Krafts food UK Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 7000 words

Krafts food UK - Essay Example The results indicated very strong positive correlation between flexible workplace practices and direct impact on employee performance criteria such as quantitative work output (r = +0.96), qualitative work output (r = +0.90), team working (r = +0.93) and recruitment and retention (r = +0.78). The results also indicated a very strong positive correlation between flexible workplace practices and indirect impact on employee performance criteria such as job satisfaction (r= +0.85) and organisational commitment (r = +0.87), except on stress which showed a weak positive correlation(r = +0.19). The results also indicated that majority of respondents felt that flexible work practices contributed positively towards quantity and quality of their output, increased loyalty towards the organisation and improved job satisfaction. Contents Abstract iv Contents v Table of Figures vii List of Tables vii Photo Credit vii Chapter 1: Introduction 1 1.1 Background 1 1.2 Research Significance 2 1.2.1 Rese arch Question 3 1.3 Research Aims and Objectives 3 1.3.1 Primary Objective 3 1.3.2 Secondary Objectives 3 1.4 Research Methodology 4 1.5 Arrangement of Chapters 5 Chapter 2: Literature Review 6 2.1. Workplace Flexibility 6 2.2 employee performance 8 2.2.1 Why measuring employee performance is important for flexible working 8 2.2.2 Measurement and evaluation of flexible work arrangements 8 2.3 Link between workplace flexibility and employee performance 9 2.4 Conceptual Framework and Hypotheses 11 2.4.1 Testing of Hypotheses 12 Chapter 3: Research Methodology 15 3.1 Introduction 15 3.1.1 Research Context 15 3.2 Research Design 16 3.2.1 Theoretical vs. empirical 17 3.2.2 Nomothetic vs. ideographic 17 3.2.3 Cross-sectional vs. longitudinal study 18 3.3 Research Method 18 3.3.1 Qualitative study 18 3.3.2 Quantitative study 19 3.4 Population and Sampling 21 3.4.1 Sample 21 3.4.2 Variables 22 3.5 Data Collection 22 3.5.1 Instrument for employee survey 22 3.5.2 Scaling 23 3.5.3 Ethical Issu es in Collection of Data 24 3.5.4 Data Analysis Technique 24 3.6 Practical Problems faced and Limitations 24 3.6.1 Practical problems faced 24 3.6.2 Limitations 24 3.6.3 Reliability and Validity 25 Chapter 4: Analysis, Findings & Discussion 27 4.1 Analysis 27 4.1.1 Demography 27 4.2.2 Flexible work arrangement 29 4.2.3 Employee performance 30 4.2.4 Testing of Hypotheses 33 4.2 Findings 36 4.2.1 Major findings 36 4.2.2 Other findings 37 4.3 Discussion 38 Chapter 5: Conclusions & Recommendations 39 5.1 Conclusions 39 5.1.1 Limitations of this study 40 5.2 Recommendations 41 References 42 Appendix 1: Employee Perception Survey 49 Employee Survey Questionnaire 50 1. Demography 50 2. Flexible Work Arrangement 50 Appendix 2: Employee Survey Report 57 1. Demography 57 2. Flexible work arrangement 57 3.Direct Impact on Performance 58 4. Indirect impact on performance 62 Table of Figures Figure 1: Types of workplace flexibility 7 Figure 2: Research design for primary study established for th e study 21 Figure 3: Demography of employee survey 28 Figure 4: The terms of flexible work arrangements 29 Figure 5: GPA Score of performance measurement variables 31 Figure 6: Summary of correlation between flexible work practices and consequent impact on employee performance. 35 List of Tables Table 1: Comparison between reliability and validity issues 26 Table 2: Example of calculation of GPA scores for employee performa

National curriculum frameworks Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

National curriculum frameworks - Assignment Example The learning objectives of the literacy framework are â€Å"aligned to 12 strands to demonstrate progression in each strand† (p.171). One of the literacy framework learning objectives for pupils to speak and listen for a variety of purposes and in many contexts; and there are four strands under this objective that will demonstrate progression – (1) speaking, (2) listening and responding, (3) group discussion and interaction and (4) drama (p.171). The second learning objective of the primary national framework for literacy is to â€Å"read and write for a range of purposes on paper and on screen† (p. 171). The progression strands related to this objective are as follows: The learning objectives of the literacy framework are â€Å"aligned to 12 strands to demonstrate progression in each strand† (p.171). One of the literacy framework learning objectives for pupils to speak and listen for a variety of purposes and in many contexts; and there are four strands u nder this objective that will demonstrate progression – (1) speaking, (2) listening and responding, (3) group discussion and interaction and (4) drama (p.171). The second learning objective of the primary national framework for literacy is to â€Å"read and write for a range of purposes on paper and on screen† (p. 171). The progression strands related to this objective are as follows:†¢ â€Å"Word recognition: decoding (reading) and encoding (spelling)†Ã¢â‚¬ ¢ â€Å"Word structure and spelling†Ã¢â‚¬ ¢ â€Å"Understanding and interpreting texts†Ã¢â‚¬ ¢ â€Å"Engaging and responding to texts†Ã¢â‚¬ ¢ â€Å"Creating and shaping texts†Ã¢â‚¬ ¢ â€Å"Text structure and organization†Ã¢â‚¬ ¢ â€Å"Sentence structure and punctuation†The literacy framework demonstrates that literacy skills, particularly reading and writing, need to be applied in all subject areas; including numeracy. The Speaking and listening statutory requir ements are also present in the literacy framework.The numeracy framework was renewed as well in 2006 with improvements observable in simplified learning objectives and a broad overview of the primary phase mathematics curriculum. Unlike the literacy framework, the mathematics frameworks contain seven strands that demonstrate progression which is aligned to the learning objectives.  ... One of the literacy framework learning objectives for pupils to speak and listen for a variety of purposes and in many contexts; and there are four strands under this objective that will demonstrate progression – (1) speaking, (2) listening and responding, (3) group discussion and interaction and (4) drama (p.171). The second learning objective of the primary national framework for literacy is to â€Å"read and write for a range of purposes on paper and on screen† (p. 171). The progression strands related to this objective are as follows: â€Å"Word recognition : decoding (reading) and encoding (spelling)† â€Å"Word structure and spelling† â€Å"Understanding and interpreting texts† â€Å"Engaging and responding to texts† â€Å"Creating and shaping texts† â€Å"Text structure and organisation† â€Å"Sentence structure and punctuation† â€Å"Presentation† The literacy framework demonstrates that literacy skills, pa rticularly reading and writing, need to be applied in all subject areas; including numeracy. The Speaking and listening statutory requirements are also present in the literacy framework. The numeracy framework was renewed as well in 2006 with improvements observable in simplified learning objectives and a broad overview of the primary phase mathematics curriculum. Unlike the literacy framework, the mathematics frameworks contains seven strands that demonstrate progression which are aligned to the learning objectives. The seven strands of the mathematics framework is (1) using and applying mathematics, (2) counting and understanding number, (3) knowing and using number facts, (4) calculating, (5) understanding shape, (6) measuring, and (7) handling data (p. 172). Teaching programmes,

