Competitive Forces and SWOT Analysis Case Study

Competitive Forces and SWOT Analysis - Case Study Example This paper will also discuss the most significant threat to the Whole Foods market, and explain how this company can employ its opportunities and strengths to attain a sustained competitive lead in the market. In addition, this article will include a complete SWOT analysis, and also identify opportunities and threats facing the organization. Question 1: Trends in retailing of organic foods and its impact on the Whole Foods Market There is a variety of trends in the retailing of organic foods. These trends impact the Whole Foods industry and the market at large tremendously (Steve, 2002: 1). Sales of natural products across all retail and directly to consumer channels have grown to about $68 billion in the year 2008; a 10% increment over the prior year. The congress passed an act on organic foods production in 1990. USDA established standards that were official for organically grown products in the United States by regulating agencies responsible for labeling of organic products (Stev e, 2002: 3). 31% of organic food sales were sold by mainstream supermarkets, 22% through sovereign small store chains, and 24% through leading food stores. Some of the top processors of organic foods in the market are General Mills, Kraft, Heinz, Kellogg’s, Dean Foods, Campbell soup, Hunt, Tyson foods, Coca cola and Del Monte (Porter, 1980: 295). Research carried out by the USDA depicts that, in 2000, surplus organic products were sold in conservative supermarkets than in the ordinary food stores (Thompson, Strickland & Gamble, 2010: 23). Most of the common organic foods sold included wine, pasta, beef, yogurt, vinegar, canned fruits and vegetables, apples, tomatoes, cucumbers, broccoli and lettuces among others. Despite the fierce competition in the price of organic products, consumer demands still remain high. The factors that have increased demand for organic products include health consciousness, healthy eating patterns, consumer concerns, soil, and water. Question 2: Ass ess the competitive situation of the firm by applying Porter’s model and hence, analyze each aspect relative to the business Porter’s five forces analysis comprises of a framework for industry analysis and business strategy development (Porter, 1980: 215). Porter refers to these forces as the micro environment. He developed these five forces in reaction to the then-prominent SWOT analysis, which he identified as ad hoc and un-rigorous (Fine, 2009: 3). These forces have been applied in enterprises so as to stabilize them hence, making them more profitable. These forces include intensity of competitive rivalry, risk of new competition, bargaining command of customers, bargaining supremacy of suppliers, and risk from substitute services and products. Most profitable markets yield substantial returns that attract other new firms. The fresh foods market earned over $350 million in 2008. Moreover, the Whole Foods achieved sales worth $6.5 billion in the same year (Thompson, Strickland & Gamble, 2010: 14). The competitive strength and strategy of the Whole Foods Company immensely attributed to success in their sales. Over 90,000 items were sold to consumers from the Whole Foods Company which had 284 stores in that period (Thompson, Strickland & Gamble, 2010: 20). This company was facing slight competition from the Fresh Markets Company where some products were being substituted for others by the customers. The

