Feminism As A Black Woman - 774 Words

Feminism means something different to every woman. What feminism means to Beyoncà © may be different from what it means to Bell Hooks. In Feminism is for Everybody, Hooks defines feminism as, â€Å"a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression.† Beyoncà ©Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s feminism may be personal to her but the narratives she depicts in Lemonade resonate with her fans. Through the lenses of Hooks, I will examine the lyrics and images of Beyoncà ©Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s Lemonade by comparing their views on marriage, political liberation, and double standards. Many women are empowered by the words of Bell Hooks. They can also be empowered by Beyoncà ©Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s lyrics because they affirm and support what their lives have been like. Beyoncà © uncovers the diversity of black women through history in her video. Visual images of slaves, mothers, young women, and working women combating struggles of being a black woman. In Don’t Hurt Yourself, a speech by Malcolm X is inserted w here he said, â€Å"The most neglected person in America is the black woman. Similarly, Hooks wrote about the dismissal of black women in the feminist movement, â€Å"the utopian vision of sisterhood evoked in a feminist movement that initially did not take racial difference or anti-racist struggle seriously.† This comparison suggests that both Hooks and Beyoncà © aim to improve the representation and political liberation of black women by making their narratives heard. Additionally, Hooks writes about political liberation as a form of men breaking tiesShow MoreRelatedI Am a Woman, Too: Feminism to the Black Woman966 Words   |  4 Pagesdealing with issues of sexism, but also racism. Many movements have helped black women during the past centuries to overcome sexism, racism, and adversities that were set against them. History tells us that movements such as the Feminist Movement helped empower all women, but this fact is not totally true. In this paper, I will discuss feminism, the movements, and its minimal affects on black women. The word feminism comes from the word fà ©minisme, which was thought of by Utopian socialist CharlesRead MoreI Am A Woman,Too: Feminism To The Black Woman Essay examples941 Words   |  4 Pagesdealing with issues of sexism, but also racism. Many movements have helped black women during the past centuries to overcome sexism, racism, and adversities that were set against them. History tells us that movements such as the Feminist Movement helped empower all women, but this fact is not totally true. In this paper, I will discuss feminism, the movements, and its minimal affects on black women. The word feminism comes from the word fà ©minisme, which was thought of by Utopian socialist CharlesRead MoreBlack Women And Feminism By Bell Hooks Ain t I A Woman1717 Words   |  7 PagesBlack women have long been oppressed since they first arrived to the American colonies. Bell Hooks’ Ain’t I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism traces the steps of slavery to the feminist movements in the 1970s. Written from a black feminist perspective, the book examines the impact of sexism during slavery, the devaluation of black womanhood, the imperialism of patriarchy, racism and feminism, and black women and feminism. Hooks attempts to move beyond racist and sexist assumptions regarding blackRead MoreCritically Examine How Black Feminism Emerged And Assess1229 Words   |  5 Pagesexamine how Black feminism emerged and assess its impact on contemporary feminist theory. 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These actions were and are considered byRead MoreFinally, Black Feminism Highlights The Unique Experiences1232 Words   |  5 PagesFinally, Black feminism highlights the unique experiences of Black women, but it lies in its commitment to justice, not just for Black women but for that of other similarly oppressed groups. An essential idea within Black feminism is intersectionality in that they argue that race, class, gender, sexuality, etc. are bound together (Garcia, 2016). In other words, white women and black women do not share identical experiences, despite all being female . Likewise, a middle-class black woman has a differentRead MoreBlack Feminism s Speech At The Ohio Women s Rights Convention Essay1442 Words   |  6 Pagesâ€Å"If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these together ought to be able to turn it back and get it right side up again.† This is from abolitionist and women’s rights activist Sojourner Truth’s speech at the Ohio Women s Rights Convention in 1851. This is probably the most relevant messages that feminist everywhere can follow behind. Feminism is simply the advocacy of equality of sexes social, political, and economic, but until this can happenRead MoreJane Eyre, The Bluest Eye, And Feminism1422 Words   |  6 PagesPavit Singh Mr. Trott English 2 Honors Period 5 15 May 2015 Jane Eyre, The Bluest Eye, and Feminism Feminism. It’s a big concept in society today, but has it always been that way? Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte is a famous work on the basis of her own experiences. In this novel, the author shapes a tough and independent woman who pursues true love and equality. In the Victorian period, the image of Jane Eyre cast a sharp contrast to the man-dominated society. She stands for a new lady who hasRead MoreBell Hooks And The Feminist Movement872 Words   |  4 PagesBell Hooks was born in Kentucky on September 25, 1952. She went to all black schools until she was in high school, and after the shift to an integrated school she felt that black students were seen as not â€Å"really belonging† she says this experience â€Å"taught [her] the difference between education as the practice of freedom and education that merely strives to reinforce dominance.†(teaching to transgress 4). After high school she received her bachelor’s degree from stanford university and her master’sRead MoreThe Advocacy Of Women s Rights On The Grounds Of Political, Social, And Economic Equality Essay1202 Words   |  5 PagesFeminism. The advocacy of women s rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men. Why are some people so angry or offended when they hear this word? Why does the idea of women being equal to men annoy and infuriate them? Do they not believe that women should have the same rights as men? Should women have to cover up to avoid being cat called by disgusting men? Should women have to cover up to avoid being molested or raped? Should women have to stay quiet when they are raped

Business Ethics Capitalism - 5279 Words

Part I: Capitalism 1.1 Introduction According to an online article entitled â€Å" Reflections on capitalism† : The word â€Å"capitalism† was popularised by Karl Marx in the middle of the 19th century .It is a social , political as well as an economic system that countries use to guide their development programs and economic policies. Almost all the worlds countries are currently running their economies on capitalist inspired doctrines ,this fact testifies to a great extent of the many advantages and viability of the system of capitalism . 1.2 Advantages of Capitalism 1.2.1 Cheaper and better products A capitalist economy operates in a â€Å"free market†, this is a requirement vital if capitalism is to thrive. A free market is characterized by†¦show more content†¦Therefore, firms gain monopoly over power in a free market allows and exploit customers by charging higher prices. They often pay lower wages to workers. 1.3.3 Immobility Besides, immobility is one of the main problems of capitalism is that a free market is supposed to be able to easily move factors of from an unprofitable sector to a new profitable industry. However, this is much more difficult practically. Because of the inequality of wealth in a truly capitalist society with no government welfare great poverty is bound to occur. Leading to homelessness, slums, and disease this will further lead to forced migration. Forced migration will also increase these problems in large cities and towns. The people who cannot make any money in the countryside will move to the towns and cities with the belief of finding work and making money. 1.3.4 Irrational Behavior Followed by, economics sympathetic how individuals, families, businesses, and governments make choices under conditions of scarcity. We believe people select products to maximize their happiness and that businesses try to maximize their profits. Theres no right or wrong choice here whatever gives you more pleasure is the better choice for you. Of course, a choice we think will make us happy or give us big profits might end up doing nothing of the sort. People tend to get caught up in hypotheticalShow MoreRelated Business Ethics vs. Capitalism Essay2407 Words   |  10 PagesThe concept of business ethics has tried to change the way businesses operate over the years. Business ethics is a form of ethics that governs the actions of businesses to circumvent the affects business has on every day society. But some question its effectiveness in the application of capitalism. Several case studies have shown that this is the case; many companies place the pursuit of money in front of the pur suit of virtue. 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What is Cloud Computing Free Essays

