Tesco SWOT Analysis 2015 2016 Essays

Tesco SWOT Analysis 2015 2016 Essays Tesco SWOT Analysis 2015 2016 Paper Tesco SWOT Analysis 2015 2016 Paper Tesco plc was the UK’s top retail merchant in 2013 ( Retail Economicss, 2014 ) and maintains a presence in 12 states in Europe and Asia ( Tesco, 2014 ) . To prolong its place and build profitableness, Tesco must measure its strengths, failings, chances and menaces ( SWOT ) . Strengths and weaknesses focal point on internal factors impacting a company ; in contrast, chances and menaces identify external issues ( Collins, 2010 ) . Therefore, it is of import to transport out a SWOT analysis to determine how the company is executing in the market ( Kotleret Al., 2013 ) . Strengths Tesco is a powerful retail trade name globally, in the top 100 of the world’s most valued trade names, somewhat below Ikea and good above eBay ( Brand Finance, 2014 ) . It is known as a company that offers value for money, convenience, a broad scope of merchandises, and locally-sensitive direction ( Wood and McCarthy, 2014 ) . Worldwide, Tesco has 6,784 shops, an addition of 433 shops since 2012, despite the disposal of their US venture, Fresh A ; Easy ( Tesco, 2012, 2014 ) . Tesco has utilised advanced concern methods in its rise, including the creative activity of shops like Tesco Metro and Tesco Express, which are little shops in local vicinities to do shopping more convenient for the clients ( Schiraldi, Smith and Takahashi, 2012 ) . Other strengths in their planetary operations include on-line shopping, joint ventures, such as in China, and local enlisting, including in senior direction places ( Koen, Bertels and Elsum, 2011 ) . Because of their size and installations, T esco can purchase in majority, profiting from economic systems of graduated table ( Blythman, 2012 ) . This permits the company to lower monetary values to maintain monetary values attractive and be competitory with UK retail merchants such as Asda or Sainsbury’s. Additionally, by making trueness bundles such as the Clubcard, they retain clients, making long-run relationships ( Felgate, Fearne and Di Falco, 2011 ) . Failings Tesco has grown to be a really large company with a really broad scope of merchandises, diversified into nutrient, books, vesture, furniture, insurance, gasoline, and fiscal services. This theoretical account has its failings. Tesco’s net income has been impacted by bad debt from recognition cards and high degrees of family insurance claims ( Ruddick, 2014 ) . Another issue is Tesco’s deficiency of experience in some markets that it intends to come in, such as its ain trade name smartphones and tablets ( Wood and Gibbs, 2014 ) . Finally, Tesco needs to put a batch of hard currency in new web engineerings and IT, every bit good as shop renovation, deviating hard currency from monetary value decrease schemes ( Ruddick, 2014 ) . This is likely to hold an inauspicious consequence on gross revenues ( Bunn and Ellis, 2012 ) . Opportunities There are many chances for Tesco, including enlargement into markets such as digital amusement, through their 80 % investing in Blinkbox ( Hall, 2011 ) . The move by Tesco to offer own-brand tablets and smartphones can cross with this investing, peculiarly in foreign markets such as Malaysia, South Korea, Thailand, and China ( Piercy, Cravens and Lane, 2010 ) . Online shopping can offer greater flexibleness to clients who are taking busy household lives or have mobility issues ; Tesco is seeking to run into the demands of the clients by spread outing operations in this sector ( Ma, Ding and Hong, 2010 ) . The on-going effects of the recession, where households and persons may be fighting financially, or excessively busy working to cook ( Thompsonet al. ,2012 ) , can be accommodated through wider ‘value’ and Tesco’s Finest stigmatization. In add-on, farther abroad enlargement could happen in markets such as Australia, where the food market retail market faces compa ratively limited competition yet is ferociously price-sensitive ( Clarke, 2012 ) . Menaces Tesco is confronted by many menaces in the market. Their current place as figure one in the UK food market retail sector means that they are the mark of consistent competition from Sainsbury’s, Asda, Morrison’s, and, progressively, Lidl and Aldi ( Stevenson, 2014 ) . One menace that Tesco continues to defy is the coup detat of Asda by Wal-Mart. Branding of shops as Asda Wal-Mart has been increasing in the UK, showing a weakening in the consumer contempt for Wal-Mart. The 9th most-valued trade name in the universe, Wal-Mart is Tesco’s largest planetary rival and therefore has the necessary accomplishments, resources, experience and financess to do Tesco jobs ( Brand Finance, 2014 ) . The consequence of town planning and consumer intolerance for out-of-town shops, every bit good as concern for the support of