Steel office building Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Steel office building - Essay Example As a result, world’s tallest buildings have extensively applied steel to prop up their colossal mass which had been an engineering test. Today, steel is regarded as useful in gargantuan structures in the future like the Tokyo megacity. Steel also has a high strength to weight ratio (Madsen 2005). Compared to other building materials, steel has an ideal strength to weight ratio and its light weight makes it effortlessly moved and directed which translates to reliable constructability. In addition, Reinforced concrete has a shorter floor-to-floor height by about 2 feet per floor compared to steel (Freed 2011). Steel as a building material resists rust and atmospheric corrosion making it reasonably less vulnerable (Freed 2011). When buildings are made using corrosive metals, they weaken gradually and collapse catastrophically. For this reason, steel, a non-corrosive metal, offers permanent structure (Madsen 2005). The construction of permanent structures using steel is due to being non-reactive to oxygen or other components in the atmosphere. In addition, steel does not drench in water even when bare and this means that steel does not rot (Freed 2011). While some building materials like wood have trouble cutting into precise shapes and sizes during manufacturing Madsen (2005) reveals that steel can easily be manufactured into the right shapes and sizes under the guidance of structure specifications. Madsen (2005) points out that reinforced concrete also has numerous design possibilities given that concrete takes form and provides unique aesthetics. As a result, no extra work is needed to shape steel building materials at the construction site . When used in construction, steel is recyclable and reusable which makes it sustainable especially in constructions where building wastes landfill and waste management are problematic. Through the reduction of building waste, steel building materials

Starbucks. PESTLE and Porter five force analyses Assignment

Starbucks. PESTLE and Porter five force analyses - Assignment Example It sells both cold and hot drinks, salads, sandwiches, snacks, pastries, coffee beans, and also other items like mugs, tumblers, etc. The revenue generated by the company in the year 2012 is $13.29 billion, and the operating income is $1.99 billion. The total number of employees is 149,000 till 2011. Starbucks was also the first to introduce the system of Starbucks Express. Through this system Starbucks can order online, so that when they visit the store their order would be ready for them and they would not have to wait. Even a Starbucks Card Apps was introduced for the iPhones and Android users to make payments online. This study aims at discussing the market environment of Starbucks through the strategic tools such as PESTLE and Porter five force analyses. An evaluation of the critical success factors would also be helpful in assessing the business environment further. In the next section the strategic analysis would be further done in details by identifying the strengths and weak nesses, resources, core competencies and the value chain of Starbucks. Finally the strategic fitness of Starbucks would ascertain the sustainability of the company.PESTEL is the macro environmental analysis tool, which is used for scrutinizing the political, economical, social, technological, legal and environmental factors. In this study the in-depth PESTLE analysis of UK would assist in understanding the business environment of Starbucks.... The present prime minister of UK is David Cameron, who has taken several initiatives in dealing with the ongoing recession and for diminishing the fiscal deficit of the country. Economical Factors Due to the economic slowdown and a decline of 0.8 percent in the growth rate, the rate of job cuts is also increasing in UK. The rate of unemployment was recorded to be 8.1 percent in 2011, and expectation of an increasing unemployment rate was high. It has been projected that by 2012, the unemployment rate would be 8.3 percent, which is the highest in 16 years. So it can be said that the economic conditions would also affect the customers who visited coffee shops and restaurants because the purchasing power of people has decreased. Social Factors The government of the country has to face many challenges for maintaining the stages of public services on recommendation. Since the budget deficits, slowing economic condition and other economic issues, so the authorities were not in a condition to maintain the level of expenditure on the projects associated with social welfare. (Marketline, 2012a, p. 4). In UK people prefer to have coffee more than tea, so though economic conditions are adverse, but people would not change their preference for coffee, which would also benefit Starbucks. Technological Factors UK has the second largest aerospace after US. The manufacturing sector of the country supports about 276,000 employees. The government of UK has also stated that the level of knowledge in science and innovation has increased in the country by 1.9 percent in the year 2004, and it is expected to rise to 2.5 percent by 2014. Even coffee shops in the country are technologically well equipped. It can be understood by