Thursday, October 10, 2019

Management Product and Service Design Essay

Enchanted Kingdom is a theme park in the Philippines. It is located in Santa Rosa City, Laguna, operated by Enchanted Kingdom Inc. (formerly named Amtrust Leisure Corporation). Like any other amusement park, it got numerous attractions and rides that serve the best interest of people of any ages especially children. In the point of view of operations management, as a whole, Enchanted Kingdom is designed to cater ingeniously each guests fancy and offers a total enjoyment for everyone. With their catchy phrase, â€Å"Where the magic begins†¦Ã¢â‚¬  they should provide customers an overall satisfaction with all the products and services they offer and still come up with innovative ideas to keep people especially in the nearing cities to come and go with a fulfilled experience of magic, how far would they render to make people’s imagination as realistic as they can be? I. Product and Service Design Positive From entrance to exit, the place is very exquisite. Customers find themselves astonished with sight of infrastructures built; we all know that the scenic atmosphere endows what Enchanted Kingdom is all about. It is designed in such a way that would cater all ages. They put up rides and fun-filled activities such as arcade, band appearances, games, souvenirs, mascot parade, street dancers, evening fireworks and a lot more. As years passed by, they keep on adding new rides and attractions such as Xtreme Paintball, Kart racing, Triassic Laser Tag, 4D Discovery Theater, Exodus the Ride (All-terrain vehicle Adventure Trail), Lake Spa (foot, back massages), Space Shuttle Max, and SRRX (Haunted attraction). They also started seasonal attraction such as the Biki Waterworld during summer. Their ticket promo is also something people are watching out. They have a variety of ticket rates depending on age and season. They also have discounts for students and residents of Sta. Rosa, and every sem breaks they offer â€Å"barkada† discounts or packages to their target college students. Negative Bringing of food and drinks inside the park is strictly prohibited. Customers are then induced to buy monopolized and expensive food and drinks inside, otherwise they still need to go out the park. Tickets are not so affordable. Their souvenir products are too expensive. There is no place or specific spot, where people could rest when they got tired, only benches sparse at the park. II. Capacity Positive EK has really the capacity to conduct business like this. With 17 hectares of land area, they could really accommodate a large number of people and put all the park zones, shop and food outlets, kiddy rides, adventurous and extreme rides for adults and other attractions together. They have rides that give so much fun and excitement to customers. Their staff and crew are skilled, well trained and do excellent jobs. Their operations hours are enough to most customers to fully enjoy and explore the whole magical place. Negative Although they could cater to large number of people, there are really times especially during special occasions when the whole park is full of visitors or tourists. These create long lines in different rides creating disturbances to the enjoyment of their customers. III. Service Process Positive Buying of entrance tickets is easy. They could choose between limited tickets or ride-all-you-can tickets. Also, EK provides necessary precautions and made the theme park as accessible as it can be such as brochures so you might not get lost. There are staffs all over the theme park for immediate concerns, and accessible customer service office. Negative If there were too many people, it would take 30 minutes to 1 hour before you can take a ride because of long lines of people. The hardest and most tiring part is that you’re standing while you are waiting for your turn. Too much-crowded amusement park makes customers not to ultimately enjoy their trip and be dissatisfied. IV. Facility Layout Positive The age appropriateness and other requirements for efficiency of their facilities are viewed largely as one of the best features of Enchanted Kingdom. They have it all! From land, wind, water, digital and to sports! They offer a variety of fun. The layout was designed in such a way that it is sparse out probably because they want their customers not only to be condensed to one side of EK but also to go all around and see all the other landmarks they constructed. Their rides are distributed according to different themes such as Spaceport, Portabello, Brooklyn Place, Victoria Park, Boulderville, Midway Boardwalk, and Jungle Outpost. The Boulderville is where most rides for kids could be found. Negative Sparse layout could be tiring for some customers. Walking too many steps is tiring and a little bit exhausting to those older people. The adult rides like space shuttle and anchors away would take about five (5) minutes of average walking in between. V. Location Positive Going to Enchanted Kingdom comes handy with private vehicles especially those coming from Manila for it is located near the South Luzon Expressway Exit. It is also isolated from other landmarks such as factories that could ruin the stunning ambience of EK. Its location is also near from exclusive subdivisions that could give them rich customers. Negative The location of EK would most likely be very inconvenient for public commuters. Since it is far from the national road, it is hard for them to locate it. Also, the trip from the national road is prone to heavy traffic. Finally, people who opt to eat outside of EK due to its expensive food and drinks would cost them about 10-15 minutes and additional transportation costs because of its isolated location. VI. Quality Positive Well, every business tries to serve their function well. For some, it is affordable with all of its accommodations. Enchanted Kingdom is the biggest theme park we have here in the Philippines. This is probably the closest to having our very own Disneyland. They provide better quality of rides and scenery compare to others. They are a member of International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions which can assure us that Enchanted Kingdom follows extreme quality standards and measures similar to other amusement parks in the world. Negative The â€Å"newness† factor is somehow missing in Enchanted Kingdom nowadays. When you frequently visit EK, you would probably ask for new major rides. There are added attractions but they are lacking of building new major rides. The most exciting and challenging rides of EK would probably be still Anchors Away and Space Shuttle which is now Space Shuttle Max – not like Star City who has now the â€Å"Star Flyer†. Also there are rides which are not well maintained particularly their Grand Carousel. The issue of safety assurance also comes into the picture when the Space Shuttle, one of their major attractions, hung in mid-air twice. Recently was in the year 2007. VII. Recommendations for Improvement For improvements, we are not saying that this isn’t a good place to go to for a fun day, but Enchanted Kingdom will need more than a few rides to impress everyone. First off, there aren’t enough rides to accommodate a huge number of people, during peak seasons. You will always end up waiting in line under the blazing sun for an hour or so, only to come out a minute later disappointed that it wasn’t as thrilling as they had advertised. Then the food is too expensive, and you can’t bring your own food – not even a bottle of water. Now that would have been fine if the food inside Enchanted Kingdom’s food court tastes decent, but sometimes even the bottle of water isn’t cold. . There is a small cafe outside; but it doesn’t serve anything worth eating. The bathrooms though clean and well kept had a bad odor and stained tiles. Enchanted Kingdom needs a renovation too, and they need to do it fast before one of their rides collapse. And for 500 pesos entrance fee, they should at least make it a point to upgrade some of their rides and add more chairs and benches for the people. Maybe they could also plant more trees, as the heat can get to you especially during summer. Continuous improvement means total quality management. They should invest more on TQM for this will generate more revenues to their company. If they have TQM, people will not question anymore their entrance fees as to be so expensive. More people would be satisfied and be converted to long-term customers. Most importantly, this would provide safety assurance for all valued customers. Lastly, we support the continuation of their proposed plans of creating Enchanted Kingdom General Santos, Enchanted Kingdom Davao, Andromeda City (Iloilo), Mars World (Cebu), and Planet Enchanted (Batangas City). These proposed projects will make EK accessible not only to people living in Luzon area but also to other parts of the country as well. A project that will boost up economic growth by attracting more tourists and creating more jobs for those unemployed.

