Apple Case: The Evolution Of Industry Structure Over Time Essay

1. What is the evolution of the industry structure over time and its implication for strategic positioning? PC buyers can be classified in to home,small- and medium-sized business (SMB),corporate, education, and government. Home consumers represented the biggest segment, accounting for nearly half of the worldwide shipments. Evolution : Though the first commercial computer (UNIVAC) was released in 1951 the credit of mass marketization of computers should be given to Apple-I computer in 1976. Though it was released targeting common man, majority of the Apple users used it for commercial and educational purpose. Due to inconsistence performance and hardware issues this was not a huge success. Four years later IBM with MS Dos revolutionized the concept of personal computer. Due to its consistence performance, user friendly GUI and more importantly affordable price made IBM pc a huge hit in market. IBM – Open source — evolution of IBM clones Too many market players lead to price war, cost leadership Apple restricted itself to it’s MAC ecosystem, there by following differentiation. Post steve job’s exit from Apple, Sculley tried to move Apple into mainstream – cost leadership. It failed; Amelio proclaimed that Apple would return to its premium-price differentiation. 2. What is nature of sustainable competitive advantage? CA rests on the notion that cheap labor is ubiquitous and natural resources are not necessary for a good economy. â€Å"Competitive advantage occurs when an organization acquires or develops an attribute or combination of attributes that allows it to outperform its competitors. These attributes can include access to natural resources, such as high grade ores or inexpensive power, or access to highly trained and skilled personnel human resources. New technologies such as robotics and information technology either to be included as a part of the product, or to assist making it. ‘ Information technology has become such a prominent part of the modern business world that it can also contribute to competitive advantage by outperforming competitors with regard to internet presence. From the very beginning, i.e. Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, the central problem of information transmittal, leading to the rise of middle-men in the marketplace, has been a significant impediment in gaining competitive advantage. By using the internet as the middle-man, the purveyor of information to the final consumer, businesses can gain a competitive advantage through creation of an effective website, which in the past required extensive effort finding the right middle-man and cultivating the relationship.† (This is a generic question so answered it from wiki) 3. What performance was obtained over the different leadership styles? Steve Jobs : setup the company, Autocratic,innovative. He paired up with Woznivik in 1976 and founded Apple. His mission is to bring an easy-to-use computer to market, which lead to APPLE-II in 1978. He grew it to a 1 billion sales in less than three years. BY 1980, Apple sold 100K computes. Between 1981 – 86 net come fallen by 62% , steve jobs was fired Steve Jobs Part –II : Reshaped Apple. $150 million to invest on a 5 year plan to develop core products. Stopped Apple license sales to the clones for new Mac OS. Introduced website to open direct sales. He want to recover IBM’s imagem retained Pixar CEO position. Launched multi-million dollar marketing campaigns such as â€Å"Think Different† Sculley : He pushed the Mac into new markets (mainly in desktop publishing and education). The main focus is on proprietary software like Aldus Pagemaker and peripherals such as laser printers. He evolved apple as a customer friendly systems that’s just plug and play. Analysts noted that this approach made Apple’s customers ‘love’ their Macs. He tried to move Apple into mainstream by becoming a low cost producer of computers. During his tenure Mac classic was introduced at $999 to compete head-to-head with low priced IBM clones. He tried to forge an alliance with IBM to develop a develop a new OS. He tried to develop a new chipset in collaboration with Novell and Intel to run on Mac OS. His main ambition is to bring a â€Å"hit† product every 6 to 12 months and capture the whole PC market. Inspite ofall these efforts Apple’s gross margin dropped to 34% which is an all-time low which lead to replacement of Sculley with Michael Spindler. Spindler era : Cuts 16% of work force. Globalisation – lead to 45% of sales outside US. JV with IBM to develop new OS failed leading to $69 million loss. Which lead to Amelio as CEO Amelio era :Back to Premium-price differentiation. Macintosh sales still fallen which lead to recruitment of Steve jobs as the interim CEO. Timeline Apple| Year| Event| +ve| -ve| 1976| Apple computer started| Jobs and Wozniak’s technology and Markkula’s financing abilities| NA| 1978| Apple II released| $1 billion in sales, Apple becomes industry leader| | 1980| IPO launched| Sold 100,000 Apple IIs, Era of fast growth for Apple| | 1981| IBM enters PC market| IBMs open approach, horizontal and vertical integration, Apple’s refusal to license hardware| Apple’s closed approach.| | | | Apple’s net income fell 62% between 1981 and 1984| 1984| McIntosh is launched| ease of use, good industrial design, technical elegance| Macs slow processor speed, lack of compatibility caused limited sales| | Jobs fired, Scully comes in| | | 1985-1993| | | | 1990| Apple’s complete desktop solution| Apple’s focus on desktop publishing and education, â€Å"plug and play†, unique chips, disk drives, monitors.| IBM narrows the gap in ease of use| | | Design versus compatibility| | | | Love for Macs| Just putting up with IBM machines| | Apple’s premium price strategy| Premium Macs sold for as much as $10,000, Gross profit hovered at 50%| IBM compatibles lowered costs| | Apple tries to move into cost leadership with Mac Classic| | Moving to cost leadership from differentiation| | Joint venture for new OS and multimedia applications| Working towards making Macs compatible, joint project with Intel| Dropped gross margin to 34%| 1993| Michael Spindler replaced Sculley| | | 1993-1997| Spindler & Amelio years| | Reverse trend, Apple lost momentum, Apple and IBM parted ways| | | | $69 million loss| | | | Cost cutting| 1996| Amelio appointed as the new CEO| | | | | | 1.6 bn loss| 1997| NeXT is bought by Apple| Jobs takes over as CEO in September 1997| | | Microsoft’s investment of $150 million in Apple| Five year commitment to develop MS office products for Mac| | | | 15 product lines slashed to 4| | | | Operational efficiency through improved distribution systems, direct sales, focus on innovation, Increased R&D| | Mac and Apple’s digital Hub strategy Shift to Intel CPU’s – With Intel inside Mac also became a machine that could natively run a Windows OS along with Windows applications * Operating System – Mac OS based on UNIX with ugrades at greater frequency than what Microsoft does * Application – Building programs on iLife suite – iPhoto, iTunes, iWeb. Web browser Safari, and iwork productivity applications * Distribution – The Apple retail experience. Retail division 280 stores in 10 countries. Partnership with ‘Best Buy’ – World’s largest electronic retailer

