Monday, September 30, 2019

Activity theory Essay

Cognitive changes: There are several changes that occur with aging, one of which is cognitive slowing. The slowing that occurs in all cognitive tasks where speed of response is a component is considered the most pervasive cognitive change in developmental aging. The probable locus of slowing is in the central nervous system (Bob & McCallum, 1998). Pigment lipofuscin builds up in the brain during old age and it gradually results in brain degeneration. The aged brain weighs less, the lateral ventricles tend to be dilated, and the ribbon of cortical tissue is narrowed (Hurlock, 1986). Such degeneration is held accountable for a decline in the brain’s capacity to function. But the average person’s intelligence is not likely to be seriously impaired before age 70 or 75 (Peterson, 1989). With good physical and mental health, adequate educational levels, and intellectual stimulation, it appears that there is not as a great decline in intellectual abilities with age as previously thought, especially in the 60 to 75 age group. Emotional changes: Emotional changes over the adult life span are a topic of considerable importance for psychotherapists working with older adults. At the psychological level, the older adults are more difficult to arouse but also have more difficulty returning to a state of calm once aroused (Woodruff, 1985). The accumulation of experiences leads to more complex and less extreme emotional experiences in later life. A review of research, using the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory with older adults, noted that older adults were lower on scales associated with anger, impulsivity, and confusion and argued that people may become less impulsive with maturity (Gynther, 1979, in Bob & McCallum, 1998). It was concluded that as a whole, emotionality in older adults may be both more complex and subtler than that of younger adults. Theories on Aging Attempts to understand and explain the lives and activities of those who appear to age successfully have led to the different formation of theories on aging. There are fourmain theories: (a) Disengagement theory: It is based on the notion that as people age they progressively withdraw from social, physical, and emotional interaction with the world. As they gradually disengage themselves, the society too withdraws from its engagement with the aging person (b) Activity theory: It stresses that older people should remain active as long as they possibly can. When certain activities and associations must be given up (for example, employment), substitutes should be found because life satisfaction is highly dependent upon continued social, emotional, and physical involvement. In a positive environment older people generally moved toward activity and informal contacts, rather than disengagement (Butler, Lewis & Sunderland, 1998). (c) Socioenvironmental theory: This approach is based on the understanding that people respond to the social meaning of events. Two factors that affect the meaning old people place on events-and thus their interaction patterns-are the physical proximity of other persons and the age homogeneity of an environment (Gubrium, 1973, 1975, cited in Butler et al. , 1973). (d) Developmental theory: Erickson (1963) and Peck (1997) present a theory that describes human development in terms of progression through a series of stages. Old age is a stage of life in which the individual must try to balance the search for ego integrity with a sense of despair. Out of this conflict emerges wisdom the human virtue most commonly associated with old age. The negative emotions associated with this stage, are in part a result of the limitations of a person’s physical and psychological energy (Butler, Lewis, & Sunderland, 1991). (e) Biological or medical perspective. Moberg (2002) further elaborates this physical and psychological decline and it’s effect on the elderly. Highlighting aging from the biological/medical perspective of physical decline along with losses of friends, employment, mobility, income, and so forth, has contributed to a pervasive negativism among biosocial scientists that is evident in their different way of talking to (hardly with) elderly persons, avoidance of touching seniors, and other indications of ageism. Opportunities for service are withdrawn from many who are retired, even in churches that use the Bible with its high value for elders, so ‘disengagement theory’ becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Time spent in solitude and meditation can be wholesome, contrary to assumptions of ‘Activity theory’ that lonely outer activities are worthwhile, for being alone is not the same as being lonely!

Internet uses in University courses Essay

The research by Wang (2007) discusses the issue of internet use specifically by lecturers in a university setting. The researchers examined three research questions in their study. The first was to determine whether or not professors in universities were effectively utilizing the internet as an instructional aid. The second was to assess the extent to which the internet is being used in such settings and the last was to analyze how students perceive the use of internet in the classroom by lecturers. The study involved a total of 624 students registered in the three major colleges of a single university in the Pacific Rim of the U. S. This was at a public university and the respondents were from both sexes, 62% of whom were females. These students also represented a cross-section of areas of study in education, business and the arts and sciences. The instrument used to collect data was a questionnaire designed by the researchers. For each item on the questionnaire the respondents were required to produce their response based on a 1-5 Likert scale. The statistical package SPSS Â ® was used as the data analysis tool. The researchers obtained descriptive statistics of the data using primarily the means. Based on the means produced from the students’ responses the researchers determine that the internet is not being effectively used by lecturers in university classrooms and that where such use existed it was not wide-spread. Additionally the researchers add that lecturers were far more comfortable to allow students to utilize this resource independently and made little attempt to facilitate students’ usage of the internet or incorporate such into the classroom. The implications of this finding are that university lecturers will need to get training in the different tools that the internet has to offer so that they can more effectively incorporate them into their classroom. In addition there is the suggestion that students are more capable than professors in manipulating these tools and thus lecturers need to update themselves. One strength of the study is that it involved the views of students from a cross-section of majors so that it gave a more rounded view of internet use across the university and was not limited to certain areas of study. However there is need to have a more broad-based analysis of the internet usage situation across multiple universities in different regions of the U. S. so as to determine if geographical or other factors are a hindrance to usage. Furthermore the survey depended solely on the views of students and did not take into consideration what the lecturers themselves felt. It would be useful to get their views to see if what the students report conforms to that of the lecturers. References Wang, Y. (2007, April). Internet uses in University courses. International Journal of E-Learning, 6(2), 279-292.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

