The concept of the superior man in Confucianism and Taoism
In both Confucianism and Taoism, there exists a concept called the "Superior Man." In essence, the superior man is one who is able to lead his life in a way that allows him to be both completely whole and at peace with himself and his actions in a variety of circumstances. While this concept maintains the same foundations in each religion, the superior man differs somewhat between its Confucian and Taoist uses. In order to view the similarities and differences between the two versions, one must first understand the basic definitions and principles that exist within Confucianism and Taoism. In understanding the basis for this ideal within each religion, one can better understand why this standard of living was modeled after in these differing religions, as well as garner an understanding of why the concept of the superior man is still studied and valued today.
Continental Go Forward Strategy the Overarching Objective
The overarching objective of the Go Forward Strategy was to continually accelerate the gains made in customer relationship management (CRM), customer service, operations and the maintenance, repair and overhaul of their jets. What Continental was after was the ability to unify their entire operation into a highly integrated, coordinated customer-based platform that could be used for streamlining every aspect of their operations to exceed customer expectations and deliver exceptional value (Watson, Wixom, Hoffer, Anderson-Lehman, Reynolds, 2006). The Go Forward strategy further galvanized Continental unto a very focused strategy for ensuring their Enterprise Data Warehouse (EDW) turned into a Powerful catalyst for customer-driven change (Watson, Wixom, Hoffer, Anderson-Lehman, Reynolds, 2006).
The $30M investment in the Go Forward Strategy was one of the most effective investments in technology any airline has ever made in technology, with Continental netting a gain of $500M in increased revenue and cost savings. In the first year alone, Continental was able to eradicate $7M in fraud and drastically reduce the threat of bankruptcy. In addition to all of these benefits, the company skyrocketed in customer experience ratings and customer satisfaction polls, becoming over time the most respected and favored airline (Watson, Wixom, Hoffer, Anderson-Lehman, Reynolds, 2006). Another significant benefit was the ability to integrate many diverse sets of customer, financial and operational data into a single system of record, which gave Continental a very significant competitive advantage over competitors. With the depth of analytics and business intelligence that Continental Airlines has been able to achieve, they are transforming intelligence and knowledge into a competitive strength which is the most advanced and mature level of analytics decision making there is (Cunningham, Il-Yeol Song, Chen, 2006). All of these benefits are also allowing the Continental culture to heal from three bankruptcies and become stronger as a result, which has also given the entire company a chance to resurrect itself and serve customers more effectively than ever before.