Zara Project

Product classification of Zara †¢ Most clothing are classified as an â€Å"durable good† as they are used up slowly, †¢ Clothing doesn’t need to be disposed of after being worn once, but rather could be cleaned and reword until a tear within the seams or a stain kills it, or ultimately it goes out of style [pic] Product Lifecycle Due to the clothing industry is mainly backed behind by what is â€Å"cool† or â€Å"hip† to date, clothing often needs to refresh its look in order to attract customers to purchase the product †¢ Many clothing brands including Zara would refresh its new look to attract customers by refreshing its line of clothing such as push out new garments that have a certain style that was popular at the time and this process of refreshing a line of clothing is never stopping Branding †¢ Zara uses an â€Å"one brand name everywhere† concept †¢ No matter within which country it possess the name in Zara †¢ T he brand â€Å"Zara† is recognized in over 1700 stores in 89 countriesPackaging †¢ Within most clothing store like Zara, packaging is basically non-existent †¢ The lack of packaging is due to the company wanting the customers to be able to feel the material used for the product and able to try it on †¢ If both the material and style is favourable to the customer, there is a higher chance of a transaction being made http://marketingmixx. com/marketing-plan-2/200-marketing-plan-of-zara. html http://www. slideshare. net/gunbal/zara-7936993 http://www. forbes. com/sites/lydiadishman/2012/03/23/the-strategic-retail-genius-behind-zara/ http://blogs. ubc. ca/conradchan/2011/09/16/zaras-marketing-strategy/

Xbrl

The Next Technology Revolution XML XBRL 1 Today’s Objectives †¢ Overview of XML & XBRL †¢ Show you how this technology makes doing EBusiness: – Faster – Cheaper – Better †¢ Conclusion 2 Let’s move up the Value Chain Transactions Data Information Knowledge Decisions Transactions Data Information Knowledge Decisions Transactions Data Information Knowledge Decisions Transactions Data Information Knowledge Decisions 3 Evolution to Web Services Web Program the Web Browse the Web Web Services Text Files Web Pages Innovation FTP, E-Mail, Gopher Connectivity TCP/IP HTML XML 4 Automation Presentation Technology XMLXML stands for: eXtensible Markup Language Universally accepted method of exchanging information 5 eXtensible Markup Language †¢ †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦is a meta markup language the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) considers a universal standard for describing both structured data and the behavior of applications that process the language . 6 What Is XML? †¢ â€Å"XML is a platform-independent, self-describing, expandable, standard data exchange format 7 XML is Platform Independent †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Windows Unix Macintosh Mainframe Linux 8 XML is Self-Describing Self†¢ Example: – July 26, 1998 †¢ Describes the information, not the presentation †¢ Format neutral XML is Expandable †¢ Whereas HTML has a fixed set of tags – , , †¢ XML lets you create your own tags – – – 10 How does it work? †¢ XML gives meaning to information through the use of tags Saad Hafizi COB Chairman, Novac 21 Caution.. †¦Just because something is .. Does not mean it is accurate? 11 The XML Puzzle XML Document Core Schema Transformation Tools Industry Specific Vocabularies Company Specific Vocabulary 12 How XML Works How XML Works Improves the way companies — and applications — share information Enjoys strong industry and vendor support 13 What is ‘XML’? †¢ What XML is Not – Not a religion. Not the solution to all world problems. – Not a solution for all electronic commerce problems. – Not a solution to all legal-technology problems. †¢ XML is a Tool – XML is a Really Cool (Powerful) Tool! – Like all tools, XML can be used wisely and unwisely. 14 Why is XML so Important? †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Portable Vendor neutral Readable data format More flexible and easier to use than EDI All major software products are becoming â€Å"XML† enabled †¢ Defacto standards for data exchange †¢ Enabling new levels of interoperability 15 XML †¢ Widely expected to reduce cost of publishing to the Net by as much as 50%. And by next year Gartner Group prediction 70% of all B2B transactions executed on the Web will be done using XML. 16 Who defines the tags? †¢ Tags are defined by industry consortiums †¢ Each industry’s stan dard tags are commonly referred to as a taxonomy 17 â€Å"Content in Context† (Industry-specific) Auto Industry Chemical Industry Publishing or Mythology Music Industry Aerospace Astronomy 18 Who’s Building Taxonomies? Accounting Economics EDI Healthcare Legal Publishing Science Advertising Architecture Communication E-Commerce Financial Insurance News Retail Supply Chain 19 Automotive Banking Education ERP HR Music Real Estate SoftwareDefines Tags 20 XBRL International is gaining strength †¢ XBRL activities occurring in— – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – United States Canada Australia China & Hong Kong Japan Malaysia New Zealand Singapore Taiwan Germany India Ireland Netherlands Nordic Federation (Denmark, Norway, Sweden) South Africa Spain Switzerland United Kingdom †¢ And on a global level through the— – Inter national Accounting Standards Council – International Press Telecommunications Council – International Standards Organization 21 XBRL International is gaining strength †¢ On a Global level through the— – – International Accounting Standards Council International Press Telecommunications Council International Standards Organization †¢ On a Country Level: – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – United States Canada Australia China & Hong Kong Japan Malaysia New Zealand Singapore Taiwan Germany India Ireland Netherlands Nordic Federation (Denmark, Norway, Sweden) South Africa Spain Switzerland United Kingdom 22 XBRL Impact â€Å"The explosive growth of the Internet is not only changing the way companies conduct their business, it also promises to forever alter the way they communicate business performance. – CFO M agazine, February 2000 23 XBRL Documents †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ XBRL for Financial Statements XBRL for General Ledger XBRL for Journal Entry Reporting XBRL for Credit Reporting XBRL for Performance Press Releases XBRL for Risk Reporting XBRL for Regulatory Filings XBRL for Tax Filings XBRL for Assurance Schedules XBRL for Authoritative Literature XBRL for â€Å"Business† Reporting 24 Who’s Embracing XML now? †¢ Software developers Using XML as the core technology for new products †¢ Database developers Building XML support into their products. †¢ Industry groups Deciding how information should be shared. Organizations Investigating how to tie their inter and intra company processes together. 25 †¢ XML for Financial Reporting †¢ Enables a dramatic improvement in the processing of financial reports †¢ XBRL documents can be— – – – – – Pr epared efficiently Exchanged reliably Published more easily Analyzed quickly Retrieved by investors simply to enable smarter investments 26 Benefits †¢ XBRL is: – NOT a new accounting standards but enhances the distribution and usability of existing financial statement information – Enabler and an extension for relational database functionality for all financial statement information 7 Problems XBRL Addresses †¢ Ineffective communication to investors †¢ Inefficient aggregation and analysis †¢ Inefficient creation of financial statements 28 Why XBRL ? Enable business reporting that leverages the Internet & XML Effective access and analysis of business reports Improve corporate communications with stakeholders 29 Who benefits Process Benefits: Lowering Financial Reporting Cost †¢ Today’s external reporting processes – Rework and delay – Ad hoc and non repeatable – No path forward Accounting System Explanatory Text Thir d Party Information Printed Financials Regulatory FilingsWeb Site Tax Return Trade Filings 30 Who benefits Process Benefits: Lowering Financial Reporting Cost †¢ Common interchange format and storage is good information management practice – Reduces redundancies & discrepancies – Repeatable processes using tools – A platform for continuous reporting Accounting System Explanatory Text Third Party Information XBRL Documents Printed Financials Regulatory Filings Web Site Tax Return Trade Filings 31 XBRL: Interoperability & Multiple Uses G/L Package ERP XBRL Custom Developed Systems US GAAP Financial Statement In English US GAAP Financial Statement In DutchUS GAAP Financial Statement to the Web US GAAP Financial Statement to Print XBRL Other Sources of Information XBRL Other Sources of Information Other Sources of Information US GAAP Financial