Globalization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 5

Globalization - Essay Example In addition, technology facilitates constant connectivity, which has led to establishment of a current generation living in a globalized world. Therefore, tracking communication and interaction with technology through my Smartphone for a period of four-hours depicts that there are numerous features offered by these device. After tracking use of my technological devices such as Smartphone and laptop, I acquired understanding of the way people use technology to communicate. In this case, people are able to connect through social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. In fact, accessibility to these social networking sites has been facilitated by the internet. Therefore, through my Smartphone, I was able to access information and services that I was interested in. Nonetheless, the internet plays a significant role in processes of reducing traditional barriers of communication across different parts of the world. During this period, I was using my laptop, and this made me realize that there are numerous software that have been developed along with protocols and standards aimed at enabling computers to interact through the internet. In fact, I was interacting with students from different parts of the world, thereby discussing issues regarding school projects. Therefore, collaboration platform has been developed in order to enable people share digital content (Friedman, 3). In fact, these collaboration platforms are referred to as flatteners, which expand opportunity through which people communicate and interact. These technological devices integrate internet functions, thereby making people’s lives more enjoyable. In fact, during this assessment period, I was able to watch new videos and play a game. Moreover, there are other emotional experiences, which are thrilling and exciting such watching a movie. Internet has become a social club since people have managed to develop and maintain friendships. For instance, during the assessment period, I had a g ood feeling of being socially connect with friends living in different parts of the world. In this case, we were able to interact and share some ideas, while making new friends. People have acquired ability to multitask, while using the internet and other technological devices. For instance, during the assessment period, I was logged into my Facebook account, whereby I was chatting with my friends; I was also logged into my tweeter account at the same time. Moreover, I was listening to Smartphone’s music, and I was still receiving calls from friends. In addition, during the same period, I got a chance to check my e-mail and play and online game. Therefore, use of technological devices among people in different parts of the world is increasing gradually with increases in levels of innovativeness and technological advancement. In addition, technology is used in order to achieve certain tasks in peoples’ lives such as learning and offering health care services. Part Two: Living Without Technology In order to understand the condition of living without technology, I conducted an assessment for a period of one hour. In this case, during this assessment, I refrained from using technological devices such as my laptop and Smartphone. On the other hand, I focused on using pens, paper and face-to-face conversation. Nevertheless, during this period, I was tempted to look at the messages and incoming calls from my friends on my Smartphone.

The giving tree summary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

The giving tree summary - Essay Example The boy no longer gleamed with happiness, and this hurt the tree that had no choice but to inquire if there is anything she could do help the boy and make him happy once again. The boy, now an adolescent, desired money; therefore, the tree offered him her apples to go sell so that she could see him happy again (Silverstein, 1964). Time passed, and the boy grew into an adult and his state of unhappiness returned, and the tree inquired once again what she could do to make the boy happy. The boy responded by saying he would like to make a house and raise his family; therefore, the tree gave him her branches and both were happy again. Time passed, and the boy returned to the tree sad. Once more, the tree asked what she could do for him to make him happy and the boy told her that he needed a boat that would enable him to sail far away. Therefore, the tree offered the boy her trunk to build his boat. Both were happy, and the boy sailed off into lands unknown and never returned until he was very old (Silverstein, 1964). The tree was so happy when the boy returned in his old age, but her happiness was soon short-lived when she realized she had nothing left to give the boy. The tree explained the situation to the boy who told her that he only needed a place to sit and rest for he was old and tired. Therefore, the tree offered him her stump, and both were once again happy (Silverstein,

Misbehaviour Should Be Accepted In Organisations Commerce Essay

Misbehaviour Should Be Accepted In Organisations Commerce Essay Normal behaviour in an organisation has been analysed by many university experts and management theorists. These people believe that these positive activities contribute a lot to the organisation. Hard-work and discipline are good examples. However, the opposite theory misbehaviour in organisation behaviour is attracted by more and more people in a modern well-run organisation. The purpose of this report to ascertain what is a well-run organisation, what the accurate definition of misbehaviour is, and how misbehaviour influences a well-run organisation. After we have researched this theory comprehensively, it will be clear to see the reason why companies accept misbehaviour and how misbehaviour can create a positive effect in modern companies. The scope of this report will cover employees misbehaviour in the workplace and the relation between management hierarchy and workers. 2) Definition of a well-run organisation: The key characteristic of an organisation is that it is an purposefully organised group, department or family to achieve present targets set in the decision making state, and organisational present constitute member should adapt to the change of exterior or interior situation in order for the organisations survival. Generally, an organisation must be able to effectively implement and integrate with some controlling power for the successful continuation of the organisation. (Wilson Ronsenfeld, 1990). Organisations are always expected to successfully achieve targets in the process where from output to input, it then of course depending their resources should be used appropriately. Otherwise, an organisation is not only supported to be successful but also to be effective related to the output, involved in their final result and target. There are some related factors that could improve organisational performance, such as increasing profitability, improved service delivery and to maximise efficiency in key activities. In addition, efficient organisations must ensure that it reaches a satisfactory target, understanding the clients demand and requirements, and are compliant to specific requirements, adaptable in the change of exterior and the demand situation. (Mullins, 2007). 3) Definition and classification of misbehaviours: Organisational misbehaviour is defined as any intentional action made by members of an organisation that defies and violates shared organisational norms and expectations, and/or core societal values, mores and standards of proper conduct. (Yoav Vardi and Yoash Wiener 1996). However, all errors, mistakes, or even unconscious negligence do not constitute organisational misbehaviour, despite the bad effect it produces in the organisation. We will be focusing on individuals who are directly and intentionally involved in some form of misconduct in a well-run organisation. But this phenomenon may also come from a group of individuals or indeed the organisation itself. Organisational misbehaviour may also change in different situations and it can be functional or dysfunctional, positive or negative, short term or long term; it depends on the circumstances and manner of acting. The organisational misbehaviours are grouped into 3 major categories: misbehaviours that are intended to benefit the self, misbehaviours that intend to benefit the members employing organisation as a whole and misbehaviours that intend to inflict damage and be destructive. Misbehaviours that are intended to benefit the self are internal and often victimise the employing organisation or its members. Examples of such misbehaviour is the distortion data, the stealing and selling manufacturing secrets, the harassment of others, misleading customers and sabotaging processes. Misbehaviours that intend to benefit the members employing organisation as a whole are for the most part external in nature, usually directed toward outside victims such as public agencies, customers, social institutions, or other organisations. This sort of misconduct is self-serving and organisations members will take benefit of this cheating. Falsifying records, cheating governments and the misleading of customers belong to this category of misbehaviour. Misbehaviour that intends to inflict damage and be destructive can be both internal and external with the main goal being to hurt others or the organisation, to cause minor or considerable damage, both visible and invisible such as mistreatment, sabotage and theft. 4) Why can we accept misbehaviours in well-run organisations? Organisational misbehaviour can be as minor as being late for work, or as serious as theft, such as the stealing company resources. One research done in 2003 in the United States for example, claimed that over 95% of all businesses experience employee theft, with an estimated loss of $25 billion every year. Before we discuss whether or not misbehaviour is acceptable within an organisation, we should first know the source or reason of such behaviour. Peter Michael Blau, an Austrian sociologist and theorist, produced many theories about social phenomena and population structures. One of them, namely the Social Exchange theory, explains organisational misbehaviour. The Social Exchange theory is a combination of theory of economics, psychology and sociology, used to explain social behaviour of humans, based on exchanging benefits between two parties. When putting this theory in a workplace, it explains that the relationship between employees and employers are built based on the exchanging of benefits. Employees devoted their effort and time to work in exchange of their salary paid by their employers. When one party gives more to another, it is expected to receive more in return. There are both material and non-material benefits. Financial rewards or salaries for employees are both material benefits. Whereas, non-material benefits can be appreciation from managers and supervisors, or merely a certain level of support. Employees might receive their salary each month but they might not receive non-material benefits as frequently, such as job satisfaction. Employees have the potential to feel mistreated, causing the relationship between employees and employers to be ruined. When employees feel that they are unfairly treated in the workplace, while there is little chance that they can come forward or take a stand against their employer, the only way employees can repay such mistreatment is to engage in organisational misbehaviour. Understanding the reason of organisational misbehaviour, we then know why we should accept such behaviour other than taking eliminations and punishments. As an unkind action will repaid by an unkind response, making misbehaviour counter-productive. 5) Advantages of misbehaviour: Despite the fact that misbehaviour can be destructive, misbehaviour can also be seen a useful tool for well-run organisation. The hierarchy can see the dysfunction in the organisation: In the organisation, an employee will not always obey their superior; they will argue their point if there is something wrong or if they simply have a different opinion. It is preferable if the management can clearly see the dysfunction in the organisation. Therefore, the management is forced find the best way of preventing mistakes in advance of any challenges to their decisions. Increasing the rules, procedures, and bureaucratic control: Misbehaviour in an organisation also can be explained there are some leaks in the regulation of the organisation. For instance, in some organisations, discrimination is a normal situation. Regardless of race discrimination or the discrimination between the upper class and the lower class, there must be set rules to control them, in order to treat everyone equally. The management need to be in control of the organisation because misbehaviour will arise if ignored. As a result, the potential for misbehaviour encourages improved control by the management. Hierarchy need more concern to their employees: In certain situations, there will be a conflict when employers feel that they are unimportant, or indeed they feel that they are not totally involved in the organisational culture and feel uncomfortable in their position. Therefore, the organisation could understand they need to pay more attention to their employees and ask their opinion. When these employees feel that they are important to the organisation and they can contribute to the organisation, they will be more obedient and productive. Stimulate innovation and adaptation: Innovation is a very important part in an organisation. Misbehaviour means people challenge the status-quo, the result being that they misbehave. To stimulate innovation and adaptation not only benefit the organisation but also its employees who are stimulated by new challenges. Increasing the quality of decision making: Should one person make a decision independently of others, this course of action will ultimately cause others to challenge it. Many people will have differing opinions which they will want to put forward. To gather and coordinate the employees differing opinions on finding the best way to deal with a given issue will increase the quality of the decision making process and will remove the chances of disobedience, as the employees can voice their opinions. 6) Conclusion: Based on the information we have gathered, including the text book and internet sources, we have come to the decision that misbehaviour should be accepted in a well-run organisation. Organisations should emphasise misbehaviour as well good behaviour. Employees work for organisations, the aim employee working is variety, but in common the aim is to earn money to support themselves and their families. On the other hand, the employer has the employee, that is an equivalence exchange. Bosses should not be angry if an employee misbehaves with economic efficiency. An organisation is consisted by group, and a group consists of employees. Due to different backgrounds and different learning capacities, these people will definitely conflict when their opinions differ. The upper management power need rules and regulations to stop the dysfunction in a well-run organisation. Overall, satisfaction for employees is very important in well-run organisation, because employees may misbehave if they feel dissatisfied with the working conditions and management decisions. Companies are willing balance the benefits between the employer and employee. At last, employees can make a valid contribution to the organisation and enhance the companys productivity and competitiveness in the markets in which it competes.

