Silence Remains a Form of Speech free essay sample

All my memories related to silence start on the way home. By â€Å"home† I do not mean the house in Beijing, where my parents and I live, but the place where my family is, a remote village of Jiangsu province; or in a Chinese conception, â€Å"laojia†, the place where one’s ancestors lived and supposedly render one a sense of belonging. This distinction has been imprinted in my brain since the first time I could remember riding the train: every Spring Festival, my parents would take me to go â€Å"home† by train, the only affordable means of transportation to them at that time. Although I was born in this village, I moved to Beijing with my parents at the age of two, never acknowledging myself as one of the people living or having once lived there. The village to me was strange, and the only thing I know about was its barren land and poverty caused by its adverse circumstances. We will write a custom essay sample on Silence Remains a Form of Speech or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page But Beijing also failed to provide me with a sense of belonging. People living in this city were isolated. I always suspected that living in this city rendered me the characteristics of many citizens: indifferent and self-centered. What my parents merely saw as â€Å"going home† was more like a jaunty trip to me, because riding the train itself was great fun. From the greater part of my childhood, my Spring Festival memories were all related to my adventures riding the train. It took about ten hours to travel to Jiangsu and another ten hours to return, which meant we set off at night and arrived at our destination in the morning. The time I spent on the train was simply enjoyable: accompanied with the monotonous rhythm of the wheels clicking on the rails was passengers’ laughter, radiating their expectation to celebrate the festival with their family. But the laughter would not last long. The majority of the time silence prevailed on the train. Initially, I thought that it was because the night fell and invoked their sleepiness, so I remained silent, too. I remembered that I always detected the rhythm of the engine’s drone, and was amazed at the fact that the click between wheel and rail can be so smooth. Most of the times I would fall asleep to this unique lullaby and wake up at dawn, as we were passing a bridge. Living in a city built up with modern buildings and mansions, I could not find any aesthetic or architectural value of the bridg e. But despite my impatience and heedlessness, my mother always told me that the bridge was the symbol of the great effort made by people who lived on the barren land. The bridge to the village was like the Pyramid to Egypt, at least to my parents, it was the only architecture that could invoke their difficult childhood, and it was the sweetness wrested out of the bitterness. She would also tell me how excited she was when she passed the bridge at the first time to attend college in Beijing. Usually before she finished, we would arrive at the destination. However, for once, I was so intoxicated in the silence that I did not fall asleep as usual. Staring at the scenery outside, I remained silent yet conscious all the way home, questioning my identity and thinking about where on earth I belonged to, the sort of things that beset me but I had never bothered to think about. The scenery kept changing and quickly passed out of sight. Little by little, as I aimlessly glanced at my mom, I was surprised to find that her eyes sparkled with inexplicable excitement and tears. Looking around, I realized that people, whom I had supposed to be sleeping, were staring outside as I was. The more attentively I listened, I could even capture intermittent sounds of sobs. Slowly, it dawned on me that, in silence, people were absorbed in their emotion, in the state of entirely being themselves. The silence in the balcony flashed upon me in a mesmerizing way, making me aware of something that I had failed to perceive. I found that, over the years, the drone of the engine, the bridge, and the simple state of the passengers’ minds finally made sense to me: all these elements made up my way to â€Å"home† and connected me to place where I belong. The changelessness beneath these elements resembled my identity and my liaison to the village where I headed to. The silence remained in me was not the absence of noise; in an unintended but strong way, it expressed the presence of something deeper, something loyal to me, something that could make me hear what is beating below my heart. When silent, people were isolated but strongly connected in emotion, so that they could get rid of restiveness of talking. I saw in myself the true person I was, tracing back with him to the source of my life, to the remote village which I used to refuse to recognize as â€Å"home†. The silence was finally broken when my cousin cried out as we approached the bridge, when the sun rose and the day broke. And as we were slowly passing the bridge , I was assured that we were about to arrive home: the home I had always had but never acknowledged. Later on, I learned to appreciate silence in a more intentional way: to sooth my unease or dispel my confusion. But memories of silence on the way home still retain a sense of pleasure for me; it emits a potent yet mystical energy, sharpening and quickening my senses. Silence unfolds my identity, and I know that silence is the true expression of my nature. I can always hover in a state of self-assurance derived from the enlightenment and serenity silence brings to me, as I first did on the train, as if I could watch my own mind and communicate to my consciousness.

Bolivia essays

Bolivia essays Bolivia is located in the west-central part of South America and is the fifth largest country of the continent having an area about twice the size of Spain. Bolivia is landlocked bordering five countries: Brazil on the northeast, Paraguay to the southeast, Argentina on the south, and Chile and Peru on the west. The main physical feature of Bolivia is the Andes Mountains, which define the country's three geographic zones. First is the Altiplano, or plateau region, which lies between the Cordillera Occidental and the Cordillera Real. On the northern end of the Altiplano lies the Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable body of water in the world. Secondly are the Yungas that form a transition zone between the peaks of the Andes and the Amazonian forest. Lastly are the Lowlands that make up over two-thirds of the national territory; north and east of the Andes. Most of Bolivia's important rivers are found in the northern lowlands all that eventually flow into the Amazon. The area of modern Bolivia was controlled by Spanish conquest in 1525. The territory of Bolivia, a part of the ancient empire of the Incas, was conquered in 1538 by the Spanish conquistador Hernando Pizarro. As Spanish royal authority weakened during the Napoleonic wars, judgment against colonial rule grew. Between 1808 and 1810, the Wars of Independence took place in Upper Peru which constituted efforts to achieve independence. The revolt on May 25, 1809 was one of the first in Latin America. On July 16, 1809, Upper Peru proclaimed itself an independent state. The Battle of Ayacucho in 1824 was the final battle that effectively ended Spanish rule in Upper Peru. On August 6, 1825, Bolivia achieved independence from Spain after a struggle led by Simon Bolivar and Antonio Jos de Sucre. To satisfy Bolivar's reservations about the independence of Upper Peru, the new nation was named after him. Five days after Bolivia declared its independence from Spain, on August 11 the...

Surgical Safety and the Highly Reliable Surgical Team Essay

Surgical Safety and the Highly Reliable Surgical Team - Essay Example The main goals are: improve safety of surgical patients undergoing procedures at Kaiser Permanente, Fresno and improvement of surgical safety attitudes of both physicians and OR staff resulting in an environment that will decrease risk to patients undergoing surgical intervention and further maintain a "no never events" record. The purpose of this thesis is to develop alternative methods to ensure 100% compliance with the use of a surgical briefing; exceeding the requirements of Joint Commission's "Universal Protocol" (The Joint Commission , 2009) by OR staff members and physicians utilizing the surgery department at Kaiser Permanente Fresno, California. Although surgical safety is more than a local challenge, only addressing individual behaviors and habits at a local level can raise the threshold to decrease significant surgical mishaps. Kaiser Permanente OR staff and surgeons are comprised of very well seasoned and experienced caregivers. As new concepts come to light, it can be challenging for those individuals to perceive the benefit of incorporating what is viewed as unnecessary, time consuming and laborious steps to prevent errors when they may not have had any personal history of such errors. Kaiser Permanente is a very complex, highly structured healthcare system and as such, has a high degree of formalization within the organization. This is can be seen demonstrated throughout the local, regional, national offices and medical centers. In addition Kaiser Permanente is comprised of three distinct businesses: Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and their subsidiaries (KFH), and the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan (KFHP) which are both n ot for profit corporations. The Permanente Medical Group (TPMG) which consists of eight separate physician groups, is a for profit enterprise. Kaiser Permanente has 37 Medical Centers and 400 medical offices nationally. Northern California is their largest region, which accounts for 20 Medical Centers. Kaiser Permanente Fresno has 5 distinct medical office buildings (MOB) located between Selma and Oakhurst California. The Fresno Medical Center has a complement of 169 licensed beds, 8 surgical suites with an additional 2 labor and delivery suites. The facility provides both inpatient and ambulatory surgical care, which is facilitated by 200 physicians, 500 plus nurses, along with 80 medical support staff, servicing 108,000 members. There is currently a goal to integrate and adopt all regional job descriptions at the local levels. There are national, regional, as well as local policy and procedures covering many