Public cloud :- Public cloud is same as internet based on the cloud computing standard model. Service provider uses the web to make all the services available to the client. Many popular cloud services are Google app engine, saleforce. We will write a custom essay sample on What is Cloud Computing? or any similar topic only for you Order Now com. Private cloud :- Private clouds are owned by individual organization and give security to its resources. Hybrid cloud:- The combination of both public and private is hybrid cloud. These two are mixed to take advantage of both and create more value [8]. Three different services model in cloud computing are : Infrastructure as a service (IAAS): . IaaS include the services in which infrastructure like hardware, network, connectivity and storage is provided to the consumer Platform as a service(PAAS): PaaS readymade environment is provided as a service for managing, developing and testing the software application Software as a service(SAAS): SaaS refers to the category of service in which software are provided over the internet so neither need to install software nor have to pay cost to purchase the software and licence [7]. Various benefits of cloud computing: Scalability, Simplicity, Security and Storage Load Balancing:- Load balancing is an even division of prosessing work in the cloud computing which have a great effect on the performance of a framework, dependent on the measure of work allotted to a framework for a given period of time. It is the way toward adjusting the amount of workload among framework resources for enhancing system performance and resource use [9]. Load balancing can minimize the reaction time, amplify the client’s satisfaction, advances the system potency and can reduce the assignment dismissal [10]. So overallload balancing try that there should not be a situation when one of the server or data center is under utilization and other get overloaded [11]. The objectives of the study of the load balancing techniques are as follow: Improve both resource deployment and job response time while also avoiding a situation where some of the nodes are having a huge amount of load while other nodes are doing nothing or idle. To reduce operational cost, better performance in terms of response time and data processing time,maintain the system consistency. Example of Load Balancing Load balancer has to follow some steps to perform the load balancing. These steps are: Receive incoming service requests from various clients. Calculate requested load size of the incoming load request from clients and build a request queue. Check the current load status of the serves in the server pool repeatedly using a server monitor daemon. Use a load balancing method/algorithm to select appropriate server. All the provider use different types of load balancing strategies to achieve the different goals of load balancing. There are different metrics to measure that up to which extent load balancing goals achieved. Following are the metrics in existing load balancing techniques[14], [15]: Throughput: It is used to calculate the total number of tasks get completed in specific period. High value of throughput shows that load balancing is implemented properly. Response time: It is the measure of time taken by any load balancing strategy to react or respond in a framework. Low value of this time shows that load balancing is implemented in a good way. Fault tolerance: It is the ability of a load balancing strategy to continue nonstop when a hardware failure occurs. A load balancing strategy should have good fault tolerance techniques. Scalability: A system with finite number of resources should have ability to grow and manage increased load. An efficient algorithm should have optimized scalability. Performance: Performance refers to the overall proficiency or productivity of a framework. This must be enhanced at a sensible cost. Resource utilization: All the resources should be used in a good manner. It ought to be enhanced for a beneficial load balancing method. How to cite What is Cloud Computing?, Papers

Raffles Hotel free essay sample

The macro-environment analysis with PESTE method2 3. 2The industry dynamics analysis with Porter’s five forces3 3. 3 The evaluation of key successful factors of external factor4 4. Internal audit5 4. 1Raffles’ strategic segmentation5 4. 2Raffles’ market positioning6 4. 3Strengths-weaknesses analysis of current resources and competences7 4. 4Value chain and value networks8 5. A strategic plan for the next 3 years9 . 1An evaluation of strategic options9 5. 2The development of a sales target10 5. 3A mix of suitable strategies and a monitoring, control and contingency plan10 Reference11 A marketing plan on Raffles Hotel 1. Introduction Recent days witness a rapid growth of scale of the starred hotels in Singapore. Singapore hotel industry gives service to about 1. 44 million visitors in 2012, which is 9% higher than the data in 2011. Although the growth rate is lower than the last two years’ 20 per cent and 13 per cent. Singapore can achieve the goal of 1. 