United Utilities Competitor Analysis Essays

United Utilities Competitor Analysis Essays United Utilities Competitor Analysis Paper United Utilities Competitor Analysis Paper Competitor Analysis United Utilities is a British Utility company which owns and operates the water network mainly in the North West of England. It serves around seven million people in England and is considered to be the largest water listed company in the UK. The reason our group considers United Utilities as a major competitor to Severn Trent PLC is the competitiveness of the utility companies in the UK. Although United Utilities does not compete with Severn Trent PLC directly as Severn Trent PLC mainly serves areas around the Midlands of England and also certain regions of Wales. They remain close competitors as both companies strive to expand their market shares in their individual area where they mainly provide water. Both company also remain competitive in other non regulated services in different utility sectors such as waste water management, gas network and electricity sector. By assessing the share price movements between Severn Trent Plc and United Utilities which is shown in the plotted diagram, the movements shows the similarities of both companies throughout the study period. The first clear example would be the sudden increment of share price in between the November and December 2009 period. In this period, both companies share price increased almost at the same date and by the same amount. This is due to the released of sound set of interim financial results by both companies. Both companies recorded an increase of profit before tax which increased by 6% and 9. 8% for United Utilities and Severn Trent Plc respectively. After this period both companies did not show any significant changes in share prices and both companies share price movement remain closely similar till the starting period of February 2010 when both share a similar drop in share prices. This drop was not a result of any economic event but was due to the adverse weather occurring around UK which caused an increased in leakages and damages to both companies which in turn raises huge financial cost for the Utility industry. Other than these couple of events, both companies share price movement is almost identical. Reference Wikipedia the free Encyclopedia- Severn Trent http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Severn_Trent [Assessed 20/02/10] Wikipedia the free Encyclopedia- United Utilities http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/United_Utilities Assessed 20/02/10] United Utilities- About United Utilities-Where we operate-UK unitedutilities. com/UK. htm [Assessed 20/02/10] United Utilities- Investors Relations- Financial News- 2009 unitedutilities. com/financialnews-2009. htm [Assessed 20/02/10] Severn Trent- Investor Centre- Investor tools- Share Price Chart severn-trent. com/server. php? show=nav. 54 [Assessed 20/02/10] Severn Trent- Investor Centre- Announcements- 2009/2010 severn -trent. com/server. php? show=nav. 38 [Assessed 20/02/10]