Wednesday, October 9, 2019

Finance 3301 questions Essay

Tom has a DSO of 20 days. The company’s average daily sales are $20,000. What is the level of its accounts receivable? (365 days in a year) DSO=Receivables/(Annual sales/365)=20 days So, Receivables/($20,000/365days)=20 days Receivables/54. 79=20, Receivables=$1095. 89 A company has a profit margin of 10% and an equity multi-plier of 2. 0. Its sales are $100 million and it has total assets of $50 million. What is its ROE? () Answer: B A, 10% B, 40% C, 20% D, 25% The Total assets turnover = Sales/TA=$100/$50=2 ROE= (profit margin)(equity multi-plier)(Total assets turnover)=10%*2*2=40% Chapter 9 When the firm’s sales growth rate going higher, and its payout ratio will () Answer: C A, Same B, Lower C, Higher Broussard Skateboard’s sales are expected to increase by 15% from $8 million in 2012 to $9. 2 million in 2013. Its assets totaled $5 million at the end of 2012. Broussard is already at full capacity, so its assets must grow at the same rate as projected sales. At the end of 2012, current liabilities were $1. 4 million, consisting of $450,000 of accounts payable, $500,000 of notes payable, and $450,000 of accruals. The after-tax profit margin is forecasted to be 6%, and the forecasted payout ratio is 40%. Use the AFN equation to forecast Brous- sard’s additional funds needed for the coming year. Required increase in assets – Increase in spontaneous liabilities – Increase in retained earnings = AFN AFN=($5/$8)*$1. 2 – ($1. 4/$8)*$1. 2-$9. 2*6%*(1-40%)=0. 75 – 0. 21 – 0. 33=21% Chapter 10 Tony Company’s balance sheet shows $300 million in debt, $50 million in preferred stock, and $250 million in total common equity. Tony Company`s tax rate is 40%, rd =6%,rPS =5%,andrs =10%. If Tony Company get capital structure of 30% debt, 5% preferred stock, and 65% common stock, what is its WACC? Wd=30% ; Wps=5%; Ws=65% WACC=Wd*rd*(1-T)+Wps*rps+ws*rs=30%*6%(1-40%)+5%*5%+65%*10%=0. 0108+0. 000125+0. 065=7. 59% What kinds of the T-bonds is the best proxy for the risk-free rate is the yield on? Answer: A A, long-term B, short-term C, No one Chapter 11 A company creates value when the spread between EROIC and WACC is positive—that is, when Answer: B A, EROIC ? WACC = 0 B, EROIC ? WACC > 0; C, EROIC ? WACC