New York Times Paywall Strategic Considerations Essay

According to Chairman Sulzberger the goal of the paywall was to â€Å"build the Times’s digital subscription base and develop a new robust consumer revenue stream, while maintaining its significant digital advertising business.† Secondary to the constraint of maintaining the ad business was the requirement to maintain social buzz and branding. To begin, the NYT wanted to increase future revenues for the paper and offset the inevitable decline of its print revenue. This, in the short run, was a success. As described in Question #2; this added over $81 million in previously unexploited revenue in just the first year, indicating significant potential for future growth in digital subscription revenue. To maintain the ad business, the paywall could not significantly decrease the digital advertising revenue. For NYT Media Group, and by extension NYT, digital advertising increased by 5.3% in 2011, suggesting that the implementation of the paywall did not reduce digital adverti sing revenue in the short run. However, the NYT quarterly reports (shown in Appendix C) showed the paper’s digital ad revenue decreasing through much of 2012 and early 2013. Additionally, the paywall should not lead to a loss in readers or impressions. According to Exhibit 13 in the case, (and explained further in Question #2), the page visit drop equates to a 21 page per visitor ratio before the paywall to an 18.5 page per visitor ratio after the paywall, roughly a 11% drop in impressions. If the NYT has a pay-per-impression contract with its advertisers, this can mean up to a 11% drop in ad revenue in the long run, calling into question the overall success of the paywall. Finally, the NYT wanted to maintain the social buzz and branding for the paper. They did this by allowing unlimited access to articles if visitors came to the website via search engines or social media. This allowed people to read and be aware trending articles coming from the paper and keep their brand visible.. Overall, the paywall was working at the time of the case. It successfully registered significant numbers of readers willing to pay for the service. The paywall policy added a consistent revenue stream while maintaining leisure readers and promoting its online social presence. Whether the paywall will work in the long run will be determined by the revenue from subscriptions outpacing the loss of advertising revenue. 2. Is the New York Times paywall well-designed? Is it  priced right? Financially, paywall design is a basic supply vs. demand problem where the NYT optimizes revenues from online subscriptions against the advertising dollars lost. In the months before the paywall was instituted, the NYT site had approximately 715 million page views per month (adjusted to 30 day month). As soon as the paywall took effect, page views dropped to approximately 635 million as readers moved to other sites (Appendix A). This equates to an 11% drop in ad impressions within an industry seeing growing viewership. Therefore, we assume that online ad revenues decreased by approximately 11% after the paywall went into effect (decrease in online ad revenues of $23.68M off a base of $211.68M in 2011). Conversely, the 390,000 online subscriptions brought in $81M (at $4 per subscription), more than enough to make up for the loss in ad revenues. From this perspective, the paywall was a striking success. In addition, our team performed a conjoint analysis to help determine how customers value the various features and workarounds for the subscription paywall, and to evaluate whether the NYT could further optimize its pricing structure (Appendix B). In this analysis, we examined weekly subscription price ($8.75 vs. $3.75), paywall design (initial free article limit of 0 or 20), subscription leakiness (ability to access articles around paywall via social networks, etc.), and platform availability (subscription for all devices at once or tiered fee per device). This analysis confirmed our intuition that consumers are most sensitive to the price of the subscription. We also found that consumers are unlikely to value a subscription if they can get 20 free articles upfront. This is a much bigger determinant of whether and how much a customer will pay for a subscription than the possibility of getting free articles through their soci al network or other referral means. Based on this, the NYT would be able to charge an additional $2.37 if they were to stop offering 20 free articles per month and an additional $1.01 per subscription if they stopped allowing leaks to their paywall. However, making these changes would reduce page views and would have to be balanced against losses in ad revenues. Another way the NYT could raise revenues is to reduce the cost of an all device subscription. Based on the average subscription cost of $4.00, very few customers are opting for the all-platform subscription. However, our  analysis shows that customers are willing to pay $5.46 ($3.75 base subscription plus $1.71 in additional value) for a subscription open to all platforms. Making this change could add $29.6M in revenue if all customers took this deal while increasing subscriber page views due to increased access. 3. What is the long-term goal of the New York Times in creating the paywall? To understand the future of the NYT paywall, we looked at the newspaper’s recent trends in advertising and circulation revenues. In 2011, NYT Media Group derived 45% of its revenues from circulation and 49% from advertising (Exhibit 2). The NYT has seen a steady decline in print and digital advertising and recently reported that the paper â€Å"generated $900 million in ad revenue [in 2012], compared with $2 billion in 2002.† [1] Its print subscriber base is not faring much better. The Sunday Times saw a 10% drop in print subscribers by 0.15M from 2007 to 2011. The weekday NYT print circulation dropped 17.43% and the Saturday Times declined by 10% over the same period. Despite this, print subscribers still account for about 84% of the paper’s circulation revenue. [2] Digital subscriptions have seen strong growth since 2011. According to the Q2 2013 NYT earnings report, â€Å"Paid subscribers to The Times†¦ digital-only subscription packages, e-readers and r eplica editions totaled about 699,000.†[3] This represents a 35% year-over-year increase since 2012 and a 79% increase since Dec 2011. Based on these trends, we can conclude that digital circulation will play an important role in the future of the NYT. The long-term goal of the NYT paywall is to build a permanent digital subscription base. To make digital circulation effective, the NYT needs the paywall. Why would subscribers pay for digital access if they can get it for free? It is interesting to note that in March 2012, the NYT reduced the free access threshold from 20 articles to 10 – and in the following year, it expanded its digital customer base by 35%. Digital circulation cannot single-handedly support The Times going forward. The paper must rely on a mix of revenue streams and the print edition (and the decreased ad revenue it brings in) will continue to be a major source of income. The price of the print edition has skyrocketed in recent years from $0.75 in 2001 to $2.50 in 2013. We wonder if a more secure  paywall might also allow similar future price increases in the digital realm. 4. Will newspapers transition to all digital? How should the New York Times manage a transition to the new world of content provision? Despite the mainstream use of iPads and other electronics for consuming news, the printed newspaper is still in demand. In 2011, NYT newspaper sales made up 45% of the annual revenue. This is attributed to a strong segment of readers who still prefer the hardcopy of the paper. The overall trend still suggests that news is rapidly moving towards the digital form, perhaps eventually transitioning to an all-digital platform. The transition to fully digital will likely not happen within the next five years based on the print subscription trends from 2007 to 2011, but the NYT must be prepared to manage its revenue sources as circulation diminishes. The NYT has three main revenue streams – advertising (both digital and print), subscriptions, and other ventures. Together, advertising and subscriptions made up 94% of the revenue in 2011. In this largely digital age, only 28% of the advertising revenue stems from digital ads. To evaluate the NYT strategy to transition to digital news, we must determine the newspaper’s profitability today and in the future. Our analysis focuses on the NYT Media Group, rather than the whole company which includes other newspapers and ventures. In 2011, the Media Group comprised of 67% of the company’s revenues so we assume the operating costs are proportional. We also assume that operating costs include production costs and SG&A, and ignore depreciation and amortization for this analysis (Appendix F). Based on our scenario planning, which varied the percentage of print and digital subscriptions and ads, we conclude that the NYT is profitable today and will continue to be profitable despite the shift towards the digital platform. While overall revenues from ads and circulation decrease (as the rate of digital subscriptions cannot make up for the loss in print), the operating cost of running production decreases. If the news become completely digital in the future, the NYT must focus on driving online subscriptions and ads. 5. Would a paywall work for all newspapers? For other content providers? If not, what other strategies would work? The paywall may not work for all newspapers. In some cases like the NYT, the paywall model worked, but the same strategies may not apply to other newspapers. The successful was largely due to the NYT strategic positioning and ability to attract a large number of unique visitors (~33 million) and page views ( ~600-700 million) as compared to those of USATODAY.COM, WASHINGTONPOST.COM, WSJ.COM, etc. (~5-15 million, ~80-150 million respectively). Other key reasons for its success included the steady increase in the online newspaper traffic, past experience in digital subscriptions, low marginal cost in adding customers for its digital subscription, and external reasons such as launch of IPad in 2008 which improved the user experience for reading digital content. Other newspaper such as The Washington Post, Scientific American, and the Economist have succeeded with the paywall because of their specialized content. According to US newspaper industry report in 2009, 5000 players in this ind ustry operated for total annual revenues of $35 billion but the top 50 firms accounted for more than 75% of the revenue. For the remaining firms, implementing a paywall could be significantly destructive to their business as customers would go elsewhere. Therefore, a newspaper firm has to be strategic if it wants to introduce paywall in its revenue stream. Not every content provider can have successful paywall. Some strategies that have been defined earlier can work in their favor. Other strategies include the BostonGlobe vs. Boston.com strategy. One has high quality content with great user expereince (paid service of 99 cents for 4 weeks) and the other has free low quality content. Another model is the Metro; free widely distributed newspaper at metro stations. Hulu.com provides free content for a limited time and moves other content to Hulu Plus. Netflix.com allows access to TV shows and movies anytime with flat rate subscription cost. Appendix A – Chart describing data presented in Question 2 Appendix B – Output from Regression Analysis in Excel Appendix C – Selected NYT Financial Information from 2012-2013 The below excerpts came from the NYT Media Group’s investor reports found here: http://investors.nytco.com/investors/financials/quarterly-earnings/default.aspx Q213: Print and digital advertising revenues decreased 6.8 percent and 2.7 percent. Q113: Print and digital advertising revenues decreased 13.3 percent and 4.0 percent. Q412: Print advertising revenues decreased 5.6 percent and digital ad revenues rose 5.1 percent. Q312: Print and digital advertising revenues decreased 10.9 percent and 2.2 percent. Q212: Print and advertising revenues decreased 8.0 percent and by 4.0 percent. Q112: Print and digital advertising revenues decreased 7.2 percent and 10.3 percent. Q411: Print and digital advertising revenues fell by 8 percent and 5 percent. Appendix D – References for Question 3 [1] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/14/business/media/a-leaner-times-aims-for-global-growth.html?_r=0 [2] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/14/business/media/a-leaner-times-aims-for-global-growth.html?_r=0 [3]http://investors.nytco.com/investors/investor-news/investor-news-details/2013/The-New-York-Times-Company-Reports-2013-Second-Quarter-Results/default.aspx Appendix E – Forecast Figures on NYT Profitability based on % Figure 1: Forecast of the NYT Total Revenue, Total Operating Costs, and Operating Profit as digital circulation and advertising increase while paper circulation and advertising decrease. Assumptions are listed in Appendix F. Figure 2: Detailed breakdown of advertising revenue from digital and print as the NYT transitions towards all digital. The year 2030 was chosen to determine the NYT’s strategy to become an all digital news provider. Appendix F – Assumptions made to evaluate NYT profitability for the future 1. Depreciation and amortization were not included in calculating profitability. 2. Advertising revenues continue to decline at the same rate as 2008 – 2011. 3. Print subscriptions continue to decline at the same rate as 2008 – 2011, calculated by summing the Sunday and weekday subscriptions while subtracting out the Saturday subscriptions to make up the overlap. 4. The average cost of the paper subscriptions is $10.50 (unweighted by popularity of subscription type) and the average cost of the paywall is $5.80 (not discounted by sign up offers and one-time discounts). 5. The percentage of revenue from digital ads grows by 5% from 2012 to 2016 as the NYT shifts toward a digital platform. The assumed 5% growth is conservative based upon online readership and unique visitors on the site. 6. The cost of production is directly related to the number of paper subscriptions. The production can be scaled down when demand is reduced. 7. The revenue from circulation declines at 0.7% from 2012 to 2016 because the loss of print subscribers outweighs the increase of digital subscribers.

Railroad history Essay

The reasons why Villard failed to build a profitable railroad was that he never bothered to study much about railroads so he made many mistakes such as, he rushed to the wilderness to collect his subsidies he thought that by building the rail on an area with a beautiful view he would attract tourism in the area and so they would pay handsomely to tour, so he chose to build in the northwest because of its beauty. This increased the cost of building the railroad because he had to increase the bends, the steepness and the length of the railroad to be able to take in the rocky Mountain View. Villard also did create in areas around the hot springs in broad water county, Montana and at Bozeman costly health spas. This and more expensive buildings and structures made Villard go broke because the tourist opted to visit else where. Though the federal aid and foreign investors had given Villard some space for mistakes he made way too many. He was so eager to rush to the coast that he built when the cost of materials and construction in whole was very stiff. High cost amounts to high rates and this hindered the tourists from traveling through the NP. Railroad acted as an alternative mode of transport which farmers used to travel from rural areas to the urban market whenever they had need, they also used the railroad to transport their produce thus interacting with people from other parts of the country. As the railroad changed people’s experiences, it also changed the time concepts. If a person wanted to travel from point A to point B it became more faster than pre railroad days where one had to use horses on bad road, board a steamboat, Railroads decreased the cost of distance and increased the value of time.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Psychology Interview Essay