Telecommunications :: Telephone Radio Television Microwave Satellite

The transmission of words, sounds, images, or data in the form of electronic or electromagnetic signals or impulses. Transmission media include the telephone (using wire or optical cable), radio, television, microwave, and satellite. Data communication, the fastest growing field of telecommunication, is the process of transmitting data in digital form by wire or radio. Digital data can be generated directly in a 1/0 binary code by a computer or can be produced from a voice or visual signal by a process called encoding. A data communications network is created by interconnecting a large number of information sources so that data can flow freely among them. The data may consist of a specific item of information, a group of such items, or computer instructions. Examples include a news item, a bank transaction, a mailing address, a letter, a book, a mailing list, a bank statement, or a computer program. The devices used can be computers, terminals (devices that transmit and receive information), and peripheral equipment such as printers (see Computer; Office Systems). The transmission line used can be a normal or a specially purchased telephone line called a leased, or private, line (see Telephone). It can also take the form of a microwave or a communications-satellite linkage, or some combination of any of these various systems. Hardware and Software Each telecommunications device uses hardware, which connects a device to the transmission line; and software, which makes it possible for a device to transmit information through the line. Hardware Hardware usually consists of a transmitter and a cable interface, or, if the telephone is used as a transmission line, a modulator/demodulator, or modem. A transmitter prepares information for transmission by converting it from a form that the device uses (such as a clustered or parallel arrangement of electronic bits of information) to a form that the transmission line uses (such as, usually, a serial arrangement of electronic bits). Most transmitters are an integral element of the sending device. A cable interface, as the name indicates, connects a device to a cable. It converts the transmitted signals from the form required by the device to the form required by the cable. Most cable interfaces are also an integral element of the sending device. A modem converts digital signals to and from the modulated form required by the telephone line to the demodulated form that the device itself requires. Modems transmit data through a telephone line at various speeds, which are measured in bits per second (bps) or as signals per second (baud). Modems can be either integral or external units. An external unit must be connected by cable to the sending device.

A Dining Experience

Yesterday I had the privilege of eating at a great Melbourne restaurant – Maha. The food was exceptional but what I came away from the meal with was†¦. well it was an ‘experience’ and not just a ‘meal’. A number of things went into the 3 hours that we dined at Maha that stood out and left me pondering what I could learn from the success of this restaurant and apply to my own business. Walking into Maha there was an immediate transformation that occurred that drew us into the experience. Situated on a small and fairly ugly street filled with the back ends of buildings and car parks (I have to say I wasn’t expecting much of a place in this part of the city) – Maha’s fit out immediately created an impression that lasted for the rest of the afternoon (and beyond). It was anything but like the street outside and was a luxurious yet tasteful version of a middle eastern dining room. Dark, cosy and inviting – in stark contrast to the bright, stark, surrounds of concrete outside. Lessons: first impressions matter a lot and can create a lasting impression that sets up the experience someone has of what you’re doing. Unexpected contrast is also something that will grab people’s attention and make them take notice of what you’re doing. Lesson #2: Simplified Dining Sometimes dining in places like Maha can be an overwhelming experience for a guy like me. I’m no gourmet and being confronted with a menu filled with dishes that need translation and being overwhelmed with a wine list with so many options that I have no idea where to start isn’t my idea of a great way to start a meal. Instead at Maha we were warmly greeted, seated and giving a very simple drinks menu (with an invitation for a more extensive one if we required it). The menu for the day was a banquet (chefs choice – although we could have some input if we had special needs) which I also appreciated. Conversation was not interrupted with choices of food and drinks and the overwhelming nature of those menus and wine lists were eliminated. Lessons: choice is great but sometimes it can be overwhelming and simplicity can be appreciated. Lesson #3: Engaging the Senses Throughout the meal it was not just our taste buds that were stimulated. In the corner a three piece band played middle eastern music, outside was a court yard where people smoked shi sha pipes (creating sweet smell that drifted into the room) and at the end of the meal we were offered to have our hands rinsed in a little lemon cologne which engaged both our senses of smell but also touch. The cologne also made a lasting impression – even as I fell asleep last night it lingered on and I was once again reminded of the experience of Maha. Lesson: engage the senses and you transform something that can be quite one dimensional into something experiential. Lesson #4: Unexpected Gifts When it came time for the bill to be brought to the table the waitress also delivered three small white boxes (one for each couple) with some small pastries in them. They were a little take home gift to extend our visit. These gifts served a several purposes including: something we didn’t ‘pay for’ – it is amazing what impression getting something for free makes (or course we DID pay for the gift as the pastries would not have cost much and our bill more than covered it). This perceived extra value and a gift will of course create a lasting impression, increase the chances of us returning and telling our friends about the experience. extending the experience – today as I ate a pastry (24 hours after dining at Maha) I’m still thinking about the meal. Lesson: gifts (big and small) and extra value create an impression! Lesson 5: Focus Upon the Positive As we were about to leave our waitress stopped by the table. Instead of asking if everything was ok (often the way wait staff word this question) our waitress asked us what our favourite part of the meal was. Couching the question by asking us for the best part of the meal was a pretty smart move as it shifted our minds away from parts we might not have enjoyed (not that there were any for me) and onto the best parts of the meal just as we were about to leave. We left pondering the good rather than what could have been better. This also served as a great way for the staff to gather feedback on what was working – something that no doubt helps them to continue to improve what they do. I also wonder whether asking this question set up some cues in our minds that might be repeated later as we discussed the meal with others. We’d already each said something good about the meal within seconds of completing it – perhaps that’d be what we’d say next time we spoke about the meal. Lesson 6: Choreography/Process As we drove home from Maha V and I both commented on how those behind the restaurant must have put some real thought into the experience that they offered those who dined with them. Having eaten in another of the restaurants owned by one of the owners we saw some patterns in some of what we’ve mentioned above. Our experience didn’t just happen. Everything from the ways in which we were greeted, through to the small touches like the lemon cologne and complimentary pastries were intentional and planned steps in a choreography of a typical visit to Maha. I’m certain that the process evolved over time but the experience was not left to chance – there was a clearly thought through process in place which ensured the best chances of a great experience for diners and a profitable business. Best of all, the ‘choreography’ wasn’t obvious or intrusive in any way, it just naturally unfolded. Lesson: great experiences don’t always just happen. A little thought can go a long way to helping people move through an experience in a positive way. Which of these principles could you take and apply in your blog or online business?

St. Maria Goretti

St. Maria Goretti: Small but Mighty For little kids, they have a sense of innocence to them. Not really knowing between right and wrong. Not realizing that there is bad in the world. Kids are kept sheltered until they eventually learn to discover the real world. There comes a time when they know that the world is not all good, because it has taken advantage of his or her innocence. Sometimes they don’t understand it, sometimes they try to understand it but just can’t, sometimes they just have to accept it with no answers. St. Maria Goretti’s life was cut short; she had been taken advantage of, yet begin so young, so refused to give into sin.According to The Book of Saints, published by The Regina Press, St. Maria Goretti was born in Corinaldo, Italy on October 16, 1890 to Luigi Goretti and Assunta Carlini. Her father was a farm l and her laborer and her family was very poor. Her father moved his wife and five kids to Ferriere de Conca in hopes of better work. The re he died of malaria, and Maria was only 9 years old. A mother with 6 kids, and struggling to survive, the family moved onto the Serenelli farm where they worked. On July 5, 1902, an 18 year old named Alessandro Serenelli attacked Maria trying to rape her.Telling him she’s rather die than give into his commands, angrily he stabbed her 14 times with a long dagger. Maria’s family found her and rushed her to the hospital. She lived for another 24 hours and died holding a crucifix, a medal of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and had forgiven her attacker and asked God to forgive him too. Instead of being filled with anger, she prayer for Alexandro to find peace and for her family to be provided for. She had died before even turning 12 (Hoagland & Angelini). Even though she had died very young she was a great influence after she died.Catholic Online states, Alexandro was sentenced to thirty years in prison. He was unrepentant and did not find peace; he could not find remorse for h imself or for Maria’s family. Up until he had a dream, in which Maria had appeared to him. He was in a garden, where Maria has came to him and gave him a bouquet of lilies. He woke up a changed man. He turned his life around and began repenting. Twenty seven years after Maria appeared to him he was released. He had gone directly to Maria's mother and begged for her forgiveness. This was not easy for her, but she eventually she forgave him, and said which she gave. If my daughter can forgive him, who am I to withhold forgiveness† (Catholic Online). According to American Catholic, In 1947, present at her beatification was her mother, two sisters and a brother who all stood with Pope Pius XII on the balcony of St. Peter’s Square. Three years later, at her canonization, in less than half a century after Maria’s death she was canonized by Pope Pius XII on July 25, 1950. Alexandro Serenelli was 66 years old and knelt among the quarter-million people and cried te ars of joy. For being so young, she moved the many people of Italy. (American Catholic). St.Maria Goretti is the ultimate example of moral fidelity and goodness. She’d rather die than give into Alexandro’s commands. Not to mention that she was only 11 years old, and made a strong and exemplary decision. She knew the actions were wrong, and came against what she believed in and she stood up for it. She knew she could have given into Alexandro’s demands in order for her to service, but she didn’t. She had such a strong faith in God and trusted him enough to give up her own life for the greater glory of God. Even though she ended up a martyr she is an example for all people, especially young teenage girls.She is an example of stand for one’s morals and forgiving those who have wronged against us. Being a teenage girl, St. Maria Goretti is definitely someone I would go to and ask for advice. Hopefully I will never be in a situation like St. Maria Goret ti, but girls like she and I face the very same problem every day. Since society and the media these days are suggesting teenage girls should look a certain way, or dress like this or that, wear certain clothes, and girls should act a certain way. If not, they don’t belong, they’re not considered beautiful the way they are, and they’re considered outcasts.Society and the media constantly shove the idea that sex can get you anywhere, such as by the way you look. Media constantly shows potential â€Å"role models† that girls and women should strive to be like. The saying, â€Å"sex sells† is very true in our time. Being a teenage girl I feel the pressure for all teenagers is that in order to get a guy to like them they have to lower their morals and standards but raise their shirts and completely change themselves. St. Maria Goretti would be an excellent advice giver on how to stand and stay strong for who you are and not giving in to he demands of s ex, or even just advice to not give into peer pressure so easily. I was so shocked to have found out that St. Maria Goretti had died at such a young age, yet she faced the scariest thing any girl could dream of. With such innocence she stayed so strong in her faith, and forgave so easily, at her death bed all she was concerned about was the well being of her family and her attacker, which I find very admirable. To me St. Maria Goretti’s life represents all the everyday actions in my life. Her sacrifice ties in with my decision making.Her sort life makes me want to life my life to the fullest, but to live it right. I know growing up in this society is hard and confusing; this world has good people and bad people. Like St. Maria Goretti I want to have the courage to choose good and stand up against evil, and not only that, but have my own strength to forgive those who have wronged me. I want to keep my morals and beliefs straight and life my life the way God has called me to li ve. St. Maria Goretti’s life will help my life and moral journey by remembering to stay strong and do what is right, no matter what the cost may be.St. Maria Goretti Biography says, â€Å"She led a very ordinary life. But in spite of herof her simplicity, her great faith and love for God made her truly extraordinary† (St. Maria Goretti) Kids have this special intuition. They know when something is wrong and when something is right. They know, and no words would have to be spoken. They themselves might not understand the whole situation themselves. But they know a difference between a good and bad feeling. St. Maria Goretti died at a very young age, in a horrible way.She was too young to understand why Alexandro wanted to harm her, but she knew it was the right thing to do not to give into his orders. She knew it was right to trust God. Works Cited Hoagland, Victor, and George Angelini. The book of saints: the lives of the saints according to the Liturgical calendar. Fa rmingdale, NY: Regina Press, 1986. Print. â€Å"St. Maria Goretti. † The American Catholic,Web. 17 Nov. 2011. â€Å"St. Maria Goretti†¦ Pray For Us!. † St. Maria Goretti†¦ Pray For Us!. Web. 20 Nov. 2011. â€Å"St. Maria Goretti – Saints & Angels – Catholic Online. † Catholic Online. Web. 20 Nov. 2011.