Statement to Cell Phone XBRL: Interoperability & Multiple Uses G/L Package ERP US GAAP Financial Statement Investors & Creditors XBRL Custom Developed Systems EDGAR Filing XBRL Tax Filing XBRL Government Other Sources of Information Bank Filing XBRL News Agencies And Others Other Sources of Information Other Sources of Information Press Release Once Every Event is tagged in XBRL†¦ G/L Package ERPIAS Financial Statement in German US GAAP Financial Statement In English French Tax Filing Investors & Creditors XBRL Custom Developed Systems XBRL XBRL Government Other Sources of Information Canadian Banking Filing XBRL News Agencies And Others Other Sources of Information Other Sources of Information EDGAR 10k line item via Cell Phone XBRL Working Model: Planned Specifications XBRL for G/L Journal Entry Reporting XBRL for Financial Statements XBRL for EDGAR Filings Processes Business Operations Internal Financial Reporting External Financial Reporting Investment and Lending AnalysisXBRL for Business Event Reporting XBRL for Tax Filings Financial Publishers and Data Aggregators Participants Companies Investors Trading Partners Management Accountants Auditors Regulators Software Vendors XBRL: not a Transaction Protocol What it is †¢ XBRL is merely a format to serialize complex, structured financial data: e. g. , statements, G/Ls. †¢ Therefore, it cannot replace OFX, ebXML, ANSI X. 12 Trans Set 821, OMG G/L Spec, †¦ †¢ Future message sets in those protocols could include XBRL tagged data if they need to send financial statements in the message body. XBRL provides a framework and an AICPA approved vocabulary that can be extended to many other reporting frameworks. 36 XBRL: not an accounting standard †¢ Means of communicating – Current GAAP – Current practice †¢ Flexible standard – Future standards – Future general practice 37 XBRL: A Fragment of a Raw Data Raw Data in Spreadsheet Company Coca Cola Co. Coca Cola Co. Financial Statement Balance Sheet Line Item CurrentAssets. Cashand CashEquivalents CurrentAssets. Cashand CashE quivalents Label CurrentAssets. Cashand CashEquivalents CurrentAssets.Cashand CashEquivalents Year 1999 Value 1611 Balance Sheet 1998 1648 Same Raw Data in XML (XBRL) Format $1,611 $1,648 38 39 What software ‘sees’ is the differentiator and drives benefits (here is an example) 40 Importance of Reporting â€Å" [W]hat excites the CEO is the ability to know what the business is doing at any given point in time, react quickly to market shifts and competitive threats and remain in tight control while empowering employees to make informed decisions more quickly. Year End Earnings Release Call August 10, 1999 John Chambers Cisco CEO † 41 â€Å" Virtual Close TheBest Practice has, in my opinion, just as much impact on a company’s future success or lack thereof as the wellpublished e-commerce area. Year End Earnings Release Call August 10, 1999 John Chambers Cisco CEO † 42 XBRL Impact †¢ â€Å" †¦ If Europe moves quickly to take up these standard s, it could give them an attractive lead in the race to accessible and comparative key data that would stimulate investor interest. It would undoubtedly spawn a plethora of research tools that would be useful to both private and professional investors. † †¢ †¢ – Investors Chronicle, August 9, 2000 43XBRL and the Emergence of ‘e‘eStandards’ †¢ E-Standards are fundamental †¢ HTML is the standard that enabled the web’s first ‘Big Step’ †¢ XML is the web’s next ‘Big Step’ – Over 200 XML-Based Specifications and Protocols exist, including— †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ RosettaNet – computer company supply chain and trading webs OBI – Open Buying on the Internet – retail e-commerce FpML – Financial Products (Derivatives, Swaps, FX) ACORD XML – Insurance industry information exchange standards derived from EDI. – UN/CEFAC = EBXML †¢ XBRL is uniquely focused on financial reporting 44 Standard . orgs (reporting vs ‘e’)Accounting / Auditing Reporting ASB IASC FASB IFAC SEC Territory Institutes ‘e-Business’ W3C OASIS;UN/CEFAC T (ebxml) xml. org RosettaNet ACORD What about these? CPAs participate / lead in these The range of what is under development today †¦ HR CRM â€Å"Horizontals† (Infrastructure) there are others†¦.. XBRL is uniquely focused on Etc. business reporting CHEMX RosettaNet ACORD FpML ANX â€Å"Verticals† (Industry Supply Chains) there are others†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. XBRL Adds Reporting to E-Commerce ETax One way Regulators Investors Creditors Lenders Website One way Aggregators BUSINESS ERP G/L Packages CRM 2-way SuppliersTransaction Creation 2-way †¢Orders †¢A/P †¢Delivery †¢Orders †¢A/R †¢Delivery Customers 47 XBRL Adds Reporting to E-Commerce ETax One way Regulators Investors Creditors Lenders Website One way Aggregators B USINESS G/L Packages ERP CRM BUSINESS REPORTING XBRL 2-way Suppliers Transaction Creation 2-way (e-)Commerce OTHER XML INITIATIVES †¢Orders †¢A/P †¢Delivery †¢Orders †¢A/R †¢Delivery Customers 48 XBRL – What Key XBRL Components †¢ XBRL / XML Specification (XBRL. org) – Global architecture/technology †¢ XBRL hierarchical vocabulary (jurisdiction/industry) – Dictionary of terms by jurisdiction/industry sector Style Sheets †¢ XBRL enabled tools (preparer) (market) 49 Key to our Success Market driven model – Start simple, be inclusive Broad supply chain participation Members support XBRL Members do not compete on the â€Å"framework† Build structure & systems to support open community & market development 50 Steps in Technology Acceptance Acceptance Simplification/Tools Taxonomy Visionaries 51 Financial Institutions—and their Users Institutions— †¢ SMALL BUSINESS provides FINANCIAL INSTITU TION with their information in XBRL and receives loan approval in less than a day instead of two days—or two weeks.Average Time for Loan Processing—1. 75 days Value-added Analysis and Decision-making? 90% + time spent on Mechanics Less Risk With => Better Or Mechanics Analysis Mechanics Analysis Mechanics Analysis Mechanics Analysis Process more loans in the same amount of time 52 Benefits to Today's Users †¢ 1. Reduce cost of analyzing and reporting financial information †¢ 2. Increase speed and efficiency of business decisions 3. Enhance the distribution and access of existing financial statement information 4. More readily exchanged 5. Increase and enhance analysis 53 Benefits †¢ 1.Reduce cost of analyzing and reporting financial information †¢ 2. Increase the speed and efficiency of business decisions †¢ 3. Enhance the distribution and usability of existing financial statement information 54 Example: Cost Reduction †¢ International Sub sidiaries: †¢ Large multi-national corporation uses XBRL to quickly roll–up, analyze and publish the financial statements of numerous subsidiaries— †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ in different countries with different languages using different GAAP on different computer systems 55 Benefits †¢ 1. Reduce cost of analyzing and reporting financial information †¢ 2.Increase the speed and efficiency of business decisions †¢ 3. Enhance the distribution and usability of existing financial statement information 56 Example: Efficient Decisions †¢ Major mutual fund company feeds XBRL-ized information to customers to differentiate their funds as more objective and reliable investments †¢ An investor uses XBRL to compare the financials for a range of companies— – Belonging to different revenue levels – Located within an industry sector – Along multiple analytical criteria 57 Benefits †¢ 1. Reduce cost of analyzing and r eporting financial information †¢ 2.Increase the speed and efficiency of business decisions †¢ 3. Enhance the distribution and usability of existing financial statement information 58 †¢ Loan Approval: Example: Credit – Small Business provides Bank with their financial information in XBRL and receives loan approval in 1 minute instead of 2 days †¢ Credit Approval: – Company approves customer credit request with automated assessment processes facilitated by XBRL †¢ Line of Credit: – Company provides capital markets with financial information in XBRL and receives expedited line of credit 59 XML Shortcomings?Not a replacement for integration and middleware tools Lots of Hype, not a solution for everything There are many different standards among industries Standards still evolving But, you can’t wait while the standards evolve†¦. 60 XBRL Development & Adoption Final Thought†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. Change is not what it used to be†¦ .. Change has become a process; it’s become a permanent part of the external environment 62 Summary †¢ FASTER – BETTER †¢ CHEAPER †¢ Our profession will have to follow technology and record business activity in an real-time mode. 63 Concluding Remarks .. 64