7 million visitors in 2015. This means from 2013 to 2015, the annual growth rate of visitors is 5 per cent to 6 per cent. We will write a custom essay sample on Raffles Hotel or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The expansion of hotel industry also leads to a more fierce competition in the hotel industry. Singapore was ranked among the top three cities whose hotels have the highest Average Daily Rates (ADR), along with Hong Kong and Seoul, according to CBREs Asia Hotels MarketView report for H1 2012. The boom of hotel industry also accelerates the competition of hotels in Singapore. On the one hand, the construction of domestic hotels is accelerated; on the other hand, the entries of other top International hotel brands will have a huge influence on the market share of the hotel industry. In Singapore, there are more than 313 hotels, ranging from express hotel and 5 star hotels. Orchard Hotel Singapore, Resorts World Sentosa Equarius Hotel, Swissotel Merchant Court Hotel, the Regent Singapore and Four Seasons Hotel Singapore are all substantial hotel In Singapore. The fierce competition forces hotels to focus more on the marketing strategy in order to attract more customers. Raffles, one of the famous luxury hotels in Singapore, is considered as elite in Singapore’s hotel industry. In the new time, faced with the violently fierce competition, how to absorb successful marketing strategies, reform marketing strategies and draft a suitable marketing strategy for Raffles is of great significant. 2. Brief company overview Raffles Hotel is one of the best hotels in Singapore (McClatchy Tribune Business News ,2012). It was established in the colonial period when Singapore was occupied by the UK. So it has a colonial culture. Two American brothers, Martin and Tigran Sarkies, set it up in 1887. Later, three other brothers joined them. With their hard work, they construct the hotel in Singapore’s most bustling area. The hotel was named after Stamford Raffles, who was the father of Modern Singapore. In recent years, Raffles was controlled by Fairmont Raffles Hotel International (Simon, 2010). The motto in Raffles is: true luxury is not just about what you do, it’s about how you feel. In the following 125 years, Raffles pursuits to provide the best service, the lavish experiences and the warmest memories to their customers (Bernstein, 1999). And till now, the tradition is handed down from one generation to another all around the world. Not only in Singapore, but also in Dubai, Seychelles, Paris and Beijing, the name of Raffles equals with words such as honorable and extraordinary (Arabianbusiness, 2010). On October 1, 2005, Raffles hotels amp; Resorts embraced a new spring of its management life. With the acquisition by Colonial Capital, LLC, Raffles create a high profile-transaction. This transaction obtains the identification from top hospitality leaders, investors and financiers. With the development of our corporate, we can ensure that no matter where our guests travel, they can find the Raffles inherited with the royal tradition from the origin. The spirit of adventure, luxury and sublime service will never decay. Exciting charm, refresh and revive, the raffles is loved by people who have the spirit of adventure and tastes the best. 3. External audit 4. 1 The macro-environment analysis with PESTE method The political analysis is mainly focused on the government policy. As the world is more and more united (Thoumrungroje, 2001)Singapores government has a vision, and actively introduces leading strategy (Business Monitor International, 2012). It provides powerful policy to support the tourism industry, offers capital support, and pushes a series of flexible and practical marketing strategy, according to market demand. It sets up exhibition brand and strives to develop award tourism market. The powerful policy support accelerates the development of tourism industry definitely. On the aspect of economy, today, Singapore has become tone of the most important financial center and International trade transfer station of Southeast Asia (Hai, 2013). In the face of economic globalization in 21st century, investors seek for new development opportunities in Singapore and a series of economic development thought have been put forward. To sum up, the economic environment is potential. Singapore has a favorable social environment (Toh, 2001). Singapore enjoys a reputation of international convention. It holds exhibition in the Asia-pacific region and is the first choice for business and leisure travel. Singapores superior geographical environment, convenient transportation, clean and efficient government management, the free and open social environment, the perfect conference and exhibition facilities and favorable tourism image creates the advantageous condition for Singapore’s tourism. As to the technology analysis, Raffles believes that high-tech is the most efficient productivity in modern industry. In the past 100 years, along with the innovation in science and technology, people’s life is changed in every aspect. Technology is significant both in the version of a nation and in the version of a firm. In the field of hotel management, GDS and CRS changes the traditional way of promotion and the efficiency of promotion, high-tech accelerates the innovation of promotion and service. If the hotel cannot use the GRS or GDS properly, it will be dropped by the fierce competition. 