Account Receivable and Dealer Information System

Chapter 1 Introduction I- Project Context Andi’s Fashion Boutique is a small shop that sells Fashionable clothes and retail shop. The Andi’s Fashion Boutique located at Sitio Tampoco Barangay Matatalaib in Tarlac City. The Area of Andi’s Fashion Boutique was in a public place at the front of the Magic Star grocery in Matatalaib Based. It was also a lots of different Business located near the Andi’s Fashion Boutique like Drugstore, Beauty Salon and Food House. It was the only boutique in the area. The Andi’s Fashion Boutique started in year of 2010 at month of May. When the Business started, they only sell products of Sundance, Avon and Natasha. The business arises in one year, and earn some Capital, from that Capital they maintain and add different kinds of apparel until they selling Shoes, Bags, Cosmetic and became a distributor of Avon, Boardwalk, Natasha, Sundance, MSE, FX, Hang-ten, Tupper Ware and personal collection. The Andi’s Fashion Boutique came from the Names of a married couples namely Mary Anne Arciaga as registered business owner. Mary Anne Arciaga has the idea to be independent is business. He’s lovable husband named Dennis Marcelo was her business partner for the reason that they have the knowledge and idea to start a small business as well as their service of income. The company needs to standardize certain rules and regulation regarding business. How they wished they could manage every single task a company must do for the sake of their dues business became complicated with large number of works to monitor on sales, collection, reports, and accounts. Such problem affected the company’s customer service commitments and caused low productivity and profit levels. The need to increase manpower certainly will affect income and complicate the company’s operation. Updating reports have wasted time and effort with the use of personnel’s operation. The Company’s need to keep certain information about dealers they must monitor due and overdue accounts and minimize payments delinquencies in order to maintain good customer service and management to personnel relationship. The delays incurred by the company in processing overdue accounts in the conventional way affecting accomplishment of other task like concentrating on increased production. Computers have been around for many decades, but few companies realize what computers are capable of doing. The only things they know about computers is that, they can store and retrieve data on its faster than a secretary can. They never realize that it can perform a lot of things more than savings and open files. They never knew what with it; they could develop a system exclusive for a certain task and may be customized in accordance to their preferences. With these in mind, the company indeed needs a totally reliable computerized system to backup its personnel in order to facilitate smooth flow of transaction faster than they may ever imagined and capable of performing delicate task. A system greatly diminishes delays in monitoring company progress An Account Receivable system to specify. II- Purpose and Description The company needs to develop their transaction processing system, when it comes to their accounts receivable how they wish they could manage every single task a company must do for the sake of their dues business became complicated with large number of works to monitor on sales, collection, reports, and accounts, such problems affected the company’s customer service commitments and caused low, productivity and profit levels. The need to increase manpower certainly will affect income and complicate the company’s operation. The company’s need to keep creation information about dealers they must monitor due and overdue accounts and minimize payments delinquencies in order to maintain good customer service and management to personal relationship. The delay incurred by the company in processing overdue account in the conventional way affecting accomplishment of other task like concentrating on increase production. Computers nowadays have been around for many decades, but few companies realize what computers are capable of doing the only things they never realize that it can perform a lot of things more than saving and opening files. They never know what with it; they could develop a system exclusive. With these in mind the company indeed needs a totally reliable computerized Accounts Receivable System in order to facilitate smooth flow of transaction faster that they may ever imagine and capable to performing delicate task. A system gently diminishes delays in monitoring company progress and Accounts Receivable System to specify. III- Objectives The study aim to provide a system concerning the company problem regarding preparation of on Account Receivable, reducing in collectible accounts, which in turn minimize company losses Moreover, it specifically aims to: 1. 1 Implement a system that can help minimize bad debts or uncollectible accounts considered as losses for the company. 1. 2 Provide a system that will generate reports in a timely manner. . 3 Implement a system that can analyze aspiring dealers and helps decision making of initial credit limit. 1. 