Education ch6,8 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Education ch6,8 - Essay Example that religion contributes to the development of the fundamental peace through progressive inclusion of various religions in the education system globally. By analyzing the input of Thomas Aquinas, the author of the book further asserts that religion contributes fundamental societal values that help constrict cohesive societies. Religion is therefore a fundamental aspect of the society whose inclusion in the education system is paramount. Education serves the purpose of communicating the values to successive generations thereby influencing the social structures and relations among people. The values further influence the interactions among the learners and the educators. Discipline is an essential aspect of education that contributes to the success of the entire exercise. The religious values often influence the creation of laws to guide the conduct of the learners and the development of appropriate ethical codes of conduct for the teachers. This way, each group appreciates the other and acknowledges the need for respect a feature that enhances the success of the learning process. In chapter 8, the author analyses the contributions of John Calvin to the development of education. In doing this, he discusses the American education movement often giving keen attention to the contributions and ideas of John Calvin. Among the fundamental aspects of the chapter is the rise of nationalism. Just as the name suggests, nationalism refers to the love of an individual’s country. The historical rise of nationalism is therefore an essential aspect of historical studies since it helps understand the historical relationship among people in a society. Additionally, nationalism led to the development of modern day government. The historical analysis of nationalism thus helps understand the nature of contemporary politics in the country. Additionally, John Calvin also makes fundamental religious contributions to the development of education as he explains the need for translation

The Order of Things by Gladwell Malcolm Assignment

The Order of Things by Gladwell Malcolm - Assignment Example At first, one thought that the article is directed to sports car buyers but only to find out later that the author used the topic on cars to get the attention of the readers. The article is not targeted at a particular audience; rather, it is directed to anyone who tends to believe rankings done by magazines or newspapers or other private groups. Maybe the aim of the author is to warn people that not all rankings are accurate; therefore, must be taken with a grain of salt. One would not like to read articles by this author because it seems that the author is making hasty generalizations. Furthermore, one does not approve of the way he presents his arguments because he jumps from one topic to another. This can be observed when first he talks about car rankings then proceeds to discuss rankings of universities then presented data on suicide rates in several countries. After a discussion of suicide rankings, he goes back to university rankings and then shifts to hospital rankings and back again to university rankings. There is a lack of coherence in the way the information is being offered to the readers.   One may still read articles of this type provided that it is clearly presented.                  One has not read articles which support the author’s arguments, neither has one read articles which are against his arguments.

The Airasia Marketing Concept Management Essay

The Airasia Marketing Concept Management Essay In the world of growing business competition, strategic management is where a process of certain level of management set goals and tactics in a firm. Strategic management provides overall direction of the functional areas of business firm department such as accounting, finance, production and marketing that allows the management to understand the concept of each operation level of management in the entire organization. Managers should also make the most from each organization level to achieve a best strengths and weakness in the environment. When this method is being applied, management seek answer to question regards to how, why and what will happened Airlines industry has help the industry in economic growth hence changing the life of people live and experience the world today Airlines operations interact among various officially permitted, community life, technology thus influencing management to make decision and actions This involved in relating the goals of the organization with the environment to a way of conscious and a planned method. AirAsia is one of the companies with a good strategic management and has becoming a low cost carrier airline which received several awards and recognition in the best low cost airlines in the world in year 2009. As of December 31, 2011, AirAsia Berhad (AsiaAsia) has engaged in providing transportation services which operates at a fleet of 90 aircraft. AirAsia operation flies over domestic and international destination with 108 routes and operates over 400 different daily flights which are located from different hubs. Those hubs are located in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. AirAsia concept applies in no-frills, hassle-free, low fare business concept and their corporate values are Now Everyone Can Fly. Low Cost Airlines Simple Product Low Operating Cost Positioning Figure 1.0 AirAsia marketing concept. According to Daniel Chan market for airlines in Asia has been glomming to seek ways to compete each and another in the industry. Each of them has their own strategic management which allows them to achieve long terms objective and making them the best among their competitors. This has encourage AirAsia to consider strategic management program due to the current competition of Asia travel market and the need to have the urge to compete with their competitor which makes them only one of its kind in the industry. Four major functions of process which are planning, organizing, leading and controlling were no longer sufficient to support the current complex environment. This is because this process only managed the company internally but do not concentrate on the current environment which affecting the organization. Companies that adopt the four major functions were found that they were not successful in the current competitive market forces. On top of that, the organization only performs well in operation effective but not in strategy. Operation effectiveness and strategy are both similar but they only perform in a very different ways. Strategy is about the competitive market which the company performs different task in different ways of environment. Those tools are PESTEL, SWOT and Porter Five Forces. All of these tools analyses the macro and micro environment. Below diagram will further explain those tools. PESTEL DIAGRAM Political To fly outside Malaysia is not easy. Government political is one of the problem that low cost airlines faces. Landing charge and parking charges are very expensive and destination to Bangkok, Beijing, and Singapore is no cheaper than a backup airport. People are afraid to fly where threat of terrorism attack has happened before in the month of Sept 11 2001. Political stable where Asia country has no strikes, no wars and customer is free to plan their own traveling time. Economic Due to the stiff competition from MAS, AirAsia tend to offer lower pricing in tickets and a few flight routes to compete with the current economic. The rising of Asia middle class population growth has encourage customer to enjoy flying with a cheaper rate of tickets Malaysia Tourism and hospitality has boost AirAsia economic by advertising the brand name Social Has created a huge people awareness and exposure on traveling within a limited budget in Asia countries. This motivation was created with the AirAsia slogan Now everyone can fly AirAsia has created different living environment and culture by promoting different countries AirAsia commit to Safety First has outcome the fear of customer flying abroad due to the Outbreak of Several Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). Technology AirAsia has the state of the art in IT technology which offers E-commerce. In Aug 2003, AirAsia become the first to offer SMS booking where the online service allows consumer to book ticket online, offer seat choosing and luggage check in. The website also offers viewing in six different languages. GO holiday was also launch to introduce customer to book holiday packages online via real time. AirAsia has bought in A320 to replace Boeing 737; which the new airbus has improved fuel efficiency, bigger overhead bin, lower maintenance and extra seat which proven to better performance and reliability. Environment The new purchase of A32 planes has an engine which burn less fuel technology which included lighter weight body. The new planes engine maintenance and wash program which proven to gain 1% to 2% efficiency. More improved pilot training which are being train to take-off and landing more efficiently AirAsia green methods is by adapt the paper containers and cups when they server food during the flight route. Legal Government policy has been set up to ensure that all government business trip to engage with MAS airlines. The budget airlines in south-east Asia is under-develop due to the market of aviation is control by the government right agreement. Customer has taken legal action towards AirAsia for failing to disclose the full price for some route location. Figure 1.0 Self created Pestel analysis Below diagram shows the SWOT analysis. The internal factor can be look into the strength and weakness of the company where else the external factors would be the opportunities and threats in the external environment. SWOT DIAGRAM STENGTHS WEAKNESS AirAsia has a very strong relationship with the government and airlines industry leaders The current management team is good in strategy formulation and implementation. The branding of AirAsia was well established in Asia Pacific. One of Asia cheapest Airlines which are low cost operations. The advance technology of the IT team such in emails alert and desktop alerts for a new promotion Multi-skilled staffed which are well equip and efficient in workforce. A single type of fleet which is easy to maintain and easy for pilot dispatch. AirAsia does not have own repair system, maintenance or overhaul (MRO) facility. Received a lot of complain from end user due to overwhelming of ticket purchases on festive season. Flights always delay due to improper time management. A fix-cost in perishable product which are the airlines seat. This will encourages the airlines to cut down price to attempt to fill empty seats at a lower price than rather flying at a half empty plane. No central location or backup airport. Branding is always an issue in placing in market position. OPPORTUNITIES THREATS There increasing of oil price creates an opportunities for AsiaAsia to capture new or existing customer which are on budget travelers. The ASEAN Open Skies program allows competition among regional airlines which creates partner with other low cost airlines for example Virgin has join in to create a brand name for AsiaAsia. Increase of population of Asian middle class will increase 700 million by 2013 which creates a huge opportunities for AsiaAsia to cater the need of user. Ongoing business prospect will open up new routes and new airport deals Rates such as airport departure, security charges and landing charges are elastic price which beyond the control of the airlines AirAsia profit margin is about 30% and this creates a new competitor to arise such as Tiger Airways. User safety point of view is neglected due to cheaper cost of ticket. User need to purchase a separated insurance for the ticket. Oil price fluctuations which affect the Aviation turbine fuel (ATF) and other operational cost. This will add cost to AirAsia since the total cost fuel is higher than 26% for low cost airlines compared to 20% for a full service airlines Lack of secondary backup airport infrastructure. Other countries like Europe have a secondary airport to avoid flying into mainland airports hence they can skip to pay high cost of landing fees. System always down due to high volume of online sales. Figure 2.0 Self created SWOT diagram. Porter five forces have been used to determine the competitive and the magnetism of the market value and to understand the AirAsia competitive advantage. Table below shows the porter five forces: PORTER FIVE FORCES Competitive rivalry within an industry. This would be the matrix segment of geographical and demography market. AirAsia competitor would be Tiger Airlines and Firefly which both of them also provides cheap flight and several same routes. AirAsia also claim that they dont have any additional fees which are not true. They have several hidden fees which are booking seats and luggage fees which could create a problem in price issue. Population of middle class income is increasing hence creates a huge opportunities for the airlines therefore airlines have to slash price among each another due to customer are not loyal and they tend to switch easy from different company to another Threat of new entry Branding is one of the major factors for new entry. Entry within this industry not only required high cost but also a branding image. New entry is required to impress the investors so that they can make a huge investment in the industry. Government legislation is also an issue where new airlines cant get a new permit flight route from the government. For example if AirAsia want to add more flight route to other county, this would be a barrier for them due to government permit and it will affect their profit. Different service product being offered by competitors where AirAsia provided travel packages around Asia besides only selling air ticket. AirAsia also have great connection with tourism companies around the Asia country thus making this harder for new competitor to compete. Bargaining power of supplier Bargaining power of buyers is strong and cost of switching airlines is low. AirAsia is not the only the airlines which offer low cost operation in Asia. Other competitor prices are not so much different than AirAsia. This will create customer to choose their most suitable schedule of airlines that fits them the best. Two major planes supplier which is Airbus and Boeing. Both of them are having the same standard aircraft which mostly AirAsia ordered in a large amounts from Airbus in order to expand their flight routes. This creates a strong relationship and big discount. Bargaining power of buyer Buyers nowadays are more informed and IT savvy. They are more sensitive to price change making they have more choices to compare with other airlines which its easy for customer to change to other airlines that offer the same service. Customer of Airasia is mostly individual /group travelers which their air tickets purchase is being purchase individual. This makes the bargaining power buyer is strong. AirAsia also have bad image when it comes to flight delays issue. Customer tends to choose other airlines to make sure they reach their destination on time. Threat of substitute product When the price of airlines is expensive, customer will look for a substitute. Price also depends on the booking time and flights date. The longer booking dates are cheaper compare to shorter booking dates. If the ticket is purchase last minute, which cost higher price, customer tends to switch to other airlines such as MAS or Singapore Airlines which offers premium services Some of the traveling purpose would be a business meeting which is now being taken over by the Internet industry. These meeting can be replaced with calls such as video conferencing which can take place within the office premises to save company traveling cost. Figure 3.0 Self created Porter Five Forces diagram. AirAsia adapted the theory of market segment where penetrate into the low cost carrier and the ability to compete among other competitor in the field business. Those methods are: The use of E-commerce in the AirAsia system. They have implement a E-commerce business tool making it one of the kind that allows a AirAsia to sell product, advertise, purchase supplies, bypass and track inventory, cutting down the paperwork and sharing information over the e-portal. This system has improved productivity and higher profitability and yet minimizing the cost of expenses in the company According to Pultorak (2004), when a business strategy mix with IT, the IT platform can be modify to meet business needs and respond to certain user requirement. Example would be the IT platform online system that AirAsia implemented. Customer reservation system (CRS) is a user friendly web-based system which allows user to make reservation, choosing their own seat at various prices, printing out their own e-ticketing and self check-in online which saves ample times. This also helps to cut down the middleman or travel agents cost. All this was being implemented to archive the lowest cost of an airline can possible achieved The use of ERP system in the AirAsia system. Its a use of software that develops a support decisions with planning and controlling the business Its integrated software to make the IT system more effective and efficiently which has been successfully maintain the process of integrity data, reduced month end closing processing time, increase in speed up of data reporting and data retrieval process The system also helps AirAsia to capture their daily operation transaction as well as the operational cost. As the result from both of this system, AirAsia has move from the traditional business method and transform it into an E-commerce system which allows them to achieved their goals and objective to be one of the lowest carrier airplanes in the world This essay describes the strategic management use of implementation of certain tools such as PESTEL, SWOT and Porter Five Forces analysis. Those tools make AirAsia achieve their capability, scope and goals Making use of the IT system and E-commerce has also lead AirAsia to be one of the low cost carriers in the airplane industry. AirAsia chooses strategic management method based on the competition in airlines industry is tough. Other airlines companies are trying to figure out strategic ways to compete among their industry which strategic management has become one of the tools factor to survive in their business industry. None the less airlines need to consider on how to integrate the system as well as the main factors such as external and internal process

