Strategic Management (Marks & Spancer Case) Essay

Strategic Management (Marks & Spancer Case) - Essay Example It is able to source quality products from centralized buying office and later transfers the same to its stores. In each and every store, analogues procedures are being followed and hence, the independence of managers was constrained. In the past, various CEOs concentrated on quality of merchandise, supplier control and layout of stores. During the 11-year tenure of Sir Richard Greenbury as Chairman cum CEO, M&S enjoyed twice the market share as compared to any other retailers in the industry and witnessed the growth successively as they were no major changes to its style of operations or functioning. However, in 1998, M&S strategy met a great disaster as it performance was far below than normal for many successive years. Its lost its major chunk of customer’s base due to its competitors ability to source very competitive merchandises from low-cost nations and there had been cut-throat competition from retailers like Gap, Oasis, Next, Matalam and Asda. Due to poor performance, Sir Richard Greenbury was shown exit doors in 1999. In 2000, Luc Van de Velde appointed himself as Chairman cum CEO, and he earnestly attempted to turnaround the M&S Plc in his short span tenure that prolonged up to 2004. With aim of focusing on UK market, Velde appointed a head for UK retail and segmented the customers of the company employing the store within a store perception. He successfully entered into a joint venture with designer George Davies. In 2003, he introduced the Simply food notion and started to open stand alone food stores in 2003 in UK. Velde era made a turnaround of M&S Plc between 2000 and 2004 but also M&S encountered successive takeover attempts by the Arcadia Group. Another innovation that Luc Van de Velde brought was the introduction loyalty cards which gave the customers reward points that can be used during their future purchases at M&S stores. However, in the year 2004, M&S witnessed a deep decline in their sales, lost major of its market share to its c ompetitors, mainly due to over-emphasis on Per Una. Rose Stuart succeeded Luc Van de Velde in 2004, and he followed a strategy of under promising but excess delivering in terms of targets set. In 2008, Rose was re-designated as Chairman cum CEO when UK was facing utter economic crisis. Since then, the scenery did not improve in 2009 also, Rose and his marketing director were to forego ? 1 million package bonus of M&S shares and in 2010, Rose relinquished his position as chairman and functioned as CEO of the company. Introduce the theory or concept to be used in analysing the assignment This paper tries to explore about competitive strategy on which M&S might accomplish competitive advantage in the market. As per Michael Porter, an organisation could achieve the competitive advantage by adhering to three various generic strategies like focus, overall cost leadership and differentiation. As per Cliff Bowman and Richard D’ Aveni, market-facing generic strategies are having compe titive advantages, which is accomplished by offering customers with what they exactly need or want more efficiently and effectively than its competitors. (Cousins & Coskett 2007:275) In UK, M&S was the number-one retailer, but it failed to comprehend or to recognise the transforming social fashions and tastes in the

Project plan for esso supermarket

Project plan for esso supermarket I have to create a project plan for a Deferent branch for a Esso Supermarket. This involve import all necessary hardware likes computers for check out stations, mobile barcode readers for scanning the prices and relabeling them for any reduced price offers etc. It has been said that the building infrastructure already exists and is developed by local builder. However, i need to develop a plan that incorporates all electrical, plumbing and networking. All these tasks are done by electrician, plumber and network engineer; each and every cost  £200,  £250 and  £300 a day correspondingly. Major tasks include getting the quotations from different vendors, comparing the prices and deciding the specs and vendor, ordering the checkout stations, cabling, physically installing the checkout stations, putting the LAN cables and connecting all the checkout stations to the network and finally installing all the required software for the system. I need one week to decide the specification and get it approves by our top management. Vendors usually its take two to three weeks to get you the order delivered. Assume all check out stations hardware, mobile barcode readers are supplying by one vendor. However, the air conditioning units are supplying by a different vendor and takes up to two weeks. Cabling work is done by a network engineer and installation of air conditioning units is done by a contractor. These jobs may