little stores, can besides endanger Tesco’s enlargement programs ( Stevenson, 2014 ) . Decision SWOT analysis allows sellers to place hazards in their environment. Once hazards are evaluated, steps can adopted to extenuate against the inauspicious effects of market alterations, or take advantage of gaps ( Kotleret al. ,2013 ) . Although a retail merchant may still confront tremendous challenges, such as Tesco is soon sing ( Ruddick, 2014 ) , developing flexibleness enables companies to construction programs to optimize success, or avoid come ining into undertakings in which failure is a important possibility. Strengths may be tailored to chances in the market, so that schemes are enhanced and clear aims set ( Kotleret al. ,2013 ) .Through consistent planning and economic consciousness, Tesco is good placed to procure its hereafter, as its diversified retail scheme is likely to suit increasing consumer trust on online shopping, digital merchandises and services, price reduction food market services. Bibliography Brand Finance ( 2014 ) .Global 500 2014: The world’s most valuable trade names.Available at: hypertext transfer protocol: //brandirectory.com/league_tables/table/global-500-2014 [ accessed 1 September 2014 ] . Blythman, J. ( 2012 ) .Shopped: The flooring power of British supermarkets. London: HarperCollins. Bunn, P. and Ellis, C. ( 2012 ) . Analyzing the behavior of single UK consumer monetary values.The Economic Journal, 122 ( 558 ) , F35-F55. Clarke, I. ( 2012 ) .Consumer satisfaction with local retail diverseness in the UK: Effectss of supermarket entree, trade name assortment and societal want.Doctoral thesis, Department of Marketing, Faculty of Business and Economics, Monash University, Australia. Collins, R. ( 2010 ) . A graphical method for researching the concern environment.Oxford University Working Paper 956. Felgate, M. , Fearne, A. and Di Falco, S. ( 2011 ) . Analyzing the impact of supermarket publicities: A instance survey utilizing Tesco Clubcard information in the UK. Kent Business School. Working Paper234. Hall, J. ( 2011 ) . Tesco to offer video-on-demand services.Daily Telegraph, 21stApril 2011. Koen, P.A. , Bertels, H.M. and Elsum, I.R. ( 2011 ) . The three faces of concern theoretical account invention: challenges for established houses.Research-Technology Management, 54 ( 3 ) , 52-59. Kotler, P. , Armstrong, G. , Harris, L.C. and Piercy, N.F. ( 2013 ) .Principles of selling( 6Thursdayedn ) . Harlow: Pearson. Ma, Y. , Ding, J. and Hong, W. ( 2010 ) . Delivering client value based on service procedure: The illustration of Tesco.com.International Business Research, 3 ( 2 ) , 131. Piercy, N.F. , Cravens, D.W. and Lane, N. ( 2010 ) . Marketing out of the recession: Recovery is coming, but things will neer be the same once more.The Marketing Review, 10 ( 1 ) , 3-23. Retail Economics ( 2014 ) .Top 10 UK retail merchants 2013.Available at: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.retaileconomics.co.uk/top-10-retailers/ [ accessed 1 September 2014 ] . Ruddick, G. ( 2014 ) . Tesco’s new main executive handed ?700m war thorax.Daily Telegraph,29ThursdayAugust 2014. Schiraldi, P. , Smith, H. and Takahashi, Y. ( 2012 ) . Estimating a dynamic game of spacial competition: The instance of the UK supermarket industry.LSE Working Paper. Stevenson, T. ( 2014 ) . Tesco portion slide has investors catching a falling knife.Daily Telegraph,29ThursdayAugust 2014. Tesco plc ( 2012 ) .Preliminary consequences 2011/12.Cheshunt: Tesco plc. Tesco plc ( 2014 ) .Annual study 2014.Cheshunt: Tesco plc. Thompson, C. , Clarke, G. , Clarke, M. and Stillwell, J. ( 2012 ) . Modeling the hereafter chances for deep price reduction nutrient retailing in the UK.The International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research, 22 ( 2 ) , 143-170. Wood, S. and McCarthy, D. ( 2014 ) . The UK nutrient retail ‘race for space’ and market impregnation: A modern-day reappraisal.The International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research, 24 ( 2 ) , 121-144. Wood, Z. and Gibbs, S. ( 2014 ) . Tesco to establish ain trade name smart phone.The Guardian,7ThursdayMay 2014. Other Essaies on Tesco Other essays available on the Tesco administrations are: Tesco PESTEL Analysis Tesco Business analysis Tesco is one of the taking supermarkets Tesco Strategy analysis Tesco Changing Business Environment Tesco Fresh Veg Supply Chain Management

The Execution of Processes and Managing the Operations Essay