The Great Grimke Sisters Essay Example for Free

The Great Grimke Sisters Essay I am truly a fan of these sisters ( Angelina Grimke and Sarah Grimke ).They were amazing women and completed many tasks despite what others were doing to stop them.They conquered many problems and evils in their time.So here is their story.ENJOY!!!!!!! Angelina Grimke and her sister Sarah Grimke were legends in their own lifetimes. Together these South Carolina sisters made history: daring to speak before â€Å"promiscuous† or mixed crowds of men and women, publishing some of the most powerful anti-slavery tracts of the antebellum era, and stretching the boundaries of women’s public role as the first women to testify before a state legislature on the question of African American rights. Their crusade, which was not only to free the enslaved but to end racial discrimination throughout the United States, made them more radical than many of the reformers who advocated an end to slavery but who could not envision true social and political equality for the freedmen and women. And the Grimke sisters were among the first abolitionists to recognize the importance of women’s rights and to speak and write about the cause of female equality. What made Angelina and her sister Sarah unique within abolitionist circles was neither their oratorical and literary talents nor their energetic commitment to the causes of racial and gender equality. What made them exceptional was their first-hand experience with the institution of slavery and with its daily horrors and injustices. Abolitionists like William Lloyd Garrison, the editor of the Liberator, and Theodore Weld, who Angelina married in 1838, could give stirring speeches about the need to abolish slavery, but they could not testify to its impact on African Americans or on their masters from personal knowledge. Angelina Grimke was born in 1805, the youngest of fourteen children born to John Grimke and Mary Smith Grimke. As the daughter of one of Charleston’s leading judges, she could look forward to a life of luxury and ease, her comfort assured by the presence of slaves trained to respond to her wishes. As an eligible young woman, she could have enjoyed the lively social life of Charleston’s planter society with its balls and dinner parties that would have led eventually to a good marriage and an elegant home of her own. But Angelina Grimke chose a different path: Like her older sister, Sarah, she left the South and devoted her life to racial and gender equality. In the early nineteenth century, the causes that the Grimke sisters espoused placed them among the most radical Americans of their day. Angelina’s self-imposed exile from her family and her hometown was not the result of a personally unhappy childhood. Although her own mother was somewhat distant, her older sister Sarah doted on her and, as the youngest member of the family, she was often the center of attention. But in the world around her, Angelina witnessed suffering that disturbed her: a young slave boy who walked with difficulty due to the whip-mark scars on his back and legs; family slaves who were mistreated and abused; and screams of pain from the nearby workhouse, where slaves were dragged on a treadmill, suspended by their arms. It was not in Angelina’s character to remain silent about these injustices. Under the guidance of a tiny local congregation of Quakers, she renounced materialism and its comforts and began a regime of austerity and moral and religious introspection. But Angelina was not content to pursue her own salvation quietly. Having reformed herself, she set out to reform her family, eager to change the views of her mother, sisters, and brothers, and anxious to enlighten them as she believed herself to be enlightened. Compelled to speak out, she antagonized her family by criticizing their love of finery, their idleness, and above all, their acceptance of slavery. Perhaps to her surprise, she could not win over her mother or her siblings. â€Å"I am much tried at times at the manner in which I am obliged to live here,† she wrote in her journal. By 1829, she had resolved to live there no longer. In November of 1829, Angelina moved to Philadelphia, where Sarah had already settled. While most Philadelphians did not share Angelina’s abolitionist sentiment, she did find a small circle of anti-slavery advocates. Still, she was uncertain what she could do for the cause of abolition. She began attending anti-slavery meetings, encouraged by some male abolitionists’ call to women to become activists in the movement. In 1835, she was disturbed by violent riots and demonstrations against abolitionists and African Americans in New York and Philadelphia, and by the burning of anti-slavery pamphlets in her own hometown of Charleston. When William Lloyd Garrison published an appeal to citizens of Boston to repudiate all mob violence, Angelina felt compelled to send the noted abolitionist a personal letter of support. â€Å"The ground upon which you stand is holy ground,† she told him, â€Å"never-never surrender it . . . if you surrender it, the hope of the slave is extinguished.† Agitation for the end to slavery must continue, Angelina declared, even if abolitionists are persecuted and attacked because, as she put it, â€Å"This is a cause worth dying for.† Garrison published Angelina’s letter, never thinking to ask permission to share her private thoughts with his readers. Her friends among the Quakers in Philadelphia were shocked and Angelina was embarrassed, but her career as a public figure began on the day that issue of the Liberator came out, a career both meteoric and pioneering. Angelina and Sarah became the first women to serve as agents for the American Anti-Slavery Society. In January and February of 1837, the sisters toured New York State, filling churches with the sympathetic, the curious, and the hostile. Angelina proved to be a dynamic and persuasive orator and was quickly acknowledged as the most powerful female public speaker for the cause of abolition—unequaled by many of the male orators who traveled the reform lecture circuit. From New York, the Grimkes went on to New Jersey. Back again in New York, this time in Poughkeepsie, the sisters spoke for the first time to a mixed-gender audience. Although skeptics had warned that two women speaking in public on political issues would damage the already controversial anti-slavery movement, the Grimkes’ first tour was widely regarded as successful. By May, the sisters were prominent figures at the Anti-Slavery Convention of American Women, held in New York City in 1837. Two weeks after the convention ended, they were off to Boston to begin an exhausting speaking tour of New England. There, on June 21, 1837, the sisters again addressed a mixed audience of women and men, this one far larger than the audience in Poughkeepsie. From that evening on, there were no gender restrictions for their talks. â€Å"It is wonderful,† Angelina wrote, â€Å"how the way has been opened for us to address mixed audiences.