Reversing Heart Disease by Dr. Dean Ornish Article

Reversing Heart Disease by Dr. Dean Ornish - Article Example Low calories slow metabolic rates which makes it difficult to lose weight. In Reversal diet, fewer calorie consumption increases instead of decreasing metabolic rates. Thus, consuming lot of fat gives us a quintuple whammy (Ornish, 250). Reversal diet allows egg white which has high protein. Other than this, protein consumption remains low since animal products are not allowed (Ornish, 247,252). Blood cholesterol comes from animal products like meats, poultry, fish and dairy. Moreover, saturated fat found in animal products is also converted into cholesterol by the liver (Ornish, 254). Dr. Stamler and his colleagues have found out that people with cholesterol levels higher than 180 have increased the risk of heart disease. He has concluded that range of safe cholesterol levels is very small (Ornish, 255). An average person consumes 40 to 50 percent of their calories as fat. The ideal amount that should be consumed is less than 10 percent of calories as fat (Ornish, 246). Saturated fat increases our blood cholesterol level unlike polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fat (Ornish, 256). Hydrogenation is the manner by which fat is made more saturated. Therefore, there is more saturated fat in moderately hydrogenated oil (Ornish, 257). Epidemiological research tells us high cholesterol and saturated fat increase blood cholesterol level leading to higher risk of coronary heart disease (Ornish, 258). HDL is considered as â€Å"good cholesterol† while LDL as â€Å"bad cholesterol†. People practicing American diet have the same risk of coronary heart disease.

Discuss the benefits , limitations and methodology of population Essay - 1

Discuss the benefits , limitations and methodology of population screening for breast cancer - Essay Example The subject of whether breast cancer screening is more harmful than helpful has fuelled controversy and debate from various quotas for almost, as long as, the technology to do it has been in existence. The dominant question is often; whether the benefits of the procedure outweigh the perceived negative effects that may result from the process. These harms include over diagnosis, where women are treated for cancer while it might not have been clinically manifested in their lifetimes; conversely, several benefits have been attributed to the screening prominently among them, prevention of death. The rationale used to justify screening is usually because it has been successful in detecting breast cancer in the screened population, especially in view of the increased rates of cancer in the last few years. Experts on the subject project that because of the mass tests, the risk will go down and the cancer rates eventually reduced due to early detection and that should be the confirmation of the importance of screening (Cancer Research UK, 2012). The primary focus of this paper will be an examination of the process and principles of screening for breast cancer in populations through histopathology, and then discuss the benefits and harms that are likely to result. Professionals in the health community share the belief that early cancer diagnosis translates into a better chance for mitigation, nonetheless, not everyone who has signs of cancer will benefit from the diagnosis since the cancer my regress without treatment. Thus, to ensure the potential benefits outweigh the harm, there must exist sufficient evidence from randomized tests or trials to indicate that a specific population will benefit from cancer screening, therefore certain principles must be followed before public screening is allowed. There must be significant burden of the disease in the

Strategic analysis of Pepsi Co.