The Execution of Processes and Managing the Operations - Essay Example The service industry is different from a lot of aspects from manufacturing industry which are the reasons why operational management in service and manufacturing industry differ. In manufacturing a job is undertaken to add value to a physical component and in the service industry, the activity involves people. These differences include inventorying of physical goods; including the processing of these inventories in the manufacturing industry while the planning in services industries focuses more on capacity utilization and yield management. Secondly, manufacturing functions usually have fixed resources while the resources in the services industry change over time and are not constant. Thirdly revenue management is crucial in the services industry as refusing a customer to provide services is a more common practice than unable to provide a product in the manufacturing industry. These all differences affect the planning, scheduling and management of the operations and make the operatio ns of both the industries different from each other. However, there are certain similarities found between the manufacturing and services industry and there is a certain level of similarity in there planning and management. Interval scheduling, reservation models and timetabling are all concepts which are similar in both the industries. (PINEDO. 2009) The sales and services industry is different from that of manuf, acting. In the sales, the transaction is between an employee and a customer for sales or services while in the manufacturing there is an interaction between technology and worker to produce a product.

The london olympics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

The london olympics - Essay Example The task that is being presented is an analysis of the 2012 Olympic Games to be held in London. The main perspective noted will be the amount of technology that is going to be used for the infrastructure of the game, specifically through transportation and restructuring of technological networks for security. The analysis conducted will show the demands and expectations as well as the practical applications that are creating a gap with the IT businesses. The ability to host a different set of tools and provisions for the Olympic Games of 2012 in London differs from past options for the games. The information systems that are required for the games have proceeded past years, specifically because of the amount of visitors that will be attending the games as well as the different cultures that will be a part of the games. To ensure that the correct provisions are made, there is the need to create a different set of options in technology for the games. The IT project not only has to be defined by the visitors that will be participating in the Olympics but should also be available for visitors from other countries who have come to see the games and to watch the prospective parts of the games. By doing this, there are more opportunities for London to grow with the available options for the country. The first concept that is being put into place for the London Olympics of 2012 is based on the transportation that is going to be made available to those that are participating in the games. The railway network is the main focus of the transportation, with a specific objective of offering more from the main railway network that goes to and from the games from different hotels and from the main airport. The Olympics will be held at over 33 venues, which is double the amount that has been used in the past for Paralympics. The main infrastructure that is being added into is

The Physics of a Guitar Essay Example for Free

The Physics of a Guitar Essay The guitar is the most played instrument in the music world. The oldest surviving guitar is thought to be made around 1776 in Italy by Gaetano Vinaccia. Though, the guitar looks like a simple instrument to construct or play there is a lot of physics behind the creation of it, from the strings to the air inside, the anatomy, and the sound spectrum. There are three types of guitars that are made: nylon acoustic, steel-string, and electric. Acoustic guitars produce sound due to a complicated interaction called coupling. Coupling refers to the interaction between two or more vibrating elements. It depends on geometry, sound frequency, and the materials that are used to make it. There are 3 parts to how a guitar works: the strings, body, and the air inside. The pitch of the string vibrating depends in four things. If the strings are the vibration will be slower. The frequency can be changes by string tension by turning the pegs on the guitar. Also, the frequency depends on how long the string that is free to vibrate and finally the mode of vibration. The body of the guitar is to transmit the vibration of the bridge into the vibration of the air. It needs a relatively large surface area for the vibration of both the bridge and air. The body of the guitar is usually made of spruce wood or a light springy wood and it’s about 2. 