† But opposition to women in the public sphere had not vanished. Repeatedly, Angelina found herself forced to defend a woman’s right to speak on a political issue. Each time she countered criticism by pointing out that women were citizens and had civic duties as serious as men’s. Turning, as she often did, to the Bible, she cited the active role of women in civic and religious affairs in the text. However, many New Englanders were not convinced. On July 17, in Amesbury, Massachusetts, two young men challenged Angelina to a debate over slavery and over women’s right to a public voice. It was the first public debate of this type between a man and a woman. An eyewitness described Angelina as â€Å"calm, modest, and dignified in her manner† and declared that she had â€Å"with the utmost ease brushed away the cobwebs, which her puny antagonist had thrown her way.† Angelina and Sarah not only spoke but wrote about slavery and about the rights—and responsibilities—of women. Even before Angelina received the invitation to become an anti-slavery agent, she had written an Appeal to the Christian Women of the Southern States, calling on her old friends and acquaintances in South Carolina to become active participants in the movement to end slavery. â€Å"I know you do not make the laws,† she wrote, â€Å"but I also know that you are the wives and mothers, the sisters and daughters of those who do.† She advised them to read on the subject, to pray over it, to speak on it, and finally to act on it. It was advice that echoed her own odyssey to abolition. When copies of the Appeal reached Charleston, the local police warned Mary Smith Grimke that her daughter would be imprisoned if she ever set foot in the city of her birth again. Angelina addressed her next major publication to the women and men of the North, especially those like the educator Catherine Beecher who advocated colonization as the solution to the racial problems of the country. In Letters to Catherine Beecher, Angelina rejected what she called the exile of African Americans and accused those who embraced colonization of racism. Black Americans were entitled to â€Å"every privilege, social, civil and religious† that white Americans enjoyed. With passion Angelina declared that she was â€Å"trying to talk down, and write down, and live down† the prejudice that stood in the way of true equality. It was this frontal attack on racial prejudice that marked Angelina Grimke as far more radical than most of the nation’s abolitionists. Although Sarah was a poor public speaker—unlike Angelina, who mesmerized audiences—she was Angelina’s equal when it came to the written word. In July 1837, the first of Sarah’s remarkable â€Å"Letters on the Equality of the Sexes† appeared in the New England Spectator, with its simple but powerful demand: â€Å"All I ask our brethren is, that they will take their feet from off our necks, and permit us to stand upright on that ground which God designed us to occupy.† In combination with the sisters’ abolitionist activity, this feminist tract galvanized the opposition. Before the month was over, the Congregational General Association had approved and issued a â€Å"Pastoral Letter† that denounced women who transgressed the boundaries of their â€Å"proper sphere.† Despite the letter, New England crowds flocked to hear the Grimkes throughout August, September, and October, and the sisters kept up a grueling pace, sometimes speaking at six meetings a week. By the end of the fall, Angelina was gravely ill, weakened by emotional as well as physical fatigue. But on February 21, 1838, she had recovered enough to make history once again, becoming the first woman to speak before a legislative body in the United States. â€Å"I stand before you,† she told the members of a committee of the Massachusetts legislature as well as a crowd of enemies and supporters in the galleries, â€Å"on behalf of the 20,000 women of Massachusetts whose names are enrolled on petitions [which] relate to the great and solemn subject of slavery.† And, as she had so many times before, Angelina pleaded the cause of the African American, describing the cruelty she had seen with her own eyes in her native South and the racial prejudice she saw around her in the North. Throughout the months of her work with the anti-slavery society Angelina had come to know the idiosyncratic and dynamic Theodore Weld, the abolitionist leader known as â€Å"the most mobbed man in America.† On Monday, May 14, 1838, Weld and Grimke married. These two activists saw their union as a coming together â€Å"not merely nor mainly nor at all comparatively TO ENJOY, but together to do and dare, together to toil and testify and suffer.† Two days after their wedding, Angelina and Theodore attended the anti-slavery convention in Philadelphia. Feelings ran high in the city as rumors spread of whites and blacks parading arm in arm down city streets, and by the first evening of the event, a hostile crowd had gathered outside the convention hall. Sounds of objects being thrown against the walls reverberated inside. But Angelina Grimke rose to speak out against slavery. â€Å"I have seen it! I have seen it!† she told her audience. â€Å"I know it has horrors that can never be described.† Stones hit the windows, but Angelina continued. For an hour more, she held the audience’s rapt attention for the last public speech she would give. The next morning, an angry mob again surrounded the hall, and that evening, set fire to the building, ransacked the anti-slavery offices inside, and destroyed all records and books that were found. Angelina Grimke’s career as an anti-slavery speaker ended that night in Philadelphia. But she and Theodore continued to write, producing American Slavery As It Is in 1839, a documentary account of the evils of the Southern labor system. Over the next few decades, the Grimke sisters and Weld would earn a modest living as teachers, often in schools that Weld established. All three kept abreast of political developments and attended anti-slavery meetings. When the Civil War came, Angelina strongly supported the Union effort. She had hoped for a peaceful means of freeing the enslaved but had come to accept the reality that force was needed. Sarah Grimke died at the age of 81 in December of 1873. Angelina, who had been paralyzed for several years because of strokes, died on October 26, 1879. Theodore Weld survived until 1895. All three had lived to see the end of slavery and the rise of a women’s rights movement. In 1863, Angelina had written: â€Å"I want to be identified with the negro; until he gets his rights, we shall never have ours.† Over her lifetime her work had been guided by a vision that both racial and gender equality would one day be realities. Those of us who study the abolition of slavery and the winning of the suffrage for women recognize her role in achieving both.

