Nowadays, Computers Can Translate All Kinds of Languages free essay sample

Title: Nowadays, computers can translate all kinds of languages. Should people learn languages other than their mother tongue? Language, as a basic skill which draws a distinguishing line between human and other animal, is considered to be one of the most invaluable cultural creations. There are some people who can speak three or four languages fluently, while others struggle with their second. However, language learning might seem to be less necessary due to the development of science and technology.Hence, the debates on the necessity of learning foreign languages never stops. In my opinion, I strongly rally behind the idea of studying languages other than ones mother tongue. Some reckon that spending time on language learning is not essential as we can translate easily with a click of the mouse. For instance, Google translation enable us to obtain a paragraph of translation in a fraction of second; Electronic dictionaries are so light and cheap that we can carry it everywhere. We will write a custom essay sample on Nowadays, Computers Can Translate All Kinds of Languages or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page With the convenience that the cutting-edged technology has brought us, it is alleged that spending time and trouble learning other language is completely a waste of time. However, I do not concede that it is a waste of time. Although studying another language can be a time-consuming project, it should be valued as a vital ability. To start off, language learning is an unavoidable path to an exotic culture. For instance, reading the original version of Dream of the Red Chamber and the English translation is a world of difference.The former is full of rhythmic and gorgeous poems while the latter is dull and mundane. Therefore, language learning helps you to merge into the culture. To a great extent, language effects human mindsets. This might explain why Chinese favour bureaucracy while American like it blunt. The way that things appear in their head when they think is greatly influenced by the syntax of the different languages. In Chinese language, the methods of accomplishing something are nearly always put forward before the results, whereas American and British people prefer to announce the result before how they did it.Hence, it is actually possible to cultivate ones personality by learning foreign languages. It changes the order of ideas crossing ones mind, therefore, the individual priorities will change gradually without being noticed. Giving up learning another language is almost equivalent to refusing the chance of fostering foreign friendship. The reason why i found the opponents opinion narrow-minded and absurd is that they assume that machine translation is able to replace language study efficiently.Even Google translation is full of flaws and grammatical mistakes. Therefore, the only way enables people to communicate is speaking a language that both of them know. It is hard to imagine how people communicate with merely electronic translators. Moreover, a lot of well-known cross-broder love stories cannot exist without language learning. From John Lennon and Yoko Ono to Mark Zuckerburg and his wife of Chinese descent, it is obvious that these relationships would not even have got to started if no conversation is made.Moreover, one can never live in a foreign country without knowing anything about its language. Apart from shopping and socialising, it is life-threatening if you speed up towards school just because you thought school zone asHighway! Thus, to conclude, language learning is not only important for globalisation, but also for all aspect of life. We can only stop learning language when the magic pill which can translate languages instantaneously and accurately, is invented. Still, it will be a great loss of humanity.

Supply Chain Management Example

Supply Chain Management Example Supply Chain Management – Coursework Example Supply Chain Management (SCM) Supply Chain Management (SCM) Definition Supply chain management relates to interconnected businesses network management with the ultimate goal of providing services and products packages according to customers’ requirements (Cetinkaya et al., 2011). In essence, supply chain management entails all the fundamental process involved in storage and movement of raw materials, inventory work-in-processes, and finished goods from origin to consumption. SCM ensures that consumers get the appropriate quantity of products and services at the right time. Effective SCM focuses on forecasting, planning, assembly of products, purchasing, and storage. In addition, SCM entails distribution and sale of products and services to customers according to their preferences. It is imperative to note that SCM remains integral in the inherent success of a business within the market. An effectively planned system of supply chain management would ensure retention of loyal cu stomers through provision of standard products and services. Role of SCM in a company’s ability to compete effectively within the marketInvolvement of SCM principles in business process is fundamental to attainment of sustainable competitive advantage within the consumer market. SCM has the significant role of ensuring creation and delivery of affordable, convenient, and better products and services to consumers. For an organization to compete efficiently in the market, its SCM system must properly meet market demands through quality research and production of preferred products and services. In addition, the SCM system must commit itself to providing products and services at appropriate periods. Therefore, SCM has the fundamental role of establishing organizations’ logistics, product development, purchasing, and quality management. Moreover, SCM has to meet market pressures through establishment of competitive global procurement and sourcing, supplier relationship man agement, and inventory control. The inherent dynamism in market trends requires creativity and innovative skills of SCM professionals to enable a company compete effectively within the market. ReferenceCetinkaya, B., Cuthbertson, R., Ewer, G., Klaas-Wissing, T., Piotrowicz, W., & Tyssen, C. (2011). Sustainable Supply Chain Management: Practical Ideas for Moving Towards Best Practice. London: Springer Science & Business Media.

