Which EU institution is the most powerful? Essay -- Economics

Which EU institution is the most powerful? The European Union (EU) is currently made up of 25 countries, known as Member States, which together form the largest voluntary and peaceful block of countries in the world. Many people mistakenly view the European Union as a single body whilst in fact; the EU consists of a number of different institutions that together carry out activities on behalf of the Member States. There are many institutions but the main five being the Commission, the Council of Ministers (also called the Council of the European Union), the European Council and the European Parliament and the European Court of Justice. In this essay I am going to focus on these institutions and discuss which is to be considered more powerful. I will firstly look at each one individually and how it is organised then analyse its powers and responsibilities before comparing them and drawing up my conclusions. However I would like to note that there are many different interpretations and parameters of ‘powerful’ which make it difficult to answer the question. The EU was established in 1992 by the Maastricht Treaty. It comprises what are known as three ‘pillars’. Firstly the EC; secondly, inter-governmental co-operation (i.e. between national governments) in foreign and security policy and the third pillar being inter-governmental co-operation in justice and home affairs. In the second and third pillars policy decisions are made by unanimous cooperation between members and cannot be enforced. Therefore for the most part, the governing institutions of the EC pillar have limited input in these pillars. The European Commission does much of the day-to-day work in the European Union and is the driving force in the Union's institutional system. Their main responsibility is to initiate and implement new programs, and they form a permanent executive that supervise the work of the EU, much in the way that a national cabinet operates. This power is displayed in article 211 of the Treaty Establishing the European Community, which states that, the Commission: 'Shall formulate recommendations or deliver opinions on matters dealt with in this treaty, if it expressly so provides or if the commission considers it necessary.' The Commission is made up of a President and the College of Commissioners (the political arm), and the Direc... ...------------------------------------- [1] The Presidency of the Council is the driving force in the legislative and political decision-making process, organising and chairing all meetings and working out compromises to resolve any difficulties. The Presidency rotates among the Member States every six months and is used as a mechanism through which Member States can advance specific priorities. The UK will next hold the Presidency in the second half of 2005. [2] The European Council's far reaching and dramatic decisions have helped propel their meetings into the public spotlight where they have become the focal point for media coverage of the EU, which increases their power [3] During the political, economic and institutional weakening of the European Community (EC) in the 1960s and 1970s the ECJ persisted and struggled on to create an extensive and powerful mass of case law that continued the process for deeper integration. The outcome of this was extremely positive. The work of the ECJ developed not just a new legal order but also assisted in the EC's resurgence during the 1980s. (Dinan 2000: p301)

Gaps of Service Quality

Measuring Perceived Service Quality Using s e rv q ua l: A Case Study of the Croatian Hotel Industry ? s u z ana m ar k ovi c Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management Opatija, Croatia s an j a r as p o r Polytechnic of Rijeka, Croatia The purpose of the study is to examine customers’ perceptions of service quality in the Croatian hotel industry. The aim is to assess the perceived service quality of hotel attributes and to determine the factor structure of service quality perception. A modi? d s e rv q ua l scale was used to assess service quality perceptions from the perspective of domestic and international tourists. Data were collected in 15 hotels in the Opatija Riviera (Croatia), using a self-administered questionnaire. Descriptive statistical analysis, exploratory factor analysis and reliability analysis were conducted. The study results indicate the rather high expectations of hotel guests regarding service quality. ‘Reliability,’ ‘empathy and com petence of staff,’ ‘accessibility’ and ‘tangibles’ are the key factors that best explained customers’ expectations of hotel service quality.The results of the quantitative assessment of perceived service quality may provide some insights on how customers rate the service quality of a particular hotel. Thus, the ? ndings can be used as a guide for hotel managers to improve the crucial quality attributes and enhance service quality and business performance. Key words: service quality, servqual, factor analysis, reliability analysis, hotel industry Introduction In the highly competitive hotel industry, service becomes one of the most important elements for gaining a sustainable competitive advantage in the marketplace.Consequently, the efforts of service managers and academic researchers are directed towards understanding how customers perceive the quality of service. Customers are likely to view services as a variety of attributes that may, in d ifferent ways, contribute to their purchase intentions and perceptions of service quality. Although researchers (Gronroos 1984; Parasuraman, Berry and Zeithaml 1985, Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry 1988; Zeithaml, Parasuraman and Berry 1990) have focused m anag e m e n t 5 ( 3 ) : 195–209 195 ?Suzana Markovic and Sanja Raspor on different aspects of service quality, they all agree that the emphasis should be on customers. The most common de? nition of the concept is attitude, which results from a comparison of customers’ expectations with perceptions of performance (Parasuraman, Berry and Zeithaml 1985, Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry 1988). What is more, customers perceive service quality as a multidimensional concept. The speci? c nature of services makes it dif? cult to provide, measure and maintain their quality.However, Parasuraman Berry and Zeithaml and Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry (1985, 1988) presented the s e rvq ual scale, which became the most popular ins trument for measuring service quality. The model has been applied in various service industries, including tourism and hospitality. In most of the researches the instrument was modi? ed to suit the features of a speci? c service. The study has several objectives. The ? rst objective is to determine the level of perceived service quality in Croatian hotels.The second aim is to establish the number of dimensions of perceived service quality in the hospitality industry, using the modi? ed s e rvq ual model. Finally, the third objective is to test the reliability of the modi? ed s e rvq ual model. Conceptual Background p e r c e i ve d s e rvic e q ual i t y The service quality construct is mostly conceptualized in the context of service marketing literature (Lee, Lee and Yoo 2000). Therefore, it deals with the concept of perceived service quality. According to Zeithaml, Parasuraman and Berry (1990), perceived service quality is the extent to which a ? m successfully serves the purpose of customers. Customers determine the perceived or cognitive value of service based on their experience with the service delivered. Ghobadian, Speller and Jones (1994) stated that customers’ expectations, service delivery process and service outcome have an impact on perceived service quality. Yoo and Park (2007) found that employees, as an integral part of the service process, are a critical element in enhancing perceived service quality. Furthermore, Edvardsson (2005) pointed out that service quality perceptions are formed during the production, delivery and consumption process.The author concluded that customers’ favorable and unfavorable experience, as well as their positive and negative emotions may have an important impact on 196 m anag e m e n t  · vo lu m e 5 Measuring Perceived Service Quality Using servq ual perceived service quality. Similarly, O’Neill and Palmer (2003) have reported that customers’ perceptions of service quality may, to a la rge extent, be in? uenced by the degree of their prior experience with a particular service. In the hospitality industry, several studies have examined hotel attributes that guests may ? d important when evaluating the performed service quality. Literature review suggests that cleanliness (Atkinson 1988; Knutson 1988; Gundersen, Heide and Olsson 1996), security and safety (Atkinson, 1988; Knutson, 1988; Gundersen et al. 1996), employees’ empathy and competence (Atkinson 1988; Knutson 1988; Barsky and Labagh 1992; Gundersen, Heide ? and Olsson 1996; Choi and Chu 2001; Markovic 2004), convenient location (Knutson 1988; Barsky and Labagh 1992), value for money (Atkinson 1988; Gundersen, Heide and Olsson 1996; Choi and Chu ? 