How Play Benefits Autistic Children Essay Example for Free

How Play Benefits Autistic Children Essay Autism results in several deficiencies in children that affect their educational and social lives. Autistic children feel difficulty to interact with their peers and they even cannot play individually (Sherratt and Peter p. 34). Relevant behavioral deficiencies are also found in autistic children if they have deficiency to play either individually or in group (Wolfberg, p. 23) and they feel difficult to socialize (Williams, Reddy and Costell p. 67-77). Types of Play There are different types of play in which children are engaged such as soico-dramatic play, symbolic play and functional play. In symbolic play, children use their imaginations to use any object as any other object that is not present. The object used in this type of play does not possess the properties of the object that is imagined to be present in place of the actual object (Libby, Powell, Messer, Jordan, p. 487-497). Children use common things in their symbolic play to represent specific things such as they use sticks and imagine that they are using swords. Where as, in functional play, children do not use imaginary things, rather they use things that are really useful for their play (Libby et al. , p. 487-497). In such a play, children may cook pretend food by using toy kitchen objects such as cooking utensils that are made from plastic for playing purpose. Children play specific roles in socio-dramatic play. They use particular themes to represent specific roles. Most common socio-dramatic themes are playing school, playing hospital and playing house in which each child is given a specific role to perform. Autistic children find it hard to engage in such type of play because they do not feel comfortable in playing roles that require specific social cues, nature of pretending and language. There are different levels of playing. The child does not require any other child to play with in an isolated play. In this type of play a child plays gets involved in a particular activity and plays with an object with out the need of other children (Sherratt and Peter p. 58-74). Children involve in this type of play only when they are engaged with their favorite toy or object. Autistic children play with an object or a toy in a way that is not common to that object or toy (Wolfberg, p. 78). An autistic child with lacking playing skills does not play with a car in a way that normal children do rather that child would prefer to spin the wheels of the car and would not move the car as normal children do. There is another type of play known as common focus or dyadic play. This type of play requires a child to play with another child. This type of play cannot be played in isolation (Sherratt and Peter, p. 76-95). Usually two children get involved in this type of play. When an autistic child gets involved in this type of play, he or she is more likely to be closer to another child while play but he or she will not interact with another child. Three or more children get involved in group play (Mittledorf, Hendricks and Landreth, p. 63-86). Children involved in group playing usually play board games, non-team games that can be played in a playground. An autistic child does not get involved in this type of play as it requires social cues and peer interaction Another example of play is team play in which a common goal is set to achieved and two or more groups compete with each other to achieve their goal (Mittledorf, Hendricks and Landreth, , p. 63-86). This type of play is organized either on a playgroud or in-house such as team tag, baseball, kickball and basketball. This type of play requires social interaction, rules of play to be followed and high level of activity and thus autistic children usually find it difficult to get involved in this type of play. Some Play Strategies to Help Autistic Children Learn More Efficiently Educational decisions should be based on the individual qualities, skills and needs of every child. Autistic children should be considered in the same way. There are several factors that determine which intervention should be implemented by a teacher to teach playing skills to a child. These factors are the determination of the developmental level of the child, the language level of the child and the determination of the type of the play to be taught. Developmental Readiness It is very important to determine the developmental level of the child before considering which intervention will be implemented for the child. This type of determination is very important for the children that are passing through their early childhood phase. Lifter et al. (1993) found out that it is very important to know the developmental level of the autistic child in order to select a play to teach preschool autistic children. When children are involved in play activities that are appropriate according to their developmental level, they get involved in those activities very quickly and they do not spend much time to learn those activities. Children learn developmentally appropriate activities more quickly as compared to activities that are appropriate according to their age because at the same age, different children have different developmental levels that are necessary to know (Lifter et al. , p. 139-159). Different developmental objects are used to identify which activity is developmentally appropriate for a child to learn (e. g. , Broomfield p. 732-745). The present level of functioning of a child determines which developmentally appropriate activity should be chosen regarding of the age appropriateness because the developmental level of every child is different. Some children’s level is more advanced so the activities and skills selected for them are different from those whose developmental level is lower than their age. Same thing goes to the autistic children whose developmental levels differ from child to child. Language Development Stahmer (p. 123-141) observed the autistic children with the typical children when both types of children were involved in symbolic play. It was observed that both the groups were involved to an equal extent when their language abilities were the same. So it is advised to initially find out the language abilities and developmental level of autistic children when plan to teach play skills to such children. Mundy, Sigman, Ungerer, and Sherman (p. 349-364) found that language development is based on play skills. The language abilities of autistic children can be developed during their play with other children. The autistic children learn different aspects of language such as they learn how to take turn, their behavior is related when they request for their turn, and they are involved in joint attention and other social interactions (Baranek et al p. 20-30). Peer Involvement Peer involvement matters a lot. Typically developing children can play a great role in engaging their autistic peers in appropriate play and positive activities (Blanc, et al p. 229-245). There are different ways in which the typically developing children can be encouraged to engage their autistic peers in social activities such as programs for peer tutoring, Circle of Friends etc. Teachers can discuss with typical peers about autism through an informal method. In this method, teachers discuss with typical peers about the ways in which they should initiate their social interactions with their autistic peers and they are also taught that they should accept social initiations if made by their autistic peers. If typical peers do not encourage social interactions in a natural setting then training programs are initiated for them. It is also found that group games with same age-group play an important role in increasing positive social interactions and appropriate play (Baker et al. , p. 300-308). The researchers also