Starbucks Company Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Starbucks Company - Research Paper Example The Company’s mission is to â€Å"inspire and nature the human spirit-one person, one cup and one neighborhood at a time.† The company has dedicated itself to serving people with the best coffee that the prevailing market can possibly offer. Starbucks’ main goal is to ensure that all their coffee is grown and natured under high quality standards, which they realize through the use of ethical sourcing practices. The intended suppliers of the company’s coffee personally tour its coffee firms in Africa, Asia and Latin America in order to select arabica beans of highest quality. Once the buyers have selected the beans, they are brought to the company’s roasting plants where experts bring out the rich flavor and balance of the beans via Starbucks Roast TM signature. Starbucks is committed to conducting its business responsibly and conducting themselves in ways that earn their partners, customers and neighbors respect and trust (â€Å"Starbucks Company P rofile†). The purpose of this paper is to describe how Starbucks Company uses the four management functions: Planning, organizing, influencing and controlling to achieve its goals. Starbucks Planning function Effective planning helps an organization in achieving its goals and objectives. The process often commences with the reviewing of the organization’s current operations and identifying the loopholes that need to be operationally improved. As such, planning encompasses the envisioning of the outcomes to be achieved by the organization and the necessary steps for achieving desired success. Success is often measured in terms of goals or financial terms including high rating of the organization based on the satisfaction of their customers. All businesses including Starbucks require a plan in order to grow and survive in their respective industries. Plans are significant in guiding Starbucks to accomplish its desired goals and objectives. The planning process is an essen tial element of an organization’s performance as it helps a business and its managers in determining processes needed to achieve the goals of the company. In any competitive industry, it is difficult to encounter businesses as frequently as is the case with Starbucks. The Starbucks Company has retails located in each and every street corner, a factor that places its retail shops right at the doorsteps of its customers. This makes it extremely convenient for consumers to buy a cup of coffee at a premium price while home, at the office or out for a fun day. The company’s functional plan organized along with its business plan has helped it to achieve a near monopoly in the coffee industry. Executive managers and company employees work hand in hand to ensure their customers are satisfied. Starbucks does not only train its employees on the hard production skills, but also on the soft skills on how best to interact with the customers and other stakeholders. Soft skills are s uch as donning an inviting smile or creating a friendly eye contact with the potential customers. In terms of legendary service, the Company remembers its regular customers and their preferred drinks. Starbucks is a service oriented companies that ensures a high degree of customer contact and visibility. It is of great significance for the company to continue training their employees with the sole aim of perfecting their service to both casual and regular customers since it is

Sugar Density Lab Essay Example for Free

Sugar Density Lab Essay 1) Place a clean 100mL graduated cylinder on the balance and hit the â€Å"rezero† button. 2) Fill the cylinder to the 10mL mark with a beverage. Measure and record the mass of the beverage in the graduated cylinder. 3) Measure and record the temperature of the beverage. 4) Rezero the balance with the graduated cylinder containing the beverage. Fill the graduated cylinder to the 20mL mark with a second sample of the same beverage. Measure and record the mass of the beverage sample in the graduated cylinder. 5) Calculate and record the density of each beverage sample. Data Volume| w/beaker weight| w/o beaker weight| Density Formula| Density| Percent Sugar| 10mL| 65.56g| 9.85g| 9.85g/10mL| .925g/mL| 17%| 20mL| 75.75g| 20.04g| 20.04g/20mL| 1.002g/mL| 12%| 30mL| 86.85g| 31.14g| 31.14g/30mL| 1.038g/mL| 10%| 40mL| 96.63g| 40.92g| 40.92g/40mL| 1.023g/mL| 10%| 50mL| 106.33g| 50.62g| 50.62g/50mL| 1.012g/mL| 5%| Calculations and Graphs See table Conclusions Seemingly healthy drinks can have high sugar contents. Discussion of Theory This experiment worked on the idea of density. Experimental Sources of Error -Graduated cylinder not accurate enough -Miscalculated data.

