, and also reduce their associated carbon dioxide gas emissions for the purpose of reducing pollution to the levels or targets set by the governmental policy. As of 2008, the United Kingdom has been increasingly dependent over the use of renewable energy resources. In line with this, 5.5% (approximately 4.3 million tonnes of oil equivalent) of the total electricity that was generated in UK was produced from the use of renewable resources such as bio fuels (76.19%), wind power (14.29%), and hydroelectricity (9.52%) (Office for National Statistics, 2011). Even though the use of renewab le energy resources has been increasing, there is still a long way for the UK government to reach its goal of generating 30% of its electricity from renewable resources aside from decreasing its carbon dioxide emission by 40% by year 2020 (Department of Energy & Climate Change, 2011). (See Appendix I – Historical Trend of Electricity Generated by Renewable Resources in UK on page 22) It is a universal knowledge that the burning of oil and natural gas could produce and emit excessive carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide that could trigger global warming. To combat the global climate changes, the UK government decided to gradually shift from the use of non-renewable to renewable energy resources (Committee on Climate Change, 2010). Recently, the Committee on Climate Change announced that the Scottish Government will reduce the carbon gas emission by 3.5% annually between2020 to 2050 (Committee on Climate Change, 2011). As a result of increasing the use of non-renewable energy res ources, the annual emission of carbon dioxide throughout the United Kingdom decreased from 8.95 metric tons per capita in 1995 down to 8.6 metric tons per capita in 2007 (Federal Statistical Office Germany, 2010). (See Appendix II – CO2 Emission in UK on page 23) Renewable energy significantly contributes towards a low carbon economy and thereby, provides a secure supply of valuable energy. Numerous years of development and research in the field of the production of energy have introduced many renewable energy technologies however the progress of the renewable energy has been constrained by the various perceptions of the risk associated with such technologies. As of 2008, the Un

Electronic Health Record Essay Example for Free

Electronic Health Record Essay An Electronic Health Record (EHR) is a system of records that are electronically managed, providing longitudinal information of the patient’s health.   The information is generated during one or more encounters with the patient.   Information can be recorded and stored under several sections including demographics, encounters, interventions, treatments, immunizations, prescriptions, laboratory and imaging data, etc.   The EHR is not only a recording system, but also helps in clinical decision-making.   It has several features incorporated such as providing reminders, precautionary measures to be taken, alerts, evidence-based information, tips in improving prognosis and the quality of care provided.    An EHR system can function within one department of the enterprise, in the entire enterprise, or even between several enterprises within a nation or region.   EHR’s can be customized depending on the type of department requiring them and the purpose for its use (NIH NICRR, 2006 Gurley, 2004). Advantages of the EHR system:- †¢ Patient information can be stored for longer periods and would occupy lesser space †¢ Patient information can be accessed from any point in the hospital and also from one hospital to another, if needed †¢ Patient information can be secured and confidentiality can be maintained (as a particular user would be accessing the system with a username/password, and would get information only about his/her patient) †¢ Information can be updated from any of the user points †¢ Several features such as alerts, reminders, etc, which are very useful to the user can be enabled in an EHR system †¢ Built-in intelligence of the EHR would provide several benefits to the physicians such as providing evidence-based information, potential drug reactions, etc †¢ The quality of care can be improved †¢ The requirements and standards set by accreditation organizations, legislations and insurance companies can be more easily met using an EHR system †¢ Potential life-threatening situations and hazardous drug reactions can be better prevented and managed using an EHR system †¢ The patient workflow can be effectively managed if an EHR system is present †¢ Communication between several structures of the healthcare organization can be improved (faster and more effective) †¢ Depending on the needs of the hospital, a customized EHR can be enabled †¢ Risk assessment, management processes and error identification can be better enabled using an EHR system (NIH NICRR, 2006 Gurley, 2004). Disadvantages of the EHR system:- †¢ Initiating and maintaining an EHR system may be very costly for the organization (however, the improvements in quality need to be considered) †¢ Training healthcare professionals in EHR use may be difficult (as it requires some amount of technical knowledge) †¢ Getting competent with the EHR system requires a sharp learning curve †¢ The EHR systems incorporated from one hospital may be different from another, which may hamper the flow of information – Lacks standard architecture and terminologies (effective interconnecting links need to be considered) †¢ Staff members may find it difficult to adopt to the clinical changes brought about through incorporation of an EHR system †¢ Slow systems may affect the workflow †¢ Risk of the system being hacked and data misused (certain standards should be compiled with and protocols need to be followed) (NIH NICRR, 2006 Gurley, 2004).