Functional Behavior Assessment and Behavior Support Plan Essay

Functional Behavior Assessment and Behavior Support Plan - Essay Example 87). The FBA thereby provides comprehensive information required in an educator’s preparation of a Behavior Support Plan (BSP), or a plan of action that clearly stipulates behavioral goals and strategies that minimize the manifestation of problem behavior and maximize the achievement of identified replacement behavior. The importance of FBA is manifested in terms of providing the theoretical framework for the design of strategies that would incorporate accurate assessments and interventions for the identified problem behavior. Likewise, the FBA provides structural guidelines on the techniques of understaning problem behavior; it encourages educators to shift perspectives in viewing problem behaviors as environmental factors and could therefore focus on the variables that were deemed contributory to these behavior; and the process becomes a validating proof towards the provision of behavioral interventions in the educational setting. The components of FBA were enumerated as a t hree step process, to wit: (1) through an assessment of the child where information is gathered through interview, a desired target behavior is identfied; (2) through observation of the child’s behavior, practitioners determines the factors that contribute or trigger the onset of the problem behavior and to identify potential consequences that lead to the child’s continued exhibiting of the behavior; and finally, (3) practitioners identify the function that the behavior serves and the specific variables that trigger and reinforce the exhibited behavior (Weber, Killu, Derby, & & Barretto, 2005). Situation Requiring a Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA) and Behavior Support Plan (BSP) 1. Description of Problem Behaviors: A 10-year old student, Lucy Chu, perceived that she has not been exhibiting good grades in English. When English class comes, she makes it a point to excuse herself using different reasons such as going to the wash room; needing to go to the clinic; not have slept well the previous night and therefore feels extremely sleepy. As a result, the more that her academic performance falls below par and her frequent excuses makes her miss most of the required modules. 2. Identification of Events, Times, and Situations that Predict the Occurrence and Nonoccurrence of the behavior: During English class, Lucy Chu, would quietly sit on her chair and listen to the lessons and instructions that would be discussed during the subject. When the teacher informs the class that there is a need for students to verbally relay their experiences, read out their written essays, or participate in a class discussion, Lucy would approach the teacher to state that she needs to be excused from the class due to different reasons, identified above. Depending on the remaining time frame for the subject, she would see to it that she maximizes her time out from the classroom and only to return to class just before the next subject. In other class subject that does not require speaking in front of the class in English, the behavior is not manifested. 3. Identification of Antecedents, Consequences, and Reinforcers that Maintain the Behavior: An FBA would determine the factors that lead to Lucy’s behavior. Antecedents would be the influencing factors or events in the environment that spurred the problem behavior. The English teacher, in this situation, could conduct the FBA to determine