buy custom Alcohol and HIV or AIDS essay

buy custom Alcohol and HIV or AIDS essay The world is still in the search for its cure. A lot has been done and scientists constantly come up with different Antiretroviral medicines though an absolute cure has not yet been established. It is important to establish the main cause of HIV/AIDS, especially in youths who form the basis of economic growth in a country. In this study, analysis of existing Alcohol and HIV/AIDS data sets is carried out. We look at how recklessness caused by intake of alcohol end up consuming the lives of young people and narrow down to a case study of a young lady called Jane who lives within Nairobi City, Kenya. The paper also considers the possible solutions to the problem of alcoholism and the relationships between the role of alcohol and new infections. Effects of alcoholandHIV infection in Sub Saharan Africa In December of 2009, Jane had a friend named Paul who was flying into town. It was a friend whom she had dated exclusively and whom she thought had dated her exclusively. As usual, they would drink themselves silly before embarking on a wild romance which would end up in a hotel room. Since they had not been together for a while and they were intimate, Jane asked Paul to use a condom which he did. In the middle of the encounter, he removed the condom because it was bothering him. She could not say NO for she was not in her right state of mind. Having consumed too much alcohol, she cared less about what would later happen. That is all it took.Two or three weeks later, Jane started experiencing flu like symptoms; fever, chills etc. She asked her sister to take her to the hospital because she could not eat and felt really ill. The doctor ran labs and to her surprise it wasn't the flu, Jane was diagnosed with herpes and Chlamydia. She could not believe that she was going through this and did not want to get tested for HIV because she feared what could come out and eventually she did not. Life went one for about another year. Jane worked and took care of her child and never dated anyone since her herpes outbreak in 2009.In November of 2010, Jane felt a bump in the back of her neck; it turned out to be a swollen lymph node. She went to see her doctor to have it checked out and somehow got the courage to be tested for HIV. One week later, Jane received the call. It was her doctor asking her to report to the hospital right away. She had a feeling that the news was not going to be pleasant. She walked in to her doctors appointment and was given the results; HIV positive. Jane was in a state of shock, could not believe the news and broke out in tears. The first thing she thought about was her children, the oldest being a twenty year old daughter and youngest son at five years. "Am I going to die? was the first question Jane asked. The doctor went through the process of getting a second test to confirm the results and treatment if needed. Second results came in with the same news. Jane is now thirty nine years old. Her daughter has been very supportive though this ordeal nd she knows that her daughter will be all right. She constantly worry, feel guilty and heart broken when she lay next to her five year old at night and think about what she had done. She feels very guilty about that particular night since she had trusted him without thinking twice. Jane has a few friends and family members who know about her status and have been very supportive and have kept her positive.However, some relatives and friends view her as an outcast and avoid her. This is the stigma facing majority of HIV infected people. Unfortunately, majority of those who may sideline her do not know their status and could also be carrying the virus. Ignorance is killing many and carelessness is the root. Jane has been under treatment for almost one year now. So far, her viral load is undetectable and her CD4 Count is above 600 and according to her doctor; all looks good, viral load still undetectable and CD4 Count still above 600. Since her diagnose, Jane has tried to remain positive and hopeful that someday soon, a cure will come; not just for her, but for all those living with this disease but in the meantime, she hopes people will not discriminate against those living with AIDS and learn to accept them. She is also on rehabilitation to stop consumption of Alcohol. Statistics on Alcohol use and HIV infection Alcohol use predisposes someone to greater risks of HIV infection (Kalichman et al., 2009). It is reported that 17.2% had been forced or had been forced to have sex while drunk. Close to 80% of these people reported that they had non-consensual sex at least once in the past three months. These statistics have been obtained from the same village in Nairobi where Jane hails from. It is also believed that those who use alcohol and are already infected are more disadvantaged since they most often dont observe treatment, lack adequate nutrition and have no regard for themselves. From the analysis above, we can say that many of those involved in these kind of sexual activities do not use condoms at all with high probability being due to forgetfulness, trust of partner, partner refusal and being in a drunken state as in case of Jane. Prevention of Alcohol related Infections Several research studies carried out in North America, Australia and Europe, have revealed that screening for problems related to alcohol followed by brief counseling of individuals is extremely effective in minimizing hazardous alcohol consumption (Kaner et al., 2007). Research has also revealed that bar based Interventions by use of peer leaders present crucial opportunity to intervene in hazardous alcohol drinking and risky sexual behavior since bars are situated at the crossroads of alcohol use and risky sex. Bar-based programs therefore represent a crucial opportunity to intervene in hazardous drinking and risky sexual behavior. Research carried out in the United States in the 1990s indicated that the Popular Opinion Leader (POL) prrogram successfully lowered the frequency of risky sex among patrons of gay bars. Government policies governing operations of bars can also help to reduce transmission to the underage by ensuring that rules governing underage access to bars are implemented. Children under the ages of eighteen are in most cases exploited by the old by making them drunk while in bars and later rent rooms where they then infect them. All that need to be done is to ensure that the rules are implemented. This will keep children off the alcohol drinking areas. Sensitivity Analysis A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled studies examined the relationship between blood alcohol content (BAC) and self-perceived possibility of using a condom when having intercourse. The logical review and meta-analysis were done according to internationally standardized protocols. The meta-analysis incorporated an approximation of the dose-response effect, tests for publication bias. The study indicated that an increase in BAC of 0.1mg/ml resulted to increase in 5% in the likelihood of engaging in unprotected sex by affecting decision and reducing inhibitions, thus diminishing perceived danger or excusing behaviors which are considered generally unacceptable. Therefore, it is clear that the larger the alcohol intake, the more one is likely to involve in unprotected sex. Therefore, the role of alcohol consumption in transmission of HIV/AIDS is definitely of public health significance. Recommendations It is important for everyone to take life serious. Majority of people who get infected with the virus often regret for not being keen as is like in Janes case. She happened to have engaged once and that was just the one mistake that led to her fall. Alcoholism has contributed to most cases of infections and it is time people got to know that alcohol affects ones state of mind and reasoning. This impairs ones judgment and what results later are regrets. Statistics has found women to be more vulnerable when drunk as compared t their male counterparts and it is therefore important that women take more precaution when it comes to going out for drinks. It would also be helpful if rules regulations governing consumption of alcohol would be implemented to avoid cases of over consumption of alcohol which leaves one without the sense of judgment and decision. Conclusion Alcohol does not only destabilize ones state of mind but also gives better opportunities for opportunistic diseases to invade ones body organs such as the liver are not spared either when one indulges in excessive consumption. The risks are far too many that we cannot ignore. If everyone will realize that life is not a rehearsal, they will learn to live responsibly without losing control to alcohol in the name of entertainment. However, we all hope that soon our scientist will discover an effective treatment to this disease. Buy custom Alcohol and HIV or AIDS essay

Explore the ways Shakespeare presents ideas of society in The Tempest Essay Example