4 Implement an Accounts Receivable System that can monitor user login for security purpose. IV- Scope and Delimitations The proposed system is concentrated on the account receivable processing of Andi’s fashion boutique. It will provide automatic computation for rebates, penalties, credits and balances; also it will automatically update due dat es and overdue, and it can generate reports in a timely manner. The proposed system will not cover the Inventory, Accounts Payable, Sales cover, Sales information, and Networking setup for networking purposes. Chapter 2 Related Studies and Literature This chapter presents a brief overview of related literature and studies, and information from electronic resources that were gathered by the researcher that found relevant of this study. After some reading made by the researchers, the following literature and related studies were found related to the study. 2. 1 Related Studies Every business will have an entry on its balance sheet labeled ‘accounts receivable’. This entry is the sum of money owed to the business by individuals or other businesses in return for goods or services supplied. On the whole, in the retail sector, the financial transaction is completed at the point of purchase and accounts receivable are not created. There are exceptions to this general rule, of course. However, in the business world it is usual to extend credit to customers – and it is these credit accounts that form the basis of the accounts receivable figure shown on the balance sheet for the supplier. Credit terms should be clearly defined so both customer and supplier can budget and comply but it is when these credit terms are exceeded by customers that the accounts receivable turn into bad debts and problems arise. Aging receivables are great consumers of resource. They steal time away from other functions, as telephone calls need to be made and letters written to chase payment. They can destroy the supplying company’s credit rating if it becomes unable to meet its own financial obligations because of a lack of positive cash flow caused by aging receivables. The best possible way to avoid problems with debtors is to have clear credit control policies in place. Checks need to be made on potential clients before credit is extended and debts need to be chased, politely but persistently, before they become bad debts. In many cases these two simple actions can minimize the potential for bad debt problems. Despite the best efforts of the most rigorous of credit controllers, there will always be the persistent late or nonpayer’s non payers hem stronger tactics are needed. This is where a relationship with one of the account receivable collection companies comes in useful. West Asset Management offers collection services for both commercial and consumer debts. Working with account receivable collection companies is viewed in different ways by different organizations. For some it is the first step in the credit enforcement process. These businesses take a no-nonsense approach to collections and will send in what are effectively the Big Guns straight away. Others will not engage professional collection services until they have exhausted all possibilities of collecting the outstanding debt with their own resources. The services of a debt collection agency are usually required to extract funds from those who have never had any intention of paying for the goods and services they have received. In the cases of a genuine inability to pay, utilizing such tactics tends to be self-defeating and the likelihood of a successful conclusion to such cases is increased if things can remain amicable. There can be reluctance on the part of organizations to call in collection services for a commercial debt as this action usual ends the trading relationship for good. But, in truth, a non-paying trading relationship really is not worth having. Reputable collection services act within the law governing debt collection. They are persistent and determined to retrieve funds for their clients and manage to achieve this whilst leaving their client’s reputation intact A connotation of quality control of accounts receivable Quality refers to the accounts receivable into the quality of the currency that is a manifestation of accounts receivable liquidity. Quality monitoring accounts receivable, accounts receivable are the right company to evaluate the quality of control, so that their accounts receivable maintained at a reasonable level, which for the enterprises to expand business scale, increase sales and market share have great facilitating role. Monitoring the quality of the implementation of accounts receivable and establish a sound internal control system that is able to monitor and restrict scientific and effective accounts receivable in all aspects so as to ensure full and timely recovery of accounts receivable. Quality control of the content of accounts receivable, including credit policy formulation, the occurrence of credit, collections, risk early warning and other. Accounts Receivable Establishment of Quality Control System   1. 1 The accounts receivable system for quality control of the organization     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  1. 1. 1 Production Department to continuously carry out product, competitive advantage to produce products on the market for sales departments to pursue the initiative. In order to build their products a competitive advantage, the production sector in the technical specifications, design, performance, use, etc. to make vigorous efforts to make the company's products over other similar products on the market is more advanced and economy, so as to better to meet customer needs. 1. 1. 2 Sales General sales to go through to accept customer orders for credit approval of credit, according to sales of single-supply, according to sales of a single shipment of goods to the customer billing record to accept customer orders, recording sales and recovery of such processes. The one hand, sales to the corporate credit department to ensure that a reasonable solutions to meet customer demand, the other hand, the internal assessment mechanism should be established to change the past, a single evaluation method, so that recovery of accounts receivable as sales assessment is an important indicator, so that to complete the sale of receivables and personal income tied up, and personal income-related, strengthen, awareness. 1. 1. 3 Credit department Credit management department sales department and finance department of the bridge, its basic functions include the establishment of customer credit files, managing customer credit, conduct  analysis, customer’s credit limit, the implementation of accounts receivable supervision. 1. 1. 