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8 documents tagged with: Electrical Clear results
Interactions Between Electrical and Nonelectrical Systems
An electrical system is often used to drive a non-electrical system (in an electric stove, for example, electric energy is converted to heat). Interactions between electrical and non-electrical systems are often described in terms of power. Electrical power associated w...
Current Voltage Electrical
Electrical Fields and Their Effects
Electrical Basics
The fact that charges exert forces on one another over a distance is explained by the idea of an electric field.
Charges and Their Motion in Materials
ll electrical principles rely on the concept of electrical charge, or simply charge. The concept of charge is based on the observation that some bodies exert non-gravitational forces on one another when they are placed c...
Electrical Charge
Parallel Elements
Discussion of what it means for electrical elements to be in parallel.
Circuits Electrical Parallel
Series Elements
Discussion of what it means for electrical elements to be in series.
Electrical Series
Breadboard Basics
An explanation of the layout of breadboards and how they are used to form electrical connections.
Breadboard Electrical
The Base for Electrical Components
Electronic components are often assembled and interconnected on a flat surface known as a circuit board. The several types of existing circuit boards may be divided into two broad categories: those intended for prototype...
Circuits Hardware Electrical
Similarly to charges, magnets exert forces on one another over a distance. Each magnet has two poles—a north and a south pole. A magnet's north pole will be attracted to the south pole of another magnet, while the north...
Electrical Magnetism
An electrical system is often used to drive a non-electrical system (in an electric stove, for example, electric energy is converted to heat). Interactions between electrical and non-electrical systems are often described in terms of power. Electrical power associated with a particular circuit element is the product of the current passing through the element and the voltage difference across the element.
ll electrical principles rely on the concept of electrical charge, or simply charge. The concept of charge is based on the observation that some bodies exert non-gravitational forces on one another when they are placed close together. Like gravity, this force acts at a distance; but unlike gravity, the bodies can either attract or repel each other (gravity only attracts masses to one another).
Electronic components are often assembled and interconnected on a flat surface known as a circuit board. The several types of existing circuit boards may be divided into two broad categories: those intended for prototype or experimental circuits, and those intended for production and/or commercial sale.
Similarly to charges, magnets exert forces on one another over a distance. Each magnet has two poles—a north and a south pole. A magnet's north pole will be attracted to the south pole of another magnet, while the north poles or south poles of two magnets will repel each other.


Traversing the waterways that zigzag the UK Sarah brought books to buy and barter to points north, south, east and west. Social media played a key role. People offered weird and wonderful swaps, including a month's grocery shopping and "a severe haircut from a Slovenian psychotherapist." I ask Sarah her advice for budding entrepreneurs. "Take the plunge," she says, and then quotes Tennyson, "'Come my friends / 'T is not too late to seek a newer world / Push off…'" You can read about some of Sarah's experiences in her debut novel, The Bookshop That Floated Away.


