A lawsuit involving one or more tort claims Case Study

A lawsuit involving one or more tort claims - Case Study Example Brody Green’s mother who sued Blitz for liability for the death of Mr. Green from an explosion of Blitz manufactured can when he poured gasoline into fire. Blitz won this case but was later ordered by the court to pay $250,000 to Mr. Green’s mother for failing to provide documents related to flame arresters. The other case involved a father, Mr. Calder, of a 2-year old girl in Utah, who sued Blitz in 2010 for damages resulting from the death of his daughter when a can exploded after he, David Calder, was pouring gasoline on the flame. In this case, the court ordered Blitz to pay David Calder $4 million. The article also mentions one case among 36 other cases against Blitz that are still open; the case involves Chad Funchess, a volunteer fire fighter, from South Carolina whose half body was seriously burned when a can exploded in 2007, South Carolina when filling up a chain saw. Generally, these suits claim that the Blitz manufactured cans were predisposed to flashback explosions resulting from gasoline vapors followed the trail of the vapor into the container and ignited. Therefore, they argue that, Blitz ought to have installed flame arrester shields at the containers mouth in order to prevent flashback explosions. This is a case of tort-liability lawsuit, in which plaintiffs are suing the defendant for damages, asking the court to award the compensation on the grounds that the defendant’s negligence resulted on injuries to them. These cases are under the state court although some of the cases-the case of Mr. Green’s mother v. Blitz and that of David Calder v. Blitz-were heard a United States District Court, which are federal courts. As for the cases, Mr. Green’s mother v. Blitz and that of David Calder v. Blitz, Chad Funchess v. Blitz were heard in federal courts because the courts had jurisdiction over the subject matter of the cases as the plaintiffs in the said two cases did not share state of

Neural basis of game theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Neural basis of game theory - Essay Example Various neurobiologists’ research employs the use of game theory to investigate the neural foundation of decision making; and proposes that the social characteristics of social decision making mirrors the purposes of the brain areas that responds to reward evaluation and reinforcement learning. The game theory appears as having evolutionary and growth stages that end up affecting the reasoning of different groups of people (Glimcher, 288). Game theory situation involves the process of decision making, where the results depend on the choice made by the players in question. The word game comes from any occurrence with negative or positive outcomes influenced by the choice made by the player; while sometimes the decision is based on chance (Glimcher, 290). The game theory evolved from different studies done by different researchers over a period of time. In 1921, a French mathematician named Emile Borel, issued numerous papers tackling the theory of games using poker as exhibition. Later in the year 1928 another paper by John Von Neumann was published. Subsequently, the year 1944, John Von Neumann and Oscar Morgenstern collaborated and discovered the theory of games and economic behavior. There appears a significant level of growth in the theory of games when, Prisoner’s dilemma comes into play in the year 1950, which introduced the dominant strategy theory. The 1953 marks the introduction of the answer to non cooperative games which comes in play as a result of evolution of Nash equilibrium. In the years 1970, the theory gains extensive application and biology with the growth of evolutionary game theory. The year 2007 marks its extensive use in almost field for decision making intentions; the software that tracks down terroris ts uses the theory of games (Glimcher, 305). The theory assumes that the player appears rational;