How to break news to employees, Training Journal - Emphasis

How to break news to employees, Training Journal How to break news to employees, Training Journal Whether the message is good, bad or indifferent; now is no time for silence, says Rob Ashton. During the ancient wars, if you wanted to deliver a message you hired a messenger to hand over the scroll personally. But approaching enemy lines to pass on bad news was a high-risk job. The bearer of bad tidings is never popular and it wasnt unusual for the messenger to be killed out of rage. Delivering any news can be fraught with difficulties because you never know how the receivers will interpret it. But imparting news of recession-prompted change can place you right in the firing line. With the credit crunch still in full swing, workers have got used to a daily, media-delivered diet of layoffs, profit freefalls and horror stories of homeless executives living out of their briefcases. A climate of fear has spread throughout the business world. And many people have adopted the mantra that change is, quite literally, the enemy. But failing to update your team is a costly strategy. Employees are likely to become demotivated if they feel theyre out of the corporate loop. If a team cant turn to management when times get tough, they quickly begin to wonder if anyone is at the helm. The uncertainty may cause the best employees to submit their CVs to rival firms while others ride out the storm, vowing to jump ship once the outlook improves. The Association of Communicators in Business (CiB) have echoed this sentiment. They warned that organisations should redouble their internal communications efforts during uncertain economic times rather than putting them on the backburner. Broaching sensitive topics is never easy. But understanding your colleagues is to key to communicating effectively with them. Never be afraid to address the real issues, but communicate them in a style and manner that they will positively respond to. Whether the news is good, bad or indifferent, its got to be shared. Creating a culture of open communication, free of management speak, can make all the difference to company morale. Studies have shown that companies with high employee engagement levels have better financial performance. So, having an effective strategy for breaking news makes it more likely that youll emerge from the recession without nursing a lengthy corporate hangover. Communicating change Whatever industry you work in, the model for communicating change is the same. As soon as you know information, pass it on. Dont wait until you have every detail or your silence may breed distrust. And never communicate any information externally before youve told staff. Follow the six steps below to ensure that you are communicating strategically. 1) Explain the new direction In changing economic times, business goals have to be revised. Explain the direct impact of the recession on your industry and organisation and say what the firm will need to do to weather the storm. 2) Be honest and open Tell people about job or budget cuts as soon as possible, along with reasons and timescales. Having this open communication means that you need never worry about what youre telling people. 3) Create a vision Dont sugar-coat your message but paint a positive picture of the changes you are proposing. Be crystal clear about your message and its implications. 4) Keep communicating Keep up the information flow and make sure its two-way. Move quickly to correct any inaccurate information and make sure staff members fully understand the direction, vision and benefits of the news you are delivering. 5) Love the word change Energise the management team to make the word change the most positive word in the company. Explain to them the benefits of any changes and always associate positive emotional words with any changes. Constantly remind employees that change is not a one-off exercise. 6) Repeat the steps Changes will keep happening so repeat the steps as soon as any new information becomes available. Once people expect change, its a lot easier for them to deal with. The write way With up to 70 per cent of workplace communication taking place through writing, honing your writing skills can help you to break news with far more ease. By choosing your words wisely, you can help to calm your readers and energise them to embrace change. The first rule is to put people first. Remember that people act and react according to their own self-interest. So communicate news in terms of what employees want or what would benefit them, rather than focusing on the benefits to the organisation. Win over your readers by giving them information in the way they like to read it. For instance, you can still use your internal newsletter to explain the ins and outs of your corporate restructure, but make sure its format and style is appropriate to its readership. For example, if you know that the favourite magazines that your staff read are glossy celebrity weeklies such as Heat and Hello, you might want to create a question and answer type article or one that presents the information in bite size chunks. Information is much easier to swallow when its broken up. Just make sure that it still provides staff with the whole picture. Think of creative, interactive ways to communicate your news. The BBC internal communications team, for instance, uses Wikis. These two-way websites mean that as well as reading the content, employees can edit it and attach their own files. In addition, blogs and internet forums are a great way to share information. But if you feel a good old-fashioned report will say it best, make sure you include all of your recommendations or most important information at the beginning. No-one wants to wade through the corporate equivalent of War and Peace to get to the important stuff. Make sure that you translate information so that it is free from corporate speak. Leave phrases such as blue sky thinking and picking the low-hanging fruit well alone. Create rapport with your readers by using no-nonsense words and phrases that do exactly what they say on the tin. Simple is best. And dont be afraid to show your personality or inject life into your written communication. Your readers will thank you for it. Three steps to effective writing Before you put pen to paper, use the checklist below: Keep it short You may think that open, flowing communication needs to be wordy, but the opposite is true. Avoid flowery phrases and practise writing your sentences in the shortest, snappiest way. Aim for an average length of 15-20 words and stick to the rule of one sentence, one idea. Use active language Write We invested 130,000 in staff development last year, rather than last year an investment of 130,000 was made in staff development. The second version is livelier and easier to read because it says who before what. It also makes sure the company gets credit for the good things. Use verbs instead of nouns Make sentences shorter and easier to understand by choosing verbs over nouns We will consider proposals submitted by the end of July has more punch to it than proposals submitted by the end of July will be given consideration to. Email etiquette Email is best reserved for following up on face-to-face communication. If what you say affects peoples lives and jobs, allow a two-way dialogue to take place. Its also all too easy to send an email to the wrong person or dash off an abrupt angry message. If you wouldnt write it on a postcard, dont send it via email. Your email could end up being circulated far and wide with negative consequences. If youre just expanding on an already open dialogue, by all means send emails. But think carefully about what you put in the email subject box. Take inspiration from newspaper and magazine headlines and choose your words carefully. For instance, Now is no time for silence is much more effective than This months communication update. You can monitor who opens the emails, but its more difficult to measure how engaged people are with the contents. By honing your writing skills, you stand a better chance of connecting with your staff. 2009 Emphasis Training Limited, first British serial rights offered

