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How Broadway Cafe can be operated and owned successfully through the use of some beneficial business practices
How Broadway Café can be operated and owned successfully through the use of some beneficial business practices
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Case Overview
The Broadway Cafe was recently inherited from a family member. The cafe is strategically located in downtown, and it offers a wide variety of foods from different kinds of tea, coffee, sandwiches, salads, soups, and different products from the bakery. Once, the cafe was a local hotspot. It was opened in 1952. However, since the café was passed on from its first owner, it has been performing poorly. It seems that the approaches being applied to run the cafe are outdated as they are the ones that the former owner used since the 1950s.as it follows, the store does not have any form of technology including computers. The former owner had an excellent memory and, as a result new all of his customers by first name. It is unfortunate that this information was not recorded anywhere including the recipes, inventory, marketing coupons and the payroll of employees. The cafe probably has been dropping its sales because of the fact that it does not have any website, or any form of effective marketing other than word of mouth, and because it is essentially run in the same way as it was in the 1950s.
This paper, thereby, will show how the cafe can be operated and owned successfully through the use of some beneficial business practices that can be used to increase the profitability of the cafe. Some of these practices include; the use of technology to enhance the competitive advantage of the business, to create an e- business strategy, to establish a collaborative online community, implement a customer’s wireless network, to utilize CRM for the implementation of sales strategies and campaigns for marketing, address challenges resulting from different information and ethical problem. Establishing management activities for projects, and understanding how technology can be useful in running a business.
Competitive Advantage
The Five Forces Model by Michael Porter is an essential tool that can be used by organizations to come up with effective strategies and decisions when entering a new industry segment. These Five Forces can be used to determine the attractiveness or profitability of an industry or company, and they include; buyer power, threat provided by new entrant, threat produced by substitute services or products, supplier power, and rivalry among existing business (Porter, 1979). There are a number of aspects that are making the Broadway Cafe unsuccessful. These are despite the facts that the café has existed since the 1950s and that the business remained a hot spot for an extremely long time. Some challenges that the company has been facing include; sales have been declining, the system used to run the cafe is outdated, things are done manually, systems are not computerized, prices have not been reviewed for years, the business does not offer any reward program to its customers, and there are no hot spot or website connections for the business’s customers. By using the Five Forces Model by Porter, one can analyze the performance of Broadway Cafe.
When it comes to supplier power, the café has been increasing the number of suppliers leading to an increase in cost. The business can reduce the number of suppliers and still maintain quality, and reduce operating costs. To address the challenges brought about by threat of substitute services and products, the cafe will have to change its products such as teas, coffees and soups, and the prices of these foods so as to match with the needs of the changing market (Porter, 1979).
The buyer power of the company has been declining for the last five years. To deal with this challenge, the cafe has to engage in numerous promotions and campaigns so as to attract new customers, as well as, old ones. New entrants are also giving the café a substantial amount of competition. The business has to reinvent itself and offer its market new services and products so as to increase its business. To solve challenges brought about by the rivalry that exists between competitors, the business has to update its systems like computerizing its ordering systems, inventory, and the payroll system to make the operations of the business efficient, and eventually reduce operation costs and increase sales (Porter, 1979).
Of the Three Generic Strategies by Porter, differentiation can be used to rebuild the café and improve its performance and profitability. It is essential to differentiate businesses from other similar businesses since prices of the offered services and foods must reflect competitiveness (Porter, 1979). The customers of the cafe started decreasing because the business practices practiced by the business are outdated. Today, people need to meet, relax and conduct business with wireless devices, services that the café cannot offer for the moment. So as to rebuild the café, the business has to remain competitive while at the same time offering value for its customers.
E-business
Broadway Cafe must take advantage if strategies in e-business for it to remain competitive in the market. B2B is an e-business strategy the café can deploy. This strategy can allow the business to buy supplies and access shipping and delivery data. It will increase the efficiency of the business in the company. An e-business strategy can have other numerous benefits. It can increase the innovativeness of a business, increase its value and provide essential information to existing and potential customers. Conversion is another benefit which can help the cafe track its sales, track payment and employee information, and store data. These are things that can increase the efficiency of a business. The above advantages can also attract new customers and increase sales (Baltzan & Phillips, 2009).