What Should I Give to a Teacher Writing My Recommendation Letter

What Should I Give to a Teacher Writing My Recommendation Letter SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips A substantial bribe. Just kidding. You should give your teacher recommenders something much more valuablefor writingeffective letters ofrecommendation: your input. Sharing your ideas will assistyour teacher in writingyou an insightful and specific letter. This guide will discuss what materials you shouldproduce, and why your "recommender's packet" can go a long way toward making your final letter outstanding. To start, let’s review why recommendations are important to your application.If you understand what admissions officers look for, then you can make sure that your materials are useful and relevant. With this in mind, let's consider what purpose rec letters serve in the admission process. Why Do Colleges Require Recommendation Letters? Many four-year colleges require one or two recommendation letters from your teachers and school counselor. The main reason for this requirement is to get to know you better. Colleges aren’t just looking at your grades and SAT scores. They’re seeking to learn about you in a holistic sense - how you interact with your teachers and peers, how you approach the learning process, and what motivates and excites you, to give a few examples. Teachers can speak to both your intellectual and personal qualities, as well as to the role you play in the classroom on a day to day basis. Simply having an enthusiastic recommendation shows that you made a positive impression and maintained a good relationship with your teachers. If you made a splash at high school, you’re likely to work well with your peers and professors at college and contribute on campus too. Because of all the information and support they can communicate, recommendation letters play a very important role in the college application review process. Given their weight in the admissions decision, what makes some letters stand out while others blend into the background? What Goes Into a Good Letter of Recommendation? As I mentioned above, you should share your ideas and information with your teacher recommenders, who can refer to your packet when they sit down to write your letter. However, you want to make sure your materials are useful. Without knowing what makes some letters good and others bad, you’d have a hard time knowing what kind of info to share. So, in a nutshell, a good letter of rec is insightful, personal, and enthusiastic. While your teacher should talk about your intellectual abilities and attitude towards learning, she should also speak to personal qualities, like empathy, creativity, or leadership skills. Just as importantly, she should be specific and demonstrative. By this, I mean that she should describe particular instances where you demonstrated your strengths. In a sense, her anecdotes can prove that her descriptions ofyou areaccurate. On the flip side, a bad letter may sound lukewarm and generic. It may sidestep talking about your personal qualities and instead only list data, like grades and test scores. An ineffective letter would also be unspecific and lack examples, making it effectively impersonal, even vague. Based on theseelements of a good letter, you can put together a â€Å"recommender’s packet† that will be useful to your letter writers. You can provide the type of information - your academic interests and goals, your personal strengths and values, and memorable anecdotes from class - that your teacher can incorporate to make her letter stand out. Generally, this recommenders' packet will beprovided for you by your guidance office. If it’s not for some reason, you would still be well served to put it together yourself. Read on to learn more about what kind of info should go into this packet! What Information Should You Provide for Your Recommenders? Once you ask you teacher for a letter and she agrees, you should share the following materials: Practical information, like to what schools she should send her rec letter, how to submit, and your deadlines. What you plan to study at college (if you know). What strengths, passions, of qualities you would like her to highlight in her letter. Special projects or memories from class that were significant to you. Your resume. Your brag sheet (this document is especially important, which I’ll describe in more detail below). The first few points on this list shouldn’t take too long to record, but other components, like your resume and brag sheet, may require 15or more hours of work. Let’s break down each component in more detail so you know what it is, why it’s important, and how you can prepare. Share the bare necessities, the simple bare necessities... Practical Information - Where, What, and When Perhaps it goes without saying that you have to give your recommenders the bare necessities: a list of colleges to which she should send her letter, instructions on how to submit, and, of course, your deadlines. Some teachers may uploadtheir letters to your school'sonline application, others to the Common Application, and still others to the e-docs software, Naviance. Let your teacher know what method she'll be using. What You Need to Do Ideally, you have your list of colleges and deadlines on hand when you make your request. If you’re asking especially early - maybe you’re asking your beloved 10th grade English teacher at the end of the year - then you can follow up with this information later. Remember that your teacher may