001) and physical facilities (Choi and Chu 2001; Markovic 2004) are attributes that hotel guests perceive as being important. It should be noted that according to some authors, perceived service quality has been accepted as an antecedent of customer satisfact ion (Churchill and Suprenant 1982; Oliver 1997). What is more, Rowley (1998) argued that perceived service quality is an attitude related to, but not the same, as satisfaction. It is evident that the relationship between these two concepts is complex and that they have a causal ordering. e rvi c e q ual i t y m e as u r e m e n t One of the main research instruments for measuring quality in service industries is the s e rvq ual model, developed by Parasuraman Berry and Zeithaml and Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry (1985; 1988). The model contains 22 items for assessing customer perceptions and expectations regarding the quality of service. A level of agreement or disagreement with a given item is rated on a sevenpoint Likert-type scale. The level of service quality is represented by the gap between perceived and expected service. The s e rvq ual model is based on ? e service quality dimensions, namely tangibles (physical facilities, equipment and personnel appearance), reliability ( ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately), responsiveness (willingness to help customers and provide prompt service), assurance (knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to gain trust and con? dence) and empathy (providing individualized attention to the customers). During the last few years a variety of service quality studies have been conducted (Ladhari 2008). Among others, service quality was n u m b e r 3  · fal l 2 0 1 0 97 ? Suzana Markovic and Sanja Raspor measured in: accounting and audit ? rms (Ismail 2006), health spas ? (Snoj and Mumel 2002; Markovic, Horvat and Raspor 2004), higher ? ? education (Russel 2005; Markovic 2006), hotels (Markovic 2003, 2004; Juwaheer 2004; Wang, Wang and Zhao 2007; Raspor 2009), insurance (Tsoukatos, Marwa and Rand 2004), public-transport (Sanchez Perez 2007), restaurants (Andaleeb and Conway 2006; Namkung and Jang 2008), travel agencies (Martinez Caro and Martinez Garcia 2008), and web-sites (Parasura man, Zethaml and Malhotra 2005; Nusair and Kandampully 2008).Despite its wide usage, the model has been criticized by a number of academics (Carman 1990; Babakus and Boller 1992; Teas 1994). Criticism was directed at the conceptual and operational base of the model, mostly its validity, reliability, operationalization of expectations, and dimensional structure. However, there is general agreement that s e rvq ual items are reliable predictors of overall service quality (Khan 2003). As a result of these criticisms, alternative measures of service quality for speci? c service settings were developed.In the tourism and hospitality industry, Knutson et al. (1991) developed l o d g s e rv, a model utilized to measure service quality in the lodging industry. The model is based on ? ve original s r evq ual dimensions and contains 26 items. Getty and Thompson (1994) introduced another speci? c model for hotel settings, called l o d g q ua l, as did Wong Ooi Mei, Dean and White (1999) who de veloped a h o l s e rv model. The l o d ge q ual model identi? ed three dimensions, namely tangibles, reliability and contact. On the other hand, the h o l s e rv model includes 27 items, grouped in ? e original s e rv q ua l dimensions. Furthermore, d i n e s e rv is a model used for measuring restaurant service quality (Stevens, Knutson and Patton 1995). It contains 29 items and ? ve s e rv q ua l dimensions. O’Neill et al. (2000) developed the d i ve p e r f model for assessing perceptions of diving services. The model consists of ? ve servqual dimensions and 27 items. e c o s e rv was introduced by Khan (2003). It was utilized to measure service quality expectations in eco-tourism, using 30 items and ? ve s e rvq ual dimensions. All of these models represent modi? ations of the s e rvq ual instrument, aiming to improve its original methodology. However, Cronin and Taylor (1992) argued that performance is the measure that best explains customers’ perceptions of serv ice quality, so expectations should not be included in the service quality measurement instrument. They developed a performance-only scale called s e rvp e r f and tested it in four industries. Results indicated 198 m anag e m e n t  · vo lu m e 5 Measuring Perceived Service Quality Using servq ual that the s e rvp e r f model explains more of the variation in service quality than s e rvq ual; it had an excellent ? in all four industries and it contains only half the number of items that must be measured. These results were interpreted as additional support for the superiority of the servperf approach to the measurement of service quality. Several authors used the performance-only approach to assess service quality in tourism and hospitality settings. Travelers’ perceptions of hotel attributes were measured in Hong Kong’s hotels (Choi and Chu 2001), hotels of Mauritius (Juwaheer 2004) and Malaysian hotels (Poon and Lock-Teng Low 2005).The question of whether service quality should be measured as the difference between customers’ perceptions and expectations, or whether some alternative approach is more appropriate remains part of an extensive debate in service quality literature. Methodology Hotel guests’ perceptions were measured with a self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire was developed on the basis of a literature review and adopted to suit the speci? c features of a hotel setting (Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry 1988; Zeithaml et al. 1990; ? Snoj and Ogorelc 1998; Pizam and Ellis 1999; Markovic 2003). As a foundation or questionnaire development, the s e rvq ual model was used. The original items were slightly modi? ed to suit the hospitality setting. For example, instead of ‘x y z Company has modernlooking equipment,’ the statement was modi? ed to the ‘Hotel has modern-looking equipment. ’ The original item ‘Guests feel safe in their transactions with employees’ was replaced by the item ‘Guests feel safe and secure in their stay. ’ The reason for this change is the confusing meaning of the word ‘transactions’ and the fact that safety and security are regarded as an important factor in a hotel stay. Moreover, in order to measure attributes speci? to the hotel environment, the following items were added: ‘parking area’ (Pizam and Ellis 1999), ‘appropriate location,’ ‘available and clear information,’ ‘variety of facilities’ (Snoj and Ogorelc 1998), ‘clean and tidy hotel,’ ‘feeling safe and secure,’ ‘ease of ? nding a way around the hotel’ ? and ‘typical service quality for hotel category’ (Markovic, 2003). All the statements in the questionnaire were positively worded. Finally, the modi? cation resulted in the deletion of one original s e rvq ual item and the inclusion of eight new items, leaving a total of 29 hotel attributes . These attributes represented seven dimensions: ? e original servqual dimensions (tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, as- n u m b e r 3  · fal l 2 0 1 0 199 ? Suzana Markovic and Sanja Raspor surance, empathy) and two new dimensions, named as accessibility and output quality. The questionnaire consisted of two parts. The ? rst part measured guests’ perceptions of hotel attributes using a modi? ed s e rv q ua l model. Service quality perceptions were measured on a seven-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 ‘strongly disagree’ to 7 ‘strongly agree. ’ The second part was designed to capture respondents’ demographic and traveling