pointed out that natural setting plays a great role. So, it is advised in order to get successful generalization, the setting of group games should be kept as natural as possible. There are a number of games that can be played in groups on the playground such as tag, baseball etc (Baker et al. , p. 300-308). Setting and Intervention Method Setting and intervention method are as important to consider as the type of play. Teachers should consider different types of setting when they are to select the settings to teach play skills to autistic children. There is a variety of appropriate setting for such a task including the classroom of autistic children or of typical children to give them general education, a day care setting, the home of a child, playground of the school or a local park or other areas where students can be engaged in playing. Using Peer Trainers and Peer Models Blanc et al found that children usually make other children involve with them while they are playing. Children should be encouraged to play because when they play with each other, they learn social and behavioral skills through interaction. Children who do not feel comfortable in such interactions do not go through experiences that are essential for their development. Autistic children do not prefer to play with their peers and they hesitate to socialize but they also get involved in activities when integrated settings are provided to them. This means that autistic children do not prefer non-integrated settings (Blanc, et al p. 229-245). Integrated classroom is essential when typical children are encouraged to interact with their autistic peers. Integrated classroom is useful only if an intervention is implemented, otherwise typical children would prefer to play with other typical children and they would not preferably interact with their autistic peers (Blanc et al p. 229-245). Goldstein et al. also believed that social interactions among typical and autistic peers should be increased and for that purpose they developed a number of intervention strategies that were purely peer-mediated. The main purpose of those strategies was typically to bring typical and autistic peers closer by increasing social interactions between them. In this intervention strategy, typical children were taught how to initiate social interactions with their autistic peers and how to respond when their autistic peer initiate an interaction. This intervention resulted in an improvement in the social behaviors of autistic peers. Autistic children are encouraged through this strategy to respond to any initiation made by typical peers. The social behavior of autistic children are also strengthened when they get a response from the typical peers (Goldstein et al. , p. 265-280). Group Games. The facilitation of play skills and social interactions can be increased by incorporating typical peers into games and activities with their autistic peers (Baker et al. , p. 300-308). Teachers can use the preferred topics of autistic children in which they can get involved easily to increase their social behaviors. Baker et al. (p. 300-308) suggested that group games should be developed by asking the autistic children about their favorite topics. These groups are usually very common such as tag. Children are usually inspired by movie characters so teaches should ask autistic children about their favorite movie character and they should incorporate that character into the game. In this way, autistic children are motivated and they become interested in engaging with their typical peers through social interactions. In tag game, the target autistic child and typical children are given instructions about the game and then they are encouraged to play the game. Baker et al. , found that social interactions among autistic child and typical children increase because the target autistic child is given more importance as he or she is the who has chosen the topic of the tag game, typical children become involved because they find a lot of fun in the tag game, and the target autistic child, as a result, gets motivated to increase his or her social interactions with his or her peers. Integrated Play Groups Model. Integrated play groups model can be used as another effective method to increase the play interactions among the typical and autistic children. In this type of play, the children are provided with proper guidance, support, environmental arrangements (Wolfberg, p. 52). the setting of the play area is very important to consider. Children should be engaged in activities in places where children normally play. In such a setting majority of the children should be socially competent so that they are able to integrate their autistic peer easily and comfortably. The environment of the play area should encourage play activity. The play area should be of a normal size, the materials should be arranged properly and the children should be able to access and organize the material easily (Wolfberg, p. 52). The play groups should be balanced. Wolfberg (p. 52) explained that all the members of the play groups must be familiar to each other, means that they are children who meet with each other regularly. The play groups may have children of different age groups but they should be socially competent. It is very important to determine the competencies of the target child. This element is very important to consider when developing an integrated play groups model. With the help of this feature it will be easy for the teacher to find out how much and what type of support has to be given to the target child. In order to facilitate the group play, the target child should be given the opportunity to select what type of activity he or she wants to play and this thing will help the teacher to find out the developmental level of the target child. Guided participation is also encouraged in this model. Children are guided by an adult how to involve in a play that will enhance their social behaviors. The adult should provide supportive guidance instead of directive one (Blanc et al pp. 229-245). The principle of immersion should be followed in this model, means that children should be fully immersed in the play. Through immersion, more experienced children help the less experienced children in learning their roles under the supported guidance of an adult facilitator (Blanc et al pp. 229-245). Conclusion As autistic children have to struggle for the development of play and social skills in them, the teachers should be aware of all the necessary methods that are useful to teach the autistic children the required skills. A teacher must be able to determine the developmental level, language level and peer involvement level of the target autistic child and then the teacher should design, select and implement strategies that will enhance the required skills in him or her. The learning ability of autistic children also depends on the type of play and setting in which the activity will be initiated. The researcher can conclude at this point that play is very important in childhood as children learn from each others experiences. Autistic children need to be taught how to socialize in order to make them useful citizens and for this purpose it is very important to implement strategies that are necessary to fulfill this task. Works Cited Baker, M. J. , Koegel, R. L., Koegel, L. K. Increasing the social behavior of young children with autism using their obsessive behaviors. The Journal of the Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps, 23 (1998), 300-308. Baranek, G. T. et al Object play in infants with autism: methodological issues in retrospective video analysis. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 59(1) (2005), pp. 20-30. Blanc, R, et al Dysregulation of pretend play and communication development in children with autism. Autism, 9(3) (2005), pp. 229-245.