Does Free Trade Retard or Improve Development in Developing Countries E

Introduction The 19th century international system was a very significant era of the doctrine and practice of free trade. This key date in the 19th century was 1846, the year England repealed the corn law. The corn laws had protected British aristocrats and farmers from imported corn. Corn at this time was used to make bread. This dispute pitted industrialists and many workers against landowners and farmers. The industrialist wanted cheap corn so that the cost of bread would be lowered and they could reduce or reduce workers wages. This would give their products a competitive advantage in international markets over products from nations where the cost of food and wages were expensive. The workers in Britain also supported this law because they wanted to buy cheap bread. David Ricardo, a stock trader and member of parliament, articulated the liberal theory of comparative advantage which made intellectual case for free trade. Today this theory of comparative advantage has remained the bedrock of ar guments for economic integration and free trade. The broad purpose of this paper is to try and answer these questions; †¢ Does Free Trade Improve or Retard Development in Developing Countries †¢ Is Free Trade really Free. Free trade is the trade among two or more countries without any limitations imposed by the governments or other regulators; thus the free movement of goods and services across national frontiers (O’Brien and Williams, 2007 p.139). (Vander .W, 2005 p.24). It points to the liberalisation of the markets of nations through the elimination of tariffs, quotas and other form of restrictions to allow the free flow of products beyond national borders. Benefits of Free Trade Trade Openness. Free Trade has remained a fundam... ...the Barrel: Africa’s Oil Boom and the Poor. Available at http://www.crsprogramquality.org/storage/peacebuilding/Bottom%20of%20the%20barrel.pdf European Commission, (2012). Trade, growth and development; Tailoring trade and investment policy for those countries most in need [SEC (2012) 87 final]. O’Brien, R. and Williams, M. (eds.) (2007) Global Political Economy: Evolution and Dynamics. 2nd edition. Basingstoke: Palgrave. OECD, (2009). Journal on Development Trading Out of Poverty; How Aid for Trade Can Help. World Bank (2000) World Development Indicators 2000. Washington D.C: World Bank [Online] Available at http://data.worldbank.org/indicator Stop Free Trade : Available at http://www.stopftaa.org/is-free-trade-really-free-what-it-costs-a-country.html UNCTAD, (2004).The Least Developed Countries Report . UNCTAD/LDC/2004 (Overview), sales no.E.03.II.D.9.

