Operation Management And Strategies Starbucks And Cocacola Marketing Essay

Operation Management And Strategies Starbucks And Cocacola Marketing Essay In this present document we are going to analyze several aspects of operation management and strategies considering two companies: One from the service industry, Starbucks and one for the manufacture industry, Coca Cola. We will study their supply chain and assess its impact on both companies success and profitability. Then we will analyze their operational strategy to determine in which measure it contributes to their competitiveness and we will strive to provide ways in which challenges of the different companies could be overcome so that they can strengthen their own competitive advantage. Finally we will establish a location analysis in order to identify the best place for the companies to implement a new operation. The supply chain refers to the way that materials flow through different organizations, starting with basic raw materials and ending with finished products delivered (Gaither Frazier, 2002). This involved many activities and therefore we have to think about the best way to manage it in order for a company to be successful and profitable. We can then define the supply chain management as a set of approaches utilized to efficiently integrate suppliers, manufacturers, warehouses, and stores, so that merchandise is produced and distributed at the right quantities, to the right locations and the right time, in order to minimize system wide costs while satisfying service legal requirement. (Simchi-Levi, Kaminski, Simchi-Levi, 2003) The Starbucks supply chain is made of the following activities which are either external or internal to Starbucks organization: Coffee producing, importing, manufacturing and roasting, distribution to retail shop, marketing, delivering to the consumer. Supply Chain Starbucks Activities involved from the coffee production to the roasting are external to the company. They can involve many counterparts such as the small coffee producer, the processor, the exporter, the broker and the importer. To optimize these activities Starbucks manage them in many ways emphasizing its commitment to ethical coffee sourcing and fair-trade and global responsibility. Starbucks establishes relationship with growers and distributors and deal directly with farmers. It offers high prices to ensure that poor coffee growers have enough money to cover their production costs and their family needs. It uses fixed prices purchase commitments to limit its exposure to price fluctuations and purchase future contract to provide price protection. Moreover, to spread companys risk linked to the weather and the political and economical issues, Starbucks sources bean from multiple geographic areas. Starbucks commitment to ethical sourcing (it introduced the C.A.F.E program Coffee And Farmer Equity in 2004) allows having a better quality of product, a greater visibility in the supply chain and better relationship with farmers which contribute to reach success and profitability, that is to say to reach its objectives and generate wealth. Activities involved from the roasting to the delivery to the consumer are part of internal elements to the supply chain. They involve many activities such as the manufacturing, the planning, the inventory, the transportation and distribution. The key to reach success and profitability for Starbucks is to set an integrated supply chain operating system based on managing the flows. They manage the materials flows through DRP (Distribution Resource Planning) and TRP (Transportation Requirement Planning). They also put the emphasis on the information flows management to share the relevant information and to detect the supply chain opportunities at different level. The management of the marketing plays also an important role in developing the awareness of the fair trade initiative that helps justify Starbucks premium prices. The Coca Cola supply chain involves many activities namely, the supplies of raw materials and packaging, the manufacture and production of beverage concentrate, the sales to the bottlers and distributors, the Research and Development and the delivery to customer and ultimate consumer. Supply Chain Coca Cola The internal activities of the companies are limited to the manufacture of the concentrated syrup, the selling to the bottlers, the owning of the brands and the consumer branding initiatives. Therefore the companies can focus on its core competencies such as the production of syrup and the brand development to achieve its objectives and reach success. The fact that the bottling is outsourced allows the company to focus on its core competences and therefore ensure certain profitability. The others activities are part of the external supply chain but Coca Cola strives to integrate all the supply chain activities developing a strong partnership with its bottling partners. They are in charge of manufacturing the final product, packaging, distribution and merchandising the beverage to the customer and vending partners who then sell the product to the ultimate consumer. The supplies of raw materials are mostly linked to specific nutritive and non nutritive sweeteners which are available either within the United States or outside. There are numerous sources of raw materials and they are often subject of prices fluctuations. So Coca Cola has a wide choice of raw materials suppliers so that it can spread the prices fluctuation among them and therefore control its supply chain. The procurement suppliers and bottler partners have to meet certain standard to deal with Coca Cola Company and have to commit to guide principles and incorporate sustainability. Consequently Coca Cola can achieve its objective of quality and control. The Coca Cola supply chain