4 Financial sector is mainly responsible for the daily management of accounts receivable, accounts receivable ledger by customer set up, establish accounts receivable on a regular basis reporting system to form a regular basis with the occasional reconciliation system. Finance Department to change after the account of the situation, change from passive to active, full play to their accounting and oversight functions; and accountants should strengthen vocational study to understand the operation of the enterprise business processes. The management of the company set the appropriate service control points. department should take the initiative to communicate with the business sector, an accurate picture of the situation and then carry out the accounting and ensure accounts are, for the accounts receivable management. 1. . 5 audit department Audit departments in the accounts receivable management, the supervisory role is mainly reflected in two aspects: first is to continuously improve the monitoring system to improve the accounts receivable control system; the second is to check the accounts receivable monitoring implementation of the system to check whether the abnormal phenomenon of accounts receivable, with or without a significant error, negligen ce, internal fraud, intentionally fails to recover the accounts and so on, to ensure the recovery of accounts receivable. . 2 The accounts receivable system of quality control methods     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  2. 2. 1 Quantitative Methods Primarily used for quality control of accounts receivable. These indicators include: solvency indicators, operational capacity indicators, profitability indicators, cash flow targets. The use of these indicators, companies can monitor the  situation, to understand and monitor the quality of accounts receivable. 2. 2. 2 Non-quantitative methods Accounts receivable of non-quantitative method of quality control is mainly the work of law PDCA cycle. PDCA cycle in accordance with  methods of the overall management of accounts receivable should be controlled in advance (Plan), to control the things (Do), after the control (Check) and feedback control (Action) 4 links to dynamically conduct accounts receivable management, and comprehensively improve the quality of accounts receivable management. 2. 2 Related Literature The following section present the different studies and actual application related to the research project being conducted by the researchers. Various innovations have been in existence, all for getting along with the trends of modern technology as a viable means to increase profit and to improve customer service. 2. 2. 1 Foreign studies Accounts Receivable System Published: 2010. 03. 04 As the central financial receivable system for the campus, Billing and Accounts Receivable (BAR) is available to all departments that have accounts in the UCLA accounting system. (BAR)Billing and Accounts Receivable allows campus departments to post charges for services or merchandise provided to both student and non-student customers. All charges and related payments are recorded in the BAR system, and BAR performs the accounting for all transactions using the accrual accounting method. Payments are applied to delinquent fees and collection cost charges first, then to the oldest unpaid charge. Student BAR Bills Students receive a monthly BAR bill, which is a statement of account that provides charge and payment details posted to their account during the prior month. Charges include the quarterly registration fee assessments and various other charges such as Instructional Enhancement Initiative (IEI) fees, residence hall telephone usage, College Library Instructional Computing Commons (CLICC) charges, and Student Health charges among others. Student statements are presented electronically as a bill online through the University Records System Access (URSA). In addition to fees, BAR reflects credits posted to a student's account, such as financial aid, waivers, and cash, credit card payments. Non-Student BAR Bills Non-students receive a paper invoice each month. The BAR invoice provides charge and payment detail posted to their account during the prior month. Charges represent services rendered or merchandise provided on credit. BAR does not provide non-students with an electronic version of the invoice Performance evaluation and ratio analysis of Pharmaceutical Company in Bangladesh University essay from Hogskolan Vast/Institutionen for ekonomi och informatik; Hogskolan Vast/Institutionen for ekonomi och informatik Author: Hossan Faruk, Ahsan Habib [2010] The thesis applies performance evaluation of pharmaceutical company in Bangladesh. It means evaluate how well the company performs. The main aim is achieved through ratio analysis of two pharmaceutical (Beximco and Square pharmaceutical) companies in Bangladesh. The main data collection from the annual financial reports on Beximco and square pharmaceutical companies in 2007 to 2008. Different financial ratio are evaluated such liquidity ratios, asset management ratios, profitability ratios, market value ratios, debt management ratios and finally measure the best performance between two companies. The mathematical calculation was establish for ratio analysis between two companies from 2007-2008. It is most important factors for performance evaluation. The graphical analysis and comparisons are applies between two companies for measurement of all types of financial ratio analysis. Liquidity ratio is conveying the ability to repay short-term creditors and it total cash. It determines perform of short term creditor of both pharmaceutical companies under the three categories such as current ratio, quick ratio and cash ratio. Asset management ratio is measurement how to effectively a company to use and controls its assets. It’s also quantify into seven categories for both pharmaceutical companies such as account receivable turnover, average collection period, inventory turnover, account payable turnover ,account payable turnover in days ,fixed asset turnover ,total asset turnover. Profitability ratio is evaluate how well a company is performing by analyzing and how profit was earned relative to sales, total assets and net worth for both pharmaceutical companies. Debt coverage ratio is performing that the property insufficient to collect their mortgage for both companies and market value is perform the stockholder to analysis their future market value