Care Delivery & Management Essay Example for Free

Care Delivery Management Essay The purpose of this assignment is to reflect upon my personal and professional development. It will consider the quality of the care I provided, the skills I developed in my specialist placement, plus my learning since the commencement of my nurse training. Personal learning and self-reflection will be identified. I shall be using Gibbs (1988) Reflective Cycle to consider my practice. Gibbs (1988) Reflective Cycle looks at six aspects which include the following; what happened, what were my thoughts and feelings, what was good or bad about the experience, what sense can I make out of the situation, what else could I have done and if it arose again what would I do? Findings will be supported or contrasted by relevant literature. A conclusion will be offered to evaluate findings. I shall also include an action plan, which will address future professional and personal development needs and any factors that may help or hinder this. I will also consider why I have selected these issues for my action plan, what my goals are and how I aim to achieve them. At the beginning of my nurse training we were asked to write on a piece of piece what our definition of nursing was. I wrote ‘It’s about being human’. At the time these words were based on my gut feeling and personal belief. Now, two and a half years later, I would write the same thing, but this time my definition would be based on the skills, knowledge and experiences I feel privileged and grateful to have had during my training and not just on gut feeling and personal belief. How does this knowledge impact on me in terms of practice? I can now put my definition of nursing into a framework and relate the theory of it to practice, for example I can identify when I am actively undertaking anxiety management with a patient. This is quite an achievement for me. What else have I learnt? I have gained knowledge of illnesses and understand how bio-psycho-social aspects of mental illness impact on the individual, their family and their life. I have also developed a good basic knowledge of practical skills such as: counselling, anxiety management, assessment, nursing and communication models, problem-solving and psychotherapy. This knowledge and development of practical skills has enabled my self confidence and self esteem to grow. What things have had the most influence on my personal and professional learning? These things are what ‘It’s about being human’ means to me as a nurse. They include a humanistic care philosophy. Evidence suggests that patients have found the humanistic care philosophy to be positive and helpful to their well-being (Beech, Norman 1995.) Humanistic care believes in; developing trust, the nurse-patient relationship, using the self as a therapeutic tool, spending time to ‘be with’ and ‘do with’ the patient (Hanson 2000,) patient empowerment, the patient as an equal partners in their care (Department Of Health 1999,) respect for the patient’s uniqueness, recognition of the patient as an expert on themselves (Nelson-Jones 1982, Playle 1995, Horsfall 1997). Equally important to me is person-centred care, Roger’s (1961) unconditional positive regard, warmth, genuineness and empathy, recognition of counter-transference, self-reflect ion and self-awareness. I was on placement with Liaison Psychiatry also known as Deliberate Self Harm. The team consisted of my mentor and myself. In this placement we would assess patients who had deliberately self harmed. Patients would be referred via AE only. We would see patients whilst they were still in AE or after they had been transferred to hospital wards for medical treatment for their injuries etc. We would only see patients once they were medically fit to have a psychiatric assessment. The purpose of the assessment was to find out what was happening for the individual and see if we could offer any help via mental health services to the individual, this is done via implementing ‘APIE’ the nursing process (Hargreaves 1975). The main focus was to consider what degree of risk we felt the patient was in. Therefore we needed to establish what the individuals intent was at the time of the deliberate self harm, and if suicidal, whether they still had suicidal intent after the incident. We also held a weekly counselling clinic. I considered Gibbs (1988) Reflective Cycle. How did I feel about this placement? At first I was apprehensive as to how I would feel dealing with patients who do not necessarily want to live. I belong to a profession that saves lives, so I felt an inner conflict. This is an anxiety that is recognised in most nurses (Whitworth 1984). In my first few weeks I felt distressed by the traumatic events that these patients were experiencing. I felt guilty that I have a family who love me, a fulfilling career, a lovely home and no debts, then each day I talk to people who may have no home, no money, no one to love them and no employment. It was hard for me to make sense of these things when life circumstances, such as class, status, wealth, education and employment create unfairness. I felt a desire to help try and improve the quality of these patients’ situations. Midence (1996) has identified that these feelings are a normal response when dealing with others less fortunate that oursel ves. Patients’ who attempt suicide have lost hope (Beck 1986). I felt more settled and positive once I was able to make sense of the situation (Gibbs 1988). I realised that could help by listening to these patient’s and help to restore hope, develop problem solving ideas to tackle some of their problems or referring them to gain the emotional help and support they needed from appropriate mental health services. Patients find help with problem solving extremely valuable and can help them feel able to cope (McLaughlin 1999). Generally, after most assessments, I learnt that listening, giving emotional support and problem solving helped restore enough hope in the previously suicidal patient enable them to feel safe from future self harm. In only a handful of cases did my mentor and I need to admit patients to any inpatient facility under the Mental Health Act (1983). This was because they still felt at risk of future self-harm. Through using Gibbs (1988) Reflective Cycle to consider my special placement area I feel I have been able to change my nursing practice in a positive way, initially from feeling anxious, guilty and helpless when dealing with suicidal patients to feeling useful, constructive and positive. I’ve learnt that by confronting my own feelings of guilt and discomfort I was able to help in a very positive, practical, constructive and empowering way. My mentor identified that one of my strengths is that I can generally combine common sense, logic and practicality in terms of risk assessment and problem solving and still build up a sensitive and caring, therapeutic relationship when dealing with patients whose circumstances are in crisis and complicated and they themselves are emotionally and mentally vulnerable. Nurses not only need good communication skills (Faulkner 1998) but they also need to have an environment conductive to open communication (Wilkinson 1992). Social barriers such as environment, structure or cultural aspects of healthcare can inhibit the application of communication skills (Chambers 2002) Utilising Gibbs (19988) Reflective Model, in retrospect; I feel our interview with some patients could have been done differently. On occasions when my mentor and I were in the A E department the two rooms that we had available for our use were occasionally both in use. This meant that we would conduct our assessment interviews in the Plaster Room, if it was empty. This room was where medical patients would have plaster-casts applied. This was a very clinical room. However, due to limited room availability this was sometimes the only option we had at the time, it was not a welcoming or appropriate setting and would not have helped patients feel relaxed or valued. In reflection, I believe it was actually demeaning as we were asking patients who had attempted suicide to sit on a hard chair in a clinical workroom and share their despair with us. I am sad that this happened and I feel as though we were giving the patients the impression that a cold clinical work room is all they were worth. If this arose again (Gibbs 1988) I would suggest to my mentor that we wait for one of our allocated rooms to become available, where the rooms were relaxing, with soft armchairs and a feeling of comfort. Using Gibbs (1988) Reflective Model I shall describe a situation with a patient to highlight my learning. What happened (Gibbs 1988)? Neil had been bought to AE by his son after he made an attempt to take his own life. His son explained that Neil’s wife had terminal cancer and had died the day before. Neil was unable to engage in conversation other that to repeat over and over again â€Å"I don’t want to live without my wife.† However the more disturbed and difficult to communicate a patient is the less interaction they receive therapeutic or otherwise from nursing staff (Cormack 1976, Poole, Sanson-Fisher, Thompson 1981, Robinson 1996a, 1996b). I found this too be true in Neil’s situation as some A E nurses did not wish to approach him because of his disturbed state and unresponsiveness to verbal cues. What were my thoughts and feeling (Gibbs 1988)? After spending twenty minutes in the assessment interview Neil had remained unresponsive to our approaches and had remained distressed, distant and uncommunicative for the entire time. I had past experience of recent bereavement within my immediate family and I realised that counter-transference was at play and was a reason for my strong emotional reaction to Neil’s distress resulting in me having an overwhelming desire to ease his suffering. Even though another part of me understood the need for him to experience this extreme pain as a normal part of grieving. What was good or bad about the experience (Gibbs 1988)? This was not a good experience for me because as a compassionate person, I found it extremely hard to suppress my own feelings of wanting to protect him from such devastating distress, although I recognised that I was over-identifying with him due to my own grief. I considered that he might have been embarrassed by the emotional state he was in and his inability to control his grief; he could not speak, maintain eye contact or even physically stand. What sense could I make of the situation (Gibbs 1988)? We adjourned for a few minutes so that my mentor and I could assess the situation. I thought it might be appropriate to utilise Heron’s Six Category Intervention Analysis (1975) cathartic intervention as a therapeutic strategy to enable the patient to release emotional tension such as grief, anger, despair and anxiety by helping to (Chambers 1990). I hoped it would facilitate the opportunity for Neil to open up and express his full feelings in a safe and supportive environment. I initially planned to sit quietly with him and briefly put a reassuring hand on either his hand, arm or shoulder. My mentor supported this action. I was aware that I ran a risk of misinterpretation by choosing therapeutic touch. Therapeutic touch may be criticised because it is open to misinterpretation by the patient and abuse of power by staff. The patient may view holding another’s hand as a sexual advance, violation or abuse, so nurses should always consider patient consent, appropriateness, context and boundaries. Clause 2.4 of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (2002) Code Of Professional Conduct says that at all times healthcare professionals must maintain appropriate boundaries with patients and all aspects of care must be relevant to their needs. Therapeutic touch appeared acceptable given his situation and seemed appropriate to the context it would be performed in, given that my mentor would supervise me. As per Gibbs (1988) Reflective Cycle I considered what else I could have done especially if the situation arose again and mentor not been there. I would may have chosen to utilise Hanson’s (2000) approach of ‘being with’ whereby I use therapeutic use of self through the sharing of one’s own presence, and not involved any form of touch, avoiding any misinterpretation or breach of boundaries. I was anxious because I felt concerned that my nursing skills would be inadequate to address his needs due to his acutely distressed state. In reflection my mentor helped me acknowledge that this was about my own anxiety rather than being accurately reflective of my nursing ability. I approached Neil and explained that if it was acceptable with him I would like to sit quietly with him so that he was not alone in his distress. â€Å"It is likely that the nursing process is therapeutic when nurse and patient can come to know and to respect each