Bauhaus and the Design School Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Bauhaus and the Design School - Essay Example The Bauhaus school of design underwent three different phases of development In the wake of World War I and all troubles it revealed there was a need to tap into the more rational aspects of everyday life. The sentiment was seized upon by famed architect Walter Gropius who opened the school in Wiemar. Gropius in a way was forwarding the area where Germany would seek an advantage in production, that is by producing common place article with an artistic aesthetic and remaining competitive relative to other economies with more resources. Whether this was the intention of Gropius and the early architects of Bauhaus is not entirely clear but it is perhaps specious to separate the Zeitgeist of the time from the ideas of the innovators. The Bauhaus School went through three different phases in its early history influenced by the philosophical leanings of its directors. Gropius was followed as director by Hannes Meyer when the school moved to Dessau in 1928. Meyer more of a formal thinker re moved much of the aesthetic underpinnings of Gropius and became more concerned with the influence of science and its translation into a greater sense of function. This turned the pendulum toward the functional aspect of products and perhaps subverted the original aim of the school; however, the school in retrospect was to go through this cycle of thesis and antithesis between function and form throughout its history. Meyer was succeed by Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe who once again reasserted the importance of aesthetics over function.

Any topic you think is good for my paper Assignment - 2

Any topic you think is good for my paper - Assignment Example For example, late in the review he says, â€Å"The scope here is unashamedly novelistic, and although the plotting of the film’s first act is arguably muddled, Nolan’s sheer formal audacity means the stakes feel skin-pricklingly high at all times†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He is not pulling punches, but is saying that while some aspects of the film may not be so good, these are overwhelmed by the style and talent of the director, Christopher Nolan, who is very good. The reviewer uses lively, exciting language throughout which is good because it reflects the fun aspect of the film. Overall, the author communicates in a way that makes the reader not only want to keep reading, but also rush out to see the film. Generally, this is an effective review. It communicates the ideas behind the movie and the manner in which the reviewer is evaluating it. The reviewer is speaking to a broad audience of film-goers. He wants to show that the movie is a fun film that would appeal to most people. He successfully accomplishes this goal. Collin, Robby. â€Å"Batman: The Dark Knight Rises, first review.† Daily Telegraph. 16 Jul 2012.

Diagnostic Test Related Musculoskeletal System Health And Social Care Essay

Diagnostic Test Related Musculoskeletal System Health And Social Care Essay Both of these can reveal levels of various minerals and other substances indicating disease or a musculoskeletal disorder. The levels of certain protein in the blood may also help diagnose a disease. Blood and Urine samples are the most common tests used to diagnose problems within the musculoskeletal system. Also, prior to surgery, blood samples are used to detect bleeding tendencies. Urinary N-telopeptide of type 1 collagen or N-Tx and deoxypyridinoline (Dpd) both reflects increased osteoclast activity and increased bone resorption. b. Nerve Conduction Studies It is used to measure the electrical activity of muscles when a muscle fiber contracts to determine if the muscles and nerves are working properly. It is performed by stimulating a peripheral nerve at several points along its course and recording the muscle action potential or the sensory action potential that results. Usually, surface or needle electrodes are used. It is placed on the skin over the nerve to stimulate the nerve fibers. A technique called truax biography will show nerve conduction patterns, which changes in various muscle and nerve diseases. c. Imaging Procedures X-Ray Studies Bone X-Rays determines the bone density, erosion, and changes in bone relationships. It is used to diagnose broken bones or joint dislocations, guide orthopaedic surgery such as spine repair or infusion, assist in detection and diagnose of bone cancer, and locate foreign objects around soft tissues and in bones. Joint X-Rays reveal fluid irregularity, spur formation, narrowing and changes in joint structure. It is used to detect degenerative conditions on the joints, fractures, and tumors. Multiple X-Rays with multiple views are also needed for full assessment of the structure being examined. Computed Tomography It is used to identify the location and extent of fractures in areas that are difficult to evaluate such as acetabulum. It can be performed with or without the use of contrast agents and can illustrate a detailed specific plane of involved bone and can also reveal tumors of the soft tissues or injuries to the ligaments or tendons. Magnetic Resonance Imaging It can demonstrate abnormalities such as tumors and narrowing of tissue pathways through the bone. It is a noninvasive procedure and electromagnets are used that is why patients with any metal implants, clips or pacemakers cannot have an MRI. IV contrast agent are used to enhance visualization. Arthrography It identifies acute or chronic tears of the joint capsule or supporting ligaments of the knee, shoulder, ankle, hip, or wrist. A radiopaque contrast agent or air is used. It is injected into the joint cavity to visualize the irregular surfaces. The joint will be put through its ROM to distribute the contrast agent accompanied by a series of X-Rays. If the contrast agent leaks, it means a tear is present. 2. Discuss musculoskeletal changes associated with the aging process. Aging leads to changes in balance, cartilage and bone tissue. The normal aging process does not need to have limited movements. Mobility is affected by personal lifestyle and the degree of activity that the individual has maintained throughout their life. Although, some of the limitations of mobility occurs as a result of fear, such as fear of falling. a. Changes in Balance The maintenance of balance relies on integrating responses from the visual system, vestibular system in the inner ear and the proprioceptors in the muscles and joints. And with aging, older people requires greater angular movement in joints for proprioception to be achieved. b. Cartilaginous Changes There is loss in the normal elastic properties of cartilage due to an increase in water loss and deposition of fibers. The increased fiber density in connective tissue and cartilage produces a mesh or interconnection for the deposition of calcium. And this accounts fot the increased calcification of cartilage with aging. The hyaline cartilage also loses fluid and is converted to fibrocartilage. The articular cartilage changes with the elasticity being lost. Thinning occurs over the weight bearing areas which affects functioning such as the changes in the menisci of the knee joint that will inhibit free movement. The loss of water from cartilage in the intervertebral discs leads to compaction of the vertebrae and shrinkage of the spinal column, which is seen as a loss in height. Many joint of the body becomes stiffened with aging. The height loss is also affected by joint changes and by the flattening of the arc of the foot. c. Bone Changes Osteoporosis is a normal aging process as the androgen decreases. It is an imbalance between bone reabsorption and formation. If it is severe, it may cause fractures and may lead to bowing of the long bones and to an increase in spinal curvature due to vertebral collapse. 3. Discuss patient preparation for an arthroscopy. Arthroscopy is a procedure used to directly visualize a joint to diagnose joint disorders. Various treatments can also be performed through the arthroscope such as treatment of tears, defects, and disease processes. Arthroscopy is most often performed as an outpatient procedure. It is a essentially a bloodless procedure with generally few complications. It is performed in the operating room under sterile conditions. Injection of local anesthesia into the joint or general anesthesia, a spinal or epidural anesthesia is used. The patient should be able to tolerate the anesthetic agent used. Heart and lung function should be adequate. Existing problems such as emphysema should be optimized as possible prior to surgery. Anticoagulants should be carefully adjusted prior to surgery if the patient is taking them. Preoperatively, physical examination, blood tests and urinalysis will be performed. If the patient has a history of heart or lung problems, and is above the age of 50, an ECG and chest X-ray is obtained. The patient should also have instruction on exercises and postoperative mobilization such as crutch walking. Patients are generally encouraged to mobilize the affected part following surgery with adequate analgesia. 4. Discuss components of a musculoskeletal physical assessment. a. Posture Spine is assessed for normal curvature. It is convex through the thoracic portion and concave through the cervical and lumbar portions. Kyphosis, lordosis and scoliosis are common deformities of the spine. Kyphosis is mostly seen in elderly patients with osteoporosis and in some with neuromuscular disease. The entire back, buttocks and legs should be exposed during inspection of the spine. Spinal curves and trunk symmetry are inspected from posterior and lateral views. Differences in the height of the shoulders or iliac crest are noted. Symmetry of the shoulders and hips, line of the vertebral column are inspected at erect position and patient bending forward. Height should be measured especially in adults because in older adults, loss of height occurs due to loss of vertebral cartilage and osteoporosis. b. Gait Have the patient walk away for a short distance and observe the patients gait for smoothness and rhythm. Unsteadiness and irregular movements which are frequently seen in elderly patients are abnormal. c. Bone Integrity Deformities and alignments are assessed in the bony skeleton. Symmetric parts are compared. Abnormal bone growths are observed. Shortened extremities, amputations, and body parts that are not in anatomical alignments are documented. If fractures are present, movement must be minimized to avoid additional injuries and some may include abnormal angulation of long bones, motion at points other that joints and crepitus. d. Joint Function ROM, deformity, stability and nodular formation are noted. ROM is done both actively and passively. Goniometer can be used for precise measurement of ROM. If the joint is compromised or painful, it should be examined for effusion, swelling and increase in temperature for it may reflect active inflammation. If there is positive inflammation on the joints, a physician is consulted. Palpation of the joint while it is in passive movement will provide information on joint integrity. The joint normally moves smoothly; snap or crack indicates a ligament is slipping over a bony prominence. The slightly roughened surfaces results in crepitus. Tissues around the joints are examined for nodule formation. The size of the joint is often exaggerated by atrophy of the muscle proximal and distal to that joint which is seen in rheumatoid arthritis. e. Muscle Strength and Size Muscular strength and coordination, size of individual muscles, and patients ability to change position are assessed. Muscle tone is determined by palpating the the muscle while passively moving the relaxed extremity while muscle strength is assessed by having the patient perform certain maneuvers with and without added resistance. Muscle clonus may also be elicited by sudden, forceful, sustained dorsiflexion of the foot or extension of the wrist. Involuntary twitching of muscle fiber groups may be observed. The girth of an extremityis measured to monitor increased size. It may decrease due to muscle atrophy. It is important that the measurement be taken at the same location of the extremity and with the extremity in the same position, with the muscles at rest. Distance from a specific landmark must be indicated. Variations in size greater than 1cm are considered significant. f. Skin Skin is inspected for edema, color, and temperature. Palpation is performed to reveal if any areas are warmer which suggests increased perfusion of inflammation, or vice versa. Cuts, bruises, skin color, and evidence of decreased circulation or inflammation are noted. g. Neurovascular Status Frequent neurovascular examination is important for patient with musculoskeletal disorders due to the risk for tissue and nerve damage. Circulation, motion and sensation are assessed. SOURCES: Brunner and Suddarths textbook of Medical-Surgical Nursing 12th Edition Julia Kneale et. al. (2005) Orthopaedic and Trauma Nursing 2nd Edition Clinical Assignment 1. Complete a musculoskeletal physical assessment. a. Temporomandibular joint Inspection: No swelling 3 fingers can be inserted sideways Palpation: No swelling and tenderness Both side firm, same strength There was a snap during opening Muscle strength The jaw can move in all directions and can move against resistance b. Cervical spine Inspection: Neck is straight and head is erect Palpation: No swelling and tenderness No spasms Both side firm, same strength Patient was able to do the following: flexion, extension, lateral bending and rotation Muscle strength Can oppose resistance applied c. Thoracolumbar spine Inspection: No deformity Vertically aligned Palpation: No swelling and tenderness No spasms Percussion No tenderness Muscle strength Can flex, extend, laterally bend and rotate spine Can oppose resistance applied d. Upper extremities Inspection: No deformity on both sides Symmetrically aligned No deviations Palpation: No swelling and tenderness No spasms No atropy Fat pads fairly solid No synovial thickening Percussion Negative tinels sign Muscle strength Can perform ROM in shoulders, elbows, wrists and hands Can oppose resistance e. Lower extremities Inspection: No deformity on both sides Symmetrically aligned No deviations Palpation: Hip joint not swollen No swelling and tenderness No spasms No atrophy Muscle strength Can perform ROM in shoulders, elbows, wrists and hands Can oppose resistance Web Assignment 1. Summarize an article discussing techniques used in assessing the musculoskeletal system. How do the components of the health history guide the assessment? http://www.medkaau.com/videos/peguide.pdf There are general and regional considerations in the article. The general considerations are as follows; the patient should be undressed and gowned as needed, some parts of the exams may not be appropriate depending on the clinical situation. Examining the musculoskeletal system is all about anatomy. When taking the patients history for acute problems, we should always inquire about the mechanism of injury, loss of function and onset of swelling or edema. Also, the initial treatment should be asked. Meanwhile, when taking the patients history for chronic problems, we should ask the patient about past injuries and treatments, effect of function, and current symptoms. There are cardinal signs of musculoskeletal disease which are pain, swelling, redness, increased warmth, deformity, and loss of function. We should always begin with inspection, palpation, and ROM regardless of the region being examined. A complete evaluation will include a focused neurologic exam of the affected area. IPPA is first used in examination then active and passive ROM exercises in specific joints. After this, vascular status, pulses, capillary refill, erythema, cyanosis, clubbing, and lymphatic are assessed. The last things to be examined are the specific tests for Upper Extremities Snuffbox Tenderness, Drop Arm Test, Impingement Sign, Flexor Digitorum Superficialis Test, and Flexor Digitorum Profundus. And these are the vascular and neurologic tests; Allen Test, Phalens Test, and Tinels Sign. And these are for the lowe extremities; Collateral Ligament Testing, Lachman Test, Anterior/Posterior Drawer Test, Ballotable Patella, and Milking the Knee. For the Back are the following tests Straight Leg Raising, FABER Test which stands for Flexion, ABduction, and External Rotation of the hip. It is used to differentiate hip or sacroiliac joint pathology from spine problems.