have many letters to write, along with everything else she’s up to - so write everything down. That way she can refer to this information when she sits down to write your letter. Share all your deadlines, and send a reminder about a week before if you see that she hasn’t submitted her letteryet. Once she does submit, make sure to send a thank you note for her help in getting into college. Want to build the best possible college application? We can help. PrepScholar Admissions is the world's best admissions consulting service. We combine world-class admissions counselors with our data-driven, proprietary admissions strategies. We've overseen thousands of students get into their top choice schools, from state colleges to the Ivy League. We know what kinds of students colleges want to admit. We want to get you admitted to your dream schools. Learn more about PrepScholar Admissions to maximize your chance of getting in. Once you've shared the essential info, think about your special skills and interests. Also, please never try this at home. What Skills and Interests You’d Like Highlighted Maybe you’re asking your English teacher because you plan to study creative writing, and you’d love her to speak to your writing abilities. Perhaps you’re asking your Physics teacher so she can talk about your innovative contributions to the Robotics Club she supervises. Depending on your comfort level and relationship with your teacher, you wouldn’t be crossing a line if you explicitly stated what skills, qualities, or goals you’d like her to highlight in your letter. As mentioned above, the most effective recommendation letters speak to your intellectual and personal qualities. By sharing your ideas, you could ensure that your teacher includes your academic and personal strengths. What You Need to Do I’m not suggesting that you tell your recommender how to write her letter. You could keep what you say short and sweet, something like, â€Å"I’d really love if you could include my skill / interest / talent in (fill in the blank here).† Make sure that the skill, interest, or talent you mention is appropriate for a rec letter. Apassion for a subject, insightful comments in class, ora willingness to take on special projects would be worth mentioning.Your daredevil balancing stunts in tall places may be less relevant. This small amount of input could actually help provide your teacher with a theme around which to focus her letter. Let your teacher know what you learned from her class. What You Learned and Accomplished In Class Similarly, you might remind your teacher about a memorable project you worked on or lesson that was especially meaningful from class. If you had any notable achievements or important moments, you could describe them to your teacher. Since the best rec letters use specific examples, your input could be a useful reminder. Maybe you worked on a special research project or excelled in a debate. Perhaps reading A Brave New World changed your perspective on life. Maybe your teacher’s class helpedyou discover you want to be a World History major. Whatever you took away from her class, it could be useful to share. Your input could help make her letter even more specific. If nothing else, your teacher will appreciate hearing that her class made an impact on your thinking. What You Need to Do Before requesting your recommendation, list out your reasons for asking this teacher. Think about any stand out projects or instances where you went beyond requirements. Consider times that you contributed to a discussion, or perhaps had a thought-provoking conversation you had with your teacher. Write these moments down, and share them with your teacher when you make your request. As with above, you don't want to come off like you're writing the letter for your teacher. You could say something short and to the point, like, â€Å"I learned a ton from your class and was hoping you could provide me with a recommendation for college. One of my favorite projects was†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Since teacher recommendation letters provide a micro-view of you as a student - they got to know you on a day to day basis - they should include specifics from your class performance. Your teacher should have examples in mind, but it shouldn’t hurt for you to share your own memories too! Your Resume All students should include a resume in their recommender’s packet. Your teacher will mainly write about you in the context she knew you - as a student in her class. However, it’s also helpful for her to know what otherresponsibilities you balanced and what other activities you’re interested in, especially if theyconnect to her subject. For instance, maybe your Physics teacher will see that you pursued your passion for mechanical engineering for three years inRobotics Club. As described above, your teacher shouldn’t repeat your whole resume and fill your letter with data. However, it is useful for them to have context and learn more about what you’ve been up to in high school. Your resume, therefore, is an essential document to give your recommenders to help them write your letter. What You Need to Do People style their resumes based on personal taste, but the best ones include certain key elements: a summary ofskills, a list of activities and work experiences with brief descriptions, and any awards or achievements. You want to include your dates of involvement, and you may state an objective at the top. You should check out some samples and choose the format that works best for your