4. 3. 1 The bargaining ability of hotel suppliers Like other corporates, hotel needs to acquire lot of material from the external environment. Economic entities which provide material are called the suppliers. They construct the corporate from two aspects: affecting the profitability by adjusting price and affecting the hotels’ competition ability by providing low quality material. Raffles hotel has got through its preparation period and now is a mature entity. The suppliers are companies who offer daily consumables, and those consumables are not need to be tailored. Now, the numbers of hotels and suppliers are relative huge, monopoly cannot be organized. The advantage of Raffles is it has branches over the world, so it can benefit from group buying. 4. 3. 2 The bargaining ability of guests The guests of the hotel are various. The resources of the guests, the quantity of rooms, and the time of booking are all different, so the bargaining abilities are not the same. In the next chapter, we can conclude the bargaining ability of different customers by discuss market segmentation. 4. 3. 3 The threats of potential competitors New hotels enter Singapore last year, and there were as many as 1200 new Hotel rooms. 70% of the hotel is located in Sentosa and the bay area, such asEquarius Hoteland W Singapore Sentosa Cove. 4. 3. 4 The threats of substitutes The substitutes of luxury hotels is limited, mainly refers to advanced apartment. Now some advanced apartments provide short-term rent. As the apartment can offer more private space and is equipped with kitchen applications which the hotel does not have. For some clients, especially guests stay for more than a week, may prefer the apartments. The newly arising advanced apartment is a great competition point which needs to be watched out. 4. 3. 5 The competition among competitors Raffles confirms hotel according to the geographical location, the market position and the overlap of customers. The competitors of Raffles are luxury hotels such as Orchard Hotel Singapore, Swissotel Merchant Court Hotel. In recent years, more hotels are opened in Singapore, such as Resorts World Sentosa Equarius Hotel. 3. 3 The evaluation of key successful factors of external factor There are mainly two opportunities for Raffles. To begin with, the tourism in Singapore is promising. As the world is recovered from the financial crisis, the global economy has a promising growth in the future, which drives the International trade. This trend is more obvious in recent days. The occupy rate is 86. % in last year, which is little higher than last year. Among them, the demand of advanced hotels increases most, the occupy rate increases by 2. 6%. Secondly, the economy in Singapore witnesses a sustainable development; the GDP in Singapore was $ 222,699 million in 2012, which is top ten in Asia. The development of economy will attract more investment and expand the tourism industry. The threats also e xist. As more hotels enter the Singapore market, the competition is more violent. The low price strategy may be applied more widely among new hotels. In this way, Raffles hotel may be challenged. 4. The EEF matrix analysis According to the steps of constructing EFE method, this paper chooses two main opportunities and one threats as the most important external environment factors and weight each item according to its significance (Cappsamp;Glissmeyer, 2012). The score of each item ranges from 1 to 4. ‘1’ stands for very bad, ‘2’ stands for the average level, ‘3’ stands for above the average level, and 4 stands for very good. Key Internal Factors| Mark| Weight | Weighted score| Opportunities| | | | 1. The booming tourism industry in Singapore 2. The prosperous economy in Singapore| 43| 0. 50. 35| 1. 81. 05| Threats| | | | 3. Many hotels enter Singapore| 2| 0. 2| 0. 4| Summation| | | 3. 25| Figure 3-1: EEF matrix of Raffles 4. Internal audit 5. 4 Raffles’ strategic segmentation Market segmentation is to divide the whole market into several parts based on the customer’s need, consumption habits or behavior (Huntamp;Arnett, 2004). Through market segmentation, the manager can adjust the sales target, the advertising strategy and promotion strategy properly. With the market segmentation, the firm can concentrate its labor resources and capital on the most profitable sales channel. The following paragraphs specify Raffles’ market segmentation and its features. 4. 1. 