organization allows to enhance customer service and to optimize cost and investment. How does each companys operational strategy improve its competitiveness? According to the Competitive Advantage Model of Porter, a competitive advantage refers to the adoption of offensive or defensive action to create defendable position in an industry in order to cope with competitors and generate a superior return on investment. The basis of above average performance within an industry is sustainable competitive advantage which can be either cost leadership or differentiation. Both of the companies we are analyzing have adopted the differentiation strategy. Furthermore the operation strategy is aimed at providing competitive advantage through its performance at the five competitive objectives namely, the quality, the speed, the dependability, the flexibility and the cost. Starbucks operational strategy improves its competitiveness through different ways. First of all Starbucks has understood that developing successful partnership would be a strength to develop competitive advantage first to ensure quality of product and secondly by adopting fair trade and ethical sourcing of coffee. Indeed Starbucks used to develop relationship with the countries it exports the coffee beans from. For example it collaborated with a small town of Pasto where they set up a special operation to grow the particular Narino Supremo bean and Starbucks committed to buy the entire yield which allow to be the exclusive Narino Supremo , one of the best coffees in the world and therefore to build a competitive advantage. The ethical commitment is a strong part of the operational strategy to develop specific partnership with small farmers and strengthen competitiveness. Starbucks has developed a shared planet program where it establishes environmental, social, economic and coffee quality principles to comply with C.A.F.E (Coffee And Farmers Equity) principles guid elines. This program enables Starbucks to differentiate from its competitors. Secondly Starbucks operational strategy tends to expand its market through a number of channels such as licensing stores but also with hospitals, bank, office buildings, supermarkets, shopping centers, hotel and airlines. The strategic operation model of Starbucks is to blanket an area completely even if one store cannibalizes another one because the Starbucks every-where approach cuts down delivery costs and increase the foot traffic in the area (Mr. Coffee, 2003). It develops partnership using local partner licensee who have experience in retail and restaurant in order to provide a good service to customer and fit the corporate culture of the company. Starbucks strives to develop good relation with the partner licensee to help it recruiting talented employee and put the emphasis on the customer service to build sustainable competitive advantage. The key to successful partnership for Starbucks is to share relevant information and communicate on supply chain opportunities to optimize processes. Added to this Starbucks operational strategy focuses on developing a strong corporate culture which enable to strengthen its competitiveness. Starbucks strategy is to empower employee culture through benefits program, employee stock ownership plan and staff and management training. The management staff is trained to understand how every activities of the supply chain fit together so it can be more effective and competitive. Finally Starbucks operational strategy aims at putting the emphasis on the marketing operations in order to differentiate the format. Indeed Starbucks marketing actions have to develop a given image of a small scale and high quality roaster in ethnic culture enclaves who sells not only quality coffee but also an atmosphere, a personality, an escape, the self esteem and therefore an interpersonal relation. This image reflects Starbucks personality and consequently enables the differentiation. Coca Colas operational strategy is aimed at building its competitiveness in many ways. First its operational strategy is customer focused striving to take into account customer needs and providing a response to it in a right way and in a right time. The company sustains its success and competitive advantage by creating new ways to deliver value through innovation responding to customer and consumer needs in a fast way. For example Coca Zero refers to a new consumer need. Secondly Coca Cola put the emphasis on the differentiation to strengthen its competitiveness by building global brand. It invests in marketing campaign to develop a strong image, improve its fame and impose its brand in a global basis. Therefore consumers have developed a loyalty to the brand and Coca Cola owns several brands that consumers are willing to pay a premium price for it. More over it has developed so much economies of scale through global networks that the emphasis on marketing and advertising fix important barriers to entry for potential competitors. Coca Cola also improves its competitiveness by adopting a collaborative approach to work with their suppliers to green their supply chain. It invests in new technologies and innovation to help their suppliers who do not have the ability to do so, for example in investing in new technologies vending machines which are better for the environment. Therefore it gains competitive benefits not only because of the energy savings but also from a corporate social responsibility point of view. Coca Cola has understood that integrate its suppliers would lead to supply chain excellence and therefore to sustain a competitive advantage. Consequently the Company has created Coca Cola Supply which invites all the bottlers partner to participate. The purpose is to provide a system wide leadership to control supply chain through integrated planning, joint