American Privateers in the Revolutionary War

American Privateers in the Revolutionary War American Privateers in the Revolutionary War Before the Revolutionary War began, the Continental Congress showed little interest in creating a navy for the new nation (Nelson 62). Congress was reluctant to supply the funds to purchase or build ships, purchase supplies, or pay sailors to man the ships. When the Revolution began, however, Congress realized it was important to have American ships patrolling the coasts of the new nation, especially because Britain’s naval force was the most powerful at the time (Frayler). Consequently, the Americans turned to privateering. Privateer ships were privately owned vessels and were similar to pirate vessels. Unlike pirates, privateers were authorized by the government to attack ships belonging to an enemy. Privateering during the Revolution financially benefited both sailors and colonists alike and it assisted the Continental Army by providing supplies. American privateers, commissioned by the Continental Congress and the colonies, played an important role in the development of the United States and the outcome of the Revolutionary War. Beginning in 1775, soon after the beginning of the Revolutionary War, the Continental Congress and individual colonies began commissioning privateers (Konstam 148). In November of 1775, the Massachusetts General Court approved â€Å"An Act For Encouraging the Fixing out of Amed Vessels† (Patton 27). This act allowed citizens to â€Å"equip any vessel to sail on the seas, attack, take and bring into any port in this colony all vessels offending or employed by the enemy† (qtd. in Patton 27). Additionally, it outlined the proper procedure for obtaining commissions and creating prize courts to distribute the captured wealth. The Continental Congress passed an act on March 23, 1776, which formalized the commissioning process and established rules of conduct for privateers (Frayler). The act required owners of privateering vessels to post monetary bonds in order to verify that they would adhere to Congress’s regulations. (Frayler). Applications for commission required the applicant to supply a sum of money as much as $10,000 as a promise to treat captives with â€Å"the greatest humanity and tenderness† (Patton 98). Applicants were charged $5,000 if the vessel weighed less than 100 tons and $10,000 if it was larger (Kuhl 86). In another act, passed on April 3, 1776, Congress issued instructions for the commanders of privateering vessels. The act authorized the commanders to â€Å"by Force of Arms, attack, subdue, and take all Ships and other Vessels belonging to the inhabitants of Great Britain on the High Seas,† and â€Å"by Force of Arms, attack, subdue, and take all ships and oth er Vessels whatsoever carrying Soldiers, Arms, Gun powder, Ammunition, Provisions, or any other contraband Goods, to any of the British Armies or Ships of War employed against these Colonies† (qtd. in Salem Maritime National Historic Site). As Massachusetts’s act suggested, any vessel could become a privateer (Patton 27). Although this quickly increased the number of privateers on the seas, it made it possible for ships of any condition to become privateering ship. When Washington, a large Continental schooner, was captured by the British, the Royal Navy deemed it to be unsuitable for sea or for war, suggesting that not all privateer ships were in the best condition when they were commissioned (Patton 32-33). The physical state of a ship was important, but the size of a ship was equally significant. The largest ship was the Caesar, a 600-ton, 26-gun ship and the smallest was the 8-ton Defense (Frayler). The most prevalent ships were two-masted schooners and brigantines. By early 1776, ships of all sizes were cruising the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, and the Canadian coast (Konstam 148). In order to become a privateer, the owner of the ship had to be issued a letter of marque and reprisal. These documents promised that the bearers would not be prosecuted as pirates by their home nation (History Channel). If a ship attacked another ship but did not have a letter of marque, the attackers were considered pirates and could be hung for their crimes (Kuhl 12). Letters of marque provided extra protection to the bearer because it guaranteed that captured privateers would be treated as prisoners of war rather than criminals by the foreign nation (History Channel). The documentation from this time is incomplete, but about 1,700 Letters of Marque were provided on a per-voyage basis to Revolutionary privateers (Frayler). Although letters of marque were supposed to protect the privateers, the promises made by the Congress were never fully accomplished because the British passed the Pirate Act in March of 1777 (Patton 34). Under this act, privateers were regarded as pirates, and were denied both due process in British courts and the opportunity for prisoner exchange. As a result, many captured American privateers were jailed and had only three options to get out: join the Royal Navy, escape, or die. Even before the Pirate Act was passed, the British often treated their prisoners poorly (Kuhl 43). However, it is worth noting that many British citizens disagreed with the poor conditions that American privateers were subject to and many opponents called the Pirate Act â€Å"cruel, persecuting† and â€Å"shocking to humanity† (qtd. in Patton 142). In December of 1777, about one hundred Londoners met together and raised  £1,300 to be allocated to American inmates so they could purchase goods that were otherwise unavailable to them (Patton 143-144). Three members of the House of Lords also contributed money to the cause and charities and churches donated food and other supplies. The risk of capture, imprisonment, or death did not deter sailors and citizens from rushing to become privateers. Men continued to join privateering vessels because of the promise of riches. Although privateers received no pay for their service other than the spoils they stole from British ships, many men signed up to become privateers because they could quickly earn a large sum of money (Konstam 148). Privateering was so lucrative that it was possible for a man to make more money in a month as a privateer than he could earn in another occupation in an entire year (Patton xvii). There is at least one known instance of a sailor, Joseph Peabody, who rose from a lowly deckhand to a privateer investor by participating in just nine voyages between 1777 and 1783 (Patton 115). In August of 1776, John Adams observed, â€Å"Thousands of schemes for privateering are afloat in American imaginations. Out of these speculations many fruitless and some profitable projects will grow† (qtd. in Patton 113). When a ship was captured by privateers, it was usually taken to a friendly port (Kuhl 33). Crews on a privateer tended to be larger than normal because part of the crew was required to board the captured ship and sail it. Goods captured by privateers, called prizes, were usually subject to judgement in an admiralty court (Kuhl 12). The admiralty court decided if the captors were eligible for payment and if they had followed the correct protocols (Kuhl 87). In order to receive payment, the prize had to arrive in port with the correct paperwork and whole cargo; it had to have been captured from an enemy; and the prisoners could not be harmed and their personal belongings could not be confiscated. However, in some cases of extreme need, supplies could be sent to the Army without being invoiced (Patton 120). In the case of the cargo ship Lively, the load of clothing and blankets were sent directly to American troops, and the captors did not receive payment for the supplies, which were estimated to be worth  £25,000. When the admiralty court decided that the crew had followed the correct protocols, the prize would then be auctioned off and the crew would be paid (Patton 121). Once they were paid, privateers tended to equally divided the payment between crew and owners (Kuhl 51). In some cases when the military was bidding on supplies, the public would sometimes refrain from bidding (Patton 121). Although this saved the government money, it lessened the payment that the crew would receive. Once the auction had ended, the winning bidder was usually required to immediately pay five percent of the purchase price (Patton 118). In its infancy, Revolutionary privateering was a disaster. The first privateering ship, the Hannah, would cause numerous problems for Congress (Nelson 87). The captain of Hannah was reluctant to sail far from port so he frequently seized merchant ships belonging to fellow Americans (Patton 30). The first ship captured by Hannah was Unity, a continental transport belonging to a member of Congress. Although Unity had been captured by the British, Hannah’s crew received no payment for the recapture of the transport ship. As a result, thirty-six members of the angry crew mutinied and were punished when the mutiny was eventually subdued (Patton 31). The next seven ships captured by Hannah also belonged to Americans, and damages had to be paid out of Continental funds for the merchandise that the crewmen stole. Another early privateer ship, Washington, captured only one legitimate prize (a load of hay) before being captured by the British after only eight days of service (Patton 3 2). Despite the discouraging beginnings, not all privateering ventures were disastrous. Lee, a small schooner crewed by 50 men, was able to capture Nancy, a transport ship that was four times the size of Lee (Patton 35). Despite Nancy’s size, Lee was able to capture the transport ship because Nancy’s crew was disoriented after sailing through a storm and they had mistaken the Lee for a Royal Navy ship. The British ship was loaded with precious supplies: tons of ammunition, thousands of weapons, and a three-thousand-pound mortar were all seized for use by the Continental Army. The cargo had an estimated worth of  £10,000 to  £30,000. In 1776, the Continental schooner Franklin intercepted the three-hundred-ton British transport, Hope (Patton 44). Hope carried numerous cannons and muskets as well as seventy-five tons of powder, making it the most valuable prize captured during the Revolution. When Hope and the cargo were finally auctioned off, they would be sold for more than $1.5 million (Patton 118). A Salem privateer ship named the Rattlesnake captured more than $1 million worth of prizes in a single cruise (Konstam 148). The Connecticut privateer Defence successfully captured two British transports, George and Annabella, and a third ship within a period of a few days (Kuhl 41-42). The captured ships carried necessary equipment, including tent supplies, blankets, cooking supplies, clothing, and small arms and bayonets (Kuhl 44). Washington immediately demanded that these supplies be sent to the Continental Army stationed in New York. Sailors were not the only people to profit from government-endorsed piracy against British fleets. Many ports, including the ports at Salem, Baltimore, and particularly Boston, benefitted from the privateers that operated off their coasts (Konstam 148). General Washington praised Bostonians for â€Å"the valuable prizes that have been lately brought into your port. We stand in need of all your activity to increase our supplies by these means† (qtd. in Patton 107). Rhode Island benefitted as well, and an estimated  £300,000 worth of prizes were brought into Providence between April and November of 1776 (Patton 91). Sailors of privateer ships often pledged future earnings to creditors as a way to settle debts (Patton 79-80). If the sailor’s earnings exceeded the debt amount, the agreement allowed the creditor to keep the difference. Investors earned money by owning and trading privateers shares (Patton 80). The value of these shares depended on the quality of the ship and the competency of the crew. A sixteenth of a share in a small privateer ship cost  £56 during the war (Patton 91). Manufacturing companies in the colonies profited as well. One cannon company owned by the Brown family in Providence, Rhode Island, sold their cannons for  £35 per ton (Patton 88). Congress ordered sixty twelve- and eighteen-pound cannons for their privateering vessels and a former member of Congress ordered twenty-six cannons (Patton 89). However, because many of the guns manufactured by the Brown’s company were set aside for private ships who would pay in advanced and pay extra for weapons, customers like Congress had to wait a long period of time for their guns to be produced (Patton 90). Although privateers helped the American cause by supplying the Continental Army with goods and weapons, privateering had a downside: privateers were owned by individuals, rather than the Navy or government, so they were not obligated to fight enemy ships (Nelson 285). While this helped maximize profits for the privateers, it limited their usefulness in the war. However, targeting merchant vessels did help the Revolutionary cause by applying financial pressure to English merchants (Kuhl 51). The Americans knew that if they harassed the British merchants enough, the merchants would in turn pressure Parliament and the king into ending the war. The popularity of privateering also decreased the number of men fighting in the Continental Army (Patton 124). Naval sailors were especially attracted to privateering, and they frequently deserted the Navy. While the Continental Navy offered many of the same benefits as privateers (such as a doubled prize share for the first sailor to spot an enemy vessel and a tripled share for the first sailor to board an enemy vessel), privateers had no regulations against cursing and did not require sailors to attend a religious service twice a day (Patton 78). As a result, the government began to place embargoes on the privateering industry (Patton 124). Before a privateer or merchant ship could leave its home port, the town had to fulfill the military manpower quotas for the town. Unsurprisingly, businessmen openly protested the embargo. John Adams opposed the embargo as well, stating, â€Å"I am sorry the embargo was ever laid. I am against all shackles upon trade. Let the spirit of the peo ple have its own way† (qtd. in Patton 124) As the Revolutionary War progressed, the success of the privateers began to dwindle. In 1777, British Parliament authorized their own anti-American privateers (Patton 107). Parliament had been initially been reluctant to authorize anti-American ships because it would acknowledge America as a legitimate country. As a result of Parliament’s decision, more than a thousand loyalist ships were launched from Britain and the West Indies and another one hundred warships launched from New York. Some estimates claim that admiralty courts in New York were inundated with up to 2,600 requests for privateer commission and letters of marque (Patton 147). It is difficult to calculate the number of American privateers killed, but records show that 832 Continental seaman (not including privateers) had died at sea during the Revolutionary War (Patton 111). During the Revolution, American privateers had captured more than three thousand British merchant ships (Konstam 148). Other sources state that eight hundred vessels that were commissioned as privateers have been credited with capturing or destroying about six hundred British vessels (Frayler). The British lost an estimated  £6 million annually as a result of privateering during the war (Patton, 43). Maritime diminution in the West Indies alone by mid-1777 were calculated at  £2 million (Patton 135). Additionally, American privateers caused an estimated $18 million (a little more than $302 million today) worth of damage to British ships (Frayler). In fact, shipping losses caused by privateers were a part of the reason in Britain’s decision to surrender (Konstam 148). Privateering was initially a disaster but many ships were very successful in capturing British vessels. Although privateering was dangerous, it was an extremely profitable venture that many Americans benefitted from. Sailors benefited by quickly earning money, merchants supplied weapons and other necessary items to privateers, and investors could earn money by trading stock in privateer ventures. Most importantly, privateers helped supply the Continental Army with captured British goods, such as clothes, blankets, weapons, and gunpowder. Privateers, regardless of their successes and failures, played a crucial role in the development of the United States and the outcome of the Revolutionary War.