1 The individual traveler For a five star hotel, the individual traveler mainly refers to tourist who comes to Singapore for business. They come to Singapore for visiting customers, joining the conventions, and training (Kim,2011). As a result, if the budget can cover the commendation fee, they won’t care too much about money. What they care most is the convenient and efficient service, comfortable and warm environment, and perfect facilities. Business guest is the control valve in the hotel price system. The number of business guest is huge, and they are scatted. Due to this, they are not sensitive to the price, and the hotel can benefit more from them. If the proportion of business guests increases, the bargaining ability of the hotel will goes up as well. The main income of the third-party website is from business guests. They purchase a relative high price compared with other guests. Although the hotel has to pay the commission to the third-party websites, it still is a very important market for the hotel. The third-party website is of great significant in opening up the market in the foreign countries. Without them, the guests know little about the hotel. There are also guests who order via the hotel’s own website or telephone. If the hotel can enlarge this part of the guests, reduce the intermediate links, the management efficiency can be improved. 4. 1. 2 The signed guest The Signed guest is the main source of the hotel’s income. Those clients are important corporations and organizations. Some big companies such as Pamp;G have an impressive contribution every year. In the hotel industry, the rule that twenty percent of the clients provide eighty percent of the whole income holds. These big companies may contract with many hotels in the same city. Faced with these clients, the sales department should hire experienced customer managers to maintain the relationship. They should visit the clients periodically, give feedbacks to the hotel instantly and at the same time, ensure the new promotion to clients on time. As the growth rate of large signed guests is limited, how to maintain the market share is the most important. 4. 1. 3 Team meeting The team meeting market is very important for a well-equipped luxury hotel. A large business conference or convention can increase the occupancy rate to 100% easily, and the price is relative high. Most importantly, the team meeting can accelerate the income of banquet hall and catering. Although the meeting team is regarded as separated market segmentation, most of the contracts are from the signed guests. Due to the above analysis, we can find to get the information about the plans of event, the product promotion release conference, dealers assembly, big training session and annual meeting of the signed company is the main sales channel. . 1. 4 The travel agency Reviewing the hotel industry, the relationship between hotel and travel agency is tight. The orders from travel agency are large and consistent, so it has great influence in pulling the occupancy rate. It is, however, not all the clients from the travel agency are quality clients. If the hotel doesn’t have a nice geographical location or it is in bad management condition, the competition in seizing the guests will be fierce. As guests from travel agency are not sensitive to high quality service, the competition may be severe. In this market, hotel with high quality has limited advantages and can charge a high price. The travel team can be divided into ordinary team and â€Å"series team†. The series team signs a contract with the hotel at the beginning of the year and has a fixed amount of travelers in a fixed period. This part of the business usually is the minimum guarantee of the hotel. It offers the lowest price in the whole price system. Raffles should keep a strategic relationship with these agencies to make the hotel make a proper income in the off season and benefit from the busy season by accepting quality teams. . 5 Raffles’ market positioning Market positioning determines what position the firm will be in the market(Xie, 2006). Raffles pursuits a long term development and maintain its brand fame. In order to maximize their profit, Raffles should distribute its shares according to its own features. Some unreasonable proportions should be canceled, and the product design should be i ntensified to meet the demand of the main guests. It is obvious that different types of guests have various demands and if they consume at the hotel together, they will influence each other (Morgan, 2003). For example, guests in a travel team will come in and go out together, and they have meals together as well. If the hotel receipts too many travel teams, there will be many people appearing at the hall, carrying luggage in the lift and having meals in the restaurant. This condition will decrease the efficiency of the service as well as quality of the hotel, and the business guests will avoid checking in such places. On account of Raffles’ own condition, it should take advantages of its extraordinary geographical location, strengthen its brand fame, makes full use of its facilities. An ideal distribution of the guest resources is meeting and signed guests take 55% percent of the whole income, individual travelers take 30% percent of the income and travel agency take the rest proportion. In this way, Raffles can guarantee a minimum occupy rate and ensure the average price maintains at a high level. 