Correlation Between Mental Illness and Violence and Crime Essay

Literature Analysis and Research Proposal of the Correlation between Mental Illness and Violence and Crime Over the past few decades, many researches have strived to test and explain the correlation between violence and crime and mental illness. Moore and Hiday (2006) assert that up 22% of inmates has a mental illness, sometimes containing more mental illness patients than many psychiatric units. Due to these statistics it is evident how important it is to understand the causes of the correlations between crime and violence and mental disorders. This proposal wishes to explain and understand the possible correlation and the reasons for such correlation between mental health illnesses and violence and crime. Further research to test these theories of crime and mental disorders will also be presented. Crime can be described combination between both behavior and mental factors. This will prove incredibly crucial in the definition of crime in relation to mental illness. Many of those that commit crimes are not convicted due to their illness so it is important to note, for the purpose of this analysis, that all illegal activity is considered crime, regardless of conviction (Monahan and Steadman 1983). It is evident that those with mental illnesses have an increased likelihood of committing crimes. It is important to note, however, that not all people with mental illnesses commit crimes or violent behavior so a cause is not evident. Substance abuse, a mental disorder, is also seen as a large risk in violent behavior (Silver 2006). Hiday (1995) asks the questions of the direction of this correlation. Does mental illness lead to violence or is it vice versa? THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS Silver (2006) asserts the importance of using t... ...s.† Law and Human Behavior 30(6):659-674. Powell, Thomas A., John C. Holt and Karen M. Fondacaro. 1997. â€Å"The Prevalence of Mental Illness among Inmates in a Rural State.† Law and Human Behavior 21(4):427-438. Robbins, Pamela Clark, John Monahan and Eric Silver. 2003. â€Å"Mental Disorder, Violence, and Gender.† Law and Human Behavior 27(6):561-571. Silver, Eric. 2006. â€Å"Understanding the Relationship between Mental Disorder and Violence: The Need for a Criminological Perspective.† Law and Human Behavior 30(6):685-706. Silver, Eric and Brent Teasdale. 2005. â€Å"Mental Disorder and Violence: An Examination of Stressful Life Events and Impaired Social Support.† Social Problems 52(1):62-78. Walsh, Zach and David S. Kosson. 2007. â€Å"Psychopathy and Violent Crime: A Prospective Study of the Influence of Socioeconomic Status and Ethnicity.† Law and Human Behavior 31(2):209-229.