other, as persons who are alike and yet different, as persons who share in the solution of problems† (Peplau 1988). I gently placed my hand onto his. Neil reacted by given the impression that he physically disintegrated, he become extremely distressed and crying loudly, squeezing my hand tightly. This continued for several minutes. Neil became calmer and started to talk about his situation. This was a good outcome. I was able to utilise Herons (1975) cathartic strategy with positive effect via empathising with Neil’s situation and using myself as a therapeutic tool through the use of touch, thus enabling Neil to express his emotions and activate a nurse-patient relationship. Studies have shown that nurses can express compassion and empathy through touch, using themselves as a therapeutic tool (Routasalo 1999, Scholes 1996) and this has a cathartic value, enabling the patient to express their feelings more easily (Leslie Baillie 1996). The therapeutic value of non-verbal communication and its harmfulness is overlooked (Salvage 1990). Attitudes are evident in the way we interact with others and can create atmospheres that make patient care uncomfortable (Hinchcliff, Norman, Schoeber 1998) On one occasion, one nurse privately referred to Neil as a â€Å"wimp† because he was having difficulty coping with the death of his wife. I wondered whether her body language had transmitted her bad attitude towards Neil, contributing to his distress and difficulties in communicating with staff. Again using Gibbs (1988) Reflective Cycle, I shall provide another example to highlight my learning in practice. What happened (Gibbs 1988)? Cycle On one occasion my mentor and I received a phone call from A E asking us to review an 18-year-old girl called Emma who had taken an overdose. They said she was medically fit to be assessed. When we arrived they claimed that she was pretending to still feel unwell and described her as â€Å"milking it†. We found her to be vomiting and discovered she had been left in a bed in the corridor of A E for 8 hours. McAllister (2001) found that patients who had self-harmed were ignored, had exceptionally long waits and suffered judgemental comments. What were my thoughts and feelings (Gibbs 1988)? I felt very angry towards A E staff as I felt that she was being unfairly treated because she had caused harm to herself, she had been labelled as a troublemaker by staff and I do not believe she had received good quality care. Emma explained that in the last month her father had died, she had miscarried her baby, discovered that her partner was having an affair, and she had been made redundant leaving her with debts that she couldn’t pay. As I looked at her, I saw a vulnerable young woman at the end of her tether. I felt saddened and disappointed by the judgemental attitudes of the A E staff who had not even taken the time to talk to Emma or ask her why she had taken an overdose, instead they describe her as an â€Å"immature and attention seeking kid†. As per Gibbs (1988) Reflective Cycle, I felt this was a very bad experience of poor care, bad attitudes and unacceptable moral judgement being made by A E staff. Cohen (1996) and Nettleton (1995) identify that social status; age, gender, race and class contribute to stereotyping and judgemental attitudes. I noticed that people who self-harmed were judged differently dependent upon their age and the younger they were the worse the attitude of A and E staff. Interestingly ageism towards youth is an area that I could find no research on. I believe ageism towards younger people is overlooked and is really only identified in the elderly. During the assessment I was aware of how my physical presence can impact on the care given. However, I have learnt about the importance of considering how one can communicate to the patient via body language. By attending to patients in a non-verbal or physical way it is another method of saying, â€Å"I’m interested, I’m listening and I care.† To do this during Emma’s assessment I utilised Egan’s (1982) acronym S.O.L.A.R. This meant that I sat facing Emma Squarely, with an Open posture, Leaning towards her, whilst making Eye contact and Relaxing myself, to give her the feeling of my willingness to help. This client centred care recognises her equality in the nurse-patient relationship. What sense did I make of the situation (Gibbs 1988)? I was very unhappy about the attitude of A E staff but recognised that they had a lack of understanding and knowledge. In one study looking at self-harm admissions it was discovered that patients who deliberately self-harm are often deemed as unpopular patients, being labelled and judged as time wasters by A E staff. Apparently 55% of general nurses perceived these patients as attention seekers and disliked working with them, 64% found it frustrating, 20% found it depressing and almost a third found it uncomfortable (Sidley, Renton 1996). What else could I have done (Gibbs 1988) After reflecting upon the experience with my mentor, I was able to realise that part of my role is to act as a representative for mental health. If this happened again what would I do (Gibbs 1988)? If staff were to make judgemental comments again it is part of my role to educate and inform them so they can have a positive understanding of the needs of the mental health patient and learn to address any judgemental comments made. This is a view supported by Johnstone (1997), who says that if we are made aware of our actions when we are judging and labelling people it is our responsibility to correct this. Medical staff need to be aware of mental health promotion, and need further training and education in respects of helping to care for and understand of this vulnerable patient group (Hawton 2000). This is a view supported by the Department of Health (DOH 1999a) who have recommended closer liaison between mental health and A E services in an effort to address the poor understanding and negative attitudes of A E staff. I have also learnt that I must look at both sides of each situation and should show more understanding towards the A E staff’s feelings, as they are often confronted with shocking and distressing acts of self infliction which can make them feel despair, helpless and unskilled to deal with these sort of patient. I believe nurses negative attitudes develop because we all intuitively apply own our values and views to everyday situations, people, experiences and interactions. It may be the staff member’s own coping mechanism to keep their distance from the patient or to label them as attention seeking in order to make sense of the situation for themselves. This is a view supported by Johnstone (1997). In reflection, following the assessment and planning of care for Emma my mentor and I reflected upon the care I provided for her. I recognised that I felt nervous because it was my first experience of conducting an assessment. Having my mentor there to observe me made me feel secure because I trusted my mentor and could rely on her expertise to ensure that I provided safe practice for Emma. However, I still felt anxious as I was faced with an unknown situation. This made me realise how difficult and intimidating the assessment process may have felt to Emma. I had the security of feeling safe in the relationship with my mentor. Emma didn’t know either of us. This highlighted the huge value of the nurse-patient relationship and how the importance of utilising Rogers (1961) theory of client-centred care involving unconditional positive regard, warmth, genuineness and empathy towards patients. My mentor said that I provided evidence based care and I appeared to have a good humanistic approach, sensitively providing client centred care. She joked that I was so keen to ‘get it right’ that I was practically sat on Emma’s knee in my efforts to non-verbally show to Emma that I was attentive and listening to her. I think that whilst this was a joke, I will endeavour to continue to be keen but will relax a bit more, hopefully as I gain more experience myself. I will also use the insight and understanding from these experiences to benefit my future practise and the care I provide for patients. Boyd Fales (1983) suggest, â€Å"Reflective learning is the process of internally examining an issue of concern, triggered by an experience, which creates and clarifies meaning in terms of self, and which results in a changed conceptual perspective.† Self-reflection helps the practitioner find practice-based answers to problems that require more than the application of theory (Schon 1983). I have discovered this to be true, especially in mental health nursing where problem solving may be in the realm of religious, spiritual or cultural beliefs, emotional or intuitive feelings, ethics and moral ideals, which sometimes cannot be theorised. With one patient I couldn’t understand his unwillingness to engage in therapy even though he turned up for a weekly appointment. Once I reflected on this with my mentor I realised that I was not considering his strict religious and cultural background, which complicated his care. I realised that I had been completely ignorant of his needs and had in-fact lacked self-awareness otherwise I would have recognised these issues sooner. According to Kemmis (1995) a benefit of self-reflection is that it helps practitioners become ‘aware of their unawareness’. I have learnt that there are barriers to reflection. On occasions after seeing a patient my mentor may interpret events in a slightly different way to myself. Newell (1992) and Jones (1995) criticize the idea of reflection arguing that it is a flawed process due to inaccurate recall memory and hindsight bias. Another criticism of refection is that it aims to theorise actions in hindsight therefore devaluing the skill of responding intuitively to a patient (Richardson 1995). I considered that my thought to hold Neil’s hand may have been intuitive but because we must use evidence based practice and appropriate frameworks of care, I theorised my care and utilised Heron’s (1975) framework. I believe self-reflection helps me to become self-aware. Self-awareness is achieved when the student acknowledges there own personal characteristics, including values, attitudes, prejudices, beliefs, assumptions, feelings, counter-transferences, personal motives and needs, competencies, skills and limitations. When they become aware of these things and the impact they have on the therapeutic communication and relationship with the patient then they become self-aware (Cook 1999). I have learnt through these experiences that reflection can be a painful experience as I have recognised my own imperfections and bias. I have felt angry with general nursing staffs attitudes towards mental health patients and have now been able to realise that this emotion is unhelpful and instead I should be more tolerant and understanding and help them to understand the patients needs. It is also difficult especially if one is experiencing strong emotions such as anger, frustration and grief (Rich 1995). At times I have over-identified with my patients and personalised their situation to similar situations of my own. This is known as counter-transference and has blinded my ability to address their care needs. Counter-transference is the healthcare professionals emotional reaction to the patient, it is constantly present in every interaction and it strongly influences the therapeutic relationship, but is often not reflected upon (Slipp 2000). Counter-transference can be defined as negative as it can create disruptive feelings in the clinician, causing misguided values and bias (Pearson 2001). I have learnt that it is crucial for me to consider how my reactions to a patient’s problem can impact on the care I provide. Whilst I endeavour to always give 100% best and unbiased care to each patient, I have realised I respond more favourably to patients that I like or identify with. For example I was extremely compassionate and biased towards both Emma and Neil and I feel that my personal life experiences influenced me because I could really empathise with them both. However, I realised that I am only human and that as long as I recognise the impact of counter-transference then I can use it positively as my self awareness of the fact that the process is occurring will enable me to address and challenge my own thoughts, feelings and responses. To conclude, I have been able to highlight my learning over the last two and a half years, both personally and professionally. This has enabled me to look at the areas that I am good at and the areas that I can improve on. I have been able to look at the quality of the care I have given patients and considered what I have achieved, how I felt, how I could have done things better, what was successful and unsuccessful, what issues influenced me and what understanding I had of the experience. I have also been able