Does the interviewee remember information more accurately if he or she observes the behavior being performed or does he/she prefer to read how the behavior is performed?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The interviewee stated that he will be able to easily remember how a behavior is performed if he read about it; that’s why he prefers the second choice (Carducci, 2008). Also, he admitted that if any occurrence or behavior is to be observed only, he is more likely not to be able to recall it especially that he has a countless things on his mind and numerous things listed on his â€Å"to do list† (Carducci, 2008).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Comparing him to myself though, I prefer the opposite. I have proven to myself countless of times that I remember more clearly those occurrences or behaviors if I see it being performed. I prefer to observe since I am the type who remembers anything that I have paid careful attention to. Does the interviewee prefers studying in a library, or at home where there are background noises and some distractions? My friend opts to stay in the house to study (Carducci, 2008). He says he cannot focus on his lessons without his personal computer and subwoofers switched on (Carducci, 2008). It is very important that something noisy is present while he studies because otherwise he might just doze off and not accomplish anything at the end of the day (Carducci, 2008). He also stated that he likes to walk around the living room or his own room while reading his lessons aloud (Carducci, 2008). This is another major reason why he does not want to study in the library; he says â€Å"I will only be asked to keep quiet and may even be requested to leave the premises if I study in that manner† (Carducci, 2008).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   I cannot do what he does though. I am the type who would be more efficient and effective in studying if I stay in a quiet place like the library. I prefer to stay there if my purpose is to grasp the readings and lessons that the exam will cover. In addition to that, the references that I need for further inquiry are found there and so I must stay in the library to study; computers are available as well in case I need online references. Reading/reviewing while listening to music or any kind of distraction involving sounds just does not go together for me. III. Had the person you are interviewing taken the Myers Briggs test? Report the results.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Yes, the interviewee already experienced taking the Myers Briggs test (Humanmetrics, 2007). The following feedback resulted from the â€Å"Carl Jung and Isabel Myers-Briggs typological approach to personality† (Humanmetrics, 2007). According to the aforementioned, the interviewee is â€Å"very expressed extravert; that he possesses slightly expressed sensing personality; that he has a moderately expressed thinking personality; as well as slightly expressed judging personality† (Humanmetrics, 2007). He is then excessively extroverted, slightly thinking, moderately sensing, and to some extend a perceiving individual (Humanmetrics, 2007).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The results that I got after answering numerous questions are the following: â€Å"that I am distinctively expressed introvert; moderately expressed intuitive personality; moderately expressed feeling personality; and distinctively expressed judging personality† (Humanmetrics, 2007). It says that I am introverted and equally judging; as well as, intuitive and equally feeling (Humanmetrics, 2007). Which experiences does this person feel contributed most in the development of his/her personality?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The interviewee stated that there were countless experiences that he went through (Carducci, 2008). He believes that all these contributed largely in the development of his personality (Carducci, 2008).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   First of all, he comes from an unprivileged family (Carducci, 2008).   During his elementary and high school days, he struggled too much as he cannot even go to school everyday because there was no money to be spent on food (Carducci, 2008).   He said it was too difficult to stay focused in the lessons or anything that’s going on in the classroom with an empty stomach for two or three days straight (Carducci, 2008).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Second, his father usually does not have a job (Carducci, 2008). In cases where he finds one, the longest time that he is able to stay is only four weeks (Carducci, 2008).   This is because he is a drunkard and sometimes would go to work extremely drunk (Carducci, 2008).   Since such behavior poses great threat to other employees, eventually he is fired (Carducci, 2008).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Third, his father comes home without money and would check on the fridge if there was food to eat (Carducci, 2008).   If he does not find anything, he would lash out at his mother and/or attack her (Carducci, 2008).   His mother would be whipped, slapped, punched, and even thrown (Carducci, 2008).   If he tries to protect his mother and fight his father off, then they would both get hurt at the end of the day (Carducci, 2008).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Fourth, his mother would release her anger on him and his brothers and sisters (Carducci, 2008). She would shout at them, threaten them that she is going to leave them behind because she could no longer take it (Carducci, 2008). She would state that her life would not be so excruciatingly difficult if she did not have a husband and children like them (Carducci, 2008).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Fifth, his little sister turned suicidal because of the family problems that they went through (Carducci, 2008).   He would feel hopeless and helpless because of his little sisters numerous attempts (Carducci, 2008).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Sixth, his father was sent to prison because of violence against women and children (Carducci, 2008).   He feels hurt but at the same time relieved that he no longer has to put up with him (Carducci, 2008).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Seventh, before he can even recover from his â€Å"loss†, he feels he is going to lose another important loved one again as his mother remarries a younger man (Carducci, 2008).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It turned out though that his stepfather is a nice, brilliant, open-minded man who cares deeply for his mother and for his brothers and sisters (Carducci, 2008).   In fact, he sent him to one of the best schools when he decided he wanted to attend college and finish a Baccalaureate course (Carducci, 2008).   He also sent his brothers and sisters to school (Carducci, 2008). In addition to that, he put up a small flower shop for his mother who finished BS Management in college; he said it is about time that his mother also attends to enriching her own career (Carducci, 2008). He also bought each and everyone their needs (and even some of their wants); in fact, he got a personal computer, his brothers received game boy, his sisters got branded dolls, etc (Carducci, 2008).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   His stepfather also brought him to places that he has never been into including the following: â€Å"Transamerica Pyramid, Bank of America, Chinatown, Lombard Street, Haight-Ashbury, Coit Memorial Tower, Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, California Academy of Sciences, Palace of Fine Arts, Presidio, Alcatraz, University of California, Berkeley† (Carducci, 2008). The trip gave him an opportunity to bond with someone who can be a father to him, who can guide him as he goes along, and who can protect him as he battles with life’s surprises and difficulties (Carducci, 2008).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   He learned to be strong as he went through poverty, abuse from his father, etc (Carducci, 2008). He became even stronger when his extra nice stepfather came along (Carducci, 2008). The training that he got from his stepfather and the good examples showed to him played a large role in the development of his personality (Carducci, 2008). I have my own experiences as well that helped in the development of my personality. First of all, I have a mother who is very supportive and proud of whatever I have accomplished. Second, I was brought up to be a nice individual, not hurting anyone, helping people in need, putting God at the center of life, etc. Such values were instilled in me because the people around me exhibited/portrayed great examples. Third, I experienced being sent to the best schools and so I have learned the proper ethics, training, and etiquette. Fourth, I have witnessed my mom’s battle with ovarian cancer. In spite of being given only a few months to live, she showed me how determined she was in fighting that illness. She showed me her strength, as well as, her faith. I grew to be almost like her, never losing hope and always believing in God. Last but not least, I am also surrounded with friends who are extremely serious and concerned with life. I only have a few friends, which probably explains, why I am introverted, but I am proud to say that they are all true friends. I have developed a positive personality partly because of them as well. Does this person feel that he/she is self-monitoring in regards to his/her attitudes? How or how not? The interviewee believes that he is not at all â€Å"self-monitoring† (Carducci, 2008). He admits he would probably be more scared if he would be one (Carducci, 2008). He also feels that he were like that, he would not know what to do since he will turn more conscious about the negative occurrences and may all the more exhibit the negative attitudes that he observed (Carducci, 2008).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   On the other hand, I am the â€Å"self-monitoring† type since I tend to reminisce about everything that happens to me. I think about it seriously and try to realize what needs to be learned from it and apply it in life. I make sure to try to instill another positive attitude or value to improve my personality. What does the interviewee feel was the strongest influence on his/her attitudes? His stepfather contributed largely to the interviewee’s attitudes as he is the one who showed and instilled good values on him (Carducci, 2008). Without him and his examples, his personality would not have been developed into a positive/good one (Carducci, 2008). He is also relieved that his stepfather had the strongest influence on his attitude instead of his real father who has never been a good example to him (Carducci, 2008). VII. What role does your interviewee feel a persons race, gender, or ethnicity play when forming that persons personality and attitudes?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Ethnicity, gender, and race are three concepts that may be subjected to stereotyping and so an individuals’ personality/attitude may be greatly affected if these three factors come into play (Carson et. al., 1992).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   I believe it can as well; but it only will if a person consents to it. See, stereotyping is subjective, and so if only people can be objective enough then ethnicity, gender, and race will not be able to play a role in the development of one’s personality, at least not in the negative manner. VIII. Does this person feel he/she is better at tasks when intrinsically motivated or extrinsically motivated?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The interviewee is more comfortable with â€Å"extrinsic motivation† or when an incentive or reward is provided (Meyers, 2004).   Meanwhile, I am at ease with its opposite. References Carducci, I.C. (2008). Personal Interview. Carson, R.C. & Butcher, J.N. (1992). The World of Abnormal Psychology. New York: Harper Collins. Humanmetrics. (2007). Jung Typology Test. Retrieved January 24, 2008 from   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes1.htm    Meyers, D. (2004). Psychology: Seventh Edition. New York: Worth Publishers.   

Case study Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 15

Case study - Assignment Example Some basic product lines sold by TerraCycle include picture frames and line of clocks. Material which is conventionally considered non-recyclable like vinyl records is used to introduce new products. Bags also form an important product line which is pretty long. Bike pouches made from energy bar wrappers form an important constituent of this line. At this stage of the company’s growth, product line extension would make more sense for TerraCycle to stay ahead of the game and gain a competitive edge over rival organic manufacturers. The current products are topnotch and very reliable, but more variety is needed to fuel the business and address needs of a diverse line of customers. It should be remembered that the present day business environment is fiercely competitive. How well do TerraCycle’s bottles perform the four packaging functions discussed in this chapter? Compare TerraCycle’s products to Miracle-Gro’s (www.scotts.com). Do you think TerraCycle’s package design distinguishes their products well enough from those of the industry giant, or are they similar enough to cause customer confusion? TerraCycle does not distinguish its products well enough from those of the industry giant, the Scotts. This is why the Scotts had to sue TerraCycle for copying their labels and advertisement techniques. TerraCycle finally reached a settlement with its rival company and agreed to modify its packaging. Though the package design is not similar enough to cause customer confusion, it nevertheless hurts the

Friday, September 27, 2019

Analytical report on the importance of the USA to the Qatarairways Essay

Analytical report on the importance of the USA to the Qatarairways future prospects - Essay Example This can be signified by the airline’s 2014 business strategy in which it plans to launch its services in Fort Worth, Dallas. Experts suggest that once this service will be initiated then the competition of Gulf Airlines in USA will significantly increase. Here, it should be noted that Qatar Airlines already operate in Washington Dulles and New York JFK from its capital city Doha. However, its services in Dallas will start a new round of competition between three major airlines including Etihad Airways, Emirates and Qatar Airways (Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways: Dallas becomes the hub crossroad for all three Gulf airlines, 2013). New flight will also serve as the basis for new relationship between two countries. Furthermore, it will increase feed benefits from the Gulf countries to the United States markets and domestic network particularly located at central and Latin America. These will subsequently increase connecting opportunities for Qatar in US while also increasing its revenue. In this perspective, Dallas will play a significant role as the state is located near the Exxon Mobil, the oil giant in Texas. Exxon Mobil is actually a significant source of providing oil for local traffic airlines specifically associated with Dallas. Based on these factors it can be safely said that US economy and its resources are highly significant for Qatar Airways (Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways: Dallas becomes the hub crossroad for all three Gulf airlines, 2013). American Airlines are associated with a U.S. anchor which further forms One World Frequent – Flier Alliance. This alliance invited Qatar Airways to become its part and the company accepted this offer in 2012 (Mutzabaugh, 2012). The CEO of Qatar Airways substantiated this attempt by the airline by mentioned that alliances play a major role in the modern airline industry which is expected to continue