Strategic analysis of Pepsi Co. Strategic Analysis: PepsiCos Restaurant Business Divestment Introduction In 1997, Pepsi Co announced that it would spin-off its restaurant business into a separate publicly traded company through issuance of tax free new stocks. The argument put forward by the PepsiCo top management was that the firm would like to concentrate on its core carbonated beverage business. It would be complemented by the high profit yielding snack foods division of Frito Lays. The figures below for FY 96, show that the restaurant business contributed the least to the profits earned by PepsiCo conglomerate. This was largely attributed to the sluggish growth in this segment. PepsiCo was compelled to take the divestment route to boost its stock price and somewhat mollify the investors, analysts and the markets in general. I believe the new restaurant company will be a powerful organization with great potential. For the separated companies, independence would make them far more capable of improving their operations to create solid, sustainable growth. PepsiCo emphasized that it already has taken steps to prepare its chains for independence, including consolidating their payroll, accounting, purchasing, data processing, construction and real-estate functions as well as unifying foreign operations under a single management team. Franchisees willing to comment on the spin-off gave upbeat assessments of the deal. David Adelman, restaurant analyst at Dean Witter Reynolds predicted that Intangible boon to the spun-off restaurant company would be greater pride of ownership. Its managers could be inspired by a more direct compensation correlation between what the company earns and their rewards. Larry Walker, controller for Holland Foods Inc., a 17-unit KFC franchisee in Texarkana, Texas, said that, after the spin-off, These separate companies will have a clearer direction. PepsiCos been a conglomeration; you get confused when you try to run that many businesses. Besides TGI would benefit from certain advantages once it is spun off from PepsiCo Sound commercial credit rating High cash flow contribution from franchising fees and royalties Strong asset base in its real estate portfolio and ownership of nearly 13000 restaurants Pepsi did not transfer any of its $9.5 billion outstanding debt to the new company Tricon Global International (TGI) Tricon Global International (TGI) is the holding company for the three restaurant brands of PepsiCo Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) Taco Bell Pizza Hut It owns, franchises or licenses the 29,000 worldwide branches of the three chains, whose worldwide sales exceeded $20 billion in FY 96 and was second only to $32 billion sales of McDonalds. The newly formed entity TGI would also be the worlds largest chain in terms of the number of outlets under its management, with around 29000 units. Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) Kentucky Fried Chicken was started in 1939 in Corbin, Kentucky. After ownership changed hands through the decades, it was finally acquired by PepsiCo in 1986 and rechristened as KFC. KFC primarily offers fried chicken recipes of which the iconic one is the Original Recipe prepared with secret blend of 11 herbs and spices. It was devised by the restaurant chain founder, Colonel Harlan Sanders. It later started to complement the mainstay product with add-ons like bread, potatoes, gravy, desserts and non-alcoholic beverages and also offered non-fried chicken dishes. The food is prepared and delivered on made-to-order basis, as and when customers place orders. KFC is the market leader in chicken QSR with 55% of the market share in the US in 1997. As of 1997, KFC operates 10397 outlets in 79 countries. In the US, KFC operates 5120 outlets either through franchises or through licensees. TGI is aggressively developing non-traditional outlets like educational campus, airports etc, where it expects to realize significant revenue that would reinforce sales from traditional outlets. KFC also has a significant international presence, with its major markets as below Taco Bell Taco Bell was founded by Glen Bell in 1962 in Downey, California. It gradually grew into a restaurant chain specializing in Mexican food with a pan-American outlet network. The chain was acquired by PepsiCo in 1978 and made a part of its restaurant chain. Taco Bell offers typical Mexican food like tacos, burritos, salads and nachos. The delivery is done after preparation of the order placed by the customer. As of 1997, it was the dominant player in the Mexican fast food category, commanding 72 % share of the US market. Pizza Hut Pizza Hut was started in 1958 by Frank and Dan Carney in Wichita, Kansas. At the time of its debut, pizza parlors dedicated outlets for pizza was unheard of, and the concept soon caught up across the US. Business expanded, even went overseas (starting with Canada) and PepsiCo finally took over the firm in 1977, to make it an integral part of it restaurant division. The main offerings are pizzas, appetizers, pasta, sandwiches, dessert and non-alcoholic beverages. Pizzerias prepare the food after the customer places the order while express counters serve readymade pan pizzas. Future Roadmap TGI would adopt the following strategy to re-invigorate the erstwhile restaurant business of Pepsi The top priority was to addresses the high employee turnover endemic to the industry. To accomplish this goal, Tricon gave each Restaurant General Manager (RGM) a one-time, $20,000 stock option grant called YUMBUCKS. This plan provided an opportunity to earn even more options based on the RGMs restaurant performance, along with a unique program to recognize outstanding restaurant teamwork. Through product innovation, advertisement, promotions and customer service, TGI would aim to increase same store sales growth. Tricon also would combine the three brands within single restaurants in an effort to give customers more choice under the same roof and increase the chance of a share of their wallet. By working closely with top-performing franchisees and company operators, TGI would seek more effective ways to bring down costs. To leverage economies of scale, TGI purchases its food, paper goods and equipment for all its U.S. restaurants through a $4 billion cooperative. The company also uses new technologies that simplify operations and improve service time. Tricon would focus on reducing complexity and redundancy, general and administrative expenses. In this regard, company leaders and franchisees from all three brands would meet to discuss Tricons one-system approach, share best practices and explore bundled brand expansion opportunities. Tricon would try to enhance shareholder value by investing in high return restaurant units and exiting persistently low return units. Besides there would be added focus on sales margin growth, reducing redundancies and well thought out expansion plans. PepsiCo has decided to align itself with a different strategy where its restaurant business would not fit into the scheme of things. Restaurant business is more management-intensive and labor-centric compared to the beverage or snack food distribution business. PepsiCos core strength is in marketing and distribution. It would be best put into effect in the other two divisions where it has historically yielded good returns. However the incompatibility between the requirements of restaurant business and PepsiCos capabilities was pulling down the performance of Pepsi stocks and causing much angst to the investors and markets alike. PepsiCo realized that the food-service business is becoming increasingly competitive with a large number of established players. Growth has started to plateau in the domestic market which is not helping to increase the groups revenues. While other players mostly standalone, were aggressively pursuing overseas markets, TGI association with PepsiCo was not helping matters. There was bureaucratic delays and large lead time in decision making, being a division of a conglomerate. PepsiCo could not tap into the fountain-dispensed soft drinks business, long dominated by Coke. It was partly due to Cokes monopolistic actions by which it did not allow food service distributors to deal with Pepsi. Food service distributors provide broad variety of consumable