Explore the ways Shakespeare presents ideas of society in The Tempest Essay Example Explore the ways Shakespeare presents ideas of society in The Tempest Essay Explore the ways Shakespeare presents ideas of society in The Tempest Essay Essay Topic: Ideas The Tempest The Tempest was Shakespeares last play written alone. He used it to express his thoughts on the structure of society, albeit through using certain characters as a mouthpiece. These characters include Gonzalo and Prospero. To begin with, the society on the island consists only of Prospero, Miranda, Caliban and the spirits, which only appear to Prospero. One theme in the play is the idea of usurpation, which is shown several times throughout. One of Calibans reasons for hating Prospero is his idea that Prospero usurped him as ruler of the island. This is made clear as early as Act 1 Scene 2, when Caliban says This islands mine, by Sycorax my mother, which thou takst from me. Antonio also usurped Prospero as Duke of Milan, Stephano wishes to be king of th isle and Sebastian plots to kill Alonso to become King of Naples. On the island, it seems that all social restraints are removed. Antonio and Sebastian would never have dared to plot to murder Alonso back in Italy. The anonymity of the island means that the characters genuine feelings are shown, rather than hidden. This is shown by Antonio and Sebastians conversation. Draw thy sword: one stroke Shall free thee from the tribute which thou payest/And I the king shall love thee.. And also by Gonzalos speech. I think that the play also has messages about colonisation of countries for the British Empire. This is due to the fact that at the time new countries were still being discovered by British explorers like Walter Raleigh. The idea of a ship of nobles landing on an unknown island and disturbing the natives (Caliban) is evocative of the explorers at the time. This does not necessarily mean that Shakspeare is showing his disapproval of colonisation; he could just be including it as a way for the audience to relate the plot to England at the time. Gonzalos speeches in Act 2 Scene 1 are the main indicator of Shakespeares social idealism within the play. He begins by saying Had I plantation of this isle. Here Gonzalo is speculating on the possibilities of the island. However, this also shows that even old, kind Gonzalo wishes for power and control, thus consolidating power as a central theme within the play. Letters should not be known seems at first to suggest that there would be no formal education or even use of written language on the island, but seeing as this could be Shakespeares utopia expressed through Gonzalo, this doesnt appear to make sense. Shakespeare made his living through writing, and so I think that it seems more likely they are referring to names, or the class system, where everyone was judged by their lineage. However, it is significant that at the end of the play, Prospero chooses to give up his magic and return to Italy, and Italian society, where he will in be in charge as is his birthright. This would sat isfy Prosperos need for power. Whilst on the island, Prospero has learned how to become a good leader. This is shown by the way in which he tells Miranda by delayed exposition that those (his magic) being all my study, I cast government upon my brother. This quotation implies that Prospero knows he paved the way for his brother to take over. It also shows that he now knows he was a neglectful leader, which shows some humility, perhaps meaning that his character has changed since being marooned on the island. Gonzalo muses on creating a commonwealth on the island, with no sovreignty, in the presence of the King of Naples. This is quite startling in its outspokeness, and starts to disabuse us of the notion that Gonzalo is just a kindly old fool. This gives us another parallel between Shakespeare and Gonzalo, as Gonzalo voices his commonwealth idea in front of the king, and Shakespeare is sending this message out in front of an audience that could very likely have included royalty. Also, I believe that Prospero presents some ideas of society too. He is a very dominant character, speaking the epilogue, which is unusual for a main character in a Shakespeare play. Prospero manipulates the characters and shapes the story, and is almost always totally in control. This helps to show the manipulative elements in his character. The Tempest tells the story of Prosperos usurpation, and, to put it simply, the plot to get his dukedom back. Prospero presents himself as a victim of his brothers ambition, but it is later shown to us that Prospero was a poor ruler, far more interested in his books than in looking after his country, as is shown but the words those being all my study/ the government I cast upon my brother. Already, due to his dukedom, Prospero is cast in the role of leader. We know that Shakespeare has portrayed him as neglectful of his duties during his reign. This could be a comment on the negative points of having one all powerful leader, as Prosperos charact er does have several negative elements in. He is controlling (quotation), and petty, he threatens Caliban, saying to-night thou shalt have cramps/Side-stitches that shall pen thy breath up Prosperos controlling nature manifests itself in his desire to keep everything happening exactly when and how he wants it. When Miranda and Ferdinand begin to fall in love (as he planned) he says They are both in eithers powers/ But this swift business/ I must uneasy make. He needs it to happen exactly as he planned. Another example of this would be when Ariel asks for his liberty. Instead of asking Ariel for a few hours more, Prospero shows his autocratic nature by reminding Ariel of how he rescued him, and how he can punish him again. The small society on the island that Prospero has created for himself, Miranda and Caliban has him has the head of it. Both Caliban and Miranda obey him, and there is no-one to question his authority. Although he refuses to free Ariel and enslaves Caliban, he never actually intends to harm anyone. This is shown by his question to Ariel But are they, Ariel, safe? It also seems like Ariel actually has the power on the island, as Prospero needs him to work his magic. The way he rules on the island could, therefore be likened to the way we are told he ruled in Milan, where although it was actually him that was the Duke, his brother ruled the country. This idea of society that Prospero has created on the island is that of a single all-powerful ruler. Prospero is eager to return to Naples and the rigid social structure of Italian high society. I believe that this is because the small, relaxed society on the island did not satisfy his need for power over others. He does relinquish his magic, however, which was the main source of his power on the island. I feel that this is because he knows that when he is back in Italy he will not need magic powers to control people, as he will be the rightful duke, and this will be respected by members of Italian society. This also is another example of how important the theme of power is. In conclusion, I think that the island is a microcosm of society, and due to its size, and the small number of people on there, everything is concentrated. For example, Sebastians desire to be King would probably have been suppressed back in Italy, but on the island it is not.

Hedgehog Facts

Hedgehog Facts Hedgehogs (Erinaceidae) are a group of insectivores that are native to parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Hedgehogs are small mammals with rotund bodies and distinct spines made of keratin. They come by their unusual name as a result of their foraging behavior: They root through hedges to find worms, insects, and other food while making pig-like grunting sounds. Fast Facts: Hedgehog Scientific Name: ErinaceusCommon Name(s): Hedgehog, urchin,  hedgepig,  furze-pigBasic Animal Group:  MammalSize: Head and body: 5 to 12 inches; tail: 1 to 2 inchesWeight: 14–39 ouncesLifespan: 2–7 years depending on speciesDiet:  OmnivoreHabitat:  Parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, New Zealand (as an exotic species)Conservation  Status:  Least Concern Description Hedgehogs have a round body and dense spines on their back. Their belly, legs, face, and ears are free of spines. The spines are cream-colored and have brown and black bands on them. Hedgehog spines resemble those of a porcupine but they are not easily lost and are only shed and replaced when young hedgehogs reach adulthood or when a hedgehog is unwell or stressed. Hedgehogs have a white or tan face and short limbs with long curved claws. They have poor vision despite their large eyes but they have a keen sense of hearing and smell, and they use their sharper senses of smell and hearing to help them locate prey. Oksana Schmidt/Getty Images Habitat and Distribution Hedgehogs are found in many locations across Europe, Asia, and Africa. They are not present in Australia, North America, Central America or South America, though have been introduced to New Zealand as an exotic species. Hedgehogs occupy a variety of habitats including forests, grasslands, scrublands, hedges, suburban gardens, and agricultural areas. Diet Although they belong to the group of mammals formerly known as the insectivores, hedgehogs eat a varied diet that includes more than just insects. Hedgehogs feed on a variety of invertebrates such as insects, snails, and slugs as well as some small vertebrates including reptiles, frogs and birds eggs. They also feed on plant materials such as grass, roots, and berries. Behavior When threatened, hedgehogs crouch and hiss but they are better known for their defensive tactics than their might. If provoked, hedgehogs usually roll up by contracting the muscles that run along their back and in doing so raise their spines and curl their body and enclosing themselves in a protective ball of spines. Hedgehogs can also run quickly for short periods of time. Hedgehogs are for the most part nocturnal mammals. They are occasionally active during the day but more often shelter themselves in shrubs, tall vegetation or rock crevices during daylight hours. Hedgehogs construct burrows or use those dug by other mammals such as rabbits and foxes. They make nests underground in burrow chambers that they line with plant material. Some species of hedgehogs hibernate for several months during the winter. During hibernation, the body temperature and heart rate of the hedgehogs decline. Reproduction and Offspring Hedgehogs are generally solitary animals that spend time with one another only during mating season and when rearing young. Young hedgehogs mature in four to seven weeks after birth. Each year, hedgehogs can raise as many as three litters of young with as many as 11 babies. Hedgehogs are born blind and gestation lasts up to 42 days. Young hedgehogs are born with spines that are shed and replaced with larger stronger spines when they mature. Subspecies Hedgehogs are divided into five subgroups that include Eurasian hedgehogs (Erinaceus), African hedgehogs (Atelerix and Paraechinus), desert hedgehogs (Hemiechinus), and steppe hedgehogs (Mesechinus). There are a total of 17 species of hedgehogs. Hedgehog species include: Four-toed hedgehog, Atelerix albiventrisNorth African hedgehog, Atelerix algirusSouthern African hedgehog, Atelerix frontalisSomali hedgehog, Atelerix sclateriAmur hedgehog, Erinaceus amurensisSouthern white-breasted hedgehog, Erinaceus concolorEuropean hedgehog, Erinaceus europaeusNorthern white-breasted hedgehog, Erinaceus roumanicusLong-eared hedgehog, Hemiechinus auritusIndian long-eared hedgehog, Hemiechinus collarisDaurian hedgehog, Mesechinus dauuricusHughs hedgehog, Mesechinus hughiDesert hedgehog, Paraechinus aethiopicusBrandts hedgehog, Paraechinus hypomelasIndian hedgehog, Paraechinus micropusBare-bellied hedgehog, Paraechinus nudiventris Conservation Status Hedgehogs are listed as of Least Concern, as there are large populations of hedgehogs around the world. Many species of hedgehogs, however, are on the decline as a result of habitat loss, pesticide use, and poaching for use in traditional medicines. Conservation attempts are underway around the world; as a BBC article says: â€Å"A world without hedgehogs would be an uglier place. Hedgehogs and People Hedgehogs are well-loved animals and are featured in traditional childrens stories and fairy tales. Featured in tales by Beatrix Potter, the hedgehog retains its popularity in the Sonic the Hedgehog video game. Sources Coles, Jeremy. â€Å"Earth - Living in Harmony with Hedgehogs.†Ã‚  BBC, 19 Aug. 2015, www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150818-living-with-hedgehogs.â€Å"Hedgehog.†Ã‚  National Geographic, 21 Sept. 2018, www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/h/hedgehog/.â€Å"Hedgehog.†Ã‚  San Diego Zoo Global Animals and Plants, animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/hedgehog.