The Scarlet Letter, By Nathaniel Hawthorne :: essays papers

The Scarlet Letter, By Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne's background influenced him to write the bold novel The Scarlet Letter. One important influence on the story is money. Hawthorne had never made much money as an author and the birth of his first daughter added to the financial burden ("Biographical Note" VII). He received a job at the Salem Custom House only to lose it three years later and be forced to write again to support his family (IX). Consequently, The Scarlet Letter was published a year later (IX). It was only intended to be a long short story, but the extra money a novel would bring in was needed ("Introduction" XVI). Hawthorne then wrote an introduction section titled "The Custom House" to extend the length of the book and The Scarlet Letter became a full novel (XVI). In addition to financial worries, another influence on the story is Hawthorne's rejection of his ancestors. His forefathers were strict Puritans, and John Hathorne, his great-great-grandfather, was a judge presiding during the S! alem witch trials ("Biographical Note" VII). Hawthorne did not condone their acts and actually spent a great deal of his life renouncing the Puritans in general (VII). Similarly, The Scarlet Letter was a literal "soapbox" for Hawthorne to convey to the world that the majority of Puritans were strict and unfeeling. For example, before Hester emerges from the prison she is being scorned by a group of women who feel that she deserves a larger punishment than she actually receives. Instead of only being made to stand on the scaffold and wear the scarlet letter on her chest, they suggest that she have it branded on her forehead or even be put to death (Hawthorne 51). Perhaps the most important influence on the story is the author's interest in the "dark side" ("Introduction" VIII). Unlike the transcendentalists of the era, Hawthorne "confronted reality, rather than evading it" (VII). Likewise, The Scarlet Letter deals with adultery, a subject that caused much scandal when it w! as first published (XV). The book revolves around sin and punishment, a far outcry from writers of the time, such as Emerson and Thoreau, who dwelt on optimistic themes (VII). This background, together with a believable plot, convincing characterization, and important literary devices enables Nathaniel Hawthorne in The Scarlet Letter to the develop the theme of the heart as a prison. The scaffold scenes are the most substantial situations in the story because they unify The Scarlet Letter in two influential ways.

Forbidding Mourning’ by John Donne Essay

The principal theme of the poem is that lovers remain united even when they are physically separated. Donne proves his idea by argument, conceits, passion, and thought. It is believed that Donne left for France in 1611. He gave this poem to his wife at the time of his departure. The poet advises his wife not to mourn the temporary separation, because their love remains intact despite their parting. Parting brings their souls even closer. The biographical details of the poet, however, are not essential to the appreciation of the poem. The poet has universalized a personal experience. The poem is a remarkable illustration of intellectualization of passion and has Donne’s famous conceit of compass towards the end. The poem quietly begins with a metaphysical conceit. Virtuous people are not afraid of death. They visualize the life beyond death. So they pass away quietly. To the Elizabethans, separation is the death of the lovers. The poet believes and convinces his wife that separation strengthens love. Otherwise, separation is unimportant, even impossible. Even parting lovers don’t part. And separation is the expansion of their love. The poet asks his beloved to part quietly without creating a scene : So let us melt, and make no noise. The word ‘melt’ has many meanings. It implies ‘separation’, ‘death’, ‘tenderness’, etc. Let there be no floods of tears and no tempests of sighs, so characteristic of the Elizabethan lovers. It would be vulgarization of their love. Love is a mystery to the world, but not to the lovers. Let this mystery not be revealed to the world. Then the poet contrasts the physical love and spiritual love. The ordinary lovers are earthly, but spiritual lovers are divine. An earthquake causes great damage. People calculate the damage and the threat. On the other hand, the movement of heavenly bodies, though much greater, is harmless. The poet wants that his wife should let him part quietly. The earthly lovers cannot separate from the beloved, because their love or lust is tied to the limbs of the lady. They cannot afford to be away from those lips, eyes, and hands. The love between the poet and his beloved is spiritual and springs from mutual faith and understanding. It is mutual mental assurance. Theirs is the union of the minds and souls. The lovers unite into a single being, sharing a single soul. Their unity is not damaged by physical separation. The greater the distance, the stronger the soul. Separation is no breach, no break. Their love is precious like gold. It is expansive. Gold beaten thin covers an unexpectedly vast area. So their love will not break because of separation, but becomes rare and refined : Our two souls, therefore, which are one, Though I must go, endure not yet A breach, but an expansion, Like gold to airy thinness beat. The phrase ‘airy thinness’ has divine associations. It suggests angels in the air and the angelic or divine love between the lovers. If the lovers do not share a common soul, Donne argues that their individual souls are joined together at the top, like the legs of a compass. Perhaps no other image is used so often to illustrate metaphysical poetry and metaphysical conceit. The beloved who stays at home is like the fixed foot, fixed at the centre. It is fixed. It does not seem to move, but it does when the other foot moves. It leans and follows the roving (moving) foot. The roving foot, i. e. the lover, having completed the circle, returns to the centre and is reunited with the fixed foot. Donne believes in the love that has faith and firmness of the beloved which helps the lover to complete his circle (or journey) accurately. Eventually, he returns home to his beloved. They are face to face with each other. She is the focus of his life, the beginning and the end of his journey, and of all he wants : Thy firmness draws my circle just, And makes me end, where I begun. Donne’s use of conceit here and elsewhere is not ornamental but functional. It convinces, persuades, amplifies, and illustrates. Coleridge admires ‘A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning’. The poem is quiet triumph of the marital romance. It shows a remarkable restraint using a simple poetic form. The poem is even more meaningful today when the marital understanding it celebrates is fast vanishing. A great poet like Donne can produce good poetry out of a geometry box. ‘A Valediction : Forbidding Mourning’ is passionate logic turned poetry.

Market Structure of the German and British Tour Operators’ Industry Through the Analysis of the Package Tour Prices in the Balearic Islands. Essay