to recognise my role as a representative for mental health nursing and how I can promote it to other healthcare professionals. I have also identified the value of the role of my mentor in helping me to develop as a nurse. I will use the insight and understanding from these experiences to benefit my future practice and the care I provide for patients. ACTION PLAN Word Count 1086 What are my goals? My mentor and I discussed the areas that I want to improve on. We identified that my stronger points are common sense, logical approach and practical ability in terms of things like risk assessing and problem solving. I am also competent in the building of a therapeutic relationship, utilising a humanistic care philosophy, person centre approach, empathy, genuineness, unconditional positive regard and honest. I also have a good knowledge in respect of mental health promotion, anxiety management, basic counselling skills, understanding of the fundamentals associated with nursing, assessment and communication models and the basic principles of psychotherapy. I feel I have come a long way in two and a half years and have accomplished a lot. However, there are areas that I recognise that I can improve on and I am happy that I can address these as I hope this will improve my learning, skills and competency as a nurse in the future, providing better patient care. The areas I need to gain more knowledge and experience of include: understanding the religious, cultural and spiritual needs of the patient and how this impacts on their care and quality of life, recognising and working with counter transference and my tendency to feel the need to over protect patients as this does not help the patient to utilise choice, be responsible for themselves or empower themselves. I want to continue developing my own self awareness through self reflection. Finally I wish to develop my academic abilities and to train further so that I have more knowledge. Why have I chosen these issues? I have chosen to improve my knowledge and understanding of patients religious, cultural and spiritual needs and how this impacts on their care and quality of life, because by doing this I hope to be able to address their needs holistically. To successfully undertake a thorough assessment the healthcare practitioner needs to identify the holistic needs of the patient, failure to do so would neglect the patients physical, psycho-social and spiritual needs (Stuart and Sundeen 1997.) At present I feel I am unable to fully comprehend or provide best care as I feel I lack the skills and knowledge to do so. I also wish to further consider the impact of counter transference and my tendency to feel the need to over protect patients. I feel that if I gain more understanding and recognition of how counter-transference can change my reaction to a patient then I will be able to address it and have more control and choice over my nursing and my responses. In practice, I have experienced strong emotional reactions to some patient’s, perhaps because I could identify with some of their issues. However, this can result in my wanting to over protect them, which may disempower them, and this is unhelpful. Different characteristic in patients can influence the emotional reaction of the nurse (Holmquist 1998). I need to be able to recognise these characteristics in the patient and be self aware of the way I am responding. I want to continue developing my own self-awareness through self-reflection, as I will need to be able to exercise autonomous and expert judgement as a qualified nurse. The ability to use self-reflection as a learning tool to becoming self-aware will help me achieve this. This is a view supported by (Wong 1995). Boud, Keogh Walker (1995) believe self reflection is an important human activity, essential for personal development as well as for the professional development of the nurse. By being able to mull over my experiences will help me challenge my beliefs and behaviour as an individual and a nurse. Finally I wish to develop my academic abilities and to train further so that I have more nursing knowledge. Experience alone is not the key to learning (Boud et al 1985). I wish to gain further qualifications so that I may further my career and knowledge, as this will provide a sense of achievement and fulfilment for me. How am I going to achieve my goals? I intend to develop my portfolio and keep an open reflective diary (Richardson 1995) to show evidence of my learning and prepare for my PREPP. Portfolios are seen as a collection of information and evidence used to summarize what has been learnt from prior experience and opportunities (Knapp 1975), and acknowledges professional and personal development, knowledge and competence, providing nurses with evidence of their eligibility for re-registration every three years (NMC 2002). I believe maintaining my portfolio helps with one’s self-assessment and will help me to develop my strengths, plus identify and critically evaluate my weaker areas, this is a view supported by Garside (1990). However in contrast Miller Daloz (1989) suggest there is no evidence to suggest that self assessment contributes to enhance self awareness. A barrier to one’s ability to self-reflect may be time constraints and socio-economic factors such as high staff and management turnover, low staff morale and staff illness (Bailey 1995) I hope to overcome this by being a supportive team member to my colleagues and maintaining a positive mental attitude. I am happy to work on my portfolio and diary in my own time as I think it is a valuable learning tool. I will use my preceptorship, learning in practice, observation in practice and clinical supervision to help achieve my goals. Reflection on action is considered to be an essential part of clinical supervision (Scanlon Weir 1997). I will continue to use Gibbs (1988) Reflective Model to help me develop my learning through reflection. I will need to feel confident that by sharing my portfolio, diary, reflection or seeking advice via preceptorship and supervision that this will not reflect negatively on me and effect my ability to feel able to trust my mentor. Students and staff sometimes feel unable to fully express themselves or belittled by the power relationship if supervision is not in a trusting relationship feeling it could be open to bias, personality clashes, counter-transference or could disadvantage them in terms of career development (Richardson 1995 Jones 2001). However, good clinical supervision enables nurses to feel better supported, contributing to safer and more effective nursing (Teasdale 2001, Jones A 2001). I hope to continue with life long learning and would like to be able to study for a degree in nursing. I shall do this by apply for funding once I am employed and hope that whoever my employers are they will support me in my goal to become better qualified. 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The Hotel Reservation System

The Hotel Reservation System Abstract The Riviera resort is a tourist resort. It is located in Greenwich, in the south east London of United Kingdom. This resort was established in 2000. This resort has 38 rooms with all the facilities. There are double, single and family rooms with attached bathrooms. There are indoor and outdoor games facilities with a swimming pool. Air-conditioned rooms too are available. Within a distance of a few yards the real maritime view is attractive for the tourist for enjoyment. As Hotel Riviera a customer based Company it is identified that providing an efficient customer service is a major factor that is considered in all customer based Companies, to remain competitive in the market. One major barrier to this is the manual system does not provide any facility for the Managers, Accountants and other employees to trace the routine details on time and provide a quality of service. Which ultimately lead to a lot of problems and inefficiencies? In the aim of solving these problems and making the company operate efficiently, the Hotel Reservation System with online Environment to Hotel Riviera System project was undertaken. In here this system was strengthen in web base access as well as with a Visual Basic component that was used to track the reservations done by the Employees each day. In this system the Administrators get the chance to view their routine details as well as the reservation details at the company. So the managers can get a good idea what sort of things they have to do in order to improve their business activities The benefits of the system are numerous. The system will help the company to operate efficiently by eliminating all the time consuming procedures and provide a better service to their Customers. Introduction Hotel Riviera Information The Riviera resort is a tourist resort. It is located in Greenwich, in the south east London of United Kingdom. This resort was established in 2000. This resort has 38 rooms with all the facilities. There are double, single and family rooms with attached bathrooms. There are indoor and outdoor games facilities with a swimming pool. Air-conditioned rooms too are available. Within a distance of a few yards the real maritime view is attractive for the tourist for enjoyment. To maintain the resort there are working thirty employees as Managers, Accountant, Supervisors, Cashier, Room boys, Servants, Cleaners, and Cookers. Everyday foreign and local guests visit and enjoy with the resort facilities. The resort owner is very happy about the success of his resort. Room Information 20- A/C and 18 Non A/C rooms. 12-Rooms with single bed facility A/C, 8 non A/C single bed rooms 10-Rooms are the double bed A/C and 8-double bed non A/C. Problem Identified Out of survey done by me, I found the numerous problems faced by the Owner and other employees of the company. The main drawback of their currently available system is that for many processes are very time consuming. So the company required a system that will produce out puts in on time. Also the time that takes to send services to customers are quite high. Next the company does not have an easy way to trace the reservation process. Introduction of the Current Information System The Resort is one of the famous resorts in United Kingdom which is currently doing everything in a manual way. Although if they have a number of computers even they dont have any computerized system. Their Guest and staff are facing lots of problems in their day today activities. So I proposed them to carry out their resort reservation system details in a computerized manner. These are the major functions/processes occurring which is manual way. Guest registration Room reservation Food order Payment calculations Functions of the Existing System Hotel has four departments: 1. Front office This department contains 2 employees: Receptionist and Front Office Manager. Main functions: 1. Request booking information 2. Confirm booking. 3. Cancel booking. 2. Kitchen department. This department contains 15 employees: Chief cook, Cooks, Supervisor, and Supplier for groceries Main functions: Prepare meals according to the guest preference. 2. Prepare food menu information. 3. Housekeeping department. This department contains 8 employees: House keeper, Record keeper Supervisor and Cleaners. Main function 1. Check the room availability information and pass to the front office. 2. Reservation of room. 4. Finance department. These departments contain 5 employees: Accountant, Manager, Finance Manager, Account operators Main Functions: 1. Calculate Guest payments. 2. Prepare invoices. 3. Salary functions. 