Phillips Matsuhisha case analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Phillips Matsuhisha case analysis - Essay Example One of the strengths of SWOT lies in the fact that it is easier to use and provides a comprehensive analysis of the key drivers of changes that organizations must take into account to deal with the emerging changes. Further, Porter’s five forces is also one of the most effective management tools to use as it provides a very comprehensive overview of the different factors affecting the firm at the same time. What is also important to understand is the fact that Porter’s five forces provides an opportunity to analyze the factors which are unique to each industry or firm thus each firm can tailor its strategies according to relative influence of each factor its success and failure. 2. The facts provided in the case study indicate that there are various symptoms which are leading towards a common cause of the problem. What is critical to note here is the fact that both the companies made changes into its organizational structure and refocused their strategic direction due to changes taking place externally i.e. most of these changes were reactive rather than proactive therefore strategic management at both the companies was relatively weak and reactive. Thus what were corrected during all this period were the correction of symptoms and not the correction of actual root cause of the problem. 3. Ford is one of the companies which faced extreme volatile market conditions in the wake of current credit crunch and have to face the ultimate reality. Since 2006 it was not only slashing its number of employees but was closing its plants too.1 Similarly, HSBC’s US operations also suffered huge losses due to market conditions and inability of the bank to anticipate the changes taking place in the market. HSBC’s mortgage portfolio in US suffered huge losses due to too much focus on short term gains rather than focusing on delivering long term value.2 Kodak was once a

Triathlon Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Triathlon - Essay Example Many of the enduring triathletes prefer to be resilient to pain and tend to carry their impacted and sometimes senseless (without knowledge) injuries throughout each race till to the finish line. Medical cover is to be arranged at the finish of an Ironman event taking place at Lanzarote in early October. In order to achieve adequate medical support and care, health issues that are common to triathletes must be outlined. Ironman at Lanzarote is considered to be one of the most arduous, all-terrain event for any fittest and able-bodied triathlete. The Ironman event is expected to include three major sub-events consisting of 3.8km swim, 180km bike race, and 42.2km run to the finish line. Any appropriate medical cover can only be provided by priori understanding of different types of illnesses or injuries based on previous therapeutic experiences and gathering of medical information from past records seen in other Ironman races. Most triathletes naturally undergo rigorous cross physical training and are less likely to develop any kind of muscle imbalances. An issue with many young, amateur and firt-time triathletes is that they usually underestimate their fitness level and skill such that they may be good in one event but that does not automatically translate into adaptation for another. All bodily injuries can be classified as either internal or external fatalities. The latter injuries may be knee injuries, wrist fractures, sore toes and blisters, cold shoulder and other injuries from improperly adjusted bicycles [16]. Only a small amount of competitors experience this sought of external injuries. One of the more common medical problems is the triathlete sustains a bad sunburn a few days before the actual race. A serious and unattended sunburn (such as a second degree burn with blisters) can have a damaging effect on how the body is able to adjust the coherent body temperature and sweat loss during exercise. This naturally decrease the ability to control body temperature and sweating can have a negative impact on the triathlete's race outcome. Most injuries that befall triathletes are overuse injuries such as tendonitis or muscle strains, as opposed to acute ones (like when fall of a bike and bruise something). While overuse injuries are fairly common among triathletes, they are relatively easy to prevent and treat, if they are careful. The most effective way to prevent overuse injuries is to prevent and reverse the muscle imbalances that contribute to most of them and allowing the body to have sufficient time to properly recover from any stress developed during training. Through the nature of the postures and repetitive motions involved, triathletes tend to develop particular imbalances that are associated with particular injuries. To correct imbalances, they need to stretch muscles that tend to become shortened through training and strengthen muscles that tend to become weakened. Triathletes should frequently stretch their calves, hamstrings, hip flexors, lower back, neck, and chest, and should regularly performing func tional exercises that strengthen the hips, butt, abdomen, upper back, and shoulders [3, 7, 16, 20]. Tendons and muscles need to have adequate time to recover fully from increases in training to especially prevent chronic injuries. Poor technique is also associated with a majority of