Improved Supply Chain Management Benefits

Improved Supply Chain Management Benefits Improved supply chain management has the following benefits: Reduced stock holding. The implementation of effective supply chain a company can reduce the number of stocks it is keeping and at the same time improving the customer service. Reducing stocks on hand will avoid incurring holding costs which is the cost the company pays for storing stocks. It includes warehousing and labour to keep the stocks. Good communication between the company and its suppliers, knowing the minimum stocks needed before reorder, proper estimation of demand, and understanding the mode of transportation will help to determine the correct volume of stocks the company needs in a given period will help it to eliminate excess inventory. Managing the information and communicating and sharing it effectively to suppliers and customers will result to accuracy of the level of stocks needed at a certain period. The inventory level must be enough to meet the demands of the customers and with the minimum costs to be incurred. The supply and the demand for a product must be balanced. Reducing the sto cks avoid tying the company’s capital on unnecessary stocks. Elimination of waste. Waste in form of spoilages, defects, theft and obsolescence can be minimized and possibly eliminated through having the right inventory level to keep on a particular period. Overstocking or overproduction will result to wastes and losses for the company. Customers are only after receiving the right quantity and good quality at the right time. Activities such as unnecessary movement of goods within the warehouse, and warehousing which does not add value to customers should be eliminated. Implementation of an effective supply chain will make this possible. Proper coordination with suppliers and understanding logistics are the keys to deliver customer service and demand at the right place, quantity and time. Improved customer service. Effective supply chain will increase efficiency within a company. Efficient company can deliver best services to customers. It important to recognise what the customers really want and that is what the company will deliver. Only those value adding activities are practices within the company. Value adding activities are those processes within the company that will add satisfaction to customers. Products should be delivered to customers on time and in accordance to their specifications. The customers demand should not just be met but should also be exceeded. Reduced Labour Costs. Effective supply chain will reduce labour costs. Because the processes in the company is well planned and defined, duties and personnel are not redundant. Unnecessary functions are eliminated thus resulting to reduced labour costs. One example is that when a company is maintaining only the right volume of inventory, it will not be needing more people to do the stocking, operating forklift, people who will secure the warehouse and supervisor. Improved Manufacturing Planning. The raw materials required, the timing of deliveries and other activities and resources related to planning a manufacturing of product must all be considered in order to produce a product with the least costs but with good quality that at the end would satisfy customers. In planning the resources, the company should be ready for contingencies and should address the question â€Å"what-if†. Through careful planning, manufacturing a product can be carried on without any reservation because all the possibilities were considered. Just In Time. Just in time is an inventory strategy wherein goods are only received only when needed in production process  [1]. Through this strategy, wastes and carrying costs are minimized because a company is just holding right amount of stocks that will make it able to meet the demands of the customers. This strategy will be effective if the company has strong relationship with suppliers. These suppliers are willing to deliver more frequently and on time to meet customers demand. Methods to overcome barriers in an organisation when implementing a supply chain improvement strategy Inappropriate distribution networks. Distribution network as defined is interrelated arrangement of people, storage facilities and transportation systems that moves goods and services from producers to consumers  [2]. The distribution network should be reliable and fast customers want to get their products when they want it. Inappropriate distribution networks will hinder the proper and fast movement of products from manufacture to customer that is why there should be proper planning on who and what should be included in the distribution network. Ineffective distribution strategies. Distribution strategy is the plan how a manufacturing company will transfer products to intermediaries such as wholesalers to retailers until it reach the end user  [3]. The strategy must we well thought and should use distribution networks that are reliable so that the products will reach customers at the right time. Trade-offs in logistical activity. Trade-offs in logistics may happen for example when deciding to have fewer depots, lowering stocks requirements or using less protective transport packaging in exchange for some advantages such as reducing costs or no need to have large storage facilities. The impact of these trade-off should be considered because this might cause loss in sales due to wrong order picking and other instances related to trade-offs. Reduction of transportation costs. Transportation is one of the costly expenses in supply chain. It is important to have the best quality transport that will bring goods to places at the right time and price. In order to reduce the cost of transportation, a company may reduce the number of carriers, consolidate deliveries and by single sourcing  [4]. In reducing the number of carriers, large volume of works will be given to selected carriers and they will be able to give lower rates. Deliveries may also be consolidated if the trip is based on weight, distance and other variables so that fewer trips will be made. Single sourcing of carrier, the company is getting quotations from several carriers detailing what is required. The company may select the best quotation that can meet the requirements and evaluate if the carrier can perform on the whole duration of the contract. If the carrier has these qualities, the company can get a lot of saving on having single carrier. 5. Increased inventory holding costs Holding costs are cost associated to stocks that are not yet sold  [5]. It includes labour costs, space or rental, costs of damaged goods and other expenses related on keeping the stocks. The company must determine the level of volume of stocks that it needs to keep in order to avoid these costs. Holding cost is also an opportunity cost because having lot of stocks would mean tying the cash on the stocks instead of using the cash on other parts of operation of the company. Inability to integrate processes through the supply chain to share information Supply chain involves information sharing. Supply chain links companies to other companies. If information are shared between companies, it will be available on a real time basis and the companies will be able see the demand and with the ultimate goal of meeting the demands of customers. When companies have reliable and accurate shared information, their processes will be synchronized. All the processes are done to meet what is required. Uncertainties are reduces which results to holding low level stocks that is just right to meet the customer demand. Poor inventory management. Inventory management can be successfully implemented if a company can make a purchasing plan that will ensure that what they hold is just what is needed. It is not too much or too less. Just in time inventory is a good strategy to keep inventory at a certain level wherein the company plans to receive goods only when it is needed thus reducing significantly holding costs. A company can successfully implement through a purchasing plan which schedules delivery of material through the forecasts and projections made on sales. Cash flow problems Reducing costs and avoiding cash flow problems are benefits of effective supply chain. Holding large volume of unnecessary stocks at a given period will cause cash flow problem in a company. Keeping these stocks is equivalent to costs and cash outlays. The company will pay large amount to suppliers but the stocks are not yet sold, tying the cash to the stocks. This will affect the liquidity of the company and can cause problem in a company. References: http://www.shelfplus.com/material-handling-hotline/ten-ways-to-reduce-inventory/ http://viktorwong-logistics.blogspot.co.nz/2012/06/characteristics-of-supply-chain.html http://erp.cincom.com/2012/10/the-wicked-wastes-of-warehousing-2/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manufacturing_resource_planning http://logistics.about.com/od/forsmallbusinesses/a/Reducing-Transportation-Costs.htm http://www.investopedia.com/terms/i/inventory-management.asp http://www.investopedia.com/terms/h/holding-costs.asp http://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/distribution-network.asp http://www.adam-europe.eu/prj/7095/prj/CourieL_WP2_Chapter2_final.pdf [1] Investopedia. Just in Time. July 2014. Retrieved from http://www.investopedia.com/terms/j/jit.asp [2] Investopedia. Distribution Network. July 2014. Retrieved from http://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/distribution-network.asp [3] Business Dictionary. Distribution Strategy. July 2014. Retrieved from http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/distribution-strategy.html [4] Murray, M. Reducing Transportation Costs. July 2014. Retrieved from http://logistics.about.com/od/forsmallbusinesses/a/Reducing-Transportation-Costs.htm [5] Investopedia. Holding Costs. July 2014. Retrieved from http://www.investopedia.com/terms/h/holding-costs.asp

OAS last meeting :: essays research papers

Organization of American States   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Organization of American States (OAS) brings together the countries of Western Hemisphere to strengthen cooperation and to advance common interests. It is the region’s premier forum for multilateral dialogue and concerted action. The OAS helps in many different ways to make changes around the world. Actually the OAS is having a meeting in Ft. Lauderdale (Florida) and some of their actions are showing their interest to defend democracy and human rights around Latin America as for example in Venezuela. Furthermore, the OAS demonstrates interest in Strengthening Security, and combating illegal drugs in Colombia (South America); one of the most important things the OAS is focused on is the fostering free trade between countries’ members association. This OAS meeting in Ft. Lauderdale is making history, focusing in the most critical problems that countries from Latin American are trying to combat.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The OAS plays a key role in strengthening democratic and human rights institutions and practices in the countries of the Americas. As for example in Venezuela during the meeting, the OAS shows their interest in the political tension that Venezuela is passing through after the last president elections. In Venezuela the opposition reclaims that past election was not totally legal, these accusations to Venezuelan’s government made the OAS to worry about the status of democracy and human right protection to Venezuelan society. According to news article on the Miami Herald another fact which makes the OAS worry about Venezuela’s situation is the actual President Chavez’s hostility against the United States type of democracy. The OAS discuses all these conflicts during the recent meeting and finally Venezuela accepts the role in the OAS for non-governmental groups that evaluates countries where democracy is allegedly at risk, such as Venezuela.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The OAS is working on different limit borders to make Latin American countries safer, and they are also looking forward to prevent terrorism by strengthening control borders, by trying to eliminate drug trafficking and also by increasing security among law enforcement authorities in different countries. For example in Colombia (South America); during the meeting the OAS members discuss Colombian treaties to acquire national peace; this process supports, informs, helps and verifies initiatives from Colombian people to defend their social security in small regions of their territory.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Since OAS’s creation, their main goal has been to create a hemisphere-wide trading zone, called Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).