Capital structure and payout policy Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Capital structure and payout policy - Term Paper Example Introduction Background Starbucks Corporation is an international company that deals with coffee products, with its headquarters based in Seattle Washington, America. During its commencement in 1971, the company was a retailer and a local coffee roaster; but it has since stretched out swiftly. It has Italian-style coffeehouse chain and it is the world’s largest coffeehouse company, with presence in more than 60 countries and more than 20,000 stores (Starbucks Corporation 2011 3). It deals with coffee beans, salads, hot and cold drinks, hot and cold sandwiches, snacks, mugs and tumblers, and sweet pastries. In addition, Starbucks distributes some of its brand through grocery stores, including coffee and ice cream. Its other products include markets films, music, and books through the Hear Music and the Starbucks Entertainment division. Scores of the company’s products are either location specific or seasonal. Starbuck’s most remarkable expansion, when it used to o pen new stores days on end, was in the 1990s till 2000s. The company started establishing oversees stores in 1990s; and currently, roughly third of its stores are oversees (Starbucks 2). Identification of problem Starbucks mainly obtain its capital from equity and debt sources. However, the company must struggle to strike a good balance between equity and debt; because, if it uses too much debt, then it may be obligated to pay too much interest and subject it to the risk of bankruptcy. Furthermore, such a scenario could limit its payout capability, hence keeping away investors, which again limits its shareholding capability. Therefore, it is important to analyze the company’s capital structure, as it plays a crucial role in regards to its dividend payout, risk of bankruptcy among other issues. Analysis of issues Capital structure means the manner in which a particular company combines its sources of capital, which are used to finance its long-term assets, including debt and e quity. Gearing or leverages is used to measure the proportion of the company’s debt capital. However, the company’s capital structure is affected by a number of factors, and the optimal financing mix should be its target. Difficulty, however, arises, in trying to establish the exact optimal capital structure, since this process is not a science. In order for Starbuck to establish its optimal capital structure, it has to give consideration to all the factors that are believed to play some crucial role in establishing an optimal mix. In addition, it is important to consider the fact that a trade-off between return and risk has a strong impact on the capital structure. In other words, this means that excessive debt will increase the company’s earnings risk, though this will lead to higher potential returns. Furthermore, if the company maintains high debt capital, the stock price will decline due to the higher risk related to high level of debts. On the other hand, the stock becomes more attractive to the investors, if it has a high potential of returns, which will again send the stock’s prices upwards. As such, the optimal capital structure for Starbuck is the one that establishes a balance between return and risk, hence helping attain its overall goal of maximizing the prices of its stock. It is, therefore, very crucial for the management of Starbuck to ensure it maintains the lowest cost of capital and at the same time maximizes the shareholder’s wealth. Capital structure i

Loophole in the Legal System Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Loophole in the Legal System - Essay Example More specific questions regarding the influence of race on jury decision-making have also emerged from this spate of well-publicised cases: How does a defendant's race influence juror's perception and judgement How does the racial composition of a jury affect its deliberations and final decision Is the influence of race on jurors the same in all trails What difference, if any, would it make if more of the lawyers representing criminal defendants were racial minorities Studies show that Justices of the courts who served from 1789-1962 were socially atypical of the average American background: they came from upper-class families, attended the best law schools, were white male and generally protestant (Abraham, 1962; Ulmer, 1973). This unrepresentative nature of the courts can challenge the legitimacy of an institution. A judicial system of white men can be seen as producing only white man's justice. Another reason one can posit for the desirability of minorities in the judiciary is assimilation. America's heterogeneous population is clustered in groups that thrive along racial, religious, and national-background harmonization (Gordon, 1964). With the Hispanic population growing at a rapid rate, with blacks, Native American Indians, Asians, Jews, and White Anglo-Saxons, America, as a nation, faces the problem of how these groups can exist alongside one another. The United States is a pluralistic society.

Recruitment procedures Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Recruitment procedures - Essay Example Immediately after recruitment exercise is over, the selection process starts. Selection is the process of making a choice from a pool of applicants, someone who best meets the specifications of the job in question. In this case he must be someone with the best knowledge and technical skills required of a technical staff. After recruitment and selection there is need to integrate the successful applicant into the job for him/her to adapt to the job requirements, procedure and processes. In our case study, we shall consider the case of a project whereby the technical staff member will be involved in project matters. We shall therefore analyze the recruitment, selection and integration of the staff in relation to an investment project. (Dale, 2001) First the technical manager will advertise the job vacancy that has befallen in the organization. The advertisement must outline the job specification which gives an overview of what the job requirements are. For a technical staff, with respect to a project, the contents of the job specification would include: - After the job has been advertised and the job specification outlined, a preliminary contact is made to the potential candidates. It is advisable to give all the candidates a standard contact. It must be made early enough to avoid locking out potential candidates. Then, initial screening is done to create a pool of qualified candidates. The technical manager would be free to either select the member internally or externally. Internal recruitment would come into play when maybe there is another technical staff member who is ready to be promoted to such a position. But the member must posses the necessary qualifications for such an appointment (internal) to be effective. If this is the case, then the technical manager need not advertise for the job vacancy but make employees aware of the job vacancies. He can do this through newsletters, bulletin, boards and personal recommendations including recommendations by other managers. (Dale, 2001) The advantage of this method is that it motivates employees to work harder so that they can get promotion opportunities. It is also more efficient and less costly because the technical manager would not need to advertise for the job or even contact every candidate individually. Another reason as to why the technical manager should adopt this approach is that already he knows the performance and/ or skills of every staff with regard to project appraisal. It would increase the chances of making a good choice since the people he has in the organization are already known to him in terms of performance. However, there are enough reasons as to why the manager should discard this approach of internal recruitment. Internal recruitment is characterized by an insufficient pool and the best person for the job may not be available from within the organization. Again, people from within the

CALIFORNIA CIVIL CODE Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

CALIFORNIA CIVIL CODE - Essay Example I will present the manner in which the evidence found on the ground was analyzed and assure the defense attorney that there were mistakes involved in the analysis procedure. I will also give scientific conclusions on the party being represented by the defense attorney to accurately and undoubtedly prove their liabilities and mistakes in the case. Highlight other things which were not done by law enforcement officers in aiding to prove the party suing the others innocence’s (Kupchik, 2006). The importance of the evidence in the above mentioned case was that it enabled both parties to establish the identity of the suspects in questions. In addition, the availability of evidence also encouraged the testing for the physical evidences to determine the connection between the crime and the suspect party in question. Lastly, availability of evidence adds weight to a prosecutor’s case as in the scenario case above; the leg of teenager was indeed broken by use of extreme force. This gives the prosecutor the right to sue the company in question as he posses evidence that he will use in supporting his petition (Martinez,

Managing for Competitive Advantage Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

Managing for Competitive Advantage - Essay Example They introduce only two fabric and two garments innovations per year (2003, p8). A growth of .7% means nothing in the industry. They wanted to change many things at once in an effort to regain the lost market but in the process, they ended up losing core customers. The new team, M&R, believed in a selected range, high quality merchandise at reasonable prices with high value (2005, p4). They cut down the product line in clothing as well as in food sector. According to them, too many sub-brands had diluted the main brand. Your M&S helped to draw the brand together. They removed the slow lines and simplified the range (2005, p5). Their concentration was product, service and store environment (2005, p4). Reducing product line enhances the shopping experience they felt. V&H widened the price band by lowering the opening prices in some product lines and believed that they offered best value for money. They wanted to appeal to everyone so had all price ranges and catered to all ages. They wanted to attract the under 35 while M&R felt their core customers belonged to the 35-55 age group (2005, p4). M&R had sharper, very competitive opening prices (2005, p4) while V&H had inconsistent price architecture (2005, p4). V&H used press advertising to appeal to the younger customers. They introduced samples in stores and felt this boosted sales. They changed their products too often, and their designs were complicated (2004, part3, p9), which according to the new team, made the customer feel confused (2006, p5). It was also difficult to find the product they were looking for. M&R thus de-cluttered and simplified the store layouts while V&H constantly tried to change the displays at stores (2005, p5). V&R was not quick to recognize shift in customer demand and could not move fast enough to meet aspirations (2004, part3, p6). This could possibly be due to wide

Point of View Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Point of View - Essay Example At the same time, I felt it was also the time for everything in the surrounding to listen to me pour out the nostalgic feelings that filled me; how just the other day we lived in the structure with dad, mommy and my sisters and how things have changed beyond the point of no return. At the door, I am welcome by the woodpecker, which takes a flight. As the door opens, it seems to it cannot mince the joy of meeting one of its masters again, as evidenced by the production of screech sounds by the hinges. As I get in, I find the building inclusions smiling at me. The pictures on the wall, the furniture, the falling ceiling seem to be saying ‘son, welcome back. We have never missed you’. It is a place that one would love to stay. I take a walk around to explore the full feelings. I rediscover the other part of this world. I discern that the structure stands isolated at the end of the ranch. The structure is now old seem to be on the final stages of its life. By looking at the structure, one can derive a lot of unpleasant memories. The remaining trees and few stumps do not seem to be moved by the unfolding events. As walk, my feet interact with the dried leaves that seem to give unwelcoming sound. Even the few daffodils at the entrance can only be described as lonely and displaced. The woodpecker has taken over the cottage door and takes a scary flight. As I open the door, it is apparent the hinges were hardly prepared to see me again. As I come to face with what is in the building, everything, including the pictures on the wall, the furniture and the falling ceiling seem to be lamenting on why I had forsaken them. The only smell is that of the decomposing woods and memories. I totally feel out of place. I chose to write on dad old cottage because it grants me the opportunity to describe both positive and negative attributes from my own experiences. In my first impression of the

Managing for Competitive Advantage Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

Managing for Competitive Advantage - Essay Example They introduce only two fabric and two garments innovations per year (2003, p8). A growth of .7% means nothing in the industry. They wanted to change many things at once in an effort to regain the lost market but in the process, they ended up losing core customers. The new team, M&R, believed in a selected range, high quality merchandise at reasonable prices with high value (2005, p4). They cut down the product line in clothing as well as in food sector. According to them, too many sub-brands had diluted the main brand. Your M&S helped to draw the brand together. They removed the slow lines and simplified the range (2005, p5). Their concentration was product, service and store environment (2005, p4). Reducing product line enhances the shopping experience they felt. V&H widened the price band by lowering the opening prices in some product lines and believed that they offered best value for money. They wanted to appeal to everyone so had all price ranges and catered to all ages. They wanted to attract the under 35 while M&R felt their core customers belonged to the 35-55 age group (2005, p4). M&R had sharper, very competitive opening prices (2005, p4) while V&H had inconsistent price architecture (2005, p4). V&H used press advertising to appeal to the younger customers. They introduced samples in stores and felt this boosted sales. They changed their products too often, and their designs were complicated (2004, part3, p9), which according to the new team, made the customer feel confused (2006, p5). It was also difficult to find the product they were looking for. M&R thus de-cluttered and simplified the store layouts while V&H constantly tried to change the displays at stores (2005, p5). V&R was not quick to recognize shift in customer demand and could not move fast enough to meet aspirations (2004, part3, p6). This could possibly be due to wide