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Ground zero rebuilding still unfinished, 20 years later
Date: September 9, 2021, 16:00
in: Science & Health
NEW YORK — Two decades after its destruction in the Sept. 11 attacks, the work to rebuild the World Trade Center complex remains incomplete.
Two planned skyscrapers, a performing arts center and a church are still unfinished at the site, which plays host Saturday to the annual ceremony honoring nearly 3,000 people killed in the attacks.
Visitors to the commemoration will find a place that no longer has the feel of a construction zone, though, even as the work continues.
The memorial plaza with its twin reflecting pools opened in 2011. One World Trade Center — the spire originally known as the Freedom Tower — opened in 2014, as did the National Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum. An underground transit hub and shopping mall opened in 2016. Three other glassy towers built to replace those lost in the attack are open.
Cranes and construction fences, however, can still be seen around the site. Here is a look at the unfinished work:
Planned as the second tallest skyscraper at the site, 2 World Trade Center, might someday reach 80 stories. But for now, just a low stump of a building exists as a placeholder, covered with colorful graffiti-style murals at the northeast corner of the Trade Center site.
Developer Larry Silverstein has said he wants to sign an anchor tenant for the tower before starting construction.
Despite the coronavirus pandemic emptying out office buildings, the now-90-year-old says he is confident a tenant will be found so the Norman Foster -designed tower can be built in his lifetime.
"At the end of the day, my goal is to put the shovel in the ground as soon as possible, and complete the rebuilding project we started 20 years ago," Silverstein said in an emailed statement.
After years of delays, the Ronald O. Perelman Performing Arts Center is under construction just to the west of 2 World Trade Center's future site and is scheduled to open in 2023.
While a performance center was part of World Trade Center master planner Daniel Libeskind's original scheme, disputes over its budget and design threatened its viability in the years after Frank Gehry and the Norwegian firm Snøhetta were tapped to design it in 2004.
In 2015, the center's leaders announced a new team of architects, Joshua Prince-Ramus of Rex Architecture P.C. plus the firm Davis Brody Bond, who have designed a translucent glass and marble cube.
Once finished, the arts center's top floor will house a flexible set of spaces that can be configured into one, two or three theaters for drama, dance, film and music. Free performances will take place on a small stage on the lobby level.
"All of the components are automated, so the walls move, the floor and the seats move," said the center's president, Leslie Koch.
Perelman, the banker and investor, secured naming rights with a $75 million donation. Besides that gift, the $500 million center is being built with private donations and $100 million from the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., the agency created after the attacks to spur redevelopment. Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg is the chair of the board and a donor.
GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH
The long-delayed construction of the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine, replacing the only house of worship destroyed in the attacks, is now proceeding briskly after years of delays.
The building, designed by architect Santiago Calatrava, is going up near the southeast corner of ground zero and will look down on the memorial plaza from a perch atop another building that holds the entrance to the World Trade Center's underground garage.
Slated for completion next year, the church is surrounded by a small public park and features a Byzantine-style dome and marble cladding that can be lit from within.
The project was first delayed by a dispute over location between the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the trade center. Then, project costs soared and construction halted in late 2017 after the archdiocese fell behind on payments.
A new entity, Friends of St. Nicholas, led by a core of wealthy Greek Americans, assumed management on behalf of the archdiocese and raised the remaining funds. Construction resumed in August 2020, with final cost estimates of close to $85 million.
The archdiocese plans a lighting ceremony on Sept. 10 at the unfinished building.
Construction has yet to begin on the tower that will replace an office building, occupied by Deutsche Bank, that was was damaged and contaminated by debris from the collapsing twin towers. The original building was demolished between 2007 and 2011 — a job that came with its own tragedy. Two firefighters died in the building during a 2007 fire.
The LMDC and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in recent years chose a partnership led by Brookfield Properties and Silverstein Properties to develop the now-cleared land as a 900-foot (270-meter) tower with office and retail space in addition to 1,325 apartments.
"We expect if everything goes according to plan that that building should be complete within about five years," said Silverstein Properties' marketing executive Dara McQuillan.
Plans call for 25% of the apartments to be designated as affordable and rented at below-market rates. But some neighborhood residents say that isn't good enough. They would like all of the apartments to be affordable.
"The universal demand was always that there be affordable housing," said Todd Fine, a lower Manhattan preservation advocate. Fine called 330 below-market-rate apartments "very minimal."
Associated Press journalist Peter Smith contributed to this report.
For more AP coverage of the 9/11 anniversary from New York and around the globe, visit our hub at https://apnews.com/hub/9-11-a-world-changed.
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Home Cover-Up 9/11 Commission Report: much of 9/11 Commission
Report: much of 9/11 Commission
By Stephen C. Webster
RawStory.com
Much of the material cited in the 9/11 Commission's findings was derived from terror war detainees during brutal CIA interrogations authorized by the Bush administration, according to a Wednesday report.
"More than one-quarter of all footnotes in the 9/11 Report refer to CIA interrogations of al Qaeda operatives subjected to the now-controversial interrogation techniques," writes former NBC producer Robert Windrem in The Daily Beast. "In fact, information derived from the interrogations was central to the 9/11 Report's most critical chapters, those on the planning and execution of the attacks."
"… [Information] derived from the interrogations is central to the Report's most critical chapters, those on the planning and execution of the attacks," reported NBC. "The analysis also shows – and agency and commission staffers concur – there was a separate, second round of interrogations in early 2004, done specifically to answer new questions from the Commission.
"9/11 Commission staffers say they 'guessed' but did not know for certain that harsh techniques had been used, and they were concerned that the techniques had affected the operatives' credibility. At least four of the operatives whose interrogation figured in the 9/11 Commission Report have claimed that they told interrogators critical information as a way to stop being 'tortured.' The claims came during their hearings last spring at the U.S. military facility in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba."
"Commission executive director Philip Zelikow (later counselor to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice) admitted, 'We were not aware, but we guessed, that things like that were going on. We were wary…we tried to find different sources to enhance our credibility,'" Windrem continued. "(Zelikow testified before the Senate on Wednesday, May 13, that he had argued in a 2005 memo that some of the tactics used on suspected terrorists violated the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.)"
He adds: "At least four operatives whose interrogation figured in the 9/11 Commission Report have claimed that they told interrogators critical information as a way to stop being 'tortured.' Those claims came during their hearings in the spring of 2007 at the U.S. military facility in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba."
Philip Zelikow, a former colleague of then-National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice, was appointed executive director of the 9/11 Commission despite his close ties to the Bush White House, and he remained in regular contact with Rove while overseeing the commission, according to New York Times reporter Philip Shenon's new book, The Commission: The Uncensored History of the 9/11 Investigation.
Shenon, who led the Times coverage of the 9/11 Commission and still writes for the paper, based his book on myriad interviews with staffers and members of the commission, according to Holland. In addition to his ties to Rice and Rove, Zelikow had been the "architect" of a plan to demote Clinton-era counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke, who sounded the alarm about Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda months before the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks they perpetrated.
Zelikow "had laid the groundwork for much of what went wrong at the White House in the weeks and months before September 11. Would he want people to know that?" Shenon writes, according to Holland's summary.
Shenon also reports that Zelikow received at least two calls from Rove while serving as 9/11 Commission executive director, and he made numerous calls to the White House, Holland says.
Zelikow has not denied speaking to Rove, but he apparently claimed their conversations involved his old job as director of the University of Virginia's Miller Center of Public Affairs.
9/11 Commission members Thomas Kean and Lee H. Hamilton wrote that although US President George W. Bush had ordered all executive branch agencies to cooperate with the probe, "recent revelations that the CIA destroyed videotaped interrogations of Qaeda operatives leads us to conclude that the agency failed to respond to our lawful requests for information about the 9/11 plot."
"Those who knew about those videotapes — and did not tell us about them — obstructed our investigation."
They continued: "There could have been absolutely no doubt in the mind of anyone at the CIA — or the White House — of the commission's interest in any and all information related to Qaeda detainees involved in the 9/11 plot.
"Yet no one in the administration ever told the commission of the existence of videotapes of detainee interrogations," Kean and Hamilton wrote.
They said the panel made repeated, detailed requests to the spy agency in 2003 and 2004 for information about the interrogation of members of the Islamic extremist network but were never notified about the existence of the tapes.
The CIA has since revealed that in 2005 it destroyed videotapes of prisoners being tortured.
"I'm not a lawyer and I'm not sure if they broke the law or not but what they did do, I think, is try to impede our investigation," said Kean. "Because we asked for…anything to do with those detainees, because they were the ones who knew most about the plot of 9/11 and that was our mandate."
He continued: "We asked for every single thing that they had, and then my vice chairman, Lee Hamilton, looked the director of the CIA in the face and said, 'look, even if we haven't asked for something, if it's pertinent to our investigation, make it available to us.' And our staff asked again and again of their staff and the tapes were not given to us. So there was no question."
In a telephone survey of 1200 individuals, just 47% agreed that "the 9/11 attacks were thoroughly investigated and that any speculation about US government involvement is nonsense." Almost as many, 45%, indicated they were more likely to agree "that so many unanswered questions about 9/11 remain that Congress or an International Tribunal should re-investigate the attacks, including whether any US government officials consciously allowed or helped facilitate their success."
A number of widows of the victims of attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 said the 9/11 Commission was a failure for not addressing all the concerns and questions about the day's events. They have called for a new, independent commission to probe the real history of that day.
Lee Hamilton
Richard Clarke
Thomas Kean
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Music and its power in my life
Creating playlists has become a particularly gratifying hobby of mine, as well as collecting vinyl records of my favorite albums from a range of artists. I view both as a form of curating the personal archive of music that I'm currently attuned to.
Photo by Ella Powell | The Cavalier Daily
By Ella Powell
It's hard to imagine my world without music. I like to keep my brain buzzed and my mind alive with the constant flow of melodies and rhythms — it provides a soundtrack to my life. Whether I'm playing my "On the Town," playlist while walking to class or cruising down the street with my favorite indie anthem blasting, music is an experience that encapsulates much of what I value and may effectively preserve time, as it revives forgotten memories from any given moment and prompts nostalgic reflection.
Thinking back on my day, week, month or even year, any minute detail or feeling I'm simply incapable of describing is captured through the lens of the musical realm. There is always something new waiting to grace my ears and whole inner being as I dive into the meaning behind a lyric or am moved by a melody so intriguing that I slip into a dream-like state. Time appears to stop as my mind roves to higher thoughts beyond everyday musings. For example, within my day-to-day life at college, everything becomes a bit repetitive with back-to-back classes and the constant flow of assignments. However, listening to music allows me to break this monotonous flow, and I develop personal ties with songs, artists and entire albums looking to form a greater understanding of the human experience.
Personally, every song holds an intrinsic meaning — whether the artist intended for the lyrics to carry a particular message or for a chord to produce an effect on listeners. The meaning of a song is ambiguous due to how interpretation may differ from listener to listener, leading me to view music in a poetic light.
As a result, I've begun making playlists based on feeling, gauging both how I interpret the meaning behind music and new feelings that went unnoticed before. At any given moment while listening, I envelop the vibe I was looking to create with a playlist. I tend to literally get on beat with the music if I'm walking, and I feel more at ease if the production flowing into my ears coincides with my mood. For me, music works as an emotional outlet to both produce authentic feelings and enhance pre-existing thoughts and perceptions.
I'm also inspired to explore new feelings sparked by music, pairing songs together that form the reality which is that emotion. This is not an abnormal thing to do — as I'm sure the vast majority of people have their own divisions of happy and sad playlists — but acknowledging the act of creating something based off of an emotion is highly intriguing to me and is something I am always trying to perfect.
In this way, music plays a very active role in building upon persona and character. Just reflecting back on my music taste from a year ago, I feel like I have progressed a lot in experimenting with what I listen to instead of constantly revisiting the same songs. For this reason, I see myself taking a liking to more experimental artists like Ariel Pink and MGMT, who produce different sounds, but similar feelings.
Both of these artists are featured on my "Melodically Methodic" playlist, which I made trying to capture certain oddities or eccentricities of music. The divine chords sync with my mind as it roams freely along with the bold productions of unique vocals and electronic alterations offered by the psychedelic rock and synth pop genres. The dream pop and shoe gaze genres then bring me to a different place of ambient reflection and transcendence from artists like Beach House and Cocteau Twins. I have several playlists devoted to these softer sounds, including my "Ambience," "Vibey," "Daydreamer" and "Ethereal" playlists. These playlists may be part of a broader category of sound, but they nonetheless create distinct feelings for me.
Creating playlists has become a particularly gratifying hobby of mine, as well as collecting vinyl records of my favorite albums from a range of artists. I view both as a form of curating the personal archive of music that I'm currently attuned to. Both are ever evolving to match my expansive musical identity, but collecting vinyl makes the experience feel a little more real — almost as if I'm committing myself to an album by seeking out a copy in this novelty form. I am anticipating the day when I've not only broadened my collection, but I have gained more life experience to then reflect back on such moments, which are sealed away tightly in the cellophane wrapping of any given album.
An example of this is how I identify "Currents'' by Tame Impala as a defining album from my teen years, but the memories I hold of the album have the potential to evolve as my life progresses. This is evident in my memory of seeing Tame in concert for the first time. That experience has already enhanced my perception of the album, and going to see them perform live again soon, I am invited to relive this moment — the moment which I so often wish to rejoice in once more.
As a song plays, it brings me back to that setting in a metaphysical sense. Of course I cannot literally go back to any given moment in my past, but no matter where I find myself listening to music, whether it be in my bedroom or in the car, a song may act to transport the emotions from a certain instance and give a clue into who I was, who I am now and who I look to become.
For me, music helps answer the complex questions posed by life without providing a direct answer to the significance behind humanity. We're not meant to figure everything out or feel a total sense of belonging to the world. Instead, additional perspective is added to thoughts and feelings I once believed to be unrelateable, allowing me to relish in a moment of feeling understood. "The Mundane" is my playlist that includes some of my timeless favorites as well as the songs I have on repeat in the present moment. I like to think that if a song remains on the playlist long enough to be deemed a timeless favorite, it serves as a remnant of the self I may look back on as characterizing my persona within a specific time or situation. Wherever I go, I know I will continue to evolve prosperously along with music, as there are always new leaps and dives to be made in the expansive fields of the mind and melody.
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Perspectives & Events
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Vietnam's New Decree on Work Permits
On 1 May 2013, the new Labour Code of Vietnam came into force, introducing many significant changes concerning employment matters. To give effect to these changes, the government has issued a number of guiding regulations. This legal update summarises the salient features of the new work permit regulations and new regional salaries provisions.
More Restrictive Provisions on Work Permits
The new Labour Code of Vietnam restricts the employment of expatriate employees in Vietnam. To implement the provisions of the Labour Code on work permits, on 5 September 2013 the government issued Decree No. 102/2013/ND-CP (Decree 102).
As a general rule, in order to work in Vietnam a foreigner must secure a work permit from the labour authority (Work Permit). Exception to the Work Permit requirements is granted to management board members of joint stock companies, lawyers who are licensed by the Ministry of Justice, and those who come to Vietnam to handle emergency incidents. It is also granted to those who are internally transferred in businesses that operate within any of the 11 service sectors identified under Vietnam's WTO commitments, and to other expatriates as provided for by the Labour Code. The Ministry of Industry and Commerce is authorised to issue a list of businesses within these 11 service sectors; we note, however, that so far the list has not been issued, and in practice the Work Permit is still required.
Decree 102 introduces a new pre-recruitment procedure that must be carried out by employers. Specifically, employers (excluding contractors) must submit for approval an annual report on their requirements for expatriate employees to the chairman of the local Provincial People's Committee. Any change to these requirements must also be reported.
The term of the Work Permit must not exceed two years (as opposed to three years under the preceding legislation). Upon expiry of his or her existing Work Permit, the Work Permit holder should apply for a new Work Permit (instead of applying for an extension to his or her existing Work Permit, as with the preceding legislation).
An expatriate employee who is subject to Work Permit requirements and who is working in Vietnam without a Work Permit may be expelled from Vietnam.
Decree 102 also provides the procedures for the issuance of and extensions to Work Permits.
New Minimum Salaries Applicable to Foreign Invested Enterprises
On 14 November 2013 the government issued Decree No. 182/2013/ND-CP which provides for new regional minimum salaries of employees, including employees of foreign invested enterprises. Decree 182 replaces Decree No. 103/2012/ND-CP (of 4 December 2012).
Decree 182 provides for four regional minimum salaries: VND 2,700,000, VND 2,400,000, VND 2,100,000 and VND 1,900,000, depending on which region the relevant enterprise is located in.
The new regional minimum salaries provided for in Decree 182 apply from 1 January 2014, and are paid to untrained employees performing the simplest of jobs. As from 1 January 2014, employers are required to adjust the minimum salaries to be paid to their employees if those stated in the relevant contracts are lower than the new minimum salaries. Employers are encouraged to pay their employees higher salaries than the regional minimum salaries.
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Beer and wine, Chicago history, Lit, Nonfiction, Reviews
Review: Chicago Beer: A History of Brewing, Public Drinking and the Corner Bar by June Sawyers
Since its early days, Chicago has had a deep connection to drinking. As author June Skinner Sawyers (a regular contributor…
Adam Prestigiacomo
Beyond, Event, Front page
Socially Distanced Chicago Christmas Gift Guide 2020
2020 is weird, and there's no sense not acknowledging the differences between this and most other holiday seasons, if even…
Event, Games & Tech, Preview
Preview: The Logan Playtest Party Returns Tomorrow for its Sixth Year
What do The Logan Theatre, C2E2, Revolution Brewing and The Nerdologues have in common? We suspect a lot of things,…
Beer and wine, Cafes and restaurants, Food
Revolution Brewing Brings Official Beer of C2E2 with Galaxy Hero, C2E2 Food Specials at Pub
Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo (C2E2) attendees are sure to get thirsty while walking around McCormick Place. Never fear –…
Nicholas Blashill
Your Chicago Curated Weekend: 12/13 – 12/16
We're inching closer and closer to the end of the year and there's still so much left to do. There…
Preview: Friday's Logan Playtest Party 2018 Offers a Great Way to Get Into Chicago's Games Scene
We in the Games & Tech section are advocates for games–whether that's encouraging writers and readers to see games…
Gallery: We Are Cosplay's Pre-C2E2 Cosplay Competition at Revolution Brewing
It was an all-around great evening at Revolution Brewing's Kedzie Tap Room when all us nerds invaded for the…
Fresh Start to Your Week: 3/12 – 3/14
St. Patrick's day is rapidly approaching! There are plenty of events before the city turns green from celebration, so don't…
Your Chicago Curated Weekend: 1/11 – 1/14
Let's get the massive number of events rolling with this curated weekend! There is so much to do this weekend…
Please note: I could go on for days, but I'll keep it short. The election cycle has run its course…