ART101 MOD 2 SLP Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

ART101 MOD 2 SLP - Essay Example Delacroix was inspired by the art work of Rubens also of the Venetian Renaissance painters. He put a lot of emphasis on movement and color unlike the neoclassical perfectionists who put emphasis on carefully modeled forms and clarity of outline. These were the beginnings of romanticism in art. As he grew into a more reputable artist, romantic and dramatic content dominated the themes of his work. As a result, he never delved into the classical and traditional models that were the roman and the Greek art. Instead, he opted to travel and explore Northern African lands for the exotic. Delacroix also sought inspiration from Lord Byron. Together, they strongly identified with the forces of the sublime – the forces of nature at their most violent action. Delacroix’s Romanticism was not that of bombast nor was it that of sentimentality. He was taken to romanticism of an individualist. The most influential of his works was Liberty Leading the People. He painted it in 1830. It is the painting that clearly demonstrated the differences between the neoclassical and the Romantic style of art. Lion Hunt by Delacroix shows a scene of lion hunting in Morocco, North Africa; where he had visited in his times as a painter looking for inspiration and the exotic. He visited North Africa with the then French embassy in the year 1832. The painting catches the eye at the first glance at it. There is strong use of color that draws viewers to it. In the painting, there are at least eight painters who are dressed in bright red mantle and have white vests on. The hunters also have turbans on their heads. They are evenly spread in the Lion Hunt painting as they engage two lions in a violent fight. Delacroix painted the lions in yellow. The lions are showing fierceness and strength towards the hunters. A male lion that is in the foreground is grabbing a hunter by the chest. The hunter’s shoe has been lashed off already, and as it seems, the angry

Thursday, September 26, 2019

LP8-Case Law Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

LP8-Case Law - Assignment Example However, on its part the court argued that Michael waived his right to stay silent and this was due to his request to consult his probation officer. The main issue on this case was to inquire whether by requesting that he consult his probation officer, Michael’s right under the Fifth Amendment was invoked (Fare v. Michael C. 442 U.S. 707 1979). The court held that since under the criminal justice system attorneys and probation officers are different, then Michael rights were not violated. According to Justice Blackmun, while attorney plays a significant role in the adversarial process, probation officers do not provide equally assistance in the custodial interrogation and thus speaking to the two officers cannot be treated in a similar way. Additionally, the court argued that the minor was aware that he waived his rights. This implied that there was a chance of more interrogation. In my opinion, the police could have allowed the respondent to speak to his probation officer. According to the US Supreme court, any one who exercises his or her right to remain silent should not be punished. Thus, the interrogators were supposed to allow Michael to speak to the probation officer who could then provide more information that could assist the judge and the prosecutors in the trial process. During the case, the court held that it was not a must that the warnings given by the police to the accused use same words as indicated by Miranda opinion. In this case, I support the court’s holding. The case of California v. Prysock case involves a victim who was murdered in 1978. After the killing, a minor was arrested and taken to Tulare County department where he was reminded on his Miranda rights. Despite efforts by the police to retrieve information from the respondent, he declined to talk. This made the police to notify his parents since the

Technical Definitions Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Technical Definitions - Coursework Example The attack is considered to be a deliberate action whereby the terrorists release the viruses, bacteria and the germs in order to come with an effect into the environment which will affect any living creature around. The germs, bacteria and viruses are said to be natural and they can be accelerated by use of the biological chemicals and tactics in order to be used negatively into the society. The effects spread into the whole society affecting the living creatures. One of the major reasons for the use of the biological agents is because they have the ability to spread through air, water and food ("Bioterrorism: Learn the Definition and Agents Used." 14). All the three modes of the agent’s flow can affect the environment very greatly. One of the major question over Bioterrorism is, How can it be stopped or be regulated? In the prevention of the attacks there are certain ways that can be used in order to prevent the attack. As a resident of Texas, one must report any suspicious attack that can be realised by reporting the matter to the Department of state of the health services. This is because the staff in the Department depend on the interactive and information of the citizens. Another second way on how to prevent such actions is to elect officials in the offices of the health services in Texas who will be concerned with the health and well being of the living creatures in the city of Texas. However those may not be the only prevention methods for the attacks but with the two key points, the state of Texas can be well prevented from the biological effects and enable a solid prevention over the threats by the bioterrorists. "Biodefense and Bioterrorism: MedlinePlus." U.S National Library of Medicine. U.S. National Library of Medicine, n.d. Web. 24 June 2014.

Employee Empowerment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Employee Empowerment - Essay Example Autonomous environments, decentralized working conditions are actually some of the variants of employee empowerment. However, it's actually a strategy in which an employee is allowed to take the decisions without consulting the upper management and he/she actually owns his/her job. Since employees are allowed to make decisions, therefore they feel motivated and this strategy actually boosts up their performance. Through this strategy employees can serve the customer in an effective an efficient manner. Brainstorming, decision making capability, increased level of responsibility actually results due to empowerment. Through empowerment organization can attain competitive edge and total quality management i.e. quality in every aspect and operation can be achieved through empowering the employees. Different approaches and models are followed by different organizations in order to adapt the culture of empowering employees and adapting such a culture would benefit the overall strategy of the organization. Empowering the employees is all about the autonomy and the control they have on their respective jobs. Empowering with the transformational model actually means that leading and empowering the employees are working together and these two aspects are carried together to achieve the ultimate goal of the organization. Transformational model actually improves employee motivation and its satisfaction to work. The conventional working techniques are transformed and since they have a sense of ownership in their tasks therefore production quality of the employees improves. Employees lead from the front and they actually take calculated risks in order to earn more return. All the leadership traits are indulged in an employee when he/she is following the transformational model and besides leadership empowerment plays a positive role and enhances the working of the employees and develops a scenario in which an ordinary employee considers himself/herself as an entrepreneur. In the transformational model both leader and the subordinates motivates each other and help each other out and develop a situation in which motivation and morality becomes the cure of different problems. In an organization when a project is launched then it might be possible that the responsibilities of leaders and subordinates are different. But Transactional model actually results in coordination and although both the subordinates and the superiors started the project as separate entities but in order to achieve higher goals and superior targets they actually help each other in every aspect and ultimately raise the bar of their performance. Empowerment without the Transformational Model Leadership and empowerment, both are actually addressed in the transformational model. Empowering the employees in the workplace without the transformational model is a difficult task because a sense of autonomy might be developed but when an employee doesn't know how to lead and he/she doesn't practice leadership then it would be very difficult to achieve desirable results. Therefore the ultimate goa

Is Multiculturalism consistent with liberalism Essay

Is Multiculturalism consistent with liberalism - Essay Example One of the basic questions related with multiculturalism and liberalism has been whether the former is consistent with the latter. As Brian Barry assumes, multiculturalism, or the ‘politics of difference’, makes the basic claim that â€Å"the self-image of liberalism as a tolerant and open creed is inaccurate. In fact, it is said, liberalism imposes a false universality that discriminates against minorities of all kinds.† (Barry 1997, P 3). In a reflective exploration of whether multiculturalism is consistent with liberalism, it becomes evident that these socio-political philosophies are not consistent with each other, mainly because both the philosophies are rooted in different ideologies. Analyzing the relationship between multiculturalism and liberalism, one recognizes that the roots of both these philosophies are in different concepts. Essentially, liberalism is the popular political philosophy in the modern world and it is understood in many different ways su ch as a weak form of social democracy, a political position favorable to markets, etc. According to Brian Barry, â€Å"liberalism stands for individualism (versus communalism), equality (as against any notion of natural or divinely-appointed hierarchy), and moral universalism (as against moral particularism).

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Microsoft, Tesco, Google.com Market Segments Essay - 13

Microsoft, Tesco, Google.com Market Segments - Essay Example According to the study market segments in terms of promotion ergo become imperative. Market segmentation basically refers to specialising and specifically focusing on one kinds of consumers. Segments can be based on a variety of factors some of which include gender, geography, industry, age groups; or they can be a little bit more specific e.g. democrats in the USA or soccer fans etc. As the paper outlines by concentrating on one particular part of the market the producers are not just able to market their product better, they can even improvise and enhance their goods in a way which makes them the most appealing for their customers. Geoffery Yeo further defines market segments as, â€Å"Market segmentation is a technique widely used in he market research industry. It can be defined as ‘the process of splitting customers into different groups, or segments; within which customers with similar characteristics have similar needs†. How does one segment the market for food? E veryone needs food, however, if that was the only thing that crossed a producers mind then he would end up with a burden of a segment which consists of not just people from the UK, but the whole world. Focusing on what kind of food one is selling is extremely important, in our case we will be focusing on fast-food. Segments for this market will be created based on a number of factors: they can either be demographic or psychographic. Demographic factors take into account the age, sex, gender, income etc of the consumers, where as the psychographic factors look into what attracts and appeals to consumers the most. For a fast-food organisation to function properly in the UK it would have to focus primarily on psychographic factors.  