initiatives and best practices processes. According to Coca Cola Supply, they are transforming the supply chain from a series of discrete, inconsistent activities to a single, harmonious and sustainable system (Coca-Cola Supply Created to Drive Supply Chain Innovation, 2009). Polar diagrams performance objective of Starbucks and Coca Cola What challenges do the operational strategies present and suggest ways in which they can be overcome. Operations strategy is the decisions which shape the long term capabilities of the companys operations and their contribution to overall strategy through the on-going reconciliation of market requirements and operations resources. Regarding Starbucks operational strategy many challenges could be addressed according different issues in order to be more profitable and to sustain a competitive advantage. The first thing is to always meet the customer needs for value and quality in identifying the best ways of quality processes. This implies that Starbucks has to find more suppliers quality and stability by developing partnership with different coffee farmers in order not to be dependant of only few suppliers. The quality implies also to control more and more of independent vendors, partners and licensees. Indeed the quality is one of the core value of Starbucks and reach it allows first the differentiation and secondly the conformance with customer expectations and avoid customer complaints. Starbucks has to keep developing ethical sourcing which benefits to the companys quality and image. Starbucks should assess the risk of its supply chain especially in raw materials procurement in the different countries and asses the political, geographical, natural, infrastructural risk of each country. Indeed if an incident happen in one of the procurement place Starbucks must not be dependant of few suppliers and should react quickly. It is therefore really important to develop the partnership with different countries in order to prevent late delivery and save costs. One of the challenge Starbucks will have to face is a potential saturation of the US market. Consequently a globe expansion in key market is an operational strategy Starbucks has to develop. The international expansion of the concept involves prospecting efficiently new markets and assessing the potential of success in each market. The key is to find local partner to grow the number of licensed store and impose Starbucks as a global brand. The partner have to share the same values as Starbucks and the company have to help them finding the best talent and train them in order to strengthen more and more the corporate culture. Developing new product is also an important challenge for Starbucks. Indeed the concept is mostly based on a few products which do not allow very much flexibility. Reaching flexibility will enable Starbucks to be more reactive in case of potential change from the market. Consequently the company has to develop innovative product and service while keeping its strong value of quality. For example it should be interesting to develop co-branding with other brand which presents the same value as Starbucks in order to launch new product like the company did in 2004 with Hewlett Packard when they create a CD service burning in a store in California. Coca Cola is one of the biggest brands in the world but even if its renown and profitability is well established there remain important challenges that the company has to cope with. First of all Coca Cola Company possess many brand but one of them generates around 50% of the total revenue. Therefore the company is in way dependent of one brand which can be a limit to its flexibility even if the customer loyalty to the brand is well established. Indeed Coca Cola needs more flexibility in case of market change and especially in case of consumer behavior changes. Besides we can notice a new trend where people become more and more health consciousness and look for nutritive drinks without calories. Therefore a threat of substitutes appears. In order to cope with the potential market change Coca Cola has to put the emphasis on innovation with new brands, products and packaging more adapted to consumers needs and demand. Secondly Coca Cola have to develop ways to be always more and more profitable and efficient. The key is to reduce the cost in order to increase the margin. The areas where the company could reduce these cost is the transportation and the production. Consequently Coca Cola has to identify the best places to buy, make and distribute the product. It has to monitor each region and each country comparing different parameters which will affect the supply chain such as the weather, the port and transportation, the fuel prices, the labor rates and the internal regulations of each country which can provide opportunities. Finally Coca Cola Company has to continue the effort put on green and environmental development. Indeed the company has often benefited from a negative image of a multinational company which tries to reach profit to the detriment of the planet well being. Therefore it has to keep investing in green technologies and support sustainable development with the suppliers in order not only to save energy costs but to benefit from a corporate social responsible company. Each of your company is considering locating a new operation in one of Japan, Thailand and Singapore. Source information on each of these three countries and based on the information found and using the relevant location analysis tools select which country to locate in and support your choice. You need to define why they wish to locate an operation there i.e. what market are they servicing. You should include demographic, infrastructure, cultural, geographic information, etc. Starbucks wants to locate a new operation in