5. 6 Strengths-weaknesses analysis of current resources and competences Raffles has several strengths in its internal environment. First of all, Raffles has an advantage in geography location. Raffles locates in Singapore’s busy area, and the transportation is very convenient. Raffles is a landmark building in Singapore. It takes 5 minute-walk to the subway station and Raffles city shopping center and it takes a 10-minute-train to the orchard road shopping district. The Singapore Flyer is 7 minute-drive from the hotel. Secondly,Raffles is equipped with the best facilities. Raffles has 103 rooms with various room types, and they are Raffles Inc state, suites with back yards, advanced suites with back yards, suites and advanced suites. The supporting swimming pool, the restaurant and the hall can fulfill the diversified demand of customers. Thirdly,it has the brand advantages. Raffles is a luxury hotel with a long history. It has a sophisticated visual identification system and consistent management system. It is famous over the world, which have advantages in attracting foreign guests. Fourthly, Raffles has the advantages in marketing channel. Raffles has its own ECF official which can welcome the orders of guests from the world. The convenient booking system makes Raffles takes the advantages in marketing channel. Fifthly, Raffles has loyal guest foundation. Guests who consume here identify the company culture and prefer to consume in Raffles in the next time. Last but not least, Raffles has a perfect training system. Raffles keeps the tradition of training customers consistently. The training standard follows the International regulations. The staff can learn through various channels: trainings from training department, internal trainings, cross-department trainings and trainings online. The employees not only have many opportunities to learn, but also opportunities of promotion. The weakness also exists in Raffles. The facility has been used for more than years and some becomes old as time goes by. The refurbishment of the coffee halls, elevators and some rooms has been done, but compared with new opened hotels, Raffles looks a little out of fashion, especially on the design of buildings. 5. 7 Value chain and value networks The value chain theory is proposed by Michael Porter in 1985 (Gibbs, 2013). He believes that each corporate is the collection of designing, production, sales, delivery and other assist process, which can be present by the value chain. Like other corporations, hotel creates value through a series of activities, which can be divided into basic activities and assist activities (Garetto, 2013). Those different but closely related activities form the dynamic process of value creation, that is, the value chain. The value chain can be seen in figure 4-1 Raffles hotel value chain analysis. Basic facility management Human resource management Ramp;D Purchasing Production Maximize the profit Basic Value Activities Marketingggg Supportive Value Activities Logistics After service Basic facility management Human resource management Ramp;D Purchasing Production Maximize the profit Basic Value Activities Marketingggg Supportive Value Activities Logistics After service Figure 4-1 Raffles hotel value chain analysis Different from other ordinary factories, hotel sells service and rooms, the beginning and end are all markets, in other words, the customers. Modern hotel marketing requires selling the management style, operation and branding as a whole. Raffles hotel has a mature sales team consisted of marketing elites. They first make the consumers to know the hotel by marketing activities, and then they make decisions on consumption. If the process of consumption is affected by the value chain, the consumer will enjoy a better and systematic service. In this way, the degree of consumer’s satisfaction improved, then the value of consumer is created. The achievement of consumer’s satisfaction can be expressed as purchasing will and repeating will. The achievement of consumer’s value is at the same time the achievement of Raffles’ value. When the value chain turns to the next circulation, Raffles can transfer the value to consumer again. Service is the key factor of hotel management, so improving the service quality is the important method to win in the competition. In the service industry, corporate’s basic activities is closely related with the assist activities. Product purchasing guarantees the