of the stock market. Overall analyses are measurement the best one between Beximco and Square pharmaceutical companies. Relationship between the profitability and working capital policy of Swedish companies University essay from Umea universitet/Handelshogskolan vid Umea universitet; Umea universitet/Handelshogskolan vid Umea universitet Author: Ali Wajahat, Syed Hammad Ul Hassan {2010} Over the years there has been a big debate on the effect of working capital policy on the profitability. Few researchers argue that working capital is just an idle resource with high cost and low benefit associated with it so, companies should follow zero working capital policy but such a policy is very risky because it reduces the liquidity and it might leads to a default. Other researchers support companies to have a working capital policy because they believe that proper management of components of working capital can balance cost and benefits of the company and it will reduce the risk of default by raising the level of liquidity. Companies can choose among three different types of working capital. aggressive, conservative and moderate but their choice depends on their desire level of liquidity and risk. Researchers realize the importance of the topic and lot of research has been carried out all over the world especially in developing countries like Pakistan, India, and Taiwan. Despite the importance of topic we were unable to find any research carried out in Sweden or in any other Scandinavian country. So, this study is conducted with the purpose to explore the relationship between working capital policy and profitability of Swedish firms. Furthermore this study also investigates the nature of relationship between working capital policy and component of cash conversion cycle. For the purpose of our study we used the sample of 37 listed companies in the OMX Stockholm stock exchange over the period of five years (2004-2008). The study has been conducted in a natural environment and it follows the explanatory research strategy. Moreover it is a quantitative study which follows the deductive approach and it is longitudinal in nature. We used GOP as a measure to profitability and CCC is used as a gauge to measure the aggressiveness of working capital policy. We used the secondary data, which has been extracted from the annual financial reports of the companies, to calculate the GOP, financial debt, firm size, fixed financial asset, component of CCC and CCC. In this study, six regressions were run on 185 observations in SPSS software. In each regression analysis dependent variable (GOP), independent variable firm size, financial debt ratio, and fixed financial asset ratio remains the same but independent variable CCCS, CCCA, CCCD, day’s inventory held, days account receivable and days account payable replace each other. The reason for this replacement of independent variables is to find out that how CCC and component of CCC affects the GOP. The result of regression analysis shows that managers can’t change the level of profitability by adopting any of the working capital policy i. e. there exist no relationship between working capital policy and profitability. Furthermore profitability is directly associated with days inventory held and days account payable but it is in inverse relation with days account receivables. 2. 2. 2 Local studies Notably, student information system or SIS incurs such application software designed for educational establishments to manage student data. Student information systems provide capabilities for entering student test and other assessment scores, building student schedules, tracking student attendance as well as managing many other student-related data needs within the institution university. Thus, many of these systems applied in the Philippines can be scaled to different levels of activity and can be configured by their home institutions to meet local needs. Moreover, before universities have created their own bespoke student record systems, but with growing complexity in the business of educational establishments, organizations now choose to buy customizable within the shelf software. It can be that, modern student information systems are usually server-based, with the application residing on central computer erver and are being accessed by client applications at various places within and even outside the school. During the year 1990s, student information systems have been changing and are fast adopted through the presence of a web medium as a channel for accessing SIS without any hassle upon viewing student details and information. Ideally, educational institutions are under constant pressure to demonstrate both willingness and capacity to incorporate the latest devel opments in student information systems along with communications technology supporting various teaching ways. As Liao et al. , (2007) asserts that SIS process within such technological sophistication does create precise knowledge edge, that such SIS application can be appealing to students and to the academic faculty as well as the parents. Thus, believing that technology is the repository of the bulk of the information that underpins society’s major enterprises and concerns and the medium of communication through which SIS interact with one another. Furthermore, SIS is transforming educational tactics understandings and school practices in relation to system information and to be able to assist better communication ground through SIS execution, as found within the heart of learning mechanisms (Liao et al. , 2007). SIS as of today is changing what people is learning upon such as with the burgeoning of the Internet, the control exercised in the past by the Philippines from various departments of education and by individual teachers over pedagogical content may have diminished significantly. Through this new informative medium, resources of varying quality and provenance on virtually diverse subject matter are now available to the students. The amount of material available from unaccredited sources is cause of considerable concern to many educators, brought up them into a more integrated student information system such as those found and applied in the University of the Philippines as well as those within the grounds of Ateneo Integrated school wherein SIS processes of were truly understood and realized by the institutions’ education system. Even within academic disciplines there