Abstract: In this paper we study a sample of package tour prices of German and British tour operators in the Balearic Islands. One of the proposes of this study is to analyse if there are significant differences in price between tour operators due to different factors than those associated to the characteristics of the offer (first hypothesis). These differences in price have been showed in Sinclair et al. (1990) by British tour operators in the resort of Malaga and in Aguilà ³ et al. (2001) by German tour operators in Majorca. The main results point out differences in price between tour operators not associated with the characteristics of the package tour’s offer, that we interpret as an oligopolistic feature of the tour operators’ market. The genereted data is also useful to estimate the role that hotel chains play. Our second hypothesis is to contrast if the association of hotels in chains offset the tour operator’s market power. Keywords: German and British tour operators’ industry; Balearic Islands; Package tour prices. INTRODUCTION The Balearic Islands could be one of the regions that best symbolised the Mediterranean sun and beach holidays. This type of tourism emerged in the 60’s and supposed a turning point in the evolution of tourism. Before this date few tourist visited the islands and all of them were of the upper class, after 1960 the middle and lower class can afford vacations due to several economical and cultural changes. One of the most important changes was the package tour made by tour operators, who due to the volume and standardisation of the packages generated economies of scale, and so, lower prices to tourist who become to arrive in mass. European consumers showed a growing tendency to this type of vacation, partly due to lower prices that, for the same final product, could offer tour operators (Travel and Tourism Intelligence, 2000). This lower price is the result of a bulk negotiation with the different elements that compose the package tour, essentially: hoteliers and airlines. In the present paper, we will focus on the negotiation with hoteliers, as the main European tour operators are vertically integrated with charter airlines. The lack of studies on hoteliers-tour operators’ price negotiation is due to the non-availability of data related to this theme. So, although we consider that empirical evidence is necessary, our last choice was to arrange several interviews with different hoteliers to know about the price negotiation with tour operators. The results of these interviews highlight that operators who contract more room’s beds are those who get lower prices. Obviously, those operators are the large ones. So, we can start from the premise that large tour operators have market power on mass destinations. The main purpose of this paper is to study prices that tour operator s fix on the package tour brochures in order to determine if they operate in a competitive or oligopolistic market. If in the origin market operates under perfect competition, tour operators could fix a marginal-cost price, on the other hand, they could fix a price above the marginal-cost without losing market share if the origin market is oligopolistic. Anyway, the existence of economies of scale in sales, marketing and purchasing, mean that there are conditions, which strongly favour concentration in the tour operator industry (Williams, 1996). Both German and British tour operators dominated the European market in 1999, as seven of the ten main tour operators are of these nationalities (FVW Europà ¤ische Veranstalter in Zahlen, documentation 1999/2000). Moreover, in each country large tour operators have large market shares: in 1999 the seven large German tour operators have a 83% market share (FVW), whilst the four main British tour operators control the 86.6% of the Spanish market (AC Nielsen). On the other hand, the Balearics attract large numbers of German and British tourist, accounting for 70% of the total of foreign tourists in 2000[ii] and as exposes Williams (1996) the destinations that are dependent on the British and German markets are in fact locked into relationships with the powerful tour operators in these countries. The first propose (hypothesis 1) of this paper is to contrast the market power of these companies when selling the Balearic Islands. By the way, the hotel chains in the Balearic Islands, as an association of hotels, can negotiate lower prices with tour operators than an individual hotel, and thus, can offset the power of tour operators in the Islands. This is the last point (hypothesis 2) that we want to analyse in the paper. Dunning and McQueen (1982) argued that there are three conditions for the emergence of international hotel chains: 1) where there are net ownership advantages; 2) where there are locational endowments; 3) to internalise market transactions. In mass tourism the authors argued that the first two conditions do not exist, as the tourism product being sold is largely indifferent to branding and location factor endowment. We do not thing that mass tourism and hotel chains may not be held concurrently, as most Balearic hotels chains have internationalise and some of them are between the most important in the world. Resuming, in this paper we will examine the German and British tour operators’ industry through the analysis of the package tour prices o n the Balearic Islands and the roll that hotel chains play. The evidence that price could give is not enough, but a gut approach to analyse the tour operators’ package tour industry. The paper is divided as follows: in the next section, we first review the literature concern to tour operators, then we describe the data used in the paper. After that, we show some descriptive results of the package tour prices, in order to identify the influence of some relevant characteristics of the package tour on its price. Then, an analysis of variance is done to evaluate the statistical significance of the variables detected as significant in determining the price of package tours; and finally some observations on the package tour industry are offered before reaching an overall conclusion. LITERATURE REVIEW There are implicit statements between those who work on the tourism sector, that tour operators dominate mass destination markets and although there are numerous assertions of the importance of tour operators, there has been little detailed research on this topic. We thought that the package tour industry analysis is still at its beginnings, despite its relevance in most of the European markets. Several researchers have discussed the structure of this industry, but the conclusions in some cases have turned out to be contradictory. Sheldon (1986) argues that the US package tour industry is polarised into a few large stable firms and many small less stable firms, and conclude that the industry is contestable. Fitch (1987) presents descriptive evidence of market power in the UK package tour industry. Baum and Mudambi (1994) argue that the UK package tour industry is oligopolistic and prone to price instability. Taylor (1996) queries whether the UK industry is contestable or oligopolisti c and concludes that the UK market is contestable. Curtin and Busby (1999) expose that due to economies of scale, tour operators have enormous buying power (monopsony) as well as considerable control of the distribution and sale of their product in the market place (monopoly power). The above papers are based in theoretical arguments. Evans and Stabler (1995) use descriptive statistics to argue that the UK industry is segmented according to strategic groupings, where the large firms are oligopolistic and the small ones are competitive. Gratton and Richards (1997) introduce some empirical evidence on package tour prices and tour operators’ market shares. They conclude that the UK package tour industry is contestable, whilst the German is a stable oligopoly. Davies and Downward (1998, 2000) use econometrics, and the results gave empirical support to the Evans and Stabler thesis of strategic groupings. Concretely, they argue that the UK package tour industry is segmented by size. On the other hand, there are some papers that study the tour operators’ industry in destination places rather than in the origin markets: Taylor (1995) analyses the package tour price competitiveness in several Mediterranean destinations and concludes that the Spanish hotels are price acceptant, and emphasises the high tour operators’ negotiation power. Sinclair et al. (1990) examine the package tour prices in Malaga and conclude that there are significant differences in prices between UK tour operators. Aguilà ³ et al. (2001) study the German package tour prices in Majorca and come to the conclusion that there are significant differences in prices, no related with the package tour characteristics. Furthermore, due to the antimonopoly legislation, some concentrations between tour operators have been analysed by The Monopolies and Mergers Commission (the British authority on mergers and concentrations) and the European Commission (the European authority on mergers and concentrations). In 1988 The Monopolies and Mergers Commission investigated the acquisition of Horizon Travel by Thomson Travel Group and reported that the British tour operators’ market was competitive. They demonstrated that with the followings facts: the price competitiveness of the market, low profitability, relatively easy entry by new firm to the tour operating industry and higher prices in Germany and other European countries. On the other hand, in 1999 the European Commission investigated and blocked the acquisition of First Choice by Airtours alluding to several features that indicated a dominant position on the British tour operators’ market. By the way, other acquisitions between tour operators of different nationalities investigated by the European Commission have been expected not to operate against the competition (Airtours/Frosch Touristik and TUI/Thomson). At this point, we consider that the European Commission do not investigated the market power that this macro European tour operators can have in a nearly future on some destinations, as the Balearic Islands, where almost 20% of the tourist are carried by Thomson and TUI, nowadays belonging to the same touristic group. THE DATA The data used in this paper is from 28 German and 20 British tour operators’ summer 2000 brochures[iii]. The brochures describe in detail the characteristics of each offer (hotel category, proximity to beaches, swimming pool, etc) and give an overall price, not giving a price to each element of the offer. Many of the characteristics described in the brochures are related to the hotel star rating[iv], regulated by law. However it should be stress that the star rating don’t constitute an exhaustive description of the hotel, so there are other characteristics that impinge on package tour prices. Concretely, we consider: zone, hotel star rating, beds in room, type of board, proximity to a population centre, picturesque surroundings, lift, child care, playground, air condition, TV, SAT, garden, entertainment, no smoking areas, swimming pool, tennis, bicycles, sports, sauna, gym, golf, room sea view, mini bar, proximity to a natural area, proximity to beaches, total rooms and floors of the hotel and exclusive to the tour operator. Tour operators’ package tour prices for the same hotel vary depending on the specific characteristic of the offer (beds in room, type of board, zone, etc) and of other facts, concretely transport cost, length and time of the year. As in Aguilà ³ et al. (2001) we consider, from the point of view of price competitiveness, the influence on prices of product’s characteristics rather than transport cost and time of year for the present analysis. Thus, the present analysis focuses on offers for a stay in one-to five-star hotels in the Balearic Islands, considering only prices for the first week of August 2000 (high season) and with departure from Dà ¼sseldorf and Gatwick. The high season was chosen because that time of the year (May-October) is when more tourists visit the Balearic Islands. Nearly the 50% of the tourist that visit the Islands concentrate in the months of June, July and August[v]. The selection of the first week of August was arbitrary. The choice of Dà ¼sseldorf was based on the fact that it moves 20.9% of the German tourist that come to the Balearic Islands; and for the British tourist, Gatwick was chosen because it canalise 29.9% of British tourist[vi]. Comparisons between nationalities are workable because a charter flight’s mean price from Gatwick or from Dà ¼sseldorf to the Balearic Islands do not present significantive differences. We really thought that our data is suitable to analyse the tour operators’ price structure in the Balearic Island. Our previous statement is based in the fact that 8921 tour operators’ offers associated with 693 hotels were analysed, while 713 hotels is the official number of re gistered hotels in the Balearic Islands. Furtehrmore, the fact that nearly 90% of hotel rooms are contracted by tour operators in the Balearic Islands allow us the inference of the results to the industry. ANALYSIS OF THE PACKAGE TOUR PRICES Our first hypothesis to contrast is if there are differences in price due to tour operators and thus, not associated with the characteristics of the offer. The second hypothesis is to analyse the role that hotel chains play in the determination of package tour prices .We first realize a descriptive analysis, to carry on with an analysis of variance. Thus, allow us to isolate the effect that tour operators and hotel chains have on prices, estimating if there are differences and the kind of differences. Descriptive analysis Tour operators The variability of the prices of the packages offered are due to several factors, some of them associated to the characteristics of the offer and some related to the tour operator that organise the package tour. To analyse our first hypothesis we have to isolate the tour operator effect by homogenising the offer. We can only compare prices between tour operators if the offers are homogenous. Hotel star rating, type of board and beds in room