Kneeling During the National Anthem: An Opinion Piece

Kneeling During the National Anthem: An Opinion Piece A Bad Combination The NFL represents â€Å"The National Football League,† which contains thirty-two professional American teams (â€Å"NFL Football Teams,† para 1). Over the past year to present time, there has been a lot of controversy within the league concerning a major political issue with select NFL players kneeling during the playing of the national anthem before kickoff. Kneeling is executed to represent a form of silent protest. The NFL players who are kneeling believe that there are prevailing issues in the United States that need to be brought to the public’s attention. According to the philosopher, Boxill, protest is meant to not only stop the injustice from happening, but to also show self-respect (Boxill, para 1). The injustices that the NFL players are silently protesting against during the playing of the national anthem, are police brutality and racial inequalities occurring in the United States. The issues behind the protest should be addressed, but the way the NFL is allowing players to kneel during a time which celebrates patriotism and the symbolic representation of our country, should not be allowed. The protest first began in the NFL when a player from the San Francisco 49ers sat on the benches during the playing of the national anthem at preseason games (Mindock, para 3). Later in the season, he changed to kneeling during the national anthem while his other teammates remained standing (para 4). Ever since the first player, Colin Kaepernick, kneeled during the anthem, it has started a widespread protest encouraging other players in the NFL to join. The reasons behind the protest, such as police brutality and racial inequalities, are extensive issues in the United States. According to the mapping of police violence, police have killed 1,079 people in the United States this year. Of these 1,079 people, 26 percent of those killed were of the African American race, which represents 13 percent of the American population (â€Å"Mapping Police Violence†). These statistics are well known and alarming to most. The NFL players felt that something needed to be done in order to bring the injustices to the public’s attention. As mentioned above, the protest itself is genuine, but the way it is being executed is exceptionally wrong and troubling. My first argument, is that the form of protest the NFL players are using shows disrespect towards the members of the military and the American flag because the national anthem is played during sporting events to display patriotism for the wars that were fought. The national anthem was written by Francis Scott Key during the War of 1812, which was a conflict between Great Britain and the United States, killing roughly 15,000 Americans (â€Å"Star Spangled Banner Lyrics,† para 2). By kneeling, the players are showing a lack of patriotism for our country and this draws attention away from their concept of protesting. Under Title 36 in the United States Code, Section 301 states, â€Å"all other person’s present should face the flag and stand at attention with their right hand over the heart, and men not in uniform, if applicable, should remove their headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart† (â€Å"United States Code,† para 2). Although there is no federal punishment for violating the United States code, it shows overall disrespect towards the country. Many soldiers have lost their lives fighting for the freedom of the United States, and to military personnel, it may come off as very discourteous. The first argument not only enrages the majority who serve in the military, but it also upsets the fans. The disrespectfulness fans perceive from the way the protest is performed, can lead to unintended consequences. Protesting in the public eye may lead to boycotts and un-peaceful events. Ever since the protest began, more security has been needed at the games to protect fans from violence that might occur due to the kneeling that takes place (â€Å"Refusing to Stand for the National Anthem,† para 8). Also, fans have been committing arson by burning the jerseys of players who promote the protest to show dislike (para 8). Not only is the kneeling making the audience feel uneasy, but causing them to lash out to also be heard. My second argument, is that not standing up during the national anthem is a very ineffective way to promote a protest of injustice. Kneeling during the national anthem catches the viewers’ attention, but can be a major distraction (para 6). It can be a distraction to their teammates and can also cause internal team controversy for those who don’t agree with the style of protest. Not standing for the national anthem before the game, can get in the way of the main message they are trying to protest, which is police brutality and racial injustices. The national anthem stands for men and women who have fought for our country (para 5). Once people see a player kneel, it is hard for them to get past the perceived disrespect for the military personnel of the United States and listen to the deeper concerns of the protest. Many fans get distracted by the action the players are performing, not even realizing there is a bigger cause behind the action. Not only does it distract the players and the audience, but it takes away from the overall football game starting minutes after the kneeling occurs. In addition, the protest draws attention away from the actual reason people bought tickets, which was to view and enjoy