Every day, millions of vehicles travel many miles over the roadways in the United States. These vehicles not only transport people, but also cargo. Transporting cargo is essential to our economy. Because of this, there is a continuing growing demand for trucking services. Reports indicate that as much as 80 percent of the nation's cargo is transported by the trucking industry.
With this demand, passenger vehicles are being forced to share the roads with 18 wheelers and tractor trailers. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), one in 10 highway deaths occurs in a crash involving a large truck. In 2015, 3,852 people died in large truck crashes.
However, passenger vehicle occupants are not the only individuals at risk. According to Trucks.com, approximately 745 truck drivers were killed on the job in 2016, and most of these work-related deaths were caused by traffic collisions. This makes a truck driver's job one of the deadliest occupations in America. In fact, over the past five years, truck driver fatalities have risen 11.2 percent. Experts in the trucking industry believe the increased reliance on trucks to transport goods is related to the rise of online shopping and demands for rapid delivery.
Most truck drivers strive to be safe drivers, but it is important to understand that they cannot control the other vehicles on the highway. Truck drivers have a duty to operate their big rigs in a manner that is safe, but also depend on all of us to operate our vehicles safely around them.
Whether you are a truck driver who was injured while on the job or a person who was injured in an accident with truck, you can count on Metzger Wickersham to provide sound legal advice. Our attorneys have decades of experience representing both truck drivers and passengers of smaller vehicles. Often, injured truck drivers may have a workers' compensation claim.
Your chances of securing a fair settlement for your losses are only as strong as the legal team you have by your side. Our personal injury truck crash attorneys can review your case and recommend the best course of action. Contact Metzger Wickersham today for a free consultation.