Japan, Thailand or Singapore. Indeed the company wants to expand its market on a global basis to cope with a potential saturation of the United States market. Therefore Starbucks wants to develop licensed stores operation in one of these countries. The key factors in such operations are the demographics, the branding and the potential revenue that each country could offer to the company. Therefore the main factors in the decision factors are the following: Quality of life issues in the community: indeed Starbucks targets a relatively high living standard consumer. Worker education and skills: the emphasis of the quality of the staff is really important to strengthen Starbucks Corporate Culture. Site costs: The rent is part of the profitability of the stores. Cultural abilities to modern changes: Starbucks is an American company, and its values have to fit with those of the country choose. Labor availability: It is important for Starbucks to find available talent. Coca Cola Company would like to improve its competitiveness and reduce the cost of transportation and production. Consequently the company would like to set up a new manufacture of syrup in Japan, Thailand or Singapore to reach this objective. Therefore Coca Cola has to monitor each country to assess the potential opportunities it could offer. The main factors in the choice of the location are the following: Proximity to raw materials and suppliers: As a manufacture of syrup, it is important to be closed to the suppliers to reduce costs and improve efficiency. Labor costs: The cheaper is the workforce the greater is the margin. Transportation availability: The products have to be imported to the different bottlers and it is therefore important to optimize the transportation cost. Site costs: The fixed cost linked to the rent should be the least in order to increase profitability. Government fiscal policies: all incentives or taxes impact on the cost. In order to compare each country we will set up a brief overview of each countrys characteristics. Japan has a population of 128 million of inhabitant and is one of the most densely populated countries in the world. With a nominal GDP of about $4,9 trillion in 2008, it is the second richest country in the world. Moreover, with an HDI (Human Development Indicator) of 0.96 it is the tenth highest standard living country. The government is a parliamentary democracy and put the emphasis on the environmental and sustainable development. The infrastructures are well developed and Japan is open in the world. According to the Big Mac Index Japanese people have the highest salary per hour in the world and the unemployment is low with a rate of 4%. Education is quite competitive and 75% of high school graduates attend a university. The culture has seen deep change from a very traditional to contemporary one. It influences by Europe and North America. Japanese people are quite open to modern changes. Thailand has a population of 64 million of inhabitants and a nominal GDP in 2008 of about $273 billion and a medium HDI of 0.783. Thailand has been ranked by the Global Competitiveness Report of 2008 34 out of 125. The quality of education is medium but tends to improve through the private education. The cost of labor remains quite low and unskilled. The government has seen many changes since the last few years but tend today to be stable. It supports today through the National Science and Technology Development Agency the research in science and technology and encourage foreign private investment in this field. Thailand remains a very traditional country where tradition is strongly established. Concerning Singapore, with a population of 5 million of inhabitants and a nominal GDP of 182 billion in 2008 it presents a high standard of living with a HDI of 0.944. It is the least corrupt country in Asia and is a highly market based economy (one of the four Asian Tiger). Singapore has developed free trade agreement with USA in 2003. The unemployment is low and is about 5% and we can notice a shortage of skilled workers. Manufacturing constituted 26% of Singapores GDP in 2005. Singapore has one of the busiest ports in the world and is the worlds fourth largest foreign exchange trading center. Singapore is a major international transportation in Asia. Singapores culture is still very traditional society. In order to choose in which country we will operate we are going to use the Factor rating method which is useful for service and industrial location and which is one of the most widely used location technique. (C1= Japan, C2=Thailand, C3=Singapore) STARBUCKS FACTOR RATING METHOD Factors Weight Rate C1 RateC2 RateC3 ScoreC1 ScoreC2 ScoreC3 Quality of life issues in the community 30 90 60 75 2700 1800 2250 Worker education and skills 20 80 50 65 1600 1000 1300 Site costs 15 60 70 65 900 1050 975 Cultural abilities to modern changes 25 80 50 60 2000 1250 1500 Labor availability 10 85 60 70 850 600 700 Total 8050 5700 6725 According to the Factor rating Method, Starbucks should implement its new operations in Japan in order to be successful, profitable and therefore achieve its objective of expanding in new markets. COCA COLA FACTOR RATING METHOD Factors Weight Rate C1 RateC2 RateC3 ScoreC1 ScoreC2 ScoreC3 Proximity to raw materials suppliers 25 60 55 65 1500 1375 1625 Labor costs 20 55 80 70 1100 1600 1400 Transportation availability 25 70 55 85 1750 1375 2125 Site costs 20 60 70 65 1200 1400 1300 Government fiscal policies 10 60 60 70 600 600 700 Total 6150 6350 7150 According to the Rating Factor Method Coca Cola should implement its new manufacture in Singapore in order to reduce its costs of production and transportation. Indeed that is the country which offers the most opportunities to do so in term of proximity to suppliers, transportation costs and labor costs.