Civil War :: American America History

Civil War Writing about recorded history should be a relatively easy task to accomplish. Recorded history is based on facts. Regardless of what time period one may write about, one will find enough information about that time of period. The key is to put everything in a logical and understandable manner. This paper will be about the Civil War. I will try, to the best of my knowledge, to discuss the North's and South's positions and Arguments for going to war, their initial military strategies and their strength and weaknesses. The paper will actually be a summary from chapter 10 of the book Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era By: James McPherson, "Amateurs Go To War". Before discussing the war itself, one must understand the Union's and the Confederate's arguments and reasons for going to war. Let's start at the beginning, when the South was first showing animosity for the North, which eventually led to sessionist ideas by the South. The Compromise of 1850 was drafted in response to the threat of a Southern Convention, because of Zachary Taylors decision to carve out two huge territories in the Far West and to admit them in the union as free states. Henry Clay drafted the compromise, which includes eight parts. "The first pair would admit California as a State and organize the remainder of the Mexican cession without "any restriction or condition on the subject of slavery". The second pair of resolutions settled the boundary dispute between Texas and New Mexico in favor of the latter and compensated Texas by federal assumption of debts contracted during its existence as an Independent Republic. Clay's third pair of resolutions called for abolition of the slave trade in the District of Columbia but a guarantee of slavery itself in the District. As if these six proposals yielded more to the North then to the South, Clay's final pair of resolutions tipped the balance Southward by denying congressional power over the interstate slave trade and calling for a stronger law to enable slave holders to recover their property when they fled to free states" Battle Cry of freedom: The Civil War Era, McPherson James, (p.70-71). The Northerners hated the fugitive slave law, because in the past it was never enforced and it never gave a trial by jury to any runaway slaves. The only testimony heard was that of the slaveholder and he usually recovered his slave. Civil War :: American America History Civil War Writing about recorded history should be a relatively easy task to accomplish. Recorded history is based on facts. Regardless of what time period one may write about, one will find enough information about that time of period. The key is to put everything in a logical and understandable manner. This paper will be about the Civil War. I will try, to the best of my knowledge, to discuss the North's and South's positions and Arguments for going to war, their initial military strategies and their strength and weaknesses. The paper will actually be a summary from chapter 10 of the book Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era By: James McPherson, "Amateurs Go To War". Before discussing the war itself, one must understand the Union's and the Confederate's arguments and reasons for going to war. Let's start at the beginning, when the South was first showing animosity for the North, which eventually led to sessionist ideas by the South. The Compromise of 1850 was drafted in response to the threat of a Southern Convention, because of Zachary Taylors decision to carve out two huge territories in the Far West and to admit them in the union as free states. Henry Clay drafted the compromise, which includes eight parts. "The first pair would admit California as a State and organize the remainder of the Mexican cession without "any restriction or condition on the subject of slavery". The second pair of resolutions settled the boundary dispute between Texas and New Mexico in favor of the latter and compensated Texas by federal assumption of debts contracted during its existence as an Independent Republic. Clay's third pair of resolutions called for abolition of the slave trade in the District of Columbia but a guarantee of slavery itself in the District. As if these six proposals yielded more to the North then to the South, Clay's final pair of resolutions tipped the balance Southward by denying congressional power over the interstate slave trade and calling for a stronger law to enable slave holders to recover their property when they fled to free states" Battle Cry of freedom: The Civil War Era, McPherson James, (p.70-71). The Northerners hated the fugitive slave law, because in the past it was never enforced and it never gave a trial by jury to any runaway slaves. The only testimony heard was that of the slaveholder and he usually recovered his slave.

Discuss the value requirements" needed to gain the Diploma of Social Work

In my essay I will discuss the â€Å"value requirements† needed to gain the Diploma of Social Work and give 6 examples from my own work experience that I think are relevant from a legal perspective. Within the essay I shall begin by defining the term ‘values'. Values are based on the belief that something is good and desirable, the acceptable standard of a person, group or society within. It defines what is important, worthwhile and worth striving for. Values are very much influenced by the views that people have about how society should be organised and how social relationships should be regulated. Values are distinguished from knowledge. Traditionally Social Work values for examples are user or client self-determination, acceptance, non-judgemental attitudes and confidentiality these can also be a guide of conduct and actions of social workers. Ref. : Dictionary of Social Work I'm working in a direct access hostel that accommodates homeless men. These men are suffering from either alcohol or drug addiction and also from mental health problems. One of my values is not to drink alcohol or at least only in a considered amount. Also using drugs is something, which I for myself consider is against my value-belief. The implication towards one part of my client group, those men who are dependent on alcohol, could be that I preach them you should not drink so much and to do this and that . I could treat them in a disadvantage way because I disagree with their lifestyle. Putting them down and may make them feel there are â€Å"low† or even worse, not worth my time. They might be all alcoholics, drug-addicts etc. but I still have to treat everyone as an individual and according to his or her needs. They may have all different reasons while they depend on alcohol and drugs (i. e. loss of partner, marriage breakdown, repossession of house or flat, bankruptcy). I look at one persons life and look what happen in their life, the problems they had and if there are pattern and solutions to help that particular person to do one thing or another. I can put my own life experience into account if it is relevant and may help. Each individual is also unique in their way. Every human being is different like a fingerprint is, so is every ones values and diversity's (i. . sexual orientation, religion, culture, nationality, skin colour, class and age). Every one likes to be respected but this in turn should be a value for each one to respect anyone else. To recognise all the differences in each individual in each different case and use these differences and to help to help themselves and that promotes the people's right to choose. People who are dependent on alcohol and drugs can not be treated all in the same way. They are all individuals and unique and got to be treated as such. I have to use their backgrounds or beliefs and can not apply