Tourism & Hotel Management Universitas Ciputra Surabaya has been held a Food safety Seminar: Consumers Need To Know on Tuesday, November 27th. 2007 at Pelangi Room Shangri-la Hotel Surabaya.

Speakers:
1. Ir. Thomas Darmawan - Head of GAPMMI (Indonesian Food & Beverage Association) who has shared about the government policy about food safety.
2. Prof. Ir. Hari Purnomo, M.App.Sc., Ph.D. who has shared about the importance of consumers need to know about microbiological hazard, chemical hazard and physical hazard.

Makan Coklat yuk...

Coklat, bagi sebagian kalangan merupakan makanan cemilan yang lumayan menggoda. Tapi ada juga yang 'mengharamkan' mengkonsumsi coklat dengan pertimbangan bakal membuat gemuk, penumpukan kolesterol, lemak dan sebagainya. Mungkin perlu saatnya anda tahu, bahwa coklat juga mengandung zat yang bisa membuat anda nyaman, asal dikonsumsi dalam jumlah tertentu, dijamin coklat tidak membuat tubuh anda melar.

Sebuah penelitian di Universitas Cambridge menyatakan pengaruh makan coklat bersifat psikologis. Kombinasi aroma dan rasanya membuat makan coklat menjadi sebuah pengalaman yang menyenangkan.

Coklat mengandung flavonoids, komponen yang membantu memelihara kesehatan jantung, sirkulasi darah dan mengurangi pembekuan darah yang dapat menyebabkan serangan jantung dan stroke. Coklat telah dikonsumsi suku Indian Mayan sejak 2600 tahun lalu. Christopher Columbus adalah orang yang pertama kali membawa beberapa biji coklat untuk ditunjukkan ke Raja Spanyol Ferdinand. Kemudian coklat diperkenalkan di seluruh daratn Eropa oleh Ferdinand de Soto.

Saat ini coklat tersedia dalam bentuk bubuk yang sudah di patenkan oleh Dutchman Conrad J. van Houten sejak tahun 1828. Selanjutnya Joseph Fray dari Inggris membuat bahan coklat untuk dikonsumsi pada tahun 1847.

Coklat dapat disajikan dengan berbagai cara, baik berupa makanan maupun minuman. Bahkan digunakan sebagai pelengkap perayaan beberapa hari istimewa, contohnya hari valentine dan paskah.

Ternyata banyak manfaat yang diberikan si coklat ini, sebagai bahan kosmetik dan perawatan tubuh yang berfungsi untuk melembabkan, melembutkan dan memutihkan kulit. Coklat juga baik untuk kesehatan jantung, karena mengandung antioksidan dan flavan 3-ols yang dapat menurunkan resiko kardiovaskular. Selain itu, senyawa theobromine yang terdapat pada coklat juga dapat mengobati batuk.

Banyak orang yang masih ragu mengkonsumsi coklat karena kandungan susu dan gula yang terdapat pada coklat. Apakah anda juga masih ragu menyantap coklat setelah tahu banyaknya manfaat dari si coklat ini? So...Makan coklat yuk...

Sumber: www.perempuan.com

12 Key Challenges in Management of Business Travel & Tourism

1.The fragmentation of the industry & its trade associations
2. Training & Education
3. The Lack of Data on Business Travel & Tourism
4. The Impact of New Technologies
5. Meeting the needs of women business traveller
6. Meeting the needs of disabled travellers

7. Satisfying the consumer & the customer
8. The balance between work & play & the relief of the stress
9. Evaluating industry performance objectively
10. Reducing the negative environmental impacts
11. Funding & managing destination marketing
12. Managing the cross-cultural nature

Source:
Business Travel and Tourism (2001) by Swarbrooke, J. & Horner, S. Butterworth Heinemann.

