A Critical Evaluation of BRITISH AIRWAYS

A Critical Evaluation of BRITISH AIRWAYS HISTORY & BACKGROUND OF BA British Airways has been in operation since 1930s. During the start of the World War II, British Airways and Imperial Airlines merged together and started a new subsidiary company British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC). The aim was to provide the long distance international services and to cover the short distance services in Europe. The British European Airways (BEA) was in operation. (Papadogiannis, 2006). In 1974, BOAC and BEA merged together to operate under the brand name of â€Å"British Airways†. During the early 1980s, BA encountered some financial problems. Therefore, Sir John King was appointed to take control over the privatization project which successfully transformed the organization in the year 1987. (Datamonitor, 2005) http://thanabut.blogspot.com/2007/05/1-introduction-this-report-is-written.html ORGANIZATION’S OVERVIEW British Airways is the UK’s largest & one of the leading premium airlines of the world. It oper ates its flights to the finest airports around the globe. The focal point of BA’s business is London with major operations at Heathrow, London City & Gatwick airport. Around 20  million people reside within the distance of these airports. Along with the passenger services, they also deal in worldwide air cargo business. They have one of the most extensive & busiest international air networks. In conjugation with their franchise partners they connect over 300 major destinations (airports) in the world. Records depict that BA carried around 32 million passengers all over the world in the year 2009/10. BA contributes a significant share in the UK economy. They play a crucial role in trade, commerce, fulfilling needs for business & leisure travel. During the financial year 2009/10 they generated revenue of about 8 billion GBP, which was 11% less as compared with that of the previous financial year. Out of this total revenue 87% came from the passenger travel, while cargo transp ortation accounted for 7 per cent & the remaining 6% revenue was from other activities. They transported & delivered about 760,000 tones of cargo to several destinations in Europe, America, Asia & all over the world. By the end of the fiscal year in March, 2010 BA had a large fleet of 238 aircrafts in service, which comprises of Boeing 747s,737s,757s,767s, Airbus 318s, 319s, 320s, 321s, Avros & Embraers etc. BA has a huge manpower of over 40,000 employees. (Hoovers, 2006) (www.britishairways.com) MISSION & GOALS OF BRITISH AIRWAYS Mission of British Airways The slogan of British Airways is â€Å"The World’s Favourite Airline,† so the organization’s mission is to make this slogan a reality by providing world class & efficient services both in-flight and on the ground. (http://finance.mapsofworld.com) The mission statement of British Airways is to be a leader in the international aviation sector & world travel industry. In order to successfully achieve this missio n they follow certain principles:- Honesty & a sense of responsibility towards their customers & company’s policies. Safety & security of passengers & the employees. Developing a strong feeling of innovativeness & team spirit among the staff members. Developing a global approach by delivering high quality services worldwide. It is the dream of every organization to achieve appreciation in the form of customer loyalty & long term relationship. The management aims at maximising profits by reducing the extra costs involved in the production process. Similarly, in the airline industry also customer satisfaction is given the first priority. Customers should get the value for their money. http://books.google.co.uk

Why does ethnic conflict occur How can it be avoided Essay

Why does ethnic conflict occur How can it be avoided - Essay Example They usually fall under the following categories namely instrumentalist, primordialist and constructivist. Instrumentalist seeks to explain the role of community leaders in ethnic conflict while primordialist relates ethnic conflicts as being caused by a common feeling of kinship which makes a group to think along the same line. On the other hand constructivist tries to explain conflicts as being caused by individuals’ learning process1; however, most of the ethnic conflicts are largely caused by social and economic injustices. Gross violations of human rights have played a great role in fuelling ethnic violence; as a result, this has brought about a lingering question as to whether human rights can be enforced and at the same time end violence. Therefore, human rights have a strong negative effect in the management of ethnic conflicts. This has led to the establishment of the international criminal tribunal for Rwanda as well as the special courts for Sierra Leon as an indica tion of the need of involvement of the international community to address the issues of human rights violations.2 In the 1990s most ethnic conflict were religious base for instance the Palestinian-Israel conflict, Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, the Tamil rebellion in Sri Lanka, the southerners in the Sudan conflict with their northern counterparts just to mention but a few.3 Iran and Sudan are the best example of ethno religious conflicts, and this makes them attract international attention as well as journalistic and diplomatic coverage. The minority tag as in the case of the Kurds in Iran, Iraq and turkey is also a source of ethnic conflict due to their relationship with the state which is governed by the majority ethnic groups. This has exposed them to political and economic discrimination which has resulted in protest and rebellions to air their grievances. Consequently, they have resulted to the use of violent and rebellious organizations and other extra legal means geared towa rds attaining their rightful status in the society. The media is also to blame for ethnic conflicts that have occurred in various countries around the globe. This is owing to the fact that at times it abuses the freedom of speech and peddles propaganda pitting ethnic groups against each other, and a good example is on what happened in Rwanda and Yugoslavia.4 The media was used to fuel ethnic animosity against the minority Tutsi in Rwanda that resulted in the death of thousands of Tutsi civilians. Furthermore, the absence of a democratic government leads to formation of violent organization by the minority group e.g. in Sudan. Democracy ensures that the minority goals are achieved through a democratic process, and gives room for due process to be followed be it legal means or peaceful organizations. Therefore, the lack of proper democracy being practiced in a country makes violence to be the last resort.5 Mobilization of ethnic groups has also played a major role in fuelling ethnic c lashes, which can take the form of being offensive, defensive and preparatory that are all to blame for ethnic uprising. As a result, it leads to the formation of unruly militia groups that bring chaos in the society. Preparatory mobilization is highly counterproductive while at the same time creates unnecessary ethnic tension considering that some minor flare up in most cases leads to ethnic conflict due to this nature of preparedness. Ethnic security dilemma whereby there is no sovereign authority to oversee the security of every group security is another major factor that leads to conflicts. The government may be weak or entirely absent which creates a situation where the respective group acquires a group concern of feeling threatened, as

New York Demographics and the Economy Term Paper

New York Demographics and the Economy - Term Paper Example In coming years, the population is set to increase at a rate of 1-1.5% that can be a source of worry for the government. It was further found that 51.5% of the total population of the state are female and the remaining 48.5% are male. 53% of the total population identify themselves as Caucasian, 18% as Hispanic, 8% as Asians, and remaining as native individuals. The health status of New York State operates a state-based marketplace that is known as the NY State of Health. It is designed to help and support people to shop and enroll for health insurance coverage along with comparing insurance coverage and costs. The marketplace also helps people to check their eligibility for healthcare programs such as Medicaid. The marketplace helps people to know about the financial assistance that plays an important role in availing relevant medical and healthcare services. 2The state seems to be expanding its medical and healthcare coverage for low-income adults in order to enhance their wellbeing. Fiscal capacity of a state can be defined as the ability of a governmental jurisdiction to transform economic activities within its geographical boundaries into the public spending. The idea is to raise revenue along with keeping a transparent approach in terms of presenting data and information to the public. 3 Thus, the economic capacity of states is based on taking into the account the income produced, income received from the residents, and total property wealth along with relevant expenses on the public needs and demands. Based on the State Health Facts, it was found that the state fiscal capacity for the year 2013 fell short by $2,000 million and that was around the total shortfall of 3.4%. This was mainly because of the expenses that affected the total earnings and thus the shortfall.