the same remedy for everybody to cure them. In the hostel we also have Muslim residents, who do not eat pork because of their religious beliefs. We have to advise the canteen staff accordingly to this to prepare different meals for them that do not came in conflict with their religion. Also to share a room with somebody who keeps an animal is out of question for a Muslim, because in their religion it is seen as â€Å"dirty†, not clean. So I have to make sure to put him with somebody else or in a single room to respect and value his needs. A client or resident comes to have a word with me in private. But he wants that what is said in private does not to go any further than between the two of us. I have to tell him that in my position I can not guarantee this. Than I have to take what he says to me on board and consider if this kind of information can really be kept away form other members of staff. In my working environment I have the duty to share â€Å"information† with my other colleges, team-leader, counsellor and management. If for example he tells me that while he is drinking heavily he also becomes aggressive and might sometimes â€Å"blow his fuse† if anybody annoys him, but does not anybody to know because people may start to treat him differently. This is a matter where I have to pass this information on. Even if he has a right to privacy but in these kind of circumstances the staff and other residents are put in danger. Information has to be revealed to staff only and some sort of precocious measures have to be taken. But if there is only minor disclosures than it will be kept confidential. If one of the residents has HIV/Aids this is a matter of strict confidentiality and will not disclosed to anyone else within or outside the organisation, or recorded in the resident's file, without the person's permission. The only exception in that case is if life-threatening injury or illness occurs. Disclosure to medical personnel is essential to treatment. Also if major blood loss takes place and there is a risk of transmission to other residents or staff. The way we assist people to improve there lives simply starts with befriending, providing material and recreational resources. Also activities like scrabble, pool, table-tennis, chess groups, darts and competitions, video and bingo nights, photography, football, craft. Registering with GP's and also at occasions go for day trips to the seaside and visiting theatres. Organising IT courses and helping with finding a job and resettlement. Health care and counselling is also provided. I speak to residents about any kind of problems or help they may want and advise them about referrals to other hostels, benefits and personnel matters. I come a lot of times in contact with people addicted to drugs and assist them in the counselling process to try to get them of drugs By trying them to get off drugs it helps them to take control of their life and their life takes a different direction. I have to speak to a resident on a one to one basis that if he is taking drugs on the premises he will lose his right to stay at the hostel and as a consequence be evicted. This will hopefully protect himself from using drugs and also protect other drug dependent residents who want to become clean with their addiction, to falling back into old habits. We also help in a way that we give medical advice and medicaments to residents in collusion with medical staff. One incident happen not a long time ago where a white resident went into the lift and just as the lift doors were closing another four black residents jumped in. He then got out of the lift and soon as the lift went up he complained to me that he could not go with â€Å"these† residents in the same lift. I asked why, and he responded â€Å"you know what these black are alike†. I said no and asked him the same question but he refused to explain to me â€Å"why†. It was in my view a certain racist behaviour. But he was not racist verbally (he has not spoken out what he really meant by this), so there was nothing I could do except speak to him and let him know that the black residents may see this as racist act and it might be hurting them. Another incident involved myself with one of the residents making Nazi-salutes at one day and on the next giving head butting signs. At this occasion an incident report was made and the resident being giving immediately notice to leave within 24 hours. When I encounter any racism, discrimination or disadvantage I pull the resident by side or take him to the interview room and have a word with him. Depending how severe the incident was I have to write an incident report and this goes than to the team-leader or manager who than decides what action are be taken. Our hostel policy states no person will be treated less favourably than any other person because of their race, colour, ethnic or national origin, appearance, gender, sexuality, marital status, physical disability, health status, age, religious, spiritual or political beliefs or offending history (Ref. Bridge Housing Association, Equal Opportunities Policy). A lot of people say HIV/Aids is a homosexual disease. If I have a homosexual resident at the hostel and can not stigmatise them by saying all homosexuals must have aids and treat him in a totally different manner then anyone else. Also a lot of people assume that alcoholics talk a lot of rubbish, is not very coherent, falls all over the place and looks shabby. If I deal now with an alcoholic who have these appearance I could automatically assume there is no point for me really to try to deal with this person because he do not know what I'm talking about anyway. The drink has got to him and because of the problems I may associate with alcoholism I could treat them all in the same way. With this attitude and thinking he is not worth my time because he would not remember anyway what I'm talking about I would just do enough (paperwork) without giving him the help he might really need. When a resident is totally drunk I give a cup of coffee or support him to his bedroom where he can sleep for a while to get sober. When he is in a state where I can talk to him I will do so he in private with no other residents present. Just because the person does have an alcohol dependency I do not treat him as that. I treat him as a normal individual and treat him in a way that if I would be an alcoholic, the way I would like to be treated. To have values is a good thing because at enables you to set goals for yourself and to achieve objectives. But there is also a down side where other people values can come into conflict with my own.

Market Structure of the German and British Tour Operators’ Industry Through the Analysis of the Package Tour Prices in the Balearic Islands. Essay