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens Essay Example for Free

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens Essay Injustice is probably one of the oldest forms of hate known to man. Injustice can be found anywhere and in all forms of life. One of the most well known forms of injustice is slavery. Men and women of all ages and races suffer under slavery still to this day. Romania, for example, has been home to the unfortunate youth who are sold as prostitutes by their own parents! We all know that this is wrong, but society has driven us to not considering this as slavery, just cruelty. Obviously slavery is unjust, but some people to this date still do not know this because of the way they were brought up. However, what was once justified can, upon closer examination, be considered unjust. This was also the case during the revolution in France that began in 1789. Charles Dickens in A Tale of Two Cities described the many injustices that resulted from oppression in France. Injustice during the French Revolution affected everyone touched by it because the revolution claimed many victims on all sides. French peasants suffered, the aristocrats suffered, and innocent people suffered when the Revolution claims its victims. The unjust French government oppressed the poor peasants until they revolted in a bloody uprising. Everyone has a breaking point, and once it was reached, it was very hard to go back to a calm state. It was already bad that Marie Antoinette was using the tax money from the poor peasants to pay for her unnecessary dinner parties. Once Antoinette raised the taxes for that same purpose, it became unjust. This resulted in the beheading of Marie Antoinette. The wine was red wine, and had stained the ground of the narrow street in the suburb of Saint Antoine, in Paris, where it was spilled. It had stained many hands, too, and many faces, and many naked feet, and many wooden shoes. The hands of the man who sawed the wood, left red marks on the billets; and the forehead of the woman who nursed her baby, was stained with the stain of the old rag she wound about her head again. Those who had been greedy with the staves of the cask, had acquired a tigerish smear about the mouth; and one tall joker so besmirched, his head more out of a long squalid bag of a night-cap than in it, scrawled upon a wall with his finger dipped in muddy wine-leesblood (Dickens 37). The wine, which symbolizes blood, was smeared everywhere. This showed how desperate the French were to find some nourishment, even if it meant slurping wine off the city streets. It was amazing how a calm day in France changed into first come first serve madness. Also, the raiding of the Bastille showed how little the peasants could tolerate before retaliating. In this massacre, the peasants overpowered the guards to set the famous landmark on fire. Next, the aristocrats suffer from the united peasants uncontrollable anger and violence. One may wonder how the aristocrats and the peasants suffered at the same time? Before the Revolution, the aristocrats had all the money and happiness, but as the Revolution progressed, this happiness gradually converted into fear. Once the peasants realized that they made up the majority, they took advantage of this. The peasants anger drove them to imprisoning and killing every rich person in sight. Innocent people were killed just because they were rich. Aristocrats had no chance of survival because they were hated most. Anyone who worked for the government or even believed in what it stood for lived in a life of fear. The Marquis from A Tale of Two cities was too ignorant to realize that his comments bothered the people. This angered the peasants along with how wealthy he was. But one didnt have to be the Marquis to be punished. Any wealthy man returning to France could be considered an emigrant. For instance, Darnay, a wealthy man, was accused of being an emigrant, so he was immediately sent to prison. As you can see, even the wealthy had no protection under the crumbled government. Lastly, innocent people suffer as the Revolution burned out of control. Innocent people, which included relatives of those directly affected, suffer just because of the overgrown madness. A good example of this would be Lucie and her daughter Little Lucie. Madam Defarge (who was probably the biggest reactionary in the whole book) wanted the whole Manette family to suffer just because Darnay (the nephew of the Marquis) married into the family. Luckily, Little Lucie was not hurt, thanks to Mrs. Pross who put her own life on the line just to save the Manette family. Mrs. Pross, who lived a simple, quiet life, suffered partial deafness from the sound of a single gunshot. Many relatives of the aristocrats received death by the guillotine just because of their family ties and heritage. This was not right, but the people were blinded by their madness to even think about who they were killing and punishing. As illustrated, injustice during the French Revolution affected everyone touched by it because the Revolution claimed so many victims on all sides. Thousands of irreplaceable lives were taken during the time of the Revolution. There were no winners in the outcome of the revolution. These few years were some of the worst France had ever seen. The grindstone had a double handle, and turning at it madly were two men, whose faces, as their long hair flapped back when the whirlings of the grindstone brought their faces up, were more horrible and cruel than the visages of the wildest savages in their most barbarous disguises (Dickens 260). Is it ok to do unjust things in the name of justice? Will there ever be an end to injustice in the world we live in? At the rate were going, we may never reach the desired utopia that we dream of.

Understanding Logistics Performance Measurement And Importance Commerce Essay

Understanding Logistics Performance Measurement And Importance Commerce Essay Probably the first attempt to define logistic performance was made by Chow et al. (1994), and they presented some measures for measuring logistics performance. Since then, most of the literature on logistics performance appears to focus on models and frameworks (Clarke and Gourdin, 1991; Mentzer and Konrad, 1991; Rao and Grenoble, 1991) and on managing different aspects of logistics (Larson, 1994). Logistics performance may be thought as a subset of the larger notion of firm or organizational performance. For Instance, Gleason and Barnum decided to distinguish between effectiveness and efficiency. They defined effectiveness as the extent to which an objective has been achieved, while efficiency was defined as the degree to which resources have been used economically [journal of logistics management. Simply put, efficiency is doing things right, while effectiveness is doing the right thing [journal of logistics management, 42, pp. 3, 4]. Sink and his colleagues defined seven dimensions in order to illustrate the notion of what performance means: they are effectiveness, efficiency, quality, productivity, quality of work life, innovation and profitability/budgetability [journal of logistics management 43, pp. 266-7]. Performance measurement in the logistics functions, like all the business functions, begins at the individual metric level. However, there is forceful need for a method with which to evaluate the existing metrics as there is great abundance of metrics already in existence Logistics performance Indicators: Complex process of logistics is divided into activities which carried out at high quality will not automatically turn a process into a high standard one but they offer chance. The logistics system has the following areas with quality concerns: Logistics facilities, Logistics process and sub processes Human services, organization, management. If we talk about the quality of logistics beyond the three areas mentioned above, then we have to involve the performance and productivity indicators . Quality of logistics facilities: These facilities include: Delivery Facilities warehousing facilities packaging facilities material handling facilities Quality indicators of logistics facilities: Load capacity and performance Modern design Suitability to jobs Maintenance background Man-facilities relation (environment protection) Good-facilities relation (specialties of goods, unit load, packaging, etc.) Ways-vehicles relation Performance-price relation Relation of expected life and price of facilities Specific energy and lubricant costs Specific performance costs Specific maintenance costs Reliability Featurelessness (failure rate,) Longevity (general overhaul cycle, life span) Restorability (av. Restoring time, total break-down time) Storability, transportability Quality indicators of Transport ways Capacity, length, network, way leading (curves, slope etc.) Easy to survey, surface, illumination speed, sensibility to weather, comfort Information, signs Safety, help (telephone, helicopter etc.) Quality indicators of logistics process(es) Optimum combination of jobs (tasks) and facilities Optimum packaging and load unit Optimum logistics chain Optimum route and time Minimum transfer of goods Minimum warehousing time and event Organizing and managing logistics activities in environment-friendly way Capacity supply/capacity demand Appear time/ordered time Damage events/total activities (packaging also) Missing volume/total volume (packaging also) Error delivery/total delivery commitments Physical processing time Performed commitments/ demanded commitments Number of customers/year Logistics performance measures can be categorized into two categories such as qualitative and quantitative measures. Qualitative measures include such as customer satisfaction and product quality etc., and quantitative measures include such as order-to-delivery lead time, supply chain response time, flexibility, resource utilization, delivery performance, etc. Quantitative metrics of supply chain performance can be classified into two broad categories: Non-financial and financial. In fact, in the late 1880s the main emphasis was on financial measures such as return on investment (Christopher, 1992; Schermerhorn et al.,, 2000). However as the second progressed during 1980s, the world market changed and companies began to lose market share to overseas competitors who were able to provide higher-quality products with lower costs and more diversity. To re- capture the competitive edge, companies not only directed their strategic focus from low-cost production to quality, flexibility and short lead time, as non-financial measures (Bower Hout, 1988; Rushton Oxley, 1989; Stewart, 1995). . One of the studies conducted on performance measurement clearly suggests that each entity or company on the supply chain needs to adopt a more balanced perspective in its performance measurement and management approach. It is also suggested companies can measure more adequately non-financial indicators in addition to the financial ones (BSC). Companies need to recognize more the importance of drivers of strategic future performance as represented by the indicators within the internal process perspective and the learning and growth perspective. As it is, it would appear that though these non-financial drivers of growth indicators are recognized as important, they are often overshadowed by the financial indicators. Moreover, managing a given supply chains overall performance necessitates the coordination of measures across the different entities on the supply chain. In nutshell, requires all entities on the supply chain to adopt a common balanced perspective in their performance measurement and management in order to facilitate the overall performance and competitiveness of the entire Business logistics performance metrics could also be classified as Operational performance metrics Day to day technical representation adherence to developed schedule ( important to give time and location dimensions for quality assurance) Ability to avoid complaints(means minimizing the possible complaints) Achievement of defect free deliveries Inventory carrying cost(Levy (1997) Information carrying cost (Steward (1995) Tactical performance metrics Efficiency of purchase order (using economic order quantity and other approaches) Cycle time Booking in procedures Cash flow Quality assurance methodology Capacity flexibility Total transportation cost Strategic performance metrics Rate of return on Investment (is the ratio of money gained or lost (whether realized or unrealized) on an investment relative to the amount of money invested) Total cash flow time lead time against industry norm, Quality level Cost saving initiatives supplier pricing against market(Gunasekaran et al. (2004) Customer query time Importance of performance Measurement The importance of performance measurement cannot be denied as one of the manufacturing and management consultant said that you get what you inspect, not what you expect. (Melnyk et al. 2004) It has also been affirmed that organizations would gain competitive advantage, through logistics, when they seek and achieve excellence in the twin peaks of cost and service leadership (Christopher (1992, pp. 8-10). Similarly, another states that in operations strategy, organizations can compete not only on productivity, but also by giving perceived value through innovation and quality (Garvin (1992, pp. 126, 204, 321). Metrics are required to evaluate work done and to direct the activities, since what we measure indicates how we intend to deliver value to our customers Performance measurement can be defined as the process of quantifying the efficiency and effectiveness of action (Neely, Mills, Platts, Gregory, Richards, 1994). Pressures (severe competition, globalization, and rapidly changes in customer requirements) are significantly driving force to organizations in order to re-focusing on utilizing of people and resources based on organizational objectives. Organizations need to provide a performance measurement system to evaluate the resource utilization so that they can strategically manage and properly control to achieve their objectives and goals. it has been pointed out that performance measurement is vital part of controlling process in order to take action for ensuring desired results. (Schermerhorn and Chappell ,2000) Case Example: Many people are surprised how Wal-Mart is able to charge such low prices and continue to make a profit. There are several factors in their business model that contribute to this ability, but a big one is their ability to adapt to an ever-changing global marketplace and running an efficient supply chain system. Moreover, the giant retailer is implementing the most advanced technological solutions and measures to be efficient market player. This ability requires a flawless logistical system that allows product to be shipped anywhere at a moments notice. Wal-Marts commitment to improving operations, lowering costs and improving customer service is making it efficient and effective retailer. However, Wal-Marts success lies in its ability to drive costs out of its supply chain and manage it efficiently. Wal-Mart is considered to be a supply chain-driven company that also has retail stores. Running the whole business model on the low prices strategy and low cost transportation enables Wal-Mart to sell its products at the lowest possible prices. Wal-Mart operates each of its stores like a small company. Trained store managers manage one store at a time, one department at a time, and one customer at a time. Wal-Mart has implemented advanced logistics solutions like RFID (radio frequency identification). These solutions assist in maintaining lower costs, identifying out-of-stocks and increasing sales. Wal-Mart has successfully established Distribution centers (DC) instead of warehouses, cross-docking technology and automated replenishment also reduce inventory carrying costs. (Anonymous, 2007) Conclusion: The logistics challenge is that organizations have to be more responsive, with high levels of flexibility in delivery. The emphasis should be on processes and performance rather than on functions and profit. The competitive battleground will be in the fields of quality, productivity, speed and innovation. Progress towards performance excellence will be aided greatly by relevant and integrated measurement frameworks and models (Christopher (1994). It has been proclaimed that when you can measure what you are speaking about, and expresses it in numbers; you will know something about it (Lord Kelvin, 1996) Realizing the importance of performance measurement in logistics, many big market player are trying to be more efficient by investing huge resources in latest financial as well as non financial tools Moreover, logistics costs take 18-23% of total production costs (in a wider sense even 40%).For this reason production companies are going to make these activities more effective and efficient. Big companies have third partners (forwarders) make it. A forwarder can comprehend and optimize a longer interval of logistics chain. The share of distribution and production logistics is not right. The border is not sharp. In the case of quality the question is how and not where.

