Why Is Strategy Important to Business Essay Example for Free

Why Is Strategy Important to Business Essay The question of why strategy is important to business is compelling to say the least. There are a number of reasons why strategy can and often does determine the success, growth or failure of a business. Without a strategy the business is responding to internal and external circumstances or demands without the advantage of a plan in place to address them. This sometimes leads to wrong decisions or weak decisions and the business loses the opportunity to turn the circumstance into an optimal resolution that results in profits and better business. Strategy tells where you are, where you want to go, and how you are going to get there. It defines the overall direction for the business based on opportunity and threats in the external environment and identifies the strengths and weaknesses of the business internally. Strategy provides the big picture and shows how each individual activity ties together to achieve a desired end result. Strategy gives insight as to the way the business should compete in the future. External environmental changes can be customer and/or competitor based, as well as political, economic, social, technological, environmental or legislative. The more the external environment changes the more opportunities there may be for a well prepared company and the more threats to the unprepared. The actions and intentions of competitors change in a stable environment, and if the company is reviewing the market and what is happening they can prepare for any real or potential competitive maneuvers and find new insights into how to create continued value for customers. (Simister, 2007) Strategy is important as a source of long term profits. As business competes for a fair share in the , with competitors over customers, uncertainty becomes a constantly revolving battlefield for better ways of doing business. A Chinese general and military strategist Sun Tzu said it best It is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle. â€Å"Strategy is how you get to know your enemies, yourself and the terrain on which you will fight.† And finally this great strategist says what fits here best â€Å"Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat. (Brainy Quotes, n. d.) Other reasons for business strategy are changes in customer needs and wants, sudden poor business performance, and lack of growth or stability in the business. We have laid out the importance of strategy, now the components are what will make the plan a success or not. Before we can make a plan, the goals and mission statement of the business must be defined. Without a clear mission and goals you will not know who, what, when, where, and how of your business. The alternative is like feeling the way in the dark. I once read a book entitled â€Å"If you do not know where you are going, you may it up somewhere else†. This would be the reason for charting the course with purpose and destination in mind. Once we know what the goal is and defined our mission, then we look at the internal strengths and weaknesses within the business. This will help identify what strategies to build the strengths of the business and correct the weaknesses of the business to take advantage of external opportunities. Then we must look at the political, economic, social and technological as they are strategic drivers because of how they can influence outcome. This leads us to the critical issues directly and indirectly impacting the business. With all of this done, now we combine this information to create the SWOT that will generate a picture of both external and internal conditions present and future, good and bad that will give us realistic and attainable goals. The SWOT will allow us to make short term plans and long term goals and put in place the tactical initiatives necessary to achieve the defined mission goals with a timeline, necessary resources, and where each initiative fits and in what priority. These steps will make the success of strategic planning successful.

Chaucers Canterbury Tales - Biblical Allusions in The Shipmans Tale E

The Canterbury Tales, - Biblical Allusions in The Shipman’s Tale There is no doubting Chaucer’s mastery at paroemia; that his adaptations of his many and varied sources transcended their roots is attested by the fact that, unlike many of his contemporaries or authorities, his works have not â€Å"passen as dooth a shadwe upon the wal†[1]. Yet while his skill as a medieval author is undisputed, the extent of his subtlety is not always fully appreciated. In The Canterbury Tales, for instance, while some tales were rapid in drawing academic interest and scholarly interpretations, others were quickly dismissed as ribald tales, as simple fabliaux hardly worthy of more than a cursory examination. The Shipman’s Tale was one of these. That â€Å"[It] may be Chaucer’s earliest fabliau† and â€Å"relatively simple in design and execution†[2] seemed, for a period of time, to be the general consensus on this piece; the primary concern of scholars was in unearthing its sources (which proved to be uncharacteristically problematic), not in analysing its structural complexities or for insights into medieval society and life. Yet recent research[3] has renewed interest in this first tale from The Canterbury Tales’ Fragment VII, and it can now be seen as a fabliaux, yes, but as one that is as rich a tapestry – woven of biblical allusions, literary techniques, intertextuality, and social commentary – as any of the other tales. By pulling out and examining the care and skill with which Chaucer inserted just one of these multiple threads – in this case, the biblical allusions within The Shipman’s Tale – it can be shown that this is as significant a tale as any other. There are a limited number of methods by which Chaucer can integrate a biblical all... ...timis finibus pretium eius.† ; â€Å"Who shall find a valiant woman? far and from the uttermost coasts is the price of her.† (Douay Translation). [13]Theresa Coletti, in â€Å"The Meeting at the Gate: Comic Hagiography and Symbol in The Shipman’s Tale†, associates the meeting of the merchant and his wife at the household gate (after his successful business venture) with the meeting of Joachim and Anne at the Golden Gate of Jerusalem. Assuming that the apocryphal tale was well known, Chaucer’s audience would have recognized the iconographic significance of a meeting by a gate. Gail McMurray Gibson, in â€Å"Resurrection as Dramatic Icon in the Shipman’s Tale† in Signs and Symbols in Chaucer’s Poetry, suggests that the tale alludes to the Resurrection, especially via Christ’s meeting with Mary Magdalene. Unfortunately, I was unable to secure a copy of that work for this essay.