Easyjet: Business Model Analysis

Easyjet: Business Model Analysis Easyjet.com EasyJet.com is one of the top travel web sites on the Internet. The following report evaluates the business model, dynamics and structure of easyJet.com. It also outlines the factors responsible for the company’s success including business focus, target market, corporate structure and e-business model. In doing so, the author also hopes to find out what are some of the important aspects of e-business that differentiate and benefit corporations in setting up e-commerce sites such as easyJet.com. Online travel sites have flocked the Internet in the recent years making travel much easier than before. With the number of online visitors rising every year, the travel market in Europe is estimated to reach Euro 20 billion by 2006 (Europemedia 2002). Success in this market is inherent in deliberate strategic e-business and e-commerce modelling. This is evidence in the following report on easyJet.com. Building e-business focused web content requires deliberate business as well as technological considerations. These range from the site outlook to the usability and structure of the web site (Dietel, Dietel and Nieto 2001). easyJet.com in terms of an online travel resource is a comprehensive web site designed to deliver a host of services without redundant graphics or advertisements to distract its visitors. This is because easyJet.com knows its audience: online visitors living in the continent of Europe looking for cheap, comfortable and comprehensive real time travel related deals without the hassle of third party agents. To serve this type of audience easyJet.com has designed a web site that has all information easily available in all the dominant languages of the region and segmented under different tabs of accommodation, car rental, travel insurance, airport related transport and flight booking to allow the visitor to go directly to required service. It also has sub tabs for easy access to schedules, timetables and rates etc. in real time. Each of these sections and sub sections are governed by moderate graphics to represent the services easyJet.com has to offer and links to the different web pages within its web site. Moderate use of text eliminates time wastage yet at the same time conveys accurate message to the audience to guide them to various links based on logical visitorâ₠¬â„¢s usage. For example a visitor booking a flight will first insert the date of travel, destination, and check for its availability; then moves on to make the final booking/purchase. There is enough information on each page to support the requirement of the visitor without abstract marketing banners to detract real buyers. Unlike its competitors web sites like www.lastminute.com or www.bahn.de, easyJet.com concentrates on usability and reliability of information (Nielson 1994) rather than visibility and colourful display alone. However, this is not to say that the web site lacks colours. The use of orange colour throughout the web site is consistent with easyJets own corporate colour code so that clients can associate with easyJet the airline company, which is a critical aspect of web site development (Nielson 1994). easyJet is a no-frills airline and it targets at the business and the leisure consumers. Likewise, easyJet.com also targets the business and leisure consumers who are not interested in dealing with third party intermediaries. The target audience is keen on saving time and money. For the business and frequent fliers, easyJet.com provides easy access to booking, scheduling of flights, accommodation and transportation. Amenities like choice of airport lounges or airport parking are important in making the process of travel booking complete. Realizing corporate need for discounted and group travel easyJet.com has reserved a section of its website for B2B transactions which offers unique packages especially for the business to business customers. On the other hand for the leisure individual travellers, easyJet.com also serves them with daily flights, hotel, insurance, airport transportation and such services and at the same time updates them with offers of the week, seasonal packages, and weekend deals which the consumers may avail whenever they like. Based on these target audiences and the kind of services offered, easyJet.com could be considered to be an ideal re-intermediation where the manufacturer/service provider (easyJet) is in direct contact with the consumers communicated through an electronic medium (Internet). This form of intermediation reduces cost through agency intermediation, customer service, networks and help in transforming the business to e-business corporate structure. Consequently, the company uses technology mediation to sell its products and services and create business value. The purpose of setting up an online business is to ensure growth, efficiency, competitive advantage and leverage over competitors. More importantly an e-business structure helps in deciding the direction of the business. easyJet.com initially followed an â€Å"e-manufacturer† business model as it had been the provider of online airline ticketing for UK residents (EasyJet Profile 2003). A manufacturer business model in e-commerce sense refers service providers who may or may not be in direct contact with the consumers. Being an e-manufacturer meant that easyJet.com has been able to cut down its supply chain to deal with its consumers directly. This is evidence in the fact that easyJet had sold approximately 90% of its flights online (EasyJet Profile 2003). However, as the company evolved its e-business model also changed to have become a travel related service â€Å"merchant†. This is evidence from the expansionary steps taken to include hotel and apartment booking services, car rental, airport lounges as well as parking services which are out of bound of easyJet.coms core product category. By subletting services of hotels, car rental and the like easyJet.com has become the intermediary and has been able to generate more profits, add value to its product offering and target more customer base (Afuh and Tucci 2002). easyJet.coms success could be attributed to management understanding of its business model and its function to the organizational structure. Given the constantly evolving business environment of today, easyJet and other businesses need to understand the dynamic nature of their organization and anticipate future business needs. Understanding and adopting business models are critical endeavours that enable the business to develop competitive advantage and add value to products and services (Eckersley, Harris and Jackson 2003). Understanding ones business model helps in reducing inefficient functions, redundancies and untargeted markets. It helps in designing and adopting new business model(s) that may be more attuned to the requirement and needs of the market by creating niches or segmentation. Especially on the internet, business models need to be evaluated constantly to match with the consumer demands and business environment need to sustain competitive edge (Bloch, Pigneur and Segev 1996). A flexible company or entrepreneur would be able to understand the need in keeping its e-business model dynamic and be able to anticipate change management as and when required. In the authors opinion this is critical for the success of any business whether online or offline because change management is important. Organization today have to take into consideration transaction cost, budgets, organizational design and its implications as well as the impact of change on the organization (Jones 2003). Considerations to these aspects mean that the entrepreneur or the management of the company needs to be flexible enough to react and implement change as required not for the benefit of being flexible but also for profitability’s sake. For example easyJet.com initially started out as a no-frill airline at the domestic level but it has been fast in adapting to the new e-business model of merchant/retailer for travel related services without compromising its core product and service. Co nsequently, it has been able to gain competitive advantage in the no-frill airline business before other organizations have been able to forecast its emergence. Thus, in my opinion organizations that do not capitalize on opportunity cost inherent in flexibility lose out in competitive advantage and therefore fail to add value to the products and services that they have to offer. Ultimately, it will lose out in the competition. The above report reflects easyJet.coms dynamic strategy for its online business model. Through its web site, easyJet has been able to secure one of the top positions among travel related web sites. Not only this but the structure, design, usability and usefulness of the website have enabled it to secure leverage over its competitors. More importantly, easyJet.com has incorporated flexibility in its e-business model which enables it to foresee change and develop strategies to counteract accordingly. Consequently it has become one of the most successful web sites on the Internet. References Afuah, A. and Tucci, C. 2002, Internet Business Models and Strategies: Text and cases, 2nd edition, McGraw Hill Author not available, 2002, Europeans flock to online travel sites. Europemedia. Amsterdam: Feb 14, 2002 Issue. Author not available, 2003, EasyJet Profile, BizEd, Accessed on 7-11-2005 from: http://www.bized.ac.uk/compfact/easyjet/easyindex.htm> Bloch M, Pigneur Y, Segev A 1996, ‘Leveraging Electronic Commerce for Competitive Advantage: a Business Value Framework’ 9th International Conference on EDI-IOS Bled, Slovenia. Deitel, Deitel Nieto, 2001, e-Business and e-Commerce: How to program, Prentice Hall. easyJet Official Website, Accessed on 7-11-2005 from: www.easJet.com> Eckersley, P. M, Harris, L. and Jackson, P. 2003, E-Business Fundamentals: Managing Organisations in the Electronic Age. Routledge: New York. Jones, G. 2003, Organizational Theory, Design, and Change, Fourth Edition, Prentice Hall. Nielson, J. 1994, Ten Usability Heuristics. In Nielsen, J., and Mack, R.L. (Eds.), Usability Inspection Methods, John Wiley Sons, New York, NY. Available at: http://www.useit.com/papers/heuristic/heuristic_list.html Phillips P. 2003, E-Business Strategy, McGraw-Hill. www.bahn.de www.lastminute.com