are expected to be, in a first approximation, the main causes of price variability. So, the offers that we consider are in a double room with half board in a three stars hotel. Figure 1 and 2 present the box-plots of the price in this market segment for each tour operator for each nationality[vii]. In figure 1, it can be seen that, Niag Reisen’s, FTI’s and Club Blaues Meer’s median price is in a range clear above the rest, while SLR and Ãâ€"ger Tours, and TUI and C&N present similar distributions. Insert Figure 1 about here In the case of British tour operators, figure 2 shows that the positions of the price distributions have a clear order: Airtours’ price distribution is above the rest, then go Thomas Cook and Virgin and finally, Cosmos, First Choice and Thomson are third in the ranking. Insert Figure 2 about here A careful reading of this information allows the inference of factors other than hotel star rating, type of board and number of beds in a room in price determination. Although other factors determining price are considered in the analysis of variance, these results point to a differential effect associated with the tour operator. Once we have highlighted the differentiation effect of tour operators, we carry on with its analysis. We don’t have to forget that tour operators are intermediaries between the hotel industry and the holiday’s consumers. Its control capacity of the market in a zone or in a demand segment could be reflected both in hotels, through a low price negotiation, and with customs, offering higher prices in the brochures. The first one, regrettably, can be estimated trough the data, but we can explain the possibilities that tour operators have when they establish the package tour price. If they have market power in destinations (we assume that large ones have) will obtain lower prices per room. At this point, in general terms, tour operators have two alternatives. First, they can establish lower prices in the brochures, so its mark-up will not benefit, but consumers; on the other hand, tour operators can raise mark-up and get beneficiated. The first choice will show market power with respect to hoteliers, whilst the second will state market power with respect to hoteliers and clients. To focus on its control capacity and its influence on prices, we have created a new variable: product concentration degree that measures the importance of each tour operators’ offer by nationalities in each market segment, according to star rating and type of board. It has been calculated as the percentage of the number of offers that each tour operator realise in each hotel star rating and in a specific type of board, regarding the total number of offers in this segment. A 10.9% value for this variable to Neckermann’s three stars hotel and half board offers, mean that the 10.9% of the package tour’s offers in three stars hotels and half board are realis e by this tour operator. A dispersion graph between this variable and the mean price by hotel star rating and type of board are shown in figure 3 for British tour operators and in figure 4 for German. Insert Figure 3 about here The dispersion graph shows a positive relation between Product concentration degree and the average price by star rating and type of board of British tour operators’ offers. The Pearson coefficient (0.384) confirms that the relation is significantive and positive. Insert Figure 4 about here The same results are obtained with German tour operators, with a Pearson coefficient of 0.293, but although the coefficient is significative and positive, the general picture is not so clear. So, the general conclusion for both nationalities is that as the Product concentration degree increases the average price by star rating and type of board is higher. Our first preliminary conclusions of this descriptive analysis of tour operators are two: 1) There are differences in price among international companies. 2) As the control of a market segment by a tour operator increases, it can fix higher prices. Hotel chains The association of hotels in chains is seen, among other factors, as an intention to offset the European tour operators’ growing market power (Bardolet, 1990, p.228; Doxa, 1988). Regarding to hotels chains and its capacity to offset the tour operators’ market power, we have created a dummy variable with further information called agreement with ttoo which takes three categories: 1) the hotel doesn’t belong to a hotel chain, 2) the hotel belongs to a hotel chain and it have some kind of agreement with tour operators and 3) the hotel belongs to a hotel chain and it have any agreement with tour operators. Once we have obtained the dummy, we have calculated the mean difference between each category for offers in a double room with half board in a three stars hotels. We expect to observe that offers in hotels that belong to hotel chains are more expensive than those related to offers in hotels that don’t belong to hotel chains, as they are able to negotiate higher prices with tour operators and thus, tour operators charge this higher prices to consumer. Nevertheless, the brochure price analysis reflect diff erent results, as are showed in the following tables: Table 1: Mean price for German package tours |Mean price |No chain |Chain without agreement |Chain with agreement | | |(92985) |(93257) |(90827) | |No chain | |-272 |2157 | | | |(0.7) |(0.254) | |Chain without agreement | | |2430 | | | | |(0.06) | Table 2: Mean price for British package tours |Mean price |No chain |Chain without agreement |Chain with agreement | | |(149896) |(148909) |(139707) | |No chain | |986 |10189 | | | |(0.7) |(0.03) | |Chain without agreement | | |9202 | | | | |(0.01) | Tables 1 and 2 show the mean price for each category in brakets, the difference mean prices between categories and its significance in brakets. The results are very explicit and present the same pattern in both nationalities, offers in hotels that belongs to hotel chains with agreements with tour operators have lower average prices than those that don’t have agreements or don’t belong to hotel chains. The results are significantive for British offers, however, for German offers, while the price average difference between hotels with or without agreements is on the limit of the 5% significance, the price average difference between hotel with agreements and those that don’t belong to a hotel chain is not significantive. On the other hand, there are non significantive average price differences between hotels that don’t belong to hotel chains and those that belong to one without agreements. The obtained results can be interpreted as follow: hotel chains that h ave any kind of agreement with tour operators are more concerned in obtaining higher occupancy rates than higher prices, that can mean lower occupancy rates. Thus, if offers are cheaper in those hotels, they could have higher occupancy rates. Supporting our thesis, Dunning and McQueen (1982, p. 86) explained that: â€Å"hotels associated with tour operators will also presumably be able to plan and maintain higher occupancy rates because the parent company is in a control position in channelling tourist towards its own hotel.† The conclusions obtained with this descriptive analysis of the hotel chains were at a first glance unexpected, but relevant as the package tour prices fixed in the brochures, reveal that what involve negotiation power is not the hotel chains per se, but the association with tour operators. Analysis of variance The analysis of variance will allow us to compare the importance that different characteristics of the offer have on the overall price, as well as differential effects linked to the tour operator and hotel chains. The first one was detected in preliminary works as Sinclair et al. (1990) and Aguilà ³ et al. (2001), while the second one is a new attribution to this field. Its seems appropriate to consider, given the previous results, as determinants of the package tour price the hotel star rating, the type of board and the number of beds in the room. Although the main characteristics of the package tour are covered by this variables, the brochures specify in detailed each offer and this information is available in our data to improve the analysis. Some of this can be superfluous, in terms of its relationship to the category of the hotel or its redundancy. This is the case, for example, with a characteristic such as a satellite TV and TV in rooms or child care and playground. Nevertheless, descriptive analyses also state that the tour operator, the variable product concentration degree and the variable agreement with ttoo have so mething to say about the final price of a package tour. With this specification, the signification of tour operator can’t be put down to characteristics of the offer not completely covered by the hotel star rating. The variable used to analyse the differences was the price of the package tour specified in the brochure. Table 3 for British and in table 4 for German show the results of an analysis of variance of the variables that turn out to be significant. Table 3: Analysis of variance of the variable price of British package tour. |Dependent Variable: price | | | | |Source |DF |F-ratio |Pr>F | | | | | | |Model |44 |281.67 |0.000 | |Residual |2297 | | | |Total |2341 | | | | | |R square=0.841 | | | | | | |Variables |DF |F-ratio |Pr>F | | | | | | |Intercept |1 |5157.82 |0.000 | |Beds in room |2 |291.38 |0.000 | |Hotel star rating |4 |210.05 |0.000 | |Type of board |3 |118.78 |0.000 | |Tour operator |14 |89.09 |0.000 | |Zone |10 |35.64 |0.000 | |Product concentration degree |1 |20.61 |0.000 | |Number of floors |1 |8.79 |0.003 | |Room sea view |1 |21.98 |0.000 | |Mini bar |1 |102.02 |0.000 | |Air condition |1 |19.67 |0.000 | |Playground |1 |15.66 |0.000 | |Picturesque surroundings |1 |258.13 |0.000 | |Proximity to a natural area |1 |44.20 |0.000 | |Swimming pool |1 |37.23 |0.000 | |Sauna |1 |64.95 |0.000 | |Golf |1 |18.98 |0.000 | Table 4: Analysis of variance of the variable price of German package tour. |Dependent Variable: price | | | | |Source |DF |F-ratio |Pr>F | | | | | | |Model |58 |323.94 |0.000 | |Residual |6467 | | | |Total |6525 | | | | | |R square=0.742 | | | | | | |Variables |DF |F-ratio |Pr>F | | | | | | |Interseccià ³n |1 |5892.90 |0.000 | |Beds in room |3 |418.40 |0.000 | |Hotel star rating |4 |991.06 |0.000 | |Type of board |3 |79.31 |0.000 | |Tour operator |22 |21.89 |0.000 | |Zone |14 |42.70 |0.000 | |Product concentration degree |1 |100.21 |0.000 | |Agreement with ttoo |2 |6.57 |0.001 | |Number of floors |1 |30.51 |0.000 | |Room sea view |1 |187.33 |0.000 | |Air condition |1 |10.82 |0.001 | |Mini bar |1 |78.96 |0.000 | |Sat |1 |51.88 |0.000 | |Playground |1 |55.09 |0.000 | |No smoking areas |1 |9.26 |0.002 | |Proximity to a natural area |1 |71.38 |0.000 | |Swimming pool |1 |5.40 |0.020 | As can be observed in the above tables the variable agreement with ttoo appears only significantive for German package tours. However, the variable product concentration degree appears significantive and positive for both nationalities. This result show that the great control of a market segment by a tour operator in the Balearic Islands allow it to exert a great market power fixing higher prices and thus, reveal the oligopolistic features of this market. The identity of tour operator appears for both nationalities significantive. Aguilà ³ et al. (2001) explained this results in two ways. First, it is possible that there are characteristics not observable in brochures, which would be associated with the level of quality of the services offered by the tour operator. The second explanation points to the monopolistic nature of competition in this type of market. Sinclair et al. (1990) attribute the differences in price to the greater effectiveness of certain advertising campaigns or th e inability of smaller companies to take advantage of the economies of scale that the large ones enjoy. The first explanation of Aguilà ³ et al. (2001) refers to variables as flight schedules, degree of attention, and so on. In our sample this factors has been taken into account. So, the rest of explanations given by authors to this fact reveal, in a wide range, an oligopolistic feature of this market, especially among large tour operators, that permit them to have different strategies one another. Obviously the specific strategy of each tour operator is unknown, but the analysis of the parameters estimated (table 5) offer us an overall strategy, that has been contrasted by the companies portfolios. Table 5: Tour operators estimated parameters |Phoenix |-10370 |Thomson |-21473 | |LTU |-6340 |First Choice |-14170 | |ITS |-5504 |Cosmos |-11381 | |Alltours |-5196 |Thomas Cook |-4879 | |Dertour |-5193 |Virgin |0 | |C&N |-2571 |Airtous |18065 | |SLR |-334 | | | |TUI |0 | | | |Club Blaues Meer |1166 | | | |Frosch Touristik |5070 | | | |Niag Reisen |6346 | | | |Ãâ€"ger Tours |9518 | | | German data is richer in terms of size of tour operators than British data, and so, we can observe large tour operators: TUI, C&N and LTU; medium: Dertour, FTI and ITS; and small: Alltours, Club Blaues Meer, Niag, Ãâ€"ger, Phoenix and SLR. However, British data is composed by large tour operators: Thomson, Airtours, Thomas Cook and First Choice; and medium: Cosmos and Virgin. Although the mark up of each package tour sold is not so high, the total number of packages sold determine its benefits. Therefore, rather than benefits, market shares are the objective of tour operators. Generally speaking, small German tour operators fix higher prices, except Phoenix and Alltours. This fact is due to its lower capacity of negotiating prices with the supply side, and the relative exclusive distribution system created by large tour operators. When the tour operator is unable to reduce its costs due to its size, must fix higher prices and have lower market share. By the way, TUI is the German an d European tour operator with great market share and is, among large tour operators, the one that fix the highest prices. Its growing strategy through expanding in other markets, allow TUI to increase its market share without reducing prices. That is, TUI can fix higher prices without losing