Abstract: In this paper we study a sample of package tour prices of German and British tour operators in the Balearic Islands. One of the proposes of this study is to analyse if there are significant differences in price between tour operators due to different factors than those associated to the characteristics of the offer (first hypothesis). These differences in price have been showed in Sinclair et al. (1990) by British tour operators in the resort of Malaga and in Aguilà ³ et al. (2001) by German tour operators in Majorca. The main results point out differences in price between tour operators not associated with the characteristics of the package tour’s offer, that we interpret as an oligopolistic feature of the tour operators’ market. The genereted data is also useful to estimate the role that hotel chains play. Our second hypothesis is to contrast if the association of hotels in chains offset the tour operator’s market power. Keywords: German and British tour operators’ industry; Balearic Islands; Package tour prices. INTRODUCTION The Balearic Islands could be one of the regions that best symbolised the Mediterranean sun and beach holidays. This type of tourism emerged in the 60’s and supposed a turning point in the evolution of tourism. Before this date few tourist visited the islands and all of them were of the upper class, after 1960 the middle and lower class can afford vacations due to several economical and cultural changes. One of the most important changes was the package tour made by tour operators, who due to the volume and standardisation of the packages generated economies of scale, and so, lower prices to tourist who become to arrive in mass. European consumers showed a growing tendency to this type of vacation, partly due to lower prices that, for the same final product, could offer tour operators (Travel and Tourism Intelligence, 2000). This lower price is the result of a bulk negotiation with the different elements that compose the package tour, essentially: hoteliers and airlines. In the present paper, we will focus on the negotiation with hoteliers, as the main European tour operators are vertically integrated with charter airlines. The lack of studies on hoteliers-tour operators’ price negotiation is due to the non-availability of data related to this theme. So, although we consider that empirical evidence is necessary, our last choice was to arrange several interviews with different hoteliers to know about the price negotiation with tour operators. The results of these interviews highlight that operators who contract more room’s beds are those who get lower prices. Obviously, those operators are the large ones. So, we can start from the premise that large tour operators have market power on mass destinations. The main purpose of this paper is to study prices that tour operator s fix on the package tour brochures in order to determine if they operate in a competitive or oligopolistic market. If in the origin market operates under perfect competition, tour operators could fix a marginal-cost price, on the other hand, they could fix a price above the marginal-cost without losing market share if the origin market is oligopolistic. Anyway, the existence of economies of scale in sales, marketing and purchasing, mean that there are conditions, which strongly favour concentration in the tour operator industry (Williams, 1996). Both German and British tour operators dominated the European market in 1999, as seven of the ten main tour operators are of these nationalities (FVW Europà ¤ische Veranstalter in Zahlen, documentation 1999/2000). Moreover, in each country large tour operators have large market shares: in 1999 the seven large German tour operators have a 83% market share (FVW), whilst the four main British tour operators control the 86.6% of the Spanish market (AC Nielsen). On the other hand, the Balearics attract large numbers of German and British tourist, accounting for 70% of the total of foreign tourists in 2000[ii] and as exposes Williams (1996) the destinations that are dependent on the British and German markets are in fact locked into relationships with the powerful tour operators in these countries. The first propose (hypothesis 1) of this paper is to contrast the market power of these companies when selling the Balearic Islands. By the way, the hotel chains in the Balearic Islands, as an association of hotels, can negotiate lower prices with tour operators than an individual hotel, and thus, can offset the power of tour operators in the Islands. This is the last point (hypothesis 2) that we want to analyse in the paper. Dunning and McQueen (1982) argued that there are three conditions for the emergence of international hotel chains: 1) where there are net ownership advantages; 2) where there are locational endowments; 3) to internalise market transactions. In mass tourism the authors argued that the first two conditions do not exist, as the tourism product being sold is largely indifferent to branding and location factor endowment. We do not thing that mass tourism and hotel chains may not be held concurrently, as most Balearic hotels chains have internationalise and some of them are between the most important in the world. Resuming, in this paper we will examine the German and British tour operators’ industry through the analysis of the package tour prices o n the Balearic Islands and the roll that hotel chains play. The evidence that price could give is not enough, but a gut approach to analyse the tour operators’ package tour industry. The paper is divided as follows: in the next section, we first review the literature concern to tour operators, then we describe the data used in the paper. After that, we show some descriptive results of the package tour prices, in order to identify the influence of some relevant characteristics of the package tour on its price. Then, an analysis of variance is done to evaluate the statistical significance of the variables detected as significant in determining the price of package tours; and finally some observations on the package tour industry are offered before reaching an overall conclusion. LITERATURE REVIEW There are implicit statements between those who work on the tourism sector, that tour operators dominate mass destination markets and although there are numerous assertions of the importance of tour operators, there has been little detailed research on this topic. We thought that the package tour industry analysis is still at its beginnings, despite its relevance in most of the European markets. Several researchers have discussed the structure of this industry, but the conclusions in some cases have turned out to be contradictory. Sheldon (1986) argues that the US package tour industry is polarised into a few large stable firms and many small less stable firms, and conclude that the industry is contestable. Fitch (1987) presents descriptive evidence of market power in the UK package tour industry. Baum and Mudambi (1994) argue that the UK package tour industry is oligopolistic and prone to price instability. Taylor (1996) queries whether the UK industry is contestable or oligopolisti c and concludes that the UK market is contestable. Curtin and Busby (1999) expose that due to economies of scale, tour operators have enormous buying power (monopsony) as well as considerable control of the distribution and sale of their product in the market place (monopoly power). The above papers are based in theoretical arguments. Evans and Stabler (1995) use descriptive statistics to argue that the UK industry is segmented according to strategic groupings, where the large firms are oligopolistic and the small ones are competitive. Gratton and Richards (1997) introduce some empirical evidence on package tour prices and tour operators’ market shares. They conclude that the UK package tour industry is contestable, whilst the German is a stable oligopoly. Davies and Downward (1998, 2000) use econometrics, and the results gave empirical support to the Evans and Stabler thesis of strategic groupings. Concretely, they argue that the UK package tour industry is segmented by size. On the other hand, there are some papers that study the tour operators’ industry in destination places rather than in the origin markets: Taylor (1995) analyses the package tour price competitiveness in several Mediterranean destinations and concludes that the Spanish hotels are price acceptant, and emphasises the high tour operators’ negotiation power. Sinclair et al. (1990) examine the package tour prices in Malaga and conclude that there are significant differences in prices between UK tour operators. Aguilà ³ et al. (2001) study the German package tour prices in Majorca and come to the conclusion that there are significant differences in prices, no