4. Profit and loss analysis. Purposes and Objectives of This Project The proposed computerized system purposes and objectives are as follows. With the earlier system the customers had to idle till the receptionist filled all data. But, with the proposed system the customer related activities will be very quick and efficient. Less waste of resources, because only necessary data will be taken into Hard Copy out puts. In the manual system data duplication was happening frequently. But, with the proposed system data redundancy will be reduced to a great extent. Security measures will be introduced; therefore data is 99% accurate and reliable. The company can convert into new trends of technology and give a Better competition with its competitors. The company profitability can be increased because the cost that was incurred for maintaining the system will be cut down. Work load of the employee is lifted off. The proposed system requires only a computer therefore there is no need of large room space. There is no need of large storage cupboards because all data will be stored in one single database of the computer. The manual system did not have any back-up files, but with the computerized if any files have been missed up there is a back-up procedure to fix the problem. Issues of the Existing System The data is not long-lasting for this hotel due to the improper system:- The resort reservation System is maintaining their data and information in the files and some copies. So it is not secure for them. Not only that but it can destroy in a particular period. It can be misplaced somewhere. They have to buy the files and copies. So it is not proper system for them. It is time consuming :- Very important but this manual system is very slow and extremely time consuming. So that guest time also wasting. When more than one guest arrives in to the resort for booking, Receptionist cant manage with the short time. The checking process is very difficult in the guest departure time because, they cant easily find needed records in this manual system. The stationery costs are high :- There is a lot of paperwork to be done and lots of records of guest, cash books, room details, availability details etc. that have to be maintained, which makes it a very confusing job. Due to the large amount of paperwork that needs to be kept for later reference, there is also need for large storage space. Not only should there be space to store all the records but it should be stored in easy way to find the records and very high cost. It occupies lot of space to locate the file and difficult to search due to the different locations :- Currently, a large number of past and present guest and recruitment related information are stored in cabinets and racks. This way, files get dust collected and confidential papers get loose from the files with time. To maintain the paper in order, filing cabinets, stationary and employee is needed which comes with a cost. Some of these cabinets are kept inside the office congesting working areas and the others are kept in store rooms accruing valuable floor space. Calculation Process :- Also, the calculating process is very difficult such as customer charge calculation (food, Room, facility charges), the resort balance checking. In the manual system for every process there should be needed more workers. Not only cant they work accurately and in the correct. System Development Methodology I have selected the Water fall method model for developing a system for Riviera resort reservation because these models demand a systematic and sequential approach to software development. It presents a highly structured method of software development that starts at the system levels and progress. I am going to develop a resort reservation system which is more complex. This can be handled by using this methodology. And this model decreases the gaps between users and system developers and to increasing systems performance. Waterfall Model This is the most common and classic of life cycle models, also referred to as a linear-sequential life cycle model. It is very simple to understand and use. In a waterfall model, each phase must be completed in its entirety before the next phase can begin. At the end of each phase, a review takes place to determine if the project is on the right path and whether or not to continue or discard the project. Unlike what I mentioned in the general model, phases do not overlap in a waterfall model. Waterfall Life Cycle Figure 1.1 Reasons for selecting waterfall methodology for Hotel Riviera Works well for smaller projects where requirements are very well understood. Easy to manage due to the rigidity of the model each phase has specific deliverables and a review process. Good progress tracking due to clear development stages Phases are processed and completed one at a time. It is suitable for real time and critical system Suitable for small and large size projects. Simple and easy to use. System Requirements Functional Requirement To develop a fully tested Guest update, Room update process, it is asked that the application should allow the user to add, edit find details and handle payments. To accomplish this, it is required to create Access VB (Visual Basic) forms. It necessary to maintain reservation file, guest file, order details files payment file including registration fee in the database. So it is asked to design the necessary interfaces using VB to fulfill the above requirement. To fulfill the above requirements I have created a fully tested reservation system from the knowledge that I have on VB Access. I assumed that resort reservation system need to computerize the reservation process and I have directed my efforts and created a program which is coming out here. Front end Welcome Screen: Welcome screen with user verification facility. This screen will allow the user to type user name and password. This user name will be common for Administration members and another username and password for Manager. Registration of new users: This system should allow registering new users from this organization. Adding details to database: When a Guest comes to register, the system will be added his details to database. Such as name, address, designation, passport number, age, sex and nationality etc. Calculations: Calculations in the system will be found out the due amount. The due amount will be calculated from the requirement the reservation form. Rooms details: Details of rooms can be found in their database. And the system should be able to record their information. The system should assign unique number for each room and allow the user to enter details such as room number, room type, rate and status etc. Banquet details: Banquet reservation also is another function of this resort. So details of banquet can be found in this system. Also the system should be able to record their information. Such as banquet no, location and charges. Engineering details: When customers reserve a hall for a function, they can be found what are the engineering facilities available in this resort for doing that function. Such as Sound system, Overhead Projector and Desktop computer. Foods details: Details of foods also can be found in this system with charges to customers to decide their favorite foods. Such as Egg w/ rice, Spaghetti, Chicken Salad, Coke (Medium) and Fried chicken w/ rice etc. Liquor details: Hotel Riviera has a big bar for their customers. So liquor details are very important for this system. Mainly it should be included description of liquor, price and expiry date. Details of pools: There are two types of pools available. One is adult pool and another one is child pool. Details of pools are most essential for this system. Order details: When purchase orders are made by customers or guests, presently all of them are filed and placed into drawers. But it will be great if the hotel can save those details in the system and be able to retrieve them later if required. Order details will be included ordering meals, and ordering liquor. Room reservation: This requirement is the hearth of this entire system. It is for the purpose of fulfilling requirement that most of the above requirements are met. Fulfilling this requirement will be the key solution in the system to be developed. Once this requirement is successfully tackled, the older access registry room will become obsolete. This system should be able to record details of room reservation number, guest ID, room number, reservation date, date reserved, length of stay, and status. Banquet reservation: This requirement also a very important function of this system. This resort is doing not only the room reservation but also the banquet reservation for their customers. This part should be included banquet reservation no, reservation date, client name, address, contact no, date reserved, starting time, finishing time and status. Search The ultimate purpose of any database system its functionality to support retrieval of data in a way it is expected. This is the case here also. If any reservations details are required, the system will be allowed to find the details from related database and make reservation using search function. Printing facilities Staff should be provided full functionality to printing relevant documents when they needed. Reports In this computerized system, reports will also be a part and parcel they are the means that help get printed outputs here. Staffs should be allowed to run reports and get prints. Common functionality requirements The system will be having a Multiple Document Interface (MDI) through which all the screens and reports can be reached. Colors to be used in the screen should be consistent. Blue with black will be interesting to see. Also buttons on window should be placed in the top of the screen. One window should be used for generating reports i.e. the user should be able to run reports one by one within one window. It can be by clicking on a button, using menus or shortcuts keys. Calendar with one month displayed; whenever there is a need for entering dates, the user should be given facility to pick it from a calendar. Short cut keys should be assigned to expedite the data entry work. There user should be allowed to backup the database to a certain location. This practice ensures the safety of updated data. Printer will be connected to one PC and others will share the printer. Non-Functional Requirements Although these requirements are not directly with the system to be developed, they are very important factors to take into consideration for the development and successful implementation of the system. Under this section I identify non functional requirement within the projects scope. Product Requirement Usability and Efficiency: Since the earlier version of Visual basic (6.0) is going to be used, performance will be high and it is very fast. The system should be very much easy to handle. Reliability: User should easily understand about the system. And they will find it very much handy. Portability: Database should be maintained with much care and give the database to that system in correct format. Operational Requirement Security: database access should be prevented from sight. In addition it should be impossible to access certain parts of the system without the proper logon procedure. This requirement should be strictly enforced at the log on single window or feature under this section. User Friendliness: The system should not be possible for a non- authoritative user to enter a single window or feature under this section. Interoperability: No other system could be intercepted while this system is running on the machine. Software Requirement for Implementation For the development of the new system, the following software packages are recommended to be used. Microsoft Visual basic (6.0) for the interfaces program coding. Visual basic data project will be used for the creation of this system. Is the data Environment, Data list control, Data combo Control, Data grid control, Microsoft- Calendar control and Date time picker control, etc. Microsoft Access 2003 as database back end. Crystal Reports 8.5 for the creation of reports. All the reports will be called within Visual Basic using the Crystal Viewer ActiveX control. Software Tools are Needed to Developed the New System Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 Microsoft Word 2007 Microsoft Visio 2003 Microsoft Access Adobe Photoshop CS Hardware Requirement for New System The reservation system to computerize their reservation system, a computer system needed the following minimum requirements. Processor : 400 MHz RAM : 128 MB Hard Disk : 4 GB VGA : 32 MB Monitor : 14 Operating System : Windows 2000/xp Software : Microsoft Office 2000/xp Floppy Disk Drive : 1.44 MB 3.5 Summary This chapter provided a detailed description on why Hotel Riviera Needs a web and Visual Basic based System and how online room reservation and computerized reservation System solved the problems they are currently facing with the requirement analysis. Next section gives a detailed description about the system. System Analysis Introduction The tools of a system analysis, which are known as fact-finding methods, are found in the scope of the business application and its end users. Therefore these methods and techniques should be applied efficiently for finer and better results. There are many reasons for fact finding during systems development life cycle, but the most important time is when its system development has begun its basic stages. During the beginning stage the analyst must do the current system, which is being currently used. During these stages, the analyst must gather information on the requirements of the end user. Then when the system designing gets on the way, the analyst must gather, the following:- Facts about report formats. Input methods. Information about the organization. Goals and aims of the organization. Organization structure. Objectives and reasons of functional units. Information about the people. Authority and responsibility of relationship. Job duties. Information about the work. Tasks and workflows. Methods and ways for performing the work. Work times and limits. Information about the work