take a maximum of 3 working days. After all hardware is in its place, all the software must be is required to be installed. This takes a maximum of 5 working days. This has done by internal IT staff member from the head office. We had already that all required software is available and ready to be installed. As the store is largest , we decided to buy 30 checkout stations, each of which include a monitor, keyboard, card (magnetic stripe) reader, bar code reader, digital weighing scale, printer, pin and chip card reader, conveyor belt system etc. Each check out station would normally cost  £1000. Twenty air conditioning units, 10 freezers to store frozen food are also necessary. Air conditioning units and freezers cost  £500 and  £750 respectively. Two security systems be installed at each of the two entrances. This cost  £1000 each unit. Hardware staff cost  £300 per day. There are 2 hardware specialists working on the project. The budget for this project is  £150,000. Base on this Scope as project manager i have to develop the Esso supermarket Period of three months if i finished early my teem get eligible to get bones 1. Identifying the most important tasks A) Collecting quotation from Various Vendors B) Compare the prices range and decide the specs C) Order the checkout station D) Plumbing E) Electrical F) LAN Cables G) Networking H) Installing all the request soft ware This main project can be divided into major 5 tasks. Under this major task there will be several sub tasks which will be executes one after another and parallel according to the project need. 1) Initiating This is the first phase of the project. Here the project formally commencing between the project sponsor and the project manager. Here first kick off meeting will be initiated here the outline of the project will be discussed and the detailed project charter will be formally developed. After developing the project charter the project manager will review the key points with project sponsor and finalise the project with project sponsor. 2) Planning Here the project planning will be started. Before the actual project implementation the project should be well planned in every area of execution. Here the project manager develop a comprehensive project plan this includes the project scope, project objectives, the project deadlines, project quality plan, project communication and project configuration plan this will be outline the roles and responsibility of the individual people. This plan will be sent to the project sponsor approval and review after make necessary changes and finally accepting the project plane. 3) Executing Here the actual project implementation starts. Before the project implementation the required hardware, software and other equipments had to be purchased. So the project behalf of the Esso supermarket is decided to develop a RFP (Request for proposal) and decided to call for the proposal from the different supplier and then review the capabilities of each supplier and then short listed some of the very famous supplier in UK. Thereafter the interview has been concluded and the final vendors are selected and the price and the after sales services arrangement were negotiated and the project contract is signed. After that the vendors are in different time periods they send all the necessary hardware and equipments to the site. The electric cable wiring and the electric circuit installations were done in the site. The main plumbing has been done from plumbers and order to install the air condition and the freezers. After that the computer local area network is done by network engineers an d all the connection were connected then the checkout stations were installed. After this the security cameras were installed at the stores. Then the required software is installed after this check the functionality with SRS and reviews any changes. Then the user or new staffs are s recruited and given the training 4) Controlling Controlling the system is done by in the way of continues status report and monitoring the progress review meetings. 5) Closing After the project is implemented the project post analysis is done and checks whether the actual project milestones were achieved 2. Identify the order the tasks (Top-to-Bottom) To setup a new superstore branch Electrical   Electric cable Wiring   Electric cable Wiring   Electric cabling designing   Freezers, Air Conditions   Computers, security cameras   Checkout Stations Purchasing Hardware Implementation Outsourcing application Analysis Design Closing Post Analysis Review Progress Review Meeting    Status Report Project Plan approved and baseline Review Project Plan Develop Project Plan Devolve project scope Controlling Develop Project Charter Kick-off meeting Charter signed Executing Review Project Charter Initiating Planning   Air condition plumbing Plumbing   Freezers Plumbing Local Area