Policing History Essay

During the late 1700s and early 1800s, a breakdown in social control led to disorder, crime, riots, and public health issues in England. The 1780 Gordon riots brought a 50-year debate on how to provide better public safety. One man fighting to improve law enforcement was the home secretary, Sir Robert Peel. In 1822, Peel’s first task as home secretary was to meet the demands of Parliament for a reform of the criminal laws. During this time of rising crime statistics, Peel was convinced that legal reform should be accompanied with improved methods of crime prevention (Gash, 2012). It was not until Peel returned to the home office in 1828 with the Wellington government that he began working toward the creation of an adequate police force. In 1829, peel introduced a bill that was to improve the police in and around the Metropolis (Lyman, 1964). Fearing the introduction of a military-style force, Peel’s ideas were initially resisted. Eventually Parliament passed the bill as the Metropolitan Police Act and provided funds to establish a force of 1000 officers (Grant & Terry, 2012). The Metropolitan Police were different from any previous law enforcement. The officers were direct employees of the state and organized like the military. They were subject to clear chains of command and rules of conduct. Officers were to wear uniforms and carry badges with their identification number inscribed upon it (Grant & Terry, 2012). Peel believed it was important for the new police to win public acceptance. The moral character of the police had to be above suspicion (Lyman, 1964). Many officers were dismissed for non-appearance and drunkenness within the first few days (Metropolitan Police, 2012). Peel believed that prevention of crime could be accomplished without intruding into the lives of citizens. The principles supporting Peel’s theory on policing are as relevant today as they were in the 1800s. Faced with similar elements of social disorder, American leaders â€Å"borrowed† some of the fundamental tenets of the London police. The American forces were to model the London police with preventive patrol to be the major facet. The structure of political control of the police was very different. London residents had no direct control over their police and American citizens exercised direct control over government agencies. Instead of being disciplined and separate from the political machine, American police were serving the interests of the politically powerful. There were close ties between the police and public officials (University of Phoenix, 2011). Politics influenced every aspect of American policing, and is why the period from the 1830s to 1900 is called the â€Å"political era.† Officers were selected by their political connections. There were men with no education, in bad health, and some with criminal records hired. The officers were handed a badge, a baton, and sent out on patrol duty with little or no training. Officers had no job security and when an election was lost, an entire force would be replaced by the winning party (Williams, 2003). Many reports indicate that many police officers drank on duty and used excessive physical force. Citizens became disrespectful and often fought back when arrested (Walker & Katz, 2011). In response to increasing citizen violence, officers began to carry firearms. Police corruption was rampant. The police took payoffs for not enforcing laws on drinking, gambling, and prostitution. Officers paid bribes to get promotions but the promotion allowed greater opportunities of corruption. The New York commissioner, forced to resign in 1894, admitted he had a personal fortune of over $350,000 (Walker & Katz, 2011). In the early 1900s came the reform era where emphasis was put on solving â€Å"traditional† crimes and capturing offenders. The citizens calling for reform and removal of politics from policing brought the development of police professionalism and the professional organization of Fraternal Order of Police (University of Phoenix, 2011). In the 1970s, police departments realized that effective community partnerships help prevent and solve crimes. Known as the community era, police departments work to identify and serve the needs of their communities (University of Phoenix, 2011). Today there are many different law enforcement agencies in the United States. Policing organizations today have different roles and functions at the federal, local, and state level. The government plays a major role in assisting policing throughout the United States. The first federal agency established by the U.S. government was the U.S. Marshall Service. Since then there have been eight government departments with 21 agencies created that deal with issues of law enforcement (Grant & Terry, 2012). The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) are the two most important federal departments involved with law enforcement. Each government agency provides policing organizations throughout the United States with assistance. When different organizations operate within overlapping areas, they can duplicate information. The two organizations may not readily share information or one holds the information creates linkage blindness. Since September 2011, the government restructured many agencies so that coordinating intelligence and law enforcement resources effectively. Today, police organizations model the principles established by Sir Robert Peel into their own mission statement. References Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia. (2011). Sir Robert Peel. Retrieved from http://ebscohost Gash, N. (2012). Peel, Sir Robert, 2nd Baronet. Retrieved from http://ebscohost Grant, H. B., & Terry, K. J. (2012). Law Enforcement in the 21st Century (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall. Lyman, J. L. (1964). The Metropolitan Police Act of 1829: An Analysis of Certain Events Influencing the Passage and Character of the Metropolitan Police Act in England. Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology, & Police Science, 55(1), 141-154. Retrieved from http://ebscohost Metropolitan Police. (2012). History of the Metropolitan Police: Metropolitan Police 175 years ago. Retrieved from http://www.met.police.uk/history/175yearsago.htm University of Phoenix. (2011). CJi Interactive. Retrieved from http://ecampus.phoenix.edu/secure/aapd/UC/CJ/index.html Walker, S., & Katz, C. M. (2011). The Police in America: An Introduction (7th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. Williams, K. L. (2003). Peelà ¢â‚¬â„¢s Principles and Their Acceptance by American Police: Ending 175 Years of Reinvention. Police Journal, 76(2), 97-120. Retrieved from http://ebscohost

Which Has Posed the Greatest Problem for Singaporean in Ensuring Social Harmony †Racial Differences, Religious Differences or the Threat of Transnational Terrorism? Explain You Answer.