Native American Sound Instruments Essay -- essays research papers

"Native American Sound Instruments" Through my own personal experiences and teachings from Native Americans, that have offered to enlighten me, I've gathered that there is a sacred nature rich in spirit and soul to them. The Native American lives religion as a way of life. Children of the tribe grow up in this world of spirituality and learn from example that religion can come as easily as taking a breath every day. This is no attempt to lead into the topic of religion, yet it needs to be known that the Native American sound instruments are used as a part of that religion or spirituality. There are many sound instruments used by Native Americans, but they vary accordingly from tribe to tribe. The Native American sound instruments are considered a way to almost imitate the processes of nature to attain their level of spirituality during ceremonies as well as every day life. The drum and the flute are just a few of the sound instruments used by Native Americans, yet the drum stands out as of major importance. The drum provides a center for the tribe because it tends to represent a symbolic importance. Black Elk of the Oglala tribe was once quoted as explaining that symbolic importance as, "a drum's round form represents the universe. The steady strong beat of the drum is the pulse, the heart, throbbing at the center of the universe. As the voice of Wakan Tanka, it stirs and helps us to understand the mystery and power of things." (The Spirit World, page 149) Wakan Tanka is the name given to the Great Mystery, also known as the Big Holy or the Great Spirit, and this Wakan Tanka is considered as the one ruling power known as "Good." The First Nations consider, no, they believe that every thing has a soul or a life force and that they are also dependent on each other. The drum Rodriguez 2 beats as if it is representing a heartbeat, this heartbeat could signify our beginning as if being safe inside a mother's womb. The drum is also believed to posses a "medicine" quality. A drum can be made of many types of wood as well as many types of animal skin, yet there is only preference because of each individual tribe or person making the drum. Drums can be made in a various array of sizes, again depending on preference. Sizes can range from small enough for an individual to large enough for twelve people. The average size is... ...l living things and the Native American sound instruments may be a key to reaching the center of the spiritual universe. Works Consulted DeBelius, Maggie, "The Spirit World." The American Indians Series, ED. Henry Woodhead, Time-Life Books, 1993. Edmonds, Margot. and Clark, Ella. "Voices of the Winds:Native American Legends". New York: Facts on File, 1989. Erdoes, Richard. and Ortiz, Alfonso. "American Indian Myths and Legends", New York: Pantheon, 1984. Frances Densmore. " The Study of Indian Music", Smithsonian Report, 1941, Facsimile Reproduction, The Shorey Bookstore, Seattle, WA, 1996. R. Carlos Nakai. and James Demars. " The Art of the Native American Flute", Canyon Records Productions, Phoenix, Arizona. Richard W. Payne, M.D. "The Plains Flute",The Flutists Quarterly, 1988, Vol. 13, no.4, The National Flute Association, Ind. Ann Arbor MI. Richard W. Payne, M.D. "The Native American Plains Flutes", Toubat Trails Publishing Co. Oklahoma City Publishing Co., 1999. William K. Powers. "The Art of Courtship Among the 0glala", American Indian Art, Spring, 1980, Vol. 5, No.2, PP 40-47.

battle of hastings recruiting :: essays research papers fc

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  October 14th of the year 1066 two armies faced each other near the town of Hastings. 10,000 Norman troops under the command of William of Normandy faced 8,000 Anglo-Saxon soldiers led by Harold the current king of England. Geoffrey Parker, Cambridge Illustrated History of Warfare (Cambridge: 1995), pp. 82-3. Harold's 8,000 men consisted of Housecarls, the local Fyrd, and local village volunteers. David Howarth, 1066: The Year of the Conquest (New York: 1977),pp.170-1 The two armies clashed on that day and history tells us the outcome. But what forces go into creating an army of these sizes? The three main Anglo-Saxon troop types will be defined and the forces that created them will be examined below.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Three troop types would fight for the Anglo-Saxons the Housecarls, the Fyrd, and local peasantry. The Housecarls were professional soldiers under the service of the King and the Earls of the Kingdom. Harold used the Housecarls of the King and his Housecarls of his Earldom of Wessex. He also used the Housecarls of his two brothers. The Fyrd was a volunteer citizen army provided by the Thanes of the kingdom. The local peasants fought to protect their homes. David Howarth, 1066: The Year of the Conquest (New York: 1977), pp. 80-1. There were two divisions of fyrd in the 11th century one consisting of a local peasant force and the other a select levy force. C. Warren Hollister, Anglo-Saxon Military Institutions: On the Eve of the Norman Conquest (Oxford: 1962), p. 26.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The local peasant Fyrd that fought at Hastings came from Sussex. C. Warren Hollister, Anglo-Saxon Military Institutions: On the Eve of the Norman Conquest (Oxford: 1962), p.30. All freemen of the area were obligated to provide protection for the local area. This obligation was connected with financial and agricultural obligations. C. Warren Hollister, Anglo-Saxon Military Institutions: On the Eve of the Norman Conquest (Oxford: 1962), pp. 35-6. The peasant fighting force is a Germanic tradition in origin. Based upon a freeman's duty to defend the lands of the king, however the peasant force is a limited army. The king is required to pay the troops if needed for them to leave the area. The peasants have the right to return to there homes at the end of the day. However, they must provide their own equipment. C. Warren Hollister, Anglo-Saxon Military Institutions: On the Eve of the Norman Conquest (Oxford: 1962), pp. 27-8. The primary function of the peasant Fyrd was to provide defense against enemies attack from the sea, such as the events at Hastings.

Together We Survive

Life is full of challenges. Each people has their own battle to fight everyday. For every battle, there might be a couple of times that you will fail, but those failures should not be a hindrance for you to not keep going. You are not alone, there are people that surrounds you whom you can seek for help. Survival doesn't have to be done by yourself but instead helping each other would emphasize the purpose of life. An American author named Hellen Keller states that, â€Å"Alone we can do little; together we can do so much.† Working together builds relationship to other people because you are able to connect and support each other in times of ups and downs. In times of hardships, reaching out to others enables smoother movement towards the goal of surviving. When life gets harder, people who can overcome the problems are more likely the ones who builds unity and lend a helping hand to others. 5 years ago, a 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck the island of Bohol in the Philippines. It's a total disaster that devastated thousands of lives due to the severity of damages of infrastructures and the number of affected families. There were many people who were injured and died from the earthquake, including our neighbors who are the Merez family. Both parents died while working inside the building that collapsed during that day and left their 4 children in grieve. The eldest son was only 20 years old. It was indeed difficult for them losing both of their parents and their properties. Though they had experienced such huge casualties, the siblings helped each other and never hesitate to ask somebody for help. Moreover, those people who are willing in giving an aid, gave hope to other underprivileged individuals to start a new chapter of their lives. Not only by financial support but with their presence of showing love to the affected families as well. The Merez siblings went through a process of grieving but with the help of others, they had overcome the depression for quite a time and had realized that it isn't the end of their lives yet. On the other hand, the Belarmino family who's not even related by blood, supported the siblings and gave them a chance to regain their life. They work hard, motivate each other to study well in order to reach their ambitions. Furthermore, the reason behind of their success is that they chose to remain hard as rock despite of the losses and the experiences they went through. They fought mentally, physically, and emotionally. They never lose hope and had face the dilemmas in life. As time passes by, the eldest brother graduated in college and is now working as a teacher. It was indeed a tough journey for him. Nevertheless, he is now sending his siblings to school and he's able to overcome the tremendous challenges he had faced back then. In conclusion, facing the problems alone is all right but, asking somebody for help won't make a person less. Pulling together develop relationships and strategies in order to accomplish your wants. No matter how bad the situation is, no disaster can break your dreams and aspirations in life. Keep moving forward and make those hardships in life as a motivation to strive hard. This is what life is all about, we help each other to grow better and learn from the experiences together.