A Game of Thrones Chapter Fourteen

Catelyn Ned and the girls were eight days gone when Maester Luwin came to her one night in Bran's sickroom, carrying a reading lamp and the books of account. â€Å"It is past time that we reviewed the figures, my lady,† he said. â€Å"You'll want to know how much this royal visit cost us.† Catelyn looked at Bran in his sickbed and brushed his hair back off his forehead. It had grown very long, she realized. She would have to cut it soon. â€Å"I have no need to look at figures, Maester Luwin,† she told him, never taking her eyes from Bran. â€Å"I know what the visit cost us. Take the books away.† â€Å"My lady, the king's party had healthy appetites. We must replenish our stores before—† She cut him off. â€Å"I said, take the books away. The steward will attend to our needs.† â€Å"We have no steward,† Maester Luwin reminded her. Like a little grey rat, she thought, he would not let go. â€Å"Poole went south to establish Lord Eddard's household at King's Landing.† Catelyn nodded absently. â€Å"Oh, yes. I remember.† Bran looked so pale. She wondered whether they might move his bed under the window, so he could get the morning sun. Maester Luwin set the lamp in a niche by the door and fiddled with its wick. â€Å"There are several appointments that require your immediate attention, my lady. Besides the steward, we need a captain of the guards to fill Jory's place, a new master of horse—† Her eyes snapped around and found him. â€Å"A master of horse?† Her voice was a whip. The maester was shaken. â€Å"Yes, my lady. Hullen rode south with Lord Eddard, so—† â€Å"My son lies here broken and dying, Luwin, and you wish to discuss a new master of horse? Do you think I care what happens in the stables? Do you think it matters to me one whit? I would gladly butcher every horse in Winterfell with my own hands if it would open Bran's eyes, do you understand that? Do you?† He bowed his head. â€Å"Yes, my lady, but the appointments—† â€Å"I'll make the appointments,† Robb said. Catelyn had not heard him enter, but there he stood in the doorway, looking at her. She had been shouting, she realized with a sudden flush of shame. What was happening to her? She was so tired, and her head hurt all the time. Maester Luwin looked from Catelyn to her son. â€Å"I have prepared a list of those we might wish to consider for the vacant offices,† he said, offering Robb a paper plucked from his sleeve. Her son glanced at the names. He had come from outside, Catelyn saw; his cheeks were red from the cold, his hair shaggy and windblown. â€Å"Good men,† he said. â€Å"We'll talk about them tomorrow.† He handed back the list of names. â€Å"Very good, my lord.† The paper vanished into his sleeve. â€Å"Leave us now,† Robb said. Maester Luwin bowed and departed. Robb closed the door behind him and turned to her. He was wearing a sword, she saw. â€Å"Mother, what are you doing?† Catelyn had always thought Robb looked like her; like Bran and Rickon and Sansa, he had the Tully coloring, the auburn hair, the blue eyes. Yet now for the first time she saw something of Eddard Stark in his face, something as stern and hard as the north. â€Å"What am I doing?† she echoed, puzzled. â€Å"How can you ask that? What do you imagine I'm doing? I am taking care of your brother. I am taking care of Bran.† â€Å"Is that what you call it? You haven't left this room since Bran was hurt. You didn't even come to the gate when Father and the girls went south.† â€Å"I said my farewells to them here, and watched them ride out from that window.† She had begged Ned not to go, not now, not after what had happened; everything had changed now, couldn't he see that? It was no use. He had no choice, he had told her, and then he left, choosing. â€Å"I can't leave him, even for a moment, not when any moment could be his last. I have to be with him, if . . . if . . . † She took her son's limp hand, sliding his fingers through her own. He was so frail and thin, with no strength left in his hand, but she could still feel the warmth of life through his skin. Robb's voice softened. â€Å"He's not going to die, Mother. Maester Luwin says the time of greatest danger has passed.† â€Å"And what if Maester Luwin is wrong? What if Bran needs me and I'm not here?† â€Å"Rickon needs you,† Robb said sharply. â€Å"He's only three, he doesn't understand what's happening. He thinks everyone has deserted him, so he follows me around all day, clutching my leg and crying. I don't know what to do with him.† He paused a moment, chewing on his lower lip the way he'd done when he was little. â€Å"Mother, I need you too. I'm trying but I can't . . . I can't do it all by myself.† His voice broke with sudden emotion, and Catelyn remembered that he was only fourteen. She wanted to get up and go to him, but Bran was still holding her hand and she could not move. Outside the tower, a wolf began to howl. Catelyn trembled, just for a second. â€Å"Bran's.† Robb opened the window and let the night air into the stuffy tower room. The howling grew louder. It was a cold and lonely sound, full of melancholy and despair. â€Å"Don't,† she told him. â€Å"Bran needs to stay warm.† â€Å"He needs to hear them sing,† Robb said. Somewhere out in Winterfell, a second wolf began to howl in chorus with the first. Then a third, closer. â€Å"Shaggydog and Grey Wind,† Robb said as their voices rose and fell together. â€Å"You can tell them apart if you listen close.† Catelyn was shaking. It was the grief, the cold, the howling of the direwolves. Night after night, the howling and the cold wind and the grey empty castle, on and on they went, never changing, and her boy lying there broken, the sweetest of her children, the gentlest, Bran who loved to laugh and climb and dreamt of knighthood, all gone now, she would never hear him laugh again. Sobbing, she pulled her hand free of his and covered her ears against those terrible howls. â€Å"Make them stop!† she cried. â€Å"I can't stand it, make them stop, make them stop, kill them all if you must, just make them stop!† She didn't remember falling to the floor, but there she was, and Robb was lifting her, holding her in strong arms. â€Å"Don't be afraid, Mother. They would never hurt him.† He helped her to her narrow bed in the corner of the sickroom. â€Å"Close your eyes,† he said gently. â€Å"Rest. Maester Luwin tells me you've hardly slept since Bran's fall.† â€Å"I can't,† she wept. â€Å"Gods forgive me, Robb, I can't, what if he dies while I'm asleep, what if he dies, what if he dies . . . † The wolves were still howling. She screamed and held her ears again. â€Å"Oh, gods, close the window!† â€Å"If you swear to me you'll sleep.† Robb went to the window, but as he reached for the shutters another sound was added to the mournful howling of the direwolves. â€Å"Dogs,† he said, listening. â€Å"All the dogs are barking. They've never done that before . . . † Catelyn heard his breath catch in his throat. When she looked up, his face was pale in the lamplight. â€Å"Fire,† he whispered. Fire, she thought, and then, Bran! â€Å"Help me,† she said urgently, sitting up. â€Å"Help me with Bran.† Robb did not seem to hear her. â€Å"The library tower's on fire,† he said. Catelyn could see the flickering reddish light through the open window now. She sagged with relief. Bran was safe. The library was across the bailey, there was no way the fire would reach them here. â€Å"Thank the gods,† she whispered. Robb looked at her as if she'd gone mad. â€Å"Mother, stay here. I'll come back as soon as the fire's out.† He ran then. She heard him shout to the guards outside the room, heard them descending together in a wild rush, taking the stairs two and three at a time. Outside, there were shouts of â€Å"Fire!† in the yard, screams, running footsteps, the whinny of frightened horses, and the frantic barking of the castle dogs. The howling was gone, she realized as she listened to the cacophony. The direwolves had fallen silent. Catelyn said a silent prayer of thanks to the seven faces of god as she went to the window. Across the bailey, long tongues of flame shot from the windows of the library. She watched the smoke rise into the sky and thought sadly of all the books the Starks had gathered over the centuries. Then she closed the shutters. When she turned away from the window, the man was in the room with her. â€Å"You weren't s'posed to be here,† he muttered sourly. â€Å"No one was s'posed to be here.† He was a small, dirty man in filthy brown clothing, and he stank of horses. Catelyn knew all the men who worked in their stables, and he was none of them. He was gaunt, with limp blond hair and pale eyes deep-sunk in a bony face, and there was a dagger in his hand. Catelyn looked at the knife, then at Bran. â€Å"No,† she said. The word stuck in her throat, the merest whisper. He must have heard her. â€Å"It's a mercy,† he said. â€Å"He's dead already.† â€Å"No,† Catelyn said, louder now as she found her voice again. â€Å"No, you can't.† She spun back toward the window to scream for help, but the man moved faster than she would have believed. One hand clamped down over her mouth and yanked back her head, the other brought the dagger up to her windpipe. The stench of him was overwhelming. She reached up with both hands and grabbed the blade with all her strength, pulling it away from her throat. She heard him cursing into her ear. Her fingers were slippery with blood, but she would not let go of the dagger. The hand over her mouth clenched more tightly, shutting off her air. Catelyn twisted her head to the side and managed to get a piece of his flesh between her teeth. She bit down hard into his palm. The man grunted in pain. She ground her teeth together and tore at him, and all of a sudden he let go. The taste of his blood filled her mouth. She sucked in air and screamed, and he grabbed her hair and pulled her away from him, and she stumbled and went down, and then he was standing over her, breathing hard, shaking. The dagger was still clutched tightly in his right hand, slick with blood. â€Å"You weren't s'posed to be here,† he repeated stupidly. Catelyn saw the shadow slip through the open door behind him. There was a low rumble, less than a snarl, the merest whisper of a threat, but he must have heard something, because he started to turn just as the wolf made its leap. They went down together, half sprawled over Catelyn where she'd fallen. The wolf had him under the jaw. The man's shriek lasted less than a second before the beast wrenched back its head, taking out half his throat. His blood felt like warm rain as it sprayed across her face. The