the football game between two opposing teams. There are many objections that you could use to rebuttal against the first argument. I think the best objection is that if one believes the United States is not holding up the foundations the country was established on, not standing during the playing of the national anthem is reasonable. The reason the protest was executed by kneeling, was because Kaepernick felt that his country wasn’t showing justice for all and was oppressing African Americans (para 3). He did not want to show pride in a country and flag that undermined police brutality and racial injustices, acting like these were not issues in the United States. Many other players now kneel during the national anthem for this reason. The players are not purposely trying to offend the military, police, or others who find it disrespectful, they are trying to bring recognition to the issues, so other people can be informed. Raising awareness of social injustice is their main target, not dishonoring those who have risked their lives for America (para 3). Another major objection to the first argument could be that kneeling during the national anthem is protected by the First Amendment. The football players are exercising their constitutional right to peacefully protest, bringing the issues of police brutality and racial injustices to the public’s attention. Legally, there was nothing wrong with Kaepernick’s form of protest. The players of the NFL have the right to speak out and make a statement about something they believe is unfair. The First Amendment states, â€Å"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances† (Staff, para 1). In addition, it is an individual’s choice whether or not he or she wishes to participate in standing for the national anthem. With the freedom of speech, comes the right to express your opinion peacefully with either direct words or symbolic actions without diminution, and that’s exactly what the NFL players are doing (â€Å"What Does Free Speech Mean?,† para 1). The second argument emphasized that kneeling during the national anthem is not an effective way to promote and protest the injustice occurring in the United States. A possible response to this argument could be that kneeling is an effective way to promote the issues because it easily grabs people’s eyes on a platform that is viewed by millions of Americans. Kneeling is an unexpected action taken by the NFL players and it shocks the audience which makes them pay attention to the issues (para 6). This sparked other players to join Kaepernick in the kneeling because they realized the public would react, good or bad. Also, it created a conversation on social media and in the news. The protest spread like wildfire, and people were widely talking about it. On social media, there were those who took the NFL players’ side and others who did not agree with the form of protest. By grabbing the fans’ attention, they are able to speak out and voice their opinions on racial issues that needed to be displayed. Now that the public is more aware of the police brutality and racial injustices, actions can be taken to try to prevent those injustices from happening further. The objection to the first argument was that refusing to stand during the anthem was justified if you feel that your country is not holding up the ideals it was founded on. The other objection to the first argument was that the right to peacefully protest is protected by the First Amendment. A response to these two objections could be that yes, NFL players are protected by the First Amendment, but if they are going to protest it should be done respectfully. The national anthem is repeatedly used to honor those who lost their lives or those who were injured while fighting for the United States. It is not something that should be belittled by a protest against totally separate prevailing issues. You gain self-respect from protesting injustices done to you (para 1). Through this form of protest, the NFL players are gaining self-respect, but are alienating others such as select military personnel and viewers who don’t agree with kneeling. The players are utilizing the First Amendment to proceed with their protest, and therefore can’t fully state that the United States is not holding up its ideals which is the reason why they kneel. As for the second argument, the objection was that kneeling is an effective way to protest because it makes others notice and is widely seen by many. A response to this could be that kneeling does grab people’s attention, but it takes away from the game NFL players are paid to play. Adding politics to a professional sport, creates even more tension and possibly the loss of fans. There are more effective ways to protest that are more serene and reduce unintended consequences. The players could conduct a protest that can be heard and seen outside of the football game, or even spread the issues another way during the game. Several other ways the NFL players can speak out about the police brutality and racial injustice in the United States could be by wearing a piece of clothing, making a speech, or dedicating a color to the cause. Another alternative could be the NFL players kneeling before the national anthem playing begins and then standing back up, which shows solidarity without being divisive. If they used one of the other ways mentioned, people would not feel disrespected and attention would still be drawn to the present issues. The protest against police brutality and racial injustices began by one NFL player