related with the package tour characteristics. Furthermore, due to the antimonopoly legislation, some concentrations between tour operators have been analysed by The Monopolies and Mergers Commission (the British authority on mergers and concentrations) and the European Commission (the European authority on mergers and concentrations). In 1988 The Monopolies and Mergers Commission investigated the acquisition of Horizon Travel by Thomson Travel Group and reported that the British tour operators’ market was competitive. They demonstrated that with the followings facts: the price competitiveness of the market, low profitability, relatively easy entry by new firm to the tour operating industry and higher prices in Germany and other European countries. On the other hand, in 1999 the European Commission investigated and blocked the acquisition of First Choice by Airtours alluding to several features that indicated a dominant position on the British tour operators’ market. By the way, other acquisitions between tour operators of different nationalities investigated by the European Commission have been expected not to operate against the competition (Airtours/Frosch Touristik and TUI/Thomson). At this point, we consider that the European Commission do not investigated the market power that this macro European tour operators can have in a nearly future on some destinations, as the Balearic Islands, where almost 20% of the tourist are carried by Thomson and TUI, nowadays belonging to the same touristic group. THE DATA The data used in this paper is from 28 German and 20 British tour operators’ summer 2000 brochures[iii]. The brochures describe in detail the characteristics of each offer (hotel category, proximity to beaches, swimming pool, etc) and give an overall price, not giving a price to each element of the offer. Many of the characteristics described in the brochures are related to the hotel star rating[iv], regulated by law. However it should be stress that the star rating don’t constitute an exhaustive description of the hotel, so there are other characteristics that impinge on package tour prices. Concretely, we consider: zone, hotel star rating, beds in room, type of board, proximity to a population centre, picturesque surroundings, lift, child care, playground, air condition, TV, SAT, garden, entertainment, no smoking areas, swimming pool, tennis, bicycles, sports, sauna, gym, golf, room sea view, mini bar, proximity to a natural area, proximity to beaches, total rooms and floors of the hotel and exclusive to the tour operator. Tour operators’ package tour prices for the same hotel vary depending on the specific characteristic of the offer (beds in room, type of board, zone, etc) and of other facts, concretely transport cost, length and time of the year. As in Aguilà ³ et al. (2001) we consider, from the point of view of price competitiveness, the influence on prices of product’s characteristics rather than transport cost and time of year for the present analysis. Thus, the present analysis focuses on offers for a stay in one-to five-star hotels in the Balearic Islands, considering only prices for the first week of August 2000 (high season) and with departure from Dà ¼sseldorf and Gatwick. The high season was chosen because that time of the year (May-October) is when more tourists visit the Balearic Islands. Nearly the 50% of the tourist that visit the Islands concentrate in the months of June, July and August[v]. The selection of the first week of August was arbitrary. The choice of Dà ¼sseldorf was based on the fact that it moves 20.9% of the German tourist that come to the Balearic Islands; and for the British tourist, Gatwick was chosen because it canalise 29.9% of British tourist[vi]. Comparisons between nationalities are workable because a charter flight’s mean price from Gatwick or from Dà ¼sseldorf to the Balearic Islands do not present significantive differences. We really thought that our data is suitable to analyse the tour operators’ price structure in the Balearic Island. Our previous statement is based in the fact that 8921 tour operators’ offers associated with 693 hotels were analysed, while 713 hotels is the official number of re gistered hotels in the Balearic Islands. Furtehrmore, the fact that nearly 90% of hotel rooms are contracted by tour operators in the Balearic Islands allow us the inference of the results to the industry. ANALYSIS OF THE PACKAGE TOUR PRICES Our first hypothesis to contrast is if there are differences in price due to tour operators and thus, not associated with the characteristics of the offer. The second hypothesis is to analyse the role that hotel chains play in the determination of package tour prices .We first realize a descriptive analysis, to carry on with an analysis of variance. Thus, allow us to isolate the effect that tour operators and hotel chains have on prices, estimating if there are differences and the kind of differences. Descriptive analysis Tour operators The variability of the prices of the packages offered are due to several factors, some of them associated to the characteristics of the offer and some related to the tour operator that organise the package tour. To analyse our first hypothesis we have to isolate the tour operator effect by homogenising the offer. We can only compare prices between tour operators if the offers are homogenous. Hotel star rating, type of board and beds in room are expected to be, in a first approximation, the main causes of price variability. So, the offers that we consider are in a double room with half board in a three stars hotel. Figure 1 and 2 present the box-plots of the price in this market segment for each tour operator for each nationality[vii]. In figure 1, it can be seen that, Niag Reisen’s, FTI’s and Club Blaues Meer’s median price is in a range clear above the rest, while SLR and Ãâ€"ger Tours, and TUI and C&N present similar distributions. Insert Figure 1 about here In the case of British tour operators, figure 2 shows that the positions of the price distributions have a clear order: Airtours’ price distribution is above the rest, then go Thomas Cook and Virgin and finally, Cosmos, First Choice and Thomson are third in the ranking. Insert Figure 2 about here A careful reading of this information allows the inference of factors other than hotel star rating, type of board and number of beds in a room in price determination. Although other factors determining price are considered in the analysis of variance, these results point to a differential effect associated with the tour operator. Once we have highlighted the differentiation effect of tour operators, we carry on with its analysis. We don’t have to forget that tour operators are intermediaries between the hotel industry and the holiday’s consumers. Its control capacity of the market in a zone or in a demand segment could be reflected both in hotels, through a low price negotiation, and with customs, offering higher prices in the brochures. The first one, regrettably, can be estimated trough the data, but we can explain the possibilities that tour operators have when they establish the package tour price. If they have market power in destinations (we assume that large ones have) will obtain lower prices per room. At this point, in general terms, tour operators have two alternatives. First, they can establish lower prices in the brochures, so its mark-up will not benefit, but consumers; on the other hand, tour operators can raise mark-up and get beneficiated. The first choice will show market power with respect to hoteliers, whilst the second will state market power with respect to hoteliers and clients. To focus on its control capacity and its influence on prices, we have created a new variable: product concentration degree