supplies like food, drinks, paper etc to restaurant chains, movie theaters etc. Also PepsiCos ownership of food chains did not allow it to effectively pitch for fountain service business with firms which were essentially its rivals in food business. In the light of these, PepsiCo decided to concentrate only on business where its core strengths could be leveraged. Thus the renewed and exclusive focus on beverages and snack food segment which would entail divestiture of the restaurant business. In the light of the above developments, it would be important to deliberate on the decision and its impact through different aspects of strategic management perspective External Environment Analysis The external environment can be further classified as General environment Industry environment Competitive landscape The analysis of the competitive landscape for TGI starts with an overview of the food beverage segment. The food services sector in the US can be classified based on the mode of distribution Full-service restaurant Limited-service/Quick-service restaurant (QSR) Cafeteria Snack non-alcoholic beverage bar Food service contractor Caterer Mobile food service Alcoholic drinking establishment In addition to this, there is considerable overlap with other business which act as non-traditional distribution centers and dispense food beverage service Grocery or convenience stores Gasoline filling stations Supermarkets Educational establishment Business Level Strategy PepsiCo has followed a differentiation strategy at the business level due to the following reasons The wide portfolio of products including carbonated beverages and snack foods help it reach out to a vast demography among the customer base. The assortment of choices enables various customers to meet their refreshment demands through PepsiCo products of their preference. PepsiCo is a global company with operations in several countries. In order to obtain a share of wallet of consumers in different regions, it must provide products that are tuned to the tastes and preferences, prevalent in those local regions. This also explains the rationale behind having variety of products so that buyers perceive value for money through their preferred brands. PepsiCo operates in a duopoly market competing with Coke only. It need not adopt a cost leadership strategy as both the cola majors take price signals from each other and adjust markup prices accordingly, to retain market share and revenue. There has rarely been an all-out price war between the two which would have ultimately bled both to huge losses. This allows both players to compete on the basis of differentiated products targeted at a wider and more diverse customer base TGI on the other hand needs to follow an integrated cost-leadership and differentiation strategy due to the nature of the industry it operated in Dining is a higher involvement activity compared to purchasing cola or snacks. While rest of PepsiCos business required more of a product marketing approach, the restaurant group was more of service business. Differentiation is the key in such a scenario to attract customers. Variety in terms of menu options, ambience etc leads to higher footfalls. Also the local divisions in foreign countries need to be geared up to cater to the local needs. Unlike a duopoly in cola segment, restaurant business has many established competitors. This has led to pressure on the price front resulting in reduced margins. To stay competitive, all players have to minimize cost and pass on the benefit or risk losing customers. As evident from the discussion above, the business level strategy for cola snacks divisions and that of the restaurant division are divergent. PepsiCo would have conflict in its day to day operations as well as long-term planning while trying to manage the requirements of the business. Corporate Level Strategy PepsiCo has been trying to adopt a corporate level strategy of related linked diversification due to the following reasons The cola and the snack food business would lead to synergy in the corporate activities. While beverages could be mass produced in bottling plants, separate and dedicated manufacturing facilities for snack foods would be required. The raw materials would also be procured through different routes. The ingredients of cola would primarily be water, sugar and chemicals and plastic or glass bottles. These could be obtained freely or from institutional suppliers like sugar mills, bottle manufacturers etc. The inputs for snack foods would be farmed vegetables sourced through the contract farming route. In spite of the diverse operational requirements of both the business, there exists ample opportunity to leverage the core competencies of PepsiCo for both type of products marketing muscle and wide distribution network. Both the products could be marketed by sharing the expertise within the divisions and the reach could be extended using the superior supply chain and logistics arrangements of PepsiCo. Such a synergy would not benefit the restaurant business. It not only has operational divergence with the soft drinks and snack foods business, but also the core competencies of PepsiCo in marketing and distribution cannot be meaningfully transferred. More of a service orientation is required for the restaurant division apart from managing disparate supply chain, large base of fixed assets especially real estate. The human resource perspective would also be different as in managing workers who are service providers rather than working in production lines. On the other hand, TGI would need to follow a corporate level strategy of dominant business The mainstay would be restaurant business and each of the constituent brands can leverage the common pool of resources of the company. Existing real estate, previously being utilized by a single brand, can be shared among the others to focus on new store growth. The supply chain can be streamlined through coordination with logistics providers to reduce redundancy in operations. Suppliers can be managed in an integrated manner to reduce costs through economies of scale. This can be achieved by consolidating the procurement process of the restaurant brands with TGI. The business can be consolidated by working with top performing franchises to improve efficiency and drive shareholder value. Conclusion The above mentioned facts and ensuing analysis of PepsiCos strategic decision to divest its stake in TGI, point to a few aspects that stand out. The restaurant business is a dominant player in all the QSR categories it operates in sandwich, pizza and chicken. There are also ample growth opportunities in overseas markets though the US domestic market is gradually maturing and growth is slowing down there. Pepsis core competencies in marketing distribution do not fit well with the requirements of a service-oriented business like QSR. Also PepsiCo would like to pursue customers with differentiated products across a broad portfolio like beverages, snack foods, health energy drinks etc. To this effect it would like to bring synergy in its manufacturing and customer reach for all products. This would necessitate diversifying into related categories and focus on growth in these. TGI on the other hand, has to not only to offer differentiated service to its customer, but also needs to compete on the cost front more vigorously. The business of TGI is such that it is concentrated in the food service sector and there is not much scope or rationale for diversification. This would lead to loss of focus and much ground would be lost to the competitors. There is evidently some incompatibility in the operational as well as corporate strategy of PepsiCo and TGI. This would hamper the prospects of both the groups in the long run and seriously undermine the global growth prospects of TGI which is so critical at this point of time. That the divestment decision was well thought and done with lot of foresight, was vindicated by the more than average returns of both PepsiCo and TGI shares thereafter. Pepsi was able to arrest the slide in its margin and seriously challenge its rival -Coke in many emerging markets like South Asia, Eastern Europe etc. TGI on the other hand was able to maintain its dominant position in the QSR and also increase its global footprint substantially