E-business strategies can also allow a business to establish a website that can allow customers to interact online, that can also enable existing and potential customers to access information about the cafe, and allow the cafe to review the feedback of its customers about the service. The business should, therefore, put such metrics on its websites as the services and foods offered, the prices of these foods, the location of the cafe, pictures of the cafe, and other essential features that can attract customers to the business. E-business strategies can also be essential in partnering with suppliers. This is because it will allow the café to stay in touch with its suppliers through Extranet. Through this feature, it will be possible for suppliers to view what orders are required without having to contact the cafe physically. This can save a lot of money and time (Baltzan & Phillips, 2009).
Portals are also other features of e-business that can be used by employees to monitor and manage discussion boards the cafe is planning to implement. This will act as an added advantage which will help the business measure the views and opinions of potential, younger customers. A kiosk will also be useful in the cafe. A kiosk will be established with two or more laptops for use by employees and customers. This is an extremely beneficial e-business strategy as it will differentiate the café from its competitors. The cafe will be current and trendy. It is assumed that many customers and employees will get the word out that the café has become a fashionable, trendy and current spot. This will attract more customers, and increase sales (Baltzan & Phillips, 2009).
Networks, Telecommunications, and Wireless Computing
Broadway cafe can entice and attract the younger customers through the use of mobile phones. They can try offering them coupons for free meals or coffee by use of mobiles. One of the advantages why mobile coupons are more effective than normal coupons is that they have a higher redemption rate as they cannot be forgotten. Their use can, therefore, reduce costs associated with delivery and redemption, and they can also be a good trigger of impulse buying. The café can, hence, benefit immensely from such coupons. There are, however, several risks associated with mobile coupons. The coupons are based on the internet, and their concept is new. As a result, certain restrictions can affect the usability of mobile coupons like privacy policies, protocols and disclosures. Privacy issues might also arise as a result of the wireless technologies the system is based on. Some of these issues include the increased ability for the café to gather information that is personal, the ability to track and find out who visited to the site, and the ability to identify the locations of the customers (ACP, n.d).
There are several advantages the cafe can get from tracking and gathering rates of responses from mobile coupons as such activities can provide the business with information that can be analyzed about the performance of the business and the performance of the cafe. Such analysis could assist a business in correcting mistakes and enforcing positive activities. Tracking a mobile coupon that has been forwarded to another customer can be as beneficial as tracking other mobile coupons. This is because forwarded coupons still increase the customer base of the café (ACP, n.d).
Customer Relationship Management
Customer relations management can be advantageous for Broadway especially because it has implemented new espresso machines that the customers do not seem too familiar with. In addition to this, the café also has four new employees who are not experienced and are causing delays during peak hours. It has been noticed that this frustrates the customers. YouTube can be used to communicate the customers and address their concerns. The manager of the café can attach clips of videos and pictures on YouTube showing customers how the new espresso machines are used. The new employees can also access these videos and use them to sharpen their skills and to serve the customers efficiently without causing unnecessary skills. The manager can also attach a video explaining about the new employees and explain that they will be trained as soon as possible to improve efficiency. Though this feature can be extremely beneficial, it also has a number of cons. Some have to do with education. Technology needs some substantial amount of training and education. If customers do not have these basic tools then they cannot access what you are trying to tell them. Other disadvantages have to do with permissions and privacy. There are several alternatives to YouTube incase the café feels that it is not an effective tool. These include facebook, twitter, blogs and other social networks (Nichols, 2008).
Systems Development
There are various advantages and disadvantages of using an employee to build your business a custom system. One advantage is that they possess the basic information about the operations of the cafe, its customers, and employees. So if there is anyone better to develop the café a system it would be someone who works there. A disadvantage is that the employee might not possess the best skills and education to develop such a technological system. The café can opt to buy a COTS application, outsource custom development, and buy an attendance application. One of the advantages of doing this is that these developments are designed by professionals, and therefore the chances of them being correct and appropriate, and making the café efficient and productive are high. A disadvantage is that they can be awfully expensive for a café that is strained like Broadway. The new system would not be readily accepted especially by the old employees. Change is always hard and it would be beneficial for the older employees to be engaged in training to ensure that they know what benefits the new system can bring, and to make the transition easier through offering them knowledge about what the new system is about (Beynon-Davies, 2009).
References
ACP. (n.d). Internet coupons guidelines and overview from the Association of Coupons professionals (ACP). Retrieved from http://www.couponpros.org/resources/Internet_Coupon_Guidelines_and_overview.pdf
Baltzan, P. & Phillips, A. (2009). Business driven information systems. USA: McGraw Hill Companies Inc.