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

The cinema of Hong Kong Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

The cinema of Hong Kong - Essay Example They are able to share the costs and expenses, as well as able to gain large market coverage in Mainland China The contents of a film have mixture of elements from the Hollywood and elements from traditional Chinese drama and art, particularly a penchant for stylization and a disregard for Western standards of realism (Wikipedia, 2008). Successfully surviving and competing in the industry since about fifty years, Shaw Brothers is one of the most famous production companies in Hong Kong having more than 80 films to their credit. Shaw Brothers (HK) Ltd. is the biggest movie production company of Hong Kong movies. The company focuses on investment holding and investments in media and entertainment industries. Activities mainly consist of distributing films and the provision of filming facilities and services. Sir Run Run Shaw, Chairman of Shaw Brothers (Hong Kong) Ltd., has said "In the film industry, one walks a tightrope, with all its thrills, satisfactions and dangers. That is perhaps why the business of making movies has given me the pleasure, the excitement and the fulfilment which I have always craved" (Sir Run Run Shaw, Movie/TV Marketing, Eighth issue, 1977). Sir Run Run Shaw started Shaw Studios with his vision to produce quality Chinese movies in Hong Kong. This information was found in the company website of Singapore (www.shaw.sg). Section Two - Informal Learning - 500 words An important approach to managing the creation and exchange of tacit knowledge is the creation of a shared workspace, or environment, for the elicitation and sharing of knowledge (Smith, 2001). I shared the space with Mr. Wong and his secretary Miranda. By sharing the space I was provided with a chance to undertake knowledge creation. According to Nonaka, there are two dimensions to tacit knowledge. The first is the technical dimension, which encompasses the kind of informal personal skills often referred to as "know-how." The second dimension is cognitive. The cognitive dimension consists of beliefs, ideals, values, and mental models, which are often taken for granted (Nonaka and Konno, 1998, p. 42). But in my placement case I not only focused at the technical dimension of learning but also gave importance to the cognitive aspect. Section Three Placement Analysis: As the production assistant of Mr. Lawrence Wong, my general duties were to assist in some projects he was working on. My work involved assisting Mr. Wong in different stages of film and movie production, from early preparations to finalizing the film. I participated I each step with him from the negotiation of the contract to the final step of shooting and editing the films. My learning process at Shaw Brothers was undertaken according to the theory Y assumptions being presented by McGregor. According to these assumptions: "The expenditure of physical effort and mental effort in work is as natural as play or rest". I found it as entertaining and pleasant to gain knowledge at Shaw Brothers as I could have at any other leisure activity. "External control and the threat of punishment are not the only means for producing effort toward organisational

Ousmane Sembene Black Girl Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Ousmane Sembene Black Girl - Essay Example The protagonist’s disillusionment drives her to desperation until she eventually decides to commit suicide. The tragic life of Diouana is representative of many African women’s lives, who suffer acute neglect and subjugation not only in their home countries, but also in the global context. The film’s opening sequence introduces one to a ship docking in harbor in Southern France, with the main character Diouana disembarking from it. The Senegalese woman left her native country to work for a French couple as their children’s caretaker. One of the first points noted is the protagonist’s need to look for an informal job in France, irrespective of the fact that her country is already independent from colonialists. This draws one’s attention to the failure of African elite leaders to empower their citizens, especially women, who are relegated to the role of domestic workers, instead of being trained formally to gain fiscal independence. Contrary to Diouana’s expectations, her migration to France is not joyous or fulfilling at all. Her  expectation of travelling to France and that of her French employers is completely disjointed and incomplete, which leads her to a silent, withdrawn and gradually depressing existence. The silence is perha ps symbolic of the African woman’s suppression to the point of being unable to speak her mind or communicate effectively (Spivak 72-75). After arriving at the high rise apartment in Antibes, France, Diouana is instantly given instructions to start cleaning. It becomes apparent that her lifestyle in France, with the French couple is strikingly dissimilar from the one she had with the same family in Africa. While in Dakar, she wore her native apparel and exposed her natural hair. She also took care of the couple’s children and did not have to do household chores. However, in France, Diouana puts on a

Monday, September 23, 2019

Technological Developments In The Next 20 Years Research Paper

Technological Developments In The Next 20 Years - Research Paper Example The internet is one of the technological developments that will definitely change our lives over the next 20 or so years. The technology which acts as a platform for us to carry out a vast number of activities including social networking, shopping, banking and lest we forget the variant databases that we can access anywhere on the face of the globe. Online statistics from the internet live stats show that an estimated 3billion people use the internet (Internet Live Stats 1). That is a staggering 40% of the world’s population. However, this number is continuously rising, and it will keep doing so because more and more people are getting to learn how to use it and are discovering more uses for the technology. Many developed nations are already way ahead of the use and application of this technology, but the rest of the third world and developing nations are still at their infancy stage. A developing nation such as South Africa instance has seen its universities and colleges equi pped with facilities, which will allow students to be able to carry out academic activities online. Obviously, this was long incorporated to the American education system but back in Kenya, they are just getting to grips with the internet as an academic tool (Jones 34). This means that the internet is going to change greatly the lives of people over there. Other than academic purposes, the internet will continually change lives in the near future due to the various purposes it plays such as research.

Resume Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Resume - Research Paper Example Employers do not enjoy reading resumes that are more than two pages long. In fact, information over one page is oftentimes ignored (How to write a resume 2011). To keep your interviewer’s interest, a short, sharp and direct-to-the point resume is best recommended. Such is why the Chronological Resume is considered to be the most popular type of resume (Resume-Writing-Tips.com 2011). In a Chronological Resume, the applicant lists down his job experience and educational background in reverse chronological order, with the most recent being on top of the list. Employers are typically interested in what latest venture an applicant was into. In a study, this format was found to be preferred by 80-85% among surveyed Corporate Human Resources professionals (Resume-Writing-Tips.com 2011). The Chronological resume is best used when presenting an organized career history, with no gaps or indication of a major career change. Employers often need exact employment data for reference, and this format is best suited for this purpose. Another type of resume is the Functional Resume, which highlights ones skills more than his list of accomplishments. The aim of a Functional Resume is to group ones skills and experiences by types of functions (Resume-Writing-Tips.com 2011). This type is not commonly used as it works best for individuals with a poor career history, but has a good set of noteworthy skills. This type can effectively obscure ones work history as it highlights what you can do, without really elaborating on how the skills were acquired. As a result, this type is less favored by employers and was in fact cited to be among employer’s top 10 pet peeves according to Monster.com (Recruiters’ Top 10 resume pet peeves 2011). Employers prefer looking at Chronological Resumes for better evaluation of skills and potentials of its applicants. Interviewers tend to believe that applicants are actually â€Å"hiding† information on

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Interspecific and Intraspecific Plant Competitions Lab Report

Interspecific and Intraspecific Plant Competitions - Lab Report Example In cases involving high levels of nutrient availability, the competition always shifts to scramble for light for photosynthesis. This is depicted in the nature in which radish and wheat responded to different conditions of light, nutrients and temperature. Light is always a unidirectional resource. The density of radish was higher than that of wheat under different conditions that they were subjected towards. This resulted from the influence of light and temperature in the growth rates of such plants relevant to the interspecific competition. The results show that radish is a better competitor compared to wheat. This is may also be manifested in other plant interactions. For instance, different habitats have different types of plants with different capabilities and rates of growth, reproduction and competition. Interspecific competition has a negative influence on the sizes of populations of the competitors. This is depicted in the results from the experiment above. The shoot mass in Radish had a higher rate of the growth compared to those of wheat. This means that radish is a better competitor compared to wheat. Therefore, in the long term period, the effects of the interspecific competition between radish and wheat may see wheat being eliminated by radish. When the competition is very severe, the population sizes of the competing species are considerably reduced. This is due to the impacts that the competition presents on the quantity of the resources fought for or against.

Investigating the strength of Electrolytic solutions Essay Example for Free

Investigating the strength of Electrolytic solutions Essay Table 1 above shows the raw data of experiment I did to test the strength different electrolytic solutions. Moreover, this data table shows that all solutions except tap water and distilled water have the concentration of 0.5 M. In this table, some solutions’ ammeter reading has different uncertainty and multimeter setting. This is because solution like hydrochloric acid has high amp, so I had to set multimeter setting at 300mA in order to measure the ammeter reading of hydrochloric acid accurately. On the other hand, solution like distilled water has extremely low amp, so I had to set multimeter setting at 0. 3mA in order to measure the ammeter reading of distilled water accurately. Hence, varying in uncertainty of reading in each solution because as 1 reading, for example, if measured at setting of 300mA, is 5 amp per reading but if measured at 0.3mA, it is read as 0.005 amp per reading. 2.1. Data Processing Neutral Table 2 is a processed data of experiment on investigation of the strength of different electrolytic solutions. I included average of the data about strength of each electrolytic solution to make the data table clearer. Furthermore, I also included standard deviation of the data, to summarize the spread of values around the mean. Lastly, I added additional information about these solutions, whether if they are acidic, basic or neutral solutions. 3.1 Conclusion and Evaluation 3.1.1. Conclusion: To conclude, the background information that was given to me by the instructor states that stronger acidic or basic solutions are stronger electrolytes than those of weaker acidic, basic or neutral solutions. Referring to Table 2, which is a processed data of acquired data from this experiment, it provides the information of solutions whether if they are acidic, basic or neutral. In addition, it shows that stronger acid and base tend to have higher ammeter reading and weaker acid and base or neutral solutions tend to have lower ammeter reading. For example, hydrochloric acid, which is a strong acid, transferred mean reading of 47amp, whereas acetic acid, which is a weak acid, transferred mean reading of 0.92amp. Therefore, the results I got through experiment yield to the background information given by the instructor. (NakanishMasaki) 3.1.2. Evaluation: Everytime I finished experimenting with one solution three times, I thoroughly washed plastic container and 2 carbon electrodes with tap water, which made direct contact with the solution while testing, and dried them with paper towel. The purpose is to avoid errors in results by preventing mix of preexisting solutions with another kind of solution. Moreover, since the fluctuation of the value that multimeter presented made hard for me to decide what to write as the data, whenever I fully connect complete electrical circuit, I waited for 15 seconds for the fluctuations to ease down. Finally, when I was performing experiment on calcium hydroxide (Picture 1), I mixed it by stirring with the glass pipe in order to uniformly spread the substance that was deposited on the bottom of the solution, so I can get uniformly mixed calcium hydroxide. I did my best to cover up the weaknesses of lab equipment, but there still are some weaknesses still which were present throughout the lab, and it might have varied the data I collected. First of all, in order to follow the written instruction from the instruction sheets given, I had to wash equipments that made direct contact with the solution everytime I’m changing the solution that I will perform experiment upon with distilled water, but due to the lack of distilled water, I washed them with tap water instead. Second of all, I am not sure if 15 seconds were enough time for the fluctuations of the value to settle, or maybe it was too much time. Last of all, whenever I finish mixing the calcium hydroxide, I have to transfer the solution to the smaller beaker for measurement, but it takes time to do that and the substance might have been settled down within the calcium hydroxide solution. Therefore, there were some errors that prevented me from collecting the best results. Improvements can be made by providing each candidate, like me, with better lab equipments such as more advanced multimeter. Also, enough distilled water so I can wash equipments with it to follow the original instructions given. Works Cited 1. http://www.chemguide.co.uk/physical/acidbaseeqia/bases.html 2. http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ac60144a032 3. http://goto.glocalnet.net/ibweb/homepagelink.htm