environment. Resources available. Proposed System Descriptions The scope of my project is only reservation. So, Room, facility, needed food booking is will be included in this project. The processes will be started from check in and finished with the check out. Between, these two actions there are some processes available. Those are selecting the wanted room with facilities and food, advance payment; store the guest details, reservation details, charge calculation, payment settlement and report creation. Sometime there maybe cancellation process includes. In this system there will be receptionist, guest, cashier and supervisor involved. The receptionist will operate some the booking process of this application. The guest will select his needed suitable. Cashier will handle all calculation and payment processes. The supervisor will create the reports to the management. The detail information about this computerized Resort Reservation system is included in the DFD ER diagram. In this system my aims is to make the resort reservation System. This is fully secure and fully computerized Features of the New System Handling Customer Details Room reservations Banquet reservations Backup facilities Stores data permanently Security Cancellations Handling Rooms Details Making Payments Features like Update, Searching, Deleting, Editing Record etc Generating different kinds of report. Added Solution to Implement the New System The Data is not long-lasting due to the proper system Even if it is an important data which is been kept in a file, which is not secured, It can be misplaced somewhere. Not only will that it destroy in a particular period. So computerizing the manual system it will be stored in the Database to the computer, so which is more secured. And also we can take the Backup for safety. It is time consuming When the data is in a document, which is inside a file, it is very hard to get the necessary details in that particular time. To search the file it will take some time because they have to see the file page by page. After computerizing the manual system it will be much easier to retrieve the data quickly, this will increase the productivity of Resort reservation system. The stationary costs are very high When the data is maintained in a file or any kind of documents the stationary cost like pen, papers, ruler and files. Deleting, updating and editing also will affect the stationary cost. So after computerizing the manual system we can bring down the cost of stationary, which will economy. If a particular file is lost then the whole data will be loosed If a file is lost then every data regarding that resort information will be loosed which is a big blow for the Resort reservation system. It can happen very easily in this Resort. So we can protect the data by implementing this system. Because we can store the data in a particular database which is more secure. No one can steal any record file because they will have their own login. Without knowing password no one can enter in to the computer. Even they have a back up system. It is not possible to get the necessary Data with in a given time As the data is maintained in a file as manual it is impossible to get the data in a given period. If they want to get particular data then they have to seek one by one page. After computerizing all the data it can be retrieved quickly with the help of Query. So it is making easy to work Calculate the payment very Also, the calculating process is very difficult such as Guest charge calculation (food, Room, facility charges), the resort balance checking. In the manual system for every process there should be needed more workers. Not only cant they work accurately and in the correct time. After that computerizing make easy to work Checking process When more than one guest arrives in to the resort for booking receptionist cant manage with the sort time. The checking process is very difficult in the Guest departure time because, they cant easily find the needed records in this manual system Check Room or banquet availability .after that computerizing easily identifies the room or banquet availability Summary This chapter presented information about the tools of a system analysis, which are known as fact-finding methods, are found in the scope of the business application and its end users and feasibility study about this entire system whether which is accepted or not. Also discussed regard features of this system and value added solution for their earlier systems issues. System Design Criteria Introduction In this part, I have discussed why it is important to have a design method when developing systems. Name and explain some strategies for generating design solutions, simplifying design decisions, evaluating designs, and terminating the search for alternatives, the purpose of design models and the principal categories of design models and summarized some differing perspectives on the nature of design Data Flow Diagram (DFD) Data Flow diagrams are a network representation of a system. They are the corn store for structured system analysis and design. The diagrams use four symbols to represent any system at any level of details the four entities that must be represented are: Data flows: movement of data in the system Data stores: data repositories for data that is not moving Processes: transforms of incoming data flows to outgoing data flows External entities: sources or destinations outside the specified system boundary The DFD shows how, through analyzing data flows, a systems internal processes interact with each other, how the system interfaces with its environment, how the system is partitioned into interacting sub-systems, how an existing or a proposed system can be described in a top-down manner. Existing system data flow diagram 0th level Figure 3.1 0th level Data Flow Diagram Figure 3.2 1st Level Data Flow Diagram Figure 3.3 2nd level Data Flow Diagram for Payment process 2nd level Data Flow diagram for report generation Figure 3.5 Data dictionary for proposed Hotel reservation system Data stores Name Description Number Owner Customer details Store the Customer details 1 Administration Payment details Store the Payment details 2 Administration Room details Store the Room details 4 Administration Banquet details Store the banquet details 5 Administration Bar details Store the bar details 3 Administration Pool details Store the pool details 6 Administration Restaurant details Store the restaurant details 7 Administration Table3.6 External entity Name Description Type Total occurrence Guest Describe the customer who are booking the room and banquet Person 1 Management Describe the management of Hotel Department 1 Table 3.7 Data processes Name Description Input from Output into Logic summary Administration process Check the room and banquet order. guest hotel When the guests come to the hotel, the administrator section receive the booking order then check whether the room are available or not, after that, reserve it for the particular guest. Payment process Provide the card to the management guest guest Collect the money from the guest, when they leave from the hotel. Room process Handle the room details. guest guest Keep the room details, bed details and other equipments details. Check the room, if there is anything damage, collect the details, and remove from the room and replace it another. Banquet process Handle the banquet details Keep the banquet details, standard equipment details and additional equipment details. Bar process Handle the bar details Keep the bar details, such as drinks items, chips items. If it is finish, order them. Pool process Handle the pool details Keep the pool details Restaurant process Handle the restaurant details Keep the food items Report generation Handle all the report All the details Report generation Keep whole hotel details and when the administration ask the report, get the print out and give it to them. Table 3.8 Data flow Name Description Source Destination guest details Represent the guest details Guest administration process payment details Represent the payment details Guest Payment process room details Represent the room details Guest Room process bar details Represent the bar details bar process administration process banquet details Represent the banquet details banquet process administration process pool details Represent the pool details pool process administration process Restaurant details Represent the restaurant details restaurant process administration process Check restaurant details Represent the checking restaurant details Restaurant process administration process Table 3.9 Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD) Normalized ERD for the proposed system Figure 3.10 Relational Table Normalization Normalization is the process of efficiently organizing data in a database. There are two goals of the normalization process: eliminating redundant data (for example, storing the same data in more than one table) and en

toyota motor corp :: essays research papers

Toyota Motor Corporation is a leading automobile company throughout the entire world. Toyota has a strong commitment to diversity. It is an integral aspect of Toyota’s success. The Toyota Motor Corporation understands that to continue to be successful in this day and age they must take further steps to diversify their company. Toyota Motor Corporation is one of the world‘s leading automakers, offering a full range of models, from mini vehicles to large trucks, and even new concept cars. Key competitors of Toyota include Nissan, Diamler Chrysler, Chevrolet, General Motors, and GMC. Although Toyota experiences worldwide successes, they are constantly looking for new ways to branch out and reach minorities and ethnic groups. During the week of April 6,2005 Toyota launched a Spanish-language digital game on the Spanish edition of their website. This is the first interactive game available on the Spanish-language website. This new interactive activity is a good way for Toyota to enhance their image as well as reach a younger Hispanic market. It also allows Toyota to keep a constant communication process with consumers. This new game reaches those who are not effectively reached by existing television and print ads. In addition this new game will not only offer a form of entertainment but it will get more people to visit the Toyota site Toyota is promoting this new game by using banner ads on high-traffic Spanish language outlets and web sites. The game is titled â€Å"El Invicto† and is an interactive soccer game, where players defend their Corollas with one of three different goalkeepers. All of the goalkeepers are of a Hispanic background. Toyota is one of the more innovative companies targeting a Hispanic market using online entertainment. This new game is an excellent source of support for the Corolla Hispanic TV and print executions using the same theme â€Å"El amor por el Corolla puede lograr cosas increibles† (love for Corolla can make incredible things happen.) According to data from auto researcher R.L. Polk and Co., the Corolla is the best selling US passenger car among Hispanics. A lot of young Hispanics surf the net.

F. Scott Fitzgeralds Short Story, Winter Dreams Essay -- F. Scott Fit

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Short Story, â€Å"Winter Dreams† In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story, â€Å"Winter Dreams,† ambitious, â€Å"desirous† Dexter stands at the threshold between admiring â€Å"glittering things† and finding out that the â€Å"glittering things† he admires fade away sooner or later. Dexter‘s character throughout this short story, changes in many ways, from being unaware of what he really wanted in life to being aware of what he actually became.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Dexter in the story started off as a very young boy who worked as a caddy at a golf course. There he met Miss Jones for the very first time. Judy Jones was a beautiful, young woman who came from a glittery family, but was also very cunning with her â€Å"preposterous smile† . Dexter was very â€Å"neurasthenic† when it came to being with Miss Jones. In the beginning Dexter would be very shy but would always want to talk to her. She was the â€Å"no end of misery to a great number of men.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As time elapses in the story, Dexter becomes an independent man but still thinks of Judy. He becomes much older and begins running laundry businesses. He became a man that people would call â€Å"Now there’s a boy.† Even though the people who knew him would say that about him, he still didn’t feel that â€Å"tremendous superiority.† He felt â€Å"mundane† as if he really had not achieved anything. What Dexter felt was â€Å"sinuous†. What he needed was a companion with whom he can listen to â€Å"Chin-Chin and The Count of Luxemburg and the Chocolate Soldier,† and he thought it ...