characteristics, hich included country of residence, age, gender, purpose of visit, duration of staying at a hotel, level of education, and hotel category. The target population of the survey was guests staying in hotels on the Opatija Riviera (Croatia) during the summer of 2007. Questionnaires were distributed i n 15 (2-, 3- and 4-star) hotels, after hotel managers agreed to participate in the study. Reception desk employees were asked to administer the questionnaires to guests during their hotel stay, and to collect them after completion. In each hotel questionnaires were randomly distributed to the guests.Of 265 returned questionnaires, 12 were not included in the analysis because of incompleteness. Thus, data analysis is based on a sample of 253 valid questionnaires. The response rate was 26 per cent. Descriptive statistical analysis was used to describe respondents’ demographic characteristics and to evaluate service quality perceptions of hotel guests. An exploratory factor analysis was performed on the 29 perception attributes included in the questionnaire in order to determine underlying dimensions of hotel service quality perceptions. Principal component analysis with varimax rotation was conducted.Items with eigenvalues equal to or greater than 1, factor loadings above 0. 4, and factors which contain at least three items were retained (Hair et al. 2006). Furthermore, a reliability analysis was performed to test the reliability of the scale and inner consistency of extracted factors. For this purpose, Cronbach’s alpha coef? cients were calculated. Results In order to achieve the study’s goals, descriptive analysis, factor analysis, and reliability analysis were performed. The results are presented as follows. First, respondents’ demographic and traveling characteristics are provided.Next, the results of descriptive analysis of guests’ perceptions are presented. Third, the results of factor and reliability analyses are interpreted. The statistical analysis was conducted on 253 valid questionnaires. The demographic and traveling characteristics of the respondents 200 m anag e m e n t  · vo lu m e 5 Measuring Perceived Service Quality Using servq ual tab le 1 Demographic pro? le of the respondents Items Percentage Gender Items Percentage Age Male 51. 8 16–25 3. 6 Female 48. 2 26–35 15. 4 Purpose of visit Business Visit friends, relatives Vacation Others 36–45 26. 1 . 1 46–55 19. 4 4. 3 56–65 25. 7 86. 2 0. 4 Level of education Primary school 66 and above 9. 9 Country of residence Austria Croatia 16. 6 Secondary school 29. 2 Italy 20. 9 Higher education 24. 1 Germany 14. 6 University and above 36. 4 Others 36. 8 Others 3. 6 11. 1 6. 7 Duration of staying at a hotel Hotel category 4-star 53. 3 1–3 days 19. 0 3-star 33. 3 4–7 days 49. 8 2-star 13. 4 8–15 days 28. 1 are presented in table 1. The sample included domestic (16. 6 per cent) and international tourists (83. 4 per cent). There were slightly more males (51. 8 per cent) than females (48. per cent), and most of the respondents (55 per cent) were older than 46 years. More than 60 per cent of hotel guests in the sample had a university or college education. About 86 per cent of the respondents indi cated that the main purpose of their visit was vacation. Most of them stayed at a 4-star hotel, for between four and seven days. The results of the descriptive statistical analysis of guests’ perceptions in the hotel industry are shown in table 2. The range of service quality perceptions items was from 1 (very low perceptions) to 7 (very high perceptions). The mean scores of guests’ perceptions ranged from 4. 7 to 6. 34. The lowest perception item was ‘offering a variety of facilities,’ which indicates that hotels do not provide enough suitable facilities that could enhance hotel quality. On the other hand, hotel guests’ highest perceptions were regarding the ‘ease of ? nding a way around the hotel,’ Furthermore, guests highly assessed the following hotel attributes: ‘feeling safe and secure,’ ‘willingness for helping guests’ and ‘courteous hotel staff. ’ These indicate that a hotel’s staff has one of the crucial roles in n u m b e r 3  · fal l 2 0 1 0 201 ? Suzana Markovic and Sanja Raspor tab le 2Average scores of service quality perceptions in hotel settings Attributes Mean St. dev. v1 Modern-looking equipment 5. 31 1. 48 v2 Visually appealing physical facilities 5. 53 1. 23 v3 Neat hotel staff 6. 13 0. 90 v4 Visually appealing materials (pamphlets, web-sites) 5. 53 1. 23 v5 Clean and tidy hotel 6. 06 1. 05 v6 Appropriate location 6. 19 1. 00 v7 Parking area 4. 96 1. 87 v8 Performing service in the promised time 5. 98 0. 93 v9 Interest in solving guests’ problems 6. 09 1. 00 v10 Performing services right the ? rst time 5. 99 0. 89 v11 Service without delays 6. 02 0. 84 v12 Error-free service 5. 81 . 98 v13 Knowing the exact time when service will be performed 6. 00 0. 90 v14 Hotel staff provides prompt service 5. 98 0. 91 v15 Willingness to help guests 6. 25 0. 80 v16 Hotel staff has time to answer guests’ questions 6. 13 0. 94 v17 Hotel staff instil ls con? dence 6. 14 0. 92 v18 Courteous hotel staff 6. 25 0. 82 v19 Hotel staff has knowledge to answer questions 5. 99 0. 90 v20 Feeling safe and secure 6. 29 0. 81 v21 Providing individual attention 5. 81 1. 03 v22 Convenient opening hours 5. 94 1. 01 v23 Hotel staff provides personal attention 5. 86 0. 98 v24 Guests’ best interests at heart 6. 02 0. 87 25 Understanding guests’ speci? c needs 5. 86 1. 01 v26 Ease of ? nding one’s way around the hotel 6. 34 0. 85 v27 Available and clear information in the hotel 6. 17 0. 89 v28 Offering a variety of facilities 4. 77 1. 66 v29 Typical service quality for hotel category 6. 03 1. 09 Overall mean for 29 attributes 5. 92 performing high service quality. The overall mean score for service quality perceptions items was 5. 92. This score indicates rather high perceptions of hotel guests regarding service quality. The exploratory factor analysis extracted ? ve factors, which accounted for 65. 1 per cent of variance in th e data. Since the ? th factor contained only two items, it could not be considered as a factor and is not interpreted. The results are presented in table 3. Most of the factor loadings were greater than 0. 60, implying a rea- 202 m anag e m e n t  · vo lu m e 5 Measuring Perceived Service Quality Using servq ual Factor analysis and reliability analysis results of hotel guests’ perceptions (n = 253) Items (n = 29) Factors f1 f2 f3 f4 f5 Communalities v9 0. 751 0. 688 v12 0. 732 0. 703 v13 0. 671 0. 595 v11 0. 658 0. 675 v10 0. 648 0. 615 v14 0. 623 0. 664 v22 0. 623 0. 557 v8 0. 586 0. 584 v3 0. 505 0. 614 v25 0. 731 0. 793 v16 0. 725 0. 748 v23 . 723 0. 776 v21 0. 713 0. 711 v19 0. 688 0. 616 v17 0. 632 0. 688 v27 0. 622 0. 683 v6 0. 693 0. 580 v26 0. 686 0. 625 v20 0. 618 0. 679 v18 0. 554 0. 685 v5 0. 549 0. 509 v24 0. 537 0. 632 v29 0. 529 0. 447 v15 0. 482 0. 598 v2 0. 784 0. 778 v1 0. 748 0. 723 v4 0. 501 v28 % of Variance Cronbach alpha Number of items 0. 684 0. 675 0 . 669 2. 577 1. 514 18. 879 14. 774 8. 887 5. 222 65. 104 0. 869 0. 785 — 0. 953 8 3 2 v7 Eigenvalue 0. 562 0. 771 5. 551 4. 953 4. 284 19. 142 17. 079 0. 916 0. 917 9 7 sonably high correlation between extracted factors and their individual items. The communalities of 29 items ranged from 0. 47 to 0. 793 indicating that a large amount of variance has been extracted by the factor solution. Only one item (‘typical service quality for hotel category’) was below the suggested value of 0. 50 (Hair et al. , 2006). n u m b e r 3  · fal l 2 0 1 0 203 ? Suzana Markovic and Sanja Raspor The four remaining factors are labeled as follows: f 1 – ‘reliability’ (solving guests’ problems and performing error-free service at promised time), f2 – ‘empathy and competence of staff’ (staff knowledge and ability to provide individual attention), f 3 – ‘accessibility’ (appropriate location of the hotel and ease of co mmunication and ? ding the way around the hotel) and f 4 – ‘tangibles’ (appearance of the facilities, equipment and communication materials). The ? rst factor contains most of the items and explains most of the variance. Thus, hotel service reliability is an important determinant of perceived service quality. The results of the reliability analysis showed that Cronbach’s alpha coef? cients of the extracted factors ranged from 0. 785 to 0. 917. That is well above the minimum value of 0. 