Muti media marketing Indiviual Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Muti media marketing Indiviual Report - Essay Example The factors that will be considered for carrying out this report will be based on the internal audit for multimedia marketing, situational analysis (marketing audit) of the multimedia marketing campaign as well as the competitor analysis of the campaign. For conducting internal audit for multimedia marketing, a detailed study about the overall marketing environment about the company will be done and also stress will be laid upon all the marketing activities that the company follow and can follow in the future. Moreover, stress will also be laid upon the other competitive strategies that can be adopted by the company in order to further enhance the online marketing campaigns. In order to design these campaigns, a thorough study about other online marketing campaigns will be studied upon. The report will be primarily based on a poster which has been created to demonstrate a new APP. Rigorous studies about the APP i.e. SHAT will be done and the implications and the uses of the APP will be highlighted. Apart from that the report will be based on the effectiveness of the use of multimedia marketing campaigns in the company and the level upon which these strategies can fetch effective marketing results. It will also highlight about the factors upon which the multimedia marketing campaigns such as the use of poster can be relied upon for promoting a new APP and the comparison of offline marketing campaigns with the online campaigns will be done as well (Westwood, 2010). I. Reasons for Selecting Multimedia Marketing with Situational and Competitor Analysis The main reason a poster campaign has been prepared for Samsung is to incorporate a multimedia marketing approach to build a strong network of information over the internet which will prove to be user friendly for many clients (Shelly & Fermat, 2012). Moreover, the poster campaign has been desired to expand the company’s marketing operations by actively involving in building virtual marketing campaigns as it i s in high demand in the marketplace in today’s marketing environment. Samsung, being one of the top-most mobile companies required to make certain radical technological changes in order to equip itself with the ever-changing business environment. In order to conduct the situational analysis, the stress is laid upon the overall business environment of the company, the business process that the company is following, and the overall business situation of the company i.e. Samsung. It is found that Samsung as a company is undergoing its business operations in a very dynamic business environment. Samsung has cemented itself as a top company for consumer electronics products. It is considered as one of the topmost mobile phone brands in the whole world. Based on the situational analysis of the company, it stands as a major player in the mobile world and the company is continuously striving to improve its product features and launching new and successful devices, for instance, Samsun g Galaxy series (Clarke, 2005). The market standing of the company is excellent and it is continuously striving for further development. Also, the company is co

Scientific Uncertainty Web-Based Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Scientific Uncertainty Web-Based - Assignment Example He is concurrently vice chairman of the International Academy of Education (The Heartland Institute, 2012b). Its stated mission is the discovery, development, and promotion of social and economic solutions to problems based on free-market economics (The Heartland Institute, 2012c). It is a fierce skeptic of global warming. Their agenda seems non-partisan, but the ties of the leader suggest being pro-big business, as a prominent Republican. Consequently its values are those of the conservatives (The Heartland Institute, 2012; University of Illinois, 2012). NASA is a global warming proponent and posits that human activities are at the core of recent unprecedented trends towards warming with consequences to humans and the ecology. It is a government entity receiving funding from the current Democratic leadership. Its agenda cum mission is implied in its stand: to present mainstream scientific data on climate change. Its values are nonpartisan, science-based, and arguably tinged with Dem ocratic principles owing from the Democratic leadership (NASA, 2012). Skeptical Science has as its mission essentially the advancing of climate change arguments and the debunking of arguments against climate change science by deniers and skeptics of climate change. It has support from a wide stratum of scientists and academicians with nonpartisan interests throughout the world, and is a repository of data and articles that support its implied mission. Its values seem to include openness, diversity, and inclusion of all available data, without prejudice, and with no funding or overt agenda other than the truth (Cook, 2012). 2. Key Evidence Presented by Websites on Ice Melt and Climate Change, Stated Evidence Sources Skeptical Science updates evidence and data about climate change routinely, coming from contributors who are scientists and academics from all over the world. Examples include experiments on computer modeling relating to the way the permafrosts are being thawed due to cli mate change, citing prior research by reputable scientists published in Nature GeoScience in 2012. Another example details results of studies on climate change with data inputs from African data sampling expeditions, as well as other permafrost melting studies, all referenced and published in reputable scholarly journals (Cook, 2012). NASA likewise cites evidence from scholarly sources, including from the National Research Council, the UNSW Climate Change Research Center in Sydney, the journal Science, and the IPCC. For instance, evidence with regard to man-made global warming and the fast pace of its acceleration over the last 1,300 years are documented and presented in the NASA site, complete with graphical presentations of CO2 emissions over the past 650,000 years, and properly referenced from an IPCC report. Ice core research confirming global warming trends were attributed and visibly cited from a 2006 research study by the National Research Council (NASA, 2012). The Heartland Institute in turn presents data that refute ice melt and global climate change, coming from sources reportedly from the US Energy Information Administration, among others. (The Heartland Institute, 2012). One paper presented as an article containing arguments against the reality of global warming meanwhile, from the Heartland Insti

DQ week three (a) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

DQ week three (a) - Essay Example There is also need to integrate several researches and form evidence out of them to strengthen one’s findings. FRONTIERS present good examples of how research findings should be synthesized and translated for the sake of producing programmatically useful information (Royle and Blythe 72). There is a need to communicate results via numerous channels to reach the same audience many times and several audiences at least once. This can include; national workshops, international conferences, and program briefs among others. Feedback should focus on description instead of judgment. Describing behavior will be a report of what took place while judgment behavior evaluates what took place in terms of wrong or right, bad or good. Evaluative language will prompt an individual to respond defensively (DiCens 38). One should observe instead of inference. Observing is seeing what can be seen or listening to one’s behavior while inference is the assumption and interpretation one makes out of seeing or hearing. One should be keen on what a person did and the reaction. Reference should be made to what an individual did rather than what is imagined of the individual, adverbs describing action should be used rather than adjectives describing qualities (DiCens 39). For instance, instead of telling one that he or she talks too much, tell him or her that your opinion in the staff meeting was

See instructions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

See instructions - Essay Example This mostly occurs to most electronic products such as DVD players, refrigerators and LCDs. Again, the new product should have better attributes than the previous one for it to sell. In triability, we include products such as shampoo and lotion while with observation are products like clothes and shoes. The product life cycle in marketing is used in order to determine changes in marketing solutions. In the maturity stage, sales are normally reduced due to competition of the same products. This is the second last stage in the product life cycle. The following three categories of product should therefore be reinvented: Product pricing, product distribution and promotions. Effective marketing emphasizes on these categories due to reasons such as; customer satisfaction when it comes low prices of purchasing these products ( pride & feral 2008). Prices set for these products should not be too high such that the customers can not afford or even too low. Besides, distribution of the products ensures that they reach the target customers in a timely manner. Product promotion is also essential in marketing because this strategy promotes more sales and encourages more customers in to the purchasing

Poor management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Poor management - Essay Example The company opened a famous research centre, the Xerox Palo Alto Research Centre or Xerox PARC. Until the end of 1970, Xerox dominated the market with am amazing monopoly. Its market share was 90% and this led to a confidence about it surviving new competition in the market. By the 1980's Xerox's market share declined from 90 percent to 43 % due to the competition from Ricoh, Sharp, Cannon, Kodak and IBM. Facing a downturn in office-equipment outlays, tougher rivals, an accounting scandal, and management turnover, Xerox saw sales drop drastically. By the year 2000, Xerox's share price had fallen below $4, from a high of $64 a year earlier. In year 2001, Xerox experienced a net loss of $293 million. That was down 1% from the year before and 20% off its peak of $19.4 billion in 1998. The rapid change of the technology sector makes most of the technological companies suffer. This is a common phenomenon in technological companies were the buzz phrase is "The technology is obsolete by the time you hear about it"! With a rapidly evolving technological market, complacency is the first causative factor for decline. The office equipment industry is a technology driven industry. The fast development of hardware and software as well as mass consumption often brings down the prices rapidly. There has been increasing cost pressures and price competitions in this industry. Xerox being in the office equipment industry is susceptible to a lot external environmental factors as well. With the globalization, bringing the world closer together and opening up the arena to more acquisitions and mergers companies have now more dynamic product lines brought upon by consolidation of the companies. The ever-changing global economy brings both opportunities and threats. Deregulation of the trade economies and lowering import barrier for goods offer more incentive to more players. Xerox was also affected by the economic uncertainties and the recession of early 90's and early 2000's. These contributed to lesser capital spending which influenced its overall profitability. The uncertainty in the economy created significant challenges in driving revenue growth, especially in the technology sector where customers were delaying capital spending. Failure to move into digital age products Xerox, which was using the digital interface in its research center failed to see that it was the heartbeat of the future. It was one of the great fumbles of all time. In the 1970s, Xerox Corp.'s Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) developed the technologies that would drive the personal computer revolution. ''By 1979, we had it all--graphical user interfaces, mice, windows and pull-down menus, laser printing, distributed computing, and Ethernet,'' recalls M. Frank Squires, a PARC founder in 1970 and now chief administrative officer of Sematech Inc., the chip-industry consortium in Austin, Tex. Xerox had the PC and networking businesses firmly hooked--but didn't try to reel them in. It did not even patent PARC's innovations. Management was too preoccupied with aggressive competition from Japan in its core copier business, says CEO Paul A. Allaire. ''If we had been good, we could have done both. We probably should have,'' he admits. Instead, PARC's technologies became the foundations for such icons as Apple Computer Inc. and 3Com Corp. Apple co-founder Steven P. Jobs visited