Network Designing   Local Area Network Till Installations   LAN Cable Wiring   Install Check out work stations   Implementing Application Software   Data Wiring connecting all Checkout Stations   Air Condition Installation   Installing freezers   User Acceptance Testing (UAT) Install Software Review SRS Install Security camera   2.1 Low level detail task (Finish-to-Start, Parallel) 1 Initiating 2 Kick-off meeting 3 Develop Project Charter 2 4 Review Project Charter 3 5 Charter Signed 4 6 Planning 7 Devolve project scope 5 8 Develop Project Plan (Quality, Communication, Configuration) 7 9 Review Project Plan 8 10 Project Plan approved and baseline 9 11 Executing 12 Analysis and Design 13 Prepare RFP 9 14 Sourcing 15 Call for Proposals 13 16 Review Proposals 15 17 Shortlist Suppliers 16 18 Negotiate Select Supplier 17 19 Prepare Contract 18 20 Implementation 21 Purchasing Hardware 22 Purchase Checkout Station 19 23 Purchase Computers and all other accessories 22 24 Purchase Air condition 23 25 Purchase Freezers 24 26 Purchase Security Camera 25 27 Electrical 28 Electric cabling designing 22 29 Electric cable Wiring 23 30 Electric fittings 25 31 Plumbing 32 Air condition plumbing 28 33 Freezers Plumbing 28 34 Local Area Network Till Installations 35 Local Area Network Designing 33 36 LAN Cable Wiring 35 37 Install Check out work stations 36 38 Data Wiring Connecting all Checkout Stations 37 39 Air Condition Installation 32 40 Installing freezers 32 41 Install Security System 37 42 Implementing Application Software 43 Install Software 37 44 Review SRS 43 45 User Acceptance Testing (UAT) 44 46 recruit user User Training 45 47 Controlling 48 Status Report 46 49 Progress Review Meeting with Management 48 50 Closing 51 Post Analysis Review 49 Serial Tasks or Finish-to-start Parallel Task According to above detail task the blue colour task shows the serial tasks which a particular task will start when another task is finish (Finish-Start). The yellow colour tasks are the parallel task which can be executed simultaneously at a same time. In the above question there are 5 major task been divided into sub tasks as it is shown above task list. Task number 10 11 will be parallel executed after the task 9 is completed. Task number 23 28 will be parallel executed after the task 22 is completed. Similarly the task number 26 30 will be parallel executed after the task number 25 is finished. The task 32 33 will be parallel executed similarly after the task number 28. The task 39 40 will be parallel executed similarly after the task number 32. Finally the task 41 43 will be parallel executed similarly after the task number 37. 3. Risk Matrix The following risk matrix shows the level of risk which affects the project. High R6 R2, R3 significant R5 R8 Moderate R7 R1, R4 Low R10 Probability Low Moderate Significant High Impact Risk = probability x impact R1: Inefficient staff R2: Shortfalls in externally supplied equipments R3: Staff sickness affecting critical activities R4: Shortfalls in contract employed staff R5: Failure of checkout workstation R6: Failure of electricity network R7: Failure of Local area Network equipment R8: Staff unhappy with the payment. R9: Defect in Software Application R10: Mistake in Plumbing design 4. Total Time taken to finish the superstore to up and operational Initiating 5d Mon 06/09/10 Fri 10/09/10 Project preparation 1d Mon 06/09/10 Mon 06/09/10 Develop Project Charter 1d Tue 07/09/10 Tue 07/09/10 Review Project Charter 1d Wed 08/09/10 Wed 08/09/10 Charter Signed 2d Thu 09/09/10 Fri 10/09/10 Planning 9d Mon 13/09/10 Thu 23/09/10 Devolve project scope 3d Mon 13/09/10 Wed 15/09/10 Develop Project Plan (Quality, Communication, Configuration) 2d Thu 16/09/10 Fri 17/09/10 Review Project Plan 2d Mon 20/09/10 Tue 21/09/10 Project Plan approved and baseline 2d Wed 22/09/10 Thu 23/09/10 Executing 51d Fri 24/09/10 Fri 03/12/10 Analysis and Design 4d Fri 24/09/10 Wed 29/09/10 Prepare RFP 4d Fri 24/09/10 Wed 29/09/10 Sourcing 9d Thu 30/09/10 Tue 12/10/10 Call for Proposals 1d Thu 30/09/10 Thu 30/09/10 Review Proposals 1d Fri 01/10/10 Fri 01/10/10 Shortlist Suppliers 1d Mon 04/10/10 Mon 04/10/10 Negotiate Select Supplier 3d Tue 05/10/10 Thu 07/10/10 Prepare Contract 3d Fri 08/10/10 Tue 12/10/10 Implementation 37d Wed 13/10/10 Thu 02/12/10 Purchasing Hardware 28d Wed 13/10/10 Fri 19/11/10 Purchase Checkout Station 5d Wed 13/10/10 Tue 19/10/10 Purchase Computers and all other accessories 1w Mon 01/11/10 Fri 05/11/10 Purchase Air condition And all other accessories 3d Mon 08/11/10 Wed 10/11/10 Purchase Freezers And all other accessories 3d Thu 11/11/10 Mon 15/11/10 Purchase Security System and all other accessories 4d Tue 16/11/10 Fri 19/11/10 Electrical 24d Wed 20/10/10 Mon 22/11/10 Electric cabling designing 5d Wed 20/10/10 Tue 26/10/10 Electric cable Wiring 2w Mon 08/11/10 Fri 19/11/10 Electric fittings 5d Tue 16/11/10 