The Christian Century

This article is written by Jimmy Carter, the thirty-ninth President of United States (1977-1981).   The article was published in   The Christian Century on September 20, 2005 in page No.32-35. This article was retrieved only for the purpose of academic pursuit and to gain more understanding from the article about Christian living.   In this task, the article written by Hon.Jimmy Carter, is being analyzed with all the due respect and honor to Sir.Jimmy Carter with a request to grant permit for the article analysis. Former President Hon.Jimmy Carter is presently associated with Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia. The discussion is focused particularly about Christian diversions and what are the negative effects that Christian ministries are faced with in the present day church society. It is a great challenge to church leaders as well to the ministerial work that is carried in Christianity.   In letter to Galatians, St.Paul indicated that the three churches established in Lystra, Iconium and Derbe to where St.Paul began the first missionary journey,   where there was huge congregation in the beginning, began to become divided radically from the faith due to the rise of other requirements from leaders for acceptance and retention of fellowship which lead to chaos and disagreements among churches. This is a great threat and does not hold good for missionary work as well for Christian believers about churches unity.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Basic fundamental mistake was being committed by church leaders in Galatia who were departing from the gospel of Christ and were interested in adopting facets of Jewish law and circumcision.   The denominations are man-made viz., Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterians, Mennonites, Quakers and Catholics. There are also other issues in the article about fundamentalism, women preachers and about leadership of church.   St.Paul â€Å"Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose†(1 Cor 1:10). Author’s (Jimmy Carter) favorite Bible verse â€Å"Be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you† (Ephes 4:32)†. Article is reflecting on present day leadership in various denominations of church, women leadership in the church and whether such situation existed in the days of St.Paul.   The thesis of the Author is, follow and practice what St.Paul did in taking the gospel of Jesus Christ to various places and building congregations and not Christian radical associations or depicting superiority of men over women. Jesus Christ gave equal importance to women at par with men and never degraded women at any point of time throughout Jesus missionary work.   It was also stated here that women who would like to preach the gospel of Christ must   â€Å"Any woman who prays or prophesies with her head unveiled disgraces her head – it is one and the same thing as having her head shaved. For if a woman will not veil herself, then she should cut off her hair† Further the author states that as St.Paul stated â€Å"When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified† (I Cor 2:1-2)   The essence of the gospel should be that we are saved by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ and this is sufficient to carry on faith and religion and there is nothing much more important than this either to God or to Christians and believers of Jesus Christ. The article is in close association with New Testament especially with St.Paul missionary work that was much highly spirited in Galatia and in Corinth.   Paul through various missionary letters motivated friends, church leaders and even congregation in those times. Christian religion is one of the world’s most popular religion and there are many Christian churches around the world in various denominations. It is important to carry the unity and integrity of Christian religion whereas politics in Christian denominations, racism, gender differences and other social issues should not be included in gospel work or in church leaderships. Churches are basically human institutions wherein Christ believers grow in faith, carry gospel work and develop social and communal harmony which is the sole motive of any religion.     St.Paul confronted several problems in missionary work and in carrying the gospel of Christ and St.Paul did not give up and instead motivated associates towards evangelism and stated its importance. This article is an excellent piece of writing, that must really be an inspiration to those who are endeavoring in gospel work and those who are actively participant in building up of new churches in various places. Reference Jimmy Carter (2005) ,Back to Fundamentals Accessed May 9, 2008 http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=3249   

Pros and cons of horse racing Essay