Marlow’s Metamorphosis in Joseph Conrads Heart of Darkness Essay

Marlow’s Metamorphosis in Heart of Darkness Conrad's novel, Heart of Darkness, relies on the historical period of imperialism to illuminate its protagonist, Charlie Marlow, and his struggle with two opposite value systems. Marlow undergoes a catharsis during his trip to the Congo and learns of the effects of imperialism. I will analyze Marlow's change, which is caused by his exposure to the imperialistic nature of the historical period in which he lived. Marlow goes to the Congo River to report on Mr. Kurtz, a valuable officer, to their employer. When he sets sail, he does not know what to expect. When his journey is complete, his experiences have changed him forever. Heart of Darkness is a story of one man's journey through the African Congo and the enlightenment of his soul. Marlow begins his voyage as an ordinary English sailor who is traveling to the African Congo to work. He is an Englishmen through and through. He has never been exposed to any culture similar to the one he will encounter in Africa, and he has no idea about the drastically different culture that exists there. Throughout the book, Conrad, via Marlow's observations, reveals to the reader the naive mentality of Europeans. Marlow also shares this naivetà © in the beginning of his voyage. However, after his first few moments in the Congo, he realizes the ignorance he and all his comrades possess. We first recognize the general naivetà © of the Europeans when Marlow's aunt sees him for the last time before he embarks on his journey. She assumes that the voyage is a mission of "weaning those ignorant millions from their horrid ways [. . .]" (line 16). In reality, however, the Euro peans are there in the name of imperialism and their sole objective is to earn... ... Johnson, Bruce. â€Å"Conrad’s Impressionism and Watt’s â€Å"Delayed Decoding.† Conrad Revisited: Essays for the Eighties: 51-70. By Ross C Murfin. University: The Univ. of Alabama, 1985. Rpt. in Heart of Darkness: An Authoritative Text, Backgrounds and Sources, Criticism. Ed. Kimbrough, Robert. 3rd ed. Norton Critical Edition, New York: Norton, 1988. McLauchlan, Juliet. â€Å"The Value and Significance of Heart of Darkness.† Conradia 15 (1983): 3-21. Rpt. in Heart of Darkness: An Authoritative Text, Backgrounds and Sources, Criticism. Ed. Kimbrough, Robert. 3rd ed. Norton Critical Edition, New York: Norton, 1988. Stewart, Garrett. â€Å"Lying as Dying in Heart of Darkness.† PMLA 95 (1980): 319-31. Rpt. in Heart of Darkness: An Authoritative Text, Backgrounds and Sources, Criticism. Ed. Kimbrough, Robert. 3rd ed. Norton Critical Edition, New York: Norton, 1988.

Case Analysis: Michael Eisner has More Problems than He Can Face

Eisner's Mousetrap Disney's CEO says the company has a lot of varied problems he can fix. But what if the real issue is something he can't face? By Marc Gunther Reporter Associate Carol Vinzant September 6, 1999 FORTUNE Magazine) – Michael Eisner, the famously hands-on CEO of Walt Disney, is up to his old tricks. Last night he screened a rough cut of Dinosaurs, Disney's big animated movie for next summer; he loved the story but complained that some jokes were stale. Today he's holding a four-hour brainstorming session about Mickey Mouse, looking for ways to keep the 71-year-old rodent relevant. One idea: a skateboarding Mickey. ) Later, he'll watch Peter Jennings' newscast on Disney-owned ABC and surf the Internet to see how the company's Websites stack up. Is this any way to run the world's most troubled entertainment giant? After all, as Eisner sweats the details, earnings are dropping, top executives are defecting, and Disney stock is plunging like a ride down Splash Mounta in. â€Å"Maybe I'm crazy,† Eisner says, â€Å"but I don't consider this a crisis. I don't think our problems are in the fabric of our company. And I don't have my head in the sand. Sitting down for a two-hour interview, he admits mistakes. He says, for instance, that he should have settled former studio chief Jeffrey Katzenberg's suit against the company earlier to avoid a â€Å"parade of horrors† (see box). And he concedes that the company has sustained real damage: â€Å"It's like a train wreck, only nobody got killed. † But Eisner denies that he has lost his touch. â€Å"The criticisms of me and Disney today,† says the 57-year-old chief executive, â€Å"are as shortsighted as were the praises of me and Disney in the high economic times. Sunday nights on ABC, Michael Eisner–celebrated CEO, business magazine cover boy, and author of his own life story–still hosts The Wonderful World of Disney. The rest of the week, life is not so sweet i n the Magic Kingdom. Certainly shareholders have reason to feel grumpy, with the stock trading at about 37% below last year's high. There's no quick fix in sight either. Tarzan, the $160 million summer blockbuster, won't have much impact on earnings; the movie cost too much to make and isn't selling enough T-shirts and toys because the market's glutted with Star Wars stuff. That's one of the scary things about today's Disney: The company has grown so big and its problems are so far-reaching–ranging from the phenomenon of â€Å"age compression† to the explosion of media choices–that they can't be fixed by a couple of hit movies or TV shows or more Disney stores. The other scary thing is this: Disney seems less able than ever to cope with adversity. That's because Eisner, for all his creativity and charisma and grand plans, presides over an insular–some say arrogant–corporate culture where decision-making is hierarchical, centralized, and slow. It's an utter mismatch for the Internet age. â€Å"This isn't Mickey's house anymore,† says a former Disney insider. â€Å"It's a multibillion-dollar company. † Eisner does have a plan. He is cutting costs and reengineering a company that got bloated with success. He's making overseas growth a top priority. He wants Disney to be an Internet giant, taking on Yahoo and America Online. And, yes, he'll keep on tweaking theme park rides and screening ABC pilots and driving subordinates up the wall with his meddling, because he fervently believes that if you demand high quality and develop synergy, financial results will follow. The interesting thing about our company,† Eisner says, â€Å"which I think is extremely flattering, is that everybody takes for granted that we make good products. They think, Oh, the Disney cruise ship, they take a wand and a little pixie dust and all of a sudden you revolutionize the cruise industry from floating Vegas hotels to romantic ocea n liners. There are zoos all over the world, and up comes the Animal Kingdom. Or Tarzan, or the Lion King on Broadway–people say, ‘They have no trouble with the creative thing. Well, it's the creative thing that turns the company around. † Besides, he declares, a bit impatiently: â€Å"We are the most profitable media company in the world. We're being buried a little prematurely here. † He's right about the bottom line. Last year Disney reported revenue of $23 billion, operating income of $4 billion, and net income of $1. 