Emirates Airlines Essay

1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Aim It is vital to review the progress of business, particularly in a circumstance of rapidly changing contexts. In this regard, there are core attempts that International management needs to do in reviewing business performance. In order to respond to change effectively, the company must access its efficiency in current development direction. They need to identify their competitive advantages, position themselves and find out how competitive they are in the marketplace. As a result, management must redefine their business goals and set new strategic objectives to sustain as a Global leader in a dynamic environment. 1.2 Scope This report uses, The Emergence & Rise and Rise of Emirates Airline As a Global airline using the Emirates Airline case study. 1.3 Company Background Emirates started in 1980s as a small corporation but with big dream. In the start they reduced their services to Dubai. Emirate’s is a government own company and started off with the capital of $10 million; they started off with two planes both of them were leased from Pakistan international Airlines. It was established after Gulf Air, a regional airline then owned by Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates. Tim Clark, the  president of emirates, says that his airline represents the future of mass air travel. In the time economic downfall when all companies were struggling to sustain themselves, even at that time Emirates was well enough to attract customer, raised fares and consistently turned a profits. Emirates earned $925 million his last six months, which was raised up from $205 million in the previous year. To attract and sustain their customer they have put glamour in their planes, notable innovations included the introduction of in-flight personal video sys tems for passengers in all classes, telecommunications in all three classes and an in-flight fax facility. Emirates also acquired an exclusive-use terminal In Dubai airport. From its humblest startup, Emirates flew its first routes out of Dubai with just two aircraft—a leased Boeing 737 and Airbus 300 B4 in 1985 (Stanik, Smith, Erakovic, 2007). Emirates pursues its focused differentiation in a legacy airline of luxury, hi-tech, excellent quality. It has been successful and is now the Gulf’s largest carrier, one of the world’s five best airlines, and expects to become the world’s largest airline by 2015 (Hugh, 2007). Emirates one of the leading airline of the world having 15 A380s alone and expecting to add 75 more is the most successful airline. Has grown into the world’s largest airline by passenger miles flown. The reasons for its success are the competitive advantage of low cost and high quality enabled Emirates to become the leader. According to the competitors the success of Emirates is because of the support of the rulers of Dubai but Emirates do not accept this claim and they believe Emirates is a separate business unit. Until 2009 Dubai was the largest and most prosperous emirate under the UAE. However the financial crunch that led to Dubai’s bankruptcy and heavy debt has affected all nationally owned companies. The Emirates airline is no exception. However, the global economic recession has enormous impact on business. Obviously such an economic downturn affects business sustainability in several aspects such as market demand, customers’ changing preferences and behavior, financial deficits, internal resources etc. Economic recovery is uncertain. It is important that management is aware of the short-term effect and its potential medium impact on the business. Emirates must take its core competences, competitive advantages to overcome such a situation and map out strategic objectives to sustain as worlds best Global airline in the future. It has been affected nominally and a lot of  extra strategic implications were called for and like rest of Dubai, Emirates is riding this crunch. Emirates is still one of the most popular airlines in the world and it has bounced back strongly displaying strong profits The success story of Emirates Airline is a phenomenon in terms of stable growth, continuous innovation and significant global expansion. Emirates have drawn out worthy lessons to establish as a Global airline. This report will attempt to look at the competitive environment of Emirates and the macro-environmental factors affecting the airline industry. 2 Findings 2.1 Research Methodology A macro environment dissection has been spotted to audit different outside impacts on business and shed lights on future patterns that may influence the business. Dissection of Porter’s five powers will help comprehend industry rivalry and blueprint impacts on improvement of business sectors and business. Utilizing this model helps the organization manufacture a method to keep in front of these impacts. Further, the spotlight is on dissecting the earth. In inspecting the business execution and organization’s methods set up, key assets, a SWOT is fundamental. This is carried out in an exertion to assist vital administration survey how to gain by business qualities, minimize the impacts of shortcomings, benefit as much as possible from any open doors and lesson the effect of any dangers. Emirates are most likely not an ease aerial shuttle. Throughout its starting development stage, throughout the mid to late 1990’s, Emirates figured out how to secure an administration separation that was profoundly prevalent and is currently an industry standard. It was Emirates that began the utilization of an individual TV set fit behind the seat. This was popular to the point that it helped their deals massively and even gave them a solid brand picture of being individuals benevolent. Along these lines their methodology throughout that stage was to be buyer neighborly and to produce a decent brand picture. As Emirates developed, once their brand picture was secured and there was a solid Emirates vicinity in the business sector, the center of the system was to acquire piece of the overall industry at the cost of contenders. This was  to be fulfilled with most extreme scaling conceivable. This method was in fit with the necessities of the business as expressed above in the report. With the decrease in the premium travelers fragment and the proceeding with decrease circulating everywhere freight part in the current financial year, Emirates is currently starting to concentrate on the economy class travelers. This vital movement is sure and is in accordance with the current achievement considers in the business. A speedy take a gander at the movement volume of carriers is justified. As it can be inferred from the figures above, which are of 2009 travel statistics, low cost airlines like Ryan Air and EasyJet have managed to take a great chunk of passenger volume. Emirates is good compared to carriers in the Asia-Pacific and Middle Eastern region but its volume is still less than some of the Anglo-European carriers. 2.2 External Environment 2.2.1 Macro Environment Analysis 2.2.1.2 Economic forces For air transport industry, interest for travel depends gigantically on financial conditions. Pride, Elliot, Rundle-Thiele, Waller, Paladino & Ferrell, (2006, p. 61) battle that â€Å"current monetary conditions and changes in the economy have a wide effect on accomplishment of associations’ promoting methodologies†. Emirates developed and created its business in The United Arab Emirates, which has a solid economy (World Fact Book, 2009). The businesses where it chose to work in are additionally influential economies of stable development (Appendix 1 shows nation GDP). Unquestionably, stable monetary development is a springboard to accomplishment of a carrier’s improvement because of expanding request in air goes by high-pay individuals for business and relaxation. Emirates recorded an expand in traveller amounts of more than 15 for every penny yearly (Stanik, et al, 2007). Late financial downturn has critical effect on the business. Air travel request has fallen significantly. A few real aerial shuttles will cut  household and global limit further in 2009 because of a falloff of about 25 – 30% throughout the last quarter of 2008 (New York News, 2009). Bisignani (2009) contends that the state of the aerial shuttle industry today is troubling. Request has weakened considerably all the more quickly in the monetary lull. IATA, which speaks to 230 aerial shuttles including British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Emirates and United Airlines, likewise raised its gauge of universal air transport misfortunes in 2008 to $8.5 billion, from its past $8 billion evaluation, as indicated by Bisignani (2009). The business is in serious consideration (Roy Morgan, 2009). The test is the way to survive past the current emergence. 2.2.1.3 Political forces Air go between nations is by arranged understandings (Dervaes, 1998). Flying regulations between governments affect incredibly on the accomplishment of an aerial shuttle’s operations. Weismen (1990) concurs most governments have strict regulations on outside transporters to work certain courses in their nations of origin to ensure the national or assigned aerial shuttle. On account of Emirates Airlines, nonetheless, Dubai is an unprotected business. Its open skies approach helped Emirates to turn into a bearer that can contend with the world’s biggest aerial transports (Stanik et al, 2007). Emirates have developed in scale and stature not through protectionism yet through rivalry – rivalry with the continually developing number of global transporters that exploit Dubai’s open-skies approach (Stanik et al, 2007). Emirates has delighted in the profits of worldwide pieces of the pie from entering global ends, for example, America, New Zealand and Australia because of late concessions to full movement rights from the two legislatures (Stanik et al, 2007). Flying deregulation has helped carriers to create for open course entrance, passageway of air transporters, focused admissions, administration recurrence (Goetz and Sutton, 1997). Further liberalization in the business is unstoppably expanding. Thus, the playfield rivalry gets to be more exceptional. 2.2.1.4 Social and cultural Social and Cultural factors have impacts on improvement procedures. Both residential and global markets where Emirates works have society differences. Dubai, Australia, Canada, U.s.a and U.k are multi-social nations. Profits originate from a mixed bag of buyers’ patterns in agreement  to their qualities, mentality, training, religion and lifestyles. As a truth, stable incomers make occasions every year. An alternate sample shows, in U.s.a, seventy five percent of high-pay individuals take an air excursion every year (Hanlon, 1999). It is genuine in European nations where most individuals have a solid interest to go on yearly occasions. Emirates has focal points working in ends of the line where the pattern of air travel is socially enhanced.(stanik et al, 2007). Emirates has delighted in the profits of worldwide pieces of the overall industry from entering global goals, for example, America, New Zealand and Australia because of late concessions to full movement rights from the two administrations (Stanik et al, 2007). Avionics deregulation has supported aerial transports to produce for open course section, passageway of air bearers, focused tolls, administration recurrence (Goetz and Sutton, 1997). Further liberalization in the business is unstoppably expanding. Subsequently, the playfield rivalry gets to be more extreme. 2.2.1.5 Technological forces Most recent engineering is a win driver in air transport industry. The requirement for innovative advances to turn into the first mover in the business will make the focal point of picking up a greater amount of the lucrative business market (Oum, Park and Zhang, 1999). Emirates is completely mindful of this rule in maintained speculations in most recent engineering seeking after its separation in the 5-star standard carrier. Emirates’ present request book remains at 244 flying machines of the most up to date Boeing and Airbus, with an aggregate estimation of pretty nearly Us$60 billion. It is now the most youthful and will be a standout amongst the most present day armadas in overall business avionics (Emirates, n.d.). It means to be a pioneer in innovative advances, Emirates marked in-flight cell telephone scope concurrence with Aero Mobile, creating the utilization of cellular telephones locally available (M2 Communications Ltd., 2006). For a long time, Emirates has been honored various grants, for example, the world’s aerial shuttle of mechanical advances, Best Global Airline Website, Best in-flight Entertainment, Best IT designer in-flight excitement and so on. (Emirates, n.d). 