wolf was looking at her. Its jaws were red and wet and its eyes glowed golden in the dark room. It was Bran's wolf, she realized. Of course it was. â€Å"Thank you,† Catelyn whispered, her voice faint and tiny. She lifted her hand, trembling. The wolf padded closer, sniffed at her fingers, then licked at the blood with a wet rough tongue. When it had cleaned all the blood off her hand, it turned away silently and jumped up on Bran's bed and lay down beside him. Catelyn began to laugh hysterically. That was the way they found them, when Robb and Maester Luwin and Ser Rodrik burst in with half the guards in Winterfell. When the laughter finally died in her throat, they wrapped her in warm blankets and led her back to the Great Keep, to her own chambers. Old Nan undressed her and helped her into a scalding hot bath and washed the blood off her with a soft cloth. Afterward Maester Luwin arrived to dress her wounds. The cuts in her fingers went deep, almost to the bone, and her scalp was raw and bleeding where he'd pulled out a handful of hair. The maester told her the pain was just starting now, and gave her milk of the poppy to help her sleep. Finally she closed her eyes. When she opened them again, they told her that she had slept four days. Catelyn nodded and sat up in bed. It all seemed like a nightmare to her now, everything since Bran's fall, a terrible dream of blood and grief, but she had the pain in her hands to remind her that it was real. She felt weak and light-headed, yet strangely resolute, as if a great weight had lifted from her. â€Å"Bring me some bread and honey,† she told her servants, â€Å"and take word to Maester Luwin that my bandages want changing.† They looked at her in surprise and ran to do her bidding. Catelyn remembered the way she had been before, and she was ashamed. She had let them all down, her children, her husband, her House. It would not happen again. She would show these northerners how strong a Tully of Riverrun could be. Robb arrived before her food. Rodrik Cassel came with him, and her husband's ward Theon Greyjoy, and lastly Hallis Mollen, a muscular guardsman with a square brown beard. He was the new captain of the guard, Robb said. Her son was dressed in boiled leather and ringmail, she saw, and a sword hung at his waist. â€Å"Who was he?† Catelyn asked them. â€Å"No one knows his name,† Hallis Mollen told her. â€Å"He was no man of Winterfell, m'lady, but some says they seen him here and about the castle these past few weeks.† â€Å"One of the king's men, then,† she said, â€Å"or one of the Lannisters'. He could have waited behind when the others left.† â€Å"Maybe,† Hal said. â€Å"With all these strangers filling up Winterfell of late, there's no way of saying who he belonged to.† â€Å"He'd been hiding in your stables,† Greyjoy said. â€Å"You could smell it on him.† â€Å"And how could he go unnoticed?† she said sharply. Hallis Mollen looked abashed. â€Å"Between the horses Lord Eddard took south and them we sent north to the Night's Watch, the stalls were half-empty. It were no great trick to hide from the stableboys. Could be Hodor saw him, the talk is that boy's been acting queer, but simple as he is . . . † Hal shook his head. â€Å"We found where he'd been sleeping,† Robb put in. â€Å"He had ninety silver stags in a leather bag buried beneath the straw.† â€Å"It's good to know my son's life was not sold cheaply,† Catelyn said bitterly. Hallis Mollen looked at her, confused. â€Å"Begging your grace, m'lady, you saying he was out to kill your boy?† Greyjoy was doubtful. â€Å"That's madness.† â€Å"He came for Bran,† Catelyn said. â€Å"He kept muttering how I wasn't supposed to be there. He set the library fire thinking I would rush to put it out, taking any guards with me. If I hadn't been half-mad with grief, it would have worked.† â€Å"Why would anyone want to kill Bran?† Robb said. â€Å"Gods, he's only a little boy, helpless, sleeping . . . â€Å" Catelyn gave her firstborn a challenging look. â€Å"If you are to rule in the north, you must think these things through, Robb. Answer your own question. Why would anyone want to kill a sleeping child?† Before he could answer, the servants returned with a plate of food fresh from the kitchen. There was much more than she'd asked for: hot bread, butter and honey and blackberry preserves, a rasher of bacon and a soft-boiled egg, a wedge of cheese, a pot of mint tea. And with it came Maester Luwin. â€Å"How is my son, Maester?† Catelyn looked at all the food and found she had no appetite. Maester Luwin lowered his eyes. â€Å"Unchanged, my lady.† It was the reply she had expected, no more and no less. Her hands throbbed with pain, as if the blade were still in her, cutting deep. She sent the servants away and looked back to Robb. â€Å"Do you have the answer yet?† â€Å"Someone is afraid Bran might wake up,† Robb said, â€Å"afraid of what he might say or do, afraid of something he knows.† Catelyn was proud of him. â€Å"Very good.† She turned to the new captain of the guard. â€Å"We must keep Bran safe. If there was one killer, there could be others.† â€Å"How many guards do you want, rn'lady?† Hal asked. â€Å"So long as Lord Eddard is away, my son is the master of Winterfell,† she told him. Robb stood a little taller. â€Å"Put one man in the sickroom, night and day, one outside the door, two at the bottom of the stairs. No one sees Bran without my warrant or my mother's.† â€Å"As you say, m'lord.† â€Å"Do it now,† Catelyn suggested. â€Å"And let his wolf stay in the room with him,† Robb added. â€Å"Yes,† Catelyn said. And then again: â€Å"Yes.† Hallis Mollen bowed and left the room. â€Å"Lady Stark,† Ser Rodrik said when the guardsman had gone, â€Å"did you chance to notice the dagger the killer used?† â€Å"The circumstances did not allow me to examine it closely, but I can vouch for its edge,† Catelyn replied with a dry smile. â€Å"Why do you ask?† â€Å"We found the knife still in the villain's grasp. It seemed to me that it was altogether too fine a weapon for such a man, so I looked at it long and hard. The blade is Valyrian steel, the hilt dragonbone. A weapon like that has no business being in the hands of such as him. Someone gave it to him.† Catelyn nodded, thoughtful. â€Å"Robb, close the door.† He looked at her strangely, but did as she told him. â€Å"What I am about to tell you must not leave this room,† she told them. â€Å"I want your oaths on that. If even part of what I suspect is true, Ned and my girls have ridden into deadly danger, and a word in the wrong ears could mean their lives.† â€Å"Lord Eddard is a second father to me,† said Theon Greyjoy. â€Å"I do so swear.† â€Å"You have my oath,† Maester Luwin said. â€Å"And mine, my lady,† echoed Ser Rodrik. She looked at her son. â€Å"And you, Robb?† He nodded his consent. â€Å"My sister Lysa believes the Lannisters murdered her husband, Lord Arryn, the Hand of the King,† Catelyn told them. â€Å"It comes to me that Jaime Lannister did not join the hunt the day Bran fell. He remained here in the castle.† The room was deathly quiet. â€Å"I do not think Bran fell from that tower,† she said into the stillness. â€Å"I think he was thrown.† The shock was plain on their faces. â€Å"My lady, that is a monstrous suggestion,† said Rodrik Cassel. â€Å"Even the Kingslayer would flinch at the murder of an innocent child.† â€Å"Oh, would he?† Theon Greyjoy asked. â€Å"I wonder.† â€Å"There is no limit to Lannister pride or Lannister ambition,† Catelyn said. â€Å"The boy had always been surehanded in the past,† Maester Luwin said thoughtfully. â€Å"He knew every stone in Winterfell.† â€Å"Gods,† Robb swore, his young face dark with anger. â€Å"If this is true, he will pay for it.† He drew his sword and waved it in the air. â€Å"I'll kill him myself!† Ser Rodrik bristled at him. â€Å"Put that away! The Lannisters are a hundred leagues away. Never draw your sword unless you mean to use it. How many times must I tell you, foolish boy?† Abashed, Robb sheathed his sword, suddenly a child again. Catelyn said to Ser Rodrik, â€Å"I see my son is wearing steel now.† The old master-at-arms said, â€Å"I thought it was time.† Robb was looking at her anxiously. â€Å"Past time,† she said. â€Å"Winterfell may have need of all its swords soon, and they had best not be made of wood.† Theon Greyjoy put a hand on the hilt of his blade and said, â€Å"My lady, if it comes to that, my House owes yours a great debt.† Maester Luwin pulled at his chain collar where it chafed against his neck. â€Å"All we have is conjecture. This is the queen's beloved brother we mean to accuse. She will not take it kindly. We must have proof, or forever keep silent.† â€Å"Your proof is in the dagger,† Ser Rodrik said. â€Å"A fine blade like that will not have gone unnoticed.† There was only one place to find the truth of it, Catelyn realized. â€Å"Someone must go to King's Landing.† â€Å"I'll go,† Robb said. â€Å"No,† she told him. â€Å"Your place is here. There must always be a Stark in Winterfell.† She looked at Ser Rodrik with his great white whiskers, at Maester Luwin in his grey robes, at young Greyjoy, lean and dark and impetuous. Who to send? Who would be believed? Then she knew. Catelyn struggled to push back the blankets, her bandaged fingers as stiff and unyielding as stone. She climbed out of bed. â€Å"I must go myself.† â€Å"My lady,† said Maester Luwin, â€Å"is that wise? Surely the Lannisters would greet your arrival with suspicion.† â€Å"What about Bran?† Robb asked. The poor boy looked utterly confused now. â€Å"You can't mean to leave him.† â€Å"I have done everything I can for Bran,† she said, laying a wounded hand on his arm. â€Å"His life is in the hands of the gods and Maester Luwin. As you reminded me yourself, Robb, I have other children to think of now.† â€Å"You will need a strong escort, my lady,† Theon said. â€Å"I'll send Hal with a squad of guardsmen,† Robb said. â€Å"No,† Catelyn said. â€Å"A large party attracts unwelcome attention. I would not have the Lannisters know I am coming.† Ser Rodrik protested. â€Å"My lady, let me accompany you at least. The kingsroad can be perilous for a woman alone.† â€Å"I will not be taking the kingsroad,† Catelyn replied. She thought for a moment, then nodded her consent. â€Å"Two riders can move as fast as one, and a good deal faster than a long column burdened by wagons and wheelhouses. I will welcome your company, Ser Rodrik. We will follow the White Knife down to the sea, and hire a ship at WhiteHarbor. Strong horses and brisk winds should bring us to King's Landing well ahead of Ned and the Lannisters.† And then, she thought, we shall see what we shall see.