Monday, October 7, 2019

North Korea and South Korea Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

North Korea and South Korea - Essay Example Communism is a political movement that believes in an economic system in which the state controls the means of producing everything on behalf of the people. It aims to create a society in which everyone is treated equally. On the other hand, democracy is a system of government in which all the people of a country has a right to select their representatives. There is fair and equal treatment of everyone in the nation, and the sovereign are given the right to take part in decision-making. More than the geographic boundary between these two countries, their form government sets them farther apart. The story "Saboteur" by Ha Jin, provided a clear demonstration of how communist laws are working. First of all, Mr. Chiu was caught by the policemen and was called station with for no reason at all. It can be recalled that he was having lunch with his bride before Muji train station. After they ate and were finally leaving, two policemen who sat next table, spilled tea to Mr. Chiu and his bride's direction, so their sandals got wet. However, when Mr.Chiu complained about rudeness of those policemen, they grabbed him and clamped hand cuffs around his wrists. They took Mr. Chiu to police station because Mr.Chiu kept complaining on how unfairly they have treated him. The policemen told him that he was caught because he is a Saboteur, and he disrupted public order. The story illustrated an incident which took place in China, a communist country. He did not do anything to policemen yet they persuaded him and his bride. Besides, guards arrested him and took him to the police station witho ut valid reason. Even though Mr. Chiu complained about it, he was unable to do anything and must suffer the injustice. This situation depicts how a democratic country differs from a communist one. In democratic country like South Korea or America, they cannot arrest people without a valid reason or complaint. The main duty of a policeman is see to it that laws are enforced and that people are restrained from misconduct. However, in a communist country, they have an enormous power backed by their government enabling them to do whatever they want, even if their actions are unjust. The wards of policemen or army are the law themselves. Second, when Mr. Chiu got in the police station, the chief asked him interrogated and ask him to sign on the agreement. The police made up stories involving him in a crime which he did not commit. They knew that he did not do anything, but may be they felt like make him as a criminal. They even forced him to sign an agreement stating made-up stories. In a democratic country, situations like this require proper procedures. The suspects have the right to call their own lawyer and proper hearings will be conducted in order to determine what really happened to come up with the right decision. Laws are used in judgment. In contrast, in a communist country, they do not have the pre-established process of judging a criminal. They are not given the chance to be defended by a lawyer rendering unfair judgment. Even in this story, Mr. Chiu is supposed have his lawyer, but they conducted the processing without his lawyer. It should be noted that the court has not been fair to him. The policemen made up a crime for him and pushed him to submit because there are no laws which can deter them. The military has the supreme power because they are the primary

Sunday, October 6, 2019

Law and Policy Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Law and Policy - Case Study Example The organizational policies that deal with information security are drawn from a number of U.S. laws that include: the National Information Infrastructure Protection Act, 1996, the Communications Decency Act of 1996 (CDA) as well as the Computer Security Act of 1987 (Furlani, 2006). To ensure that it is compliant with all relevant information security laws and regulations, Digitol IT Solutions Ltd has employed information security professionals who are responsible for ensuring that everyone working there understands every single policy and government legislation. These policies act as a guideline on how technology should used and information handles within the company. Ensuring confidentiality is vital in any information system (Zevin, 2004). At Digitol IT Solutions Ltd there is a policy that states that it is wrong for an individual or a group of individuals to access a computer without authorized access. There are some levels of information which are only available to a few members of staff. For instance, financial information of customers is not available to everyone. Only the accountants who deal with payments are allowed to access this confidential information. The policy restricting access to certain computers is in line with the National Information Infrastructure Protection Act, 1996, a federal regulation that makes it a criminal offence for unauthorized persons to gain access to a certain computer where they have been denied entry (Department of Justice, 2011). Another of the company’s information security policy restricts the number and kind of customers who can have full access of their website. Due to fear of hackers and malicious internet users who might want to cause harm or steal some of the company’s technology for ulterior motives, the company requires only trusted users to gain full access to their online services. This policy not only keeps the company’s website secure, it also ensures that sensitive information is not le aked out to unscrupulous individuals. This way the integrity of the company is kept intact and confidentiality is maintained, as is required in the National Information Infrastructure Protection Act, 1996 and the Computer Security Act of 1987. These two laws aim at ensuring that an organization has the proper mechanisms to ensure that all information systems are safe (Department of Justice, 2011 and National Institute of Standards and Technology, 2011). Digitol IT Solutions Ltd operates a rather liberal kind of business, and people have the freedom to be as creative and imaginative as they can. These two skills are pivotal to the success of the company. However, there are strict guidelines as presented in one of the terms of conduct policies, which direct what kind on information or content is allowed into the company’s computer system. An employee of the company was recently relieved of his duties and charged in court for failing to comply with the organization’s poli cies requiring him to upload obscene content on the website from his computer. The court found him guilty of flaunting the Communications Decency Act which stipulates that obscene and indecent material should not be allowed in cyberspace (National Institute of Standards and Technology, 2011). The company also reserves the right to block certain websites from being accessed by its staff. For instance, no one is allowed