60, which is considered acceptable as an indication of scale reliability (Hair et al. 2006). Thus, these values suggest good internal consistency of the factors.Finally, Cronbach’s alpha value for the overall perception scale is 0. 953 and indicates its high reliability. Discussion and Conclusion Perceptions of hotel service quality are the degree to which hotel guests ? nd various hotel attributes important in enhancing their satisfaction with the hotel stay. In the present study, it was revealed that the main dimensions of perceived service quality in hotels are ‘reliability,’ ‘empathy and competence of staff,’ ‘accessibility,’ and ‘tangibles. ’ Two of these are similar to the s e rvq ual model, while others overlap with the original s e rvq ual dimensions.However, the studies conducted in the hotel sector identi? ed different outcomes with regard to the number and interpretation of dimensions guests use to assess perceived hotel service quality. Akan (1995) reported a seven-dimension structure, labeled as ‘courtesy and competence of the personnel,’ ‘communications and transactions,’ ‘tangibles,’ ‘knowing and understanding the customer,’ ‘accuracy and speed of service,’ ‘solutions to problems’ and ‘accuracy of hotel reservations. ’ Wong Ooi Mei et al. (1999) identi? ed ‘employees,’ ‘t angibles’ and ‘reliability’ as key dimensions of service quality in the hospitality industry.Moreover, Choi and Chu (2001) reported the following seven dimensions: ‘staff service quality,’ ‘room qualities,’ ‘general amenities,’ ‘business services,’ ‘value,’ ‘security’ and ? ‘i d d facilities,’ Markovic (2003) identi? ed a three-dimension solution, interpreted as ‘empathy and assurance of hotel staff,’ ‘reliability,’ and ‘physical quality. ’ This implies that the number and de? nition of the dimensions depend on the measurement context. 204 m anag e m e n t  · vo lu m e 5 Measuring Perceived Service Quality Using servq ual Furthermore, the ? ndings of this study reveal that among the four dimensions, reliability’ has emerged as the most important predictor of perceived service quality. In the hospitality industry, this dimensio n refers to solving guests’ problems, performing error-free service at the promised time, providing prompt service, convenient opening hours of hotel facilities. This ? nding is similar to Knutson et al. (1991) and Juwaheer’s (2004) research conducted in hotel settings. The indicators of factor and reliability analyses are also consistent with similar studies conducted in the hospitality industry. The proposed factor structure of the present study, as well as in the studies ? onducted by Choi and Chu (2001) and Markovic (2003) have explained the rather high percentage of variance in original data – 65. 1 per cent, 67. 2 per cent and 73. 9 per cent, respectively. The Cronbach alpha values are 0. 95 (this study), 0. 94 (Choi and Chu 2001) and 0. 92 ? (Markovic 2003) and indicate high reliability of the instruments. It can be concluded that the modi? ed version of the s e rv q ua l model is suitable for use by hotel managers in gaining easily interpretable and reli able data on hotel guests’ attitudes regarding perceived service quality.The results of this study suggest that solving guests’ problems, performing error-free service, employees’ attitude, appropriate location, and the appearance of the facilities are the key attributes for a hotel’s success on the Opatija Riviera. Thus, the ? ndings can be used as a guide for hotel managers to improve crucial quality attributes and enhance service quality and business performance. There are several limitations that need to be acknowledged. The data were collected in a small although important tourist destination in Croatia. The questionnaires were distributed during the summer months.Thus, the results’ interpretation should be limited to this group of hotel guests. It is possible that guests staying in hotels out of the main tourist season might have different perceptions of the service quality. Also, the measurement of hotel guests’ perceptions was limite d to 29 hotel attributes. Even though these attributes were included in other studies as well, there could be other relevant hotel attributes that are likely to in? uence hotel guests’ perceptions. In order to be able to generalize the ? ndings, it is suggested that similar studies be conducted in other Croatian tourist destinations as well.Moreover, this study was focused only on hotels. Future research should test whether the factor structure proposed in this study is valid in other types of accommodation in the region (e. g. camps, private accommodation, hostels). Additionally, future research could also assess hotel staffs’ perceptions of service per- n u m b e r 3  · fal l 2 0 1 0 205 ? 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Managing Service Quality 13 (2): 187–196. O’Neill, M. A. , P Williams, M. MacCarthy, and R. Grovers. 2000. Diving . into service quality: The dive tour operator perspective. Managing Service Quality 10 (3): 131–140. n u m b e r 3  · fal l 2 0 1 0 207 ? Suzana Markovic and Sanja Raspor Parasuraman, A. , L. L. Berry, and V A. Zeithaml. 1985. A conceptual . odel of service quality and its implications for future research. Journal of Marketing 49 (4): 41–50. Parasuraman, A. , V A. Zeithaml, and L. L. Berry. 1988. s e rv q ua l: A . multiple-item scale for measuring consumer perceptions of service quality. Journal of Retailing 64 (1): 14–40. Parasuraman, A. , V A. Zeithaml, and A. Malhotra. 2005. e-s-q ua l: A . multiple-item scale for assessing electronic service quality. Journal of Service Research 7 (3): 213–233. Pizam, A. , and T. Ellis. 1999. Customer satisfaction and its measurement in hospitality enterprises. 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An Analysis of Personality Theory - 1332 Words

An Analysis of Personality Theory by for Everyone has a personality, of course, but until fairly recently, there were no personality theories available to help understand what factors contribute to its development. In recent years, though, personality theories such as McCrae and Costas Big Five and Schwartzs theory of basic values have been advanced for these purposes. To gain some deeper insights into these issues, this paper presents a review of the relevant peer-reviewed and scholarly literature to provide a definition of personality and an examination of theoretical approaches to studying personality. Finally, an analysis of those factors that may influence an individuals personality development is followed by a summary of the research and important findings concerning personality theory in the conclusion. Review and Analysis Definition of Personality An individuals personality is comprised of several factors, some of which may be more prominent at some times than others. The dictionary entry personality defines it as, the complex of characteristics that distinguishes an individual or a nation or group; especially the totality of an individuals behavioral and emotional characteristics (Merriam-Webster, 2001, p. 1687). In this regard, Barrick and Mount (1999) advise that, Personality may to advantage be broadly analyzed into five distinguishable but separate factors, namely intellect, character, temperament, disposition and temper (p. 2). Examination ofShow MoreRelatedIndividuation Analysis : Jungs Theory Of Personality1629 Words   |  7 Pagesthemselves what the point of their existence is (Storr, 1991). One has to self-analyze and let all parts of themselves become one. At the end of this process, a person will be an integrated individual (Storr, 1991). Jung’s Theory of Personality One of Jung’s major contributions was his theory of psychological types. This approach introduced extraversion and introversion (Downey, 1924). 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A performance appraisal is basically the same things as a performance of one’s work, a review, an evaluationRead MoreThe Five Factor Model Of Personality853 Words   |  4 PagesAn analysis of the five factor model of personality Many contemporary psychologists believe that there are five basic dimensions of personality and refer to them as the ‘Big Five’. The five-factor model (FFM) of personality is a theory based on five core categories of human personality – openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism. While different theorists may use different terminology, the five factors or personality traits have shown a rather consistent pattern overRead MoreComparing The Work Of Sigmund Freud And A Neo Analytical Theorist1290 Words   |  6 Pages Contrasting Personality Theories: Analysis of Freud and Karen Horney Yorkville University Alanna Sampson â€Æ' Abstract The purpose of this paper is to provide an analysis of the work of Sigmund Freud and a neo-analytical theorist. This paper will compare the work of Freud and Karen Horney and begins with an introduction to the study of personality and an identification of the key elements in Freud and Horney’s theories. The paper then moves into an analysis of where Horney and Freud would