market share. The rest two large tour operators: C&N and LTU fix prices lower than TUI. C&N could follow a lower prices strategy to rise its market share and challenge TUI leadership. On the other hand, LTU has been acquired by REWE in January 2001, so the low prices in summer 2000 can be interpreted as an attempt to gain clients and rise its market share (LTU has reduce its market share dramatically from 1994 to 1999). Finally, we have the medium tour operators: Dertour, ITS and FTI. The first two fix lower prices in an attempt to rise its market share. Medium tour operators don’t have the great negotiation power that large ones have, and so, don’t obtain low prices in the negotiation with the supply side, but if they want to become large they have to obtain clients and then fix in the brochures low prices. The last one, FTI, has during the last years internal problems that conduce to its acquisition by Airtours. This problems can be associated with the high price fix in summer 2000. Alltours, despite its classification as a small tour operator, is among the small ones, the one that have the greatest market share, and we can put its strategy on an equal foot with ITS and Dert our. On the other hand, Airtours is among large British tour operators the one that fix the highest prices. This tour operator is the second in terms of market share both in the British and in the European market. Just like TUI, Airtours has grown through the expansion to other countries and the product diversification. This two facts allow Airtours to fix higher prices without losing market share. Although, Airtours is not the market leader in Great Britain (place hold by Thomson), it behave as it was. The acquisition of Thomson by TUI in 2000 due to financial problems can explain the low prices of the British leader. To sum up, except the small tour operators, the three tourist groups that control the European market fix the highest prices. So, although they have market power with the supply side and obtain the lowest prices in the negotiation, these prices are not diverted into low package tour prices. Therefore, large tour operators have market power both in origin an in the Bal earic Islands. We can reflect our thesis with a more general model that show the implications of the price elasticity on mark up. The theory stars with the premise that profit maximizing firms with market power set price (P) as a mark up over marginal cost (MC), which mark up depends on the elasticity of demand ((), where ( is defined to be positive. Thus: [pic] At this point, we consider that the introduction of an aggregate measure of the competitive conduct in the tour operator industry is a great deal (See Papatheodorou, 2001), but we go further arguing that tour operators perform in two related but different scenarios: destination and origin countries. In the Balearics Islands tour operators are the demand side and the hoteliers are the supply side. Tour operators are price sensitive, so its demand is quite elastic, and thus the hoteliers’ mark up is lower. So, hoteliers are concerned in occupancy rates. On the other hand, in the origin countries: Germany and UK, tour operators are the agents that supply the package tour to the consumers, so they operate as the supply side and the consumers are the demand side. Consumers behave in to different ways when decide where to expend their holidays: 1) Type 1 consumers don’t have any special destination to go and will go to the cheapest one. 2) Type 2 consumers want to go to the B alearics. Type 1 consumers are very price sensitive, its demand is elastic and so, tour operators’ mark up will be lower; contrary, type 2 consumers are less sensitive to price, so tour operators’ mark up rises. This second type of consumers are more attractive both for tour operators and hoteliers; the first ones can rise its mark up, whilst the second ones obtain a loyal tourism. Although, the mass market tour operators’ industry as a whole is characterised by small margins, this differentiation between consumers highlights the impact of loyal consumers on margins and question the statement that tour operators put destination-based business (above all hoteliers) at a bargaining disadvantage because they have obtained the initiative in persuading their clients which destination to visit.  ¿Which type of tourism have the Balearic Islands? Cladera (2002) shows that both German and British tourists repeat its holidays in the Balearic Islands (67.65% and 78.11% r espectively in 2000). This figures point out that the Islands are a destination that tourists claim and can drive us to tell that the Islands have a type 2 consumers, but we can be in front of a type 1 consumer if the reason of visiting the Balearics is the price, so we have to carry on investigating the reasons for the visits. Aguilà ³ et al. (2002) observe that the main reasons for choosing the Balearics as their holidays destination for German tourist are: clime (20% of answers), beaches (15.9%), environment and hotel quality (13.4%), transfer facilities (7.4%) and price (6.7%). British tourist give more importance to price (11% of answers), but the most relevant reason is still the clime (21.2%). Environment and hotel quality represent 12.1% of answers, whilst beaches are only a 10%. This figures can be observed by another perspective, specifically, by the number of people who have marked each of the reasons. Doing that we can observe that clime is the main reason, marked by 80.2% of Germans and 84.6% of British. While the 63.6% of Germans showed beaches as a coming reason, only a 40% of British consider beaches as a reason. Price is influent in the decision for only the 26.9% of Germans, while British are more concern about prices, 45.3%. Environment and hotel quality is marked by 53.9% of Germans and by 48.3% of British. Transfer facilities (29.7%) and night atmosphere (22.5%) is more important for Germans than for British people (12.6% and 15.5% respectively). Furthermore, Cladera (2002) analyses the number of tourist who have selected the price as a rea son for choosing the Balearics differentiating by first-time tourists and loyal ones. Cladera conclude that the 34.6% of first-time German tourists and the 45.5% of first-time British tourists consider the price one of the reasons of visiting the Islands, whilst only a 20.2% of loyal German tourist and the 43.1% of loyal British tourist. This figures show the relative less importance of price as a reason of spending the holidays in the Balearic Islands as much the Islands are visited. After this analysis we are able to answer the question: tourist who visit the Islands are mostly loyal tourists and the main reason for choosing the Islands is not the price, although British people are more sensitive to prices than German people. CONCLUSIONS This paper has had two main objectives: 1) Examine the influence on the package tour prices of the identity of the tour operator. 2) Determine the role that hotel chains play on the determination of the prices. These have been studied through the price structure of tourist packages in the Balearic Islands offered by a representative sample of German and British tour operators. The conclusions reach after the analysis permit us to state in connection with hypothesis 1 that: 1) the differences in price between tour operators are due to the different strategies that tour operators follow to gain market share, 2) large tour operators have market power both in origins and in the Balearic Islands and 3) The type of tourist who visit the Island succeed in increasing mark up both to tour operators and hoteliers. We really believe that large European tour operators have market power both in origin and in destination markets, although the strategies of each tourist group can make the market seem competitive. Debbage (1990) also consider this when argued that the suppliers are potentially able to reap the advantages of their oligopolistic and oligopsonistic power to the detriment of consumers and destinations. Relative to hypothesis 2 we can conclude that the fact that a hotel belongs or not to a hotel chain is not appreciared by fixing higher prices in the brochures, that could show a great negotiation power towards tour operator. However, the obtained results reveal that offers in hotels that have any kind of agreement with the tour operator are in mean cheaper. That results permit us to conclude that hotel chains are more concerned in high occupancy rates than in high prices per room. It could be interesting in future research to complement or contrast the methodology used here with alternative approaches to confirm the results reported in this paper. ANNEX Figure 1: Package tour prices for offers in a double room with half board in a three stars hotel by German tour operators Figure 2: Package tour price for offers in a double room with half board in a three stars hotel by British tour operators Figure 3: British tour operators’ dispersion graph by star rating and type of board Figure 4: German tour operators’ dispersion graph by star rating and type of board BIBLIOGRAPHY AGUILÓ, P.M, J. ALEGRE y A. RIERA (2001) â€Å"Determinants of the Price of German Tourist Packages on the island of Mallorca†. Tourism Economics, vol.7, issue 1, pp.59-74. BARDOLET, E. (1990) â€Å"Demanda Turà ­stica y Marketing Turà ­stico†. Papeles de Economà ­a Espaà ±ola, vol. Baleares, pp. 219-230. BAUM, T. y R. MUDAMBI (1994) â€Å"A Ricardian analysis of the fully inclusive Tour Industry†. The Services Industries Journal, vol.14, n º1, pp. 85-93. CLADERA (2002) â€Å"Anà ¡lisis de la evolucià ³n temporal de las caracterà ­sticas del turismo y del gasto turà ­stico en las Islas Baleares a partir de la Encuesta de Gasto Turà ­stico (1989-2000)†. MIMEO. CURTIN, S y G. BUSBY (1999) â€Å"Sustainable Destination Development: the Tour Operator Perspective†. International Journal of Tourism Research, vol. 1, pp.135-147. DAVIES, B. y P. DOWNWARD (1998) â€Å"Competition and Contestability in the U.K. Package Tour Industry: some Empi rical Observations†. Working Paper 98.3. DAVIES, B. y P. DOWNWARD (2000) â€Å"Industrial Organization and Competition in the UK Tour Operator/Travel Agency Business, 1989-93: an Econometric Investigation†. Working Paper n º 2000.3. DEBBAGE, K. G. (1990) â€Å"Oligopoly and the Resort Cycle in the Bahamas†. Annals of Tourism Research, vol.17, pp. 513-527. DOXA Y SUBDIRECCIÓN GENERAL DE PLANIFICACIÓN Y PROSPECTIVA TURà STICA (1989) â€Å"Concentracià ³n y Asociacionismo Empresarial en el Sector Turà ­stico. Documento de Sintesis†. Estudios Turà ­sticos, vol.103, n º9, pp. 3-33. DUNNING, J. H. y McQUEEN, M. (1982) â€Å"Multinational Corporations in the International Hotel Industry†. Annals of Tourism Research, vol.9, pp. 69-90. EVANS, N.G. y M.J. STABLER (1995) â€Å"A Future for the Package Tour Operator in the 21st century?†. Tourism Economics, vol.1, 3, pp. 245-263. FITCH, A. (1987) â€Å"Tour Operators in the UK. Survey of the Industry, its markets and product diversification†. Travel and Tourism Analyst, March, pp. 29-43. FVW (anual) â€Å"Europà ¤ische Veranstalter in Zahlen, dokumentation 1993-2000†. GRATTON, C. y G. RICHARDS (1997) â€Å"Structural change in the European Package Tour Industry: UK/German comparisons†. Tourism Economics, vol.3, 3, pp. 213-226. PAPATHEODOROU, A. (2001) â€Å"Why People Travel to different places†. Annals of Tourism Research, vol. 28, n º 1, pp. 164-179. SHELDON, P.J. (1986) â€Å"The Tour Opera tor Industry. An Analysis†. Annals of Tourism Research, vol.13, pp. 349-365. SINCLAIR, M.T., A. CLEWER y A. PACK (1990) â€Å"Hedonic prices and the Marketing of Package Holidays: the case of Tourism resorts in Malaga†. In Marketing Tourism Places. Ashworth, G.J. and Goodall, B., eds, pp. 85-103. London: Routledge. TAYLOR, P. (1995) â€Å"Measuring Changes in the Relative Competitiveness of Package Tour Destinations†. Tourism Economics, vol.1, 2, pp. 169-182. TAYLOR, P. (1996) â€Å"Oligopoly or Contestable Markets in the UK Package Tour Industry?†. The Service Industries Journal, vol. 16, pp. 379-388. TRAVEL AND TOURISM INTELLIGENCE (2000) â€Å"The European Leisure Travel Industry†. London: Travel and Tourism Intelligence. WILLIAMS, A.M. (1996) â€Å"Mass Tourism and International Tour Companies†. In Tourism in Spain-Critical Issues. Barke,M. , Tonner,J. and Newton,M.T.,eds, pp. 119-135. Wallingford: CAB International. ———————– END NOTES [i] Los tres profesores son miembros del Departament d’Economia i Empresa de la Universitat de les Illes Balears. [ii] Govern de les Illes Balears (2000) â€Å"El turisme a les Illes Balears, dades informatives, any 2000†. [iii] Terramar, Spanien und Portugal; Neckermann, Young and Sport; Neckermann, Flugreisen; Neckermann, Family; Condor Individuell; Air Marin, Spanien und Portugal; Fischer Reisen, Flugreisen; Kreutzer; Bucher Reisen; Smile anf Fly; Jahn Reisen; Maris Reisen; THR Tours, Jet and Bett; THR Tours, Urlaub Mal Anders; Tjaerborg; FTI; FTI, Preis Pardise; ITS, Spanien und Portugal; DER, Der Sonnenseiten; Alltours, Flugreisen; 1,2 Fly; TUI Schà ¶nen Ferien; TUI Schà ¶nen Ferien Free World; Ãâ€"ger Tours,Sommer 2000; Club Blaues Meer Reisen, Mallorca; Shauinseland Reisen, Belearen; Niag Reisen, Mallorca; Phoenix, Flugreisen Sommer 2000; Airtours, Summer Sun; Archers Direct, Summer Sun; Price Beaters; Cosmos, Summer Sun; JMC, Summer Sun; JMC, Select; JMC, Ess entials; Club 18-30; Skytours; Thomson, Summer Sun; Thomson, Small and Friendly; Thomson a la Carte; Club Freestyle; Portland Direct; Just; Virgin, Summer Sun; Sovereign, Summer Sun; First Choice, Summer Sun; Eclipse, Summer Sun; 2wentys. [iv] Sinclair et al (1990) point out that hotel rating is a gut indicator of the services and facilities that the hotel offers. [v] Conselleria de Turisme (2000) [vi] Govern de les Illes Balears (1999) â€Å"El turisme a les Illes Balears, dades informatives, any 1999†. [vii] In each of the boxes, the central line indicates the median of the distribution, while the height of the box represents the inter-quartile range, the area is proportional to the frequency of observations. The feet extend (at most) up to 1.5 times the inter-quartile range, aiding the detection of observed extremes (marked as circles).