Control System

Controlling is the process of establishing and implementing mechanisms to ensure that objectives are achieved. With multiple types of organizations and stakeholders, there is no universally accepted performance measure or control system; the control must fit the situation. The five
different types of control needed at the different stages of the systems process are:
1. Preliminary Control (Inputs)
2. Concurrent Control (Transformation Process)
3. Rework Control (Outputs)
4. Damage Control (Customer/Stakeholder Satisfaction)
5. Feedback

Firms are commonly organized into four major functional departments: operations, marketing, human resources, and finance. Information is the fifth major functional area that may be a stand-alone department or may fall under the finance functional department.

Operations Function
The operations, also called production and manufacturing, department is the functional area that is responsible for actually making the goods or performing the service.

Marketing Function
The marketing, also called sales, department is the functional area that is responsible for selling the products.

Human Resources Function
The human resources, formerly called personnel, department is responsible for attracting, developing, and retaining employees.

Finance Function
The finance, or accounting, department is the functional area that is responsible for recording all financial transactions, for obtaining funds needed to pay for inputs, and for investing any surplus funds.

Information (MIS) Function
The MIS department collects data from all departments and external sources as its inputs.

The Control Systems Process
Step 1. Set objectives and standards.
Step 2. Measure performance.
Step 3. Compare performance to standards.
Step 4. Correct or reinforce.

A budget is a planned quantitative allocation of resources for specific activities. Notice that the definition of budget does not include money. This is because all types of resources can be allocated.

Coaching is the process of giving motivational feedback to maintain and improve performance. Training is an important part of coaching, as coaching is continuous development. The four steps in the coaching model are described below.

Management by walking around (MBWA) has three major activities: listening, teaching, and facilitating.

There are four types of problem employees:
1. Employees who do not have the ability to meet the job performance standards.
2. Employees who do not have the motivation to meet job performance standards.
3. Employees who intentionally violate standing plans.
4. Employees with problems.

Source:
Management Fundamentals, (2006) by Lussier, R. N.,(3rd ed.). Thomson.

Managing Change & Innovation

The changing business environment presents many challenges. An organization interacts with its external and internal environments. The four types of change are changes in strategy, in structure, in technology, and in people.


Change also takes one of two broad forms: incremental or radical. People go through four distinct stages when facing change. The four stages of the change process are denial, resistance, exploration, and commitment. People resist change because of fear of the unknown, learning anxiety, self-interest, and fear of economic loss or loss of power, status, or control.

Seven steps can help you overcome resistance to change:
1.Develop a positive trust climate for change.
2.Plan.
3.Clearly state why the change is needed and how it will affect employees.
4.Create a win-win situation.
5.Involve employees.
6.Provide support.
7.Create urgency.


Organizational that stimulate innovation are commonly structured as flat organizations with limited bureaucracy, have a generalist division of labor, coordinate with cross-functional teams, and are flexible. Use of the informal system is common, and authority is decentralized. Job design includes job enrichment and work teams.


Diversity refers to the degree of differences among members of a group or an organization. An organizational culture can value innovation, quality, and diversity.

Organizational development is the commonly used method of managing change. Organizational development (OD) is the ongoing planned process of change used as a means of improving performance through interventions. The humans resource management department is usually responsible for OD. There are nine OD interventions.

Source:
Management Fundamentals, (2006) by Lussier, R. N.,(3rd ed.). Thomson.

Expanding the Business

Capital Budgeting is a comparison of the costs and benefits of a proposed project to determine whether it is feasible. The benefits of this project are the revenue that the restaurant will generate over time. In most cases, the precise amounts of a project's costs and benefits are not known in advance and can only be estimated.

Capital Budget: A targeted amount of funds to be used for purchasing assets such as buildings, machinery, and equipment that are needed for long-term projects.

Capital expenditures are typically classified into 3 categories: expansion, development and expenses

Why merge? There are several reason why:
Immediate growth: A firm that plans for growth may prefer to achieve its objective immediately through a merger.
Economies of Scale: Growth may also be desirable to reduce the production cost per unit. Manager Expertise: A firm may merge with another to gain access to key managerial talent. Tax Benefits: Firms that incur negative earnings (losses) are sometimes attractive candidates for mergers because of potential tax advantages.


Source:
1. Introduction to Business (2006) by Jeff Madura, (4th ed.). Thomson.