The American Psychiatric Association

Bulimia is an eating disorder and people affected by bulimia are abnormally self conscious and worry excessively about their physical appearance and weight. Their paranoid concern causes to consume excessive amounts of food in short periods of time. Moreover, such people indulge in self induced vomiting, abuse of diuretics and excessive exercise in order to reduce their weight. The American Psychiatric Association classified the bulimia disorder as a unique disorder of its class in the year 1980. Subsequently in 1987 it changed the name of this disorder to bulimia nervosa.Occasionally the characteristics of bulimia are found in cases of persons suffering from anorexia nervosa. Abnormal dieting patterns are the primary behavioral symptoms found among patients suffering from anorexia nervosa; however, the extensive loss of weight cannot be attributed to bulimia. It has been observed that Bulimia causes gastrointestinal disorders and severe depletion of potassium in the human body. The process of self induced vomiting results in the damage of the teeth enamel, due to the acidic nature of the vomited food.Adolescents are the primary targets of bulimia disorder, because they undergo severe psychological depression if they are overweight (Bulimia, 2005). Bulimia causes dehydration, malnutrition and mineral imbalances. Insufficient and irregular supply of minerals and fluids may cause damage to brain cells, muscles, reproductive tract, bowels, stomach and other organs of the body. Sometimes severe heart problems may also result from bulimia and some of these problems are arrhythmias, congestive heart failure and sudden death.Moreover, repeated vomiting results in damage to the throat and esophagus, furthermore, it has been observed that individuals who indulge in self induced vomiting are backward in their academic career (Reyes, 2006). According to medical history, cases of illness due to bulimia had not been reported before 1980. Subsequent researchers noticed that there were a considerable number of people who were accustomed to eating large quantities of food within a short period of time.Moreover, these people being unable to withstand the excessive gain of body weight were in the habit of adopting methods of self induced vomiting in order to control their weight. The name bulimia is used to describe the eating patterns of overweight people and to describe their episodes of overindulgence in eating food. After such episodes of overeating, bulimics attempt to get rid of the extra calories imbibed by them by consuming laxatives. Some bulimics engage in excessive exercise and abstention of food for long periods of time.Subsequent to the end of the fast period bulimics consume large amounts of food, which would cause a rupture of the stomach. Vomiting the consumed food could cause chemical imbalance in the body. Bulimarexia is the term used to describe people of low body weight who overindulge in eating and then get rid of the food eaten by con suming laxatives or by self induced vomiting (The Medical Complications of Bulimia). The oligomenorrhea in patients with bulimia affects bone mineral density, however, weight – bearing exercises could prove to be beneficial.Thus the ever present danger of osteoporosis could be reduced to an appreciable extent by resorting to regular exercise (Bulimia Nervosa ). Several studies have determined that people with eating disorders have weak bone and suffer from osteoporosis due to inadequate nutrition. Persons suffering from such eating disorders had twice the risk of suffering from osteoporosis and fractures of the bones. Moreover, such eating disorders result in malnutrition for prolonged periods of time and this brings about a gradual erosion of the bone mass and continued nutritional deficits.Eating disorders, therefore present an enhanced risk of bone fractures due to the damage caused to the human skeleton (Goebel, Schweiger, & Kruger, 2002). Consequences of bulimia include the disturbance of the vital chemical balance of the body fluids and the electrolyte balance. The potassium and calcium levels in the body are drastically depleted due to self induced vomiting and the abuse of laxatives. The vicious cycle of overindulgence in food and subsequent use of laxatives or self induced vomiting results in heart problems, damage to the kidneys and the brain and osteoporosis.Other contraindications are fatigue, depression, sore muscles, faintness, over sensitivity to cold and a susceptibility to gain weight. These symptoms are most common in bulimics as their blood glucose level fluctuates constantly due to overeating food containing carbohydrates (The Medical Complications of Bulimia). Furthermore, vomiting disturbs the intricate message system that aids a person to stop eating at the appropriate time. Frequent self induced vomiting confuses the brain in properly maintaining the responsive system and this causes the brain to fail to ascertain whether the foo d consumed is to be retained or not.Such confusion of the brain’s activity results in perpetual eating habits. Vomiting food restricts the serotonin levels of the brain and these levels are associated with the positive states of brain and help the person to be in a happy mood. Self induced vomiting and the abuse of laxatives results in the irritation of the gastrointestinal tract and this irritation could prove to be fatal in later stages. Excessive eating and subsequent induced vomiting cause swollen salivary glands and erosion of the enamel of the teeth.Vomiting causes a sore throat that leads to severe bleeding of the esophagus. (The Medical Complications of Bulimia). The functionality of the stomach is seriously impaired and the abuse of laxative drugs causes permanent damage to the lining of the bowels affecting their normal functioning. Thus people who abuse laxatives develop problems like the bloating of the stomach, constipation and diarrhea in the long run (The Medic al Complications of Bulimia).Moreover, bulimia has several deleterious effects on the human body like frequent weight changes, poor skin condition, hair loss, irregularity in menstruation periods, loss of libido, tiredness and lethargy, and increased risk of heart related problems and the danger of a heart attack (What is Bulimia Nervosa? ). References Bulimia. (2005). Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2006 [DVD] . Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation. Bulimia Nervosa . (n. d. ). Retrieved June 27, 2007, from http://www. healthyplace. com/Communities/Eating_Disorders/women_6. asp Goebel, G. , Schweiger, U. , & Kruger, R. (2002).Predictors of bone mineral density in patients with eating disorders. The International journal of eating disorders , Vol. 32. Iss. 4. ISSN: 0276 – 3478. Reyes, A. P. (2006, January 12). Bulimia. Retrieved June 27, 2007, from Discover Health: http://health. discovery. com/encyclopedias/illnesses. html? chrome=None&article=2817&page=2 The Medical Complications of Bulimia. (n. d. ). Retrieved June 27, 2007, from http://www. eating-disorders. org. uk/docs/bulimia. doc What is Bulimia Nervosa? (n. d. ). Retrieved June 27, 2007, from http://www. b-eat. co. uk/AboutEatingDisorders/WhatisanEatingdisorder/WhatisBulimiaNervosa