Business Paper- Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Business Paper- Ethics - Essay Example The executives got greedy and started an unethical and illegal accounting scam that cook up the numbers of overstating assets by capitalizing expenses while at the same time recognizing revenue that did not exist. The unethical behavior of this firm caught up to it and by 2002 the company filed bankruptcy and liquidated the little assets that were left leaving thousands of people out of work and out of a pension plan (Time). This paper discusses ethical behavior in the business world by providing related principles, theories and by providing real life examples of ethical behavior in the business environment. The ethical actions of a company and its collective efforts involved all the company’s stakeholders including customers, employees, vendors, suppliers, governmental agencies, shareholders, lenders among other stakeholders. A company must establish a formal code of ethics to ensure consistency and to establish a clear set of guidelines concerning acceptable and unacceptable behavior. An example of an organization that established a code of ethics for its enrolled membership is the Society of Professional Journalist. This organization set standards in its code of ethics regarding the work task and behavior of its members such as: A corporate strategy that has gained a lot of popularity which is related to correct ethical behavior is social responsibility. Social responsibility is a business’s obligation to maximize its positive impact and minimize its negative impact on society (Ferrell, et. al. 39). Firms with corporate responsibility philosophies care about the environment, its customers, the community around the company and the economic well being of its employees and shareholders. A company that has very respectful and effective social responsibility strategy is the world largest retail coffee chain retail store, Starbucks. Starbucks believes that strengthening its relationship with external stakeholders by utilizing communication and

Genetically Modified (Gm) Foods Essay Example for Free

Genetically Modified (Gm) Foods Essay The Term Genetically Modified (GM) foods refers to crops produced for human or animal consumption using the recombinant DNA techniques. The world population is growing in a fast pace such that it is expected to double in the next 50 years. Supplying food to this growing population is a major challenge. GM foods can be considered as the major solution for the food security. These foods are produced by the modification of crop plants in the laboratory to enhance desired traits, mainly biotic and abiotic stress tolerance, improved nutritional content, etc. These traits were earlier carried out through conventional plant breeding, but these breeding methods are very time-consuming and often not very accurate. However, with recombinant DNA technology, plants with the desired traits can be produced, very rapidly and with greater accuracy. Process Recombinant DNA technology begins with the identification and isolation of a gene which expresses a desirable trait, with the aid of restriction enzymes. Then a recipient plant or animal is selected, and the gene is inserted and incorporated into its genome through a vector such as agrobacterium, through a gene gun shooting an elemental particle covered in plasmid DNA, electro oration, or a virus. Once part of the recipient, the newly inserted gene becomes part of the genome of the recipient and is regulated in the same way as its other genes. For example, we can isolate a gene responsible for conferring drought tolerance, introduce that gene into a plant, and make it drought tolerant. Crops can also be transformed using non-plant genes such as the use of Bt genes, in cotton and many other crops. Bt, or Bacillus thuringiensis, is a naturally occurring bacterium that produces crystal proteins that are lethal only to insect larvae. Bt crystal protein genes have been transferred into cotton, soya, corn, brinjal, enabling the plants to produce its own pesticides against insects such as the American bollworm, European corn borer. Bt genes are lethal only in the acidic medium, insect gut environment and do not get activated in an alkaline environment, prevalent in humans and other animals that feed on these plants. BENEFITS OF GM FOODS Drought tolerance/salinity tolerance: As the world population grows and more land is converted for housing instead of food production, farmers need to grow crops in non-arable land, previously unsuited for plant cultivation. Creating plants that can withstand long periods of drought or high salinity in soil and groundwater will help people to grow crops in large, barren wetlands/dry lands in our country. Pest resistance: Insect Pests are causing devastating financial loss for farmers, sometimes starvation. Indiscriminate use of pesticides is also a potential health hazard, and the run-off of agricultural wastes from excessive use of pesticides and fertilizers poisons the water supply and harms the environment. Ex: Growing GM foods such as Bt brinjal helps reduce the application of pesticides substantially, as 80 per cent of brinjal crop are infested with pests. Disease resistance: There are many viruses, fungi and bacteria that cause plant diseases and thereby contribute to yield loss. Plant biologists are working to create genetically engineered plants with resistance to these diseases. Ex: Developing sheath blight resistance in rice. Cold/heat tolerance: Farmers are facing the vagaries of weather, like unexpected frost or excess heat due to climate change. Researchers have identified an antifreeze gene from cold-water fish and introduced it into plants such as tobacco and potato to study the efficacy of the plant to withstand extreme temperatures. Also, research is on to identify plants that can survive excess heat, submergence tolerance etc. Nutrition: People in our country suffer from various nutrient deficiency diseases due to malnutrition. Most of the people rely on rice as a major staple food. But rice does not contain adequate amounts of all necessary micro and macronutrients. If rice could be genetically engineered to contain additional vitamins, iron and/or minerals, nutrient deficiencies could be alleviated. For example, MSSRF (M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation) are working on improving the iron content. Phytoremediation: Soil and groundwater pollution continues to be a problem in many parts of the world. Plants such as poplar trees, brassica spp are being genetically engineered to clean up heavy metal pollution from soil contaminated with metals like lead, arsenic, and cadmium. Concerns Most concerns about GM foods fall into three categories Environmental hazards: Unintended harm to other organisms; reduced effectiveness of pesticides; gene transfer to non-target species are some of the concerns of the environmental concerns of GM crops. Human health risks: Allergenecity, unknown effects on human health are some of the main health concerns. For example, Pioneer Hi-Bred tested the allergenicity of a transgenic soybean that expressed a Brazil nut seed storage protein in hope that the seeds would have increased levels of the amino acid methionine. The tests (radio allergosorbent testing, immunoblotting, and skin-prick testing) showed that individuals allergic to Brazil nuts were also allergic to the new GM soybean. Economic concerns Environmental activists, religious organizations, non-governmental organizations have criticized agribusiness for concentrating on profits through GM Foods without concern for potential hazards. They also criticized the government for failing to start a regulatory body. All GM crops should be subjected to thorough regulatory processes and toxicology and allergenicity tests data needs to be shared with the regulatory authorities prior to commercialization. Government Role Many new plant genetic engineering technologies and GM plants have been patented, and patent infringement is a big concern of agribusiness. So, bringing GM food to market is a lengthy and costly process. This is a genuine concern and therefore it is important for the government to fund and support public sector research in reputed universities or agriculture institutes to ensure quality research and also keep prices under check. Conclusion Government should check all the hazards, environmental, health and economic concerns and then decisions should be taken to commercialize a GM product. Though ambiguity during the process, once they get regulatory approve, it implies that they have been subjected to stringent scrutiny and are safe for commercial release. So, the governments around the world are hard at work to establish an effective regulatory process to monitor the effects of and approve new varieties of GM plants. According to M S Swaminathan, the chairman of the National Commission on Farmers, GM foods have the potential to solve many of the worlds hunger and malnutrition problems, and can protect and preserve the environment by increasing yield and reducing reliance upon chemical pesticides. Yet there are many challenges ahead for governments, especially in the areas of safety testing, regulation, international policy and food labeling.

International Trade Theories Absolute Comparative and Competitive Advantage

International Trade Theories Absolute Comparative and Competitive Advantage Absolute advantage theory was first presented by Adam Smith in his book The Wealth of Nations in 1776. Smith provided the first concept of a nations wealth. Adam Smith is a grandfather of economics because he introduced two important concepts that many of the new trade theories are based on these two main concepts, which are specialization and free exchange (Cho et al., 2000). However, many arguments were made and many economists thought there was a problem with the theory of absolute advantage after David Ricardo published the theory of comparative cost (aka comparative advantage) in the early 19th century (Curry, 2000). Even though Smith and his followers introduced many important points for the thoughts of economic, it is too complicated with this simple version of trade theory in todays global economy. In 1990, Michael Porter introduced the diamond model of new competitiveness theory (Cho et al., 2000). These three trade theories are important in order to make a country or busine ss successfully. Therefore, the importance of absolute advantage, comparative advantage, and competitive advantage will be discussed thoroughly. Absolute advantage is the ability to produce a good with fewer resources than other producers (Ayers et al., 2005). According to Joseph A. Schumpeter (1954, 374), seems to have believed that under free trade all goods would be produced where their absolute costs in terms of labor are lowest (Van Marrewijk, 2009). Smith suggests that a country should export those goods and services for which it is more productive than other countries are, and import those goods and services for which other countries have more productive than it is. For instance, assume there are only two countries in the world- France and Japan; there are only two goods Wine and Clock radios; and there is only one factor of production- Labor. In France, one hour of labor can produce either two bottles of wine or three clock radios. In Japan, one hour of labor can produce either one bottle of wine or five clock radios. Therefore, the absolute advantage to produce wine is France because one hour of labor produces two b ottles in France, but Japan only produces one. The absolute advantage to produce clock radios is Japan because one hour of labor produces five clock radios in Japan while France only produces three. France is more efficient in the production of wine and Japan is more efficient in the production of clock radios. If these two countries are able to trade with one another, they both will be better off (Griffin et al., 2010). Comparative Advantage The theory of absolute advantage makes sense intuitively. Unfortunately, the theory had a problem. What if one country had an absolute advantage in both products? David Ricardo solved this problem by introducing the theory of comparative advantage, which states that a country should specialize and export those goods and services for which it is relatively more productive than other countries are and import those goods and services for which other countries are relatively more productive than it is (Griffin et al., 2010). Therefore, according to this theory, a country must specialize in order to gain from trade. A country has a comparative advantage if it can produce a good at a lower opportunity cost than could other countries. For instance, Michael Jordan selected basketball as his career and economics as his major. He had to make a choice in order to excel at other majors or careers. He chose basketball where he could shine in with his area of relative strength. On the other hand, Doug might take longer to mow yards than other people would take. Even if he cannot do anything well, he can still do some things relatively better than other things. People would still hire him because he would charge them less than the opportunity cost of their own time. In this case, Michael Jordan might hire him because the opportunity cost of his time would be too high. It would be unrelated that whether Michael could do his own lawn faster (Ayers et al., 2005). Even though the comparative advantage is very useful for explaining the reasons of trade and the increases welfare of the trading partners by trade, this theory is still incomplete. There are two problems in this theory. First, the extreme degree of specialization can be predicted by this theory, but in some countries, they not only produce one good but many import-competing products. Second, the trade based on differences in country productivity levels between countries, but it did not explain the existence of these di fferences (Cho et al., 2000). Competitive Advantage The leading theorist of competitive advantage theory is Michael E. Porter. According to Porter, National prosperity is created, not inherited. It grows with natural endowments in a country, as well as its labor pool, its interest rates, or its currencys value. The competitive advantage of nations is the capacity of its industry to innovate and upgrade to form a nations competitiveness. Companies benefit from having home based suppliers aggressively, domestic rivals strongly, and demanding local customers. Geographic cluster or companies concentrations established competitive advantage in different parts of the same industry. According to Porter, nations are most likely to succeed in industries where the national diamond is the most favorable. He believes that success in international trade comes from the four interrelated components, which are factor conditions, demand conditions, related and supporting industries, and firm strategy structure, and rivalry. Porter also concluded that their home environment is the most forward-looking, challenging, and dynamic so that nations succeed in particular industries (Cho et al., 2000). Companies achieve competitive advantage from acts of innovation. They approach innovation in both new technologies and new ways of doing things. Innovation can be represented in a new product design, new production process, or a new marketing strategy. Perceiving an entirely new market opportunity can contribute to create competitive advantage from some innovations. Innovation yields competitive advantage when competitors are slow to respond. For instance, in autos and home electronics industries, Japanese companies focused on smaller and lower capacity models that foreign competitors despised as low profit, low importance, and low attraction (Cho et al., 2000). Conclusion The three traditional trade theories were discussed. They are all useful theories that remain in understanding many of industrial and trade policies nowadays. For example, when a country considers industrial and trade policies, the comparative advantage theory can be a basic guideline. Because todays world is much more complicated than before, those theories are not satisfactory in explaining the international trade in nowadays situation. The main goal of model building is understand the world easily by recognize the most important variable or variables (Cho et al., 2000).