5 mm thickness. The top plate is made so that it can vibrate up and down easily enough. Now, the inside of the plate has a series of bridges that strengthen the plate. Those braces will also affect the way in which the top plate vibrates. The air inside of the body of the guitar is important, especially for the lower rang on the instrument. That air is also coupled effectively to the lowest resonance of the top plate. There is something called the Helmholtz resonance, which is due to the air at the sound hole oscillating. That is driven by the springiness of the air inside of the body. Air is springy, if it’s compressed the pressure increases which can vibrate like a mass on a spring. A guitar’s sound board is the most important element in sound production and displays resonant modes, similar to strings/pipes. Though there are two differences between a guitar strings/pipes. First, the sound board can be considered 2 dimensional in a guitar, while the other would be 1 dimensional. Second, the frequency of the resonant modes generally does not follow a simple harmonic progression. To observe the resonance modes of the soundboard there are various ways. Optically: holographic, interferometry, and laser velocimetry which has a laser beam that is reflected off various points on the soundboard. Acoustically, that had an array of microphone or a single microphone while scanning the area that detects various peaks in sound intensity while the guitar is excited. Electronically, it examines the capacitance between a charged plate on the vibrating soundboard and another charged plate held steady. Lastly mechanically, an accelerometer/ velocity transducer with which the mechanically vibrations are measured directly. Most of the sounds are made of a complicated mixture of vibrations. The sound spectrum is a representation of a sound in the terms of an amount of vibration at each of the individual frequency. It’s presented as a graph of either power or pressure that is a function of frequency. The sound spectra are usually measured using a couple different things. They use a microphone that measures the sound pressure over a certain interval, analogue that is a digital converter which converts this to a series of numbers as a function of time, and a computer which performs a calculation upon those numbers.

Christianity & Intelligence Essay examples -- Sociology Sociological R

Christianity & Intelligence Reed College has been widely regarded as a campus with a pro-atheist sentiment and an anti-religious outlook of the world. T-shirts that display the seal of the college advertise atheism as a concept of paramount importance. The aim of this psychological study was to determine whether students of Reed College implicitly associated Christianity with unintelligence and atheism with intelligence. Numerous Implicit Association Tests (IAT’s) have been used to determine whether or not people have underlying biases toward particular racial or social groups. Based on the speed of responses when associated with one ethnic group or another, one is able to determine just what sort of hidden biases may exist in the mind of the subject. Especially intriguing in this case is the idea that Christians may be construed as less intelligent than atheists on Reed’s campus. How does this construal, if present, affect diversity at Reed and the acceptance of various social and religious grou ps? Is there a certain degree to which individuals who cherish religious beliefs are ignored due to their association with Christianity? The goal of this study is to make a determination as to whether there is an association with intelligence and belief in a Christian God. This study will determine whether this association, if existent, is explicit or implicit, or both. Using an IAT, we will present various words associated with atheism and Christianity in addition to words associated with intelligence and stupidity. My hypothesis is that there will be a certain degree of underlying bias that views Christians as less intelligent individuals than atheists. The participants for this study were twelve students in the Intro Psycholog... ...ill feel less welcome here. Thus, religious and intellectual diversity are curbed due to various implicit and explicit associations. It is somewhat comforting to know that the research was limited in the fact that only a small sample size could be taken. Perhaps if an entire sample of the campus could have been measured, we would be able to find the direct implications of the research. As it happens, it would be very interesting to discuss and explore other modes that may limit diversity at Reed. Is there an implicit association with Republicans and non-intelligence? Do Reedies value the opinions of people from different social and ethnic groups less through implicit or even explicit associations? And does this carry a direct influence on those interested in matriculating at the college? These questions would be interesting to explore in future tests of association.