Wallace Group Strategic analysis Essay -- essays research papers

The Wallace Group is a company that manufactures and develops technical products and systems. It has three primary operational groups consisting of electronics, plastics, and chemicals. By far the largest asset of the Group is the electronics. This asset is approximately the size of both the plastics and chemical groups of the corporation. It also contributes the most to the net income at approximately 70%. The plastics and chemical divisions were acquired for the purpose of diversifying the income of the corporation from the original electronics group.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Wallace Group currently faces some problems with it company in relation to improper management. To begin with, the company seems to have difficulty in the hiring process. It seems that the company is focused on cutting cost rather than looking for effective employment solutions. For example, instead of creating a management developing program to train and recruit managers, the company relies on promoting technical staff. The cost cutting approach is also impeding the hiring of qualified engineers. The company focuses on hiring employees at the least possible salary as an alternative to paying the required amount for qualified expertise. Another issue that arises is un-standardized methods of collecting data and presenting information. For example both the vice president of marketing and the director of advanced systems collect and utilize data for marketing purposes. Their problem lies in the fact that both managers are using different data and formats for ess entially the same purpose, and therefore they create redundancy and higher workloads. By far, the most crucial problem facing the group is the lack of vision and direction from the president, Mr. Wallace himself. His diversification program that resulted in the acquisition of the chemical and plastics divisions lacked forward looking vision. He simply required the companies to maintain a profitable operation without any direction to improve.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In terms of priority, I would first recommend that the Wallace Group implement a corporate governance policy familiar to a business of its size. This would require that the company adopt a board of directors. A board of directors has five responsibilities: 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Setting corporate strategy, overall direction, mission, or visio... ... management techniques from them. This is particularly solid approach since the methods employed have already been tested and the results can be predicted. The other theory I would use to educate Mr. Wallace is the organizational learning theory. It states that â€Å"†¦organizations adjust defensively to a changing environment and use knowledge offensively to improve the fit between the organization and its environment.† (Wheelen, pg8) To utilize this theory the company must respond to the changes to reduce negative impacts and position itself to take action. This allows for the company to essentially learn from its environment and lead to its own innovations in strategic management. References Wheelen T.L., Hunger J.D., Strategic Management and Business Policy Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ (2004) Bay Area Industrial Education Council, Employee turnover cost table retrieved Jun 10, 2005 http://www.baiec.org/Employee%20Turnover%20Costs.PDF#search='employee%20turnover%20costs' Information Week Issue 1041 Wal-Mart to Suppliers: Clean Up Your Data retrieved Jun 10, 2005 http://search.epnet.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bsh&an=17226667&loginpage=Login.asp