Motivation, Communication and Leadership Theory Essay -- Business and

Motivation, Communication and Leadership Theory In this essay I will discuss the various different theories on motivation such as scientific management e.g. Taylor as well the humans relation approach such as Maslow and Herzberg and how they relate to organisations improving their overall effiencentcy. Another aspect that I will discuss in the following essay will also be how communication can affect the productivity of a company, I will also relate this to motivational theory. The final aspect of my essay that I will include is discussing how different leadership styles can affect the overall productivity of a given company. One motivation theory that some companies used to use was the scientific approach, this was put forward by Taylor. It was mainly used in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Taylor developed his theory while he was working his way up from labourer to works manager in an US steel mill. His theory states that man is a rational economic animal concerned with maximising his economic gain. He also stated that people respond as individuals not groups and he believed people could be treated in a standardised fashion like machines. The basic principle that is underlying this approach is if you study what happens when you the change different variables in a situation, this will tell you how best to organise the work force. This theory as mentioned before relies on the fact that human beings will act rationally and respond to the available incentives. The whole of Taylor’s theory is based on the fact that he believes human are solely motivated by money. I believe that this motivational theory is flawed to a certain degree because people do not just work for money they also work to socialise and many other factors like earning respect from fellow employees. Taylor’s theory is based on the fact that your pay should be linked to your output. This prospect does not appeal to all people as we are different in many ways, it may also lead to employees cutting corners to make it appear they have done more than they have. This is counter productive to increasing productivity because then the product is just of sub standard quality and most of the time quality is more important than quantity in business. Taylors theory was mainly used in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s this shows that his theory is out of date and ... ...utcome will be the positive one you want. I think that if this theory was used in conjunction with the previous two theories it could benefit some companies very well if they applied if correctly. It would lead to an increase in productivity even though this may only be in the short term, but with regular training courses and interactions with the people at the top of the company this increased level of productivity could be kept at the increased level with benefit to employer and employee. There are three main types of leadership one is an autocratic leader. This type of leader will take important decisions without consulting colleague’s who are lower down the hierarchy. This may in general decrease the productivity of employees lower than the leader and this in turn will lower the productivity on the company overall. The main reason for this is the fact that the employees lower down the hierarchy will not feel valued because there input is not required in decision making even though they will undoubtedly have valid points to put forward. This will lead to decreased productivity because they feel less valued because they are not at the level in the hierarchy.