Cultural Analysis of Brazil Essay

A key to manage effectively across national and cultural boundaries, which is critical to the success (Browaeys and Price, 2011), lies in the understanding the different means of in various cultures (Trompenaars, 1993). Hence, basic cultural analysis should be conducted to better plan the new manufacturing business unit in Brazil where there are many differences from the Swedish culture. The famous analytic models from Hofstede (1980) and Trompenaars (1993) are applied to identify the key distinct dimensions of the two national cultures in terms of their management implications. Cultural Analysis The most influential factors chosen from Hofstede’s model are PD and UA, with the largest gap in scores and significant differences from table 1. Table 1 Different Scores of Brazil and Sweden in the national cultural dimensions Power DistanceUncertainty AvoidanceIndividualismMasculinity Brazil69763849 Sweden3129715 Source: Hofstede (1980, p315) Firstly, PD refers to the interpersonal power or influence between the powerful member of an organization and the least powerful one (Browaeys and Price, 2011). It, however, reflects the human inequality with a range of aspects, including rewards, wealth, prestige and privileges, etc., in the hierarchies of the organization. Normally, a higher high PD value implies the requirements of a centralised and direct decision-making process rather than plural participations of members in different levels (Velo, 2012). Brazil is, as many as around one time larger in land size and populations of Sweden (Findthedata, 2012), which contribute to the centralisation trends of organisations. Meanwhile, the large PD of Brazil means inequalities of power and wealth are however likely tolerated (Stephen, 2006) since the resources are concentrated. For instance, Azevedo (2009) concluded that most companies from Sà £o Paulo Stock Exchange has strong power concentration characteristics in terms of fact t hat most controlling shareholders or their relatives hold or chaired CEO positions. However, Brazil also suffers from, in return,  burdensome bureaucracy and deep social imbalances (James, 2011). Reversely, Sweden companies are more democracy, less hierarchical and even, for employee able to make comment to their managers (Porter, 2006). Secondly, the UA represents the degree to which a culture prefers risky, flexible and new situations over conversational, rigid and regular status (Browaeys and Price, 2011). UA, as Hofstede (1980) noted, indeed suggests, uncertainty about the future and cope with it through technology, law and religion. Commonly, a high UA scores means the national residents are unlike to do risky things and try to avoid changes (Velo, 2012), which directs the activities in working are supposed to be planned with less ambitious and stable employees (Hofstede, 1980). The managers are expected to be more task-oriented and involved in more details to control, if not eliminate, the uncertainty in work (Hofstede, 1980). Oppositely, Sweden companies are high possibile to have adverse attitude towards risk with different attributes in management (Porter, 2006). Predominantly Catholic population in Brazil reinforces the philosophy of the existence of an absolute ‘Truth’, that those individuals, thereby, should make efforts to lower this level of uncertainty (Vincent, 2003). Instead, in order to prevent the unexpected, the ultimate goal of this society is to control everything by means with adopted and implemented strict rules, laws, policies, and regulations (Stephen, 2006). Brazil companies are operating under a highly complex and expensive tax with a regulatory environment (James, 2011) aimed at reducing uncertainty in business circumstances. Also, Brazilian companies are showing growing interests in implementing modern enterprise risk management techniques (Ernst & Young, 2012). In comparison, the Sweden companies are welcome the relaxed atmosphere in which managers are interpersonal and strategy centred and flexible in style whereas employees are ambitious with high turnover probability (Hofstede, 1980; Porter, 2006). The most vital factor taken from Trompenaars’ framework is individualism versus collectivism, which means people in certain culture are oriented to the self or common goals and objectives (Browaeys and Price, 2011). These two elements affects the international management in negotiation, decision-making and motivation and are often related to religions (Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner, 1997). Catholics are likely to do group work while Protestants rely more on themselves. Brazil is a typical  collectivist community that places family at the center of its social system and depend heavily on relationships (Malinak 2012). Accordingly, Brazilians are of loyalty and duty to their group, especially within their extended families (James, 2011). The firms are anticipated to care employees like family member. For example, a job are considered when it includes mandatorily paid vacations, Fundo