Labouring the Walmart way Essay

Today nuclear power as an efficient and low consumption energy has been used widely, however, nuclear energy has potential and serious problems which people can not control. First off all, what is the nuclear? Many countries use nuclear energy to generate electricity. â€Å"Unclear is the energy stored in the center or the nucleus of an atom. After we bombard the nucleus into two parts, two different elements are formed along with the emission of high energy. The process generally followed is called fission. Fission is the chain reaction which needs uranium-235.†(â€Å"Fission and fusion†)The nuclear energy is considered as the worthiest alternative resource of energy after fossil fuels, but it also has a lot of potential problems.†(â€Å"Nuclear Energy†) As everyone knows, nuclear energy can release nuclear radiation which can kill human’s cells and serious radiation can cause death. Furthermore, radiation can result in genetic variation. Radiation also has nuclear residue. It is hard to clear, may be more than 50 years can disappear. Such as Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, now is a ghost town, no one can live in there because of the radiation residue. In addition, nuclear reaction can generate radioactive waste. These wastes are very dangerous, and have very high radiation. Moreover, radioactive waste is hard to recycle and store. Radioactive waste are usually buried in the deep ground or seabed. Not only such, these wastes are hard to degrade. For example, uranium-235 needs 7 hundred million years to degrade. Last but not the least; nuclear power is hard to control when the accident happen. On the one hand, nuclear leakage, the highly radioactive material leaked. The radioactive material release to the air, soil and water, and attached to food. When people touch or eat these material, will have high rate get cancer. One the other hand, nuclear proliferation, radioactive dust will follow the wind to spread to the entire region. For example, the accident of Fukushima Nuclear Power Station has affected whole area include china and Korea. In conclusion, various nuclear energy problems are undergoing in developed as well as developing countries. We can not prevent but we have to say â€Å"pleas e use nuclear energy cautiously, securely and responsibly.† â€Å"Fission and Fusion† Nuclear Energy ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­Ã¢â‚¬â€CNRS sagascience.2013.Web.28 November 2013 â€Å"The Disadvantages Of Nuclear† Conserve Energy Future Be Green Stay Green.2013.Web.28 November 2013.

Church leader enables others Essay

A church leader uses his gifts to enable others to discover, develops, and use their God’s given gifts. A church leader truly enables other people helping them to become God‘s intended persons. This is not a true leadership to just manipulate others to act in a certain manner. A church leader puts aside his or own ego needs and coach others in such a way that help them blossom. The key function of a church leader is to facilitate others by helping them in discovering, developing, and effectively utilizing their God given gifts. Church leaders have five essential components to enable people. These are helping them to gain knowledge, encourage personal growth, assist them in working with others, aid in skill development, and provide appropriate settings. Here the term â€Å"Knowledge† is about information of the Christian traditions, quality Bible study, the nature and mission of the church, and the expert knowledge related to particular areas of services. The personal growth includes people growth as they develop awareness of giftedness, self knowledge, and understanding of purpose, which is firmly stable in a relationship with Jesus Christ. A church leader is able to work well with others; it is an essential element of the leadership. Skills development includes effective communication, managing small group, organization, and having healthy relationships with others that is beneficial for his ministry. A church leader gives importance to people using their gifts in such circumstance that improve potential of their success. The role of a church leader is not always immediate or direct. If a person who provides nurture to young children is providing early enabling for the leadership of others. Therefore, a church leader needs to be seen in his every task in terms of how it enables people for ministry. The Church leadership as a service may be a new perception for some people, so the church needs to have deep study that explores up Jesus’ own servant leadership model. A church leader must provide opportunities and safe places for members to develop and use their God given gifts. Discovering and developing God’s gifts for people is not an end in itself. The ministry for which people are gifted is on a large scale, taking its place within and outside a church, even extends throughout the God’s world. â€Å"The black church is the one place in our community where people come together and pool their resources to better minister to the church and the community† (1993, 54). There are mutual ministries among church members as accepting, loving, available, supportive, and accountable community of faith. Out of the church’s boundaries, church leaders respond to human need by teaching love and hope, empowering the powerless, uplifting the poor, restoring creation, confronting all that harms persons and creation, and reconciling persons to God and one another. People note different implications for churches because the growth of effective leaders is grounded in a church’s vision of its ministry, a declaration of that vision needs not only to be created, but also acted on. Church’s involvements within and outside of the church provides a map of leadership opportunities by providing a starting point for selecting and developing leaders.