Evaluation of revenue management application in Nigerian hotels. The WritePass Journal

Evaluation of revenue management application in Nigerian hotels. Abstract Evaluation of revenue management application in Nigerian hotels. Abstract1.0  Introduction1.1  Aim1.2   RESEARCH OBJECTIVES AND QUESTIONSResearch questions:  Limitations  FinanceAuthenticity of informationTime constraintsResearch OutlineLITERATURE REVIEW ON REVENUEMANAGEMENTRevenue ManagementDefinitionPurpose of Yield ManagementRM ToolsPricing strategiesDisplacement analysisInventory controlForecastingDemand forecastingBIBLIOGRAPHYRelated Abstract This thesis has provided a structured literature review which gives a broader definitions of the major concepts in revenue management in terms of the applications and the long term relationship with customers. It then explores the extent to which revenue management is been applied in the Nigerian hospitality sector. The aim of this thesis is to analyze revenue management application in some selected hotels in Nigeria, Nigeria is made up of 36 states including the Federal Capital Territory. Three hotels will be selected from the 36 states adding up to a total of 108 hotels to which questionnaires will be sent, the result will give how RM is been applied in line with the manipulation techniques involved, above that, from the research, it will conduct a development plan for other hotels under utilising the full strength of RM tools. The goal of this thesis is to improve the profitability of the room capacity with the tools of revenue management being explored, The theoretical data for this thesis will be collected from the selected hotels, hospitality management literatures, and Internet. In addition, other important information sources will be from the author’s personal experience and a result from the questionnaires rolled out to gain a reliable and comprehensive information of the RM adoption. 1.0  Introduction This chapter gives an introduction to RM, following literatures by Orkin, (1990), Jones and Val, (1993), Karaesmen and van Ryzin, (2004), Kimes, (2000, 1998), Rothstein (1971, 1975), Bitran and Caldentey, (2003), and Weatherford, (2003). We start with an elaborated explanation of revenue management, the history and its origin (Rothstein (1971, 1975), Bitran and Caldentey, (2003), and Weatherford, (2003)). Afterwards, a conceptual framework for understanding the objectives of revenue management, the business platform on which RM can be adopted (Kimes, 1989), the way the system works and finally, this thesis will conclude by giving an outline of the remaining chapters of the thesis. We here trace the history of revenue management as practiced in the hospitality industry in an effort to illustrate what Jones and Lockwood, (1998), said about RM, they said that Revenue management is a well researched and explored manipulation technique for maximising revenue. Unfortunately, revenue management practice in Nigeria is little known, for example, it has been a commonplace to sell a room twice a day if the opportunity arise, increasing the revenue generated directly leading to RM application indirectly, this form the bisis of this dissertation and it is a gap this research is seeking to fill by exploring the extent to which RM is practised in Nigerian hotels directly and not been blind folded by an indirect approach of the application of Revenue Management. RM can be define as a management tool or technique which is currently being utilized by an increasing number of international chain of hotels and independently owned hotels in order to maximize the effective use of their available room capacity and ensure a boost financially, (Salmon, 1990). Furthermore, Jones and Lockwood, (1998), researched and concluded that RM is not entirely a new capacity manipulation tactic in the world, and most hoteliers practice some form of RM, such as the adjusting of room rates to temper fluctuations between peak and off-peak seasons, mid-week, and weekend rates. This Research, therefore, examines the use and application of RM in the hotel industry in Nigeria and aims to demonstrate its application towards effectively maximizing room revenue and profit maximization. For the sake of this thesis, a comprehensive literature review based on secondary sources in order to explore RM application will be established as a guide to the fieldwork and the areas of interest will be extracted from the literature review. Above others, these areas and issues will be investigated through the method of collecting primary data. Furthermore, all collected documentations will be made available in order to validate the information given during these interviews. This thesis is a very satisfying and challenging process since it focuses on the gap which has never been researched in the hospitality industry in Nigeria. Nevertheless, it is a valuable learning experience which will be cherished by revenue managers in Nigeria in order to enhance the revenue generated in their respective hotel(s). This thesis seek to give a proper understanding of revenue management tools including; Overbooking, Inventory control, displacement analysis pricing and lastly forecasting method, their impacts on the corporate performance in terms of customer satisfaction and loyalty leading to customer retention will be of secondary concern. 1.1  Aim This thesis seeks to explore the extent to which revenue management is being practised in Nigerian hotel in terms of the usage of RM tools which is afore mentioned. This will be achieved by exploring three hotels from each 36 states in Nigeria, some which will be from an international chain of hotels and others an independently owned hotels. Questionnaires will be rolled out to these selected hotels in other to have a generic perception towards the adoption of RM following the literature by Vinod (2004) in that the value of revenue management is assessed in the hotel industry. 1.2   RESEARCH OBJECTIVES AND QUESTIONS Every seller is faced with fundamental decisions, juxtaposing this, a BBQ restaurant selling chicken and chips should be able to decide on which period to make her maximum sale, the price to give and when to reduce the price. A cinema ticket or stadium ticket must be sold within a certain period, therefore, the manager must decide when to start selling tickets, what the asking price should be, and when to drop price if necessary. In the Hotel industry, it is similar; hotel managers should know when to drop prices on rooms, when to stop selling rooms, when to increase the prices of rooms. Following these examples, the Nigerian hotels’ operations led us to the objectives of the thesis: To explore the extent to which revenue management is applied. To seek the awareness of RM within the Nigerian hotels. Research questions: How is revenue managed in Nigerian hotels? To what extent do Nigerian hotels consider Customer loyalty, customer satisfaction and customer retention a priority?   Limitations   For the sake of this thesis, only three hotels will be explored from each of the 36 states in Nigeria, because there are several unregistered hotels and there is no proper list of all the hotels in Nigeria. However, some of the hotels are part of international chain of hotels operating on an international level while some are independently owned. Furthermore, we have limited the research to RM application and from the survey, the sensitive areas as regards to customer loyalty, satisfaction and long term retention will be explored, in other words, the loyalty, retention and satisfaction will be our secondary aim. Nonetheless, there may of course be other operations or practices within these hotels that affect revenue but our research is focused on the five RM tools been employed as afore mentioned. The followings under listed are the possible limitation this thesis might face. Finance One of the major problems for the research is finance, the financial aspect in terms of travelling to Nigeria to schedule   and execute an interview with the managers of the selected hotels and therefore, questionnaires will be sent via the wireless network (internet) using kwicksurvey; an internet based questionnaire software. Authenticity of information Secondly, Some of the managers to fill the questionnaires might accept the purpose of the study and fill, but some might be offended by it and feel it is a time wasting process and give a biased information. Time constraints Lastly, the risk for the study of not been able to find the information it needs at the allowed time. Finding the information may take more time than the limited time given (time constraints). Research Outline Chapter one will set a solid foundation for this thesis, therefore, the research   will continue by presenting a comprehensive literature review as far as revenue management is concerned in Chapter Two. A concise description and critical understanding of RM background will be the aim of the literature review (Chapter two). Furthermore, an overview of the literature within the following RM tools including; overbooking, displacement analysis, price control, inventory control (length of stay restriction) and as they lead to customer management will be given in order to set the base and create an understating of how these tools influence revenue generated. Chapter Two concludes with a brief structured analysis of the literature review presented. Chapter three will seek to explore and examine the aim of the research process and how the fieldwork will be conducted. Research limitations will be presented, the fieldwork and how information will be handled. This chapter describes what happens in all the stages on the fieldwork.   (Before, during, and after the fieldwork). In Chapter Four we present a generic practice within the studied hotels and give a short generic presentation of the hotels participating and describe how RM tools are used in terms of the followings; overbooking, displacement analysis, price control, inventory control (length of stay restriction). Concluding the chapter with a description of how the respondents recognize the external environment followed by their perception on revenue management and their practices of RM techniques. In Chapter Five, the empirical findings will be evaluated and analysed in a way that it can be linked with the literature overview presented in Chapter Two. This will be done through a critical analysis. These analyses will illustrate the effectiveness of RM application in Nigerian hotels and how it is been adopted, therefore, Chapter Six will be based on the analysis of revenue management tactics. Chapter Six gives the implication of our main findings and conclusions, as this will be based on the entire research carried out, Furthermore, suggestions of areas which is felt to be further developed after critical evaluation of RM application in Nigeria is made following Choi and Mattila (2004)’s investigation on the impact of revenue management as regards to customers’ perceptions on fairness. LITERATURE REVIEW ON REVENUEMANAGEMENT Revenue ManagementDefinition In this chapter, RM literature will be explored, following all the five application tools afore mentioned. In the literature, Burgess and Bryant, (2001) said, many authors are conversant with the use of interchanging the term revenue management (RM) with yield management (YM). Some consider YM only to be related with revenue derived from accommodation whereas RM may encompass all areas of hotel revenue Therefore, it is important to highlight the term YM and clarify its meaning for the purpose of this thesis. Many definitions are available on YM. Jones and Val, (1993) said, yield is calculated by taking revenue realized and dividing it by revenue potential. However, RM is often associated with the following definition by Kimes, (2000, p. 121) â€Å"The application of information systems and pricing strategies to allocate the right capacity to the right customer at the right place at the right time.