ERG international,inc Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

ERG international,inc - Essay Example The case study of Environmental Research Groups International, Inc. (ERG) proffered issues pertinent to evaluating the overall business plan and future prospects of the organization given previous experiences. ERG is currently owned by spouses Claude and Sherrie Robbins, who both have been instrumental in steering the company from its meager beginnings as a two-person operating entity, to an organization spanning the areas of energy, natural resources, and the environment. With a just recently lost bid for a 5-year, $12 million contract for the Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) technical services hotline, Claude Robbins remains optimistic of the future thrusts and prospects for the organization. 2. Executive Summary The study aims to present an understanding of facts and situations that need to be addressed given diverse areas that impact ERG’s operations. The paper would be outlined by initially presenting a summary of the business plan of ERG with i dentified objectives. Likewise, the discourse would delve into relevant details of the business including a brief historical background of the company, its products and its development and growth process. The company’s strengths and weaknesses would likewise be identified; including the main issues that currently face the organization. Finally, the factors that contributed to ERG’s success and the key factors affecting the industry, in general, would be determined, prior to discussing the proposed strategies that would be recommended to achieve identified goals. A. Brief Summary of Plan To achieve growth goals of increasing revenue and size, ERG plans to focus on using government and utilities as their target markets with large and mid-size contracts. The organization likewise plans to target the private sector through focusing on the top 1000 Fortune companies. ERG would offer services ranging from developing, managing, and evaluating demand-side management (DSM) prog rams, conservation programs, and alternative supply side options; as well as the development of innovative options for fuel consumption and improved technological efficiencies. The strategies that are planned to be used, as envisioned by ERG’s personnel are: â€Å"(1) creating a board of directors, composed partly of influential industry insiders who were likely to be aware of requests for proposals, (2) spreading out the marketing function by providing incentives to existing staff for obtaining future contracts, and (3) hiring a person whose sole task would be to solicit projects, with compensation tied to acceptance rate or profitability† (Winn 12). B. Major Objectives According to Claude L. Robbins, President of ERG, there are growth plans for the organization, to wit: â€Å"using government and utilities as a base, ERG would like to (a) expand our federal government contracts, particularly multi-year small business (and Woman-Owned Business) set-asides (which we h ave not actively pursued in the past), (b) develop long term consulting relationships with public and private utilities that are developing, managing, and evaluating demand-side management programs, conservation programs, and alternative supply side options (including cogeneration, and alternative fuels), (c) increase current work level for present client base. In the private sector ERG would like to focus on: (a) working with Fortune 1000 companies to develop energy efficiency and conservation policy as well as developing energy efficient buildings, (b) developing private sector industrial DSM and conservation programs, and (c) work with companies to develop/test new energy efficient technology† (Winn 11). As clearly indicated, the goal for the company is â€Å"to increase ERG's revenues and its size substantially over the next five years† (Winn 11). 3. History of the Business A. Background of the Company The company was originally formed by spouses Claude and Sherrie Robbins on Valentine’

Economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 6

Economics - Essay Example This is the biggest quarterly raise in the series since the period of March 2007 to May 2007. Part-time employment raised by 3,000 during the quarter to arrive at 7.93 million. During the period of December 2010 - February 2011, â€Å"there were 929.4 million hours worked, up 11.0 million over the quarter and up 15.8 million on the year. Average hours worked per week were 31.8, up 0.2 over the quarter and up 0.1 over the year† (UK Statistics, pp. 1-21). This raise in standard hours worked took place completely with permanent employees. Government has failed to bridge the gap that existed between the poorest and wealthiest within society during the 1980s. During the most recent decade, income inequality has lessened a little and has stabilised on a number of measures, but the huge inequality growth of the 1980s has not been rectified (Sen, p.101). The UK has the eighth most terrible level of income inequality of the 27 members of European Union. The number of individuals living unaccompanied or in single-parent family units raised in the UK more quickly than in all other nations; standard size of family unit in the UK decreased from 2.6 percent to 2.3 percent between 1995 and 2010. Income shortage - that is, a family unit with less than half the nation's average earning - declined from 13 percent 11 percent in the UK during the same time frame. Trends in UK Labour Market Labour market is not a homogeneous phenomenon across the UK. Various parts of the UK have labour markets that differ across a range of aspects, not least the sort of professional openings that they present in addition to the percentage of employments in different sectors and on different income levels that they support. There is a little proof that good, highly paid, high skilled jobs and low paid, low skilled employment are both becoming more intense in some particular regions, leading to a polarisation of the service opportunities facing various societies. This has two inferences for ed ucational provision. First, the extent and excellence of prospects accessible to young individuals through the job-based route in regions with a concentration of meagre professions may be satisfied, and that related issues might focus on the provision of a sufficient number and quality of job placements for individuals pursuing education-based professional offerings. Second, in some particulars regions the inducements on offer to youngsters, from many of the opportunities within the local labour market will be weak (Hills, p.194). Income inequality in the UK grew speedily during 1977 and 1990, reaching a highest point since the war. The rate at which inequality arose in the UK was quicker than in any other nation with the exemption of New Zealand. During 1999 and 2010, the poorest 20 percent to 30 percent of the population failed to gain from financial growth, contrary to the rest of the post-war phase. Reasons for Income Inequality in UK Income inequality has a lot of reasons, a fe w of which are quite apparent, others which remain unidentified and yet others which stay uncertain. On a structural level, the central reason of income inequality is variations in â€Å"hours worked per family unit per year† (Jenkins & Micklewright, p.39). Besides overall hours worked, income inequality is because of dissimilar rates of earnings per hour, as well as unearned income, and the reasons of these