de Garantia do Tempo de Servià §o, at least one meal for employees working eight hours and the 13th salary (Novais 2012). Sweden companies are generally quite different. The common Swedish word â€Å"lagom† are used to inform the importance of one’s own performances in workplace (Porter, 2006). MOST IMPORTANT DIMENSION IN THIS CONTEXT Among all the dimensions in these two models, individualism should be the most important one that calls for intensified attention when setting up a new manufacturing business unit in Brazil. From a theoretical level, individualism is contained in both Hofstede’s and Trompenaars’ model and is suggested by some scholars (e.g., Dunnette & Hough, 1990) as the essential dimension to analyse culture. Because a large number of studies have proved the impact of individualism on the behaviour of members belong to a social group (e.g., Smith & Bond, 1999; Ashmos & McDaniel, 1996). Moreover, individualism usually has impact on some other dimensions in the models. For instance, people belong to collectivist culture and individualist culture is suitable to different motivation method (Hofstede, 1980). In this case, the most significant reason is the big gap between Sweden and Brazil in individualism. Just as mentioned above, Brazil gets 38 points while Sweden scores 71 in Hofstedeâ €™s analysis (Hofstede, 1980). In Sweden culture, individuals usually are regarded as the end achieved by the improvements of communal arrangements (Hampden-Turner & Trompenaars, 1994). On the contrary, groups are regarded as end in Brazil culture achieved by the improvements of individual abilities (Hofstede, 1980). It can be reflected by the splendent performance of group sports in Brazil such as soccer (Wikipedia, 2012). The difference in individualism would lead to various factors that require more attention in management. Organizational structure usually takes the brunt of this change. People in Brazil would prefer group work rather than individual work. The group leader or the older and powerful member of a group is expected to offer help to younger colleagues (Hofstede, 1980). It also leads  to the changes in reward system. Since people in Brazil often motivated by group interests rather than their own, it would be better to set group goals and reward members on the basis of the group achievements. Decision making process is another significant different caused by individualism. In Sweden, people view themselves as being empowered to make the decisions needed to meet one’s own goals thus the decision making is very quickly. When it comes to group decisions, voting is a common method. However, Brazilians sometimes would give up their personal interests to collective interests thus decisions usually are not based on democratic voting (O’Keefe, 2004). Moreover, Brazil people are usually integrated into strong, cohesive groups thus they attach great importance to relationships. Businessmen should pay more attention to develop good relationships to their potential distributors and government officials. Senior manager should spend as more time as possible with chatting and making jokes. Similarly, making a call or talking to someone in person is preferred to writing e-mails. To sum up, the big gap between Sweden and Brazil in individualism demonstrates that it is the essential dimension to analyse culture as it would lead to various difference in organization structure, decision making process and the importance of relationships. Thus, from both theoretical and practical level, individualism is the most important dimension in this case. CONCLUSION In conclusion, there are several significant cultural gaps between Sweden and Brazil including power distance, individualism, uncertainty avoidance, neutral versus emotional and attitudes to the environments. Individualism comes out to be the most important dimension because of the considerable gap between the two countries in their attitudes towards collective interests and personal honour. And this difference would have a significant impact on transnational management. Thus, the management method should be sharpened in order to consider them when extending business in emerging economies of Brazil. This allows to avoid misunderstandings caused by cultural reasons and to improve the efficiency of management and communication in new manufacturing business unit. References Ashmos, D.P. & McDaniel, R.R. (1996) Understanding the Participation of Critical Task Specialists in Strategic Decision Making*. Decision Sciences. [Online] 27 (1), 103–121. Available from: doi:10.1111/j.1540-5915.1996.tb00845.x. Azevedo, S. M. G. (2009). Os papà ©is do Conselho de Administraà §Ãƒ £o em empresas listadas no Brasil. Master’s Dissertation, Faculdade de Economia, Administraà §Ãƒ £o e Contabilidade, University of Sà £o Paulo, Sà £o Paulo. Retrieved 2012-11-03, from http://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/12/12139/tde-11092009-141955/ Browaeys, M-J and Price, R, (2011) Understanding Cross-Cultural Management (2nd Ed.), Harlow: Pearson Education Ltd. Dunnette, M. & Hough, L. (1990) Handbook of industrial and organizational psychology. 