† further assessment conducted by Mitchell (1992) states that revenue management is the process of controlling room availability by opening, closing and restricting different room rates based on forecast demand in order to maximise room revenue. Jauncey et al. concluded through an analysis of literatures, came up with the term â€Å"best fit† definition for RM, which is â€Å"An integrated, continuous and systematic approach to maximizing room revenue through the manipulation of room rates in response to forecasted patterns of demand.† Jauncey et al., (1995, p. 25) and a description of RM, according to Jones and Val (1993), is to apply basic economic principles to pricing and to control the supply of rooms for the purpose of maximizing room revenue. Which means that in order to have an effective RM technique in place one would need to understand the basic economics of supply and demand so that the right price could be set in order to increase room revenue for the company, following what kimes (1998a) said about selling the right product to the right customer at the right time and the right place. Nevertheless, some conditions for the application of revenue management must predominate according to kimes (2000). These conditions include; Capacity must be relatively fixed, RM tactics is primarily designed for a capacity constrained firms but firms not having this capacity constraints can make use of inventory as a buffer dealing with fluctuations in demand. Service should be perishable, service ends when ends. Service could be sold well in advance of cunsumption, to maximize room revenue, some sort of reservation system which allows inventory bookings to be received well in advance should be put in place. The cost of a sale should be relatively low, this simply means the cost of putting a guest in another unoccupied room is relatively lower than building another room. Demand should flunctuate substancially, peak and off peak seasons, festive periods are all examples of demand fluctuations. Market could be segmented e.g Leisure travellers and business travellers. When looking at the literature from a historical perspective, it was the airline industry that has been credited with the development and refinement of RM following the deregulation of the U.S. airline industry in the 1970s, Kimes, (1989a), and McMahon-Beattie et al., (1999). This deregulation resulted in a heavy competition within the airline industry and led to a price cutting war. Nevertheless, from the literatures of Rothstein (1971, 1975), Bitran and Caldentey, (2003), and Weatherford, (2003), managing inventory became an important part of running a successful business in the early 1970s. As a result of this competitive circumstances, McMahon-Beattie et al., (1999) said, the adoption of RM began in the hotel industry in the middle of the 1980s as the industry was faced with excess capacity, severe short-term liquidity problem and increasing business failure rates. Purpose of Yield Management Jones and Hamilton (1992) among others said, RM in the hotel industry tries to maximize the available guest room rates when room demand exceeds available room and to maximize occupancy when available room exceeds room demands, even at the expense of the average room rate. Nevertheless, some authors like Jauncey et al., (1995), McMahon-Beattie et al.,(1999), Siguaw et al., (2001) all agree that the purpose of RM is the maximization of room revenue through the manipulation of room rates in a structured fashion, so as to take into account forecasted patterns of demand. It is a technique that attempts to maximize profits by using information about buying behaviour and sales to create pricing and inventory controls, Lee-Ross and Johns, (1997). Why RM. Donaghy et. al., (1995), and Kimes, (1989b) just to mention a few, has examined RM applications and studied its definition, researchers like Donaghy and McMahon, (1995), Fitzsimmons and Fitzsimmons, (1998), Hiemstra, (1999), Kimes, (1989a, b, 1997), Yeoman and Watson, (1997), looked at the critical factors that are likely to influence the application and implementation of RM and finally, the ethical issues in terms of customer satisfaction, retention and loyalty over a long period of time can be seen in the following literatures, Cross, (1992, 1997), Jauncey et al., (1995), Kimes, (1994), and Lieberman, (1993). Cross, (1997) added that within one year of the adoption of RM, Delta airline generated $300 million increment, $500 million annually was recorded annually by American airline, over $100 million is annually generated by   Marriott jr Hotels and $2 million gained in the first two weeks, following the adoption of RM techniques at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. RM Tools Pricing strategies First and foremost, RM tools are intertwined, one tool depends on the other to function effectively. Pricing strategies used to be a decision by the overall managers before, but in recent years, that schedule has been given to a revenue manager but the principle of differential pricing is said not to be attributed to the immergence of RM by Donaghy, et al (1995). Hotel managers have long been using various pricing strategies to maximize their profits by bringing the seasonal demand for rooms and capacity limitations into a balance (Choi and Cho, 2000), even before the deregulation in the airline industry that gave birth to RM in the 1970’s. Differential pricing strategies including; price discrimination, off peak pricing and demand based pricing may change the reference price and reference transaction which could cause customers to feel the current transaction is unfair and the customer could even perceive such differential pricing as price gorging. (Whirtz et al (2003; pg 220 )), A stochastic or probabilistic demand seemed justified on the basis that consumers ‘arrive’ at random times before consumption. From the pricing perspective, though, a theoretical structure was needed to explain how demand is shaped or why it would follow a particular pattern across time. Otherwise, there was no assurance that the past is able to predict the future [Bernstein, 1996; Ng, 2004]. Accordingly, despite tremendous computing power available today, pricing based on demand forecasts faces the same old problem in conventional probability theory, where, according to Bernstein [1996: 334], ‘the raw material of the model is the data of the past’. Some research studies have attempted to shed some light on the behaviour of the advance buyer. The literature is scant, dominated by marketing, and not commonly brought into revenue management research. For example, Desiraju and Shugan [1999] evaluated strategic pricing in advance selling and found that yiel d management strategies such as discounting, overbooking and limiting early sales work best when price-insensitive customers buy later than price-sensitive customers. Shugan and Xie [2000] showed that due to the state dependency of service utility, buyers are uncertain in advance and become certain at consumption time while sellers remain uncertain of buyer states at consumption time because of information asymmetry. They suggest that advance selling overcomes the informational disadvantage of sellers and it is therefore a strategy to increase profit. Xie and Shugan [2001] studied when advance selling improves profits and how advance prices should be set. They have also investigated the optimality of advance selling, investigating selling in a variety of situations, buyer risk aversion, second period arrivals, limited capacity, yield management and other advance selling issues. Png [1989], on the other hand, showed that costless reservations in advance is a profitable pricing strate gy as it induces truth revelation on the type of valuation that the consumer has for the service (which is private information). If the consumer has a high valuation i.e. ability to consume, s/he will use the reservation and pay a higher price. If not, the consumer will not use it. In another paper, Png [1991] compared the strategies of charging consumers a lower price for advance sales and attaching a price premium at the date of consumption versus charging them a premium and promising a refund should consumption prices be lower than what was purchased. Despite these models that aim to capture primitive advance demand behaviour, there has not been much effort to integrate them into a unified framework, nor have there been any attempts to bridge the behavioural aspects of demand with revenue management research. Models of the former capture individual consumer behaviour (or homogeneous consumer segments) and it was difficult to see how that could be aggregated and applied to revenue management that mostly dealt Overbooking, cancellations and no-shows Overbooking, is simply defined as a concept of accepting more reservations than the physical available capacity with the knowledge that some bookings will end up as a no-show, or cancellations furthermore, this serve as a hedge against early check outs, this is said in the literature that overbooking is one of the oldest form of RM tactics Karaesmen and van Ryzin, (2004). Overbooking is actually not a bad concept, but if not managed well, it could lead to overselling. Overselling happens when the number of arrivals exceeds the available room capacity.   