Saturday, October 5, 2019

Preschool Observation at CCLC Daycare Case Study

Preschool Observation at CCLC Daycare - Case Study Example He dislikes arts and crafts. I chose Tomi to observe because of his reaction when I dropped my pencil at the beginning of the observation. Tomi was the only child who looked over at the sound; he picked it up and handed it to me, getting my attention with that gesture of kindness. I could tell with that one action that Tomi was both observant and sociable, and the observation that followed confirmed this instinct. It was just after naptime when I arrived, and the children were picking up their rest things. Tomi was doing so very neatly, gently placing his blanket on the table and handing his rest mat to his teacher. When he was finished with this, he walked over to another child who was still sleeping. He knelt down and woke her up, saying "Hey, it's a wake-up time, wake up!† His friend stirred and woke up, and as soon as her eyes were open, he asked her if she needed his help. This showed me that Tomi is able to identify with others' needs, which places him at an advanced leve l within the context of Piaget's theories. At the pre-operational level, most children have difficulty identifying with others, but Tomi's tendency to be helpful without prompting shows that perhaps he is beginning to be able to take on others' perspectives. When Tomi began wandering around the room again, he found a few friends who were already awake and packed up, and started talking with them. The subject of Ninja Turtles came up, and Tomi talked about them animatedly. I was able to observe a great deal about his speech and language development during this time. Tomi uses full sentences of about 5 to 6 words each. He uses past tense correctly, talking about what one of the Ninja Turtles did during an episode of the cartoon. He is able to tell a simple story, using a two-sentence description of what one of the Turtles did in the same episode. In speech and language, Tomi appears to be at a normal developmental level. Snack time followed rest. Cheese and crackers were served, but T omi asked his teacher for only cheese because he didn't want the cracker. He made this request very politely, and his teacher was happy to oblige. This showed an ability to make requests to meet his needs and use polite terms like â€Å"please,† which he did, placing him at a developmentally appropriate level. When Tomi finished his snack, he found a cube of cheese on the floor and he ate it. He did this without seeming to perceive that anyone might not think it an appropriate thing to do; he didn't check to see if the teacher was looking or act secretive. Without knowing whether or not he has been told not to eat things off the floor, it is difficult to infer cognitive ability from this action. However, it does show an ability to reason logically: Cheese is tasty, that cheese is there, I will eat it. As the children cleaned up their snack, Christmas songs were playing in the background. When Tomi was finished cleaning, he started dancing around the room to the music. When hi s teacher noticed, she asked him to go back to his place. I couldn't help wishing she had complimented his dancing or remarked that he must be enjoying the music before she asked him to stop dancing. He seemed very free and excited, and I wanted someone to share his joy.  

Friday, October 4, 2019

Lindt chocolate goes to South Korea Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words - 1

Lindt chocolate goes to South Korea - Essay Example hat direct the flow of a company’s goods and services to consumers and users of more than one nation for a profit†(Ghauri, and Cateora, 2005, p.8). Domestic market is almost saturated for many companies. Therefore, internationalization of business is inevitable for such companies. Hollensen (2008) pointed out that â€Å"international expansion helps a company to; explore new and potentially more profitable markets, increase competitiveness, and facilitates access to new product ideas, manufacturing innovations and latest technology† (p.5). In short, it is almost impossible for major companies to limit their activities in one country alone and stay competitive. International marketing and cross cultural businesses are getting popularity because of the above awareness. Established in 1845, in Switzerland, and operating in more than 100 countries, Lindt & Sprà ¼ngli is believed to be the leader in the chocolate manufacturing industry. â€Å"During more than 160 years of Lindt & Sprà ¼nglis existence, it has become known as one of the most innovative and creative companies making premium chocolate, with six production sites in Europe, two in the USA and distribution and sales companies on four continents† (The Lindt & Sprà ¼ngli Group, n.d.). The market of premium quality Chocolates is growing as time goes on. People of all cultures, including children and adults, are interested in tasting chocolates. As a result of that, Lindt has huge possibilities in overseas markets. Because of the huge brand value and reputation, Lindt can enter any market without an introduction. South Korea is a country which is developing rapidly at present along with India and China. Lindt has already established business units in China. However, they do not have business units in South Korea, India and Pakistan. This paper analyses the business opportunities for Lindt in South Korea. South Korea is the leader in global electronics and shipbuilding industries. Samsung, LG Hyundai and Daewoo