Success in College Depends on Preperation and Hardwork †Scholarship Essay

Success in College Depends on Preperation and Hardwork – Scholarship Essay Free Online Research Papers Success in College Depends on Preperation and Hardwork Scholarship Essay One of the most important steps that I have taken to prepare for college is my enrollment in advanced placement (AP) and college level courses. I have already completed AP Chemistry, and I’m currently in further advanced placement courses for Physics and Calculus BC. In addition, I have spent a summer vacation completing a college-level Geometry course at the local community college. While such courses proved to be tough challenges, AP classes and college-level courses have become invaluable in preparing me for the rigors of University courses. My school has also given me the special opportunity to attend a pre-engineering course that was designed to show us how real engineers operated in their various occupations. Since I saw engineering as a potential career path, getting in this course was an easy choice to make. I was able to find out a lot about engineering and gained a fundamental understanding of engineering opportunities, benefits and the requirements for a potential engineering major. In addition, I have taken some time from my summer vacation and enrolled in a speed-reading course in order to improve my reading skills. The reading class stressed being able to read quickly and more efficiently, as well as with better understanding, and has provided me with an enhanced comprehension of high school and college subjects. I have also joined the math competition team because I wanted to test and improve my mathematical skills. As part of the competition team, I learned how to attack difficult problems that the team frequently encountered on the extra difficult tests. Some of the strategies that the instructor taught us involved breaking the problem down into parts and minimizing errors. I knew that possessing a stronger mathematical background would bring an advantage for many high school subjects, and provide a useful jump start for college-level mathematics courses. Tutoring classmates has been an important preparation for college level comprehension. When other people ask me to tutor them for their classes, I find it to be a great opportunity to master certain subjects since it refreshes my memory on the subject. By tutoring others, I am able to re-learn the material and my understanding of the subject is always improved and becomes more refined. Many educational opportunities have come from my classes in school, but some learning opportunities have developed from the Internet. Since I have a great affinity for computers, I have also had a strong interest in a Computer Science major. Working hard to get a good understanding of computers has always been my style. Already I have a fairly strong understanding of the HTML internet website language, and have already learned some fundamentals of the highly advanced computer programming language, C++. Research Papers on Success in College Depends on Preperation and Hardwork - Scholarship EssayStandardized TestingTrailblazing by Eric AndersonHip-Hop is ArtRiordan Manufacturing Production PlanOpen Architechture a white paperAnalysis of Ebay Expanding into AsiaGenetic EngineeringComparison: Letter from Birmingham and CritoPersonal Experience with Teen PregnancyBionic Assembly System: A New Concept of Self

galileo1 essays

galileo1 essays Galileo Galilei was born in Pisa Italy on February 15, 1564. Later in the 1570's his father, Vincenzo Galileo moved his family to the near by city of Florence. He was the oldest of four children , and as a child he was the most likely inclined to be the smarter of the family. It was here that Galileo's formal education began at a school in a near by monastery. This school was taught by monks, and for a while it was belied that Galileo would grow up to become a member of the religious orders. At the school he studied Greek, Latin and logic. since his father was a musician, he received an introduction and a musical background. Then finally in 1581 he was accepted and entered the University of Pisa, where he was studying medicine. Then after some time passed he grew bored of medicine. He found a deep interest in the field of mathematics. It seemed that all of his time was spent studying mathematics. When he turned twenty-one he was forced to leave the university because of a lack of int erest, ending his formal education. After he left all his time was spent he continued his research of mathematics. While he was studying he became an acquaintance Marchese de Monte. After Marchese de monte saw Galileo's work he grew interested in him. Shortly afterward he was taken in by Marchese to assist him in his research. It was as if Galileo was his apprentice. They both worked together to formulate the Treatise on the Centers of Gravity. It was this paper that they wrote which first made Galileo's presence felt in the world of science. Marchese helped him to obtain a position as a professor at the University of Pisa. There he spent the next two years teaching. He was forced to leave because other professors and students themselves considered his teachings to be radical and extreme. After he was forced to leave he headed back home to spend time with his family. A short while after he arrived to Florence his father passed away. He was forced to ...

How To Make Colorful Soap Bubbles

How To Make Colorful Soap Bubbles Were you one of those kids who tried to add food coloring to ordinary bubble solution to make colored bubbles? Food coloring wont give you bright bubbles, and even if it did, they would cause stains. Heres a recipe for pink or blue colored bubbles, based on disappearing ink, so the bubbles wont stain surfaces when they land. Safety First Please dont drink the bubble solution! Unused bubble solution may be stored for later in a sealed container or disposed of by pouring it down the drain.These are bubbles intended for blowing bubbles, not for bathing.Sodium hydroxide is a  strong base. Avoid direct contact with this ingredient. If you do get some on your hands, rinse them immediately with water. Ingredients Liquid dishwashing detergent  (or another detergent)Water or commercial bubble solutionSodium hydroxidePhenolphthaleinThymolphthaleinClub soda (optional) Heres How If you are making your own bubble solution, mix the detergent and water.Add the sodium hydroxide and indicator to the bubble solution. You want enough indicator so that the bubbles will be deeply colored. For each liter of bubble solution (4 cups), this is about 1-1/2 to 2 teaspoons of phenolphthalein (red) or thymolphthalein (blue).Add sodium hydroxide until you get the indicator to change from colorless to colored (about half a teaspoon should do the trick). A little more sodium hydroxide will result in a bubble that keeps its color longer. If you add too much, the color of the bubble wont disappear when exposed to air or rubbed, though you can still react it with club soda.You may find it necessary to dissolve the indicator in a small amount of alcohol before mixing it with the bubble solution. You can use pre-made indicator solution, adding the sodium hydroxide to the indicator rather than diluting with water.Youve essentially made disappearing ink bubbles. When the bubble lands, you can make the color vanish by either rubbing the spot (reacting the liquid with air) or by adding a little club soda. Fun! If you have disappearing ink, you could mix it with bubble solution to make disappearing ink bubbles.

Political Econ Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Political Econ - Essay Example The government debt to GDP ratio also stood at 27.7 percent in 2014. It is also worth noting that the Australian economy is heavily reliant on natural resources thus less vulnerable. The other country in the top ten is Canada. According to Blaine, the Canadian economy is a mirror of the United States of America economy since it has a very big automotive sector (3). Over the last couple of years, there has been exponential growth of technology companies in Vancouver and Toronto. It remains the largest supplier to the US exporting oil, natural gas, hydroelectric power and uranium. About three quarter of Canada’s exports end up in the US. In 2008-2009, its automotive industry was hit very badly by the economic slump. The Canadian banks and the oil sector were able to weather the storm. The recent upsurge in oil prices and other exports have boosted the economy thus giving it a very good credit rating. The third nation is Denmark. The country’s finances are in solid shape even after the 2008-2009 recession as well as the Eurozone crisis. It has an AAA rating with the government debt being 59 percent of the GDP. Some of the nation’s strengths include the vibrant maritime sector and the stable pharmaceutical industry. Blaine points out that unemployment rates still remain high at 6.6 percent (par 4). Denmark is followed closely by Finland. Finland became an economic powerhouse in the 1990s due to the rapid telecommunication and technology growth. Nokia contributed to about 23 percent of the corporate taxes paid between 1998 and 2007. The Eurozone crisis did hurt the economy very much. In addition to this, the decline of Nokia has had a very detrimental effect on Finland’s economy. It has an unemployment rate of 8.0 percent. The fifth nation is Germany which experienced a GDP growth of 0.9 percent in 2012. The last few years have not been easy for the country due to the struggles of the Eurozone

Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 11

Law - Essay Example Lastly, the paper will also make suggestion for the further changes to be made in the statute in the light of the changing needs and requirements of the social establishments during the contemporary times. Hence, the paper will provide an in-depth examination of assault in accordance with the statutes of law. It is a reality beyond suspicion that the states and political authorities have always been interested in devising schemes and implementing them in order to maintain law and order as well as to ensure the safety and protection of all members of society. For this purpose, statutes of laws are articulated and enforced for discouraging criminal acts and punishing the offenders, so that crime rate could be controlled in society. The devising of statutes and making amendments in them, for combating the assaults, has always been an essential part of the same campaign launched by the New York legislature and administration. The term assault simply refers to the violent attack on some individual, group or community out of mens rea or criminal intention with the aim of inflicting physical hurt or harm subsequently. Battery and maiming are taken to be the crimes almost identical to assault, which observe proximity with assault in nature and scope, as all the three maintain similar intention and consequences, though effects of the three could witness slight differences (Bryn, 1966:614-5). Battery actually is the occurrence of physical contact between the offender and offended, while maiming could be regarded to be the combination of both assault and battery. Hence, the court of law announces punishment in accordance with the damages appeared in the wake of committing of the offence (615-6). While discussing the elements attributed to assault, there must be mens rea behind committing of this crime, and the act has actually been performed, either it has caused severe harm

Competition Mergers of Companies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Competition Mergers of Companies - Essay Example It provides communication and entertainment answers to the majority of countries in the European Union. CaixaBank is a financial enterprise that is controlled entirely by the La Caixa Group of companies. It is the parent company of La Caixa Companies that deal with banking and other related activities. It mainly operates in Spain and other European countries and the international presence are felt through strategic alliances with key financial institutions. Banco Santander is the main company of the Banco Group of companies that deals major in international banking. It is active in retail banking, asset management, insurance and investment banking in most of the European Countries. Telefonica, CaixaBank and Banco Santander merge to form a new company. The companies are the notifying parties in the creation of Newco. The notifying companies provide the relevant documents that are used in the merger control of the joint venture. Newco will be active in Spain and it will develop an ecosystem that will be able to offer its members with numerous services. The services will be available online and will be accessible by many individuals online. Each of the Notifying parties will hold equal shareholding in Newco. They will have equal chances to exercise control over the company. It means that they will have a joint control over the Newco. Newco is expected to perform the functions of an economic enterprise in Spain. There will be a management team that will be run the day to day activities of the company. The management team will have access to the resources of the company that include finance and the assets of the company. The company will provide online services to numerous individuals in Spain. The services will include digital advertising services that will provide a chance to individuals in the digital world to advertise their products. The virtual community will be able to able to interact online and provide mobile-based couponing and loyalty services.     

