Particular vs. Specific

Particular vs. Specific Particular vs. Specific Particular vs. Specific By Maeve Maddox A reader asks if there is a distinction to be made between the words particular and specific. In some contexts, the words are close synonyms, but not in all. Both particular and specific mean â€Å"distinguished in some way among others of the same kind,† so the following sets of statements would have the same meaning: Do you have a particular company in mind? Do you have a specific company in mind? Do you have a particular movie you want to see? Do you have a specific movie you want to see? To me specific has a more formal connotation than particular. Although the meanings are identical in these examples, I’d probably choose specific in the business context and particular in the leisure context. Specific has several technical uses. It can mean â€Å"pertaining to a distinct species of animals or plants. For example, â€Å"Gaspard Bauhin, a Swiss botanist of the late 16th and early 17th centuries, designated plants by a generic and a specific name.† In medicine, a â€Å"specific remedy† is a remedy supposed to act on a particular ailment or part of the body. In the study of logic, a statement that is true of all of a group is a universal statement, while a statement that is true of a certain kind of thing is a particular statement. For example, â€Å"All fish live in water† is a universal statement; â€Å"Goldfish are often kept as pets† is a particular statement. In general usage, the two words are used interchangeably when referring to plans: Did you ever have any particular plans at the beginning of your career, any particular vision of where performing would take you? The Barons did the show and, as an amateur group without particular plans, Asked about the future, Paul Simon says he has no particular plans. At this point, no specific plans have been announced, the statement said. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie havent yet set a date for the wedding or made any specific plans. Generally speaking, I’d choose specific when the content seems to call for precision. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Misused Words category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Definitely use "the" or "a"The Many Forms of the Verb TO BEPractice or Practise?

Performance Evaluations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Performance Evaluations - Essay Example Plant engineer performance can be evaluated on criteria such as central services’ design, provision of technical support to maintain plant equipment and facilities, energy saving and production cost of energy (Amrine, Ritchey, Moodie, and Kmec, 2009). Similarly, specific criteria should be used to evaluate the performance of the employees according to their position. Secondly, the evaluation of an individual’s behavior is very essential for the provision of good outcomes, employees must have good behavior with each other; because collective decision making, work sharing, putting ideas for improvement and taking extra responsibility; helps in making organization productive. Therefore, behaviors of one employee with work and with peers should be evaluated. Behavioral evaluation is necessary for plant engineer because he has to work with others and if employees are not happy with him; they will not help him in making satisfactory outcomes. Third, the performance evaluation should be based on individual traits. This is the weakest criteria, but still it is widely used by organizations. Traits such as looking busy, having a good attitude, coming on work on time or before time and having experience are not significantly connected with optimistic results of tasks or may be connected (Robbins, Judge and Sanghi, 2009). Fourth, professional development is also an important criterion for performance evaluation. In such criteria, it is considered that either employee is continuing with his/her education, struggling for excellence, searching for opportunities in order to learn and grow and other such factors. By using different criteria, company and managers identify the strengths and weaknesses of employees. Performance evaluation criterion is an effective tool for the betterment of the organization. From analyzing the outcomes of the tasks, organization can assess

The development of the concept of competitive advantage and how these Literature review

The development of the concept of competitive advantage and how these ideas have been taken up and have influenced the enginee - Literature review Example Competitive advantage not only provides firms with the necessary edge but it also ensures that they are able to create and maintain niche position in the market. Hence, elements of competitive advantage become major tools of survival in highly competitive business environment of contemporary times. The paper would be mainly discussing the development of the concept of competitive advantage of firms and it is exploited by businesses to maintain market position. Concept of competitive advantage The concept of competitive advantage is complex in its scope and therefore is difficult to define with conclusive authority. Many scholars have tried to unravel the factors that can be applied universally for all businesses but have failed to do so. Though early scholars had tried to identify strength and weaknesses of business strategies and plans that could be exploited by businesses to compete against their rivals, the words ‘competitive advantage’ remained elusive (Andrews, 1971 ; Ackoff, 1970). Interestingly, Penrose (1959) and later Ansoff (1965) had used the word but only to describe as how to compete. For them, various components of business strategies were important issues within competitive advantage and were required to be identified as strength or weaknesses so that they can be used to compete against the rivals in industry. ... It therefore, provides huge possibility for factors or elements that could still be used by firms to gain competitive advantage. The generic strategies vis-a-vis cost leadership, differentiation and focus were promoted as major ingredients of competitive advantage by Porter. But in the contemporary environment of recessive trends and changing format of social structure, these factors are used by all firms. They have become an easy means of survival but in the tough times, they could be caught in the vicious war of price cut leading to loss and closure. Thus, something ‘more’ is required for firms to gain competitive advantage or CA. Hay and Williamson (1991: 42) describe CA as capabilities which give the firms relative advantage against the rivals. Barney (1991: 99) also asserts that CA is value creating strategy that is unique and is not used by competitors. Both scholars were aware that CA is important aspect of businesses but were deficient in describing the elements that constitute CA. The definition was abstract in its content but at the same time, gave invaluable insight into the importance of having competitive advantage. Kay (1993: 24) believed that CA is a measurable financial performance outcome that can be defined as ‘ratio of added value to the firm’s gross or net output’. Most important is the fact that Kay had used it as a tangible asset or value addition to the product and services that help the firms to improve their financial outcome. The criteria lose its essence in the fast transforming scenario of emerging new paradigms in intangible assets and business compulsions. Competitive advantage cannot be confined within the context of tangible products and viewed objectively for its value added services. The transforming values have