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College Hotline
With Jon Wilner
Stanford football
Cal football
USC football
UCLA football
Oregon football
Karl Benson
WAC football: The latest on expansion options
Posted on September 29, 2010 by Jon Wilner
Commissioner Karl Benson just held a teleconference that was billed as informational only — no announcements on future membership.
And it was just that:
* WAC officials just met in Dallas with representatives from five schools under serious consideration for membership starting in 2012-13: Texas-San Antonio, Texas State, Montana, Seattle and Denver.
Both Texas State and UTSA have declared their intentions to move to FBS from FCS, while Montana is exploring that possibility. "We believe all three have the resources to make the move," Benson said.
Karl Benson, WAC football
WAC football: League takes Fresno State, Nevada and the MWC to court
Reminded again with today's news that I should have been a contracts lawyer, specializing in conference realignment …
WAC commish Karl Benson just announced that — to nobody's surprise — the conference is taking Fresno State and Nevada to court to guarantee the schools will remain in the league through the 2011-12 academic year. (They want to leave next spring.)
As part of the legal complaint, which was filed in Jefferson County, Colo., the WAC is seeking to prohibit the Mountain West from including Fresno State and Nevada in its conference football schedule until the fall of 2012.
The schools and the MWC have 30 days to answer complaint, which, Benson said, is an entirely separate matter from the $5 million penalty the schools are facing for leaving the WAC.
Fresno State football, Karl Benson, Mountain West Conference, WAC football
San Jose State football: BYU series set for 2011-12
Posted on September 2, 2010 by Jon Wilner
San Jose State will play Brigham Young in a home-and-home football series in the 2011-12 seasons as part of an agreement announced Wednesday.
The Cougars fill the void in the Spartans' schedule left by the departure of league rival Boise State, which is entering the Mountain West Conference next season.
The specifics of the San Jose State-BYU series have not been announced, although it seems likely that the 2011 game will be in Provo because SJSU was scheduled to play in Boise.
The series is part of a larger agreement between the Western Athletic Conference and BYU, which announced Tuesday that it will compete as a football independent beginning next season.
SJSU won't receive a guarantee for its trip to Provo. But a home date with the popular Cougars, who haven't played in Spartan Stadium since 1968, could be a sellout.
"I don't know how you don't benefit from playing BYU,'' Spartans athletic director Tom Bowen said. "It helps you financially. It helps your credibility, and it helps your recruiting.''
The agreement with the WAC (five games in 2011 and four in 2011) helps BYU fill out its independent football schedule.
SJSU, Louisiana Tech, New Mexico State and Hawaii will play the Cougars twice. Idaho will play them once.
"There was an immediate need for our schools to find a replacement game (for Boise State),'' WAC commissioner Karl Benson said.
Benson also announced the formation of a membership committee, which includes Bowen, to explore WAC expansion options in the wake of Nevada and Fresno State's decision to join the Mountain West.
Those schools are expected to remain in the WAC for two more seasons – meaning the league will have just six members in 2012 unless it expands.
"We'll explore all options and all membership models,'' said Benson, who doesn't expect a final decision until the spring.
The league's goal is to have at least two new teams – Montana and Texas-San Antonio are believed possible options – in place for the 2012 football season.
*** Early version of a short news story I wrote for Thursday's Merc following the WAC-BYU announcement. Please note that I've included SJSU's non-conference schedules for the 2011-12 seasons (not appearing in the paper) at the bottom.
We're all-realignment, all-the-time here at the Hotline. I'll be following WAC expansion closely over the coming months and, of course, will have any and all updates on the Pac-12 division alignment.
BYU football, Karl Benson, San Jose State football, Tom Bowen
Thoughts on BYU's decision, the WCC's gain, the MWC's loss and the WAC's next move
*** Wednesday noon update: BYU has locked it up with ESPN and with the WAC.
A thunderous summer of off-the-field news continues …
* We'll hear more about this in the next 24 hours, but clearly BYU found a way to put together a football schedule for 2011 without the ready-made inventory of WAC games that had been lined up before Fresno State and Nevada blew town.
That was a huge obstacle, perhaps the biggest, in the drive for independence. My guess is that BYU fans won't be thrilled with the '11 schedule, or even the '12 lineup. But there simply aren't many options — most schools are booked solid for several years.
But I'd also guess that BYU fans will love the schedules starting in '13 or '14, when teams from AQ conferences have open dates to fill and ESPN can broker as many games as it pleases.
BYU football, ESPN, Fresno State football, Jamie Zaninovich, Karl Benson, Mountain West Conference, WAC football, West Coast Conference
WAC football: Highlights from commissioner Karl Benson's teleconference
Posted on August 19, 2010 by Jon Wilner
Here are the highlights from the call, which lasted nearly 90 minutes. Please note: The membership and alignment speculation at the very bottom is mine, not Benson's.
* In opening statement, Benson calls moves by Nevada and Fresno State "selfish actions."
* Says WAC will pursue current FBS and FCS schools for expansion options.
* Says Nevada did not sign binding agreement but that UN president Milt Glick agreed to the agreement in subsequent call with Benson. WAC legal counsel thinks Reno campus will be held to the verbal agreement.
BYU football, Fresno State football, Karl Benson, Mountain West Conference, San Jose State football, WAC football
WAC football: Expansion plans (such as they were) put on hold
Posted on June 29, 2010 by Jon Wilner
WAC commissioner Karl Benson announced today that the WAC will delay any expansion of its membership until July 1, 2012 at the earliest. This means that for the 2011-12 season, the WAC will operate as an eight-team league that consists of Fresno State, Hawai'i, Idaho, Louisiana Tech, Nevada, New Mexico State, San Jose State and Utah State.
"The WAC and its eight member schools remain well positioned for the future," said Benson. "Over the past few weeks, the WAC's Board of Directors and athletics directors have explored several membership options. We believe it is in the best interest of the WAC to operate as an eight-team league for the 2011-12 season. We will now take several months to 'drill down' on the various membership options before making any decisions that would impact the 2012-13 season."
"Throughout its history and since its inception in 1962, the WAC has operated very successfully as an 8-team, 9-team and 10-team league. Each of those models have their advantages and all will be looked at very closely. Also, a 12-team league that would allow the WAC to split into divisions and conduct a football championship game will be evaluated."
"The future for the WAC is very bright, and we will continue to provide our student-athletes with the opportunities to compete on both the regional and national stages in all of our sports."
Not that the Western Athletic Conference was on the verge of expanding in the wake of Boise State's departure, but the league is now, officially, committed to not expanding anytime soon.
The conference just issued a press release stating that it "will delay any expansion of its membership until July 1, 2012 at the earliest."
That means the WAC will be an eight-team league for the 2011 football season (the first without Boise State).
Boise State football, Karl Benson, Mountain West Conference, WAC football
WAC football: Options for replacing Boise State
Taking a break from Pac-10 expansion to assess possible WAC moves in the wake of Boise State's long-anticipated jump to the Mountain West …
The WAC is now an eight-team league stripped of its top money-maker: Boise State's appearance in the BCS meant a $200k windfall for each school (and millions for the Broncos).
Commissioner Karl Benson, who has repeatedly played the part of meatball surgeon over the years — patching the league together after various defections and realignments — believes that nine teams is the optimal number for football and 10 for basketball.
Which could mean the WAC has several expansion moves forthcoming.
Boise State football, Karl Benson, Mountain West Conference, WAC football, West Coast Conference
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What they're saying about the Ravens
By The Baltimore Sun
A collection of what other media outlets are saying as the Ravens prepare for Sunday's game on the road against the Buffalo Bills.
* NFL.com's Gregg Rosenthal ranks his picks for the top quarterbacks in the NFL so far this season. The Ravens' Joe Flacco falls under the "Almost there" category.
I couldn't quite pull the trigger to put any of these guys in the top 10 this week. Flacco has played better on Game Rewind than the metrics show. His best game was against Houston.
* Peter King of SI.com's Monday Morning Quarterback lists Tandon Doss as one of his "Special Teams Players of the Week" picks.
Tandon Doss, PR-WR, Baltimore. Cut and re-signed by the Ravens in their desperation for a receiver/returner, Doss made the play of the game in a 21-point Baltimore victory over Houston. Doss took a Shane Lechler punt at the Ravens' 18, veered toward the right sideline, and sprinted/tiptoed for 25 yards of the trip. His 82-yard touchdown run was a tribute to his athletic ability and jarring speed.
* In preparation for Sunday's game, ESPN.com's Jamison Hensley notes the Ravens' ties to the Buffalo Bills defense.
A week after their reunion with safety Ed Reed, the Baltimore Ravens will see familiar faces on the Bills defense when they visit Buffalo on Sunday. It's not the same level as Reed, but there are plenty of connections.
* Hensley also continues his weekly examination of Flacco, including a prediction for this week's game against the Bills.
The Ravens are going to want to run the ball against a Bills defense that allowed the second-most yards on the ground this season. That means another week of limited throws for Flacco. It's unlikely Flacco will crack 300 yards but he could produce a couple of touchdown passes against the Bills.
* Don Banks of SI.com writes about the Ravens' "Throwback Sunday" win over the Houston Texans.
The Texans never once dented Baltimore's defense for a big play, with Matt Schaub's longest completion going for 18 yards, and Houston's longest rushing gain being 10-yard runs by Arian Foster and Ben Tate. Juxtapose that with the debacle in Denver, when [Peyton] Manning torched the Ravens new defense for nine passes of at least 23 yards. [Matt] Schaub's 25 completions on 35 attempts went for just 194 yards, a modest 4.5 yards per pass play. Houston (2-1) had scored 30-plus points in beating San Diego and Tennessee, but the Ravens never let the Texans get much offensive rhythm built.
Schaub was sacked three times, but pressured consistently, with seven different Ravens getting credit for a quarterback hit. Linebacker Terrell Suggs had a sack, and both defensive linemen Haloti Ngata and Arthur Jones dumped Schaub once each. In the secondary, safety James Ihedigbo did his best [Ed] Reed imitation, registering nine tackles, including two for a loss, with two passes defensed, including a key fourth-down deflection in the fourth quarter.
Add in the significant contributions in pass coverage of rookie safety Matt Elam and third-year cornerback Jimmy Smith, and it's clear Baltimore's defense has come together quickly in the past two weeks. The Ravens defense lost the likes of [Ray] Lewis and Reed, and linebackers Paul Kruger and Dannell Ellerbe, but its noticeably younger, faster and more athletic than any defense of recent Baltimore vintage.
* The Wilmington (Del.) News Journal's Matthew Albright reports on Ravens wide receiver Brandon Stokley's advice for a group of Delaware high school students.
State leaders are planning to distribute the game and personal finance curriculum to middle and high schools and community groups across the state. State treasurer Chip Flowers kicked off the program Tuesday with a sample game featuring students at Christiana High School.
"We want you to succeed in life, and to do that you need to know how to manage your money," Flowers said.
Flowers was joined by Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Brandon Stokley. Stokley told students that he's seen first hand what can happen to NFL players who make millions in a short burst, but don't manage that cash well and end up hurting.
* On FoxSports.com, former Ravens linebacker and special teams player Brendon Ayanbadejo discusses the use of IV supplements and the effects on recovery from injuries.
The evolution of the athlete is in many ways directly related to the evolution of medicine.
Starting around 2009, once-devastating injuries that typically took 12-18 months to heal saw recovery time cut in half to around 6-12 months for some.
In the years since, we have marveled at the super-human recoveries of many athletes who had sustained serious injuries. Even on a week-to-week basis, the ability to bounce back and be ready to play has improved directly with advancements in medicine.
Follow along as I give you an inside look at what many professional athletes do in order to extend their careers, increase recovery plus healing time, and make them feel extraordinarily super-human. Legally.
* ProFootballTalk's Mike Florio ranks the Ravens at No. 3, up three spots from last week.
What time is it? Not time to get on the party bus.
[More from sports] Ravens gameday portal: Postgame reaction from Ravens' 19-17 win over Lions on Justin Tucker's NFL-record 66-yard FG »
* ESPN.com lists the Ravens at No. 11, unchanged from last week.
Though Peyton dismantled them in the season opener, the Ravens quietly rebounded well. Baltimore is one of three defenses to not allow a passing touchdown in the past two weeks.
* Hensley offers expanded analysis of ESPN.com's ranking -- something with which he doesn't agree.
There was little argument for the Baltimore Ravens to be ranked higher than No. 11 for the previous two weeks. But a third straight week at this spot makes no sense. The Ravens (2-1) routed the No. 4 Houston Texans by three touchdowns on Sunday and they failed to move up one spot.
As one of the six voters for the Power Rankings, I had the Ravens at No. 5. It's obvious that few agree with me. Other voters leapfrogged two undefeated AFC teams (the Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs) as well as the Indianapolis Colts over the Ravens. So the Colts climb five spots after beating the No. 3 San Francisco 49ers and the Ravens stay put after beating a top-five team. The defending Super Bowl champions are now the seventh-highest-ranked team in the AFC.
* Former Ravens coach Brian Billick, on FoxSports.com, places the Ravens at No. 8, up four spots from last week.
It's only fitting that on a day when Ed Reed and Ray Lewis were both back in Baltimore that the Ravens scored a defensive touchdown en route to a 30-9 shellacking of the Texans.
* Pete Prisco of CBSSports.com moves the Ravens up four spots to No. 11 this week.
That defense came up big against the Texans. They might not be flashy on offense, but they can still play good defense.
* The Associated Press Pro32 poll lists the Ravens at No. 8, up four spots from last week.
* NFL.com's Elliot Harrison of NFL.com puts the Ravens at No. 11, up one spot from last week.
Mike Preston: With so many NFL openings, it's past time for more Black coaches to be hired | COMMENTARY
That was a heckuva defensive performance in Baltimore; my bad for changing my pick last week. My original thought was that the Ravens would show a lot of pride and thwart the Houston Texans' attack, but then I fell victim to "NFL analyst nervousness," given the loss of Ray Rice and the general poor performances by John Harbaugh's offense. Oops. Several big plays were made by Baltimore's front seven, especially Daryl Smith, who had 10 total tackles, a pick-six and a pass defensed. That's a heady stat line for an inside linebacker
Brandon Stokley