Different SPI Models of Cloud Computing Case Study - 1

Different SPI Models of Cloud Computing - Case Study Example Cloud computing is actually a colloquial expression that refers to an array of varying types of computing concepts that consist a large number of computers interconnected to each other by means of an actual, simultaneous communication like the Internet (Carroll et al., 2012). Also, cloud computing is a model that is used to allow pervasive, global, and convenient network access to a common collection of configurable computing resources such as networks and servers (Mell & Grance, 2011). Essentially, the objective of cloud computing is to maximize shared resources. This has been carried out by sharing services and resources that are made available on the World Wide Web. How? At the root of cloud computing is a deeper concept of combined infrastructure and shared services. So, why the thought of using clouds as part of the phrase? Cloud computing allows shared services including servers, not actual serves but virtual servers which are interconnected to each other using the internet. These servers do not really exist in actuality; hence, they can be moved around or expanded while the end-user is not being affected at all – similar to a cloud. Cloud computing has different SPI models and each of them has a specific use. But first, let us learn about what SPI means. SPI is an acronym that refers to conventional cloud computing models. SPI stands for the following: S is for Software as a Service (SaaS); P is for Platform as a Service (PaaS), and I is for Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). SaaS is specifically intended for the end-users, which are transmitted over the internet. PaaS is a collection of means or instruments meant for coding and setting up applications quickly and efficiently. And lastly, IaaS simply pertains to the hardware and software that make everything work effectively. These include servers, networks, operating systems, etc. (Mell & Grance, 2011). SaaS is normally end-user applications that are being delivered by means of the internet.  There is no need for installation as long as a browser and a connection to the internet are set.  

Pocahontas Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Pocahontas - Essay Example This custom could be seen as a ritual death which the hostile natives perpetrated on strangers in their land. Later, the chief adopted Smith as his son, or a subordinate chief. Pocahontas and Smith soon became friends. Pocahontas started visiting the English settlement to bring them food since there was always a shortage of food in the English settlements where Smith lived. The colonists were not adept at hunting food and also were not familiar with the local terrains which became a handicap in their search for food. Despite being the chieftain’s daughter, Pocahontas provided immense help to the English settlers, for which her efforts should be seen as the first attempt to bridge the cultural difference and ethnic rivalry. Because of this contribution, â€Å"she remains an important part of American folk history to this day.† (Spectrum home & school magazine 2006). Subsequently, an injury from a gunpowder explosion forced John Smith to return to England in 1609. The settlers told the natives that John Smith was dead and Pocahontas also believed it. In the year 1613, Pocahontas was kidnapped by some English settlers and brought to Jamestown. They used her as a ransom for negotiating the release of English prisoners and firearms from her father. He agreed to release the prisoners but refused to part with the weapons, and hence Pocahontas was held back. From Jamestown she was moved to Henrico for religious indoctrination into Christianity. This denotes the fact that intrinsically the Algonquian tribe was receptive to the idea of cultural transition from one religion to another. This is all the more significant because a teenage girl had done this. She was one of the first America in Virginia State to convert to Christianity, and this act pioneered the advent of Christianity in North America, from where it spread to other regions of America. Thus Pocahontas marked an important milestone in the cultural history of America. During her stay in Henrico, in the

Business Analysis of a Company's Failure Case Study

Business Analysis of a Company's Failure - Case Study Example John Purcell further highlighted the importance of employees in his research which emphasized the huge role played by the company's workforce as "strategic partners." This research strongly supports the highly economist viewpoint of Grant (219) of "aligning employees with organizational goals." Schuler and Jackson gave a more precise description on how management should "align" their workforce to support the company crafted strategy. This paper opts to further highlight the importance of workforce by looking at how Dell, Inc. failed due to human resource problem. Dell, Inc. is widely recognized as one of the market leaders in the global information technology (IT) industry. The company corners the largest market share in the US personal computer (PC) market accounting for 33% in 2003 (Dell, Inc. in 2005 C-130). This success in the global industry is highly attributed to its employment of a unique direct business model and just-in-time inventory system which is backed by excellent customer service. The organization has gained a strong reputation in delivering customer satisfaction by the manner the customer service representative handles calls, enquiries, and problems. However, this reputation has been tainted when it choose to employ Indians to handle both corporate and consumer clients. The growing globalization ushered a new trend... Managers argue that BPO is a "management tool" which "frees companies to build upon their core competencies by leaving the non-core stuff to providers" (Banham 1). Through the use of business process outsourcing, Dell hoped to cut costs without affecting service quality. However, this expectation has not materialized with its utilization of Indian call centers. The customers complain that "technical-support representatives were difficult to communicate with because of thick accents and scripted responses." What becomes apparent is the difficulty in communication due to significant language barrier. This new trend has adversely affected customer satisfaction while also endangering the sales and market share of the business organization. This paper believes that this business failure is primarily due to the employment of Indian human resource. It is stated above that the human resource of companies should be considered strategic partners which are essential in achieving the goals of a company. Dell, in a sense, is seen to be only concerned on the cost efficiency of business process outsourcing but has not fully considered the issue of turning their Indian employees as strategic partners. It can be seen that Dell is not able to fully communicate and stress to prospective Indian call center agents that they are essential in the company's success. Thus, it turned out that these employees fail to realize their worth in the business organization. It can be seen that Dell has also been lax in their recruitment and selection process. As the company is striving to maintain excellent customer service, it should also be very strict in hiring customer representatives and ensure that those selected can fully deliver the quality of

Pocahontas Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Pocahontas - Essay Example This custom could be seen as a ritual death which the hostile natives perpetrated on strangers in their land. Later, the chief adopted Smith as his son, or a subordinate chief. Pocahontas and Smith soon became friends. Pocahontas started visiting the English settlement to bring them food since there was always a shortage of food in the English settlements where Smith lived. The colonists were not adept at hunting food and also were not familiar with the local terrains which became a handicap in their search for food. Despite being the chieftain’s daughter, Pocahontas provided immense help to the English settlers, for which her efforts should be seen as the first attempt to bridge the cultural difference and ethnic rivalry. Because of this contribution, â€Å"she remains an important part of American folk history to this day.† (Spectrum home & school magazine 2006). Subsequently, an injury from a gunpowder explosion forced John Smith to return to England in 1609. The settlers told the natives that John Smith was dead and Pocahontas also believed it. In the year 1613, Pocahontas was kidnapped by some English settlers and brought to Jamestown. They used her as a ransom for negotiating the release of English prisoners and firearms from her father. He agreed to release the prisoners but refused to part with the weapons, and hence Pocahontas was held back. From Jamestown she was moved to Henrico for religious indoctrination into Christianity. This denotes the fact that intrinsically the Algonquian tribe was receptive to the idea of cultural transition from one religion to another. This is all the more significant because a teenage girl had done this. She was one of the first America in Virginia State to convert to Christianity, and this act pioneered the advent of Christianity in North America, from where it spread to other regions of America. Thus Pocahontas marked an important milestone in the cultural history of America. During her stay in Henrico, in the

Not just children Essay Example for Free

Not just children Essay The essay is effective in that it provides some convincing examples of potential internet dangers that can be experienced, with emphasis on how these bad guys can get away with their deeds with no law to control their actions. I must agree that people who use the internet should not be exempt from many of the rules and regulations that govern their conduct elsewhere. Its arguments about general online business holds much merit. I do agree that there should be laws against copyright violation, fraud, child pornography, trust violation, and child-stalking. However, the essays great failing is that it does not address the issue of freedom of expression as much as I think it needed to in the context of the topic, especially concerning pornography. Internet pornography is certainly a complicated topic, considering that many children have internet access. The essay contends that pornography must be controlled, particularly because of these children. Although the welfare of children should indeed be of concern to us, I subscribe to the idea that if you dont want to see, dont look. Encountering pornographic sites (or going anywhere on the internet for that matter) generally requires an active decision by a person. I take the view that sites on the internet are public only in the sense that they are accessible when a person chooses to access them; but that these sites are not publicly displayed in the sense that a billboard on the street is. Since seeing content generally involves the decision of a person to visit, making whatever information accessible to whomever chooses to access it seems to be reasonable. There have been times when a search using a seemingly innocuous phrase turns up results with nudity or pornographic content, especially when Im using a search engine with filters turned off. It seems to me that encountering sites with offensive or objectionable content is unavoidable, even if one does not want to come across them. I feel that childrens access to pornographic sites should be restricted. I recognize that total censorship would be very difficult to impose, but still, measures should be enacted to deter or hinder young children from accessing such sites. One solution that has been proposed to solve this problem advocates a change in the domain naming system that will easily identify sites that are â€Å"for adults only† (i. e. , pornographic sites). For example, if sites with adult content ends in â€Å". xxx† rather than the usual domain identifiers, users will know that the site contains adult content, and therefore, can steer clear from it. Using this system, it will also be easier to filter out those kinds of websites. However, if there is any censorship, it will affect everyone, not just children. I still subscribe to the notion that it should be the parents/elders responsibility to protect children from the darker side of the internet. History has shown that anything that is suppressed by the government does not really disappear, but goes underground. Censorship in any form is a blow to the whole notion of the freedom of expression of the public. With this freedom comes responsibility, and it might actually be better to allow the public to take care of themselves (on the internet) in this regard.