experiences. Apart from providing a resume, you should be prepared to talk about what you learned from your experiences, especially as any relate to your teacher’s class or your academic goals for college. Even if your teacher doesn’t sit down to speak with you about it, you may provide these reflections in written form in your brag sheet. That way you can communicate not just what you did in high school, but what each experience meant to you. Your Brag Sheet Finally, we get to thebrag sheet, perhaps the most significant part of your packet. Your guidance department should provide you with this document, and its questions may vary from school to school. Whatever version you use, it should include prompts that ask you to think about your experiences, identity, and goals. Rather than giving quick, cliche answers, you should try to dig deep. Even if it feels vulnerable, being honest and revealing is the best way to communicate something real, important, and authentic. Ideally, your recommender already knows you well, but your brag sheet should help her get to know you even better. Some prompts may include: Describe your family. How have your parents influenced you? What qualities of theirs do you admire? What three adjectives would you use to describe yourself? What adjectives would your teachers use? Your parents? Give specific examples or stories of a time you exemplified each one of these qualities. Discuss an academic interest or passion. Describe an involvement that’s had a significant impact on you. How do you spend your free time? What have you learned about yourself since the time you started high school? How have you changed or grown? Describe a significant challenge or obstacle you’ve had to overcome. How did you do so, and what did you learn from it? Describe an experience that changed your thinking or perspective on an issue. Depending on your school, your brag sheet may be more or less thorough (or may not exist at all). If you feel you have more to share, you could add your own questions and answers. Besides adding more info, what else can you do to make your brag sheet as useful and telling as it can be? What You Need to Do As you can see, the questions on a brag sheet are quite personal. They’re tough to answer immediately. Instead, they call for some serious introspection and self-awareness. Don’t worry if your first reaction is to go blank. It takes some time to reflect on these questions and come up with answers that feel genuine and meaningful. One way to dig deeper might be to sit with a question and jot down any ideas that come to mind. For instance, let’s say you’re trying to describe an involvement that’s important to you. You might write down your participation in track team. Then you should ask yourself a simple question: why? Maybe track team has enhanced your confidence. Again, ask yourself, Why? Maybe you’re continuously breaking your personal records and showing yourself that you can redefine your sense of limitations. You can keep asking yourself "why" to get to something that resonates with you - maybe your achievements in running have spread into other areas in your life by showing that if you endure discomfort in the moment, you can break through to a new level that you didn’t know waspossible. Then again, another studentmight value track team because of the friendships she made there. Maybe she felt a strong sense of belonging with hertrack team, and this connectedness showed her that she can adapt to any new social situation. If you keep asking yourself why and defining your reasons, then your answer may look very different - and much more revealing - than where you started. Two students may write about their involvement in track, but they may value the experience for very different reasons. And this says something different about who they are and what's important to them. Your brag sheet willhelp your teacher write an insightful letter that reveals your character, personality, and values. They may also include significant circumstances in your family or personal background, if you're comfortable sharing them. All of this insightwill help admissions officers get to know you on a deeper level. Your letters should give admissions committees a fullersense of who you are as a student and person. By giving this same well-rounded sense to your teachers, youwill give themall the materials they need - along with the relationship they’ve already established with you - to write a personal and effective letter of recommendation. Key Points: What to Prepare and Why The most important takeaway you shouldgain from this guide is that you can play an active and influential role in getting strong recommendation letters. Of course, the foundation of your letters is how you performed in class over the year and got to know your teachers. Beyond this, though, you can prepare thoughtful information that will help your teacher write a specific, personalized, and revealing letter. Thinking about and producing your materials should take a few weeks of planning. You should expect to spend about 15 hours or more on creating and proofreading your resume and brag sheet. You shouldn’t scribble off fast answers to your brag sheet prompts; instead, take the time to sit with these questions and dig deeply, continually challenging yourself to get to the root of your answers by asking, â€Å"Why?