The Stasi Officer in The Lives of Others Movie Review

The Stasi Officer in The Lives of Others - Movie Review Example They submit secret reports on their co-workers, bosses, friends, neighbors, and even family members. Some do so voluntarily, but many are bribed or blackmailed into collaboration. When the movie begins, the interrogator, Wiesler, seeks a confession from a political prisoner. The accused is made to sit on his hands and is forced to stay awake. Wiesler informs his victim that merely to question the integrity of the Stasi is itself a serious crime. When the necessary confession has been obtained, Wiesler places the cloth from the seat the prisoner has been sitting on in a bottle for the use of tracker dogs. The tape recording of this scene is used to lecture recruits in the art of interrogation. In the process, Weisler is asked a question about the possibility that a victim is innocent. He puts a little cross beside the inquirer's name. At the end of his lecture, an old school friend, Lieutenant-Colonel Anton Grubitz, now head of the Stasi's Cultural Department arrives. Grubitz takes Wiesler to the theatre and suggests that he take an interest in a potentially dissident playwright, Georg Dreyman, whose beautiful girlfriend, Christa-Marie Sieland is appearing in his new play. An influential cultural minister (Bruno Hempf) has designs on the actress and intends to use the Stasi to tarnish the playwright. Wiesler is assigned to the case by his old friend and proceeds to bug the writer's flat and put him under 24-hour surveillance with an eye toward getting him out of the way. As the Captain listens to Dreyman and his girlfriend he begins to like them. Later on, he comes to doubt what he is doing and to suspect the patriotism of those around him. He develops human sympathies for people his superior believes to be suffering from a sickness known as 'anthropocentrism'. He finally becomes moved to question the state tyranny to whose service he has dedicated his whole life. Finally, he provides false reports to his boss, Lt. Col. Anton Grubitz, until the publication of Dreyman's article about suicides raises questions about the few secretly anti-Communist writers who have not already been forced to commit suicide by threats from the secret police. Eventually, Grubitz authorizes a search of the couple's apartment. Since Dreyman has hidden the typewriter under a floorboard, the search reveals nothing. Then Grubitz arrests Christa-Maria, assigns interrogation to Wiesler, who threatens to end her career if she will not talk, so she does. The secret police then organize a second search. However, Wiesler quickly goes to the apartment and disposes of the typewriter before the second search. When the search team arrives, Christa-Maria cannot face her partner, so she leaves the apartment, walks into a passing truck, and dies. Dreyman, however, is in the clear. Realizing that Wiesler has either extracted a false confession or is responsible for the incriminating typewriter, Grubitz demotes him to letter opening or mailman. The events in the story take place in 1984-1985. Mikhail Gorbachev is chosen as the leader of the Soviet Union in 1985, and three years later the Berlin wall falls. Fast forward to 1991, Dreyman leaves the performance of a play and accidentally runs into the culture minister, Bruno Hempf, who in turn tells him to his surprise that he was under constant surveillance. He then goes to the archives of the former East German government to examine