9 billion–its net was far more than that of Time Warner (owner of FORTUNE's parent), News Corp. , and Viacom combined. For the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 0, Disney's revenue is expected to reach $24 billion. But all other key indicators are down, some shockingly so. For the first nine months of fiscal 1999, excluding a one-time gain from an asset sale, Disney reported declines in operating income of 17%, net income of 26% , and earnings per share of 27%. Some Wall Street analysts have cut their fiscal 1999 earnings estimates as many as five times since last summer, and 13 of 25 analysts have a â€Å"hold† on the stock, according to Zacks Investment Research. The company has simply stopped growing, and it isn't a momentary dip either: Operating income fell slightly last year too, and Disney isn't expected to match its fiscal 1997 earnings until 2001 at the earliest–a startling comedown for a company that, for a decade after Eisner took over in 1984, delivered annual profit increases of 20% and a return on equity of 20%. Return on equity, a key benchmark that has been sliding ever since Disney's 1996 merger with Capital Cities/ABC, has slipped below 10%, estimates analyst Laura Martin of Credit Suisse First Boston. Some people have the impression that Disney still is what it was–an animation company that generated great returns on capital,† Martin says. â€Å"But that may be over. † Until recently Disney was propelled by a handful of big ideas that were executed almost flawlessly. First, Disney released its library of beloved animated films on video just as VCRs took off; nine of the ten bestselling titles of all time are Disney movies, and most, like Snow White and Cinderella, were paid for long ago. Second, Eisner and Katzenberg revived Disney animation with instant classics like Aladdin and The Lion King, which made big profits at the box office and on video and spawned even bigger ancillary revenues from licensing and merchandising. Third, Disney built more than 700 retail stores in the U. S. , Europe, and Asia. Finally, the company embarked on a vast expansion of Walt Disney World, creating and updating dozens of attractions and building an astonishing 15,000 hotel rooms since 1988. (They called the strategy â€Å"Put the heads in the beds. ) Disney's market capitalization soared from about $2 billion before the Eisner era to $85 billion at its peak in April 1998. Thanks to the rising stock price, Eisner got fabulously rich too, exercising accumulated stock options that gave him pretax gains of more than $500 million since 1992. He still holds 12. 7 million shares, according to Disney's latest SEC filings, worth about $330 million at today's prices. So what's gone wrong? Sta rt with the fact that all the businesses that powered Disney, with the exception of the theme parks, are slumping. Home-video earnings have tumbled, partly because consumers now have shelves filled with Disney animation. Revenues from licensing and merchandising are down, partly because of the economic downturn in Asia, and sales and profits from the Disney Stores have declined because product lines have grown stale. â€Å"How many Mickey Mouse T-shirts can you sell? † asks Christopher Dixon, entertainment industry analyst for Paine Webber. Altogether, Disney's all-important Creative Content segment, which includes movie and TV production, home video, licensing, merchandising, and the stores, saw its operating income fall from $1. billion in 1997 to $1. 4 billion in 1998; it decreased by another 42% during the first nine months of fiscal 1999. If that were a movie, they'd call it Honey, I Shrunk the Earnings. In Eisner's view, the problems are unrelated. â€Å"A lot of things happened together to make our earnings slide,† he says. Disney is attacking each concern, slashing costly pr oduction deals in the movie business, releasing fewer live-action movies, resting its classic video titles longer between releases to rekindle demand, and merging overseas distribution forces for film and video. To boost demand for consumer goods, the company will try to coordinate marketing in big retailers such as Wal-Mart. â€Å"We'd like to have a Disney boutique to sell the T-shirt, the lunchbox, the sheets and towels,† says Peter Murphy, Disney's self-assured 36-year-old head of strategic planning. Suppose, though, that the declining sales of videos and merchandise reflect a more fundamental issue–weakness in the Disney brand. This notion is such heresy inside Disney that everyone, including Eisner, dismisses it out of hand. We have research on our brand in 20 or 30 countries, and we are almost without exception the No. 1 or No. 2 brand,† Eisner says. Disney executives say that if the brand were in trouble, Disney's theme parks would be suffering along with the rest of the company; as it is, they're thriving–even the one in France. In the theme parks and resorts segment, revenues and operating income grew by 10% and 13%, respectively, in 1998, and they've gro wn by 14% and 13% so far this year. â€Å"We have as many kids lining up to see Mickey Mouse as ever,† says Paul Pressler, 43, the president of Walt Disney Attractions. And our merchandise has done great. † Disney World has reached beyond its core audience of young families to beckon convention-goers, older people, and â€Å"pre-families,† which is Disney-speak for single people. And it's capturing more money from visitors who stay in all those new hotels. Sure, Disney's theme parks rule–it's parents who decide on family vacations–but the brand isn't holding up as well in crowded arenas like videogames and cable TV, where kids are more autonomous. Disney's interactive unit is an also-ran in the booming videogame business. On cable, the Disney Channel ranks a poor third in viewing among kids ages 2 to 11, behind market leader Nickelodeon and the Cartoon Network. Both Nick and Cartoon, relative newcomers to the kids' business, exploited Disney's vulnerabilities. â€Å"The Nickelodeon opportunity was to get inside the lives of today's kids,† says Nickelodeon President Herb Scannell. â€Å"We've been contemporary. They've been traditional. † While Disney characters are drawn from myths, history, and storybooks–just about every big Disney animated feature could begin with the phrase â€Å"long ago and far away†Ã¢â‚¬â€œNickelodeon's TV shows and movies tell stories about real kids. Today the Viacom unit captures more than 50% of the audience of all children's TV programming. When Disney tries to exude a hipper aura–think of the bestselling Phil Collins soundtrack from Tarzan–the company is more likely to speak to baby-boomer parents than to their offspring. Here's where that idea of â€Å"age compression† comes into play. Kids grow up faster these days, the experts say, and start emulating teenage behavior when they're 9 or 10. They rebel against their parents and shy away from a â€Å"good for you† brand like Disney. Ten-year-old boys who watch wrestling or South Park on cable and 9-year-old girls who love Ricky Martin think Disney is for little kids. â€Å"They've never gotten past the problem that their core audience is girls 2 to 8 and their moms,† says a former Disney executive. And even among young kids, the hot properties lately are Nickelodeon's Blues Clues, PBS's Tele-tubbies and Nintendo's Pokemon, now a hit TV show on the kids' WB, yet another new kid-vid network. The cluttered kids' marketplace points to another fundamental problem facing Disney–competition on a scale the company hasn't faced before, across all its businesses. Warner, Dreamworks, and Fox do feature animation. Universal just opened a second Florida theme park. Fox Sports is taking on ESPN. Can you begin to see why managing Disney today is harder than it was a decade ago? What changed everything, of course, was Eisner's boldest stroke as CEO: his $19 billion merger with Cap Cities. That deal, cheered at the time, still appears strategically sound–the idea was to marry Disney content with ABC's broadcast and cable distribution. The problem has been execution. While ESPN and other cable properties have grown, no unit of the company is as besieged as ABC. It will lose money this year for the first time in a decade, despite a fantastic advertising marketplace, because audiences are splintering and programming costs keep climbing. (Disney agreed under competitive pressure to spend $9. 