kneeling during the playing of the national anthem. This created tension between fans and the players. Now, there are over 200 players kneeling for these issues and the number of players participating in the protest is growing. There are some who think the kneeling is justified and others who believe it is disrespecting our country and those who fought for the United States. Police brutality and racial injustice are major issues occurring throughout the country, and it is important for others to speak out on the issues they believe are corrupt. Due to the First Amendment, people have the right to freedom of speech with includes peaceful protest, which is what the NFL players are executing. Although protesting by kneeling during the national anthem is viewed by many as disrespectful and can cause viewers to have negative thoughts towards the NFL, players are proceeding with the protest. There is a significant reason behind the cause, but the form of protest could be conducted in a more efficient and less controversial way. The kneeling should not be allowed during the national anthem, so that there is less tension and miscommunication between the public and players. The protest should be executed in a different way in order to only draw full attention to the issues at hand. Works Cited Boxill, Bernard R. â€Å"Self-Respect and Protest.†Ã‚  Self-Respect and Protest, vol. 6, no. 1, 15 Feb. 2017, pp. 1–13. Accessed 3 Dec. 2017. â€Å"NFL Football Teams Official Sites of all 32 NFL Teams.†Ã‚  NFL.com, 2017,www.nfl.com/teams. Accessed 12 Dec. 2017. â€Å"Police have killed 1,079 people in the U.S. this year.†Ã‚  Mapping Police Violence, 4 Dec. 2017, mappingpoliceviolence.org/. Accessed 3 Dec. 2017. â€Å"Refusing to Stand for the National Anthem: Top 3 Pros and Cons.† ProConorg Headlines, Procon.org, 27 Sept. 2017, www.procon.org/headline.php?headlineID=005323. Accessed 3 Dec. 2017. Staff, LII. â€Å"First Amendment.†Ã‚  LII / Legal Information Institute, 5 Feb. 2010, www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/first_amendment. Accessed 3 Dec. 2017. â€Å"Star Spangled Banner Lyrics.† Star Spangled Banner Lyrics and Meaning ***, 2017, www.american-historama.org/1801-1828-evolution/star-spangled-banner-lyrics.htm. Accessed 10 Dec. 2017. Mindock, Clark. â€Å"Taking a knee: Why are NFL players protesting and when did they start to kneel?†Ã‚  The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media, 25 Sept. 2017, www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/taking-a-knee-national-anthem-nfl-trump-why-meaning-origins-racism-us-colin-kaepernick-a7966961.html. Accessed 12 Dec. 2017. â€Å"United States Code.†Ã‚  OLRC Home, United States House of Representatives, uscode.house.gov/browse/[emailprotected]/subtitle1/partA/chapter3&edition=prelim. Accessed 3 Dec. 2017. â€Å"What Does Free Speech Mean?† United States Courts, www.uscourts.gov/about-federal courts/educational-resources/about-educational-outreach/activity-resources/what-does. Accessed 11 Dec. 2017.

The Failures of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) :: Essays Papers

The Failures of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) One hundred and ten people were killed on board ValueJet’s flight 592 May 11, 1996. Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) failure to correct the problems found in an inspection contributed to this tragic crash (McKenna 59). FAA inspections are contributing to too many deaths on board major airlines. The corruption in the system has lead to many frightening statistics and problems but there are still a lot of improvements for the FAA. The FAA’s failure to inspect and report malfunctions caused 26 cases of uncontained disk/spacers. Also 10 cases of uncontained blades, 9 reversers, 9 fires in the undercowl, 6 engine separations, 6 case ruptures and 1 cowl separation. Airworthy planes that fly into terrain are the leading cause of accidents. Pilots do not know where they are going in relation to the ground but the aircraft is under control. It has killed 2,396 people from 1987 to 1996. Statistics show that U.S. carriers are the safest in the world. However the Safer Skies program by NASA predicts by the year 2010 there will be 6 or 7 catastrophic accidents per year if changes are not made soon (Hilkovitch 4). The FAA acquired a reputation as the tombstone agency because it only addresses dangerous scenarios after fatal air disasters occur. General Accounting Office (GAO) found that inspectors often do not write up violations because they are dismissed and proposed fines are set aside by their superiors. FAA inspectors discovered that contractors painting several ValueJet airplanes improperly reinstalled rudders used to steer the plane. AirTran Airlines had falsified documents, improper maintenance, faulty repairs and repeated failures to supervise contractors. Here is an example of an inspection report for AirTran Airlines: -- 3 instances of failing to properly calculate the proper weight and balance of aircraft to determine safe take off and landing speeds. -- A senior pilot who oversees the qualifications of other pilots falsified information about the experience of an unspecified number of them. -- Failure to examine seven planes’ transponders, which sends out altitude and directional information to traffic controllers, after the planes receive major overhauls. -- Improperly trained workers renovated an unspecified number of cabins to make way for larger business- class seats and modify the passengers’ emergency oxygen system (Associated Press 12).