How to fix America Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

How to fix America - Essay Example This financial crisis and the recessionary time period have struck the United States and the rest of the world because of reduction in the investors’ confidence level. This reduction in investors’ confidence is primarily because of the Federal Reserve’s supporting behavior towards large institutional banks and brokerage houses. The Federal Reserve has allowed such large institutional banks and brokerage houses to perform normally when these institutions carried liabilities worth an estimated 10% of the entire annual economic output (GDP) of the nation. The FED has kept a discriminatory approach towards the other private sector organization, which go into receivership if they are found to have such liquidity issues. This approach of the FED lets the large institutional banks and brokerage houses to perform normally can lead the economy to shatter if any of these institutions are allowed to unwind. The major example is the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy issue. Such act ions of the FED have led to a reduction in the confidence level of investors. The approach that can be followed to address such issue is to cut down and reduce the size of each bank. This reduction in the size of each individual bank would reduce the impact on the entire system if any of these banks fail. This way each and every institution would be accountable for the amount of risk that it takes up. This way the lending policies would become more risk averse and cautious. Each and every bank would work upon their revenue and economic growth through a proper and reasonable interest rate. The other issue arises with the transparency of the FED. The FED should be fair and just in all its decisions and the excess printing of the dollar bill as compared to the inadequate backing of gold needs to be fixed. This would increase and restore the confidence in the value of each Dollar in circulation. This can be

Practice Analysis with Whistlers Mother Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Practice Analysis with Whistlers Mother - Essay Example The painter used different colors in order to differentiate between the background and the image of a woman. The background also includes things which show the viewer that the woman was in the house like the curtain and a piece of picture at the wall. The painter has used good colors which can make and an individual to think that the painting is real. The color of the face is that of a white woman. He has used different colors in order to differentiate different parts of the body and cloths. For example, the head cover is white in color while the dress is black ((Margaret ‎and James 77). The image is well designed and of high quality. The painter used color to make the image more attractive to the viewers. Black and white colors are hot and attract individuals from fare. The painter also painted the women sited in order to bring up the aspect of relaxing (Margaret ‎and James

Data Protection Act Essay Example for Free

Data Protection Act Essay Evaluate ways in which concerns about poor practice can be reported whilst ensuring whistle blowers and those who practice or behaviour being questioned are protected. The whistle blowing policy states that it is committed to openness, probity and accountability. The policy gives a voice to employees and others who have concerns about malpractice or feel that someone is not doing their job in school. In policies provide help and support if a member of staff for others need to speak up and feel that they are been supported. The school will take any concerns seriously and deal with them following procedures. The purpose of the policy is to make people feel that they are someone to talk to voice their concerns. How to raise the concern, you need to speak to a member of the SLT or write to the chair the governors. You will get a response within five working days. You will be asked to attend a meeting to voice your concerns and discuss them, they ask you write the problem down and give the names dates and places. After the meeting within 10 days you will receive a letter of your concern has been received and it outlined the issues and then tell you how they will deal with the matter if needed. If the SLT or chair a governor decides that an investigation is needed they will advise local authority, procedures for safeguarding of children will be followed. The investigation will not be carried out by anyone in your line management. If an investigation is carried out you will be informed of what is happening. The information that will be given to you may not be all the data involved because of the data protection act. If there is an anonymous allegation it can often be difficult to investigate it is better to raise concern in person. Anonymous allegations are investigated if the issue is a serious, the credibility of the allegation, being able to confirm the allegation (enough evidence). How the school trees whistleblowers. If you make an allegations in good faith no action will be taken against you if you make malicious allegations then disciplinary action can be taken against you. Disciplinary action can also be taken against other members of staff who try and stop employees raising concerns. Anybody who raises a concern has the opportunity to give feedback about any problems that you may have received this is so employees who raise a concern in good faith does not suffer.