Beynon-Davies, P. (2009). Business Information Systems. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
Nichols, S. (2008). YouTube as a corporate communications tool. Go Articles. Retrieved from http://goarticles.com/article/YouTube-as-a-corporate-communications-tool/1267054/
Porter, M.E. (1979). How Competitive Forces Shape Strategy. Harvard business Review.
How Breathing Wildfire Smoke Impacts Health
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How Breathing Wildfire Smoke Impacts Health
Smoke comprises a mixture of fine particles and gases that are produced when organic materials such as wood-burn. Wildfires taking place in the western United States send smoke to communities near them and those that are far from creating harmful air for days or weeks. Wildfire smoke is small enough to penetrate the body’s defense and affect the lungs. This text discusses how breathing wildfire smoke impacts people’s health, particularly the brain and sperm.
Pollution Ignites Changes in a Sperm’s Genetic Material
One of the impacts of breathing wildfire smoke is that it causes changes in the genetic material of a sperm. Urban air pollution has been associated with harmful side effects on the male reproductive structure. Research indicates that air pollution from automobile exhaust and industrial stacks can affect the shape of a sperm, its genetic material, and its ability to swim. However, some studies have independently researched wildfire smoke as a source of toxicity. One such study that was done recently found that baby rats that are born to parents who had been exposed to wood smoke present with cognitive and behavioral problems (Montrose and Adam, 2). A deeper look at the studies concluded that cannabis and cigarette exposure and wood exposure on sperms has the same exposure on sperms.
Wildfire Smoke Affects the Brain
Breathing wildfire smokes has also been linked with poor brain health, including conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease. There exists data suggesting that wood smoke exacerbates the cognitive decline symptoms such as loss of motor skills or memory. A recent article in the Epigenetics Insights journal details the latest research illustrating how smoke particles from a wildfire that gets released by the immune system following exposure are likely to get to the brain and lead to health problems. One possibility is that small particles inhaled in the lungs tend to enter the bloodstream before travelling to the brain. The second possibility entails particles settling in the lungs but producing inflammatory signals that travel to the brain through the blood. Also, there is enough evidence to suggest that the particles from the smoke do not necessarily have to travel to the lungs as they can enter the brain from the nose through the following nerve bundles.
Conclusion
Breathing wildfire from smoke has the potential to impact health as they affect the brain and the male sperms. Smoke changes the sperm’s genetic structure and inhibits its ability to swim while it causes memory loss and decline of other cognitive functions of the brain. While people have varying sensitivity to wildfires, people should always avoid breathing smoke if they can help it. People can avoid the effects of smoke by wearing face masks and avoiding close proximity to wildfires.
Works Cited
Montrose, Luke, and Adam Schuller. “Breathing Wildfire Smoke Can Affect The Brain And Sperm, As Well As The Lungs.” The Conversation, 2021, https://theconversation.com/breathing-wildfire-smoke-can-affect-the-brain-and-sperm-as-well-as-the-lungs-166548.
The book by Stephen Haycox is about the history of Alaskan natives and influence the Russian and American
United Stated Imperialism
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Introduction
The book by Stephen Haycox is about the history of Alaskan natives and influence the Russian and American colonization had on the country and the state of affairs in the nation today. The author divides the book into two main parts with the first part talking about the period of colonization by the Russians and the second main part talking about the purchase of Alaska by the United States from the Russians. It is clear from the book that the two nations, America and Russia saw Alaska as a potential beneficial resource and hence the colonization. The book also has numerous indications and examples of the effects and influences of the American imperialism on the country. The author implies that the United States acquired the country and extended its national authority to Alaska through the acquisition it made from the Russian government. Though the book expounds on the events that took place in Alaska between the country and the United States, one can use this significant book in understanding better the imperialism of the United States in a wider, global context. The paper, therefore, will make use of the examples given by the author of how the United States imposed its cultures, military and economic endeavors on Alaska to analyze the imperialism of the nation in the whole globe.
The decision for the author to present the history of this country in two parts is interesting, as it results to the author paying a lot of attention to the events that took place during periods of the Russians and the Americans as colonists. The author argues that Alaska is best understood as a colony. He argues that colonialism is what links the two periods in the Alaskan history, the period of the Russian America and that of American Alaskan. According to the author, the Russians always understood Alaska as a resource, which they could exploit on the terms that were least costly, and by making use of the least personnel and material resources as possible. American Alaska, on the other hand, is shown to have similarly depended on such cheap resources and capital needs because the capital requirements to establish its natural resources have never existed in the territory.