Mon 22/11/10 Plumbing 7d Wed 27/10/10 Thu 04/11/10 Air condition plumbing 5d Wed 27/10/10 Tue 02/11/10 Freezers Plumbing 3d Wed 27/10/10 Fri 29/10/10 Aircondition cabling 2d Mon 01/11/10 Tue 02/11/10 Freezer cabling 2d Wed 03/11/10 Thu 04/11/10 Local Area Network Till Installations 27d Wed 27/10/10 Thu 02/12/10 Local Area Network Designing 1d Fri 05/11/10 Fri 05/11/10 LAN Cable Wiring 5d Mon 08/11/10 Fri 12/11/10 Install Chck out work stations 5d Mon 15/11/10 Fri 19/11/10 Data Wiring Connecting all Checkout Stations 5d Mon 22/11/10 Fri 26/11/10 Air Condition Installation 3d Wed 27/10/10 Fri 29/10/10 Installing freezers 3d Wed 27/10/10 Fri 29/10/10 Install Security System 4d Mon 29/11/10 Thu 02/12/10 Implementing Application Software 10d Mon 22/11/10 Fri 03/12/10 Install Software 5d Mon 22/11/10 Fri 26/11/10 Review SRS 2d Mon 29/11/10 Tue 30/11/10 User Acceptance Testing (UAT) 2d Wed 01/12/10 Thu 02/12/10 recruit user User Training 1d Fri 03/12/10 Fri 03/12/10 Controlling 2d Mon 06/12/10 Tue 07/12/10 Status Report 1d Mon 06/12/10 Mon 06/12/10 Progress Review Meeting with Management 1d Tue 07/12/10 Tue 07/12/10 Closing 1d Wed 08/12/10 Wed 08/12/10 Post Analysis Review 1d Wed 08/12/10 Wed 08/12/10 According to the working the super store will be finished and up and running on the 24th of Dec2010. This date is well inside the 3 month target period. 5) Establish the labour costs and provide a work breakdown structure and contain these costs. The WBS have to contents a estimates and mirrored on the work breakdown structure and have to be capable of rolling-up to show the overall cost of the project and the individual cost of each sub deliverables Develop a work breakdown structure for the hardware tasks which have tangible outcoming and a (PBS) process breakdown structure for those tasks which are process oriented. We can link the two structures, i.e. WBS and PBS so one project manager can manage the project or do you have other suggestions? The Total Labour Cost for this Project  £ 53,400 All Details Attach on Appendix 1 The Total Materials Cost for this Project  £ 51,500 All Details Attach on Appendix 2 Total Direct cost  £ 104,900 Assuming the Direct Overhead cost and General and Administration Cost from the total Direct cost Total Direct Cost  £ 104,900 Direct Over head cost 20%  £ 20,980 Total Direct Cost  £ 125,880 General and administrative (GA) over head cost 20%  £ 20,980 Total Cost  £ 146,860 Profit  £ 3,140 Total BID  £ 150,000 5. Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) 5.1 Labour Cost WBS Labour Cost  £ 53,400 Air Condition Installation  £ 2000 Contractor  £2000 Install Security System  £ 600 Installing freezers  £ 600 LAN Cable Wiring  £ 1200 Air condition plumbing  £1200 Electric cable wiring  £3000 Hard Ware Staff  £6600 Install Check out work stations  £ 4200 Install Security System  £ 1200 Data Wiring  £ 8400 LAN Cable Wiring  £ 6000 Local Area Network  £ 600 Freezers Caballing  £ 1200 Air condition caballing  £ 1200 Net work Engineer  £ 25200 Plumber  £6000 Freezers Plumbing  £3000 Air condition plumbing  £ 3000 Install Security camera  £ 400 Data Wiring  £ 800 Electric fittings  £ 3200 Electric cabling designing  £ 1600 Electric cable wiring  £ 7200 Electric cabling designing  £ 1600 Electrician  £13600 Hard Ware Task 5.2 Hardware WBS Install Security System Install Security System LAN Cabling LAN Cable Wiring Freezers Plumbing Freezer Cabling Air-condition Air condition plumbing Electric cable Wiring A/C Electric Cabling Freezers pipe lining Pipe lining to A/C Electric cable Wiring Freezer Fixing The Security System on suitable place Under Floor LAN Lining Electric cable wiring for Check out station 6. Develop a project plan using Project 2007 6.1 WBS using Project 2007 6.2 GANN Chart using Project 2007 6.3 Network Diagram using Project 2007 7. Organisational Breakdown Structure (OBS) The OBS provides an organizational rather than a task-based perspective of the project.   The hierarchical structure of the OBS allows the aggregation of project information to higher levels when project responsibilities are defined. An OBS might include the Project Manager at the top of the structure with Internal IT team, Building team l feeding into the Project manager. Each of the responsible team would have staff/staffs responsible for that organization. Pictorially, the structure might resemble this. This Performing Department level is where the responsibility and resources needed to accomplish. Project Manager Internal IT Team Tea Building Team Electrical Staff Tea Plumbing Staffs Tea Software staffs Tea Hardware Staffs Tea Network staff Tea 8. Critical path analysis The critical analyse made from Project 2007 the following red colour task were shown in the Gann chart. The Critical Path is follows as Kick-off meeting -> Develop Project Charter -> Review Project Charter -> Charter Signed -> Devolve