History of the Democratic Party Essay

The Democratic Party is one of the two major political parties in the United States. When this party makes political decisions, the Democratic Party followed a very liberal viewpoint. The Democratic Party is one of the oldest official political parties in the world and it is the oldest official political party in the United States. In 1792, Thomas Jefferson started the Democratic Party to oppose the Federalist Party to fight for the Bill of Rights. The Democratic Party was called the party of the common man. It was probably called this because it supported the normal citizens, like farmers and middle class people. Thomas Jefferson was elected as the first president from the Democratic Party in 1800. Jefferson served as president for two terms for the Democratic Party. Following this, in 1848, the Democratic National Committee was formed by the National Convention. The Democratic National Committee exists, making it the longest standing political organization ever. The Democratic Party is recognized with serving the lower and middle classes by funding government programs such as Welfare and free or low cost medical insurance. This is an opposite belief of the Republican Party who believes in that no one should face a tax increase, especially the rich. Democratic parties typically rule large states such as New York and California. Since these are two states with a high number of electoral votes, the Democratic Party has an advantage in presidential elections, although despite that support, there have still been many Republican presidents voted into office.

Hasbro in Brazil

With 41. 9% of Hasbro sales revenue being generated internationally, it is essential that they work to maintain positive relationships with countries throughout the world. The international arena is becoming increasingly important to their revenues. Brazil is one of several international markets that Hasbro has expanded into over the last 5 – 10 years. Not only are they shipping products to Brazil, but in around 2007 they also opened an office in Brazil.Even with this being the case, Brazil has taken governmental measures to promote and strengthen the national traditional toys and games industry and stimulate further local production. In 2010, Brazil approved the reduction of import taxes from 20% to 2% on components to produce traditional toys and games such as electronic mechanisms and later the government increased import taxes on manufactured products from 20% to 35% to inhibit further imports, mainly from China (Toys and Games in Brazil, 2011). In a bid to remain competit ive and increase market share, seven large domestic companies considered the possibility of merging to form the largest toys and game manufacturer in Brazil. While the project is still under consideration despite the challenges involved merging seven companies, three other companies, Baby Brink, Rosita and Acalanto, merged in April 2010 to create the group BBRA† (Toys and Games in Brazil, 2011). With measures such as these in place, it causes a disfavor to companies such as Hasbro.It requires them has to work twice as hard to gain acceptance in a country that is promoting growth for their national companies. Hasbro identified one opportunity for the locals of Brazil to view them in a light other than one of an â€Å"outsider. † In 2011, Hasbro partnered with Operation Smile Create Smiles to provide free medical treatment and toys and games for children born with cleft palate. â€Å"The medical mission in Brazil was made possible because of Hasbro. Our patients and fami lies in Brazil are incredibly warm and vibrant, and yet the laughter and smiles of these children were hidden behind their clefts.Today, their futures are full of hope and opportunity, and they will always remember that Hasbro helped make that happen†, said Dr. Bill Magee, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Operation Smile (Kraft, Jessica, 2011). By taking steps to increase their social responsibility in Brazil, Hasbro is promoting themselves in a way that will allow them to gain an increased acceptance rating and hopefully, not only make 100 children’s smiles brighter but also their bottom line.