Horse racing is an adrenaline filled sport for all the participants. It is a short lived, action packed, joy ride. The sport has increased in popularity over the past several years, due to the need for a rush, and is continuing to rise. Due to this massive influx in size the amount of money the business is contributing to the government is large. The business has also had to hire a multitude of people to help carry out the job of keeping the business as orderly as possible. The enlargement of the horse racing industry has also made the stakes for money in the winning a much bigger deal for owners which means they will do most anything to win. This includes the use of illegal drugs on the horses and many other forms of cheating. When the prize money raises so does the need for as many winning horses as possible for horse owners in the industry. The need for horses has led to an intense amount of over breeding of thoroughbreds. The amount of money contributed to the United States gover nment by the horse racing industry is an incredible amount. On average the sport produces 38.8 billion dollars, of which a whopping $1.88 billion is paid in annual taxes. That amount of money just goes to the United States. Around the world, countries make on average 40.2 billion. For instance, in Europe, horse racing is a widely known event and is tradition to participate in. they make on average about 45.3 billion United States dollars in the horse racing industry. Then, when talking into account supplies and employees, they produce around 101.6 billion us dollars. Governments around the globe benefit highly from the industry and horse racing being banned could have a drastic effect on entire populations from lack of money. Horse racing being banned could also cost millions of people around the globe their jobs and businesses. According to a recent labor poll over 4.6 million people are involved in the horse industry in some way, either as owners, employees, service providers or v olunteers. This includes 2 million horse owners, of which 238,000 are involved in breeding. When it comes to competing such as the jockeys and handlers, 481,000 people are involved. When looking at the amount of people involved in other activities such as grooms, veterinarians, and care takers, 1.1 million involved. 119,000 service providers and 702,000 employees, full- and part-time and 2 million family members and volunteers. That means that 1 out of every 63 Americans is involved with horses. Many of these jobs are held by lower-income families. This could be disastrous when taking into account  all the people who depend on the money they make from this business. Banning the horse racing industry could affect the local areas around them badly. The results of the one study done by students at the University of Louisville show that the horse business is a highly diverse industry that supports a wide variety of activities in all regions of the country. It combines the primarily rural activities of breeding, training, maintaining and riding horses with the more urban activities of operating racetracks, off-track betting parlors, horse shows and public sales. Usually when people go to watch a race they want to get dinner or spend their newly eared money in the expertly placed, over priced restaurants and shops. These strip mall shops gain money and business from these enthused shoppers. If there is no race track, these shops and small businesses could have a plummet in sales and be shut down for lack of ability to pay. Additionally, the volume of consumers that are driven to the racetracks each year create a need for additional medical care, education for children and families of track staff, as well as the local universities. Having the race tracks removed could lower business income for hospitals and schools as well as universities. The United States alone produces 3 billion from horse racing and tourism. Over 67 percent of activity as well as gambling money come from tourists going and paying at the race track. As a source of entertainment as well as having food venues and shopping areas round the premises of the track, it is an ideal hot spot for tourists to spend their money; whether it be on food, gambling, or shopping. The revenues made my gamblers who are not local to the area is 785 million dollars. Gambling is exciting as well as engaging for the participants. For those who enjoy taking risks, the propensity for risk associated with gambling may be both simulating and challenging. Also, gambling on horse racing allows the participant to challenge themselves with predicting the potential wins and losses. Gamblers from out of the country are obviously a large part of the income on the race track. Banning racing could make the area of choice loose business all around from not having the interest of tourists any longer. When it comes to betting on horses in horse racing, bettors rely on the accuracy of the statistics on the horses. The statistics allow the bettors to know which horses to bet and wager on. Cheating, such as the latest scandal called ‘doping’, can affect the reliability if those statistics. Doping and other forms of cheating using  drugs can harm the jockeys and horses in the long run. A few of the top drugs used in horse racing are cocaine, blcarbs, anabolic steroids, blue magic and heroine. Drugs such as heroine and anabolic steroids are typically injected into the lungs of the horse or the heart as to keep them from feeling pain and to slow down the rapid rate at which they would usually work to keep them from tiring. This can cause break downs on the track because of the lack of oxygen entering the blood stream at such a high rate of physical activity. Drugs such as cocaine blcarbs, and blue magic are usually pumped into the blood stream on added