Associate Level Material Essay

Introduction Due in Week One: Give an overview of the company and the security goals to be achieved. 1 Company overview As relates to your selected scenario, give a brief 100- to 200-word overview of the company. Sunica Music and Movies is a multimedia corporation that currently has four locations. Due to jumbled inventory, no internet commerce, and other factors they have been losing more and more customers. By installing a WAN, they will be able to keep track of their inventory better. They will also be able to keep their finances in order. There are also plans to make it where people can order online. In the end the company is going to make sure that their network is fully functional for all four stores, be secure for their customers, and protect all the assets of the company with a proper plan and proper security. 2 Security policy overview Of the different types of security policies—program-level, program-framework, Issue-specific, and system-specific—briefly cover which type is appropriate to your selected business scenario and why. I feel that issue specific would be the proper system to use for this company. The problems they have are issue specific and can be solved by addressing specific issues. By fixing each issue seprately, they will be able to become the safe and reliable company they want to be. 3 Security policy goals As applies to your selected scenario, explain how the confidentiality, integrity, and availability principles of information security will be addressed by the information security policy. 1 Confidentiality Briefly explain how the policy will protect information. By installing a WAN, Sunica makes sure that the inforamtion stays within the company itself. That make it more difficult for hackers to infiltrate their system. 2 Integrity Give a brief overview of how the policy will provide rules for authentication and verification. Include a description of formal methods and system transactions. This system will make sure that their is no unauthorized access to any of the information. It will also keep logs to where if anything does go wrong they can pinpoint exactly where and when it happened. It will also stay updated to the point where there wont be any unneccesary issues. 3 Availability Briefly describe how the policy will address system back-up and recovery, access control, and quality of service. By having a WAN the company will maintain all control of their system. Which will make backup of the system easier. And it will also allow them to be able to recover anything lost with more ease. And finally it allows tem to make sure that everything stays up to date so that the material will always be accesible and at the highest quality possible. References Cite all your references by adding the pertinent information to this section by following this example. American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

Current and Future Market Trends Essay

When thinking of wireless phone or internet service, the first company that probably comes to mind is Verizon Wireless. Verizon officially became a force to be reckoned with in the wireless market in 2000 when Verizon communications and Vodafone merged. Verizon states, â€Å"Verizon Communications Inc., headquartered in New York, is a global leader in delivering broadband and other wireless and wire line communications services to mass market, business, government and wholesale customers.† Since entering the market in 2000, Verizon has made itself popular by offering service in more areas than any other wireless network. Market Structure Within economics, four types of market structures exist. The four types are: monopoly, monopolistic competition, perfect competition, and oligopoly. Colander (2008) describes market structure as, â€Å"the physical characteristics of the market within which firms interact.† Verizon Wireless’ market structure can be defined by a combination of monopolistic competition and oligopoly. Colander (2008) defines monopolistic competition and oligopoly as, â€Å"a market structure in which there are many firms selling differentiated products and few barriers to entry—and oligopoly — a market structure in which there are only a few firms and firms explicitly take other firms’ likely response into account. The wireless industry is smaller that people think and not much competiton exists. For example: Cingular and AT&T are both wireless carriers, but Cingular is a part of AT&T. Essentially, when a consumer spends money with Cingular, it still goes to AT&T. Using an oligopoly structure has worked well for Verizon in the past and currently. Current and future market trends should not have any affect on the market structure of Verizon. New Companies Competition in the wireless industry has always been tough. It seems as though every month or few weeks, a new phone or new service is being unveiled by a well-know company or a company trying to get started. Besides  Alltell, Verizon is usually the company the competition seeks to compete with. To compete with Verizon most companies offer a service similar to Verizon for a cheaper price, or they offer a similar phone for a cheaper price. Verizon would not be affected heavily by any new companies entering the market, because Verizon is already established and consumers are already familiar with the brand. Aside from that, Verizon offers a number of services and slogans to keep their consumers interested. Some of the slogans used are: America’s largest and most reliable network, #1 in customer loyalty, and the worry free guarantee. Verizon does not have to worry about the competition, the competition should worry about Verizon. Prices One of the downsides to having wireless services and phones is the price. Since the introduction of cell phones, the price of phones and the price of service have risen significantly. On average, a contract for cell phone service with two lines would cost anywhere from $160 – $250, depending on the services the customer chooses. That price does not include the price of the phone which could be anywhere from $50 – $900. The prices to maintain the convenience of a cell phone are ridiculous, but it is a necessity that most individuals find it hard to live without. The current and future trend of the wireless industry shows the price of services and phones increasing. With that being said, despite the prices of phones and service, consumers will continue to pay the prices set by Verizon and other wireless companies. Technology Cell phones and services have definitely evolved over the years. Technology is one of the leading factors when consumers consider purchasing a phone or selecting a company as their wireless provider. Most cell phone users use text messaging, check email, and log onto social networking sites like facebook and myspace from their mobile phones. Like any other invention cell phones have evolved and become an important part of our lives. Televisions went from just being in homes to our cars. Computers were usually found in places such as: homes, offices, and libraries. Now cell phones are the more modern version of computers. Verizon has always made note of the changing trends when it comes to technology and the company has always delivered excellent products the consumer wants or needs. Productivity To maintain the position as the largest and most reliable wireless carrier, Verizon Wireless must spend money. The costs range from building the network, to maintaining the network. Costs include employees, equipment and technology needed to keep the company on top. The company makes decisions based on what the benefit will be in the long run. These decisions are made by researching trends and technology in the wireless market and changing tastes of the consumer. The company knows the catalyst of success is a strong network. The law of diminishing marginal productivity states as more of a variable input is added to an existing fixed input, eventually the additional output one gets from that additional input is going to fall (Colander 2008). I was not able to get information specific from Verizon Wireless that would help me graph out this law. The company has over 86,000 employees and made 56.8 billion dollars in profit for 2008 (about us 2009). Each year bonuses are given to employees based on individual performance and company performance. Last year the bonuses were based on the fact that the company made 12% in profits. In today’s economic times, the e profit achieved was outstanding and was above any other profits made in the wireless industry for 2008. Cost Structure Wages and Benefits Employees of Verizon Wireless are compensated well. The employees salary along with the benefits provided are above others employed in the wireless industry, according to David Brown an analyst at Verizon Wireless human resources. At Verizon Wireless a broad-banded structure is used to organize jobs and manage pay. There are six bands that range from A to F. Depending on the skills of the individual, he or she is usually hired in on the F band, which is a customer service representative, or assistant. The duties are usually task oriented. The next band is E, which is a coordinator or analyst, who are proven to work independently, usually on projects and technical functions. D band consists of level one managers, supervisors etcetera. C through A bands are the higher levels of management and CEO. Jobs are assigned to bands based on similar roles and levels of responsibility. The jobs themselves can be quite different in terms of what people do. Jobs in the same band are similar in terms of their impact on our business results, the decision-making authority of the employees who hold them, and the knowledge and skills required. VZW classifies a job as either salaried exempt or salaried non-exempt. Verizon Wireless provides medical, dental and vision benefits to employees at a reduced cost, but also provides at no cost an education benefit up to 8,000 per year, 401k contribution matching up to 6% and yearly performance bonuses as well as profit sharing if enrolled in 401k and a long term incentive program that is also based on company performance. Employees are a vital asset to Verizon Wireless and the salaries along with the benefits are designed to maximize performance. Cost Structure Fixed and Variable Costs Fixed costs are defined as costs that are spent and cannot be changed in the period under consideration (2008). Fixed costs for Verizon Wireless include buildings, warehouses used, and upkeep of cellular sites. Variable costs, or costs that change, include workers employed, contracts for equipment production, new technology etcetera. Verizon Wireless is a firm that sells produced goods to individuals, businesses and government (2008). The company’s main output is technology. The fixed costs dived by the variable costs equal the average costs of the company. As was stated earlier, last year Verizon Wireless made a 12% increase in profits from the year before. Most of the revenue occurred in the 4th quarter of the year with the release of the BlackBerry Storm touch screen device. The device was the answer to the I phone distributed by AT&T. Over 100,000 devices were sold on the first day of release alone. The cost of the device was 199.99, which is around 2 million dollars made in one day. The demand for the devices increased, and the company met the demand with more phones. According to the March 2009 newsletter given to the company for 4th quarter earnings, the CEO Lowell McAdam advised that Storm sales were the factor that  significantly raised the company’s profits and set the bar for future ventures. Price Elasticity of Demand The relation between the shift in quantity and shift in price of a product is known as price elasticity. â€Å"Price elasticity of demand is the calculation of the percentage change in quantity demanded divided by the percentage change in price† (Colander, 2008). Verizon Wireless has to make an effort to stay in synch with the pricing and offerings by their competition. Verizon Wireless must implement services and products that incorporate modern technology and are ground-breaking to compete in the wireless market and affordable in today’s economy. Impact of Government Regulations Verizon Wireless realizes the importance in ensuring that all regulations that are established by the Federal Communications Commission. Abiding by these regulations will guarantee that Verizon Wireless will keep providing long-standing benefits for the taxpayer and customers. Verizon Wireless trusts that the present structure â€Å"of auctioning spectrum licenses, with clearly defined, exclusive-use and flexible rights, is the right approach to spectrum policy† (Verizon Wireless, 2009). Although clear benefits towards allowing unlicensed use of spectrum is visible, that advance will not create the revenue for the United States Treasury or the best value for American economy. Broadband is one of the services provided by Verizon Wireless. Over the past ten years Broadband services have been used commercially. During that time the government has acknowledged the significance of implementing market-based motivations to persuade broadband usage and investment. â€Å"Rather than applying more-stringent regulations to telecommunications services and infrastructure, the FCC generally has applied an old wires, old rules; new wires, new rules philosophy towards broadband services and networks† (Verizon Wireless, 2009) By doing this, customers will reap in the benefits form the government’s decision to enhance incentives for broadband service providers to invest in better and superior broadband networks and services. â€Å"Investment and deployment in next-generation broadband networks – such as Verizon’s FiOS network – is happening at a remarkable pace, and consumers  now have more choices than ever before† (Verizon Wireless, 2009). Competitors Verizon Wireless has a substantial amount of competition in the wireless industry. Verizon competes with wireless companies such as T-Mobile, Sprint and AT&T. Verizon Wireless became the largest wireless service provider by beating out AT&T. Nonetheless, Verizon’s landline industry is affected by the large opposition of modern technology and tends to confront challenges from various other competitors with high speed internet and cable companies such as Time Warner Cable. Verizon Wireless has to make an effort to stay in synch with the pricing and offerings of its competitors. The Wireless industry is so competitive, equipment can outdate within a few months. Companies must develop wireless devices that are affordable as well as reliable. Supply and Demand Analysis Even with today’s economic challenges, many opportunities to create innovative new products to meet customer demand still abound. In a bold new step the company introduced its line of netbooks, mini lightweight laptop computers that consumers can take with them anywhere. The netbooks have all the functionality of a laptop, with the convenience of a smaller wireless device. The smaller size and the low price the netbooks are offered, is what today’s consumers are demanding. Tapping into this market gives Verizon Wireless a piece of the notebook and laptop market that was only accessible in the past by offering mobile broadband cards. The added revenue from this market keeps Verizon Wireless ahead of the competition. Verizon Wireless also has the opportunity to expand its coverage globally with the 3G UMTS, Quad Band GSM networks. This means that business travelers as well as consumers will now have access to roam on more networks in over 250 countries across the globe. Verizon Wireless strives to produce the best most reliable wireless voice and data coverage in the industry. In order to obtain that goal the company will have to gain customers faster than the competition, widen the revenue lead and lead in profitability. As long as Verizon stays on the right track, the company should not have any issues presently and in the future. Reference Page Colander, D (2008).Economics, Fifth Edition. McGraw-Hill/Irwin, New York, New York, 10020 Verizon Wireless. (2009). Corporate History/investor relations. Retrieved June 26th, 2009 from www.verizon.com.