BUS610 Week 3 Assignment Essay - 1695 Words

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The Flea By John Donne - 1558 Words

â€Å"The Flea† Essay â€Å"The Flea† by John Donne when looked at briefly is simply a poem about a man trying to seduce a woman into participating in pre-material sexual relationship with him. However, â€Å"The Flea† constructs many more important arguments than simply that one. The poem touches on religion, love, and sex in a non-romanticized way, contrasting the normal glamorized stance seen in most of poetry. Most of John Donne’s poems have either romantic themes or religious themes; â€Å"The Flea† has both. It is important to recognize that Donne was a 17th century preacher who converted from Catholicism to Protestantism (â€Å"John Donne.† Poetry Foundation). The struggle between lust and dedication to Christianity is not unfamiliar to Donne and is most†¦show more content†¦He makes the point that the flea has sucked both of their blood and therefore, inside the flea, their blood is mixed together. He states that it was a simple and natural happening and that there was no â€Å"sin, or shame, or loss of maidenhead† (Donne) associated with the incident. The woman attempts to squish the flea and the speaker attempts to stop her as now the flea is more than a simple flea since it contains part of both of them. Alas, the woman kills the flea but the speaker is quick to change his agenda stating that no more honor would be lost in sleeping with him than it was in killing the flea. It takes the stance that lust precedes reputation. The first line of the poem states â€Å"mark but this flea†(Donne) although it is before the reader learns that the flea will become a metaphor for sexual relations, looking back on the choice of belittling words, it seems to imply that sex is not a serious matter. The second line conforms this idea as the speaker pushes the idea that she is denying him of such an insignificant activity. Of course the woman denying him has a similar idea to most of 17th century women. It is forward thinking of Donne to speak of sexual relations in such a casual demeanor. The speaker complains that the fly gets to enjoy the taste of this woman without any wooing while he cannot. The climax of the poem occurs at lines 10-11 when Donne writes â€Å"O stay, three lives in one flea spare, Where we almost,Show MoreRelatedThe Flea By John Donne883 Words   |  4 PagesJohn Donne was a contemporary of Shakespeare. His writing career occurred during the Renaissance. Poems about seduction were common during this era. The Flea by John Donne was a poem about a man urging his love interest into a sexual union with him by way of reason. In this time, premarital sex was considered a great sin and could get someone in a lot of trouble. The flea in this poem was used as a symbol of love and romance. 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Donne brings his poems to life using vivid imagery and elaborately sustained metaphors known as conceits. (The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. B 1260). In Donne s poem The Flea the reader gets to see more of a funny and amusing love poem, while his poem A Valediction:Read MoreThe Flea By John Donne Essay1497 Words   |  6 Pagesthe poem. The author John Donne has written many poems that could be interpreted in many ways, and are analyzed by many people in the United States and around the world. John Donne’s â€Å"The Flea†is a good example of a poem that can be analyzed fo r its physical and intellectual parts, and how they work together to make the poem what it is because it is descriptive, and can be interpreted in many ways. First, it is important to look at the physical parts of a poem. Donne’s â€Å"The Flea†is comprised of threeRead MoreThe Flea By John Donne1354 Words   |  6 Pagesmost notably that of intimacy. In John Donne’s poem â€Å"The Flea,† extended metaphor is used to explain that the act of intimacy does not matter whether it is performed before or after marriage. Also, explicit imagery is noticeable through the poem and outlines the underlying taboo topic being discussed. Another important detail, the flea within the poem is not only used as a comparison in the extended metaphor, but also as a symbol of innocence. In â€Å"The Flea,† Donne plainly spites the acceptance ofRead MoreThe Flea By John Donne Essay923 Words   |  4 Pagesimpression of â€Å"The Flea,† one does not expect an erotic love story. The title suggests a tiny insect may be the main focus of the poem, but this assumption proves to be incorrect. Using intense metaphors, ima gery, symbolism, and alliteration to perform his argument, the speaker is attempting to woo a lady in a rather repulsive romantic comedy approach. Throughout the couplets, the flea is personified and becomes symbolic of a much greater meaning. 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The poem is composed of three stanzas that tell a story in chronological order about a flea that has sucked the blood of the two subjects. It tells the reader how the speaker attempts to persuade his beloved not to kill the flea because it is their marriage bed and then tells of how the womanRead MoreThe Flea By John Donne And Easter Wings1412 Words   |  6 PagesIn the poems, â€Å"The Flea† by John Donne and â€Å"Easter Wings† by George Herbert use the literary device of a metaphor to convey the meaning of the poems. The use of metaphor by these two authors are essential to the themes of the poems. Metaphors are used to compare two different subjects to explain the poem. The metaphors in these poems draw from the central themes to help the reader understand the deeper meaning of the poem. â€Å"The Flea† uses the metaphor of the flea to explain the relationship of theRead MoreAnalysis Of The Poem The Flea By John Donne1033 Words   |  5 Pagesnoticeable influence. For example, in the poem, â€Å"The Flea†, by John Donne, initially it referred to a flea biting the speaker but as the reader proceeds further the perspective changes from this flea into the larger picture, which is a humorous little debate whether the speaker and his beloved will partake in premarital sex or not. Donne chose to word the poem in a format very similar to Frost’s definition of poetry. Donne begins using the flea as an analogy and this translates into the persuasive

This has always been a major part of my identity Free Essays

I am Korean.   This has always been a major part of my identity, even though I was born in America.   Being a member of another culture in America means that the way I have always viewed life, and success, is different than the way most Americans view it. We will write a custom essay sample on This has always been a major part of my identity or any similar topic only for you Order Now    My mother, who was born and raised in Korea, contributed to this significantly.   She did not understand American culture, and never fully adapted to American life.   Living in a new country was confusing for her, which is why she clung so strongly to her native culture.   She passed this culture and way of thinking on to me. My mother was a typical Korean mother – prideful, overbearing, and she always had the attitude of â€Å"I’m always right no matter what you think.†Ã‚   Her attitude was maddening at times, especially when she remained completely calm despite telling me I was wrong and she was right.   However, it was this very attitude that shaped who I turned out to be, in many different ways. Traditional Korean values and American jobs do not mix well.   It was because of my mother’s strong Korean views that she could not keep a steady job in America.   This put us at a real economic disadvantage, but my mother remained strong no matter what.   She would find another job, and continue to provide for us somehow.   Even when money was tight, she was not discouraged.   