† as in the example above. Your responses will not only jog your teacher’s memory and teach her new things about you, but they will also show her how much effort and planning you’re putting into your college applications. Hopefully, you’ve asked a teacher who supports you and knows you well. By putting in the effort to share your ideas, resume, and brag sheet, you can be confident you’ve done everything in your power to acquire an excellent letter of recommendation. What's Next? In addition to teacher recommendations, most colleges want to see an evaluation from your school counselor. To learn about how your counselor rec differs from your teacher recs, check out these examples of strong letters. For letters you don't want from your counselor, read these four examples. You may be surprised to learn how much influence you can have on your recommendation letters. Along similar lines, you also want to be strategic about how you present your extracurricular activities on your college applications. Check out this full guide on how to write about extracurriculars in the most impressive way. For more on the ins and outs of applying to college, check out this full step by step guide! It goes over everything from choosing your high school classes to brainstorming personal ideas. It's also available in snazzy infographic form! Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Investigating the impact of Information Technology on a career Assignment - 1

Investigating the impact of Information Technology on a career - Assignment Example Owing to information technologies, advanced proficiency can be acquired by any tourism manager (Frew 138). Information technology transforms how business is carried out in the tourism industry. More particularly, marketing prospects are growing; modernization in customer service personalization and service technology takes place; and information on every tourist service is accessible virtually across the globe. Wireless communication technologies, data and text communication among guests, managers, and employees are currently being implemented by the hospitality industry (Yeoman & McMahon-Beattie 274). Consisting of expert systems and portable communication devices, these technologies enable tourism personnel to provide the finest customer service. Therefore, in order to remain competitive in the future and to meet tourism demands sustainably and securely there is no other alternative but to integrate IT and improve the interactivity with the customer base and the bigger market. Moreover, top management dedication and groundbreaking business process restructuring are needed with a long-term strategy planning throughout the organization (Lee 155). At present, information and choices are accessible on the Internet and customers can select the best from these choices to transact. This has lessened the needless haste of customers in travel

Aspects of Contract and Negligence for Business Essay - 1

Aspects of Contract and Negligence for Business - Essay Example All contracts must involve (a) at least two parties, (b) parties who have the legal capacity, (c) a manifestation of all the parties in the contract, (d) finally, a consideration that supports legal and enforceable promise. Having the legal capacity means that the individuals are adults and have mental competence. The law is relatively settled if the competent adults are bound by the terms of the contract. Considering the case of Wohoo and Provident Solutions (PS), it involves corporate organizations. A company has the capacity to enter into contractual relations , but such type of relations are only binding on the companies if those acting on behalf of the company do so with express or implied authority of the company, something which was fulfilled by both Wahoo, PS and Clive Software Limited. The essential elements of a contract include: offer and acceptance, free consent, contractual capacity, intentions to create legal relations, illegal and void agreements, and lastly considerat ions. Considering the case of Wohoo Wholesale and Provident Solutions, when PS sub-contracted Clive software on the recommendation of Wohoo to provide software systems, they did so because previously they provided software of very high standard. But since the software installed by Clive brought numerous problems to the organization, Wohoo refused to pay PS for 40 computers in the process with holding 58 computers and five servers as it claims for compensation of the losses incurred by the faulty software installed. This clearly shows that all the essential elements of a contract are not in place. In this context, there is no consideration as there is no price paid for the promise of the other party. Since consideration does not exist, the court is likely to question its adequacy. The court is to intervene because one of the parties, Wohoo has exhibited duress or unconscionable conduct. Typically, courts will not weigh the adequacy of the consideration as long as the consideration is established to be sufficient, with sufficiency being defined as the meeting test of the law; adequacy is the subjective fairness or equivalence. The contract between Wahoo and PS is questionable although the problems emanated from Clive Software (Chen-Wishart, 2007: 212). The manifestation of assent by all the parties that are in agreement signifies acceptance in some way. Therefore, both Wahoo and PS were aware of the status of Clive’s products by accepting it as a sub-contractor. Since the objective standard was met, it means that there is proof that the assent was met. By Wahoo with holding 58 computers and 5 severs narrows down to the elements of an assent. This is because the parties need to come to some meeting of the minds about the terms of the contract. Since the three parties entered into a contract and one or two elements failed to be fulfilled the contract is considered to be null and void. This is because of the unconscionable conduct and misleading conduct of b oth Wahoo and Clive Software affects the enforceability of the contract. To the effect that the contract is considered as void, the parties should be put back to their original positions (Walston-Dunham, 2008: 420-423). Task 1: Question 2 Every business should be aware of standard form of contracts. These are agreements that make use of standardized, the non-negotiated provisions that are usually in the preprinted forms. They are also known as