2nd edition. Palo Alto, Consulting Psychologists Press. Ernst & Young (2012). Risk-based capital and governance in Latin America: Emerging regulations (Report). London: Ernst & Young Global Limit. Findthedata (2012). [Online]. Available from: [Accessed: 01 November 2012]. Hampden-Turner, C. & Trompenaars, A. (1994) Seven cultures of capitalism†¯: value systems for creating wealth in the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Sweden, and the Netherlands. London, Piatkus. Hofstede, G.H. (1980) Cultures consequences†¯: international differences in work-related values. Beverly Hills†¯; London, Sage. James G. (2011). Business Basics in Brazil, Big opportunities, challenges go hand in hand. Journal of Accountancy [online]. Available from: [Accessed: 01 November 2012]. Malinak C. (2012). Doing Business in Brazil (report). London: Communicaid Group Ltd. Novais Andrà ©a (2012). Common Benefits in Brazil. The Brazil Business [online]. Available from: [Accessed: 01 November 2012]. O’Keefe, H. and O’Keefe, W.,M., (2004) Business behaviors in Brazil and the USA: Understanding the gaps. International Journal of Social Economics, 31(5), pp. 614-622. Porter A. (2006). ‘Taking care of business in Sweden’. Sweden.se [online]. Available from: [Accessed: 01 November 2012]. Smith, P.B. & Bond, M.H. (1999) Social psychology across cultures. 2nd ed. Boston, Mass, Allyn & Bacon. Stephen T. (2006). ‘Geert Hofstede Analysis for Brazil’. Cyborlink [online]. Available from: [Accessed: 01 November 2012]. Trompenaars F. and Hampden-Turner C. (1997). Riding the Waves of Culture: Understanding Cultural Diversity in Business (2nd ed). London: Nicholas Brealey. Velo, V. (2012). Cross-cultural management. New York, Business Expert Press. Vincent, J. S. (2003). Culture and customs of Brazil. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. Wikipedia (2012) Brazil national football team – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. . [Online]. 2012. Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazil_national_football_team [Accessed: 3 November 2012].

How to Write IEP (Individualized Education Plan) Goals

An Individualized Education Program (IEP) is a written plan developed for special education students. The IEP is generally updated annually by a team that often includes the special education teacher, special education administrator, general education teacher, specialists such as speech, occupational, and physical therapists, as well as a school nurse. Writing IEP goals correctly is vital to a special education students success because, unlike in general or regular education, students in special education are legally entitled to an education plan specifically tailored to their cognitive and physical ability and needs. The IEP goals lay out the roadmap for providing such an education. Key Takeaways: SMART IEP Goals IEP goals should be SMART: specific, measurable, attainable, results-oriented, and time-bound.SMART IEP goals are realistic for the student to achieve and explain how the student will accomplish them.Smart IEP goals always consider the students present levels of performance and include a brief description of how progress will be measured as well as what constitutes successful completion of each goal. SMART IEP Goals All IEP goals should be SMART goals, an acronym that refers to goals as specific, measurable, achievable, results-oriented, and time-bound. A SMART IEP goal will be realistic for the student to achieve and lay out how the student will accomplish it. Breaking down the components of SMART goals into their specific elements can make them easier to write. Specific: The goal should be specific in naming the skill or subject area and the targeted result. For example, a goal that is not specific might read, Adam will be a better reader. Such a goal fails to provide any details. Measurable: You should be able to measure the goal using standardized tests,  curriculum-based measurements  or screening, work samples, or even teacher-charted data. A goal that is not measurable might read, Joe will get better at solving math problems. Attainable: A lofty goal that is not attainable can discourage both teacher and student. A goal that is not attainable might read, Frank will ride public transportation all over town without any mistakes any time he wants. If Frank has never ridden public transportation, this goal is likely out of reach. Results-oriented: The goal should clearly spell out the expected result. A poorly worded goal might read, Margie will increase her eye contact with others. Theres no way to measure that and no indication of what the result might be. Time-bound: The goal should state specifically by what date the student is expected to accomplish it. A goal lacking a time expectation might read, Joe will explore career opportunities. Consider Present Level of Performance To write SMART goals, the IEP team needs to know the present levels at which the