Saturday, September 21, 2019

George Bush Speech Analysis Essay Example for Free

George Bush Speech Analysis Essay George Bush begins the speech with a solemn address and informs the people of America about the tragic events that unfolded. The aim of this speech was to reassure the public that they are now safe and the perpetrators will be brought to justice. The use of inclusive pronouns, such as ‘we’ and ‘our’, is just one of the ways in which he builds a sense of unity and togetherness with the audience. He makes it feel like he is equal to them and shares their pain and will help them through their struggles. In the second paragraph, Bush begins on talking about the severity of the attacks. He speaks about the variety of people that died, ‘the victims were on the airplanes, or in their offices-secretaries, businessmen and women, military and federal workers, moms and dads.’ As well as the victims in the plane, he includes the hard-working office workers and the devoted federal workers who lost their lives trying to save others. He ends the line with ‘moms and dads’ and ‘friends and neighbours’, trying to get empathy from the audience that little children have lost their parents and ordinary people have lost their close friends. Later on, George Bush then gives a sense of hope to the nation. He says that the attacks demonstrate the strength of the country and says America is the ‘brightest beacon for freedom’ and that the attacks ‘cannot touch the foundation of America’. George Bush then tries to take a little credit in the emergency response by using the words ‘I implemented’ so that the people still support him as a president. Bush then reassures the public by saying that he will ‘take every precaution to protect our citizens’. He goes on to show the stability of the financial institution and economy. President Bush then expresses his gratitude to the workers and congressmen who joined him strongly in condemning these acts. He talks about the other world leaders who offered their condolences by thanking them dearly. The tragedy of 9/11 was an awakening for America. George W. Bush effectively used the emotions of a saddened country and was able to win over the hearts of many Americans. The rhetorical devices and inclusive pronouns he included in his speech create a definite feeling of reassurance with the general public.

Ultimate Poverty Reduction Strategy Social Policy Essay

Ultimate Poverty Reduction Strategy Social Policy Essay A dynamic, growing global economy is the ultimate poverty reduction strategy (Colin Powell, July 2001). Discuss this assertion in the light of economic development in India and by reflecting on development theory and thinkers to inform analysis. The assertion of A dynamic, growing global economy is the ultimate poverty reduction strategy (Colin Powell, July 2001) has long been a controversial topic across the world. Truly, the economic growth is an essential implement to reducing poverty as Rodrik (2007) said Growth is the most powerful instrument for reducing poverty. The evidences, on the other hand, have been expressed the serious doubt that million of people are still living in poverty condition[1] which has intensively questioned whether the economic growth is really guaranteed poverty reduction for everyone. This essay carefully aims to focus on India economic growth and examines the development theory which has been applied as a tool behind its spectacular growth nowadays, called Liberalization. This is particularly concerned the period when India economic transformed from strict economic as Protectionism to Trade liberalization. Furthermore, it also attempts to focus on the impact of economic growth on poverty reduct ion in India in order to criticize the assertion above. At the last stage, I will focus on the meaning of poverty and argue in this essay on whether the economic growth data such as GDP, which is normally used to describe the economic growth situation, is actually be the right tool for the poverty reduction or not. India Economic Development First of all, the speed of economic growth in India at the present period has emerged as one of the fastest growing major economies along with China.[2] For a better understanding on India economic development, it is necessary to understand its background because based on historical of India in particular economy section, it has long evolution in itself. Focusing on long term period, India has undergone four steps of growth. During the colonial period, under the British rule, the overall record of economic performance was pretty dreadful. Per capita economic growth during the period 1870 to independence in 1947 was only 0.2% per year. Later, Nehru became the first prime minister; a strategy of democratic socialism was applied resulted in Protectionism which was highlighted on import substitution, business regulation, state intervention and central planning in 1947- 1970. In addition, there was a strong state control and licenses were strongly needed for everything as well as bank acc ount, money transfer and foreign investment all were required licenses. Obviously, there was a sluggish growth from both time under British Raj and Nehrus License Raj. However, there was a faster growth in 1970-1991 due to Green revolution which introduced new high-yield crop technology caused of income rising but economic growth was relatively slow in general (Sachs, 2005). It had become clear that that the states ambition of pushing the country into the front rank of the developing world had fallen far of its target, with seemingly few prospects of changing in the near future (Chibber, 2006, p.3). There are many critiques against India government due to powerless economic which was seemed to be the major obstacle of country development. Consequently, in the late 1980s, Rajiv Gandhi introduced market reform that encouraged the growth. Reform policy mainly emphasized on opening for international trade and investment, deregulation, tax reforms and privatization. The high growth remai ned with market liberalization since 1990s (Sachs, 2005). The 1990s have witnessed a turning significant change which was particular after the deregulation and liberalization programmes that launched during the mid 1980s and early 1990s (Arup, 2008, p.1057). Accordingly, India has become one of the worlds fastest growing economies with average growth rates of 9% over the past four years[3]. The impact of economic growth: Is it really reduce poverty? Having been mentioned above, it seems that this is a pleasant period for India in term of dramatic growth rate in comparison to others which is believed to be a powerful mean to reduce poverty. Theoretically, the economic growth appears to be ultimate poverty reduction strategy as the assertion above. Arup (2008, p.1067) also noted that the inter-relation between economic growth and poverty reduction is the growth process contributes to generate employment opportunities. The unemployment rate in India has reduced consistently from 9.5% in 2004 to 6.80% in 2009.[4] Beside, growth in high skill activities could increase the demand for goods and services which are involved to labour from poor household. Additionally, it can be noticed from the graph above that poverty in India has been declining continuously and significantly in term of percentage in urban, rural and overall aspect, from 1977 2007.[6] This economic data reports that the amount of people living below poverty has been reduced from 51.8% in 1997 to only 19.8% in 2007. India success at GDP growth rate and percentage of poverty declined are to be admired. This growth number, however, has to be watched in proper perspective (Kohli, 2006). Undoubtedly, the question has remained whether the poverty reduction counts only on the price or not. Thirlwall (cited in Vandana and Robert, 2002) noted that although people living standard is usually measured by Gross Domestic Product (GDP)[7], the economic growth is not the same as economic development. Obviously, growth is an essential condition for nation economic and social development but it is not sufficient condition to identify poverty condition as the growth rate of nations cannot be taken alone as a well-being of societies because the quality standard of living is much more comprehensive concept than focusing only on income level. Disparity in India Basically, the Gini coefficient figures are used to measure of income or wealth distribution. A high Gini coefficient indicates more unequal income or wealth distribution, meanwhile a low Gini coefficient indicates more equal distribution.[8] Surprisingly, although the India economic growth rate such as GDP, income per capita or unemployment rate seemed to increase annually which is mentioned earlier, it can be noticed from the Gini coefficient graph above that after 1990s ,when was the period of Liberalization began, the continuing disparities both in rural and urban has been higher. This can be implies that the gap between people has been wider which means higher disparities as well as even the poverty line in urban shows the impressive decrease but the inequality in urban has also increased. Therefore, class system and economic disparities among India have to be strongly concerned. Which group received the benefit from the economic growth is still questionable. The important point that really needs to be noted is the ratio of inequality is most likely leads to the problem such as, shelter, water, sanitation, health, education, social security and livelihoods along with the special needs of vulnerable group like women, children and elderly people (UNDP, 2009, P.1). Growing in GDP probably tell nothing in reducing poverty if life still has not met the basic needs. Does economic growth fight poverty? In order to be able to know how to reduce poverty or what the exact strategy of eliminating poverty is, it is significantly important to understand the meaning of poverty itself. The World Bank gives an overview of poverty as follow; Poverty is hunger. Poverty is lack of shelter. Poverty is being sick and not being able to see a doctor. Poverty is not having access to school and not knowing how to read. Poverty is not having a job, is fear for the future, living one day at a time. Poverty is losing a child to illness brought about by unclean water. Poverty is powerlessness, lack of representation and freedom. (The World Bank, 2009) Clearly, poverty is not count only income or economic resource because poverty involved not only in economic aspect but also social and politic as well. Literacy and education level, fertility rate, life expectancy and health are the essential factor to be told the poverty condition. As Gaurav(2002, p.105) says, the need to combine human development with economic has been well recognized in discussions of policies for fighting poverty. India will require more than economic reform but human development should be included. By doing both of economic and human development can taken India along way from poverty finally. Therefore, Human Development Index, which consists of literacy, education level, life expectancy and per capita income, also should be used to measure the quantity of life. According to the UNDP report (2005) India has an average HDI of 0.63 (medium) and ranks 127 in the world, India high GDP growth contrasts with the poor human development which indicates a failure at the social front. The success in literacy, health and gender equality is far from impressive. Additionally, some thinkers believe that addressing on only economic growth probably is not enough factors to claim as it is a sufficient reason to reduce poverty according to poverty can be valued in various ways. According to UNDP since 1997, the per capita income does not make sense because the world should speak of human poverty instead of income poverty. Not only income, the UNDP also takes the following aspects including, Chance of self determination, Health and expectancy of life, Possibilities of obtaining an education, Political freedom, Human rights and Human dignity and self-respect into consideration (Friedel Hutz-Adams, 2006, p.20). Moreover, UN-Human Development Report (1990) argues the expansion of the economy as measured by GDP per capita does not necessary mean that people are in better living particularly, in regards to health, education and freedom. Goulet (1971) suggests that life sustenance[9], self-esteem[10] and freedom[11] should be regarded as an important basic component for the true meaning of development. Moreover, Sen (1999) also noticed closely related to Goulet that economic growth like GDP should not be evaluated alone for the reason which meaning of achievement is much more wider which should include economic and social development. Beside, poverty in his view is lacking of possibilities of self-realization which refers to income, provision of basic needs and possibilities to access to available resources are very crucial. To conclude, I have to argue Colin Powell statement. I personally believe that it is impossible to measure poverty reduction by focusing on economic development alone. Similarly to when talking about development, it is unfeasible to state on economic, politic or social development alone. Nevertheless, all these factors are essentially need to compromise together in order to achieve the actual development which lastly leads to poverty reduction in the meaning mentioned here which does not focused on being rich and poor only. Economic growth data such as GDP or income per capita do not really tell the truth of better standard of living. Since Poverty reduction meaning has more complex dimensions, other factors are strongly need to be counted. For example, in term of politic, people participation and decentralization are the key point of people freedom and ability to decide what they exactly want. The suitable programme or policies then will be issued properly for them to pursue their l ives better. Beside, social development regards various issues such as gender, equality, education, health and social disparity etc., these issues again require to be provided equally because this is the condition for better living. It can be seen from India that even economic growth rapidly but the social disparities also increase. Other evidences have been shown continuously that some social, politic and human composite indexes go contrast to the economic rate which resulted in nation development difficulties mainly is poverty. Lastly, as the poverty here is defined in term of sociology, politically and economically dimension, the word growth from now on should be talk in term of quality rather than quantity. References: ARUP MITRA, J. P. S. (2008) Growth and poverty in India: emerging dimensions of the tertiary sector. The service Industries 28, 1055-1076. CHANG, H.-J. (2002) Kicking Away the Ladder:The Real History of Free Trade, Anthem, London. CHIBBER, V. (2006) Locked in Place: State- Building and Late Industrialization in India, Oxfordshire, Princeton University Press. EASTERLY, W. (2006) The White Mans Burden: Why the wests efforts to aid the rest have done so much ill and so little good, Oxford, Oxford University Press. FIELDS, G. S. (1980) Poverty, Inequality, and Development, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. FRIEDEL HÃ ¼TZ-ADAMS, R. H., PEDRO MORAZÃ ¡N, ULRIKE LOHR; HARALD ROHR (2006) Does Economic Growth Reduce Poverty? Poverty Reduction and Social Equity in the Age of Globalization. Structural Violence in the Relationships between North and South, 7, 69. GAURAV DATT, M. R. (2002) Is Indias Economic Growth Leaving the Poor Behind? Journal of Economic Perspectives, 16, 89-108. GOULET, D. (1971) The Cruel Choice: A new Concept on the Theory of Development, New York, Atheneum. KOHLI, A. (2006) Politics of Economic Growth in India, 1980-2005, Part II: The 1990s and Beyond. Economic and Political Weekly, 1361-1370. KRUIJER, G. J. (1987) Development through Liberation: Third World Problems and Solutions, London, MACMILLAN EDUCATION LTD. MCKINLEY, T. (2001) Macroeconomic Policy, Growth and Poverty Reduction, London, PALGRAVE. MINISTRY OF HOUSING AND URBAN POVERTY ALLEVIATION, UNDP. (2009) INDIA: Urban Poverty Report 2009. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). RODRIK, D. (2007) One economics, many recipes: globalization, institutions, and economic growth Princeton, N.J. ; Oxford : Princeton University Press. SACHS, J. (2005) The End of Poverty; how we can make it happen in our lifetime, London, The Penguin Group. SCHIMTZ, H. (2007) The Rise of the East: What does it mean for Development Studies? 38, 92-106. SEN, A. (1999) Development as Freedom: Human Capability and Global Need, New York, Knopf. THIRLWALL, A. P. (2002) The Companion to Development Studies, London, Arnold, the Hodder Headline Group. TOYE, J. (1988) Political Economy and the Analysis of Indian Development. Modern Asian Studies, 22, 97-122. United Nations Development Programme(UNDP), Human Development Report (2005, 2009), New York, USA. Almost half the world over 3 billion people lives on less than $2.50 a day. There are 1.4 billions people in the developing world who are living in extreme poverty, of which about 600 million are in South Asia. For more information: The developing world is poorer than we thought, but no less successful in the fight against poverty (The World Bank Development Research Group, August 2008: http://www-wds.worldbank.org) The economy of India is the twelfth largest economy in the world by market exchange rates. Indias economy in recent years is growing 9.2% in 2007 and 9.6% in 2006 and has seen a decade of 7% growth. (http://www.economywatch.com/indianeconomy/indian-economy-overview.html) India country overview 2009; http://www.worldbank.org.in/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/SOUTHASIAEXT/INDIAEXTN For more detail, please see http://www.indexmundi.com/india/unemployment_rate.html. http://www.economywatch.com/indianeconomy/poverty-in-india.html The percentage was calculated from people living below poverty line $ 1.00 a day which was based on Indias PPP rate (World Bank.org) This is calculated by the total amount of goods and services produced per head of the population. For more details : http://www.poverty.org.uk/e14/index.shtml Life sustenance is concerned with the provision of basic needs such as housing, clothing, food and education (Goulet, 1971) Self-esteem focuses on the feeling of independence. One country cannot be fully developed where is exploited by others which in this case can be referred to colonization. (Goulet, 1971) Freedom regards to ability to determine own destiny.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Business Environment Of IBM Information Technology Essay