According to the author, this is one of the most essential characteristics of colonial and imperialistic enterprises that must be sustained from without, and that have to develop dependencies that inevitably reduce the capability of the native individuals to maintain r preserve their self- determination and aboriginal culture, and that render non- native, or those who are otherwise referred to as the accurate native, colonial population subject to the political and economic judgments made by the absent investors after their own interests. Such arguments are not unfamiliar. We are aware of these characteristics present in other colonies of the United States. Many other colonized nations experienced the same experiences as Alaska. They had large firms ferrying resources and raw materials from their countries by such powers as the US. These investors were, similarly to Alaska, not to be found within the colonized countries but in the US where individuals and even the government ran these operations to benefit themselves and the country, and not the colonized country. It is clear that such imperialistic characteristics were applicable in Alaska, as well as, in other colonies of the United States.
These ideas, however, might seem a little both untrue or even provocative applied in a nation that has for long considered itself a stronghold of unfettered opportunities for entrepreneurs, as well as, adventurers, and that views itself as a libertarian nation free from the influences and constraints of the other societies. However, even for this country, it seems through the book that its cultures and traditional ways of life were not spared by America’s imperialism. According to the author, the reality of the nation seldom matches the Alaska every one imagines. He argues that though there is a vast wilderness in the country, most of it is not untrammeled. The author indicates that almost none of the residents in the states live in isolation or without the, most of the common amenities witnessed in civilized worlds. He indicates that all or most of towns and villages are connected to the mainstream cultures by satellite radio and television. He also argues that more than 70 percent of the country’s population lives in the urban areas. He even indicates that there is less difference between lives in the streets of many states in the United States from those in Alaska. This is a clear indication that the US imperialism influenced the culture and the lives of numerous Alaskans just like it did in numerous other countries all over the world.
American has influenced a lot of cultures and economies all over the world. The issue of affecting the way people live in the urban cities is not only experienced in Alaska but all over the world, what with the satellite television and radio connections not forgetting the Internet. The colonists went with certain lifestyles to their colonies and in turn imposed these lifestyles on their colonies. Their colonies remained with the lifestyles even after the Americans left and they are still, leading to the changing of cultures, to almost uniform ones globally.
The author continues with significant success to place the developments of the nation in the context of broader economic, social and political movements ranging from global influences of capitalist competition to attitudes towards the indigenous people of Alaska. His first goal is to provide a sound regional story, and offer his readers an assessment that is appropriately argued of internal reactions to external forces and how they have influenced and helped in defining Alaska. He places the arguments of the rights movement of the natives in Alaska, in a broader context of civil agenda in the US. He further studies the rise of aggressive development of resources and environmentalism after the Second World War through symbolism of images of the wilderness in the twentieth century and through a perceptive analysis of imperatives in commerce. The outcome is the positioning of the history of Alaska in a broader current of the history of America and the first foreseeable effort to connect the development in Alaska to the wider influences that shaped and help develop the western United States.
This is to imply that the united states had a large role to play, and still has in the politics, cultures, societies and economies of Alaska, just like it had in numerous other colonies it acquired. This imperialism can be seen in the development of almost similar political structures in the colonies as those in the United States, the development of social structures like the ones in the United States and even economic structures like those the colonialist, the United States, left in the colonies. The implication of the above descriptions of the author in the book are that the imperialism of the united states was well spread, covering all the areas that the colonists passed and influencing all the individuals they interacted with, and all the societies they lived in. The spread of this imperialism has not seized, and as the author indicates, it still spreads through the modern structures the society has adopted from the United States like mass media and the Internet. What catches ones attention is the misconception that many have that the occupation of the American colonists did not affect the way of life of the native Alaskans, because it is clear from the book that the American imperialism affected the aboriginal cultures in Alaska as much as other cultures in the world.
Conclusion
Clearly, the book is extremely useful in highlighting the way the American imperialism managed to survive and be successful in not only Alaska, but in other colonies. The author gives clear details of how extremely significant such colonies like Alaska among others played a significant role in developing America, and how America largely influenced the cultures, as well as, the economies of such colonies as Alaska.
Bibliography
Haycox, Stephen W. Alaska: an American Colony. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2002.