Mozart :: essays research papers

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria on January 27th, 1756. He was born to Leopold and Anna Maria Pertl. Leopol was a very successful composer, voilinist, and the assistant concertmaster at the Salzburg court. Mozart showed musical talent at a very young age. By age five he was composing minuets.And at age six he played before the Bavarian Elector and the Austrian Empress.His father taught him, but said teahcing Wolfgang was hard because he knew so much already. His father was also his largest influence. In 1763 Wolfgang’s father, Leopold, took him and his sister, Maria Anna, on a concert tour of Europe. The children performed in many courts and large cities including Paris, London, and Germany. They astonished their audiences wherever they performed. In London Wolfgang wrote his first symphonies and met Johann Christian Brahm, who had a very large influence on him. In Paris Wolfgang published his first works, four sonatas for clavier with accompanying voilin. In 1768 he composed his first opera, La Finta Semplice, which was presented for the first time a year later in his home town of Salzburg. In 1769 Wolfgang and his father set out on another tour of Italy. Here Wolfgang wrote a new opera, Mitridate ri de Ponto. He also wrote two more operas for Milan, Ascanio in Alba and Lucio Silla. Three years later in 1772 Wolfgang was appointed concertmaster to the archbishop of Salzburg, his home town. He composed many works while he was concertmaster. But this job was not good for him and he did not get anolg with most of the people around him. So, he soon quit this job to travel to Paris with his mother and look for a new job. In 1777 Wolfgana and his mother, Maria Anna, went to Paris, France. While here Wolfgang composed many works including The Paris Symphony (1778). But, he could not find a permanent job there. His mother died in Paris this year and this upset Wolfgang very much. He returned to Salzburg in 1779 and was made the court organist. He wrote many church works then, including the famous Coronation Mass. He was supposed to write a new opera for Munich, Idomeneo. In 1781 he was called to Vienna by von Colloredo. His career in Vienna started out wonderfully. He was soon assigned to write The Abduction from the Seralio (1782). The emporer loved his music, and later got him the job of court composer. Mozart was now very popular in Vienna. That year he married Constenze Weber, from Germany. His father was not happy with this

British cycling safeguarding and protecting children policy Essay

There are strategies that aim to protect children and vulnerable adults from people who might seek to abuse them and cause them harm. And in order to achieve this is by monitoring people who seek admission to them through their work, paid, unpaid and voluntary. They will have to be registered under the vetting and barring scheme and will be checked against one of two barred lists and those wishing to work with children and one for those who want to work with vulnerable adults. Recruitment of staff: working with people who need much care can be so challenging and it requires trained staff who know how to deal with them. It is very important a person to undergo criminal records before working with vulnerable people, good checks and practice taking references from previous employers are very important as it might prevent risk coming to vulnerable people. People who require jobs that involve the care of vulnerable adults will always be required for CRB check and this is significant to the safeguarding of vulnerable adults as it means giving greater protection to susceptible adults. No Secrets -Department of Health Guidelines 2000: this offers a structure and content for development of local agency policies procedures and promotes safety to vulnerable people. This department is useful for people who feel they are at risk of abuse by their care providers and the local agency have the responsibility to protect and prevent any harm that comes to a vulnerable people. This also covers for to identify who is at risk and why this might be. And it sets out a multi-agency framework to encourage different agencies to work closer together. Safeguarding Adults – A National Framework for Good practice and outcomes in Adults Protection Work 2005: this protects and ensures that all services are doing their job and preventing any form of violence, abuse, bullying, humiliation, and degradation towards vulnerable people. These working strategies help reduce the risk of adults being abused as each organization is required the implementation of this work and representative on the local safeguarding Adults. This service also involves measuring achievements of the standards and introduced support programmes to assist in the process of safeguarding. They aim to ensure a nation-wide approach for protection of adults and closer multi-agency working. The Protection of Vulnerable Adults Scheme for Adults Placement Schemes 2004: this covers to protect adults from any sort of rick and harm and is required to staff who work in care homes, provide personal care in adult’s own homes or provide foster care for adults to be checked against the POVA list of banned professionals. Dignity in Care initiative 2006: This is a campaign that aims to end toleration of indignity in health and social care services through raising awareness and encouraging people to challenge poor service and lack of respect and also ensures all the order people to be treated with dignity and respect when receiving care from health and social care services. The service user receives a guide information which explains their rights and what they need to be provided and what they will be expecting from the health care services, this enables the elderly person to be aware of their rights and how they can identify when they are being abused by the care provider, this also helps reduce the risk and harm that might face the vulnerable adults. Human Right in Health Care -A Framework for Local Action 2007/08: This framework assists local NHS to trust develop and apply human rights approaches in the design and delivery of their services. Human rights aim to provide health care department with the principles of fairness, respect, equality, and dignity, this ensure all healthcare service users are not being discriminated against and are all being treated equally regardless of their backgrounds skin color and also as well as meeting Care Quality Commission standards of human rights and patients’ treatment and these working strategies reduces the risk of abuse towards patients and vulnerable people. Codes of Practice for Nursing and Social Work: This strategy of codes of practice for nursing and social work helps to reduce the risk of abuse against the vulnerable individual as the code presents the professional standards that nurses and midwives must uphold in order to be registered to practice in the UK. It is structured around four themes priorities people, practice effectively, preserves safety and promotes professionalism and trust and the code can be used by nurses and midwives as a way of reinforcing their professionalism.