Apple Online Store Strategy

GROUP B _Choose three core competencies of Apple Inc. How did these competencies allow Apple to make sense out of the recorded music industry in the early 200’s? How did they set the company up for robust first user advantage? How stable do those advantage seem now? (See Jay Barney’s Looking Inside for Competitive Advantage; Zook’s Finding Your Next Core Business). As the Internet based recorded music segment continues to evolve into other devices, will Apple’s competencies continue to generate advantage versus suc competitors as Research in Motion and Dell Inc.? Apple today is the leading player in the internet music industry with over 6 billion songs downloaded since the launch of its iTunes online music store, which today contains more than 10 million songs. Apple introduced iTunes and its online music store in 2001 when there were several major players, such as Amazon and Napster, competing for the market. However, Apple was able to outperform these co mpetitors with its three main core competencies, software, retailing and branding. In 2003, Apple introduced the iTunes online music store that allowed customers to purchase and download songs directly from the store to their computer through iTunes, and then transfer them directly to their iPods. By that time, most of Apple’s competitors offered their customers songs through subscriptions, however they did not provide customers full control of the songs they purchased, i. e. , songs purchased would be lost once customer no longer subscribed. Apple was able to offer customer a whole new way of selling songs to customers. They allowed customers to buy songs like CDs, cassettes in store and never had their songs lost since there were no subscriptions required. In addition, Apple also allowed the customer to preview the songs they intended to purchase in order to avoid downloading the wrong songs. In order to be able to allow customers to purchase songs for a low cost, Apple managed to negotiate a landmark deal with biggest five music companies in the world, Warner, Universal, BMG, Sony and EMI. Songs offered by Apple were using DRM (Digital Right Management) technology to prevent the songs to be unlimited shared. However, the songs could be used to burn unlimited CDS and transferred to unlimited iPod. Since 2001, Apple had gained tremendous branding reputation for its iPod MP3 players. Since then, it has become the most popular MP3 player in the world. When iTunes online music store was introduced in 2003, Apple had provided an extremely convenient way for legally purchasing songs and transferring them directly to customers’ iPods. Therefore, Apple’s iTunes online music store was widely welcomed and accepted by a large number of customers. Apple was a pioneer in combining online music store and music management in one software that allow customers to conveniently purchase and manage their music. Since iTunes was introduced along with the first iPods, it has been well known for simplicity and user-friendly interface. Therefore, iTunes had largely contributed to the success of Apple’s online music store and the elimination of its competitors. As the internet based recorded music segment continues to evolve into other devices, Apple has taken another new strategies in selling music to customers. In June 2009, Apple has more than 10 million songs in its online music store, and since 2006, Apple started to take DRM off their songs and offer customers DRM-free songs. Eight million songs was DRM-free since June 2009 and Apple has been making effort to offer all of their songs free of DRM. Today, Apple does not have only iPod as their MP3 players, but they also have other devices such as iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, that can all utilize the iTunes online music store. The introduction of iPhone and iPod Touch has provided Apple an opportunity to expand its iTunes store beyond a simple online music store to become an online entertainment store, which offers numerous varieties of movies, music, TV episodes, games, applications and books. This has made Apple become the leading brand in innovative technology and its brand ranking has been going up in recent years. ITunes itself also has gone through remarkably improvement in order to offer customers a simpler, more interesting and interactive way of browsing the online store. In general, despite intense competitions from other player such as Research in Motion and Dell Inc. , Apple has been able to outperform them and offer customers the most unique and efficient way of purchasing music and other online entertainment contents. This has been proved by growing stock prices, and increasing profit figures since Apple iTunes online music store was introduced in 2003.