that measures the importance of each tour operators’ offer by nationalities in each market segment, according to star rating and type of board. It has been calculated as the percentage of the number of offers that each tour operator realise in each hotel star rating and in a specific type of board, regarding the total number of offers in this segment. A 10.9% value for this variable to Neckermann’s three stars hotel and half board offers, mean that the 10.9% of the package tour’s offers in three stars hotels and half board are realis e by this tour operator. A dispersion graph between this variable and the mean price by hotel star rating and type of board are shown in figure 3 for British tour operators and in figure 4 for German. Insert Figure 3 about here The dispersion graph shows a positive relation between Product concentration degree and the average price by star rating and type of board of British tour operators’ offers. The Pearson coefficient (0.384) confirms that the relation is significantive and positive. Insert Figure 4 about here The same results are obtained with German tour operators, with a Pearson coefficient of 0.293, but although the coefficient is significative and positive, the general picture is not so clear. So, the general conclusion for both nationalities is that as the Product concentration degree increases the average price by star rating and type of board is higher. Our first preliminary conclusions of this descriptive analysis of tour operators are two: 1) There are differences in price among international companies. 2) As the control of a market segment by a tour operator increases, it can fix higher prices. Hotel chains The association of hotels in chains is seen, among other factors, as an intention to offset the European tour operators’ growing market power (Bardolet, 1990, p.228; Doxa, 1988). Regarding to hotels chains and its capacity to offset the tour operators’ market power, we have created a dummy variable with further information called agreement with ttoo which takes three categories: 1) the hotel doesn’t belong to a hotel chain, 2) the hotel belongs to a hotel chain and it have some kind of agreement with tour operators and 3) the hotel belongs to a hotel chain and it have any agreement with tour operators. Once we have obtained the dummy, we have calculated the mean difference between each category for offers in a double room with half board in a three stars hotels. We expect to observe that offers in hotels that belong to hotel chains are more expensive than those related to offers in hotels that don’t belong to hotel chains, as they are able to negotiate higher prices with tour operators and thus, tour operators charge this higher prices to consumer. Nevertheless, the brochure price analysis reflect diff erent results, as are showed in the following tables: Table 1: Mean price for German package tours |Mean price |No chain |Chain without agreement |Chain with agreement | | |(92985) |(93257) |(90827) | |No chain | |-272 |2157 | | | |(0.7) |(0.254) | |Chain without agreement | | |2430 | | | | |(0.06) | Table 2: Mean price for British package tours |Mean price |No chain |Chain without agreement |Chain with agreement | | |(149896) |(148909) |(139707) | |No chain | |986 |10189 | | | |(0.7) |(0.03) | |Chain without agreement | | |9202 | | | | |(0.01) | Tables 1 and 2 show the mean price for each category in brakets, the difference mean prices between categories and its significance in brakets. The results are very explicit and present the same pattern in both nationalities, offers in hotels that belongs to hotel chains with agreements with tour operators have lower average prices than those that don’t have agreements or don’t belong to hotel chains. The results are significantive for British offers, however, for German offers, while the price average difference between hotels with or without agreements is on the limit of the 5% significance, the price average difference between hotel with agreements and those that don’t belong to a hotel chain is not significantive. On the other hand, there are non significantive average price differences between hotels that don’t belong to hotel chains and those that belong to one without agreements. The obtained results can be interpreted as follow: hotel chains that h ave any kind of agreement with tour operators are more concerned in obtaining higher occupancy rates than higher prices, that can mean lower occupancy rates. Thus, if offers are cheaper in those hotels, they could have higher occupancy rates. Supporting our thesis, Dunning and McQueen (1982, p. 86) explained that: â€Å"hotels associated with tour operators will also presumably be able to plan and maintain higher occupancy rates because the parent company is in a control position in channelling tourist towards its own hotel.† The conclusions obtained with this descriptive analysis of the hotel chains were at a first glance unexpected, but relevant as the package tour prices fixed in the brochures, reveal that what involve negotiation power is not the hotel chains per se, but the association with tour operators. Analysis of variance The analysis of variance will allow us to compare the importance that different characteristics of the offer have on the overall price, as well as differential effects linked to the tour operator and hotel chains. The first one was detected in preliminary works as Sinclair et al. (1990) and Aguilà ³ et al. (2001), while the second one is a new attribution to this field. Its seems appropriate to consider, given the previous results, as determinants of the package tour price the hotel star rating, the type of board and the number of beds in the room. Although the main characteristics of the package tour are covered by this variables, the brochures specify in detailed each offer and this information is available in our data to improve the analysis. Some of this can be superfluous, in terms of its relationship to the category of the hotel or its redundancy. This is the case, for example, with a characteristic such as a satellite TV and TV in rooms or child care and playground. Nevertheless, descriptive analyses also state that the tour operator, the variable product concentration degree and the variable agreement with ttoo have so mething to say about the final price of a package tour. With this specification, the signification of tour operator can’t be put down to characteristics of the offer not completely covered by the hotel star rating. The variable used to analyse the differences was the price of the package tour specified in the brochure. Table 3 for British and in table 4 for German show the results of an analysis of variance of the variables that turn out to be significant. Table 3: Analysis of variance of the variable price of British package tour. |Dependent Variable: price | | | | |Source |DF |F-ratio |Pr>F | | | | | | |Model |44 |281.67 |0.000 | |Residual |2297 | | | |Total |2341 | | | | | |R square=0.841 | | | | | | |Variables |DF |F-ratio |Pr>F | | | | | | |Intercept |1 |5157.82 |0.000 | |Beds in room |2 |291.38 |0.000 | |Hotel star rating |4 |210.05 |0.000 | |Type of board |3 |118.78 |0.000 | |Tour operator |14 |89.09 |0.000 | |Zone |10 |35.64 |0.000 | |Product concentration degree |1 |20.61 |0.000 | |Number of floors |1 |8.79 |0.003 | |Room sea view |1 |21.98 |0.000 | |Mini bar |1 |102.02 |0.000 | |Air condition |1 |19.67 |0.000 | |Playground |1 |15.66 |0.000 | |Picturesque surroundings |1 |258.13 |0.000 | |Proximity to a natural area |1 |44.20 |0.000 | |Swimming pool |1 |37.23 |0.000 | |Sauna |1 |64.95 |0.000 | |Golf |1 |18.98 |0.000 | Table 4: Analysis of variance of the variable price of German package tour. |Dependent Variable: price | | | | |Source |DF |F-ratio |Pr>F | | | | | | |Model |58 |323.94 |0.000 | |Residual |6467 | | | |Total |6525 | | | | | |R square=0.742 | | | | | | |Variables |DF |F-ratio |Pr>F | | | | | | |Interseccià ³n |1 |5892.90 |0.000 | |Beds in room |3 |418.40 |0.000 | |Hotel star rating |4 |991.06 |0.000 | |Type of board |3 |79.31 |0.000 | |Tour operator |22 |21.89 |0.000 | |Zone |14 |42.70 |0.000 | |Product concentration degree |1 |100.21 |0.000 | |Agreement with ttoo |2 |6.57 |0.001 | |Number of floors |1 |30.51 |0.000 | |Room sea view |1 |187.33 |0.000 | |Air condition |1 |10.82 |0.001 | |Mini bar |1 |78.96 |0.000 | |Sat |1 |51.88 |0.000 | |Playground |1 |55.09 |0.000 | |No smoking areas |1 |9.26 |0.002 | |Proximity to a natural area |1 |71.38 |0.000 | |Swimming pool |1 |5.40 |0.020 | As can be observed in the above tables the variable agreement with ttoo appears only significantive for German package tours. However, the variable product concentration degree appears significantive and positive for both nationalities. This result show that the great control of a market segment by a tour operator in the Balearic Islands allow it to exert a great market power fixing higher prices and thus, reveal the oligopolistic features of this market. The identity of tour operator appears for both nationalities significantive. Aguilà ³ et al. (2001) explained this results in two ways. First, it is possible that there are characteristics not observable in brochures, which would be associated with the level of quality of the services offered by the tour operator. The second explanation points to the monopolistic nature of competition in this type of market. Sinclair et al. (1990) attribute the differences in price to the greater effectiveness of certain advertising campaigns or th e inability of smaller companies to take advantage of the economies of scale that the large ones enjoy. The first explanation of Aguilà ³ et al. (2001) refers to variables as flight schedules, degree of attention, and so on. In our sample this factors has been taken into account. So, the rest of explanations given by authors to this fact reveal, in a wide range, an oligopolistic feature of this market, especially among large tour operators, that permit them to have different strategies one another. Obviously the specific strategy of each tour operator is unknown, but the analysis of the parameters estimated (table 5) offer us an overall strategy, that has been contrasted by the companies portfolios. Table 5: Tour operators estimated parameters |Phoenix |-10370 |Thomson |-21473 | |LTU |-6340 |First Choice |-14170 | |ITS |-5504 |Cosmos |-11381 | |Alltours |-5196 |Thomas Cook |-4879 | |Dertour |-5193 |Virgin |0 | |C&N |-2571 |Airtous |18065 | |SLR |-334 | | | |TUI |0 | | | |Club Blaues Meer |1166 | | | |Frosch Touristik |5070 | | | |Niag Reisen |6346 | | | |Ãâ€"ger Tours |9518 | | | German data is richer in terms of size of tour operators than British data, and so, we can observe large tour operators: TUI, C&N and LTU; medium: Dertour, FTI and ITS; and small: Alltours, Club Blaues Meer, Niag, Ãâ€"ger, Phoenix and SLR. However, British data is composed by large tour operators: Thomson, Airtours, Thomas Cook and First Choice; and medium: Cosmos and Virgin. Although the mark up of each package tour sold is not so high, the total number of packages sold determine its benefits. Therefore, rather than benefits, market shares are the objective of tour operators. Generally speaking, small German tour operators fix higher prices, except Phoenix and Alltours. This fact is due to its lower capacity of negotiating prices with the supply side, and the relative exclusive distribution system created by large tour operators. When the tour operator is unable to reduce its costs due to its size, must fix higher prices and have lower market share. By the way, TUI is the German an d European tour operator with great market share and is, among large tour operators, the one that fix the highest prices. Its growing strategy through expanding in other markets, allow TUI to increase its market share without reducing prices. That is, TUI can fix higher prices without losing market share. The rest two large tour operators: C&N and LTU fix prices lower than TUI. C&N could follow a lower prices strategy to rise its market share and challenge TUI leadership. On the other hand, LTU has been acquired by REWE in January 2001, so the low prices in summer 2000 can be interpreted as an attempt to gain clients and rise its market share (LTU has reduce its market share dramatically from 1994 to 1999). Finally, we have the medium tour operators: Dertour, ITS and FTI. The first two fix lower prices in an attempt to rise its market share. Medium tour operators don’t have the great negotiation power that large ones have, and so, don’t obtain low prices in the negotiation with the supply side, but if they want to become large they have to obtain clients and then fix in the brochures low prices. The last one, FTI, has during the last years internal problems that conduce to its acquisition by Airtours. This problems can be associated with the high price fix in summer 2000. Alltours, despite its classification as a small tour operator, is among the small ones, the one that have the greatest market share, and we can put its strategy on an equal foot with ITS and Dert our. On the other hand, Airtours is among large British tour operators the one that fix the highest prices. This tour operator is the second in terms of market share both in the British and in the European market. Just like TUI, Airtours has grown through the expansion to other countries and the product diversification. This two facts allow Airtours to fix higher prices without losing market share. Although, Airtours is not the market leader in Great Britain (place hold by Thomson), it behave as it was. The acquisition of Thomson by TUI in 2000 due to financial problems can explain the low prices of the British leader. To sum up, except the small tour operators, the three tourist groups that control the European market fix the highest prices. So, although they have market power with the supply side and obtain the lowest prices in the negotiation, these prices are not diverted into low package tour prices. Therefore, large tour operators have market power both in origin an in the Bal earic Islands. We can reflect our thesis with a more general model that show the implications of the price elasticity on mark up. The theory stars with the premise that profit maximizing firms with market power set price (P) as a mark up over marginal cost (MC), which mark up depends on the elasticity of demand ((), where ( is defined to be positive. Thus: [pic] At this point, we consider that the introduction of an aggregate measure of the competitive conduct in the tour operator industry is a great deal (See Papatheodorou, 2001), but we go further arguing that tour operators perform in two related but different scenarios: destination and origin countries. In the Balearics Islands tour operators are the demand side and the hoteliers are the supply side. Tour operators are price sensitive, so its demand is quite elastic, and thus the hoteliers’ mark up is lower. So, hoteliers are concerned in occupancy rates. On the other hand, in the origin countries: Germany and UK, tour operators are the agents that supply the package tour to the consumers, so they operate as the supply side and the consumers are the demand side. Consumers behave in to different ways when decide where to expend their holidays: 1) Type 1 consumers don’t have any special destination to go and will go to the cheapest one. 2) Type 2 consumers want to go to the B alearics. Type 1 consumers are very price sensitive, its demand is elastic and so, tour operators’ mark up will be lower; contrary, type 2 consumers are less sensitive to price, so tour operators’ mark up rises. This second type of consumers are more attractive both for tour operators and hoteliers; the first ones can rise its mark up, whilst the second ones obtain a loyal tourism. Although, the mass market tour operators’ industry as a whole is characterised by small margins, this differentiation between consumers highlights the impact of loyal consumers on margins and question the statement that tour operators put destination-based business (above all hoteliers) at a bargaining disadvantage because they have obtained the initiative in persuading their clients which destination to visit.  ¿Which type of tourism have the Balearic Islands? Cladera (2002) shows that both German and British tourists repeat its holidays in the Balearic Islands (67.65% and 78.11% r espectively in 2000). This figures point out that the Islands are a destination that tourists claim and can drive us to tell that the Islands have a type 2 consumers, but we can be in front of a type 1 consumer if the reason of visiting the Balearics is the price, so we have to carry on investigating the reasons for the visits. Aguilà ³ et al. (2002) observe that the main reasons for choosing the Balearics as their holidays destination for German tourist are: clime (20% of answers), beaches (15.9%), environment and hotel quality (13.4%), transfer facilities (7.4%) and price (6.7%). British tourist give more importance to price (11% of answers), but the most relevant reason is still the clime (21.2%). Environment and hotel quality represent 12.1% of answers, whilst beaches are only a 10%. This figures can be observed by another perspective, specifically, by the number of people who have marked each of the reasons. Doing that we can observe that clime is the main reason, marked by 80.2% of Germans and 84.6% of British. While the 63.6% of Germans showed beaches as a coming reason, only a 40% of British consider beaches as a reason. Price is influent in the decision for only the 26.9% of Germans, while British are more concern about prices, 45.3%. Environment and hotel quality is marked by 53.9% of Germans and by 48.3% of British. Transfer facilities (29.7%) and night atmosphere (22.5%) is more important for Germans than for British people (12.6% and 15.5% respectively). Furthermore, Cladera (2002) analyses the number of tourist who have selected the price as a rea son for choosing the Balearics differentiating by first-time tourists and loyal ones. Cladera conclude that the 34.6% of first-time German tourists and the 45.5% of first-time British tourists consider the price one of the reasons of visiting the Islands, whilst only a 20.2% of loyal German tourist and the 43.1% of loyal British tourist. This figures show the relative less importance of price as a reason of spending the holidays in the Balearic Islands as much the Islands are visited. After this analysis we are able to answer the question: tourist who visit the Islands are mostly loyal tourists and the main reason for choosing the Islands is not the price, although British people are more sensitive to prices than German people. CONCLUSIONS This paper has had two main objectives: 1) Examine the influence on the package tour prices of the identity of the tour operator. 2) Determine the role that hotel chains play on the determination of the prices. These have been studied through the price structure of tourist packages in the Balearic Islands offered by a representative sample of German and British tour operators. The conclusions reach after the analysis permit us to state in connection with hypothesis 1 that: 1) the differences in price between tour operators are due to the different strategies that tour operators follow to gain market share, 2) large tour operators have market power both in origins and in the Balearic Islands and 3) The type of tourist who visit the Island succeed in increasing mark up both to tour operators and hoteliers. We really believe that large European tour operators have market power both in origin and in destination markets, although the strategies of each tourist group can make the market seem competitive. Debbage (1990) also consider this when argued that the suppliers are potentially able to reap the advantages of their oligopolistic and oligopsonistic power to the detriment of consumers and destinations. Relative to hypothesis 2 we can conclude that the fact that a hotel belongs or not to a hotel chain is not appreciared by fixing higher prices in the brochures, that could show a great negotiation power towards tour operator. However, the obtained results reveal that offers in hotels that have any kind of agreement with the tour operator are in mean cheaper. That results permit us to conclude that hotel chains are more concerned in high occupancy rates than in high prices per room. It could be interesting in future research to complement or contrast the methodology used here with alternative approaches to confirm the results reported in this paper. ANNEX Figure 1: Package tour prices for offers in a double room with half board in a three stars hotel by German tour operators Figure 2: Package tour price for offers in a double room with half board in a three stars hotel by British tour operators Figure 3: British tour operators’ dispersion graph by star rating and type of board Figure 4: German tour operators’ dispersion graph by star rating and type of board BIBLIOGRAPHY AGUILÓ, P.M, J. ALEGRE y A. RIERA (2001) â€Å"Determinants of the Price of German Tourist Packages on the island of Mallorca†. Tourism Economics, vol.7, issue 1, pp.59-74. BARDOLET, E. (1990) â€Å"Demanda Turà ­stica y Marketing Turà ­stico†. Papeles de Economà ­a Espaà ±ola, vol. Baleares, pp. 219-230. BAUM, T. y R. MUDAMBI (1994) â€Å"A Ricardian analysis of the fully inclusive Tour Industry†. The Services Industries Journal, vol.14, n º1, pp. 85-93. 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Wallingford: CAB International. ———————– END NOTES [i] Los tres profesores son miembros del Departament d’Economia i Empresa de la Universitat de les Illes Balears. [ii] Govern de les Illes Balears (2000) â€Å"El turisme a les Illes Balears, dades informatives, any 2000†. [iii] Terramar, Spanien und Portugal; Neckermann, Young and Sport; Neckermann, Flugreisen; Neckermann, Family; Condor Individuell; Air Marin, Spanien und Portugal; Fischer Reisen, Flugreisen; Kreutzer; Bucher Reisen; Smile anf Fly; Jahn Reisen; Maris Reisen; THR Tours, Jet and Bett; THR Tours, Urlaub Mal Anders; Tjaerborg; FTI; FTI, Preis Pardise; ITS, Spanien und Portugal; DER, Der Sonnenseiten; Alltours, Flugreisen; 1,2 Fly; TUI Schà ¶nen Ferien; TUI Schà ¶nen Ferien Free World; Ãâ€"ger Tours,Sommer 2000; Club Blaues Meer Reisen, Mallorca; Shauinseland Reisen, Belearen; Niag Reisen, Mallorca; Phoenix, Flugreisen Sommer 2000; Airtours, Summer Sun; Archers Direct, Summer Sun; Price Beaters; Cosmos, Summer Sun; JMC, Summer Sun; JMC, Select; JMC, Ess entials; Club 18-30; Skytours; Thomson, Summer Sun; Thomson, Small and Friendly; Thomson a la Carte; Club Freestyle; Portland Direct; Just; Virgin, Summer Sun; Sovereign, Summer Sun; First Choice, Summer Sun; Eclipse, Summer Sun; 2wentys. [iv] Sinclair et al (1990) point out that hotel rating is a gut indicator of the services and facilities that the hotel offers. [v] Conselleria de Turisme (2000) [vi] Govern de les Illes Balears (1999) â€Å"El turisme a les Illes Balears, dades informatives, any 1999†. [vii] In each of the boxes, the central line indicates the median of the distribution, while the height of the box represents the inter-quartile range, the area is proportional to the frequency of observations. The feet extend (at most) up to 1.5 times the inter-quartile range, aiding the detection of observed extremes (marked as circles).