2 billion–that's right, billion–for NFL rights for ABC and ESPN through 2008. ) Operating income for the company's broadcasting segment, which includes ABC, its TV stations, 80% of ESPN, the Disney Channel, ABC Radio, and stakes in Lifetime, A&E, the History Channel, and E! Entertainment, grew by just 3% last year; it's down 18% so far this year, mostly because of ABC. I'd be the first to say the results of the ABC television network, particularly in prime time, have been disappointing since the merger,† says Robert A. Iger, 48, the lifelong ABC executive who is chairman of ABC Inc. While Iger's bailiwick extends way beyond the network, he keeps a close watch on programming and told FORTUNE in 1997, â€Å"Prime time is my No. 1 priorit y. † Since then, ABC's ratings for its 18- to 49-year-old target demographic have fallen by another 13%, leaving the network No. 3, behind NBC and Fox. Oops. Wait, it gets worse. Remember how the merger was supposed to marry content and distribution? That's not working well either. Owning and broadcasting a hit, then selling the reruns, is the best way to make big money today in television. Just ask Rupert Murdoch, whose Twentieth Century Fox TV studio not only owns the biggest hits on Fox–The Simpsons, The X-Files, and Ally McBeal–but also produces The Practice and Dharma & Greg for ABC, as well as key shows for NBC, CBS, and the WB. By contrast, Disney's Touchstone Television production studio has failed to develop a prime-time hit for ABC or anyone else since creating Home Improvement in 1991. Out of sheer frustration, Eisner last month merged the Touchstone studio into ABC; the idea is to save money and force the two units to cooperate. â€Å"It's a fantastic opportunity to reengineer the way television is done,† says Lloyd Braun, the studio president who co-chairs the merged unit with ABC's Stu Bloomberg. Like a movie studio, ABC Entertainment now will develop, own, finance, and distribute more of its own content. The trouble is, the new model could seal ABC off from the rest of the television world. While ABC executives say they'll still buy shows from studios like Warner Bros. nd Fox, the studios worry about doing business with the new, vertically integrated ABC. â€Å"You're going to have to demonstrate to me in tangible ways that I'm going to get a fair shake,† says Sandy Grushow, president of Fox's Twentieth Century Television. The other networks, meanwhile, suspect that any show they get pitched by a Disney entity will be an ABC reject. Beyond that, t he merger adds another layer and the prospect of infighting at ABC Entertainment, now run by a posse that includes newcomer Braun, programmers Bloomberg and Jamie Tarses, network President Pat Fili-Krushel, ABC Inc. resident Steve Bornstein, and Bob Iger, who still reads scripts of key ABC shows on weekends. Nor is Eisner shy about weighing in; he helped shape the fall lineup and ordered ABC to negotiate tougher deals with its affiliates and program suppliers, which are not happy. This management by committee has never worked in television, and it's not working at Disney-ABC. There is much more at stake here than the unwieldy operation of the TV unit. The new ABC structure is emblematic of what may be Eisner's thorniest problem, if only because he doesn't seem to recognize it: It's Disney's corporate culture. Under Capital Cities, ABC was run in a determinedly decentralized way; executives were given authority and responsibility as long as they exercised fiscal discipline, and the company was generally well run. The Disney approach reflects different values: centralized control, an obsession with synergy at the expense of individual business units, a suspicion of outsiders, and a muddying of responsibility. The results speak for themselves. Writing about the Disney culture is tricky because knowledgeable critics are unwilling to speak on the record; the company's just too powerful. But talk to enough people and you hear similar complaints. One persistent theme: Eisner insists on making too many decisions himself, which clogs the decision-making process. So do the roomfuls of strategic planners who analyze everything. A second complaint: Eisner's too tough. Working with Disney is notoriously difficult, so much so that a group of partners, including Coca-Cola, AT;T, Delta, and Kodak, used to meet informally to trade tips on how to cope. A related point about Eisner: In spite of his affability, he doesn't really value other people. That's one reason the death of his longtime second-in-command, Frank Wells, in 1994, was a seminal event. Wells commanded Eisner's respect like no one else, told him when he was off-base, and deftly softened his edges. They were a great team. Eisner tried to replace him with Michael Ovitz, a crucial error at just the wrong moment. Ovitz's management got the ABC merger off to a dismal start, and his 16-month tenure scarred the company. Since then, strong executives have left, among them former CFOs Stephen Bollenbach and Richard Nanula, Internet guru Jake Winebaum, and former ABC executives Geraldine Laybourne and Steve Burke. Finally, the critics say, the company has simply grown too big to be run from the top down. Eisner's approach worked for the old Disney, where the focus was on a single brand; he could gather a cadre of executives at his Monday lunches and get things done. Now Disney must manage multiple brands in a world where speed counts and partnerships are vital. A respected ex-Disney executive told me, â€Å"The company has changed and the world has changed, but Michael hasn't changed. Now he's got to change. † Eisner and his lieutenants bristle at the criticism from unnamed sources, and you can't blame them. Yes, they say, Disney is tough, but so are GE and Microsoft–which, by the way, lose lots of executives, too, because they have an abundance of talent. To the charge that he meddles, Eisner pleads guilty with an explanation: He wants Disney to excel. (Even his detractors say he has great instincts. ) When he heard from a friend that the cast members at Disneyland Paris weren't as helpful as those at Walt Disney World, he recommended better training. â€Å"Is that meddling or is that insisting on a high standard of excellence? † Eisner asks. â€Å"If there's an area where I think I can add value, I dive in. Yes, at certain times I paralyze people. I'm never satisfied. It gets people crazy, I know that. † But Eisner also says he leaves his best executives, like theme park chief Pressler, alone. â€Å"There's no brain drain,† he says. â€Å"We have unbelievably strong management. † Eisner's turnaround strategy focuses not on Disney's culture but on operations, fiscal engineering, and growth. Consolidation and cost cutting are already under way across the board, with the movie division leading the way. Studio chief Joe Roth has already cut spending by about $550 million annually, by making fewer movies. It focuses everyone much more closely on the films at hand,† Roth says, â€Å"and ironically, I am quite sure that–for the fifth time in six years–we will be No. 1 in market share again this year. † Disney is also looking to sell Fairchild Publications, a magazine company. Sources say Disney also expects to write off a big chunk of the $9. 