text:
49Langaran
Gail Sparrow
Langara Alum | Indigenous Leader
On October 13, 1970, a crowd of staff, students, and VIPs made the "great trek" from the King Edward Education Centre to herald the opening of the new VCC Langara campus, including a motorcade of 150 cars.
Meet more 49 Langarans.
Roger Holdstock
Retired Employee | Film Studies Pioneer
Roger was an English Instructor and Chair of the Langara English department. He made significant contributions to Langara's Theatre Arts, Interdisciplinary, and Continuing Studies departments, introducing Film Studies as a discipline at Langara. Roger also developed the College's first screenwriting course in collaboration with Studio 58–a project that would go on to become the Langara Film Arts program. He was an active faculty member serving on the Board of the Langara Faculty Association and founded the Langara Gala, an annual event that raised funds for student success. Roger continues to be a strong supporter of the College, funding The Roger Holdstock Scholarship that supports students in a film-related English course. Roger served as the Provincial Articulation Chair of Creative Writing and in 1992, he received the ACCC National Teaching Excellence Award, and in 2005, the Langara Teaching Excellence award. Roger currently serves as Vice-Chair of the Board of the DOXA Documentary Film Festival and Secretary on the Board of Directors of the 110 Arts Co-operative. He is a member of the folk band Fraser Union.
Guy Robertson
Current Employee | Instructor & Emergency Management Consultant
Guy is a Director of the Alcuin Society, which is dedicated to the world of fine printing and rare books. He is a multidisciplinary instructor at Langara and has taught courses on rare books and bibliography, archives, museum studies, records management, reference services, and readers' advisory, Indigenous references, disaster planning, and information security. He has published several books and dozens of articles on different aspects of disaster response, business continuity, corporate security, risk management, fraud and forgery detection, and post-disaster recovery. He is an internationally experienced emergency management consultant and planner. Guy has managed the library at Thurber Engineering Ltd in Vancouver since 1982 in addition to teaching at Langara. In 2011, he became an instructor in information management and security in the School of Public Safety at the Justice Institute of British Columbia. In 2016, he joined TMC IT & Telecom Consulting Ltd. to provide information security, records management, and disaster planning services to a broad range of clients.
Wawmeesh Hamilton
Langara Alum | Journalist
Wawmeesh is an Associate Producer with CBC Radio Vancouver. He is a contributing writer for CBC Indigenous, CBC Radio, The Tyee, and the National Observer. Wawmeesh was also a reporter and photographer at The Discourse, where he wrote about reconciliation and urban Indigenous people and issues. A graduate of the Langara Journalism program and the UBC Graduate School of Journalism, Wawmeesh is an advocate for increased deeper journalism in Canada about Indigenous people, communities and issues. He has worked with Journalists for Human Rights to cover Indigenous youth projects across Canada and he lectures nationally to journalism students about deepening their knowledge about Indigenous people and communities and about creating relationships with them. He was the architect of and contributor to the 2018 Jack Webster Award-nominated The Discourse — CBC Indigenous Series Reconciliation in small towns: Is it happening? He has also won multiple awards for both his writing and photography from the BC-Yukon Community Newspaper Association and the Canadian Community Newspaper Association.
Thank You ToOur Partners
49 Langarans Contributing Sponsor
49 Langarans Friend/Community Partner
49 Langarans Media Partners
The success of the school. – Austin Everett
Musqueam relations and the next 49 years of changing indigenous education. – Rick Ouellett
I'm celebrating... 1991-2018... dating back to our separation from VCC in 1994.... – Ian McBain
Celebrating years of inspiration, hard work, compassion and possibilities. Congratulations Langara. – Claude Painter
Langara is fabulous!! :) – Avneet Sandhu
I'm celebrating the Trek, Pep Rally, BSN 10 year celebration, and Retiree Nursing Celebration. – Wanda Pierson
As one of the old timers - I've been teaching at Studio 58 since 1974 - I am thrilled to have witnessed the evolution of Langara from the modest Vancouver City College campus to the outstanding educational institution it is today. The progress has been truly remarkable and we should all be proud of our accomplishments. – Kathryn Shaw
Forever grateful to Langara for the opportunities given to me as a student, and now as a proud Alumni. Always a Langaran. – Christine Woodington
The quality of the teachers. – Jamil Fernando Garcia
Langara's excellent theatre program and the carving for reconciliation course was magnificent. I was impressed with instructors and support staff. Thank you, there's always more to study. – Amelia G
My 1.5 years of being a Langaran – Jasmeen Kaur
I love studying at Langara and meeting amazing classmates and teachers. – Monika Szucs
Thanks to Langara's Self-Employment Program for giving me a hand and supporting our success. – Orson Chan
I was new to Vancouver, Langara's coaching staff gave me a community of high performance. Something I was missing. – Jordan
49 Facts — NO. 25
More than 500,000 international students have found a home away from home with a Canadian family through Langara's esteemed Homestay Program.


text:
Catalogo Ricerca UNIPI
Experimental Validation of a Reduced Order for Radial Turbopump Design
The paper illustrates the experimental validation of the reduced order model recently developed at Alta, Pisa (Italy), for the simultaneous and preliminary geometrical definition and non-cavitating performance prediction of centrifugal turbopumps. The proposed model has been employed to size and design the test machine, named VAMPIRE and equipped with a six-bladed radial impeller, a vaneless diffuser and a single-spiral volute. The pumping and suction performance of the machine have been determined in a series of tests in Alta's Cavitating Pump Rotordynamic Test Facility (CPRTF). The measured pumping characteristic proved to be in excellent agreement with the model predictions, thus effectively validating the design model. In addition, the experimental determination of the pump's cavitation characteristic is fully consistent with the expected suction performance of comparable machines, confirming the capability of the proposed model to generate hydrodynamically efficient turbopump designs.
Titolo: Experimental Validation of a Reduced Order for Radial Turbopump Design
Autori interni:
VALENTINI, DARIO
PASINI, ANGELO
PACE, GIOVANNI
Lucio, Torre
D'AGOSTINO, LUCA
Anno del prodotto: 2013
Abstract: The paper illustrates the experimental validation of the reduced order model recently developed at Alta, Pisa (Italy), for the simultaneous and preliminary geometrical definition and non-cavitating performance prediction of centrifugal turbopumps. The proposed model has been employed to size and design the test machine, named VAMPIRE and equipped with a six-bladed radial impeller, a vaneless diffuser and a single-spiral volute. The pumping and suction performance of the machine have been determined in a series of tests in Alta's Cavitating Pump Rotordynamic Test Facility (CPRTF). The measured pumping characteristic proved to be in excellent agreement with the model predictions, thus effectively validating the design model. In addition, the experimental determination of the pump's cavitation characteristic is fully consistent with the expected suction performance of comparable machines, confirming the capability of the proposed model to generate hydrodynamically efficient turbopump designs.


If you have already had a piece of jewellery handcrafted for you, you'll know how much more rewarding it is compared to simply walking into a store and purchasing 'off the rack'. You can choose how many gemstones you'd like, how big the diamonds should be and make sure it's going to suit you perfectly. All jewellery by made by The Middle Green is handmade so there is no added premium for having a bespoke order made just for you. The creation process takes a few steps which are outlined below.
First things first, we need to know what you want to achieve. You might have a very clear idea or it may just be 'an engagement ring that will make her say yes'. If you want a particualr flower incorporated or a symbol or inspiration from a place you have visited, these can all be brought into the design. We will talk about dimensions, time scales and budget. Nothing will be promised that can't be done.
After the initial discussions you can expect to recieve the first designs within a week or two. Depending on how specific the first chat was these could be almost finished representations of the final piece or 3-4 options for you to consider and then expand upon. It is also possible to send the designs as a digital 3D model which you can download a free app to view on a smartphone or tablet. This way you can really see it from every angle and give feedback accordingly.
Once we have created your preferred design, you will be sent a final quote detailing what will be made, a likely completion date and a final cost.. If you wish to proceed, 50% of the cost is payable up front with the remaining 50% due when you are totally happy with the finished item. As you can see on our Facebook and Instagram pages we like to share what is being created in the workshop as well as the finished articles. If you would like your project to be kept to yourself, now is the time to say. You can still be updated with progress photos as often as you would like.
As soon as your jewellery is polished and in it's presentation box you will be notified and delivery arrangements can be made. Only when you are completely satisfied with what we have made will the final balance be due. This includes finger sizes but if it is a surprise gift you can come back afterwards for any adjustments required. All work is guaranteed for 2 years as long as the jewellery has been appropriately cared for. You are welcome to bring any item of jewellery made by The Middle Green back once a year for a complimentary clean and polish as well as a general check for any wear and tear. Lastly, we really appreciate it if you can leave a review on Google or Facebook. We know it might be the last thing you're thinking about but it helps us out so much!


text:
The US Embassy responds to the fact of wounding and detention of Georgian citizen by the Russian military
The United States Embassy in Georgia responds to the fact of wounding and detention of Georgian citizen by the Russian military
"U.S. Embassy Tbilisi is alarmed and deeply troubled by reports that Russian-led security forces shot, wounded, and detained a Georgian citizen on July 11 near the village of Kvemo Chala, along the administrative boundary line of Russian-occupied South Ossetia.
We condemn this shooting and detention - another escalation in a series of provocative actions taken by Russian-led forces in recent weeks. Such a dangerous and unwarranted incident would not have occurred if Russia had fulfilled its commitments under the 2008 ceasefire agreement, including withdrawing its forces to pre-conflict positions and allowing unfettered access for the delivery of humanitarian assistance. We call for the immediate release of the Georgian detained in this incident. The United States remains resolute in its support for Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity. It is imperative, particularly for the safety of civilians, that Russia halt its destabilizing actions, fulfill its commitments under the 2008 ceasefire agreement, and cease its occupation of Georgia", - reads the statement.