Cases of Violence in Sports and How They Should Be Handled :: Art

Cases of Violence in Sports and How They Should Be Handled Violence in sports will always be a big issue although I don't think it will ever be truly resolved. In sports there is competition and where there is competition people are striving to be the best. There is a lot of strong emotion when people are trying to win for themselves or for their team. In sports as long as there is competition and high emotion, there will always be the potential for violence. The intense competition that is a part of sports can and often does lead to violence. The violence isn't always among the players of the sports being played. At a nine-year old soccer game in Staten Island parents of opposing teams became engaged in a verbal fight over a call that a referee made and it became a big brawl between parents. This shows the kids at that game that if their parents can engage in a fight with the opposing teams parents then that makes it right to throw an elbow in a game or shove someone. Yet in professional sports it isn't the athletes most of the time. Usually the fans are the ones to cause the riots and fights. Especially in the sport of soccer, the fans take the sport so serious and they aren't even playing in the game. Unhappy Corinthian fans said that the players were slacking off and so the fans gave the team a piece of their own mind by invading the field, cursing at the players and punching their own team. Corinthian fans have been known to turn against there own team in unfavorable times. These are obviously not true fans. A few years ago Latrell Spreewell was in an incident where he choked his coach. This brought major conflict to the NBA; they did not know what to do with Latrell. At the time he was on the Golden State Warriors, they needed to make the playoffs and to do this they needed Latrell. But to let him physically and orally assault his own coach and to get away with it, who knows what type of controversy this could bring to the basketball world. They had to do something with Latrell but what? If they suspended him, the team would have no chance of getting to the playoffs and, without the possibility of winning the basketball championship, which would mean a dramatic decrease of income on the behalf of the Warriors.

Internal analysis of Ryanair Essay

1. Internal audit of tangible, financial and intangible resources Tangible Resources 1. Human Resources * Ryanair currently employs 2000 people (2003) from 25 nations. * The pay is performance related and among the highest in the airline industry (Annual Report 2004, p. 5). Travel concessions and participation in the share option program is granted to all employees. In 2003 over 30% (639 in total) of employees took part in the stock option program – the average pay per employee was about 53.000 (Annual Report 2004, p. 21). * CEO Michael O’Leary has significantly shaped Ryanair. 2. Physical resources * Ryanair operates 72 aircrafts (Annual Report 2004, p. 3). All aircrafts are of a single type. Ryanair has ordered 225 brand new Boeing 737-800 aircrafts. The average aircraft age was about 10 years vs. easy Jet’s was 5.1 years (2003). However with the deliver of the new aircrafts, Ryanair’s figure will enhance. The average age of the fleet is important, as maintenance costs depends on this. * Facilities: Dublin Airport facilities, but no major other ones. Financial Resources * Ryanair will stay mostly unhedged in 2005 (Annual Report 2004, p. 12). * With a quick ratio of 2.7 Ryanair has enough cash even if all liabilities  have to be paid at once (Brealey et al., 2001). Ryanair has also shown good profitability. * Ryanair is listed on a stock exchange, obtaining capital in form of equity capital. In total, Ryanair has 1.5 billion in shareholder funds (Annual Report 2004, p. 12). The stock was very attractive to investors, outperforming its benchmark index. Intangible Resources * Ryanair has access to medium sized airports which provide cheap slot licences. The average airport charge applied to Ryanair was less than 7 . * Ryanair has an option to get 200 additional brand new Boeing 737-800 from Boeing. * Internet as major distribution platform with very huge attraction Ryanair’s most important assets are aircrafts and access to secondary airports. But this alone doesn’t make this airline successful: the real assets are the employees and particularly the CEO Michael O’Leary. Ryanair has a solid financial statement and a good profit track which is currently negatively influenced by the ongoing price war. 2 Threshold and core competences and resources 1) Threshold Resources * Availability of aircrafts and access to (low cost) airports * Internet as sales and marketing device 2) Threshold Competences: * If a sudden oil price shock occurs or