Business Environment Of IBM Information Technology Essay IBM is a leading computer, technology, Service providing Company which is operating business in 180 countries. IBM has started its career in the starting of 20th century in the name of Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company. Now IBM providing services in aerospace, defence, Automotive, Banking, Construction, Electronics, Retail, Telecommunications sectors. IBMs contribution in computer technology development is higher than other companies. This report clearly portrays the Changes in the Business environment IBM in former five years. This report briefly analyzes the succession of steps that has lead to the changes in its business environment. These include formerly the business environment of IBM which explains the background of IBM, nature of business, its products and policies. Secondly, changes of the company environment with the effect of micro environment and a macro environment elements. Thirdly Discussion on analysis such as PESTEL analysis and SWOT analysis and porters five fo rce models, which helps in achieving the business and finally the detailed analysis of financial proceedings and recommendations, some of better suggestions helps to perform them better. 2. Introduction IBM known as an International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) develops and manufactures information technology (IT) products and services towards Worldwide. IBM was formerly known as Computing-Tabulating-Recording Co. and has changed its name to International Business Machines Corporation in 1924. The IBM was established in 1910 and in Armonk, New York (IBM Group 2010). The IBM business environment is organized in such a way that it considers all the political, economical, social, technological factors. These factors determine the impact positive and negative issues of the business. The IBM business strategy considers the gain and benefit of the business as a vital role and aims for it companies to reach the good position. Apart from the consideration of gain and benefits IBM also aims to become one of the world ranking companies and to reach the good position in worlds market. 3. IBM Strategy The main goal of IBM is to promote dedication to every clients success. It pays more attention to raise the trust to all the clients and the client customers and maintain the personal responsibility. IBM has its own impressive factors and unimpressive factors and business operation is considered as impressive factor whereas the unimpressive factor may be due to some influences of the company. IBMs business strategy is due to the maintenance of the business stability. The business stability is maintaining the detail analysis of the competition between the top companies of the world. (IBM Group 2010). The IBM considers consumers choice of softwares, hardware products such as price, quality of the product and IT services as the organization competition as so the business environment in IBM is unique. The following factors are some of the business strategies in IBM are as follows, IBMs has achieved in its business strategy with the international competitors so it has improved its business and strategy level thus they become the successor in business and they develop quality product in new markets with good services. IBMs Systems and Technology segment provides an new vision to the computing and storage solutions, including servers, hard disk, hardware technologies such as microelectronics, retail store solutions, and semiconductor technology, products, and packaging solutions IBM (2008). Thus the IBMs Global Financing segment provides lease and loan financing to external and internal clients; and sale and lease of used equipment. It serves financial services, public, industrial, distribution, communications, and general business sectors. The IBMs international organizations are more advantageous over the smaller ones as it has a massive collision on international business stakeholders through their activities. Thus IBM has achieved a tremendous growth in the last five years fulfils market and stakeholder expectations then those business strategies are highly visible. 4. Business Environment of IBM Business environment of the company is influenced by a lot of external factors that affects the outcomes of the operations of the company and its services. Some of the factors can be restricted within the control of the company whereas others factors may be ahead of control of the Company. (Ian Worthington Chris Britton, 2006) .Internal and external factors based upon the influence on the business thus to rectify the factors there are some tools that have been developed by decision makers who have vast experience in field based on Micro environment factors, SWOT and PESTLE analysis which provides the superior analysis to the factors that affect a business. The Business environment can be categorized into two sections, they are Micro Environment Macro Environment 4.1 Micro Environment These are the factors which affects the growth of the organisation. 4.1.1 Customers Customers are those who play a key role in deciding the Organisation Success. An Organisation should satisfy their customers with good services and innovative products towards their extent as a replica that in turns it should create a rapid growth in Organisation profit. (Ian Worthington Chris Britton, 2006)IBM has more number of corporate and government bodies as a client for their services like smarter planet, Business process management systems. The following figure represents the micro environmental factors (Marketing, 2010) C:UsersVenkatDesktoptbestakeholders.jpg Figure Micro Environmental Factors 4.1.2 Competitors An organizations success is deliberated by the benefits offered by the organization which should be ore better than their competitors. (Paul Wetherly, Dorron Otter 2008) Thus it can be analysed by the competitor analysis and monitoring to maintain its position. 4.1.3 Employees Employing and motivating the staff is an indispensable part of the strategic planning process of an organization. In-order to gain a competitive edge the training and development plays a crucial role in service sector marketing. This can be clearly evident in the airline industry. 4.1.4 Media Medias attention on organizations decides the make or break of an organization. Likewise IBMs Smarter planet has gained an positive response to the customers by the media. 4.1.5 Suppliers Price rice in raw material affects the marketing mix strategy of an organization. In order to ensure the competitive and quality products the possible way to achieve is the Closer supplier relationships 4.1.6 Shareholders IBM requires the better inward investment for growth of the business. IBM should satisfy the shareholder needs may result in a change in tactics employed by an organization. It provides the equity in greater percent to shareholders even during the recession time. 4.2 Macro Environment Macro Environment factors are the external factors which affect the company as a whole. Macro Environmental analysis can be done by PESTLE Analysis. PESTLE Analysis Whenever a company starts business in a country it should analyse environment of that country. PEST analysis is mainly focused to take decisions in particular market on the basis of external influence. The macro environment situation can be identified by 6 factors political, Economical, Social and Technological, Legal and Environmental. The following factors represent the pestle analysis (Pestle, 2010). C:UsersVenkatDesktoptbepestel.gif Figure 2 PESTLE Analysis Political Political institutions forms are of various levels which includes the national, regional and international policies. These political factors helps to focus on the policies and actions which is mainly established by administration bodies which authorize the way through which businesses carry out every day activities. Legislation, the might slow down an organization in a number of ways so it has to be strongly examined during decision making. Other concerns based on this legislation are also to be analyzed under the political settings based on the tax schemes and fiscal policy. (Campell Craig, 2005, p.142). Due to the current global economic recession many governments have been influenced to change their economic and financial policies in order to check for the many factors which lead them are increased. Thus they have solved this problem to an extent by adjusting the prices and taxation levels. The recession has been greatly affected by many foreign countries. Recession mainly affect s the foreign trade especially the exports and imports among countries and regions. For Example, Taxation system is most critical issue for IBM as it increases the price of web server products. Economic An Organizations business and the outcomes of the business operations are affected by a bunch of economic factors. The most of the factors may be controlled within the company and it can limit its effect whereas there are some factors may be beyond the control of the Company. Thus these external factors are determined by the decision makers who mainly decides as based on the business how the external factors from within and without that may influence the business of an organization in one way or another. During the recession period in 2007-2009 (Campell Craig, 2005, p.142) there has been a rigorous market clash where the buying ratio of the clients and customers of IBM have been drastically. In order to maintain the marketing condition and financial balance IBM has involved into lot of cost cutting factors that includes the lessening the employees. Social As defined by Campell Craig Social factors are factors those mainly cored on with the people trust and attitudes towards the business and they are directly linked towards the demand and supply for the business (Campell Craig, 2005, p.142). Demographic factors, which comprises of all the instances such as skills, policies and education, rates of birth of people, statistics on population growth and local population shifts from one place to another this may be the city or an another country, thus they have a key role remaining to the fact that they may assist later in the addition of sales. In order to gain a profit a Businesses need to be capable of place their market in several strategies. Let us consider Population, according to the current survey population of USA in June 2009 is 307,006,550, more than 75 % of these people (230,254,912) are using internet. Due to this IBM got more business on IT services and consulting. 