Society of the 60’s portrayed in Catch Me If You Can Essay -- Film Ana

Society is everything we see around us - the atmosphere we live in and the place we call home, the average people and their beliefs and what is accepted and what is not. It is in other terms, the world around us. In the film, society is represented as a gullible, and stereotypical place, as people tend to generally go with what they see, and believe everything they see. In some cases, the film is a true reflection of society in the 1960’s. However there is a vast difference between its setting and society today, hence it is arguable that it is not true reflection of today’s world and society At the beginning of the film the setting is quickly portrayed. It is set in a small America town during the Mid 1960s. At this time family was extremely important, especially communication and relationships within the family unit. The bond between Frank Jr and Mr and Mrs Abagnale appears to be very strong from the very first scene. Frank Abagnale Jr’s eyes lighten up in awe as he watches his father receiving his award. His is the hardest to clap and the last to stop clapping as his mother beamed in delighted. However, not everything is always as it seems. The family seem to have a good relationship towards one another, especially the parents as they had been dancing. Frank portrays fondness and affection towards his parents watching in admiration whilst they are dancing. Frank’s mother spills her drink and thus creating a stain on the carpet. Although they were laughing and dancing over it, the stain may symbolise a patch or a bad sign on their marriage, which was there was as we see later on in the film. Furthermore, it was the mother who .. ...anours. His life changes drastically, when he is caught as he no longer has that sense of freedom, and he finally realises that there is more to life than just fun. He accepts to work for the FBI and this proves he has now developed some maturity and a sense of responsibility. Frank’s relationship with Hanratty changes drastically in the play. They go from being enemies to being friends and become closer. They develop a trust between them and so the relationship changes, because Hanratty believes Frank will change, and so gives him a job and a new life. The film is a representation of what society was like in the 1960’s. I don’t believe it reflects what it is like now, since it is based on a true story on something which DID happen in the 1960’s, and people nowadays are not as gullible or as easily impressed.

Free Great Gatsby Essays: Religious Influences :: Great Gatsby Essays

Religious Influences in The Great Gatsby During the 1920s, sometimes referred to as the Progressive Era, political and social changes surfaced in society in efforts to progressively improve the nation. However, the 1920’s can accurately be described as the decade of selfishness. Society was material oriented and, as a result, there was a decrease in religious practices. This is vividly displayed in The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald's use of mortal characters as religious influences. There are three significant occurrences in the novel which show the loss of spirituality of the time, beginning with Gatsby's watch over Daisy the night of the hit and run. Gatsby spends the entire night watching for Daisy's sign, just as knights risked their lives in pursuit of the Holy Grail. His desire for Daisy to come for his help and "live happily ever after" with him is misplaced because of the goal he hopes to attain: Daisy.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Next, there is underlying symbolism presented shortly before Gatsby's death as he struggles with the swimming equipment. When offered assistance from his butler, Gatsby refuses and must "bear the cross" alone. Finally, Gatsby's murder is portrayed as a process of purification, which is of great religious importance. Shot in his chlorinated pool, Gatsby overcomes his shortcomings and is "cleansed" of his sins.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The immoral efforts that were put against American pop culture in the 1920s are best summarized as Wilson stares into the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg of a vast wasteland, "You may fool me, but you can't fool God!" His neighbor must remind him, "That's an advertisement" (Parker 33). Another symbolic aspect of the Valley of Ashes is that it is the home of the Wilsons, a place where the average person has some type of religious practices. Myrtle's murder is a blatant example of the pointlessness of religion in the Twenties' society. Fitzgerald suggests that in Twentieth-

emily dickinson :: essays research papers

One of America's greatest poets, Emily Dickinson, wrote more than 1,700 short lyric verses, of which only 7 were published in her lifetime. Dickinson was an obsessively private writer and withdrew herself from social contact at the age of 23 and devoted herself into writing. Dickinson's personal life, writing career, personal beliefs, and personal trials are perceived throughout her poems that shape today's modern poetry. Dickinson's work has had a considerable influence on modern poetry. Today, Dickinson's work has contributed her reputation as one of the most innovative poets of the 19-century American literature. Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was born in Amherst on December 10, 1830, the second child of Edward and Emily Dickinson. The Dickinsons were an important family in Amherst. Her father was an orthodox Calvinist, a lawyer and treasurer of Amherst College, and he also served in Congress. As a parent, her father was known to be short tempered and harsh. "†¦..and Father, too busy with his Briefs to notice what I do-He buys me many Books-but begs me not to read them-because he fears they joggle the Mind"(Eliot 452). However, when her father died in 1874, Emily was deeply distressed. A year later, her mother became diagnosed with paralysis and became sick for the rest of her life. Mrs. Dickinson died in November 1882. Emily attended school at Amherst Academy , studying Latin, French, history, rhetoric, botany, geology, and mental philosophy. She then attended Mount Holyoke Female Seminary at South Hadley where she engaged more in the tangible study of history, chemistry, Latin, physiology, and English grammar. Her official education became deprived because of her constant illness and poor health. Her life was lived entirely in a small New England circle, in which Amherst was the center. Emily did not explore; she saw what could be seen from her window, from her garden, from next door, and sometimes from the church. She chose to live this way and this way took over and became the rest of her life.

Adolescence is the period Essay

Adolescence is the period of transition from childhood to adulthood, which is between 13 to 20 years of age. The term â€Å"adolescent† refers to the arraignment of psychological maturity. Puberty, on the other hand, refer to the stage wherein adolescents become physically and biologically ready for reproduction. Most people refer to this stage as a period that is highly stressful and volatile although teenagers nowadays successfully meet these challenges. Every individual is born into a family with several generations of cultural traditions, norms and social patters. They belong to a specific family, race and community with its own language and religion. The social setting with which the child is brought up may have an effect on his growth and development, including his ability to think, his emotions as well as the behavior he exhibits. Children fundamentally learn through the adult’s modeling and instructions. Social settings include the child’s home, the school, the community at large, as well as religious organizations. Positive relationships with family members serve to protect individuals from the risk of negative behaviors. These relationships provide as secure and fundamental base for which individuals learn to grow and develop positively. The family exerts a considerable influence on shaping the individuals concept of self and his outlook towards those outside the family. The family serves as role models so that the child learns which behaviors are socially acceptable, the enhancement of relationship skills as well as maintaining effective communication patterns. In addition, conflicts within the family that are effectively resolved are also important since the child will be using these as the basis during his dealings with those outside the family See more: Beowulf essay essay According to Piaget, changes occurring inside the individual’s mind as well as his broadening exposure to various social settings allow the adolescent to achieve the highest level in terms of intellectual development, which is known as formal operations. The adolescent develops the ability to determine possibilities, rank possibilities, solve problems and make decisions through logical operations. The teenager has the ability for abstract thought and is able to effectively answer questions or problems that may be hypothetical in nature. Adolescents have the capacity to reason with respect to possibilities and new cognitive powers allow the adolescent to do more far-reaching problem solving including their future and that of others. Although adolescents have the capacity to think as well as an adult, they lack experiences on which to build their decisions which may also result in conflicts between teens and their parents. Piaget acknowledged that biological maturation plays a role in this developmental theory but believed that rates of development depend upon the intellectual stimulation and challenge in the child’s environment. An adolescent may perform at different levels in different situations based on past experiences, formal education, and motivation in the use of logic and effective deductive reasoning. Erik Erikson established the psychosocial development of human beings that consists of eight stages starting from infancy until the late adult stage. During each stage of psychosocial development, the individual is confronted with several challenges that he must master and be able to successfully master the conflicts within each stage as the inability to do so would result to future problems. The major task of adolescent psychosocial development according to Erikson is the search for personal identity. Teenagers may become isolated socially during their inability to establish close relationships within their social environment. The primary danger of this stage is identity versus role confusion. Adolescents work at becoming socially independent from their parents while retaining family ties. Furthermore, they need to develop their own ethical systems based on their own personal values and principles. Choices, especially regarding lifestyle, vocation and future education must be made by the adolescent. Indecisiveness and the inability to make an occupational choice are behaviors indicating negative resolution of the developmental task at hand. According to Kohlberg’s Moral Developmental Theory, adolescents are at the â€Å"Post Conventional Level† wherein individuals find a balance between basic human rights and obligations and societal rules and regulations in this level. Individuals move away from moral decisions based on authority or conformity to groups to define their own moral values and principles. Individuals at this stage start to look at what an ideal society would be like. Under this Level, are 2 stages namely: Social Contract Orientation and Universal Ethical Principle Orientation. Under social contract orientation, an individual may follow societal law but he recognizes the possibility of changing the law to improve society. The individual may also recognize that different societal groups may have differing views as well as values although they may be in agreement on several fundamental concepts such liberty and life. On the other hand, the universal ethical principle orientation defines the â€Å"right† by decision of conscience with self chosen ethical principles. Kohlberg himself questioned this stage because he found out that very few subjects reasoned at this stage and thus termed it a â€Å"theoretical† stage. References: Behrman, R. , Kiegman, R. and H. Jenson. Nelson textbook of Pediatrics. Philadelphia: WB Saunders, 2000. Bukatko, D. , and M. Daehler. Child development, a thematic approach. 4th ed..Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001. Edelman, C. , and C. Mandle. Health promotion throughout the Life Span. 5th ed.. St. Louis: Mosby, 2002. Hockenberry , M. J. Wong’s nursing care of infants and children. 7th ed. St. Louis: Mosby, 2003 Howe, D. , Brandon, M. , Hinings, D. and Schofield (1999). Attachment Theory, Child Maltreatment and Family Support. A Practice and Assessment Model. Palgrave: Houndmlls, Basingstoke, Hampshire and New York. Kohlberg, L.. â€Å"Review of child development research. â€Å"Hoffman, ML. 1964.