Carpenters in Nazareth still work the old-fashioned way.
Linda Hallel gives an unconventional free tour of Nazareth's Old City.
Stores are re-opening in Nazareth's Old City.
The Elbabour spice shop has been grinding them out for more than 100 years.
The parade of ships through the channel seems never-ending.
The views from the top rival those of the Rock seen from the distance.
As landmarks go, it's pretty unmistakable.
Africa to the right; Europe to the left.
There's nothing like transportation with some personality.
After dinner there was drumming under the stars.
Omar prepares the dining tent.
After a few hours, we reached the permanent bivouac site owned by our guesthouse.


text:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

namespace SULS
{
    public abstract class Person
    {
        private string fName;
        private string lName;
        private int age;

        public Person(string fName, string lName)
        {
            this.FName = fName;
            this.LName = lName;
        }
        public Person(string fName, string lName, int age)
            : this(fName, lName)
        {
            this.Age = age;
        }

        public int Age
        {
            get { return this.age; }
            set
            {
                if (value < 0) throw new ArgumentException("Age can not be negative");
                this.age = value;
            }
        }

        public string LName
        {
            get { return this.lName; }
            set
            {
                if (value.Length < 3 || null == value) throw new ArgumentException("Invalid last name");
                this.lName = value;
            }
        }

        public string FName
        {
            get { return this.fName; }
            set
            {
                if (value.Length < 3 || null == value) throw new ArgumentException("Invalid first name");
                this.fName = value;
            }
        }

        public override string ToString()
        {
            return string.Format("{3}: Name: {0} {1}, {2} years old", this.FName, this.LName, this.Age, GetType().Name);
        }