In a multi-ethnic and multi-religious society like Singapore, there is a need to manage the racial and religious sensitivities and promote tolerance and harmony. In addition, there is also the need to build national identity by instilling a sense of belonging. Therefore, there is a need to identify the most important problem out of the three and then solve it. The first problem is managing the perceptions of different racial groups. There is a need to manage this problem as preconceived notions of biased treatment by the government against any racial group could lead to the outbreak of violence among the different communities.For example, in 1964, Singapore experienced race riots which resulted in 36 dead and 590 injured. Singapore was in Malaysia then, and the UMNO felt threatened when the PAP participated in the 1964 Federal elections. The UMNO then led an anti-PAP campaign in the medium using the Utusan Melayu, claiming that PAP’s rule disadvantaged the Malays and that Mala y Singaporeans remained poor under PAP’s rule. They also claimed that PAP was uprooting Malay families in resettlement projects. Some UMNO extremists even came to Singapore and made fiery speeches that angered many Singaporean Malays.In July 1964, during the celebration of Prophet Muhammad’s birthday, a clash between a Chinese policeman and a group of Malay participants turned into a full-blown race riot over the next few days. This shows how the perceptions of unequal treatment towards the different races can cause suspicions, distrust and even hostility among Singaporeans, even if these perceptions are not based on facts. Therefore, this problem must be managed to prevent any outbreak of violence among citizens. The second problem is managing the perceptions of different religious groups.There is a need to do this as differences in religious beliefs and practices are issues that can create tension among people in Singapore, especially if it has been perceived that th e concerns of a certain religious community have not been considered. This is shown in the Maria Hertogh riot during 1950. Maria Hertogh, born to Dutch-Eurasian parents was adopted during the war by an Indonesian Muslim woman, Aminah, as her parents were interned by the Japanese. After the war, the Hertoghs launched a legal battle for the custody of their daughter. The custody battle attracted intense media attention worldwide.The judge ordered that Maria be placed temporarily in a Catholic convent while the trail was taking place. Photographs in newspaper of Maria, who was raised a Muslim, in a Catholic convent before a statue of Virgin Mary affected religious sensitivities and angered the Muslim Community as they felt that their religion was not respected at all. The British courts gave custody of Maria to her biological mother. Upon hearing the judgement, huge crowds outside the court rioted, convinced that the colonial laws, the courts and the legal system was prejudiced against the Muslims.The riots showed that if issues with religious implications are not handled in a sensitive manner, hostility and distrust could occur among people. The last problem is managing the threats from external forces. This also needs to be managed because transnational terrorist groups tend to exploit religious or race issues in order to achieve their political aims, suspicion and tension may arise among people in multi-ethnic societies like Singapore. For an example, the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) is a militant group which has been active in the Southeast Asia. Its aim is to set up an Islamic state in Asia.Some of its activities include fund-raising and purchasing materials for making bombs. From 2001-2002, 34 JI members were arrested under the Internal Security Act for their involvement in terrorist-related activities. Targets in Singapore included the US embassy and some government buildings. Following the arrests, there was some mixed reactions from Singaporeans who were prepar ed to do harm in the various ethnic communities. Shocked that there were Singaporeans who were prepared to do harm to innocent civilians, some members of the public expressed distrust towards members of certain communities.This shows that managing external threats poses a significant challenge, as it has potential to divide people along racial and religious lines. All in all, I feel that the problem that has posed the greatest threat for Singapore in ensuring social harmony is the threat of transnational terrorism. As it can cause distrust between both religions and races while the other two can only either cause distrust among religions or races. In addition, if they manage to overcome the threat from external forces, citizens will be able to trust each other and violence and distrust will not breakout.