2 bi llion NFL deal. In a move that should please Wall Street, CFO Thomas O. Staggs is reworking Disney's compensation system so that executives will be evaluated on cash flow and return on equity as well as on reported earnings; that's designed to encourage business units to use capital more efficiently. The theme park segment, in particular, has been a huge consumer of capital, but it will use less after new parks open near Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland in 2001. Disney's best growth opportunity probably lies overseas. Right now, the company gets about 21% of its revenues from abroad, less than other global brands like Coca-Cola (63%) or McDonald's (61%). That's why Bob Iger's recent promotion to president of Walt Disney International puts him in a crucial role, spearheading what Eisner calls â€Å"a monumental change in the way the company is structured. Iger has begun to overhaul all of Disney's operations outside the U. S. , which grew up haphazardly as each business–film, TV, the stores, cable, or theme parks–built foreign outposts that reported back to the home office. Now those businesses will also report to regional executives in charge of continents or key countries; each territory will also get its own CFO and brand manager. That may sound like more Disney l ayering, but Iger says it offers major advantages. First, the company will save money through consolidation, whether in renting office space or buying advertising. Disney also expects to do a better job of tapping into local trends. Iger cites a revealing example: â€Å"It's having someone in Japan who would see the Pokemon phenomenon at an early stage and have the clout, really, through me, someone who has a seat at Michael's table, to be able to raise the consciousness level of the company about that potential quickly and effectively. † Interestingly, the idea is not to delegate authority but to shorten the distance between the rest of the world and Eisner. Eisner's other major focus is the Internet. Here, too, centralization is the watchword. Last month Disney agreed to combine its Internet assets with Infoseek, a search engine and portal company that it is buying outright; the properties, including the Go portal, ABCNews. com, ESPN. com, Disney. com, Family. com, and others scattered in five locations on both coasts, will operate as a single unit under a CEO to be named later. â€Å"This is to consolidate the Internet assets so that we can have them under common management with one agenda and one vision,† says CFO Staggs, the 38-year-old architect of Disney's Internet strategy. The company will then issue a tracking stock called go. com that can be used as acquisition currency and a way to compensate talent. Disney's assets should make it a force online. Its ESPN. com and Disney family sites are category leaders, and the company has unparalleled promotional platforms in ABC and ESPN. In a matter of months, they helped make Go the fifth-ranked portal, behind AOL, Yahoo, Microsoft, and Lycos. And all the Disney Websites should sing when high-speed access makes it easier to watch video online. â€Å"As bandwidth expands,† Eisner says, â€Å"content becomes more important. You must have sports and news and entertainment, or you are going to be a Western Union messenger in a fax world. † He envisions a universe in which ABC News clips, ESPN game highlights, and movies like Aladdin are distributed online, cutting out middlemen like cable operators or Blockbuster Video. â€Å"I believe the entire company's product will mostly be distributed through the Internet,† Eisner says. He's a passionate Internet user too, peppering his web guys with suggestions. Says Staggs: â€Å"The only person I get more e-mail from than Michael is my mom. † The strategy sounds smart. Of course, buying ABC sounded smart too. Once again, it'll come down to execution. Patrick Keane, a Jupiter Communications analyst, likes Disney's web assets but worries that â€Å"diversified media companies move at glacial speed when it comes to the Internet. † Disney can't be as focused on new media as people at AOL and Yahoo are every day. And the straitlaced Mouseketeers will have to learn to live in an unbuttoned Internet culture, says new-media consultant Gary Arlen of Bethesda, Md. â€Å"Have you ever been to Disney World? † he asks. â€Å"You walk out of a ride and land in a place that sells souvenirs. They'd like to manage the Internet that way. Even with perfect execution, Disney's Internet investments need time to pay off; in the meantime, they'll dilute earnings. Time is what Eisner needs too. Time for the cable and phone companies to help make his broadband Internet vision a reality. Time to build overseas. Time for DVD to take hold and provide another chance to resell the library. Time to creat e the next Tarzan and a hit for ABC, time for new theme parks to open, time to reinvent Mickey once more. Time, perhaps, to appoint a strong second-in-command with clout, whether it's Bob Iger or Paul Pressler or a dark horse who has yet to emerge. Because he enjoys the support of the Disney board, Eisner can be patient. â€Å"We're in a transition period,† he says. â€Å"I would rather have every quarter be up. It was for 13 years. Everybody loves you. [But] you can't manage a company like ours quarter to quarter, maniacally, so that the media will write good things about you. † He likes to quote Warren Buffett, whose Berkshire Hathaway, at last count, owned 51 million Disney shares: â€Å"I close my eyes and think about what a company's going to look like in ten years before I invest. Paine Webber's Chris Dixon says Disney's assets are top-notch: â€Å"It may take time, but we believe the values are there. † Other investors won't wait. They note that despite the earnings downturn, Disney is still priced as a growth stock; it trades at about 35 times this year's projected earnings, a 25% premium to the S;P 500. The Capital Research ; Management Group, whose entertainment industry investments are managed b y respected media analyst Gordon Crawford, used to be Disney's largest institutional shareholder, with 41 million shares as recently as last year. Crawford has sold them all. So be it, says Eisner. â€Å"You can always tell your friends through the rough times,† he says. He still gets to go to the movies, test-drive theme park rides, surf the Net, and call it work. And maybe it's just his turn to suffer in the media doghouse. After all, CEOs Gerald Levin of Time Warner and Sumner Redstone of Viacom fell out of favor when they struggled to get their arms around companies engorged by big acquisitions. Such mergers aren't easy. The challenge for Eisner is to learn from experience, show a little humility, seize the opportunity to shake up his company, and, perhaps, change his own stripes and let go a little. That's a lot to ask of anyone who's been as successful as he has for so long. But this isn't the old Disney. And the old Disney magic just isn't working anymore. REPORTER ASSOCIATE Carol Vinzant http://money. cnn. com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1999/09/06/265291/index. htm