My mother remained strong and did what she had to do. Watching her strength tore me apart sometimes.   I saw how hard she had to work, just to help us get by.   When I was 14, after having lost another job, my mother was forced to work for my aunt’s cleaning business.   She was assigned to clean a building that was within walking distance of our home, because she often had car troubles.   She made only minimum wage doing this, which I knew was not enough to support us. I asked my aunt if I could work with my mother in order to make extra money to help with bills.   While I can’t say I was thrilled at the prospect of working at the age of 14, I knew I needed to do this.   At first, my aunt resisted letting me, and my mother wasn’t happy either.   She did not want me to work.   However, within a week, both realized how serious I was about working, and they relented.   Already I had picked up from my mother’s attitude that I needed to do what had to be done, even if I did not want to. When we were not working, my mother and I talked sometimes.   Every chance that we had, it would always be about the same dreaded topic — my future. Being so deep inside of the grave, as I liked to call our financial situation, there was only one direction to look – up and out of the hole. I never admitted to myself that I wanted to leave her to go to college; how could I? Life was hard enough with both of us working, so it didn’t seem possible for her to do it on her own.   However, my mother had other ideas about my future.   She wanted what was best for me, and not the life that she had raised me in. I always protested when she told me this, because I wanted to stay and help her.   But she would tell me then, in her serious, don’t-argue tone that I needed to go to college to make my life better.   Our conversations had an enormous effect on my work ethic and my sense of responsibility.   I wanted to receive my degree and help my mom so that she could retire, because she was so selfless in taking care of me, and pushing me towards a brighter future. My mother’s quiet, hard-working attitude left a major impression on me. She taught me never to give up, to always do what is necessary, and to continually strive to do better.   I will not relent in the face of life’s struggles. I will be strong, I will work hard, and I will dream of a future that would not have been possible if it were not for my mother. How to cite This has always been a major part of my identity, Essay examples

Managing Technological Change Strategic Management of Human Resource

Question: Discuss about the Managing technological change for Strategic Management of Human Resource? Answer: Introduction Core department of any organization is named as Human Resource Department. Human Resource Department is one of the niches which are required for any organization, no matter if that is a small or large organization. The strategic development of organization depends on the Human Resource department. This essay is based on the Mark and Spencers strategic human resource department. They treat as a public limited company, and they are based on retailing industry. They have their other activities like LSE: MKS, OTCQX, and MAKSY. The organization had founded in the year of 1884. The first step of the organization was a single market stall and now they are the market leader in the UK and as well as in the world. They have their international market and over 33 million customers in their organization. They have 852 UK stores and their e-commerce business. The chairman of the organization is Robert Swannell and the key stakeholders of the organizations are Marc Bolland, Helen Weir and Martha Lane Fox who are directing the organization in every steps. Their revenue of 2015- 16 is 10.300 billion Euro. Their operating income states as 762.5 million Euro. Their profit of 2015 is 481.7 million Euro. internal and external environment of Mark and Spencer PESTEL analysis The PEST analysis of the organization is: Figure: 1 Political Factors: The UK government set some specific regulation for different types of companies including health and safety British Standards such as preparation for hazard identification, risk assessment and risk control (Woods, 2007). If any company does not obey the regulation or stands for theses regulation, the government charges fine against them and even some cases they have been forced to close down the business. On the other hand, Marks Spencer did not follow the British standards and they were charged for avoiding the health and safety regulation after the door fell on an employee. George Blair was one of the employees in Marks Spencer injured after a warehouse door in their store situated at Braehead. In addition, near Gasgow left on loose fixture which was left hanging. Moreover, the management of Marks and Spencer ignored the request of repairing the door and allowed the door to fall again. Apart from that the management of marks Spencer did not feel guilty for this accident. However , there is still no results show of this trial. According to the BBC News 30th January, 2006, the Marks Spencer would be the first major retailer which introduced the fair-trade route for both clothing and food. The fair-trade policy includes the cut salt and fat in Marks Spencer food, animal welfare protection and recycled packaging (Borner, Bodmer and Kobler, 2004). Economic Factors: Economical force is a great concern for any organization no matter if it is small or large (StuÃÅ'ˆrchler, 2009). The price of products and customer behavior both build a solid impact on the economic value of the organizations directly. Thus, the economy of the organization also depends on the market share value such like the impact of stock exchange.The UK government has given a huge subsidy to recover the loss of retail industry(Jellinek, 2000). The economic recession of 2009 set the nation's economy battling for survival however it has managed to get back on its feet once more. The outlook of current economic session is very uncertain and it creates an effective impact on the retail sales(Warner, 2010). Due to the huge economic lose many people do not have sufficient money to spend on luxury items such as expensive food, designing cloths etc. Marks and Spencer had to face lose and forced to close a numbers of stores. On the other hand, over 70,000 staffs of Marks and Spencer were become unemployed and they made job cuts of 2%. Apart from that, in order to the impact of recession they provided 20% discounts to attract more customers. Social Factors: In few last decades, the society has changed very much. According to Guardian, the chief executive officer of Marks and Spencer wanted to extend the brand value of the company through various steps, such as he planned to sell the food online to convert into multi-channel retailer. In order to compete with ASDA he took that kind of decision. On the basis of social class and other demographics, ASDA and Marks and Spencer belong from different markets. With the help latest fashion trends the current cheap clothing industry supermarkets was increasing rapidly in few years. Marks and Spencer have their clothing ranges up to date with the latest trends. On the other hand, customer purchase decision depends on some factors which cannot controlled by marketers. These factors are social, psychological, personal and cultural factors. Technological Factors: Nowadays, technology is very much improved in the world and as well as in the UK also (Bates, 2000). The Mark and Spencer improved their technology to lead the retailer industry. Technology is playing effective role in the organization. In this case, the advertisement through technology is also very effective to meet the customers' requirements. Appropriate use of technology can lead towards Marks and Spencer to success in retailer field. Major companies spend lots of amount for the advertisement to create brand awareness. Marks and Spencer covers all areas with their advertising campaign. Moreover, they have user friendly website with updated new Marks and Spencer brands. Porters 5 Forces Figure: 2 Threat of New Entry In the retail market of UK, Mark and Spencer holds a market share of 31.6%; trailed by Saisbury's, Asda, and Morisons with a market share 15.3%, 16.6%, and 11.1%. From the discussed facts, it's unmistakably comprehended that, it is exceptionally troublesome for another market to enter in the current market; furthermore difficult to