Authors have examined how hotels could secure themselves in other to avoid no-shows or cancellations by guests, through appropriate reservation policies, (Alstrup et al., (1986), Belobaba, (1989), Hersh and Ladany, (1978), Lieberman and Yechiali, (1978), Rothstein, (1971, 1974, 1985), Thompson, (1961), and Toh, (1985)) airlines. Under this strategy, the seller deliberately oversells capacity if high-paying consumers show up, even when capacity is already fully booked. The seller then cancels the sale to some low-paying customers while providing them with appropriate compensation. We derive a new rule to optimally allocate capacity to consumers when overselling is used, and show that overselling helps limit the potential yield and spoilage losses. Yield loss is reduced because the seller can capture more high-paying customers by compensating low-paying customers who give up their right to the product. Displacement analysis Displacement analysis has been a very challenging exercise for function room analysis. It is challenging to determine what to negotiate when considering booking a group with a significant lead time, because when compression does hit it is possible that more money could have been made by waiting and taking the last-minute groups that are willing to pay higher prices. But that requires hotels taking significant risks and gambles The concept of displacement is defined by Abbort and Lewry, (1991) is said to be â€Å"those prospective customers who are unable to obtain a higher rate because the rooms have already been booked by customers paying lower rate.†Ã‚   Furthermore, Biyalogorsky, (1999) added that displacement concept is â€Å"selling at a low price, and losing a better price later†. Displacement analysis is divided in to two parts, including; Primary displacement and Secondary displacement. Primary displacement is also known as the direct displacement, and these are those prospective guest who are willing to increase the room rate themselves just to get booked for a particular date of arrival but could not be booked due to the fact that the available rooms are already been booked by guests with lower rates. Secondly, the secondary displacement which is also known as indirect displacement and are said to be those subsequent rooms lost due to primary displacement. Example of this displacement analysis can be seen in appendix 1. Inventory control 1 The Mechanics of Inventory Control Distribution and Central Reservation Systems Traditional revenue management is intimately related with distribution and central reservation systems. Distribution and central reservation systems represent a broad and fascinating topic in their own right. An excellent high-level account of airline planning, marketing, and distribution activities and their relation to operations research can be found in Smith et al. (2001). Here   we provide only sufficient background information to facilitate discussion of the main topic of this paper, revenue management. Forecasting Forecasting is an important strategy of RM in any organisation adopting its techniques; but it is particularly critical in hotel revenue management because of the direct influence forecasts have on the available room booking limits that determine hotel profits. Not surprisingly, forecasting is concurrent with the literature on overbooking because overbooking calculations depend on predictions of ultimate demand, cancellations, and no-shows. Demand forecasting Jauncey et al., (1995), Pak and Piersma, (2002), Kime, (1999), 2003), all agreed that forecasting is one of the key principles of revenue management. Jauncey et al., (1995), Donaghy et al., (1995, 1997), juxtaposed the effectiveness of a good RM system by adding that it should be able to predict demand conditions and fluctuations by analyzing reservation patterns, arrival, departures and a score of other demand characteristics. Recently, the following literatures by Anderson and Blair, (2004), Desiraju and Shugan, (1999) suggested that revenue management systems with forecasting algorithms are expensive to implement in real terms. Lahoti, (2002) added by saying that, a typical RM system costs between $1 million to $3 million and takes more than two years to implement. Moreover, research has proven and showed that these complex and sophisticated revenue management systems are not liable to mislead, deceive, or disappoint. In fact, Ng et al., (1999) added that, using the data of the pa st and sales department using present day information, conflicts often occur, and many revenue management tactics should employ some level of human intervention, in other words, making use of RM as a guide but human intervention is still relevant. Forecasting has four limitations, following the literatures by c.f. Chase, 1999; Lieberman, 1993; Relihan, 1989; Boyd, 2004; Desiraju and Shugan, 1999. Firstly, A proposition upon which forecasting is based or from which a forecasting conclusion is drawn, should be based on fundamental concepts of consumer behaviour, (Chase, 1999; Lieberman, 1993, Relihan, 1989).   It will be of great importance to bring to revenue managers attention according to Carry, (2004) revenue manipulation and maximisation using forecast method. Consequently, this may not be a good indicator of the subsequent or present bookings, and cannot be determined by using only RM system by studying historical pattern of demand, because the reason why consumers act or react the way they do is just as important as how they are behaving. Secondly, forecasting tactic at its best when adopted is still a combination segments that could, if possible, be desegregated for higher revenue. Thirdly, demand records are subject t o many factors, including the pricing strategies of the existing competitors at that time. We can only assume and predict based on the historical data. Finally, demand can be influenced, not merely be known. As early as 1951, Schumpeter, (1951), Liebhafsky, (1968) said that wants cannot be taken as independent and consumers could be taught by producers to want new things. Figure 1 duration price fixed variable predictable Quadrant 1MoviesStadiums and arenasConvention centres Quadrant 2HotelsAirlinesRental cars Cruise lines unpredictable Quadrant 3RestaurantsGolf CoursesInternet service providers Quadrant4Continuing careHospitals (Kimes. 2000. p.127) The industries found in quadrant 2, such as airlines and hotels, are generally those associated with RM, Weatherford et al., (2001). That is because these industries tend to use variable pricing for services with a specified or predictable duration. Nevertheless, Donaghy and McMahon (1995) state that a successful application of RM techniques results in fluctuating room prices. RM therefore, consists of not two, but three separate, interrelated parts; inventory management, duration control, and pricing. BIBLIOGRAPHY Abbott, P. and Lewry, S. (1991) Front Office Procedures, Social Skills and Management. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann. Bitran, G. and Caldentey, R. (2003). â€Å"An Overview of Pricing Models for Revenue Management†. Manufacturing and Service Operations Management, Vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 203-229 Chang, Y.N and Chanpo-Flores, F.C (1980). Business policy and strategy: text and cases. Goodyear pub. Co: Santa Monica, Calif Chase Jr., C.W. (1999) â€Å"Revenue management: A review’,   Journal of Business Forecasting Methods and Systems, Vol. 18, pp.2 28. Choi, T.Y., Cho, V., 2000. Toward a knowledge discovery framework for yield management in the Hong Kong hotel industry. International Journal of Hospitality Management 19 (1), 17–31. Choi, S., Mattila, A.S., 2004. Hotel revenue management and its impact on customers’ perception of fairness. Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management 2 (4), 303–314. Cross, R.G., (1992). The ethics of yield management. In: Davis, D.T., Harless, M. (Eds.), Ethics in Hospitality Management. Educational Institute Of American Hotel Motel Association, Michigan, pp. 235–248. Cross, R. G (1997). Revenue Management: Hard-Core Tactics for profit making and Market domination. Broadway books: New York, NY Donaghy Kevin , Una McMahon and McDowell David (1995). â€Å"Yield Management: An overview†: Intenational Journal of Hospitality Management.   14. 139-150 Donaghy, K., McMahon, U. and McDowell, D. (1997) Implementing Yield Management : Lesson from the Hotel Sector, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management., 9 (2), pp. 50-54. Donaghy, K and McMahon, U, (1995).†Managing Yield: A Marketing Perspective†, Journal of Vacation Marketing, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp 55 62 Fitzsimmons, J.A., Fitzsimmons, M.J., 1998. Service Management. McGraw-Hill, Singapore. Griffin,R.K (1995). ‘A categorization scheme for critical success factor for lodging   yield management systems’. International Journal of Hospitality management. 4, 325-338 Hiemstra, S.J., 1999. Economic pricing strategies for hotels. In: Thomas, B., Ram, M. (Eds.), Economic and Management Methods for Tourism and Hospitality Research. Wiley, West Sussex, pp. 215–231. Jarvis, N, Lindh, A and Jones, P(1998). ‘An investigation of the key criteria affecting the adoption of yield management in UK hotels’. Progress in Tourism and Hospitality Research 4, 207-216 Jauncey, S., I. Mitchell,   and Slamet, P. (1995) The Meaning and Management of Yield in Hotels, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management,   7 (4), pp. 23-26. Jones, P and Lockwood, A (1989). The management of hotel operations. Casell Education Ltd: London. Jones, P. and Hamilton, D, (1992).† Yield Management: Putting People in Big Picture†, Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, February, pp 89-96. Karaesmen, I., and van Ryzin, G. (2004) Overbooking with Substitutable Inventory Classes, Operations Research, Columbia University, New York, NY, 52 (1), pp. 83-104. Kimes,S.E, (1989), ‘Yield Management a tool for capacity constrained service firms’. Journals of Operations Management8.(4), 348-63. Kimes S.E. (1997), Yield Management: An Overview, in I. Yeoman. and A. Ingold (eds.), Yield Management: ‘Strategies for the Service Industries’. Cassell:London Kimes S.E, 1997. ‘Yield Management: An overview’ in Yeoman, I and Ingold, A (eds), Yield management: Strategies for service industries. Cassel Education Ltd: London. 3-11. Kimes, S, (1989a). â€Å"The Basic of Yield Management†, Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, November, pp 14 19. Kimes, S.E., 1989b. The basics of yield management. The Cornell H.R.A. Quarterly 30 (3), 14–19. Kimes, S.E., 1989c. Yield management: a tool for capacity-constrained service firms. Journal of Operations Management, 8 (4), 348–363; In: Lovelock, C. (Ed.), 1992. Managing Services. Prentice Hall, New Jersey, pp. 188–201. Kimes, S, (1994). â€Å" Perceived Fairness of Yield Management†, Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, February, pp 22 29. 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International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management 9 (2), 80–83. [/level-freee-rstricted]

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