the exchange rate develops  unfavourable this may have negative effects on net income. The ability to hedge exchange rate risks and oil prices is therefore a core threshold competence. * Customers expect to get cheap ticket prices, punctuality and highest safety standards from Ryanair. Ryanair must therefore be able to provide customers with lower fares than their competitors. * The ability to generate income from ancillary services (in order to subsidise the lowest ticket prices). Threshold capabilities of Ryanair are: the ability to keep flying from A to B on a low cost basis and sustaining competitive ticket prices. Core capabilities/competences: Efficient low cost base Ryanair always searches for possibilities to cut costs. Low operating costs within the complete value chain, subcontracting and economics of scale (performance related pay, efficient aircrafts, use of secondary airports, internet as marketing and sales device†¦) make it possible to provide the cheapest ticket prices available. Sound financial statement Very sound financial statement (e.g. liquidity ratio, shareholder funds†¦). Leadership style of Michel O’Leary CEO Michael O’Leary (Effective, charismatic leadership) and Ryanair’s management. The management of Ryanair received several awards and Michael O’Leary was named one of â€Å"25 European business starts by the Financial Times†. High market power Ryanair has a high market share, and the possibility to act as a price leader (sound financial figures making it possible to initiate and sustain a price war) Employment policy Effective employment handling: Every 7th employee (191 in total) was promoted internally (Annual Report 2004, p. 5), keeping people who already know the company which in turn reduces costs (introduction†¦) and enhances motivation. Employees have also the interest to bring the company forward because over 30% already are shareholders. Sustainable competitive advantage according to Lynch (2003) of Ryanair is: the low cost basis (key success factor), offering of the cheapest ticket prices (in order to target price sensitive customers) and the abilities of the management and the CEO (leadership) of Ryanair. In addition to that first mover experience (experience from competing against BA and Aer Lingus at the beginning) may also have benefited the company. 3 Ryanair’s dynamic capabilities Dynamic capabilities provide a constant flow of opportunities (Lynch, 2003), from which Ryanair could take advantage in order to sustain the competitive advantage: * Ryanair immediately responds to opportunities and threats in order to cut costs and sustain the low cost basis (e.g. abandonment of ice cubes†¦) or to increase profits (e.g. ancillary services†¦) * Constantly shaping the internet as the main communication device to its customer (marketing and sales, booking†¦). * Ryanair wants to provide the lowest fares. Therefore the company must be  very flexible and always at least react (or outperform) competitors in terms of the price. * Ryanair’s aim is to enlarge. This means to add constantly more routes and boost of frequencies on rotes with high demand. As it can be seen, Ryanair’s dynamic capabilities are flexibility and the ability of rapid adoption to changing conditions. Hence the competitive advantage is not static (e.g. low cost basis). This is what Brown and Eisenhardt (1998) define as â€Å"continual revolution† (Lynch, 2003 [p. 130]). 4 Strength and weaknesses of Ryanair By referring to the above said, it’s possible to identify the following strength and weaknesses. Strength/Weakness * Efficient and low operating costs (e.g. airport charges, same type of aircraft, economics of scales, cost cutting where possible†¦) * Immediate reaction of the management to use opportunities (e.g. when ice cube weren’t fee of charge anymore, Ryanair stopped ordering them) * Excellent career opportunities and effective employment handling (e.g. no union exists so far, good integration of employees in the company via the stock options program) * Because of their obtained size they have to some extend pricing power * The financial statement is sound (e.g. for sustaining the price war) * High load factor (about 85%, which is one of the best in the industry) * Strong performing CEO and management (e.g. several awards) * First mover experience (Ryanair and its management shaped the whole European airline industry) * Good safety record * Hedging policy (Ryanair remains unhedged although PESTEL analysis concluded an instable environment) * Ryanair added too much capacity in a short time frame (overcapacity may lead to deteriorating load factor and danger of high fixed costs) * Ryanair doesn’t consider people without internet (more passenger may be attracted if Ryanair wouldn’t merely use the internet) * The behaviour of the CEO towards government officials As it can be seen, Ryanair fulfils all key success factors. The cost leadership approach is certainly Ryanair’s major strength and provides competitive advantage. However there were some weaknesses identified: for now, the company should at least rethink its hedging policy. The classification of factors into strength and weaknesses can be misleading. For example, the enlargement of the fleet can lead to economics of scope. But at the same time, there is the risk of creating overcapacity (and thereby deteriorating performance indicators, e.g. load factor). Hence some issues may be both, a possible strength and weakness. The same is true for opportunities and threats. This is a limitation of the SWOT analyses.