Horizontal Integration

Horizontal Integration Overview: The introduction of the company Davis Service Group; which is the biggest company in the UK and Europe in the provision of textile maintenance service (in the main) along with the wash room services, laundry, dust control mat and work wear rentals. Besides that it worked even in the US (Davis services Group) and their focus to grow was very straight forward that is why they give preference to horizontal integration in 2002 and take over Berendsen company (leader of the market of Europe in the same nature of business), the acquisition of the company was helpful as it was not much difficult for the Davis group to take over the Berendsen but also Berendsen was the market leader but not well off like Davis Group. The leading company of the textile in Europe is berendsen with 80 service stations and 7300 employees. The work of these service stations is to manage the laundry, maintenance, textile rental, and supply. It also has the supply and manufacturing basis in Sweden and Estonia. Information about Berendsen Two major ways on which company may grow Horizontal integration: The horizontal integration in the normal words can be expressed as the expansion of the existence business into the same nature of the business, for example if the business is running in some particular field like trade of some particular goods or services is extended into the same sort of product called horizontal integration. We can give the example of the merger of Morrison’s with subway (can be a good example of horizontal integration), hence this is the best known Britain’s horizontal integration merger in Feb, 2004. Which was according to growth and expansion of the business was the right and wise decision. (Flouris, T. G. And Oswald, S. L., 2006) Examples of horizontal integration of any company Horizontal integration of the business can be understandable as the companies which are working throughout the world when ever these are merging or taking over the other companies, firms or bodies actually these or they are buying the shares of the company and become the owner of the company happened in the same sort of business. There are few examples of such companies below, which did the integration both horizontally as well as vertically. Though I discussed earlier example of the horizontal integration i.e. Morison’s with the subway. Forgetting the after affects regarding the situation in the stock market the integration made the positive result in the expansion and growth of the business. Vertical integration the vertical integration can be illustrated as the expansion of the business in some irrelative nature of the business, means the expansion in some other nature like a company involves in selling the goods only and expanding the business in providing some services means add services as a part of their business is called vertical integration. Examples of vertical integration of company Examples of the companies which have extended their businesses in non similar way of business are called vertical integration of the companies; the example of such integration made by the company wall mart and its takeover to the Asda and then merger of kingfisher also is the example of the vertical integration of the companies. This take over was the example where three different type of the businesses joined together to put the business grow further ahead, like Davis Services Group did before with sunshine and other units of the business. Option available to Davis Company in making growth strategy During making the decision of the company of Davis services the company had several options available to grow but the company chose to go for the horizontal integration where they carry out the business in full strength as the acquiring of the Berendsen company by Davis Services Group really become helpful for the Davis group of company to grow in already strengthen gripped up market by Berendsen. the options available to Davis was first of all to see that which markets were the most suitable to them to carry out the business, which should be suitable regarding the market analysis like, language, currency, traditional and cultural differences etc. though they had to take the decision after passing out from all these points. It is the law of the business that I should be running according to the demand of the customers. So they had choices of expanding accordingly the order they used to follow in their nation and they succeeded as European union is the most reliable market for the business growth. How these options would benefits the company The company having the same nature of business running but not very much profitable as Davis is in the Britain. Hence there was the financial assessment of the company were taken by the Davis completely where the company is being watched in the way to its financial responsibilities, current assets, current liabilities, companies good will etc is being calculated after that Davis group assumed the present condition and manage the funds by selling the share of  £150 million as well as  £425 million borrowed from the new bank.Q2: Business grows when they have the resources to expand and opportunities exist for growth. Explain how the acquisition of Berendsen provided such a good opportunity for the Davis Service Group. How businesses get the growth The Davis services Group were the leader in their own market in UK, the need to expand was the great opportunity to get growth even beyond the limit of one nation. For that reason the company had an opportunity to grab the already working firm names berendsen. Financial requirements Capital needed to start and capitalise the business is the basic requirement, we should know how capital will use in business also the equity that will be provided for the business. The source should be well known if the loan for initial capital is taken on security replacement of equity. Current business position It is also necessary to determined the current position of the business at the time of buying the business, hence same strategic step has been taken by the Davis group as per on acquisition of the company berendsen. DVSG‎ Davis Service Group PLC, The(LON)‎ 327.25 +3.75‎ (1.16%‎) 17 Jul 12:34 GMT Open: 327.25 High: 329.00 Low: 322.75 Volume: 44,541 Avg Vol: 0 Mkt Cap: 557.59M Disclaimer Digital Look, Davis Service Group (DVSG), viewed 13 July 2009, http://www.digitallook.com/companyresearch/10168/Davis_Service_Group/company_research.html Major achievements It includes the detail of the developments in the company which includes patents and prototypes of the company and any crucial contracts that needs to be in place of product development. Statement of purpose, Make it easy for the reader to realize at first glance both your needs and capabilities. Entrepreneur, Elements of a Business Plan, viewed 13 July 2009, http://www.entrepreneur.com/startingabusiness/businessplans/article38308.html#ixzz0LVWlPcRU Acquisition of the berendsen by Davis was really a good decision After getting followed up with all the necessary elements of growth to a businesses of any nature it is necessary to see the acquisition of the berendsen and Davis weather companies took really a good decision or what outcomes showed it decision wrong. According to Mr. Roger dye the whole of the acquisition was very pleasant and basic reason for the takeover was to lead and grow the market, he said the reason why they chose berendsen was that It was leader of the Europe market, just like Davis Group in UK. He said that geographically still UK is the main market but the European market was growing rapidly and still doing so. The offered qualities of the company are Moreover he said one of his another interview where he was briefly discussing the company’s performance Strategic Growth Concept, The Elements of the Business Plan, viewed 13 July 2009, http://www.strategicgrowthconcepts.com/services/Business-Information-Articles_I33/Article-The-Elements-of-the-Business-Plan_A30.html â€Å"Competence in the operations that we manage a safe pair of hands (what we say we are going to deliver, we will deliver). Ethically very strong, high levels of trust etc. A well supported progressive dividend policy. I think these are the sort of things that come to mind.† ROGER DYE, FD of Davis Service Group says key challenge and opportunity is to deliver on Sophus Berendsen acquisition, viewed 13 July 2009, http://www.twst.com/notes/articles/lys024.html Q.3 What aspects of European Union markets have particularly encourage any of the growth strategies? Discuss how the European Union markets encouraged the strategies of growth Business strategically growth of the Davis group after the acquisition of the berendsen company, how it is being supported by the European Union for the better growth of the strategic business. The European Union market encourages the growth of Davis Service Group with the berendsen in Europe very much. If you are going to put setup of the business overseas it enables you growth specially if it is EU, with500 million potential customers and single market of 27 countries. As common currency is used in the whole market of currency it is easily doing the business (buying and selling) in much of the EU and a skilled workforce. Expansion overseas business has to take a number of factors into account. These include: (V. C. and at all, 1999) language currency culture different legal and administrative systems Variable skill levels. Discuss the aspects of the European market I. Peace and stability Before becoming a real place of peace for the first half of the 20th century one can’t think Europe as a united state, only one person have thought about it. French foreign Minister Robert Schuman give idea originally given by Jean Monet, on 9 May 1950, proposed establishing a European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). Its production is dealt under the high authorities of the union. II. Safety and security To make the region work suitable to work, business and the living standards, lots of efforts are under observations specially the effort of combine work of the police from different countries are the effort to meet any terrorist activities. Hence this was also the very strong point to work in the area from the growth point of view in strategic thinking. III. Economic and social solidarity Basically it is made to bring change in political stability and solidarity but now EU has become the icon of economic and social solidarity as a rapid and fast growth is going on. To meet their contingencies the EU made funding to meet any future unexpected loss. Thus providing better access to outlying regions and boosting trans-European trade. IV. Values EU stands for a view of humanity and a model of society that the great majority of its citizens support. The Davis decided to grow its industry in the EU (European Union) Market. It sold other parts of the business to put more effort to make textile business well especially in the market like EU. This allows company to re-invest their profits and expanding the business. (Swann, D., 1992) Q no. 4 If the company were to expand into new areas of the globe, where would you recommend and why? What factors might encourage or discourage this choice? Which areas would be more focused or suitable for the company’s expansion? If the company has to expand somewhere in the near future, to me it will be expanding the china market because the market in china is having a lot of scope even more than the European Union market. Factors that encouraging the choice of expand here I am going to talk about the important factors which are necessary in the expansion of any company weather it is the type of integrations (vertical or horizontal), besides the thinking of merging and taking over we are to discuss some of the factors which can be effective in making the expansion use full as I discussed above the market which I think is most suitable worldwide for the expansion of the business. Davis needs to see some company at china for merging or taken over as the Chinese companies also will be quite very much cheaper than the rest of the world . Factors discouraging the choice of expand Globally managing the staff is quite a big problem as the distance of china and Britain is very far. The timing difference according to me is the biggest problem in the assessment of efficiency of work and better communication Due to big difference in the region the shipment charges can cost high. Q.5 how would you advice the company to go about making a decision on their strategic choice? Company’s choice of making decision should be strategic When a company forms it is passing from the different several phases at the time when it reaches to its peak in term of business development as well as profit ability and the market grip. The strategically approach of the business tells to do the expansion hence if the company like Davis Service Group which was the market leader in its field which I already discussed in early tasks of the report. If we see that choice of making decision towards the expansion of the business in some new market, it could be either the emergence of new system or merging/ taking over to some already working firm. Hence in both cases the major discussion is that, the decision of expanding the business in some new market is strategic. Being an analyst we have to make sure that all the strategies should work together to improve the position of the business. Suggestion in making strategic choice, could they do expansion or not If the company suppose going to take the decision for expansion in some new markets they have to make few points very clear from the top to bottom. Means the company should have first of all resources to buy share or to merge the other company (resources include all the expenses even after buying the business), market situation should be already favour able to company even if need of improvement is there. Try to observe the few positive aspects of the business expansion try to go to a reason able place to expand. Try to grab either new market where no similar sort of business done before or find someplace where the chances of the growth are expected more as per reason of experience (Market like china providing good development chances). The question that could they do that expansion or not are very important to be understand because the phenomenon of expansion is really belong to the present condition of the market situation. Hence present market situation of the company is quite very good the market grip of company over the business is too strong nothing wrong can be said because there share price also rises all the sectors where the company is working, the work is going very efficient following diagram could show us the clear view of situation of the company. (Johnson, G. and at all, 2008) Q.6 As a strategic consultant to the company, what other or alternative strategic measure would you have recommended to the company and why? Recommendation to the company at strategic point of view The company though is working efficiently along with that the areas where the company makes its decisions to get more growth is work ware uniforms 33%, hotels and restaurants 19%, health ware 29%, facilities 10% and sales and production is 9%. Hence the company is working in this kind of situation where it needs to make a concentration on so many things together at a time/ multi tasks like that but in the same nature of the business. Compete successfully: The competition with the other competitors of the business either the big one or sets of small ones is very necessary such business strategies should come under considerations so that the market situation is all the time become under control of the company and hence the market capturing factor of some other company to grow also be kept under consideration to it. As a strategic consultant of the company As a strategic consultant of the company we have to follow few main points through which we can offer the company few good choices to make it well in its work. Suppose the company is working all over well but there is one competitor arose to the market and becoming famous. Basically that happens because of the bad policies and not to having a good eye on the competitor’s activities, so the analysis for the competitor is very much advise able on the routine basis. Like the company Pepsi and coca cola almost making the same sort of brand cold drink and there is very tight competition between those two. For meeting this level of observation the company must work hard even in order to look what is happening in the competitor’s mind as well as analyze it at early stage and try to rectify it with their better policies. Reference Flouris, T. G. And Oswald, S. L. (2006), â€Å"Designing and executing strategy in aviation management†, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. Price, V. C. and at all (1999), â€Å"The enlargement of the European Union: issues and strategies†, Routledge Swann, D. (1992), â€Å"The Single European market and beyond: a study of the wider implications of the Single European Act†, Taylor Francis Johnson, G. and at all (2008), â€Å"Exploring Corporate Strategy†, Pearson Education www.entrepreneur.com/startingabusiness/businessplans/article38308.html#ixzz0LVWlPcRU assessed on 13th July 2009 www.twst.com/notes/articles/lys024.html assessed on 13th July 2009 www.strategicgrowthconcepts.com/services/Business-Information-Articles_I33/Article-The-Elements-of-the-Business-Plan_A30.html assessed on 13th July 2009 www.digitallook.com/companyresearch/10168/Davis_Service_Group/company_research.html assessed on 13th July 2009 www.development.thetimes100.co.uk/case-studydavis-service-group111-278-0.php assessed on 13th July 2009