project scope -> Develop Project Plan -> Review Project Plan -> Project Plan approved and baseline -> Prepare RFP -> Call for Proposals -> Review Proposals -> Shortlist Suppliers -> Negotiate Select Supplier -> Prepare Contract -> Purchase Checkout Station -> Electric cabling designing -> Freezers Plumbing -> Air-condition cabling -> Freezer cabling -> Local Area Network Designing -> LAN Cable Wiring -> Install Check out work stations -> Install Software -> Review SRS -> User Acceptance Testing (UAT) -> Status Report -> Progress Review Meeting with Management -> Post Analysis Review Main Problem is in the task number between 22 and 26. If the outside vender is not supply the equipment then the whole project will get delay 9. Responsibility matrix. The following matrix shows the responsibly of each Role and Responsibilities: Project Sponsor Project Manager System Engineer Network Engineer IT executive Plumbing staff Electrical staff Allocation of funds R P Overall supervision P Project Management R Analysis Design p   p Plumbing R Electricity cabling R   R Purchasing Hardware   R R P P Data/Power Wiring Hardware Installation R R R R R R Implementing Application Software R R R R R R Status Report P R R Quality Assurance R R R R R R R R R R R Acceptance   R P P Responsibility -R Participation -P 10. Reference Kamaran Saqib(2008), Class Notes. Clifford F. Gray and Erik W.Larson(2008), Project Management, the managerial process, (4th edn), McGraw-Hill International Edition. Schwalbe K.(2005), Information Technology Project Management, (4th edn), Thomson course technology. Appendix Appendix 3 Building planning Air Conditions Check out station Security System Freezers Network Cabling and Electric Caballing Plumbing and Electric Caballing 4 8 10 9 2 1 7 6 5 4 3 2 5 3 6 7 14 15 11 10 8 4 188 19 21 1 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 20 17 16 12 8 1 2 3 5 6 7 8 9 3 1 9 11 12 13 1000 2 4 14 15 16 20 19 18 17 4 14 15 11 10 188 19 21 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 20 17 16 12 8 1 2 3 5 6 7 8 9

School Vouchers Essay -- Position Paper School Vouchers

School Vouchers   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  School vouchers can be described as financial funding given to students who elect not to attend public schools. Therefore the government would not be spending money educating that student in a public school. A school voucher is the allotment of money that the government would have used for that student to attend public school. This money is then given to the family of the student to help fund the education of that student. This money cannot be used for anything other than education. There are many sides to take and many opinions to be had. It is very clear that the prospect of school vouchers is an issue to be debated. Some people feel that if they are not using the government’s form of education then they should be paid for not using it, in order to help finance other forms of education. On the other side of the issue, some people feel that school vouchers would be used in many cases to subsidize religious schools. This becomes a hot topic due to the separ ation of church and state. In short, does money not being used by a student belong to that student, and can it be used for a private, and sometimes religious, school. There are only two logical options to solve this dilemma of school vouchers. The first is that the government provides school vouchers to students not enrolled in the public school system. The second is that the government does not provide school vouchers to students not enrolled in the public school system. There are many stipulations that could be applied to both sides of the argument, but the bottom line remains the same. The government can either provide or not provide school vouchers. If the government should decide to provide school vouchers, there are both positive and negative aspects to that decision.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Considering that the United States government would grant school vouchers to students, there would be many positive gains. For instance, that choice would level the playing field, with regards to education, between low-income families and upper class families (Messerli). This would be accomplished by providing monetary funding to families of students that could not previously afford to attend an institution of private education. In turn, more students would be able to enroll in private schools. An increase in attendance at private schools would be a benefit to the whole of the education system. This ben... ...ios and variables presented, I would recommend that a nationwide voucher program be introduced. I feel that a voucher program’s benefits far outweigh the shortcomings. A voucher program would not only be beneficial to parents and students, but also to education as it stands today. Parents would benefit by basing their decisions about education on the worth of the school instead of on money. Students would benefit by having a choice between public and private school. Even students not involved in the voucher program would benefit, by smaller class sizes, more diversity, and better teaching due to competition between schools. Education as we know it today, both public and private, would benefit by having more choices, and would then be able to assist more students in reaching their educational goals. Bibliography Coulson, Andrew J. Should You Fear School Choice?. 