    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
All Studies / Food & Beverage
How Diageo Became One Of The World's Largest Alcohol Producers
Discover how Diageo became one of the world's largest producers of spirits and beers. Through developing their illustrious brand portfolio.
Written by Cascade Team September 29, 2021
Diageo's story did not begin until 1997 when Guinness merged with food and beverage wholesaler Grand Metropolitan PLC. The $15.8 billion deal went smoothly and the two companies merged under the Diageo name.
The two companies had already brought dozens of brands under one umbrella with the merger, but launching additional brands, especially beverages, has become one of the company's key missions. The Diageo Group includes global brands such as Johnny Walker whiskey, Guinness beer, Ciroc vodka, Captain Morgan rum, and Aviation Gin.
A few key facts about Diageo:
Diageo employs 28,025 people around the world.
Diageo generated net sales of GBP 12.733 billion in 2021.
The company sold more than 4 million units of product.
The group's reported profit was uplifted by 6%.
Diageo is present in 180 countries through its brands.
The company holds more than 200 different brands.
A History Of Two Brands
Diageo's history goes back much further than the company's founding in 1997 when the Guinness brand merged with Grand Metropolitan PLC.
The father of Arthur Guinness, born in 1725, was a brewer. He learned the trade from him and established his brewery in Celbridge. In 1759, he leased an acre and a half of land near St. James's Gate on River Liffey in Dublin for 9,000 years. Pale and ale beers were not very popular in Ireland; whiskey and gin were, on the other hand, much more common, so he decided to make black beer. He created his black beer using secret ingredients, and it was a huge success. By 1769, the beer was exported to Great Britain. In 1775, the town council accused him of using more water than allowed for brewing. But Guinness would do anything to defend his brewery and fought back. After his death, his successors continued to run the business, and the brand has since become a symbol of Ireland.
Throughout its history, the beer has been produced in only three varieties: Porter or Single, Double or Extra, and Foreign Stout, which was destined for export.
In 1868, it was among the first three major breweries, with more than 350,000 barrels. By 1876, it had produced nearly 780,000 barrels. In October 1886, Guinness became a public company with average sales of over one million barrels per year. All this was achieved without advertising or discounts. The company was worth £6 million at the time, and the shares were oversubscribed by twenty times the issue price so that the share price immediately rose by 60% on the first day of trading.
Over the years, numerous quality control procedures were introduced, including those pioneered by William Sealy Gosset - under the pseudonym Student - in 1899, which later became known as the Student t-distribution and Student t-test. At the same time, the company was generous to its employees, distributing one-fifth of its total income to its 5,000 employees in 1907.
By 1914, the company had sold over 2.5 million barrels of beer, representing 10% of the British market at the time. In 1930, it was one of the seven largest companies in the world. In the early 1960s, the company switched from wooden to aluminum kegs. Sales declined in the 1970s, so the original recipe was changed to use pale malt and the process was refined with isomerized hop extracts. In 1986, the company was renamed Distillers Company, which also made it a controlling body in the United Kingdom.
In 1997, Guinness merged with Grand Metropolitan and continued production under the Diageo name, although it remained a separate entity and retained all rights and trademarks for its products.
In 2005, the London brewery closed and all production and distribution were moved to Dublin. Today it is distributed in over 120 countries.
Grand Metropolitan PLC
MRMA Ltd (short for Mount Royal Metropolitan Association) was founded in 1934 as a hotel business. Maxwell Joseph founded Grand Hotels (Mayfair) Ltd. after World War II and MRMA merged with the company in 1957, the merged company group grew rapidly. A public offering of the company was completed in 1961.
From the accommodation market, it was a natural step forward to open toward catering. By 1967, it acquired Bateman Catering and by 1968, Midland Catering. The company then purchased Express Dairies in 1969, Berni Inns, and Mecca bingo halls in the next year.
Following this, it entered the brewing business by purchasing Truman, Hanbury & Buxton in 1972 and Watney Mann in 1973. Through these new acquisitions, the group held onto quite a few alcoholic beverage brands, including J&B whisky, Baileys Irish Cream, Gilbey's gin, Piat wine, and Croft sherry, and Smirnoff vodka. To reflect the change in direction and the rapid expansion of the company, it was renamed Grand Metropolitan in 1973.
MRMA Ltd (short for Mount Royal Metropolitan Association) was founded in 1934 as a hotel company. Maxwell Joseph established Grand Hotels (Mayfair) Ltd after World War II and MRMA merged with it in 1957, the merged group of companies grew rapidly. Grand Metropolitan Hotel Limited was listed on London Stock Exchange in 1961 and changed its name to Grand Metropolitan Hotel Ltd. in 1962.
From the accommodation market, it was a natural step to turn to the hospitality industry. By 1967, the company acquired Bateman Catering and in 1968 Midland Catering. The company bought Express Dairies, Berni Inns in 1969, and Mecca's bingo halls the following year.
It then entered the brewing business, acquiring Truman, Hanbury & Buxton in 1972 and Watney Mann in 1973. Through these new acquisitions, the group held on to a number of alcoholic beverage brands, including J&B Whisky, Baileys Irish Cream, Gilbey's Gin, Piat Wine, and Croft Sherry, and Smirnoff Vodka. To reflect the company's change in direction and rapid expansion, it was renamed Grand Metropolitan in 1973.
The 80s was heavy in M&A and company selling activities for Grand Met:
In 1980, it acquired US tobacco and drinks company Liggett Group, which was later sold to Bennett S. Lebow.
Warner Holidays and Intercontinental Hotels Corporation were bought by the company in 1981.
As a result of the 1987 acquisition of Heublein wines and spirits from RJR Nabisco, Grand Met became one of the largest producers of wine and spirits in the world and became the owner of the Smirnoff brand.
Also in 1987 the company withdrew from catering when it disposed of its catering division by way of a management buyout, creating Compass Group. In late 1988 more than 700 pubs, owned by Grand Met at the time, were sold to different professional investors and operator companies. As the next step in updating the company's portfolio of products and services, Intercontinental Hotels were sold to Saison Group.
By selling these assets, it was able to expand into the betting market by purchasing one of the most well-known brands, William Hill.
Through the buyout of the Pillsbury Company and its Burger King chain in 1988, Grand Metropolitan entered the fast food industry, later acquiring the Wimpy chain.
In 1990 the company sold the brewers Samuel Webster's and Ushers of Trowbridge in 1991.
In the following years, the company slowly closed down its pub operating division, selling more than 20,000 pubs it owned and operated through its previously acquired businesses.
The largest merger at the time
Even though the companies, Guinness and Grand Metropolitan were rivals for years, it was the friendship of their leaders that made the idea for the merger possible. $15.8 billion was a record amount at the time, making the company the seventh-largest drinks and food holding organization globally.
In addition to Burger King and Pillsbury Co., Grand Met also brought Smirnoff vodka and J&B whiskey in the combined company, while Guinness brought its stout, Johnnie Walker whiskey, and Gordon's gin under the umbrella. Haagen-Dazs ice cream and Green Giant vegetables were also part of Grand Metropolitan.
Analysts see synergies between the two companies' products and geographic scope, as well as the potential for other mergers among large food and liquor producers. As investors rejoiced over the news, their stocks rose. In London, Grand Met shares rose by $1.23 to $9.57, while Guinness's share price increased by $1.39 to $9.75.
With the proposed stock swap, Grand Met shareholders gained control over 52.7% of the new company, while Guinness shareholders had the rest. Shareholders also received cash payments of $3.9billion along with shares in the new company.
Four divisions have been created in the new company:
United Distillers and Vintners, combining the liquor and wine operations
Guinness Brewing Worldwide
There were about 2,000 layoffs among the 20,000 jobs at the companies' liquor businesses. Total employment for the two firms in 1997 was 85,000.
Cleaning up the portfolio
In 2002, Diageo sold one of the companies brought in the holding by Grand Metropolitan - Burger King. The consortium of Texas Pacific Group, Bain Capital Partners, and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners signed the acquisition deal, which cost them $1.5 billion. Approximately $86 million was paid in assumed debt, while $212.5 million was settled by subordinated debt - both in cash. Since 2000, Digieo had been trying to sell Burger King to rid itself of a struggling business so it could concentrate on its core beverage business.
A previous agreement between Diageo and the buyout firms included specific performance targets for Burger King. McDonald's largest rival failed to meet these objectives and potential buyers pulled out.
The two companies that make up Diageo, Guinness and Grand Metropolitan, built more than just a well-known brand. Both were holding companies that effectively developed brands in different and overlapping markets.
Guinness focused exclusively on alcoholic beverages and, in addition to its brewery, repeatedly acquired beverage companies that complemented its existing portfolio.
The Grand Metropolitan took a different approach, initially offering accommodation services before entering the food and beverage business. However, both markets have complimented the hotel's product range very well.
While the merger was possible because of the friendly relationship between the managers, it was a very deliberate move by the two companies. After all, in the food and beverage market, a larger portfolio also means faster and easier sales, making it much easier for the new Diageo company to get onto the shelves of stores, restaurants, and hotels.
The period that followed was one of product streamlining, as the merged network of companies owned hotels and food organizations such as Burger King. To take full advantage of product synergies, the company had to sell the "redundant" parts of its business. The refreshed portfolio performed much better.
Acquisition Strategy
As we showed in the first chapter, the two giant companies that formed the holding company did not come empty-handed, but Diageo has accelerated the pace of acquisitions since the merger.
Since the early 2000s, Diago has been especially active in acquiring established and new businesses on the beverages market. A list of its M&A activity:
Seagram's spirits and wine businesses were acquired by Diageo in 2001.
For $100 million, Diageo purchased fifty percent of the Don Julio Tequila brand from Jose Cuervo during 2003.
A deal worth US$2.1 billion was reached in February 2011 for Diageo to acquire Mey Icki, a Turkish liquor company.
Diageo acquired Ypióca, Brazil's largest selling premium cachaça brand, for £ 300 million in May 2012.
Diageo announced in June 2012 that it would invest $1 billion over the next five years in Scotch whisky production. One new distillery would be constructed, and several existing ones would be expanded, increasing production overall by 30 to 40 percent. Johnnie Walker's original plant in Kilmarnock had closed its doors by March of that year, so they could not reuse that location for the new plant.
Diageo acquired a 53.4% stake in Indian spirits company United Spirits in November 2012 for £1.28 billion.
Diageo has owned a majority stake in the parent company since 2011, which it acquired completely in 2013.
José Cuervo acquired full ownership of the Don Julio tequila brand and Bushmills Irish whiskey for $408 million from Diageo in November 2014.
United National Breweries (UNB) is a South African brewery owned by Diageo. In April 2015, Diageo acquired 100 percent of UNB, but the company later decided to sell it.
Treasury Wine Estates bought Diageo's wine business in October 2015. Some brands were sold separately, such as Navarro Correas and Chalone Vineyard.
In 2015, Stauning, a Danish whisky brand, announced an investment of US$10 million from Diageo to allow it to expand production.
Campari Group purchased Grand Marnier, cognac, and bitter orange liqueur, in March 2016.
Maryland's Baltimore County has been selected as the site of a Guinness brewery and tourist attraction. As many as 300,000 visitors could be hosted each year at the brewery, which could create 70 new jobs.
Diageo acquired the Casamigos brand of tequila in June 2017 - a super-premium tequila from the US.
A limited-edition bottle of Diageo's 12-year-old Black Label blended whisky, Jane Walker, instead of Johnnie Walker, went on sale in February of 2018. A striding woman appeared on the label instead of the usual top-hatted man.
Diageo sold 11 brands including Seagram's 83, Seagram's VO, Popov vodka, Booth's Gin, Goldschläger, Yukon Jack, and Sambuca to the Sazerac Company for about $550 million in November 2018.
An offer that Diageo made during February increased its stake in Chinese baijiu company Sichuan Shuijingfang Company Limited (SJF) to almost 70%.
A non-alcoholic spirits company, Seedlip, was purchased by Diageo in August 2019.
Diageo paid $5 million to settle charges that the company pressured distributors to purchase more products than demand to meet performance targets brought by the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Ryan Reynolds and the Aviation Gin
A brand of gin, Aviation American Gin was developed by Christian Krogstad and Ryan Magarian in Portland, Oregon, in 2006. As an American dry gin, it has a less strongly juniper-flavored taste profile than some other gins. It contains seven flavors: cardamom, juniper, sweet and bitter orange peel, lavender, coriander, Indian sarsaparilla, and anise.
Bottled at 42% alcohol, Aviation American Gin is pot distilled twice. In addition to its nationwide distribution in the United States, the product reaches 15 other countries, including Canada, Spain, the UK, Ireland, France, Russia, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, and Australia. Blue-label wine bottles were once used for this product, but the new packaging, introduced in 2013, represents the Art Deco period with a silver cap and a black label.
The distillery sold the brand to New York's Davos Brands, LLC, in 2016, but House Spirits will continue to produce the gin in Portland, Oregon. Davos sold a stake to Hollywood actor Ryan Reynolds in 2018.
In 2020, Aviation was sold to Diageo for $600 million, while Reynolds still maintains an ongoing ownership interest in the company. The actor takes advantage of his popularity and uses every opportunity to promote Aviation Gin in interviews, in his films, and on his social media profiles.
George Clooney and his tequila company
Casamigos Tequila was not launched by Clooney and Gerber for financial gains. The long-time friends spent a great deal of time in Mexico while building their neighboring vacation homes - and drank tequila together often. The team found a distiller in Jalisco, Mexico, and left a long list of requirements of what kind of tequila they wish to buy and drink. Casamigos, which Gerber and Clooney came up with, was never meant for public consumption and served to family and friends for the next two years.
After two years, however, the manufacturer contacted them, claiming that they could no longer maintain "sample" status because of the quantity ordered (a thousand bottles a year would have been suspicious). So the founders had to make a decision: either give up their passion for tequila (but at least produce less of it) or acquire a license and market the high-quality drink.