4.3.4 Technological Technological factors those factors depend on the rate of technological growth in the industries and sectors. The exploitation of technology in business helps the organization in many ways by including reduction of usage costs and enhanced productivity. In order to balance to the technological changes it is mandatory for businesses to upgrade its market to the upcoming technology. Technological advancement is one of the ways to overcome the recession. Many Space projects implemented by the Governments of both developed and developing countries need super computers which should have the capability of taking fastest decisions. In order to implement those projects the computers should perform the highly technological programs towards great extent. Thus IBM computers are more innovative and it almost meets all the requirements and in general it is a master developing the super computing technology. 5 Legal On considering the legal constraints for IBM are Cyber protection and the production of chemicals that used in making hardware such as carbon, and silicon leads to the cross country business, currency exchange and many legal registrations for their business outsourcing facilities Environmental IBM has contributed its major part to the environmental dimension by developing the major technologies like to trace the weather through-out the world, and develop the computers for NASA for astrological factors such as to set the satellite which monitor the environmental changes towards the global. (Campell Craig, 2005, p.142). IBM has also added some of the innovatory environmental friendly strategies which not only provide the environmental saving factors, but also the cost saving factors like energy cost. 4.4 SWOT Analysis As defined by Albert Humphrey SWOT analysis is a common tool for Strategic planning in business. It is used to estimate the organisations strength, weakness, opportunity and threats. (Paul Wetherly, Dorron Otter, 2008) This tool describes what an organisation should do in current situation and what it should avoid as well as its possible opportunities and threats. The following figure represents swot analysis. (Swot analysis,2010) C:UsersVenkatDesktoptbewiot.jpg Figure SWOT Analysis 4.4.1 Strength IBM has worlds fastest computing and innovative technology like Speech recognition Technology and Blue jene Super computer. It has been reported that Blue jene is 500 times faster than other super computers in the world. Blue jene can compute 500 quadrillion tasks per second. The collaboration between Lenovo and IBM makes extraordinary growth of business in developing countries. Since 2005 IBM maintains a constant growth in Earning per Share (EPS). In 2005 EPS of IBM was $4.91; Innovative business model of the company doubles its EPS to $10.01 in 2009. This rapid growth attracts share holders to invest IBM. 4.4.2 Weakness There is several problems lead to the shortcoming of IBM. The foremost problem is the Older and Aging Technical Personnel, the rate of workers in old age is higher than comparing to adult workers. These old age professionals are not currently updated to the new technologies as they stick to the same standards of development. Secondly the IBM wont accept some of the international agreements and standards such as ISO, Global compact of UN, Inco Terms proposed by international bodies and prefer its own standards. 4.4.3 Opportunity Vast Development in Information Technology and Economic development have moulded people to innovative computing creates more business opportunity to IBM. In 2008 IBM has achieved several business opportunities by its smarter planet concept as it is proved by the project Stockholms intelligent traffic system which is a part of smarter planet concept which is been developed to reduce emission and waiting time in traffic. This system was implemented in London as it has reduced the emission by 12% and increased the users of public transport by 40000. The success of this system creates an opportunity for IBM to implement this system in Brisbane and Singapore. In similar to this Wireless technology of the company attracts clients to implement their IBM has several systems which would have a tendency to make this emerging world to be a highly automated and eventually smarter. 4.4.4 Threats IBM has a number of great competitors in the IT industry such as Sun Microsystems and, Microsoft, but along with its major resources and planned investments and a pure dedicated it has brought its client to its closed and proprietary platforms as a way into a particular architecture. But still there is a strong competition in its hardware industry such as in laptops for example the massive introduction of apple Mac books has tremendously overthrown the sales market in IBM laptops. This competition will result in increased pricing pressure and Intellectual Property maintenance and proceedings. Thus in order to set right and to maintain a balance in its sales and to overcome its diminish in the hardware industry, IBM made a tie up with an Lenovo which is one of the Leading company in the computer sales, in order to increase the sales of the computers. Porters Five force Model The following figure represents the Porters Five force Model (Porter5forces, 2010). C:UsersVenkatDesktoptbeporter5forces.gif Figure Porters five forces Analysis 4.5.1 The threat of new entry Due to the enormous costs on the RD the threat of entrants for the server market was low, and therefore it increases the distribution, the relevant support on products and services, and manufacturing. As taken by the report of IBM statistics shows that, IBM have almost spent nearly $171 million in system and technology for server product in 2005, (IBM ,2008). IBM spent over $1 billion in the Linux operating system in 2005. This is only the barrier based on the cost. But have also been several other barriers which include on techniques of the technology, and distribution channels of the products etc. 4.5.2 Power of Suppliers Biggest processor providers, monopolies of the world are Intel and AMD, is being very strong power on the development and suppliers in chip. Though the rate of power of suppliers capacity has been decreased this result the tough competition between these two companies. The extensive range of customers and towering costs on switching grounds the buyers lack of power to bargain as there is a chance of buying results only in these two companies and this make them an chipping technological giants.( IBM 2008). On the other hand, the power of suppliers for other low technical products requisite material and parts is a great extent lower than the core hardware providers. 4.5.3 Power of buyers Buyers possesses strong bargaining power due to the strong growth of IT business recent times. As IBM has weaker in bargaining there arise a critical situation that there have been many small IT businesses which are competing with IBM. IBM (2008). Moreover the power of buyers on the server products in the UK was high because the buyer did not concentrate to the firm and the switching costs for the buyers were low. Thus there were many product choices for the buyers, e.g. IBM, HP, Dell etc. 4.5.4 The threat of substitutes Threat of substitution, which is meant that fear of the substitutes for the IBM products, is also assumed to be low in case of IBM. As IBM technology products are diverse from other products and remains outstanding and thats there has no substitutes for IBM solutions. IBM (2008). The web hosting business is the principal threat of substitute for the server products in the world as due to its tech-support, simple supervise and low switching costs. 4.5.5 Competitive Rivalry Rivalry of the IBM in the industry is subsequently tougher since there have been many IT businesses emerging in the market and even the smaller companies are competing with and that is different with what differs from IBM offer. As based on the substitutes by 2005, the world server market continues to show promising signs, according to IDC, IBM (2008). the aggressive rivalry in the server market was becoming intense in the world. These competitors of IBM, includes HP, Sun Microsystems, Dell and Fujitsu Siemens Computers. Financial Charts Below figures represents the financial chart of IBM (IBM Group, 2010). Figure Earnings per Share Figure Financial Performance Histories Recommendations IBM can agree to the international agreements and standards in order to maintain the quality of the products. IBM could provide more opportunity to the upcoming professionals in order to move ahead with the newer technologies. IBM can provide open resource to Intellectual Property and Copyright Infringement as they paves way to development of newer technologies. On consideration the market of IBM it maintain its Earning per share as 10$ lead to more shareholders, this has been an gradual increase from the past five years thus in order to maintain and implement more shareholders it can lowers it unwanted costs and reapply it in RD for innovative development. 7. Conclusion In order to conclude IBM has almost achieved its success and promote a better level in the business and market strategy in the past five years and fulfilled the Customer expectations. This report has analyzed the strategies of IBM through various factors and analysis and IBM has almost satisfies all the conditions. But there are some factors that IBM can endeavour to be improved. As these factors heavily affects it high business value. The results on Critical evaluation help the IBM business strategy to get more success in to the market. There has been some suggestions are analyzed and quoted in order to overcomes the problem. Thus on the whole IBM provides more value to the business and the customer satisfaction and with stands it rank in the business world for the past five years.