student is functioning. For example, you wouldnt expect a student to learn algebra by the next IEP if she is currently struggling to add two-digit numbers. Its important that the current levels of performance accurately and honestly reflect the students abilities and deficiencies. A report on the present levels of performance often begins with a statement of the students strengths, preferences, and interests. They would then cover: Academic skills: This lists the students ability in math, reading, and writing, and spells out deficiencies in these areas compared to grade-level peers. Communication development: This describes the level of communication at which the student is functioning as well as any deficits compared to same-age peers. If the student has speech deficits or is using vocabulary and sentence structure that are below grade-level peers, that would be noted here. Emotional/social skills: This describes the students social and emotional abilities, such as getting along with others, initiating and taking part in conversations with friends and classmates, and responding appropriately to stress. An issue in this area could interfere with a students ability to learn and interact with teachers and peers. Monitor Progress Once the IEP team has agreed on a set of goals for the year, its important to monitor the students progress toward meeting those goals. The process for monitoring the students progress is often included in the IEP goals themselves. For example, a SMART goal listed previously reads as follows: Penelope will be able to solve two-digit addition problems with 75 percent accuracy as measured by work samples, teacher-charted data, and standardized tests. For this goal, the teacher would collect work samples over a period of time, such as a week or month, to indicate Penelopes progress. Data collection  refers to regularly assessing a student’s success on individual items in her goals, usually at least once a week. For example, the teacher and paraprofessionals might maintain a daily or weekly log that shows how accurately Penelope is solving two-digit multiplication problems on a daily or weekly basis. Review and Update Benchmarks as Needed Since goals are written to cover an entire year, they are generally broken into benchmarks. These might be quarterly periods where the teacher and staff can monitor how well the student is progressing toward the specific goal. For example, the first benchmark might require Penelope to solve two-digit problems with 40 percent accuracy by the end of the first quarter; the second benchmark, three months later, might require her to solve problems at 50 percent accuracy, while a third might call for a 60 percent accuracy rate. If the student is not close to achieving these benchmarks, the team can include an addendum adjusting the final goal to a more reasonable level, such as 50 percent accuracy. Doing so provides the student with a more realistic chance of achieving the goal in the long run. IEP Goal Examples IEP goals should, as noted, follow the SMART acronym, ensuring that they are specific, measurable, achievable, results-oriented, and time-bound. Following are some examples: Adam will be  able to read a passage orally in a grade-level book at 110 to 130 words per minute with no more than 10 errors. This goal is specific because it specifies exactly how many words Adam will be able to read in a minute as well as the acceptable error rate. As another example, a SMART goal that is measurable might read: Penelope will be able to solve two-digit addition problems with 75 percent accuracy as measured by work samples, teacher-charted data, and standardized tests. This goal is measurable because it specifies the desired accuracy percentage on all work samples. A goal that is attainable goal might read: By the next meeting, Joe will travel from school to home safely on a public transportation bus once a week with 100 percent accuracy as measured by teacher-charted data. Put another way, this is a goal that Joe might well be able to reach; hence, it is attainable. A results-oriented goal could state: Margie will look the person speaking to her in the eye 90 percent of the time in four out of five daily opportunities, as measured by teacher-charted data. This goal focuses on results: It specifies what, exactly, the outcome will be if Margie reaches the goal. (Shell be able to look a person in the eye 90 percent of the time.) A time-bound goal, by contrast, might read: By the next meeting, Joe will explore career opportunities through a variety of media (such as books, library, internet, newspaper, or tours of job sites) with 100 percent accuracy in four out of five weekly trials, as measured by teacher-charted observation/data. Importantly, this goal specifies when Joe should reach the goal (by the next meeting, likely a year from the date the goal was initially accepted by the IEP team). With this goal, everyone on the IEP team is aware that Joe is expected to have explored the specified career opportunities by the next meeting.