Fire in Lord of the Flies

In the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding. one of the main elements of the plot is a fire created by the boys. While the fire's foremost purpose Is for rescue, It also represents other underlying symbolistic themes. Order is one ot the tlrst things established once the fire is built. The fire's initial purpose, to get the kids rescued, represents hope. Also, the very being of the fire represents the Idea of life. From the very beginning of the novel, Ralph is determined to keep a signal fire going, in case d ship passes near to the Island.That's all well and good, until the first signal ire the boys light begins burning out of control, and at least one boy is missing, As Piggy tells Jack, â€Å"You got your small fire all right† (2. 210). The fire thus becomes a symbol, paradoxically, of both hope of rescue and of destrucuon. Ironically, it Is because of a fire that Jack lights at the end of the novel†in his attempt to hunt and kill Ralph†that the boys are rescued. And It makes sense.If the boys' world is Justa symbol for the real world, then they're not being rescued at all: they're just going on to a larger scale of violence†to grow up into soldiers getting sent off to war. Hence, rescue equals destruction. The Signal Fire Is a representation of commonsense and rescue from immorality. When the signal tire can no longer be lit, because Jack stole Piggy's specs that light it, its beacon of hope and knowledge is no longer present to guide Ralph who must then be constantly reminded by Piggy about what Is right.The Fire s Relationship Towards Civilization. In Lord of the Flies, the fire is a main symbol through out the story. It represents amount of civilized strength left within the boys. When the fire burns stronger, it means that they are getting closer to society and when the fire Is not burning or Is eak, they too are weakening. The signal fire becomes an indicator of the boys connection to civilization. Throughout the book, t he fire is a key symbol that means not only rescue, but hope and civilization.Even the forest fire In the end of the story, that was meant to destroy, ended up being the boy s key to rescue. In the beginning of this book, one of the most Important parts is when Jack let the fire go outto go hunting. Although hunting Is not necessarily barbaric or a loss of clvlllzatlon, It Is still what leads up to the loss of civili7atiom When Ralph realizes the power of the fire nd admits that if everyone does not do their duty and cooperate in keeping the fire going, all hopes In contacting clvlllzatlon outside are shattered.The tire Is their only chance of survival and if it goes out, their destined to stay on the island forever As long as the fire Is well maintained, the boys show a desire to return to their civilization, but when the tire burns low or goes out, the boys lose sight ot their wish to be rescued, because they have accepted their barbaric lives on the island. Fire in Lord of the Fl ies By SgtBlackScorp In the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, one of the main elements of the plot s a fire created by the boys. While the fire's foremost purpose is for rescue, it also represents other underlying symbolistic themes.Order is one of the first things represents hope. Also, the very being of the fire represents the idea of life. in case a ship passes near to the island. That's all well and good, until the first signal fire the boys light begins burning out of control, and at least one boy is missing. As symbol, paradoxically, of both hope of rescue and of destruction. Ironically, it is because of a fire that Jack lights at the end of the novel†in his attempt o hunt and kill Ralph†that the boys are rescued. And it makes sense.If the boys' world is Just a symbol for the real world, then they're not being rescued at all; they're The Signal Fire is a representation of commonsense and rescue from immorality. When the signal fire can no longer be lit, b ecause Jack stole Piggy's specs that light it, be constantly reminded by Piggy about what is right. means that they are getting closer to society and when the fire is not burning or is not only rescue, but hope and civilization. Even the forest fire in the end of the story, f this book, one of the most important parts is when Jack let the fire go out to go hunting.Although hunting is not necessarily barbaric or a loss of civilization, it is still what leads up to the loss of civilization. When Ralph realizes the power of the fire going, all hopes in contacting civilization outside are shattered. The fire is their only chance of survival and if it goes out, their destined to stay on the island forever. As long as the fire is well maintained, the boys show a desire to return to their civilization, but when the fire burns low or goes out, the boys lose sight of their wish