HRM Consultancy Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

HRM Consultancy Report - Essay Example perations of the form are imminent since they will have to be implemented to ensure congruity between the organizations to enable the smooth flow of activities. Ideally, unlike Akbar and Sons, BP is a global company that runs operations in various countries across the world thus it will have to institute workplace diversity by composing organizational teams that have varied characters to enhance a composition of employees from diverse backgrounds to ensure the company has a pool of skills and talent that will improve its overall performance. In light of that fact, the company ought to come up with relevant solutions that will solve the problems identified to ensure Akbar and Sons is efficiently integrated into BP. Some of the proposed solutions include, the human resource department reconstituting the organizational teams responsible for the day to day running of the operations so that they can be constituted with varied individuals from different backgrounds. Additionally, prior to the changes employees were briefed on the expected changes and thus given the option to embrace them or rather leave the company if they find them to be too harsh. That way the probability of resistance to change will be minimal since those who perceive the changes to be inconsistent will have the option of leaving without any form of conflict. Akbar and sons is an oil company based in the United Arab Emirates that has been operating for a significant period. BP oil an international oil company based in the United Kingdom is set to acquire Akbar and Sons and take over its operations. Akbar and Sons is a family owned company that maintains a tradition of social responsibility by always giving back to the society through projects and initiatives aimed at elevating the lives of the immediate communities within its operational environment. All the years the company has been in operation, it has been able to create cohesion among its employees that has culminated in the creation of a

The Evolution Of The Food And Beverage Industry Marketing Essay

The Evolution Of The Food And Beverage Industry Marketing Essay The evolution of the food and beverage industry in tandem with restaurants can be said one of the most fundamental inceptions of all time. According to Kiefer (2002, p.58), Paris is often cited as the birthplace of the modern-day restaurant, but restaurants existed long before the French Revolution in other locations when economics and social mores made them feasible. He continues by saying that as of today, there are millions of restaurants across the world that offer variant types of food, services and experiences as opposed to limited scope of the original restaurants (p.58-60). Nonetheless, it is vitally inherent to note that in spite of the monumental positive steps that have been made in this industry over the recent times; much more still needs to be done so that restaurants achieve their full potentiality in the present world (Morgan and Watson, 2007). It is for this reason that there has been an increasingly popular need for marketing of restaurants in particular and food industry in general. In respect to that, Warden and Martens (1998) say that over the recent times, Marketing and advertising have developed as industrial applications of socio-scientific techniques of data gathering and analysis for the purpose of selling commodities. And in order to do this marketing, it is fundamental to establish the important precepts that of restaurants so as to adequately plan do the marketing. It is for this reason that this dissertation proposal focuses on concisely outlining the roles that food and experience play in marketing. Then based on the findings whic h are drawn from a wide range of write-ups by numerous authors; we will be able to know which of the two precepts (food and experience) should be increasingly used by restaurants owners to market their food joints in their websites. Aims and objectives of the proposal To establish which of the two precepts (food and experience) is most important and intrinsic in website marketing of a restaurant to its targeted public. To find other essential contributing factors that concurrently complement the roles of food and experience in the marketing of a restaurant through a website. To investigate how food and experience are represented on restaurant website for their promotion. To determine how competition may be handled in restaurant marketing website for food and experience. Notably, all the above aims and objectives are based on the literature reviewed below. 3.0Literature Review Web marketing has become very important in our modern world of new technology. Web marketing also known as internet marketing, online marketing, digital marketing or e-marketing is defined as marketing which is probably done through the e-mail and media which is wireless. Electronic customer relationship management system is considered as internet marketing. Media is placed in varying stages of customer circles referred to as circles of customer engagement using search engines. Marketing reports show that 80% of customers use internet search to locate for restaurants located locally. An estimated 50% of the customers view menus, reviews, pictures in the internet to locate for restaurants. Companies need to have well and easily navigated restaurant websites to market themselves locally and nationally. The main objective is to ensure the web site should increase the number of customers and increase the sales. A restaurant company that faces stiff competition can use websites to earn reputation in the market. Social networking is effective tool in marketing restaurants. Marketing specialist or the owner can prepare a blog containing the recent trends in the restaurant. Book marking is used to create a large online space for the restaurant. Company can create a review site and pay some people to comment negatively or positively about the restaurant. Customers feel honored when given a chance to voice out their ideas and thoughts about the restaurant. This can attract customers to the hotel because they think they are stake holders of the restaurant. News letters can be printed to depict the restaurants latest advertising, promotional and performance trends. Customers will tell others about the restaurant and reduce extra costs of advertising because advertising by word of mouth is very important in the field of business. Companies should hire marketing firms to market their restaurants online. Clear details of the restaurant should be provided online. They include menu offerings, telephone number, and address and restaurants history. Many people visit the website nowadays and your restaurant can attract people from different regions of the world. The restaurants website can be made available both offline and online. Changes to the restaurants web site should be made gradually. 