22 Sep. 2004. Mackinac Center for Public Policy. 3 Jan. 2005. Helping state leaders shape education policy. 2004. Education Commission of the States. 3 Jan. 2005. Messerli, Joe. Balanced Politics. 2 Oct. 2003. 3 Jan. 2005. . The pros and cons in the school voucher debate. 2002. Pagewise, Inc. 3 Jan. 2005. .

“Natural Disaster Hotspots: A global risk Analysis”

Researchers from Columbia University, the World Bank, the Norwegian Geotechnical Institute and other partners produced a report entitled â€Å"Natural Disaster Hotspots: A Global Risk Analysis† which presented a global view of areas highly prone to natural disasters and risks associated with such natural hazards. The aim of this report is to inform and design developmental efforts to reduce disaster related losses in the future by identifying high-risk geographic regions in the world. This report analyses the characteristics and location of risky hotspots for six major natural disasters like drought, floods, cyclones, earthquakes, volcanoes and landslides. According to report, more than half the world’s population i.e. about 3.4 billion people live in at least one hazard prone area, which could effect their lives miserably. These natural hazards cause innumerable deaths, sufferings and losses to the amount of billion of dollars every year throughout the world. The worst affected are the developing countries, which cannot absorb the huge cost associated with disaster relief, recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction due to repeated disasters and thus gets caught in a poverty trap. World Bank provided emergency assistance to the amount US$ 14.4 billion to 20 countries from 1980-2003 as claimed in this report which has serious implications on the method of working of the World Bank. This startling statistics recommend the International development community to adopt the proactive and preventive approach to address the disasters before actually they hit to reduce the vulnerability of developing countries to natural hazards. This will also help in their mission of fighting poverty. Keeping in view the same objective, it also recommends that managing disaster risk should not be taken only as a humanitarian issue but also be an integral part of development planning of any nation. Information on Multi-hazard Risk management strategies, encouraging their implementation, promoting development of long-term plans and improving exchange of information at local, national, regional and global levels among organizations and individuals is supplied in this report. This report also summarizes the case studies, which this project undertook to exhibit methods to reduce vulnerability of the areas by adopting appropriate risk-sensitive strategies. In short, this report explicitly and scientifically explains the ways to manage natural hazards to reduce Poverty and vulnerability. In the words of Jeffrey Sachs, Director, The Earth Institute, Columbia University, â€Å"The Natural Disaster Hotspots report is a path-breaking effort and a wonderful scientific accomplishment. I'm certain that it will prove to be a crucial tool and will stimulate further research in the area. Applying risk analysis to disasters such as earthquakes, drought, and other natural hazards using rigorous science will have huge benefits for policy-makers and for the world.† (Provention Consortium) Now, the need is to coordinate the efforts globally to focus on the areas at the highest risk of natural disaster and reduce their risks, which still remains uncoordinated. WORKS CITED 1.   Earth Institute News (March 29, 2005) Risk Analysis Reports Over Half of World’s Population Exposed to One or More Major Natural Hazards Retrieved on June 21, 2007 from W.W.W: http://www.earthinstitute.columbia.edu/news/2005/story03-29-05.html 2.Provention Consortium Activities: Identification and Analysis of Global Disaster Risk Hotspots Retrieved on June 21, 2007 from W.W.W: http://www.proventionconsortium.org/?pageid=32;projectid=15 ; ;

Louisia May Alccott