has already been a shift in the importance accorded to the traditional forms of published knowledge, refereed and refined through well accepted but often painfully attenuated process. In such cases there has been movement towards the more rapid electronic dissemination of findings and opinions albeit in a less polished form, depending more on the judgment of the individual reader han on the processes of SIS effectiveness as implied for validation and verification of student resources (Fyffe and Walter, 2005)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The strong implication for education is that skills in effective online searching should occupy more value and more important place within the education curriculum at all levels wherein the adaptation of SIS is most valued for academe effectiveness. From the perspective of the individual student, SIS incorporates enormously increased potential for representing and manipulating information in range of structured education paradigms and strategic study forms as appropriate for a justifiable application of diverse learning styles. Furthermore, the student information systems do provides greater range of ways through which learners can express their knowledge, including the publication of multimedia presentations to the world at large through the Internet. Aside, some of the information system know-how needs that certain students must grapple with inclusion to discovering how to complete comprehensive reviews of the such research studies, learning how to evaluate sources within the context of their projects, and properly citing and including these sources within their theses or dissertations (Perrett, 2004). Then, because the SIS process is typically completed early into students’ school career and encapsulates each of the facets of knowledge built up and literacy value, including learning what type of SIS is available, finding and accessing system sequence, evaluating tools for the information and then synthesizing the student information system into certain end product for a better career patterns as it seemed like the ideal project to focus SIS and relate it to ample literacy instruction around. While the students had all performed database searches before, they were less likely to have taken advantage of the search management tools available to them through educational databases, how to set up automatic searches to help streamline the research process (Fyffe and Walter, 2005). Like for example, there discusses the benefits of using such bibliographic management software system in order to help illustrate more sophisticated ways of organizing their research. Before the students came to the workshop, they were asked them to fill out brief pre-assessment surveys designed to provide acceptable profile details including their year in school, whether or not they were pursuing their college degree and possible departmental affiliation. Thus, pointing towards SIS within the knowledge of education services as utilized that include databases used and whether or not students were familiar with curriculum software packages (Perrett, 2004). Truly, it is crucial for the advancement of informative research within composed disciplines and the continued successful integration of SIS as applied in the Philippine setting with resources to higher education systems determining that certain group of students can acquire and gain effective knowledge literacy skills through the SIS process and understanding the value of education services crafted to provide best teachings as possible (Belle and Boote, 2004). Then, for SIS assumption, there is a need to engage students with academic assessment such as upon helping students start thinking about what they would like to learn with regards to a better research investigation and knowing what the gaps in students’ understanding might be. Also, encourage the use of SIS in parallel to active learning style which allows students to interact with their classmates and does help the instructor facilitate an enhanced learning experience through SIS application mode and to finally emphasize the value of making   student information connection with a subject teacher for instance geared upon for in-depth education success (Ewald, 2006). (2001) pointed out that the Philippines employed a unique strategy in carrying out the work in audiovisual (AV) archiving. In the absence of an operational AV archives in the country, most of the activities of institutions with AV archive holdings such as the Philippine Information Agency, the UP Film Center, the Cultural Center of the Philippines, Mowelfund, etc. , are informally being coordinated by a professional body composed of â€Å"archivists† working in the different institutions involved in archiving. It should be noted though that during the early 1980’s, the Philippines had a national film archive that was fully operational in the real sense of the word. After the 1986 Edsa Revolution, the archive received the least priority and was transferred to the Censors Body. No archiving activity was carried out by this unit since then. The various tasks involved in AV archiving rested on the shoulders of related agencies, not by their own chose but by necessity required of their work. AV archiving activities were separately being undertaken. The turning point came when the Cultural Center of the Philippines, which wanted to organize a Lino Brocka Retrospective, discovered that many of the Brocka films, particularly those hat were significant, were already destroyed. Some of the surviving prints were brought to the Philippine Information Agency for restoration. With no previous experience on cases of this nature, PIA had to turn to other agencies for materials that could be used as reference for the work. The UP Film Center, with its contacts with international organizations and as a recipient of several fellowship awards from UNESCO, provided PIA a copy of the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) Manual. This was the first inter-institutional contact in the country that proved to be significant as it eventually led to a formal partnership among the archivists from these institutions in what was to become later as the Society of Film Archivists (SOFIA). The Society of Film Archivists (SOFIA) was formally organized in July, 1993 out of need and in compliance with the recommendation of the ASEAN Planning Workshop Meeting on Film Retrieval, Restoration