2.2.1.6 Sustainability Emirates states that high fuel costs and expanding lack of regular assets are  confronting makers to make more diminutive, more eco-accommodating vehicles. Further, an unnatural weather change and environmental change have debased nature’s turf and the carrier business has been a component to a more quickly developing wellspring of nursery gas outflows (Emirates, 2008). For a long time, aerial shuttles have countered weight from tree huggers with disavowals and advertising about their green certifications (Emirates 2008). Lately, aerial transports are striving to create biofuel for their planes. It is high time that aerial shuttles need to enter a natural association with airplane developers for eco-accommodating airplanes, quieter takeoffs and landings, considerably lessening ecological effects. 2.2.1.7 Success 1. Minimal Differentiation in both administration and in operations 2. Positive connections and relationship managent with suppliers. 3. Very thoroughly out scale and Extent of operations.  4. Ensure marketing through word –of –mouth through excellent service 5. Utilise the best techniques to get a slight edge. 2.2.2 Industry Environment Analysis Porter’s Five Forces This will give a snapshot of the industry competition level (Thompson et al, 2007). 2.2.2.1Threat of new entrants: Emirates is most likely not a minimal effort carrier. Throughout its introductory development stage, throughout the mid to late 1990’s, Emirates figured out how to get an administration separation that was exceptionally prominent and is presently an industry standard. It was Emirates that began the utilization of an individual TV set fit behind the seat. This was popular to the point that it helped their deals immensely and even gave them a solid brand picture of being individuals well disposed. In this way their procedure throughout that stage was to be buyer well disposed and to produce a decent brand picture. As Emirates developed, once their brand picture was secured and there was a solid Emirates vicinity in the business, the center of the methodology was  to get piece of the overall industry at the cost of contenders. This was to be finished with greatest scaling conceivable. This methodology was in fit with the prerequisites of the business as expressed above in the report. With the decrease in the premium travellers fragment and the proceeding with decrease circulating everywhere freight division in the current financial year, Emirates is currently starting to concentrate on the economy class travellers. This key movement is certain and is in accordance with the current achievement considers in the business. A fast take a gander at the activity volume of aerial shuttles is justified. 2.2.2.2 Rivalry among established companies: Emirates rival Air France-KLM and Lufthansa, the two biggest transporters in Europe; with Cathay Pacific in Asia Pacific locale; and with United Airlines in the Americas (Hoovers, 2008). These entrenched system transporters work inside the same objectives, for example, NZ, UK, Hong Kong and America. The opposition is forceful as the worldwide business is seeing boosting development of ease carriers (Hofmann, 2007). 2.2.2.3 Bargaining power of buyers: Rivalry between organizations is powerful. Emirates may confront a risk now and in future when clients these days have a capability to make requests on their items, in term of lower costs, higher administration or item quality. In this manner, Emirates is unrealistic to display high rates of turnover about whether because of value diminishing, and putting all the more in item development (Hill et al., 2007). Bargaining power of suppliers: Boeing and Airbus are the two overwhelming flying machine makers for the world’s carriers. Requests by all aerial shuttles for the most recent airplanes are put to both of them. As a vast purchaser, Emirates still need to face the risk of paying higher costs or even conveyance delays. In addition, Emirates depends such a great amount of on these suppliers as obliged items are separated while the suppliers have high mastery. 2.2.2.4 Substitute products: Most carriers offer results of comparative peculiarities: low value, great quality and fantastic administration. In the locale, for instance, other immediate substitute items to Emirates are Qantas, Cathay Pacific, and Singapore Airlines. In this manner, Emirates will encounter challenges when most players get aggressive enough to dispatch new items internationally. A case is Virgin Blue, which propelled V-Australia for Trans-Pacific administrations in 2008 (Virgin Blue, n.d). Clients profit from a more extensive decision at their results of less expensive cost yet higher quality. 2.2.2. 5 Strategic Groups There are obviously strategic groups existing in the industry in similar markets. Examples are named: Cathay Pacific, Qantas, Air France-KLM and Lufthansa. These major players offer similar products in terms of luxury passenger package, young flyers, in-flight entertainment etc. This signifies that Emirates is aggressively competing with others. 2.2.2.6 Key Success Factors Cost competitiveness: This is crucial for a capital-serious industry, for example, aerial transports (Oum, Yu, 1999). It is basic that great directors can run operation costs at least level to build most elevated benefits. To adjust absolute operation costs, the administration must take care of the issue on expense slicing in methodology to keep gainfulness (ANZ, 1990). Economies of Scale: Emirates is entrenched with solid system unions over worldwide ends. Then again, Emirates has persistently put resources into its armada and reveled in high productivity (allude to Appendix 3). This implies the organization can expand limit while still equipped to keep up altered expenses contrasted and different players. Emirates can have admittance to worldwide markets with more noteworthy topographical scope. Therefore, this makes a high obstruction to different contestants because of high expenses and extent of business. Brand loyalty and product quality: Emirates has built up its brand and image significantly within the last two decades. More customers have become loyal and chosen Emirates when travelling from the Middle East and Europe or NZ (Stanik et al, 2007) because of high quality, product innovation and excellent service. Appropriate strategy: Emirates are differentiated as a legacy airline where advanced technology, staff skills and ancillary services are the main drivers for success. Therefore, Emirates is aware of the need for continuous innovations, not only in fleet and staff expansion but also in premium services. Emirates has been renowned for technology development and skilled staff of multi-culture backgrounds (Stanik et al, 2007). 2.2.2.7Nature of customers and market segments Market segmentation has been obviously defined: legacy airlines, low-cost and budget airlines. As a luxury and legacy airline, Emirates has determined its focused differentiation, targeting at sophisticated customers and business travelers. As its logo says: â€Å"Step aboard an interactive tour of all the elements that make up the Emirates difference, on and off the ground†¦ excellent service, outstanding comfort and superior technology† (Emirates, n d.). Industry markets have become apparently segmented. Boosting budget airlines have attracted passengers and created higher competition when customers become more price-sensitive. This requires Emirates to re-consider strategic development direction. 2.3 Internal Analysis This section will explore Emirates’ key resources in an effort to identify its SWOT and outlines how the business’s value chain is structured; what strategies it has pursued and how competitive it is, compared to competitors. Strengths Advanced engineering and consistent development Developed base restrictive terminal, nearby air terminal ground administrations, lounges Large and young fleet Stable fund ability; Competence of strategic management, know-how Skilled staff of diverse cultures Brand loyalty and good will Absolute cost advantages: low home-base work expense fuel subsidies, free neighborhood taxes Economies of scale Scope of business, in term of established value chain Weaknesses Lack of nearby gifted work, just about depended on expats Finance intensely depended on oil send out, potentially bringing about budgetary deficiency when oil value drops. Cost-concentrated business due to highly diversified value chain Home government subsidies Local economy dependence. Opportunities Higher global market expansion and entrance due to expanding deregulation and liberalization Gaining promoting profits of large size and network spread when being of consolidation Reducing competition on duopolistic routes Possible entry into low cost market penetration due to absolute cost advantages and economies of scale Threats Low-cost revolution: more intense competition Unstoppable deregulation and liberalization Consolidation and concentration within alliances Fuel price fluctuation, Uncertain recovery of economic crisis Environmental constraints: climate change, global warming, shortage of resources, air pollution 2.3.1 Tangible resources In light of latest technology and excellent service strategies, Emirates is in the forefront of the industry, owning the most modern fleet of 113 aircrafts, global markets of 100 destinations in 62 countries, over 12,800  highly-skilled staff of more than 100 nationalities and significant market share (see Appendix 3). It is undeniable that these resources are vital to Emirates’ success. Emirates has highly developed infrastructure such as home-base airport, exclusive terminal, supporting services. Further, the company’s finance is highly stable. All of these contribute to competitive advantages over competitors. 2.3.2 Intangible values: Management’s competence Staff’s skills and know-how together with strong dedication are crucial to success (Stanik et al, 2007). These can be proved through how they survived and made profits after the 9/11 event which was a crisis in the industry while other airlines announced bankruptcy or losses. Emirates was cautious about not creating over-capacity and appropriate launch of new products when and where demand and profitability are high (Stanik et al, 2007). Emirates succeeded in expanding into NZ in 2003 when this new destination saw 29 international airlines offering services to the country. This know-how and core competences can not be copied. Thus, Emirates owns a great value of its goodwill, established throughout its life. Absolute cost advantages Emirates actually obtained advantages from Dubai’s ultra-efficient airport, tax-free environment and especially low-labor costs, less than 20 per cent of its total costs while competitors struggled with that up to 35 to 40 per cent (Stanik et al, 2007). Brand Image By establishing brand associations with high- profile international events through sponsorships. Currently, some prominent sponsorships are: FIFA World Cup, Rugby Union World Cup 2011, ICC World Cup 2011, Cricket Australia, Emirates Team New Zealand, 15 international golf tournaments, horse- racing events such as the Melbourne Cup, the Singapore Derby and the Dubai World Cup, car racing, tennis, arts, culture and AFL (Collingwood) Brand loyalty Emirates has built up its brand significantly within the last two decades. More customers have become loyal and chosen Emirates when travelling from the Middle East and Europe to New Zealand and Australia (Stanik et al, 2007) in terms of high product quality, product innovation and excellent service. Economies of Scale As outlined in ‘Key Success Factors’ 2.3.3 Established Value Chain Emirates is renowned for a huge range of properties, diversified business, contributing to its full operations. Most operations are owned and run by Emirates. Dubai International Airport has exclusive Emirates Terminal 3 (Emirates, n d.). Emirates adopts vertical integration into its core business structure, incorporating diversified properties. This resembles itself through manufacturing, marketing and technology. Emirates directly operates check-in, service desks, boarding and lounge services, baggage and handling and airport push-backs (Emirates, n d.). In addition, Emirates hotels & resorts; Emirates sky cargo; Emirates aviation college for pilot and staff training; Emirates engineering centre for repair, maintenance and training; Emirates catering, incorporate business support (Emirates, n d.). These activities make up smooth operations for the airline’s success. Obviously, Emirates has a great potential to create added value through vertical integration in the value chain, defined by Hill et al (2007). As stated, there are many Emirates-branded subsidiaries and partner companies that operate in conjunction with the business. On the basis of this assessment, Emirates outweighs competitive advantages over competitors, in terms of productivity, cost efficiency and entrepreneurial management. 