The Business Plan (your coursework) has a maximum of 4000 words Essay

The Business Plan (your coursework) has a maximum of 4000 words - Essay Example They turn to the internet to seek for the most competitive prices only to find sites which offer brokerage services between buyers and sellers on textbook. Due to the high brokerage fees associated with monopolistic giants such as eBay and Amazon, the students ends up purchasing at high cost. Students or people who intend to sell their textbooks are also offered little money as the purchase price of their books (Seth, 2008, p. 56). Establishment of an online used textbook retailing website that has the confidence of students would come in handy to bridge the gap between seller and buyers of this important commodity. In classes with a large number of students, students find it hard to communicate about assignments and other education-related issues such as teacher evaluation. There is a need of a platform which will gives students a free and fair opportunity to interact and communicate with their student leaders. The monopoly in online textbook retailing industry segment can be broken down by an increase in competition in this industry. This will not succeed unless the online retailers receive utmost confidence from their users who are dominantly students. Therefore, formation of a business that is close and has the goodwill of students plays an important role in reducing the high cost of used textbooks. Creation of partnerships between the parties and stakeholders in the industry will serve well in reduction of operational costs. Reduction of the level of monopoly in this market will be beneficial to students who not only act as buyers, but also sellers of used textbooks (Steve and Stephen, 2010, p. 176), 1.1 Solution By-passing the colleges bookshops, students will be able to purchase sell and trade utilized textbooks directly to others. The seller can get more cash than the bookshop will pay by selling textbooks to other students and the buyer can spend less than the bookshop charges. Additionally, students can sell computers, used CDs, class notes and much m ore through an online market (William, 2006, pg. 90). The University Cafe will also extend services like teacher assessments, weblogs, classifieds, specialized content and retail. It will base itself as the topping online student interaction market by blending wide market oriented expertise on internet technologies to yield income while providing a win-win resolution for students. The University Cafe will attain dominance in the market by using a broad area knowledge, a local foundation marketing scheme, a special managerial team, advanced software, and shaping of strategic alliances and partnerships with other companies in the college market. 1.2 Market The college student market in the U.S. is a developing but underserved niche. As per the U.S. Department of Education, this market is expected to grow from 15.8 to 17.2 billion students in the coming five years. This year, college students are anticipated to spend above $200 billion according to Paul (Paul, 2009, p.211). 1.3 Opportu nity At the close of every semester, college students seek to find means of acquiring â€Å"quick cash†. One of the means they use is the sale of old textbooks though this is operated by the college bookshop. The students only get a fraction of the book’s value due to college bookshops monopolizing the market. The bookshops receive supernormal profits by

ENVIRONMENTAL AUDITING AND MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS Essay

ENVIRONMENTAL AUDITING AND MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS - Essay Example In addition, the essay will discuss into details three basic aspects of sustainability and the role of companies in addressing all these three aspects, including the CSR practices as they relate to the organization. The benefits and limitations of using EMS are also discussed at length and ways of identifying and improving social impacts of companies, after which it will establish sustainability indicators when using EMS as well as outlining CSR and sustainability standards. Moreover, the essay gives a detailed discussion on matters relating to shareholder theory in CSR and standardization. Task 1 Suppliers’ Environmental Performance In essence, suppliers’ environmental performance is important to a company adopting an EMS, whether certified or not because of a number of ways. The suppliers form part of the external environment in a company, thus their contribution has significant influence in running a company. Suppliers’ power comes into play when they demand t hat retailers pay a given amount of money for the supplied goods. Lack of compliance from the side of the retailer means the supplier will not provide the goods. Taking Tesco Company as an example, the entity has an advantage over the small stores as most people tend to do all their shopping in large stores and supermarkets. This enables Tesco to have the ability to dictate the price suppliers will sell goods as failure to comply on the part of suppliers will leave them with no market to supply their goods. According to Rigby, the government needs to increase protection for suppliers and reduce their exploitation by large supermarkets (24). Tesco has a range of its own product which gives it power to fully dictate their price since it does not have to wait for suppliers to provide the goods. These products have strengthened the company’s profits and increase its competitive advantage. In 2007, the company sales were ?42,633.4 million with a 21.9% growth rate in sales (Rigby 4 4). The suppliers’ environmental assessment fits within an EMS in a number of ways. For example, it promotes ethics and cordial relationships among different suppliers who might be transacting business with the company. In an organization, ethical behavior is imperative because it plays an integral role in helping it achieves the desired environmental management system. It also forms the culture of the organization and fosters the relationship between the stakeholders. Importantly, the analysis of the organizational ethical human behavior is very essential in making ethical managerial decisions, bearing in mind the need for consistency to the international principles of running the affairs of the company. In addition, ethical human behavior presents the dynamic relations, which the company could apply to realize its vision and mission based on the outlined objectives. Therefore, ethical human behavior comprises the fundamental aspects that the people in the organization shoul d adopt in delivering better management services to the potential customers and other stakeholders. Those aspects are core when making ethical decisions about the code of behavior expected from leaders. The value of a comprehensive code of conduct to guide organizational activities is vested in the spirit of the leaders to exercise the organizational culture. As a leader, one of the primary responsibilities is to help shape a culture of