and Archiving, which the Philippines organized in February, 1996. SOFIA’s membership is made up of individual AV archivists working in cultural organizations, information agencies, broadcasting and academic institutions, film production companies, and film critics. The role of SOFIA in the development of the AV archiving profession in the country is one that has been evolving over time. At the beginning, SOFIA served as a venue for exchanging knowledge and skills. As such, the kinds of projects undertaken during this stage were mostly training programs. Later, SOFIA became an informal coordinating body for activities undertaken by the different institutions involved in archiving. These projects were implemented by institutions as part of their in-house programs and according to what these institutions can do best. This enabled the different institutions to avoid duplication of efforts and therefore saved on scarce national resources. Presently, SOFIA’s role has evolved into that of a mobilize and an advocate for the setting up of a central body that would formally be recognized by the government and supported by the public sector. The effectiveness of this model in the Philippines could be better appreciated in the context of the prevailing situation operating at the time SOFIA was born and the commitment of the members to pursue the work. Prevailing conditions that were considered important that helped bring about the results were the following: a) a clear vision of what was needed. These involved knowing where we were, where we want to go and how to get there; b) the emergence of a Steering Group at the initial stage. This role was assumed by the Philippine Information Agency. Through its work requirement and involvement in ASEAN, PIA initiated projects on the national and regional levels that brought critical agencies together, identified local partners such as the Cultural Center of the Philippines, the UP Film Center, etc. , to assist in implementing the program, and identify succeeding steps to build on previous accomplishments; c) empowerment of the identified partners. This involved getting the partners committed to assume the responsibility of carrying out the work when the agencies involved in AV archiving decided to bond together through SOFIA and initiated and sustained programs and projects for AV archiving as a group or individually in coordination with each other, empowerment of the identified partners had set in; and d) utilization of advocacy techniques that were found effective. Apart from the traditional tools for promotion such as the media, SOFIA used techniques such as requesting the President of the Republic of the Philippines to issue an executive order declaring a week in a year as AV Archiving Week, among others. Organizing international conferences also helped generate interest on the issues. Chapter 3 Methods of Research oing this research is kind of like being a treasure-hunter, researching out clues here and there that finally leads to the treasure –the needed to information. This chapter presents the different research methods, which will be use to design and develop the system. The nature of the research problem and the purpose of the study help determine the research methods to be used. It shows the different data gathering techniques to supplement the research methods. 3. 1 Research Method The research methods that could be used in developing the Account Receivable and Dealer Information System may vary from one study to another because of the integration of hardware materials and programming skills. To achieve the desired and necessary output, research models and methods must carefully design. This helps conceive and practically analyze how the project will look like. In some aspects, combination of various methods could be made in order to grasp the purpose of the study. 3. 1. 1 Descripted Method

Business Success Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Business Success - Assignment Example In order to satisfy customers, products should be competitively priced and should have the desired quality. This is the only was a firm can build up long term relationships with the customers. The goal of conducting the internal analysis is to find the answer to the question that why the economic performance of some companies are better than the others in the competition. Internal analysis of a particular firm analyzes and lists out the relative weaknesses and strengths of a company as compared to its competitors. By conducting Internal Analysis, the strengths as well as the weaknesses of the firm can be analysed. This helps to compare the strengths and weaknesses with that of other firms, too. Internal analysis also helps determine the resources along with the capabilities required that may help sustain the company in the competitive market. According to Porter's Internal Value Chain, the primary activities required for the internal analysis are production, inbound logistics, sales and marketing, warehousing and distribution along with the dealer support and customer service. The support activities required are infrastructure, procurement, human resource management and r esearch and development technology. (Barney and Hesterly, n.d., A) Human resource is one of the key factors that influence a firm's success in the competitive market. ... If a particular firm has rare and valuable resources that are difficult to be replicated by competitors, then the firm is at an inherent advantageous position. However, the firm should strategies in place to leverage these strengths to generate competitive advantages. A business organization also needs to pay due attention to the intangible assets along with the tangible ones like brand equity, Intellectual Property and the knowledgebase residing within the employees of the company. This is highly beneficial while implementing and conceiving the strategies. If a company's co-operative relationships are better, then quite naturally that firm is at an advantageous position. (Barney and Hesterly, n.d., A) However to maintain a smooth and uninterrupted supply of human resource, companies need to make sure that the employees in general are happy and the labourers in particular. It is seen from the past records that industries were there is a high tendency of labourers forming unions; the net profitability is comparatively much less, as in steel, airlines and automobiles. Companies irrespective of their size and domain of operation should strive to keep the tendency of forming labour unions at the lowest best to yield maximum profit. Fig. 1 shows how the percentage of profitability decreases with an increase in the percentage of employees unionized. Fig. 1: The Impact of Unionisation on Profitability (Source: Robert M. Grant, 1998) Another important factor responsible for a company's success is the marketing skill. It might happen that the products offered by a firm are of superior quality and is also offered at competitive prices, but the customers might be unaware of the particular product. So, it is very much necessary to know the art of