withstand and rival these current surviving markets(Case presentations, 2009). Power of suppliers: The suppliers offer their items in the retail stores. As a rule, the suppliers will be pressurized to acknowledge the modest cost when it is sold to the trade stores. The costs given by Mark and Spencer (retailers) are significantly less than the value set by the suppliers. In the event that they contradict there is a chance for the suppliers to lose Mark and Spencer (Leibner, Mader and Weiss, 2009). Power of buyers: Buyers additionally attempt to lessen the greatest retail value set by MS. In the event that they feel that the cost of the item can't be diminished or on the off chance that they feel that the cost of one item is unreasonable in Mark and Spencer, then they clearly purchases the item in one of the Mark and Spencer s driving rival like Asda or Saisbury's. So Mark and Spencer must be extremely watchful while setting a cost. This intrudes on Mark and Spencer and different supermarkets revenue driven battle (Scott, 2007). Threats of Substitutes: Mark and Spencer centers both on non- food things and food things. The danger for the sustenance things is less when contrasted and the non-nourishment items. Consequently, the risk of substitutes is less. Though there is a high risk as the technology is getting more developed and the small companies are using to overtake each other (Pepall, Richards and Norman, 2008). Rivalry: Amid the time subsidence, the clients were pulled in by rebate stores, so Mark and Spencer has confronted challenges at the quality and cost of the items from its contention rivals. Consequently, the contention among the contenders is high. Rivals like MS, Sainsbury is making a great impact in the organization. SWOT analysis of MS SWOT analysis: Figure: 3 Strength: MS has a solid brand embodying quality, value-for-money and reasonableness, which appeals to numerous people and promotes customer dedication. MS' benefits have been rising steadily since 2001 and the money position was very solid as at the year ended 31 March 2007(Composites industry gets SWOT analysis, 2001). On the other hand, Marks and Spencer had successfully established their brand on the international retailer market. Many people across the world recognize Marks and Spencer as popular UK brand. Another strength of Marks and Spencer is quality products which available in every shop. They have a website which is very easy to use and lots of latest cloths and foods are selling online. Moreover, they have a wide range of quality products in their collection. The latest financial report of company shows the strong cash flows. Due to all strengths of Marks and Spencer, the management develops the supply chain as well. Weakness Talking about the weakness of Marks and Spencer, they cannot adopt changes in a regular mood. In other words, they take a long time to change. For an example, the production process changed after a many years. On the other hand, they produce expensive products with comfort. The raw materials are also very costly. So, they have high cost of production. The investors pay a huge amount for production. Marks and Spencer fixed their focus on old things so, the lack of newness is observed in their process. Moreover, the management always pay attention on the brand rather than products. Finally, Marks and Spencer have poor management which unable to recognize the changing market trends. Opportunity: In terms of opportunities of Marks and Spencer have different platforms to perform. They have many departmental stores. They should implement effective strategies to make their stores attractive. They should use innovative decoration and lighting in their stores. In order to draw the attention of customer Marks and Spencer should represents their stores attractive. On the other hand, they should use better customer recourse management to understand the need of customers. Threats: Marks and Spencer sell expensive products which is not may acceptable for all people. Most the customers want good product in low price. So, it is one of the important threats of Marks and Spencer to lose customers due to high prices of products. Another threat is customer sophistication and knowledge about products. Moreover, the existing companies are one of the significant threats of Marks and Spencer. Apart from that, the changing global economic recession influence many organizational threats which hit UK the most inside of Europe. Finally, the low cost retailers are playing a very significant role in the threats of Marks and Spencer. Business model of strategic human resource management and human resource policies Business model Appropriate business model is always important for any organization to develop the business with profitability (Taylor, 2012). In, MS the existing business model is not making so much profit as in the previous year they have just made 20% profit from the model. In this, way the Business model is highly important for the organization to increase the profitability. Now a day's technology has improved and it is making a great impact on the customers in the world business environment. Therefore, the organization should apply the Business model in their organization (Grantham, Ware, and Williamson, 2007). The strategic human resource department is also liable for the implementation of the new business model in the organization. The Business model is described below: EBusiness is more than the use of technology to a current business model yet incorporates the formation of new eBusiness models that depend on the utilization of new technology. The business model as giving design to item, administration and data streams where the wellsprings of income are portrayed and the advantages to the different business performing artists are clear. Figure: 4 Source: https://www.tutorialspoint.com/e_commerce/images/b2c.jpg There are different e-Business models received by retailers. MS utilizes an intuitive model called the Market Portal Model. The model incorporates the purchaser and the supplier side and includes capacities and elements which empowers both the gatherings to work together viably. This kind of model is likewise utilized by organizations such as Walmart as it's extremely powerful in stock administration and dissemination. The Market Portal model is a value-based model where the items are acquired through the MS site. The data as to purchaser's exchange goes the suppliers and Mark and Spencer all the while. Suppliers just see the data they have to see and other client subtle elements are covered up. The supplier, then straightforwardly manages the dispersion and conveyance. Policies There are various acts in the organizations which should be maintained by the strategic human resource department. The acts are like: MS organizational policies for Strategic Human Resource Management employment relation act 2004 Equality pay act 1970 and 1983 disability discrimination act 1995 Figure: 5 employment relation act 2004: This is based on the relation with the employees which established in the year of 2004. The HR department should make good conduct with the employees and should motivate them properly towards their job. Equality pay act 1970 and 1983 According to, the act the organizations should pay the same pay according to the job role and position in the organization. The HR department should not be secular in this part (Fraser, n.d.). 