Sharpen Up Your Writing A Quick Guide to Sentence Types

Sharpen Up Your Writing A Quick Guide to Sentence Types Sharpen Up Your Writing: A Quick Guide to Sentence Types Writing in grammatical sentences helps you to express yourself clearly, but there’s more to sentence structure than syntactical construction alone. It’s also important to consider the type of sentences you use. The four sentence types you need to know are simple, compound, complex and compound-complex sentences. Simple Sentence Structure At its most basic, a simple sentence combines a subject and a verb to express a complete thought: I run. In the above, the subject is â€Å"I† and the verb is â€Å"run.† This is all the sentence needs to express that the speaker is someone who runs. Of course, not all simple sentences are quite so basic: My fitness-obsessed brother and I run at least five miles every day. This example includes more detail, but remains a simple sentence because it expresses a complete thought in itself. Another term for a simple sentence is an â€Å"independent clause.† Compound Sentences A compound sentence is a sentence with two or more independent clauses connected by a coordinating conjunction (e.g., â€Å"and,† â€Å"but,† â€Å"or,† â€Å"so,† etc.): I love my brother, and my brother loves running. I love my brother, but I hate running. In each of these cases, the statement on either side of the conjunction could work as a standalone sentence; however, by combining them in a compound sentence we clarify the relationship between the two thoughts expressed (e.g., that my hatred of running is why I don’t run). Complex Sentences Unlike simple and compound sentences, complex sentences contain both an independent and a dependent clause. A dependent clause is one that contains a verb, but doesn’t express a complete thought and begins with a subordinating conjunction (e.g., â€Å"although,† â€Å"after,† â€Å"while†, â€Å"unless†, etc.): I like to watch TV, whereas my brother enjoys running. Here, â€Å"I like to live watch TV† is an independent clause (i.e., it would work as a simple sentence without modification). The dependent clause â€Å"whereas my brother enjoys running,† on the other hand, would not work as a sentence by itself since the subordinating conjunction whereas implies a comparison and expresses a particular relationship between the two parts of the sentence. It’s worth noting here that subordinating conjunctions can also come at the start of a complex sentence (this is known as a periodic sentence): Whereas my brother enjoys running, I like to watch TV. Compound-Complex Sentences A compound-complex sentence is one which contains three or more clauses (at least two independent and one dependent): While I enjoy watching TV, my brother loves running, and my sister is a body builder. In the above, we have one dependent clause beginning with a subordinating conjunction (â€Å"While I enjoy watching TV†). This is followed by two independent clauses (â€Å"my brother loves running† and â€Å"my sister is a body builder†) joined by a coordinating conjunction. Now that you know how these different sentence types work, we hope youll use a variety of them in your writing!

JCPenney.com Minicase essays

JCPenney.com Minicase essays 1. The search engine is a very helpful tool that should be implemented by any online retailer. A search engine will allow JCPenneys online shoppers find a product or service being offered. Furthermore, the search engine will allow a shopper to find more information about a product he or she is looking for and therefore help the customer in his purchase decision-making. 2. JCPenneys legacy system helped the company extend and support its business online. In fact, the legacy system has helped JCPenney accomplish its goals in promoting its online business because they were able to leverage on their existing infrastructure and add new features to their web site such as quick payment methods. By doing so, JCPenney saved a great amount of money on the implementation of the new system. 3. The information technology that could help JCPenney promote its business is: Powerful server to allow the online user to access the site 24hrs a day without any interruptions. Real-time inventory software that will allow the JCPenneys inventory to be always up to date. An extranet that will allow business partners to access JCPenneys web site. E-mail that will allow efficient communication within the company and outside partners and customers. Networks that will allow different users to have access to the same information. 4. JCPenneys uses IT infrastructure to attract more online shoppers. By doing so, it will generate more online sales. IT enables JCPenney to get into the e-marketplace and engage into e-commerce transactions. By having IT implemented in its business, JCPenney has created a new sale channel. This new online sale channel will provide extra revenue for the company and reduce some of the companys expenditures. 5. To provide a customer service, JCPenney has implemented the following items on its store front-page: store locator, catalogs, about us ...