Canvas Art Essay

The subjectivity of perception makes art what it is. Art is all about perception and individuality, since everyone has a different background, experience, taste, and opinion about any artwork. To determine the extent to which perception plays a role in the development, and the existence, of the arts, it is essential to identify the knowledge issues of perception in regards to the area of knowledge. First, is perception consistent and definite? Does previous knowledge (prejudice) influence how one perceives an artwork? Is perception subjective? These questions will be explored using one all-purpose example in the arts: El Greco’s dramatic and expressionistic artworks. Firstly, perception is not universal in terms of time, as very evident with El Greco’s works. Virtually all of El Greco’s paintings were disdained by his contemporary painters and the public during his lifetime, 1541-1614. His works opposed too many aspects of Baroque style, which was popular in the 17th century. El Greco, therefore, had no followers and no audience at that time; his works were considered to be unnatural and overly-complex. However, in the 20th century, his works greatly influenced painters, leading to the birth of expressionism and cubism. For example, Pablo Picasso and Paul Cezanne studied El Greco’s structural compositions, his ability to interweave space and form, and the special effects of highlights, which were all disregarded in the 17th century. Also, Jackson Pollock, an expressionist, also followed El Greco’s expressionistic composition. Therefore, the â€Å"unnatural† and â€Å"overly-complex† features in the 17th century became the dominant characteristics of the new form of Expressionism. In general, perception is indefinite, with the ability to change over time: the time that a piece of art is created and perceived influences the way it is perceived. Also, previous knowledge and experience significantly influences perception. For instance, The Burial of the Count of Orgaz, El Greco’s most famous work today was presented at the Louvre in 1838. At that time, the audience knew, ahead of time, of El Greco’s life, career, and works; therefore, there was much enthusiasm and attraction to the painting. Meanwhile, The Burial of the Count of Orgaz was also studied in art schools in the 19th century where students analyzed its composition and form. However, before the students knew the title of the artwork and its artist, they had little interest and fondness for the work. Therefore, this reveals how previous knowledge (in this case, of El Greco’s life, artistic talent and fame) affects how it is perceived. Without that knowledge, The Burial of the Count of Orgaz could have simply been an amateur’s painting. This brings up the same issue once again. Knowing that the artwork is by El Greco, one may have a positive bias to the work, hence perceiving the painting to be better than it actually is. Lastly, perception is very limited in that it is very subjective. For example, we are selective in what we perceive, ignoring certain aspects while emphasizing others. For instance, in El Greco’s El Espolio, or The Disrobing of Christ, the oppression of Christ by his cruel tormentors is believed to be artist’s intensions; such studies emphasize El Greco use of vertical and lateral space of the canvas to present this idea. However, some critics say that the subject, rather, is to satirize the situation, since Christ is looking up to Heaven while his figure is segregated from the other people and the violence. Also, there is a figure in the painting’s background that is pointing at Christ accusingly. Therefore, it is evident that in these various analyses, different aspects of the painting are emphasized. The real meaning of any artwork is, consequently, not known and cannot be proven in any way. No one sees all the details that another sees in an artwork, hence making it very subjective. This knowledge issue links with the question that cultural background influences the subjectivity and limitations of perception. My prior experience may cause myself to view an artwork in a certain way, and not another. For instance, since I am religious, I regard El Greco’s El Espolio to be a genuine presentation of the oppression of Christ by his tormentors; I do not perceive it to be a satire of his death.

Blanche Dubois and Tom Wingfield’s Struggle Between Fantasy and Reality

Blanche DuBois and Tom Wingfield’s Struggle Between Fantasy and Reality The two characters, Blanche DuBois from A Streetcar Named Desire and Tom Wingfield of The Glass Menagerie, both share an intense struggle between fantasy and reality in their lives causing dependency upon alcohol. Blanch DuBois approaches as a high class Southern Belle who depends upon others to care for her, but in reality she thrives on her self-proclaimed royalty. Meanwhile, Tom Wingfield is a pessimistic character who deprives his life working at a shoe factory for his mother and sister while living in the shadows of his father. Both these characters also develop a dependency upon alcohol to overcome conflicts they are faced with. Blanche’s struggle occurs after losing all she had back home in Belle Reve except her trunk of clothes and props, but is exposed to the hash reality of the real world where she cannot cope and must depend on others. One example, such as Stanley Kowalski’s friend, Mitch, whom she instantly wants to marry to be saved from her current degrading lifestyle. â€Å"Ms. DuBois says that she is on vacation at the Kowalski’s, but in fact has lost the family mansion, Belle Reve, and her teaching position due to her sexual indiscretions, the last one with a 17-year-old boy while earning a reputation for sleeping with men indiscriminately, in the meantime pretending to be a Southern bell (Magill pars. 1-2). Blanche is so caught up in her fantasy world that she even had relations with the delivery boy, as well, so she may mask her age with youth and to have control of another. Tom finds himself struggling to fulfill his dreams of writing poetry. This is due to his working at the local shoe factory so he can support his family. â€Å"Mr. Wingfield is desperately unhappy in his warehouse job, and finds himself standing on the fire-escape to the apartment in his hopes of one day fleeing to pursue his dreams as his father did (Bloom pars. 15-16). Tom is always speaking of how he is held down from his hopes, goals, dreams, and ambitions stuck in the shoe factory making a lousy salary for his family, made up of a sick sister and delirious mother. Tom cannot accept the reality that surrounds him and is always contemplating about his dream life, which he is kept from achieving. Blanche, like Tom, abuses alcohol to escape her struggles between fantasy and reality. Blanche is noticeably an abuser of alcohol as she is found constantly sipping away at liquor to forget her past, which her conscience knows is guilty. Tom is said to be at â€Å"the movies,† meanwhile he is actually out at the bars all hours of the night. This is Tom’s way of temporarily escaping his home and forgetting his duties that trap and prevent him from accomplishing his goals in life. Neither character was in need of alcohol, but abused it to an intolerable level, where they consumed it when facing rough times or troubling memories that followed. Also, in both plays these two characters hid the fact that they ever even consumed liquor, while they were always drinking in complete denial. The two characters, Blanche DuBois from A Streetcar Named Desire and Tom Wingfield of The Glass Menagerie, both share an intense struggle between fantasy and reality in their lives causing dependency upon alcohol. Blanche’s inability to cope with the real world alone makes her a weak character. She cannot live independently and has lost all that once made her life, back in Belle Reve, due to her confused relationship with a student of hers. Tom, on the contrary, has a strong character that is chipped away at over time due to the tormenting lifestyle he must live to support his family. After time this strong foundation of character diminishes as Tom wants to flee his stationary life back at home. 1. Magill Book Reviews 1990/03/15 2. Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations: The Glass Menagerie; 1988, p31-41, 11p 3. Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature; Letter D, pN. PAG, 1p 4. Tennessee Williams. A Streetcar Named Desire. Harold Bloom – editor. Publisher: Chelsea House. Place of Publication: New York. 1988. 5. Tennessee Williams. The Glass Menagerie. Harold Bloom – editor. Publisher: Chelsea House. Place of Publication: New York. 1988.