The story Little Woman by Louisa May Alcott is about the lives of the four March girls, Jo, Meg, Beth, and Amy, living with their mother in New England as their father is away serving as a chaplain in the Civil War. Even though the girls bicker like all siblings, they keep their loving home together as they wait for their father to return from the war. The sisters struggle to support themselves and keep their household running despite the fact that the family recently lost its fortune. In the process, they become close friends with their wealthy neighbor, Theodore Laurence, also known as â€Å"Laurie. Let me give an introduction of the 4 beautiful March girls. Margaret March also known as Meg is the oldest of the March sisters. She is pretty, simple, and interested in the finer things in life. Josephine March also known as Jo is the second oldest of the March sisters. She is a teenager just like Meg. She is tall and skinny, a tomboy who always says and does the wrong thing, very tal ented, good-hearted, and a good writer. Elizabeth March also known as Beth is the second youngest, she is a sweet music lover, and is a little artistic also.Beth is the only one without ambitions, whose only desire is to live at home with her parents and practice her music. She is almost to good to be real,loves doll collection and her many cats,and always has just the right kind word for any situation. Beth is so shy that she is unable to attend a public school and therefore gets her schooling at home. Amy is the youngest who intends to marry for money so she would be in the high society and have wealthy friends, expensive jewels, and expensive clothes. Amy is also a little selfish but very social,elegant,and spoiled.Those are the characteristics and personalitys of the 4 beautiful March girls. Each of the March girls have an imaginary â€Å"castle† for which she hopes, but each ends with a very different â€Å"future† than she would have imagined for herself. Like wh en Amy finally got the chance to fulfill her dreams, she turns it away and turning instead to Laurie to marry, her childhood friend. Turns out that Laurie's grandfather Mr. Laurence is wealthy and left his entire estate to Laurie. In the end all of the girls learned that no amount of wealth can bring more happiness than that of a close and loving family.But as the girls grow older, each faces her own personal demons and moral challenges. Jo, our beloved protagonist, must tame her tomboyish ways and learn to be more ladylike while pursuing her ambition to be a great writer. Meg, the oldest, must put aside her love of wealth and finery in order to follow her heart. Beth, the shy one, must conquer her bashfulness, while Amy, the youngest, has to sacrifice her aristocratic pride. The girls are guided in their personal growth by their mother, â€Å"Marmee,† and by their religious faith.The family's tight bonds are forever changed when Meg falls in love with John Brooke, Laurie's t utor. Meg and John marry and begin a home of their own, quickly populated by twins Daisy and Demi. Another marriage seems imminent when Laurie reveals to Jo that he has fallen in love with Jo' but Jo does not like him back in that same way. Then Laurie goes to Europe accompanied by his grandfather. He pursues his passion for music and tries to forget Jo. Then seperatly Amy travels through Europe with her wealthy Aunt Carroll and cousin Flo and nurturs her artistic talent.Jo goes to New York as the governess for a family friend, Mrs. Kirke, experiencing the big city and trying her hand as a professional writer. Only after Beth died Jo found the mixture of paths and heartfelt sincerity that enables her to write stories that have the publisher begging for more of the same. Jo's talent for writing develops in spurts, writing first innocent romances for a local paper, a novel that receives mixed reviews and finally â€Å"sensation† stories for a tabloid in NY. While in New York, J o meets German expatriate Professor Bhaer, whose intellect and strong moral nature spark her interest.Back in the States, Jo returns home to care for her bereaved parents and learns to embrace her domestic side. Across the Atlantic, Laurie and Amy discover that they lack the genius to be great artists, but that they make an excellent romantic pairing. After Beth, who has never been strong, dies young, Amy finally got the chance to fulfill her dreams, she turns it away and turning instead to Laurie to marry since the sorrow of their loss solidifies Amy's bond to Laurie. her childhood friend. Turns out that Laurie's grandfather Mr. Laurence is wealthy and left his entire estate to Laurie.But when All the loose ends are tied up as Jo and Professor Bhaer marry and start a boarding school for boys, while Amy and Laurie marry and use the Laurence family wealth to support struggling young artists. The Brooke, Bhaer, and Laurence households flourish, and the novel ends with a birthday party for Marmee, celebrating the extended March family connections and the progress of Jo's boarding school, Plumfield. In the end all of the girls learned that no amount of wealth can bring more happiness than that of a close and loving family.