2.3.4 Key strategies employed Reviewing the company’s business-level strategies, its focused differentiation as a 5-star standard airline, underlines product development in terms of luxury, excellent quality and service. Emirates has proven to be a successful company exploiting this market segment with high profitability. Considering its capabilities, competences, competitive advantages and economies of scale, Emirates has decided to expand global markets on its own. Explaining to the direction of not joining a major alliance, Maurice Flanagan, Vice-Chairman, answered the company had examined and could not see any business case for it (Stanik et al, 2007). Explicitly, this indicates how strategic the management are as they consider possible impact of entering major alliances with strong competitors of similar-level economies of scale, operating within the markets and channels. Taking into consideration that it is well-established and can compete with other major players with its own competitive advantages and core competences. Emirates avoids giving away its know-how, technology and other resource values to potential competitors (Hill, et al., 2007). This becomes an example of excellent strategic management. Emirates is in stable growth stage of the industry lifecycle. The company’s strategies have been appropriate. Thus, Emirates grew at an average annual rate of 25% – one of the 20 biggest and the five most profitable airlines in the world in 2004 (Stanik et al, 2007). Appendix 3 shows revenues and profitability. 2.4 Organizational Culture at Emirates Culture is very important for emirates because emirates have employees with 32 different nationalities. It is a challenge for emirates as a company to manage this and it is a need to create a same and collaborative organizational culture. Emirates efforts for management to align and create a unified vision let alone culture, there was no unified identity and individuals were acting and reacting as individuals and hot as a cohesive force. Emirates needed a cohesive force that provided an exclusive type of service in line with the emirates philosophy, to complete their task to open its flagship property of hotels and resorts within a deadline. 3 Force Field Analysis Force Field Analysis Restraining Forces Driving Forces Restraining Forces 1. Different cultures 2. Different nationalities 3. Different backgrounds 4. Different experience and want to work 5. Work in a comfortable in which they are used to 6. Loss of status 7. Personal beliefs 8. People and Feelings Driving Forces 1. Desire to work well 2. Clear communications 3. Managers want a fully operational hotel in 4 weeks and will need to encourage 4. Persuade staff to change and develop new culture 5. Vision 6. Team work 7. Communication 8. Team work 9. Change management 10. Winning 4 Success of Emirates managing culture change Emirates use different methods and techniques for change are as follows: Culture Change Process By changing and keeping a culture use the DCP (Directive Communication Psychology) change in the organization 1. Top management committed to result without their egos. In that case management should show their commitment towards productivity 2. Try to discover different factors that are difficulty of the people, in addition to earn more money. Real issues noticeable for example impression the lack of respect between the managers and the subordinates. In addition many of them believed that their contribution was important but no body pay attention to their work. There was previously open policy from the senior management to resolve that type  of problems but nobody used it. Top management discussed that they can accepted and for immediate implementation of new programs. 3. Discover who has the positive and negative influence. In this case identified total number of positive and negative influencer. 4. Apply the DC Revolution strategy by separating the total into 2 groups. This method includes five 1 day experiential guidance, every by 1 day on spot apply and spreading of skill gained at the workshop. The process included the psychological tools on how individuals could attain their own personal emotional and life goals through their work and related their own victory as a purpose of successfully cooperating with others. In an experiential atmosphere, key influencers become alert of the effects they have had on their environment and how that has affected their lives and success. They take responsibility for their world and no longer charge others for their problems. 5. Tackle the emotional issues found in the innovation procedure this is done through creating Guiding principles that they take out from their communications with others in the organization. They expand into the delegates for the group. 6. Contain trainers on site to support in the distribution of information and put into practice into the work processes. Every key influencer works with 5 others to implement what they have find out and those 5 then work with 3 to 5 others. In core, the key influencers become the consultants and the trainers simply assist these â€Å"internal consultants† to be effective 7. Include a half-day show and appearance where the entire organization attends. The key influencers perform scenes from their work environment that all can relate to and how the difficulties are overcome with the new knowledge that everyone has attained through the program. Key influencers also present amend proposed by them and the other staff to senior management 8. Top management accepts the initiatives proposed, Because they have fallen within the guidelines that were preset by the top management in the discovery process step 2. To set this commitment, the revolutionaries prepare their Revolutionary statement of belief on a large board where everyone signs it including top management in the acceptance of the new  culture they have created 9. Grip revolutionary elections where the corporate revolutionaries choose a leader from their peers. The elections also include general and 2 reserves for each general. The purpose, to keep the revolt going by having a representative that actions the revolution initiatives and organizes the revolutionaries to implementation. They also are accountable to make sure that top management doesn’t get too â€Å"busy† in the short term to apply the guiding principles that will make the big difference in the long term. The revolution leaders are elected era and part of their accountable to maintain the honesty of the guiding principles across the organization. Consulsion 27 years after its start, Emirates has established itself as a pioneer in the airline industry and has set a benchmark for other airlines to follow.Connecting100 Destinations across 6 continents, it has emerged as one of the leading airlines in terms of fleet size, income, international passengers carried and quality of service in a relatively short span of time. With a fleet of 144 aircraft and 204 aircraft on order which include 90 Airbus A380 aircraft, Emirates has been one of the few bright spots for the sluggish aviation industry and seems well on course to achieve its aim of connecting any two destinations in the world with one stop at its hub in Dubai. When dubai`s flag carieer is born, the major airline serving Middle East cities, Dubai and other was Gulf Air, an airline which owns by the governments of Bahrain, Qutar,Abu Dhabi and Oman. However, In October 1985, Gulf Air reduced its flights to Dubai owing to the government’s Open Skies policy. Gulf Air feared that its flights to Dubai merely served as a regional feeder for bigger international airlines and the Government of Dubai refused to grant it protection from foreign competition. This step prompted the Dubai government to consider launching its own airline. Six months after a feasibility study was conducted, Emirates was officially launched. The airline started off with a fleet of 2 leased aircraft and an fledging capital of $10 million, which was not considered a significant capital to run an airline even back in 1985. The government also announced that the airline would not receive any further government funding. Few would  have given the airline a chance back in 1985. However, by 1988, Emirates had already added 12 destinations and was well on target to add many more. By the early 1990s, Emirates had established itself as one of the fastest growing airlines and was carrying over 2 million passengers annually, a figure that grew to 27.5 million in 2009. It had become increasingly evident that Emirates was a tremendous success story of the aviation industry. One factor that distinguishes Emirates from other airlines is its strong financial performance. It has registered a loss only once in its 27 year history. Despite significant expansion and investment in infrastructure, Emirates’ bottom line has been largely robust. Within 8 years of its launch, Emirates’ revenue stood at $500 million and by 1998, operating revenues had crossed the $1 billion mark. The airline announced a net profit of around AED 3.5 billion ($951.6 million) for the fiscal year 2009-2010. Despite significant economic hardships faced by the aviation industry at large, Emirates has proved to be highly profitable. Over the years, the airline has been able to build a strong brand and has developed a loyal customer base. A sizable chunk of its success can be attributed to the emergence of its hub city, Dubai as a global tourist and financial hub. As the number of tourists to the city has increased significantly over the past decade, a large number of them hav e preferred to travel by Emirates. The airline also offers attractive holiday packages and hotel stays at the Burj Khalifa to lure passengers. Emirates is often seen as a symbol of Dubai’s progress and this has also been acknowledged by Sheikh Ahmad bin Saeed Al Makhtoum, Chairman and Chief Executive of The Emirates Group, the parent company of the airline. In an interview with Gulf News, a Dubai newspaper, Sheikh Ahmad said, â€Å"Together with Dubai, Emirates has grown and prospered. Working in tandem, the city and the airline have defied expectations, building an international business and leisure destination, alongside a highly successful and profitable airline.† Emirates has also raised the bar for its competitors as far as quality of service is concerned. The airline is credited to be the first airline to introduce personal in-flight entertainment systems after it installed video systems for all seats in all classes in 1992. Emirates is also one of the few airlines that allows passengers to use cell phones to make in-flight calls. Emirates’ success also stems from its ability to offer a wide range of non-stop flights from  its hub in Dubai to destinations such as New York, Los Angeles, Sydney and Sao Paulo. Currently, it operates the most number of ultra-long-haul flights with seven flights. It also offers more seats on intercontinental routes than Air France and British Airways combined. This is a rather staggering statistic given that Emirates does not have a large home market compared to other European airlines. Another key feature of Emirates’ global presence is its continuous zeal to expand operations as adds more destinations to its already vast global network. The Airbus A380, the world’s largest passenger airplane, has been a focal point of this expansion strategy. Emirates has been the largest buyer of the A380. Its $11.5 billion order for 32 A380 aircraft at the 2010 Berlin Air Show which raised its total order for the aircraft to 90 is ample testimony of its expansion plans. In addition, it also placed a $9.1 billion order for 30 Boeing 777 aircraft, which can seat over 300 passengers, at the 2010 Farnborough Air Show. The airline sees international aviation being dominated by large aircraft in the future as passengers’ preferences become more inclined towards non-stop commercial flights. It thus aims to be equipped with the capacity to handle this demand well in advance. However, the path ahead for Emirates is not entirely turbulent-free. Competitors have become increasingly wary of the airline’s progress and have often accused it of benefitting from government subsidies, a claim that Emirates has constantly denied. This accusation has prompted the airline to publish audited financial statements on its website. International carriers argue that they are unable to compete with Emirates on a level playing field. European carriers, in particular, fear that Emirates’ penchant to connect cities with long-haul flights may reduce the importance of European hubs. Lufthansa has been lobbying the German government to restrict landing rights offered to Emirates. Similarly, Canada has also restricted the carrier’s landing rights in Toronto and has refused to approve flights to Vancouver. Meanwhile, Emirates has said that international fears are unfounded and considers these recent developments to be a ploy to hinder its growth and expansion. Given, the large number of orders placed with Airbus and Boeing, Emirates will not want to be left with excess capacity when the orders are fulfilled. 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