`` The Ecstasy Of Influence `` By Jonathan Allen Lethem

New ideas come from everywhere whether they are from people, places, books, animals, or even come from something as meaningless as silence; however, we don’t just get new ideas out of the blue, we have to be inspired and influenced by those elements to create new art. Unlike Plato’s Ion, which states that God speaks through the artists, Lethem’s The Ecstasy of Influence: A plagiarism; projects that inspiration comes from the influence of our surroundings which is the key to creation. Jonathan Allen Lethem, a modern American essayists, writes the article in which he talks about how some artists see plagiarism as a wrong doing or stealing. Lethem disagrees with those artists’ point of view. He writes, â€Å"most artists are converted to art by art itself. Finding one’s voice isn’t just an emptying and purifying oneself of the words of others but an adopting and embracing of filiations, communities, and discourses† (Lethem 87). This means that there is an inspiration behind every artist’s work. The inspiration could come from something as simple as expanding another artists’ works. It is normal for an artist to be inspired by other artists, and then invents a work of art that is similar to his/her inspiration. For instance, Lethem gives an example of how South Park, the TV show, was inspired by Rankin/Bass and Charlie Brown Christmas specials. Most of the time, plagiarism could lead to a great work of creativity. Today, almost all work of art, whether they are movies, books,Show MoreRelatedThe Ecstasy Of Influence : Plagiarism1589 Words   |  7 Pagespractice when it comes to the preservation of an artist’s originality. Jonathan Lethem demonstrates the commonality and convenience of plagiarism by composing his article â€Å"The Ecstasy of Influence: A Plagiarism† of phrases and ideas of other writers; however, he also supports the claim that a person can rethink and reinterpret the understandings of other people and create an â€Å"original† idea based off of them. Is this what Lethem truly means when he says that appropriation is acceptable, or is he supportingRead MoreErving Goffman Stigma6568 Words   |  27 Pagesespecially tolerated when the activities at stake are non-zero-sum and when the importance of process is outweighed by the importance of outcome. The use of cognition-enhancing drugs does not unnaturally cheapen accomplishments achieved under their influe nce; instead, cognitive enhancement is in line with well-established conceptions of collaborative authorship, which shift the locus of praise and blame from individual creators to the ultimate products of their efforts. n an essay on performance-enhancing