3: disability discrimination act 1995 This act represents the sex discrimination acts and race relation act. This is to identify the main theme of adjusting the employees with the equality and loyal towards the people who are working in the premises no matter if he or she is disable by their organs or mentality (Doyle, 2008). Recommendation of mark and Spencer The organization has to maintain the ethical and legal consideration to meet the UK governments agreements. There are a high chance of getting take over by the new and competitive organizations according to the porters five forces. So, the Mark and Spencer should understand the target market and the customers to make them stronger than other companies. The retail sector of UK is very competitive and the organizations in the market are searching for developing their business by going over the other organizations in the future. In this case a proper business model is important for the organization(Vaaja, 2013). The Mark and Spencer is very much efficient to make their business developed and they can acquire a new strategy for their business. In the next part of the recommendation the strategic development and its recommendation for the near future has been developed. There are various policies in the UK to make a effective cultural and legal work environment which can lead the organiza tion to make more improved workable institute. Above mentioned laws like; employee retention law, equality pay and disability discrimination act should be followed by the organization which can give the employees of Mark and Spencer a employee satisfactory work environment. Thus, it is also important for the organization to implement those policies and should maintain those in the organization. However, the HR should understand the requirement of the organization and they should train the employees to make proper ethical behavior while they are working in the organization(Vaaja, 2013). The strength of the organization should be understood by the human resource department and they should utilize those strength to make opportunity in improving the business in the international sector. From the research it is visible that the Mark and Spencer can not adopt a new work environment or a new industrial culture. So, it is recommended to the organization to make proper training season for the workers and also for the management to adopt any working environment. The human resource department is liable to undertake such activity in the organization. The strategy of making an adoptable diverse culture in the organization the human resource department should consider all the ethics and laws to make employees understandable of the acceptability of work and pay equality(Buyers' Guide, 2015). This can help the organization to understand the new environments where they will deal with many different peoples and also different cultures. However, the price hike and the economical standers are changing rapidly in the world economy. Therefore, the organization is liable to understand the economic factors of the organization and the human resource department will prepare proper busine ss plan to adopt the changes which may affect the organizations financial structure. The research also represents that the company is producing the products with a high price which is not acceptable for any customers. They are shifting towards the other companies like TESCO, Sainsbury and so on. This is affecting their customer base. The customers are very much important for any organization. So, this is also necessary for the company to take responsibility of their customer base. The human resource department should make proper communication with the supplier to bring raw materials with low costs and make products according to the customers desire. In this way the organization can get back their customer base within a span of time. The quality should be improved and they should focus on the price and quality which is very important. They have to maintain the proportion of the quality and price accordingly which is important. The investors are paying a huge amount to produce good pr oducts with quality(Buyers' Guide, 2015). So, human resource department should make proper plan how to utilize the amount and get a proper outcome in the context of product production of mark and Spencer. They are based on the cloths and this should be improved as the organization is famous for their clothing. He Company is focused on their old activities which is not acceptable to the customers. They have to focus on the now trends which the customers are accepting widely. In this way the organization can get their lost popularity in the UK retail industry. One of the best opportunity for the company is they have different sectors to expand their business with different business. As like they have a huge market with their cloths. They can expand their business in the international areas where the customers will accept the products with the quality. They have many retail stores all over the UK and world as well. This is one of the best opportunity for them to make more profit. In th is way, if they want to make profit they have to make effective strategy for their shops(RaÃÅ'ˆthzel and Uzzell, 2013). Thus, the organization can implement more shops in the UK. The decoration is also very much important for the organization. They have to decorate the stores and the offices where they are operating their businesses. It is also noticed that the organization has many competitors in the market. The UK retail industry is not easy to deal with. Thus, the organization should use most important and effective structure for developing the business more to compete with the other competitors in the UK retail sector. They have to understand what the customers are willing to have from them. In this way the most effective nosiness model like E-Business is very important for Mark and Spencer. The low cost product presenting organizations are playing a great role in the UK retail business. Thus, the organization should make their products with low cost which the customers pre fers most. Their business model should improve with good quality production and the pri8ce. Which is most important(RaÃÅ'ˆthzel and Uzzell, 2013). They had made only 20% profit in the past years. So, this is very much serious for the organization where they have to think for the new way to increase the profit. The business model which they should use to implement in their business should be profitable and should increase the customer base and the productivity within the budget. From the PEST analysis it is clear that the organization is not maintaining the policies which they should implement properly in the mark and Spencer. It is visible that the organization has been charged for not to obey the health care policies. It is recommended for the organization to maintain the safety acts in the organization and should obey according to the laws. A few laws which they should follow are health care act, employment retention act, equality act and disability discrimination act. These all acts are very much important for the organization to make proper work environment. The human resource department should train the employees of the acts which can make them understandable of the equality in the workplace. This also make all the employees to work together and helps them to perform their best and increase the profitability. There are few recommendations for the MS to improve their business in the near future. Among all the important recommendations are: Recommendation for future performance As exhibited in the inner and outer review, MS's quality lies in its capacity to peer inside clients shopping bushel and break down what they are purchasing. It is generally trusted that clients over a significant time span conduct is a decent indicator of their future buy goals. The organization should understand what the clients and buyers are desiring from them (Buyers' Guide, 2015). It is visible that the organization is producing the products with high value. They should not make the price tag that much high which the customers do not accept. In this case, the supply chain should be modified and they should do proper bargaining with the suppliers. Many times the organization is violating some political acts like health and care act of UK. This should not be neglected as a small part of mistake (Vaaja, 2013). They should maintain the policies to make proper working environment in the organization. Apart from that the customers are not satisfied with their service. In this case th e organization should use proper training season to the employees to make them understand about the customers satisfaction level according to the research E-Business model is most effective business model for any retail sector which the organization should use to make their profitability more improved. Here, the business model will give proper understanding of the customers need and their desire (RaÃÅ'ˆthzel and Uzzell, 2013). The online business will give customers a flexibility of buying products from their home. So, using the e-business model the organization can improve their customer base and can make their profit more than 20% (Caren, n.d.). Recommended HR approach: The traditional approach of human resource department is important for the HR department to improve the organizational culture and its profitability (Dubois, 2004). 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