3.1 Advantages of online restaurant marketing Cheap as compared to traditional methods of advertising like use of radio, news papers, magazines and bill boards. Reaches so many customers world wide using the internet. Quick and effective for customers who frequently use the internet. Helpful in reducing competition among other restaurants using web marketing. 3.2 Disadvantages of online restaurant marketing In applicable when customers dont have access to internet services. Failure to frequently update restaurant web site may lead to trailing performance. Lack of enough information about the restaurant may make marketing and advertising in effective. 3.3 Website analysis 10 Steps are followed in order to analyze a web site. Understand the purpose of the website immediately. Navigate through the website quickly and when you are lost then exit the web. Find out whether the website is attractive. Look on how white space page is displayed. Website covered with images means that the legibility is bare. Navigate and find out where you are there and why. Typography should be clear througho8ut the website search. Website should be well organized with invisible grids provided underneath. When the content is placed in all part of the page then it means the designer had been lost in the designing of the web. Colors used in designing the website should be used in alignment with the content. Colors that are not interesting to the viewer of the website make the design to fail. The design of the website should be consistency from the start to the end of the page. The website should be designed in a way that is compatible to the browser whether internet explorer or fires fox. Website should be created fast and light so as to ensure easy and quick browsing without waiting for minutes for the page to be displayed. 4.0Research Methodology 4.1 Content analysis of the website chosen Under this section we shall use an example of a website of Steve restaurant in Toronto. The website is www.steves restaurant.ca. The website among many others discussed is very explicit and shows all the details in the web page. In order for a restaurant to succeed in internet marketing the website should be very attractive. Steves restaurant website has a clear purpose for the business activity to be carried. When we look at the displayed page the hotel building is clearly drawn and written with words which are inscribed in red color.Steves Restaurant The content is not paced in all the part of the page but here are spaces underneath. The website is easily navigable and the pages are consistent from the beginning to the end. The colors used in the pages especially when you browse to the menu page are very attractive. When you look at the costs of meat, eggs and pancake all appear in different colors ranging from red, blue, yellow, and white. Pages are light and fast to open and a person does not wait for long to be displayed. Topography is clear and the website is compatible to the users of internet explorer and Mozilla fire fox. A restaurant which can afford to develop a website like the one discussed a above then it is in a good position to market itself both internationally and locally. It can increase sells and the flow of the customers within the region of operation. 4.2 Reliability and validity Because Steves restaurant has been in operation since 1946 in Toronto in the U.S then any other hotelier or a business exercutitive can create a website which is clear and professional like that of Steve. The menu, home page, map, info, photos, contest and contact us are well displayed. Telephone numbers are provided on top of the first page. Images of tables, chairs and small tomato sauce bottles are shown. The restaurant looks to be located in a busy street with people moving up and down. The building appears greyish in colour and the area is cool with enough shade. 4.3 Limitations to research To arrive at a discussed website for a given restaurant is very hard because you first ask yourself whether to create your own website or to look for examples of websites that have been created following the crucial ten steps for web design. Some pages providing clear website designs may not open therefore derailing the research exercise. It is costly to carry out an internet search especially in regions where internet cyber cafes are few. 4.4Conclusion Internet marketing especially for food and beverage providers is important. Most restaurants especially in the developed countries should hire qualified web designers to design restaurant websites. Websites should be changed after a given time to make them look a new to increase the customer base.Owers that dont recognize internet marketing especially in the United states, England, Spain, France and others need to change their business marketing altitudes and adopt modern ways of online marketing. Food has more weight than experience and excellent advertising and marketing functions should be addressed online.

Horatio Essay -- essays research papers

Horatio, The One True Friend   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  William Shakespeare wrote about a distraught prince trying to avenge the wrongful death of his father while all his faith in honesty and the good of man was nearly destroyed. In his play Hamlet, Hamlet is the prince and he is the one who would have lost all his faith in the good of man had it not been for his loyal friend Horatio. Many critics say that Horatio did not play such an important role in the tragedy, that he merely was the informant for the audience and that his character was not developed beyond that fact that he was just the honest confidant of Hamlet. That may be true, however, Horatio does serve two central purposes to the drama, and it is through these purposes that show the qualities that make Horatio memorable and admirable. Horatio is the harbinger of truth. It is through Horatio that the actions taken by Hamlet gain credibility. He is the outside observer to the madness. Hamlet could soliloquize on and on, but it is his conversations with Horat io that gives sanity to Hamlet’s thoughts. His second role is to be the loyal, truthful confidant of Hamlet. The audience meets Horatio in the opening scene of the play. Marcellus and Bernardo, the Danish officers on guard at the castle, ask Horatio to speak to the vision that came to visit the castle. He is asked by the officers to speak to the spirit because he is a most educated scholar and the only one among them qualified to speak in such an intimidatin...