Summary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 135

Summary - Essay Example There were so many restrictions in that Africans had limited movements and could only access limited areas of the states. By 1877, reconstruction was no more because Africans had been separated and thus were considered second-class citizens. These were some of the things that the author explains that had influenced Africans to fight for their positions. During the 1920s, there were lots of negative socio-political perceptions about the blacks. This was readily evident when blacks were stripped off their rights to access medical rights among others after the First World War. They had a rough time fighting for equality and good treatment which however, increased the cultural and social drift. The continuous fight depicts education as an important tool which can shape leadership skills (Lewis, 1987). For instance, W.E.B. Du Bois used such skills in fighting against racism. He supported Pan Africanism since it was in favor of African ideologies in terms of culture, language and ethnicity. Racial and political equality was a major concern by most African Americans. Even though some radical American whites considered it a myth, a good number of them ganged up to help in the fight for equal rights. Washington’s philosophy was a major contributor to African oppression. For this reason, Africans had to rely on paternalism in which the Southern whites offered symphathy. All in all, they had to accept the oppression and admit the superiority of whites. The Africans, while in the south took education seriously, began to save money and made investments. This was the only means through which they could get their equal rights and identity. Even while trying to popularize the African culture, some key aspects must have been forgotten especially the stereotype associated with â€Å"tap dancing Negro† (Lewis, 1987). This was something that most visual artists like Stuart Davies embraced all along. However, African elites considered such a move to be a racial joke since it

Analysis of Starbucks Caf Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Analysis of Starbucks Caf - Assignment Example The CEO and chairman of Starbucks Cafe is Howard Schultz. The mission of the company is to inspire and nurture human spirit – one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time (Starbucks, 2012). The company is a publicly traded company whose stocks are sold in the open market under the symbol SBUX. The common stocks of Starbucks Cafe were trading at a price of $55.79 as of January 31, 2013 (Yahoo, 2013). The firm’s revenues have grown by 24.24% during the last two years. The future development of the company will be achieved by its continued expansion into foreign markets. The company has a market presence in 31% of the countries worldwide. The core competency of the company is in the sales of gourmet retail coffee. Starbucks Cafe in 2012 entered into a partnership with Green Mountain. Following the announcement of the deal the common stocks of Green Mountain increased in value by 6% (Andrejczak, 2012). The company has mastered the management of its supply chain. It s ources coffee using fair trade coffee practices. The store has 192,866 employees and 39.66% of its workforce works outside the United States (Cnn, 2012). The employees of the company are very satisfied with their jobs. There is a low employee turnover rate at the company. The planning at Starbucks Cafe is performed by the executive management team led by his CEO Howard Schultz. The firm also has a board of directors that oversees the operation. The company faces structural problems such as dealing with the human resource challenges of having a large labor force, negotiation with suppliers and farmers, and fierce competition. The decisions the company makes are mostly programmed, but the firm’s at times makes nonprogrammed decisions to adapt to market changes. The firm faces certain uncertainly in the price of acquiring coffee since coffee is a commodity whose price fluctuates. The firm since its inception has done a good job at planning for the future. During the 1990’ s Starbucks was one of the fastest growing franchises in the United States. The company is organized as a publicly traded company whose stocks are sold in the New York Stock Exchange. The decision making of the company is organized in a centralized system. The corporate headquarters of the firm are located in 2401 Utah Avenue, South Seattle WA 98134. The reason that the company uses a centralized system is because the company must maintain consistency across its company owned and franchisee locations. A drawback of centralized systems is that it inhibits creativity. The organizational culture of the company is excellent. The firm believes in the value of diversity. The employees are referred too as baristas. The firm offers tremendous customer service to its clients. Starbucks Cafe has an excellent managerial team. The success of the company is evidenced by the outstanding financial performance of the firm. The managers of the company have done a great job of training its employees. The baristas of the firm are extremely productive workers. There is good teamwork among the workers of the firm. The managerial staff has also done a great job of integrating technology into its facilities. Starbucks Cafe was one of the first food places to offer free Wi-Fi internet to its customers. Howard Schultz is a charismatic leader. Charismatic leaders are able to have a profound effect on its followers. There are different performance indicators that the company must monitor closely. An important performance indicator is market share. Starbucks has a 33% market share in the U.S coffee marketplace. An important metric to measure the profitability of the company is net margin. The net margin of the company in 2011 was 10.65%. A third performance