Business was so good that Diageo almost immediately set its eyes on the company and offered $1 billion for it, apparently largely because of the popularity of George Clooney. Of that, $700 million was paid immediately, with the remaining $300 million contingents on performance.
It is no coincidence that we have devoted a separate chapter to Diageo's M&A activities, as they represent an important strategic element of the Group. The annual report shows that profits would continue to grow even without them, with organic profit growth of more than 17%. At the same time, continued acquisitions, albeit with higher risk, have enabled the Diageo team to achieve a profit of almost 75% in 2021, for example.
History shows that one of the company's main tasks since its inception has been to find smaller beverage brands that are still in the early stages of significant growth and that can bring great success to the group by leveraging the capital, marketing, and, above all, distribution tools that Diageo provides.
In recent years, a new trend has emerged: the acquisition of companies co-owned by well-known personalities. Diageo has not only bought a market, a profit, a new product, and a new brand, but for a handsome sum, it has also allowed well-known players to participate in marketing. It can be assumed that neither George Clooney nor Ryan Reynolds will be leaving the company in the foreseeable future, so they can also benefit from the considerable sales potential.
And the acquisition frenzy hasn't stopped in the COVID -19 period, with Diageo completing 3 acquisitions last year. According to Tracxn, Loyal 9 Cocktails, Lone River Beverage Company, and Chase Distillery were also acquired - all in non-public value deals.
Strategy And Operations
Overall strategy and the company's key objectives
There is an obvious potential for growth in the beverage alcohol sector due to demographics and economics. The goal of our Performance Ambition cannot be achieved with growth alone in the long term. Therefore, one of Diageo's key strategies is to focus on sustainability in expansion and growth.
The company has a history of creating sustained, quality growth. The 200th anniversary of Johnnie Walker and Guinness shows how great brands can be built over time by placing a focus on quality, brand equity, innovation, and investing for the long run.
As part of its efforts to help embed everyday efficiency, Digieo focuses on three core elements:
Speeding up their business by simplifying it
Customers and consumers should be the main focus of resources
By using data and analytics to enhance their processes, they can become more efficient and gain insights
The best investment strategy involves focusing on the areas that will offer the greatest returns: people; advertising and promotion (A&P); technology, data, and e-commerce; capital expenditure; and mergers and acquisitions (M&A).
'Celebrating life every day, everywhere is a central part of Digieo's culture of inclusivity and diversity. It is both a moral imperative and a driver of innovation and commercial performance to attract the best and most diverse talent. As one of Diageo's key objectives, it is to contribute to the development of an inclusive culture and a more equal society through brands and across the company's value chain.
Additionally, they need to be advocates for a low-carbon world and champions of water stewardship. As a result, the company will explore circular economy approaches to make more drinks with fewer materials. Additionally, Diageo strives to become more efficient and cost-effective, to build a stronger and more resilient supply chain, as well as to attract and retain high-quality talent.
Society 2030 - Diageo's 10-year plan to progress
The above core objects are embraced by the company's 10-year plan, which was slightly postponed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The main goals include:
Creating a positive yet responsible image of alcohol
Promoting diversity and inclusion
Preserving the natural resources required for future success
Giving back to the community in a positive way
One of the major elements of the plan is to promote sustainability, for which the group's new facility is a great example. The sustainable design ensures that no fossil fuels are used during production at the distillery. The facility provides its electrode boilers, onsite electric vehicles, lighting, and equipment with a mix of wind and solar energy sourced from EKPC and Inter-County Energy, making it one of the largest in North America. A virtual metering system has been implemented on-site to increase the visibility of water, electricity, and steam use, enabling the site to drive resource efficiency and sustainability. As a result, the distillery is saving nearly 117,000 metric tons of carbon emissions each year. This is equal to taking over 25,000 cars off the road for the year.
Shared Service Centers around the world
Almost all Fortune 500 companies have already established their shared service centers, which help to significantly reduce labor costs on the one hand and standardize internal processes on the other. When it comes to centralizing processes, Diageo is a pioneer, operating SSCs with hundreds of employees at several locations - currently in Budapest, Bogota, Nairobi, Manila, and Bengaluru.
As is common practice in the market, Diageo SSCs combine and provide the following functions to the Group's companies:
Cash cycle
Legislative compliance
Tax and treasury
Budapest's 1,350-strong team has played an important role in providing invaluable support for Financial Management, Human Resources, and Business Intelligence within the last 15 years. The Budapest office opened in 2002, renting a small space with less than 100 employees. The location was chosen for its central location and easy accessibility - both for colleagues commuting from Budapest and the suburbs. Since then, the number of employees has grown to over 1,000 and the floor space to 10,000 m2: a complete office building on 7 floors and 2 additional floors in the adjacent building.
Only companies that lead and shape the market can truly plan for the future. Diageo's 2030 strategy is not just about setting lofty goals; the company is serious about being a responsible business. The company is not doing this out of the goodness of its heart, of course; there is real pressure on market leaders to act responsibly from consumers, investors, and even employees.
In the interest of sustainability, the company's production is gradually being converted to renewable energy, and new technologies are constantly being sought to reduce the enormous amount of water used in the production of its beverages. Alongside automation, fewer raw materials are the most important key to reducing costs, which Diageo is doing well in the face of rising profits.
Flagship products of the company
Through companies acquired over the decades, Diageo owns and controls more than 200 different brands. Thanks to a portfolio shakeout before and immediately after the merger, the group no longer owns any hotels, pubs, because or restaurant chains and has sold most of its non-core business. As a result, the group's workforce has been reduced by almost 60,000 employees. However, the remaining portfolio is easily manageable and consists solely of alcoholic beverages, which can be sold both directly and to wholesalers.
The Group's beverage brands
Whisky: Johnnie Walker, Buchanan's, Cardhu, Justerini & Brooks, Bell's, Black & White, White Horse, Logan, Caol Ila, Vat 69, Oban, Talisker, Lagavulin, Glenkinchie, Dalwhinnie, Cragganmore, Clynelish, Singleton including Glen Ord, Dimple, Royal Lochnagar, Glen Elgin, Knockando, Windsor, Grand Old Parr, Auchroisk, Benrinnes, Blair Athol, Dailuaine, Glenlossie, Glen Spey, Inchgower, Linkwood, Mannochmore, Mortlach, Strathmill, Teaninich, Roe & Co, Bulleit, Seagram's Seven Crown, Crown Royal, Piehole Whiskey
Brandy: Cîroc VS
Vodka: Smirnoff, Cîroc, Ketel One
Rum: Captain Morgan, Bundaberg, Pampero, Cacique, Zacapa
Mixed drinks: Smirnoff Cocktails, Loyal 9 Cocktails
Liqueur: Baileys, Sheridan's, Pimm's
Tequila: Don Julio, DeLeón, Casamigos
Gin: Gordon's, Tanqueray, Gilbey's, Aviation Gin
Various: McDowell's
Baijiu: Shui Jing Fang
Rakı: Yeni Rakı, Tekirdağ Rakısı, Kulüp Rakı, Altınbaş, İzmir Rakısı, Civan Rakı, Tayfa Rakı
Cachaça: Ypióca
Beer: Guinness, Tusker, Harp Lager, Kilkenny, Senator, Meta Abo, Smithwick's
From the above list, Johnny Walker Whisky, Smirnoff Vodka, Captain Gordon rum, Baileys liqueur, and Guinness beer are considered flagship products in the middle price range. Within the flagship and complementary brands, there are also products specifically intended for mass consumption at lower prices, and more expensive beverages purchased mainly for special occasions, as gifts, or for consumption in luxury restaurants and bars. A great example of the latter product category is the Ciroc vodka brand, which is sold at the higher end of Diageo's price range.
According to Diageo's LinkedIn profile, nearly one-third of its employees work in sales, which is above average. The company's sales team is made up of several departments that work in groups by country and region, as well as by product range and customers.
The office-based salesforce contacts customers mainly by phone and serves wholesalers and grocery chains. In addition, Diageo also has a very strong field sales team that visits customers in Diageo countries by car and in person. These are usually restaurants, bars, and local stores. The field team ensures that customers receive all the information and tools they need to sell Diageo beverages to the greatest extent possible and is also responsible for ensuring that products are placed in highly visible locations on prominent shelves.
The COVID-19 pandemic severely weakened Diageo's field service capacity, which the Group was able to compensate for by strengthening its home delivery business. Last year, pre-made cocktails and crowd-pleasing mixed drinks were the big sellers, especially in the USA. To promote these, Diageo US even introduced a "cocktail-to-go" program.
Diageo is gradually placing more emphasis on strengthening its e-commerce divisions, which is important not only because of the COVID -19 pandemic. As commerce shifts online, companies that stick to "tried and true" physical sales will fall behind and lose their market position. Diageo operates several online platforms, the most recent of which is Alexander & James, which opened in the United Kingdom. This website specifically markets premium products and makes them directly available to the end consumer.
Employer branding is a key component of Diageo's marketing activities, which focus on finding, attracting, and retaining the best talent. This is supported by Diageo's above-average employee benefits and its youthful and relaxed corporate culture (in countries where alcohol is not banned, offices have a dedicated Diageo bar where employees can sample the company's products - exclusively outside working hours).
Diageo is a holding company whose marketing is primarily focused on getting the word out about the brands it owns. For this reason, you will not see any Diageo ads, but you will see more Johnny Walker or Guinness beer.
One of Diageo's most active brands from a marketing perspective is Johnny Walker. The campaign-like structure of their television, online, and print media advertising allows the brand to focus on a specific message, typically defined by the intersection of responsible consumption (A great partnership was formed in 2016 between Johnny Walker and taxi-alternative startup, Uber.) and a lifestyle associated with the alcoholic beverage. With one of its most successful campaigns (Joy Will Take You Further), Johnny Walker has reached over 250 million people worldwide.
For decades, Diageo has been about finding the right way, the right product, and the right service. Decisions in the 2000s made the production and distribution of alcoholic beverages the company's core business. The product range consists of almost 200 brands, covering not only the different types of beverages but also different price ranges, different lifestyles, and products marketed only in certain countries.
In the area of distribution, in the last decade, in addition to telephone and face-to-face business initiation, e-commerce has developed, accounting for an increasingly large share of the results of the distribution department, which employs nearly 10,000 people. Surprisingly, Diageo does not disclose the exact amount, but the fact that revenues have not declined despite the pandemic closures is largely due to the fact that e-commerce has become a major driver.
On the marketing front, employer branding and brand building are also important to Diageo. To this end, various campaigns are organized, but they must be guided by the values the company has set for itself, such as the responsible use of alcohol. Diageo's commitment is reflected in the fact that the company spent 23% more on branding and marketing in 2021 than in the previous year.
Final thoughts and key takeaways of Diageo's story
Growth by numbers
The Diageo Group has been able to steadily increase its profitability in recent years thanks to a well-functioning strategy. Instead of focusing on trendy solutions, it has concentrated on cost reductions and continued M&A activities.
If there is anything to learn from Diageo, it can build brands. There are few holding companies as successful as this one, which not only recognizes good businesses at the right time but takes great care in preparing some of them to rise. And where it does not sense the performance potential or the company no longer fits the portfolio, it sells quickly and tactically. So the portfolio of companies is constantly in motion, and only the best-performing stocks have a permanent place. Accordingly, profits are rising steadily, which is particularly remarkable considering that the pandemic period has hit the hospitality industry hard.
£12.57 billion
£3.731 billion
Number of products sold (Volume in Equivalent units)
238.4 million
Key takeaways from Diageo's story:
The merger of two strong companies: The secret of Diageo's success lies in the merger of two companies that could perform well independently. While Guinness evolved from a brewery into a major player in the beverage market, Grand Metropolitan PLC came from the hospitality and catering industry. Time has proven them right, as they have complemented each other perfectly.
Focused portfolio: Even before the merger, the two founding companies had recognized that not all of the companies acquired over the decades were part of the core business, so underperforming companies and business units that did not serve the plans were repeatedly carved out of the Group. This not only provided the seed capital for new M&A activities but also helped the Group to focus on what it does best.
Shared service centers: Diageo operates hundreds of shared service centers in remote locations around the world, where it has centralized functions such as HR, accounting, and business process analysis. This not only allows it to consolidate its otherwise diversified subsidiaries but also to make significant savings through cheaper labor.
Shifting towards the future: Although Diageo's beverage brands have typically been sold physically or over the phone, the company realized a few years ago that it would fall behind its competitors if it didn't adapt and develop its e-commerce division in time. In addition, sustainability became another important strategic objective, reflected in the renewal of raw materials for the products and the continuous improvement of production facilities.
The Diageo company is a prime example of a successful holding company, as it has not only continued the main growth strategy of the founding companies, acquisition but also strengthened it in every way. Diageo is one of the most active companies in the beverage market, and its success shows that not only is the holding company in good hands but that the group has acquired considerable expertise in building new beverage brands and businesses over the decades.
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