into the grain. Wha t the purpose of these are is to give the horses an energy boost that is un natural and these can also cause break downs on the track because of the amount of stress the horse is putting its body under without being aware until it is too late. The form of cheating of which is in drugs is considered cruel to the horse. Another form of cheating in the racing industry is toe grabs. A toe grab is a raised rim on the toe area of a horseshoe; its purpose is to help the horse â€Å"dig in† to the track and reduce sliding much like football cleats. However, there are increased stresses on the limbs from this stronger grip on the ground and quicker â€Å"stops† of the feet when they land while normally the foot slides forward just a bit on the ground before stopping, but toe grabs arrest this slide. It’s also been suggested that toe grabs add stress to the limb by raising the toe relative to the heel. Toe grabs on front feet have been associated with increased incidence of catastrophic injury in horse racing. Horses involved in racing are being over bred and this is causing weakening in the breed and mass slaughter of those horses that do not make the cuts. While over-breeding in the racing industry is the derivation of availability, inbreeding, and drugs are inescapably interconnected with the callous and brutal practice of slaughter as is the insatiable demand for horse meat for human consumption principally in European and Asian cultures. Inbreeding and drugs have weakened the modern Thoroughbred while the horse meat industry remains a lucrative multi-million dollar enterprise. More than 100,000 unwanted horses are born in the U.S. per year. Roughly 83,000 of those horses are slaughtered every year just in the United States because of improper breeding. A recent study was done and it showed that if 1,000 horses are bred for racing, only 300 will make it to training. Of that 300, only  roughly 75 horses will make it to racing. Only about 4 horses will make it to live their second race . Most horses that are not used for racing are sold to meat and glue factories. Only 12% of horses are properly retired and either sold to a family for other riding uses it retired to the pasture. This unnecessary breeding has caused weak bones in the thoroughbreds and diseases passed down in blood lines. The weakening of the breed has aroused a lot of controversy over whether or not horse racing should continue due to this issue. In the end there are both pros and cons to whether or not horse racing should be banned. Horse racing contributes an incredible amount of money worldwide and produces multiple job opportunities as well as business in local shops. It also brings in tourism to the track and surrounding areas which can help great deal of money also. Horse racing also has a large issue with cheating that can harm both the jockey and the horse against their will. The use of illegal drugs and product on the race horses’ pre race can significantly alter the horses performance whether for the good or the bad and in the long run, harm the horse terribly. Also over breeding has become a widely known issue across the globe and is causing a mass amount of horses to be sent to slaughter. Over breeding has also caused a decline in the stability of the breed. Horse racing both helps and harms.

The Killer Angels By Michael Shaara - 852 Words

The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara was not just a fiction novel, it was a story of a man who actually saw the battlefield of Gettysburg and learned about the battle and its importance. When he returned from the battle sight he decided to write a novel based on his experience there. Instead of creating fictional characters he used the names and experiences he had directly with the main characters of the novel. Not only did Shaara study and review letters, documents and journal enteries of the men for the interpretation, he made it more realistic and personal by the portrayal of his characters. In the paper we will address four of those main characters with their background and how they were relevant to the war. Shaara, gave us a look at each of their inner thoughts and emotions. Some background on the setting of the book, the story takes place on the forefront of one of the bloodiest battles in American History during the civil war is, the Battle of Gettysburg. This battle took plac e for 3 Days, in the Southern parts of Pennsylvania and the border of Maryland and Pennsylvania. The battle of Gettysburg produced an upwards do fifty thousand casualties, with some of the men never to be found. Gettysburg was the turning point of the war because the Confederate army that invaded the Union lost a huge amount of their men that they could no longer invade the union. In the end the confederate army received their biggest blow when President Abraham Lincoln signed the emancipationShow MoreRelatedThe Killer Angels By Michael Shaara1634 Words   |  7 PagesPulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Shaara, the author of The Killer Angels, was born on June 23, 1928 in Jersey City, New Jersey. He was an author of science fiction, sports fiction, and historical fiction. Although writing was his passion, Shaara was very athletically successful in high school, winning more awards than any other student in the history of the school for sports such as basketball, track and baseball . He acquired a skill in boxing, and of the 18 matches Shaara fought as a young man, heRead MoreThe Killer Angels By Michael Shaara1290 Words   |  6 Pages The Killer Angels Essay â€Å"There is no honorable way to kill, no gentle way to destroy. There is nothing good in war. Except its ending.