Development of Evolution Concept

It is a matter of fact that history of evolution is very long and contradictive. The concept of evolution has existed even since ancient times and is being developing nowadays. Modern theory of evolutionary thought was established in 18th-19th centuries. Many outstanding and famous scientists contributed the evolutionary thought and interpreted it in their own way. As it was mentioned above, the concept of evolution appeared and was strongly supported in ancient time by Anaximander, Democritus, Epicurus and Empedocles.Those Greek philosophers made the first attempt to explain the concept of evolution suggesting that humans, sun, earth life and civilization emerged from â€Å"aeons without divine intervention†. (Bowler 2003, 23) The Roman philosopher Lucretius described life development in stages starting from atoms collisions and ending with succession of animals and less brutish humans. Nevertheless, evolutionary thoughts died in Europe after the Roman Empire had fallen; howe ver, the ideas were developed in Islamic countries.It is known that Al-Jahiz claimed that environment affected the animals’ survivals and it had to affect humans as well. Ibn al-Haitham argued even about the explicitly for evolutionism. (Bowler 2003) Matthew Hale in 1677 used the term â€Å"evolution† t attack the atomism of Epicurus and Democritus. He argued that their atomist theory and suggested that collisions and vibrations of atoms had formed not humans and animals, but semina that were â€Å"immediate, primitive, productive principles of men, animals, birds and fishes†. (Riddle 1954, 89) Hale called that mechanism absurdity.The concept of evolution was contributed also by German scientists including Schelling and Hegel. According to them evolution appears to be a fundamentally spiritual process involving both natural and divine interventions. They argued that evolution was â€Å"a self- disclosing revelation of the absolute†. (Riddle 1954, 89) In t he early 18th century German scientist Leibniz suggested that the objects are caused by internal forces. He supported the idea of that evolution involved divine principles. He mentioned that universe couldn’t be formed without God’s works.  (Riddle 1954)In 1745 Pierre Maupertius suggested rather interesting concept considering that all the modern species are the smallest parts produced by the blind destiny. According to him â€Å"chance† has produced innumerable individuals; however only few individuals are able to satisfy their needs, whereas others perish. Therefore he presented the idea of natural selection further contributed by Charles Darwin. One more scientist Buffon suggested the mutability of species and underlined that organisms are influenced strongly by natural processes.In 1755 Kant, German philosopher and scientist predicted the theory that unformed matter develops into the highest types of plants and animals. Kant believed that modifications and variations were the response to â€Å"mechanical laws of the organisms themselves rather than to the influence of their surroundings†. (Bowler 2003, 120) Herder, for example, agreed with the concept of natural selection stating that struggle foe survival and existence played the major role in organic world, although the theme remained undeveloped and rather vague.In the early 19th century Wells assumed that evolution of humans is the principle of natural selection. It is known that Darwin was unaware of Wells’ suggestions and later he acknowledged that Wells was the first to promote the idea of natural selection in the evolutionary thought. In 1833 Charles Lyell emphasized the gradual variation of evolution, where each specie had â€Å"centre of creation and was diagnosed for habitat, but would go extinct when the habitat changed†. (Bowler 2003, 126) The concept was supported by Herschel outlined that natural laws played the most important role in species formi ng.Nevertheless, the most important contribution into development of evolutionary though was actually made by Charles Darwin. Darwin criticized the previous ideas about natural selection assuming they failed to propone the coherent philosophy and to suggest the proper mechanism of species variations. Darwin, in his turn, stated that species had arisen from the â€Å"selective actions of external conditions upon the variations from their specific type which individuals present and which is called spontaneous†. (West 1938, 147) The Darwin’s theory proved to be successful providing the useful statistical models of evolution.In the late 19th century evolutionary though was considerably contributed by the works of Gregor Mendel. He carried out series of experiments and in result provided models for inheritance based on the unit of gene. However, Mendel’s works remained unappreciated for many years and even ignored by biologists. Mendel’s works were â€Å"disc overed† in 1990 and caused a conflict between Mendelians. (Riddle 1954) In 1970s the neutral theory of molecular evolution was presented by famous scientist Motoo Kimura who the first to establish the genetic drift and considered it a mechanism of evolution.One more interesting idea was generated by Lynn Margilus. He presented the theory of symboigenesis arguing that genetic drift and mutations are not enough to explain the concepts of evolution. In the theory Margulis stated that species emerged through the process of symbiosis. (Riddle 1954) In 1972 Stephen Gould suggested the theory of punctuated equilibrium. All the theories were followed by renewal of structuaralist themes in evolutionary ideology. For example, Brian Goodwin incorporated in his researches the ideas of systems theory along with cybernetics and thus emphasized the important role of natural selection.In 1995 Daniel Dennett argued that Darwin’s natural selection is â€Å"algorithmic process applicable to many circumstances besides biological evolution†. (Bowler 2003, 225) Such concept of evolution was called â€Å"universal Darwinism†. It is necessary to outline that the development of evolutionary thought was vivid, though contradictive. Lots of theories and concepts were developed to explain the evolution of human beings, but scientists failed to find the only satisfactory explanation. Nowadays some theories are disapproved, others are improved and followed. (Henderson 2000)

Divisions of the APA Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Divisions of the APA - Essay Example The current president of this division is Dr. Kim Fromme from the University of Texas at Austin. The division oversees the publication of the journals which deal with addiction such as the Psychology of Addictive Behaviors and the Addictions Newsletter. Interestingly, the information provided about the division on the APA website makes it clear that alcohol and smoking are not the only psychological addictions a person can have. It was a new realization for me to note that the division considers things such as gambling, eating, sexual behavior and even spending to be addictions (APA, 2007). As the history of the division makes clear that the division has been active for many years, the current activities of the division also signify that research works as well as studies on addiction are being conducted by the division at the present time (APA, 2007). I personally feel that the study of addiction is an important aspect of psychology and the department will remain a positive force for the APA and its partner organizations in the

The role of the technology in facilities management Case Study

The role of the technology in facilities management - Case Study Example , maintenance and operations plans, corporate facilities processes, space inventories, real estate, projects through construction, renovation and design, equipment and furniture inventories. Facilities management is a critical interdisciplinary field in the modern business world which encompasses the coordination of people, space, organization and infrastructure especially in association with the administration of hospitals, hotels, convention centres, office blocks, schools, arenas, shopping complexes etc. Facilities management is used to facilitate a wide number of activities in business and is slowly emerging as a core function within a business from being a supporting function in businesses. There are eleven key competencies associated with facilities management which is applicable in the facilities management processes, irrespective of in which sector the facilities management is applied. These core competencies include emergency preparedness, communication, finance, strategy an d leadership, property management, real estate, business continuity, environmental stewardship, human factors, maintenance and operations, quality, property management, sustainability, project management and technology. This case study deals with the technology factor in facilities management with respect to the role of technology in facilities management in the hospitality and other relevant tourism sectors across the world. The information technology support provided to the facilities management in an organization can significantly improve the functioning of facilities management in an organization as a main supporting services. However, with the integration of new technologies, facilities management is evolving as a main business function and is ceasing to be a supporting service in any organization, especially in the capital intensive industries like construction, manufacturing, hotel industries etc. Technology is highly needed in facilities management. The main function of the

Global Business Environment Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Global Business Environment - Assignment Example This report will look at the different measures a country can take in such instances. There is essentially no simple strategy alone to prevent recession in a country. There are a number of factor at play which further complicates the problem of recession in a country. Like after world economic crisis in 2008, country like India faced many challenges with respect to its economic policies. India has high inflation rate along with soaring high interest rate. Keeping in mind the strong fundamentals in India, RBI took a number of measures to control recession in India. RBI plays a significant role by controlling and monitoring the lending rates of scheduled commercial banks. The inflation rate in any economy is dependent on the availability of goods and services. RBI uses its monetary and credit tools to maintain the price stability in the economy and thus support the economic growth in the economy. RBI being the central bank of India, monitors, regulates and controls the entire financial system. RBI through its monetary policy regulates the issue of bank notes so as to m aintain proper liquidity in the system (Schwartz, 2010, p. 7). The monetary policy adopted by RBI can be either expansionary or contractionary in nature. RBI uses expansionary policy during deep recession. When RBI finds excess liquidity in the system, RBI uses several monitory instruments like Cash reserve ratio, Statutory Liquidity Ratio, Repo Rate, Reverse Repo rate to adjust liquidity in the economy. During deep recession, RBI needs to inject liquidity in the system so that money can flow in the system and demand improves and consequently GDP improves. For that RBI can reduce Cash reserve ratio or Statutory Liquidity Ratio. This will inject more cash in the hands of Bank which Banks can lend to the customers and inject liquidity in the system (Hershey, 2004, p. 13). The main priority should be given to small scale industries as they are the main employment

Cycle of Knowledge Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Cycle of Knowledge Management - Assignment Example The management of a knowledge based organisation counters an important challenge in regards to management of the human resources engaged who manage the organisational knowledge systems. People working in a knowledge based organisation share the large volumes of explicit knowledge between each other. The explicit knowledge is gained by the individuals from the external business environment and the potential of gaining effective knowledge from outside sources also depends on the absorptive capacity of the persons (Cohen and Levinthal, 1990, p.128-129). This explicit knowledge is transmitted among the organisational people through effective training programs thus helping in effective decision making activities regarding modification of products and the processes (Choo and Johnston, 2004, p.78-79). Such information is shared between the human resource team in the form of informal conversations and is stored in the form of personal archives in notebooks and personal files maintained in th e concern. This practice of the archiving the personal knowledge databases of the people working in the business organisation saves both time and energy in times of need. It is because the people in the form of informal relationships tend to share potential knowledge resources unknowingly. These recorded in the archives helps the people in retrieving and gaining access to them in an easy manner. Thus through the above system the knowledge base of the workers can be rightly managed and enhanced.... These recorded in the archives helps the people in retrieving and gaining access to them in an easy manner. Thus through the above system the knowledge base of the workers can be rightly managed and enhanced to help enhance organisational productivity. Encouraging the persons to share their personal level knowledge excites them to think and work in a more creative and innovative fashion. The knowledge base of the employees enhanced on the basis of explicit knowledge can be used further to enhance the knowledge base of the other employees in the organisation. Thus the explicit knowledge gained by one group of employees becomes implicit or tacit in case of others who endeavour to gain such from the archives (Jain, 2011, p.1-5, 11-12). Role of Human Resource Management in Knowledge Organisation From the above discussion it becomes clear that the process of sharing of knowledge resources within the premises of an organization greatly depends on the activities of the internal people. Henc eforth human resources play an integrated role in the knowledge sharing activity within an organization based on certain value, systems and structures. The process of sharing of knowledge inside an organization can be understood mainly in three ways. Firstly the organisation serves as a large knowledge structure which can be used by the employees in disseminating potential information along the different layers. Similarly in the second case the knowledge base can be shared among the individuals through an interpersonal approach (Bhatnagar, 2006, p.419-420). In here the knowledge gained by one group based on experiences is shared amongst the others or the new comers in the organisational process.