service in the value chain. The application of technology is an important part in the value chain (Qu, 2013), and is the key factor of hotel’s competitiveness. In the 1990s, the Center Registration System (CRS) has been adopted by the International hotel management group. Recent years, due to the development of satellite communication and the integrated service digital network, GDS has been a significant channel for advanced hotels. Raffles has adopted the CRS and GDS system. The guest flow GDS brings to hotel is huge. GDS and CRS changes the traditional way of promotion and the efficiency of promotion, high-tech accelerates the innovation of promotion and service. If the hotel cannot use the GRS or GDS properly, it will be dropped by the fierce competition. The management of human resources is important in the value chain as well. All the service of the hotel is delivered by individuals, so the recruitment, training and salary welfare design is very important. Raffles hotel own a thorough training system, it takes the lead role of language training, skills training and management training. . 8 IEF matrix analysis According to the steps of constructing EFE method, this paper chooses six main strengths and one weakness as the most important external environment factors and weights each item according to its significance. The score of each item ranges from 1 to 4. ‘1’ stands for very bad, ‘2’ stands for the average level, ‘3’ stands for above the average level a nd‘4’ stands for very good. Key Internal Factors| Mark| Weight | Weighted score| Strength| | | | 1. Geography location 2. Well-equipped facilities 3. Brand fameamp; good will 4. Unique marketing channel 5. Loyal guests 6. Advanced training system| 443234| 0. 30. 250. 10. 050. 10. 15| 1. 210. 30. 10. 30. 6| Weakness| | | | Old fashioned furnish| 2| 0. 05| 0. 1| Summation| | | 3. 6| Figure 4-2: IEF matrix of Raffles 5. A strategic plan for the next 3 years 6. 9 An evaluation of strategic options TOWS analysis is called inverted SWOT analysis, it was proposed by Weihrich in the 1980s (Helms, 2012). TOWS stands for the four words: strength, weakness, opportunity and threat. The analysis sequence is opposite to the SWOT analysis. It firstly analyzes the market opportunity and risk, and then analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of enterprises (Banerjee, 2005). In fact, People tend to see the market rather than themselves firstly when making competition strategy. If the hotel makes sure of the market opportunity, and then considers whether enterprise can grasp the opportunity according to the advantage of the enterprise can avoid threats on the market, it tend to be more practical. Figure 5-1shows the TOWS Matrix analysis table and strategic development of Raffles hotel. | Strength-S1. Geography location 2. Well-equipped facilities3. Brand fameamp; good will4. Unique marketing channel 5. Loyal guests6. Advanced training system| Weakness-WOld fashioned furnish| Opportunity-O 1. The booming tourism industry 2. The prosperous economy| SO StrategyThe hotel can seize the excellent external opportunities, make use of the good service as the market segmentation, and rebuild the facilities based on Raffles’ solid capital. | WO StrategyAdd the supporting facilities, make over the rooms and other hardware to fulfill the need of customers. Threat-T1Many hotels enter Singapore| ST Strategy| WT StrategyMake the brand strategy, provide the best service to guests. | Figure 5-1: TOWS Matrix analysis table and strategic development of Raffles hotel Based on the TOWS matrix and the IEF and EEF matrix, Raffles determines to take the SO strategy, that is the seize the external opportunities, make use of good service and the brand fame, position on the advanced markets, and rebu ild the facilities to fulfill the guests’ demand. 6. 10 The development of a sales target As we have mentioned in part four, Raffles aims to select the advanced market. It should take advantages of its extraordinary geographical location, strengthen its brand fame, makes full use of its facilities. An ideal distribution of the guest resources is meeting and signed guests take 55% percent of the whole income, individual travelers take 30% percent of the income and travel agency take the rest proportion. 6. 11 A mix of suitable strategies and a monitoring, control and contingency plan According to the above analysis, Raffles takes the diversified strategy and aims to provide best service to the guest who pursues a delicate service experience. There are always some things that cant control, and risk always presents (Akhter, 2010). Managers should take various measures to reduce the possibility of a risk to occur, or control it in a certain range. Risk control includes four basic methods: risk aversion, loss control, risk transfer, and risk retention. Raffles should hire employees who are specialized in the risk control.