† Stated by Abraham Lincoln, this quote embodies the essence of war, its tragic character and unfortunate occasional necessity. Accordingly, the outcome of war and its battles is often determined by the attitudes of the leaders of the opposing sides, including their causes for the willingness to fight and to be fought. Such was the case with the Battle of GettysburgRead MoreThe Killer Angels By Michael Shaara1521 Words   |  7 PagesThe book The Killer Angels was published in 1975 by the Ballatine Booksand was written by Michael Shaara. The Killer Angels is a historic novel about the time of the American Civil War, more specifically The Battle of Gettysburg. Shaara wrote this historical masterpiece with the sole purpose of letting the reader know exactly how the war was for the men actually putting their lives on the line to get this great country of America to the stature it is today. In order to accomplish his goal of creatingRead MoreThe Killer Angel By Michael Shaara1248 Words   |  5 Pages The Killer Angel is a book elaborating on the history of the American civil war authored by Michael Shaara. The book has gained popularity among American citizens as it covers one of the deadliest battles in American history that took place at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, hence the title of the battle of Gettysburg (Shaara 5). The crash involved two major groups, the Confederacy, and the Union. The Confederacy constituted of seven secessionist states from the South who advocated forRead MoreThe Killer Angels By Michael Shaara1947 Words   |  8 Pagesthe dueling North and South together to the small town of Gettysburg and on the threshold of splitting the Union. Gettysburg was as close as the United States got to Armageddon and The Killer Angels gives this full day-to-day account of the battle that shaped America’s future. Michael Shaara author of â€Å"The Killer Angels,† tells the story of the Battle of Gettysburg through the eyes of generals Robert E. Lee, Joshua Chamberlain, James Longstreet, and John Buford, and the other men involved in the actionRead MoreKiller Angels By Michael Shaara850 Words   |  4 Pages In the Pulitzer Prize winning civil war novel Killer Angels, Michael Shaara covers five days of the historic battle between the Northern and Southern United States at Gettysburg. Both the North and the South fought for freedom, although they did not have equivalent definitions of freedom. The North and the South were unwavering in their beliefs and their hope for a better United States, but what the two butted heads the most on was slavery. The South was a primarily agrarian region which reliedRead MoreThe Killer Angels By Michael Shaara1117 Words   |  5 Pages Michael Shaara’s 1974 historical novel, The Killer Angels, covers the story of the four days of the Battle of Gettysburg that also features maps for visualization. The format of the story is well organized. It begins with a Foreword, which describes in great detail the armies and soldiers involved in the battle. It follows up with four sections and within each section there are chapters that are written in chronological order, covering the events between Monday, June 29, 1863 and Friday, July 3Read MoreThe Killer Angels By Michael Shaara Essay1255 Words   |  6 Pages In the novel The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara, the story is told from the perspective of the men that fought in the war of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania on July 1863. We are able to see both sides of the combatants, their struggles they faced, friendships acquired, losses, personal stories and their views. In history we only learn the superficial information of how it occurred in the battle and the outcome of it, but we do not know how it happened and how much effort it took to fight in thatRead MoreThe Killer Angels By Michael Shaara1123 Words   |  5 PagesThe Killer Angels Novel written by Michael Shaara describes the Gettysburg battle from the perspective of Robert E. Lee, James Longstreet, various soldiers from both sides, and other men who fought in the battle. This author makes the reader go back in time and actually makes the reader depict the circumstances, and situations that soldiers and generals faced. This Novel makes the reader know that both sides were eager to win, and bring this bloodshed to an end. This amazing Novel shows how neighborRead MoreThe Killer Angels By Michael Shaara1206 Words   |  5 PagesShawn Gacy American Lit. Mrs. Moyer September 11, 2015 Summer Reading The book I chose to read over the summer was the book The Killer Angels, by Michael Shaara. The Killer Angels tells the story of the Battle of Gettysburg. On July 1, 1863, the Confederate army, and the Union army, fought the largest battle of the American Civil War. When the battle ended, fifty one thousand men were KIA (Killed In Action), wounded, or MIA (Missing in Action). All the characters in this book are based