Sift cupcake and dessert bar Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Sift cupcake and dessert bar - Essay Example Since its inception, a few members of staff have been on board and they include Corey Fanfa who joined the Sift team after quitting her career. She spent most of her childhood with Andrea, the baking business was not new to her either, and she quite enjoyed it. Sift has been enlisted on several Food networks including the cupcake wars where Andrea and Corey entered. This gave Sift the much edge that they needed and helped improve the skills of the business and learn what they needed to do to make the better cup cakes. For Sift, the business is just not a business but a passion for them as they are engaged in an activity that they love and are a passionate about. Sift has a wide market being in a college town and ensuring that the customer is satisfied with the product has seen the business grow in leaps and bounds to where it is today. Evaluation and Strategy Andrea, Her Husband, Jeff and Corey are the managers of the business and the key decision makers and they feel that is about t ime that the business expanded and became the premier cupcake business of choice in the Bay area of San Francisco. Cupcakes are an extremely popular product in the United States base on the fact that they are cheap and also very sweet and yummy. They are also easily accessible and when well made, they give the client a satisfying feel. The product was made popular by the movie Sex and the City and has since then grown to the extent of having a food channel Cup Cake Wars, which Sift occasionally, display their product offerings. The main problem facing the goal that Sift wants to achieve is their line of Credit. They needed to hire more staff that will help the business to rapidly expand and become the premier cup cake shop. The current line of credit that they have in the bank cannot be used as it will hamper the efforts that they have of seeking the small business loans which they badly need to ensure that they become the premier cupcake shop in san Francisco. To be able to achieve these goals, Sift needs to clearly map its goals and objectives as well as know what it wants to achieve as of now. What is important to them as of now is to acquire the capital through the loan and hence expand to become the premier cup cake shop. However, their efforts can be hampered by the lack of expertise as the three of them cannot quite manage to handle the bigger business and they will require more skills and competencies to be able to meander through it. The business has several factors working for them against those working against them. Firstly, there is a huge demand for cupcakes in the market. This means that in spite of the harsh times, there will always be demand for the cakes. The cost is relatively cheap which means the consumers can afford the product. The size of the cupcakes is small and hence not a big indulgence especially with everyone being weary of their health. The product is viewed as a snack for getting the much needed sugar fix as people watch what the y are eating. The other success factor for the business is a market niche, which is already established. The business has a huge customer base in women who are high-income earners and are sure of what product they are looking for and what product they want. There is also a presence of a huge market online for the business. Sift has been able to grow to a large business since its

Virtual Realities Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Virtual Realities - Essay Example NASA's mandate is to address three elements before introducing a new training modality: reduce training costs, improve safety and improve astronaut performance. Any new technique needs to demonstrate superiority in at least one of these parameters. It is important to note that there is a significant 'S-curve' effect in adopting any new methodology: lots of effort going in, then significant payback as the new methodology is adopted and demonstrates greater productivity. One can look at NBS as a 'perfected' technology, one in which a lot more effort will not improve the methodology very much. If, on the other hand, IVR can be shown to be superior at present, the 'S-Curve' effect dictates a greater improvement in the future. NBS has been established since the 1960's to help train astronauts on EVA. There is therefore a substantial record of learning times on specific tasks, which can then be correlated using real spacewalk experience. With over 30 astronauts who have gone through the NBS training, then the actual EVA experience, we therefore have a database to establish four elements: Two elements: cost to train and effectiveness, can be measured on NBS in a fairly straightforward way. Safety, however, can only be subjectively addressed. This is because there have been no significant safety problems that have led to the loss of an astronaut or a hazard that has stopped an entire mission. In this case, a 'score sheet' for NBS would look as follows: On the ground In space Cost per trained astronaut $/astronaut N/A Tasks performed effectively % of tasks performed effectively % of tasks performed effectively Tasks performed safely Subjective rating (1-10) Subjective rating (1-10) By comparing on-the-ground NBS scores with in-space actual scores, we can therefore 'normalize' the NBS effectiveness and safety results to correlate them with in-space EVA results. Each of the tasks judged to be important can be thus scored, and a complete score for all NBS tasks for eventual EVA tasks can be evaluated and scored, as follows, one score sheet each for effectiveness and safety: Effectiveness Score Sheet (example) Ground Space % achieved Weighting 1-10 Activity 1 95% 85% 85/95= 89% 9 Activity 2 99% 98% 98/99=99% 6 . . . By weighting each task in regards to its importance to the mission, NASA can come up with an overall weighted score which allows for establishing the effectiveness of the training, and how much additional improvement can be made per task, and in overall EVA tasks performed. The three ways to use this are: 1. Establish the effectiveness of training using NBS on the eventual results. 2. Create a 'score' which normalizes NBS results for use when looking at IVR, and 3. Establish which areas have the greatest potential for improvement, thereby increasing overall scores. The above scoring approach works for both the safety