The Enhancing Community Health Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Enhancing Community Health - Essay Example Presently, the consumers have been deciphering a greater inclination towards eco-friendly products and are also willing to pay more for these products, deciphering a quality concerned attitude rather than a price-centric motive. On the global context, individuals are immensely attracted to eco-friendly commodities for safety and health concerns. Subsequently, increased consumptions of eco-friendly products have assisted in maintaining the health of the community, which denotes that there might be a linkage between community health and the purchase trends deciphered by consumers to favor eco-friendly products (Connolly & Prothero, 2010). Correspondingly, the essay emphasizes on determining the impact of individual decisions in relation to eco-friendly commodity choices towards the health of the community. The demand for products and/or services if often argued to be depending on the needs as well as preferences of individuals in the worldwide market segments. Reflecting on the same concern, the report published by the European Commission (2006) signified that decisions of individuals are based on different factors, which commonly include product information and product preferences. The consumers are thus concentrated towards social and environmental developments due to increased concern of climate changes. Moreover, individuals are also perceived to make their purchase decisions based on safety and health factors that are attached to products and/or services. In this regard, the consumers in the worldwide market segments are encouraged towards consuming healthier as well as quality products (European Commission, 2006). According to Ahmad & Juhdi (2008), in the recent era, individuals are identified to change their lifestyle and are decisive in making purchases of products and/or serv ices for self-fulfillment. Individuals make purchase decisions of eco-friendly products due to increased concern towards environmental factors and their accountability towards its stability.

Weekly journal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 4

Weekly journal - Essay Example When individuals are unemployed they have less money to spend on goods and services and they are more inclined towards ensuring that their basic needs are met. Due to this they spend more on the basic necessities such as food and clothing and ignore spending money on luxurious products and services such as cars. Another subject that the chapter focuses on is the fiscal and monetary policies that government may use to encourage individuals to spend more. When the government implements an expansionary policy, it allows business to borrow more and due to these businesses invest more (Krugman 148). More investment leads to increase in demand for employees which in turn increases the wages paid to employees. Due to this increase, individuals tend to spend more and they even spend on luxurious items. But if the demand for goods and services continuously increases, suppliers will increase their prices on continuous basis and this would lead to increase in inflation rate and decrease in the number of goods and services that can be purchases by individuals in a particular economy (Krugman

How does the electronic medium require different tactics for effective Essay

How does the electronic medium require different tactics for effective marketing communications - Essay Example Electronic marketing establishes new avenues for junior businesses favouring them since only a modest budgeting is required to ensure that access to possible customers is made easier. Compared to any other form of marketing, e-marketing has a wider scope, enabling the marketers to interact with consumers in extensive range of manner. (Phelps et al., 2004) E-marketing offers an opportunity to provide quality and adequate information on a variety of services and products of a company or a business enterprise. Besides offering product and service information e-marketing elaborates on management, public relations, sales and customer care. Furthermore, e-marketing facilities exchange of information directly between customers and companies. This can be seen as two way communication system that enhances quality improvement through customer feedback and evaluation. E-marketing has an impressive degree of immediacy, it takes only a few minutes to express interest of purchase through simple step of clicking button to make an order or book a ticket. In other words electronic marketing is in operation all day the whole week and throughout year. There is little time difference between posting information about a product and consumers expressing interest of purchase (Phelps et al., 2004). Electronic marketing has proven to be effective and a good marketing strategy since many people has access to internet today than before. Electronic medium requires a number of tactics to enhance effective marketing communication (Martin, 2010). In order to realize the goal of electronic marketing which is having access to a larger number of customers in the shortest time possible as well as initiating difficult free business transactions, there are several tactics of marketing employed. Search engine marketing is one of the most frequently used electronic marketing. These search engines include

Internet Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Internet Marketing - Essay Example The internet is very effective in carrying out this exercise. One other advantage of this strategy is that it is captivating and it appeals to the interests of the targeted consumers. The marketer is also in a position to tailor the message in the desired way so that it can have a positive impact on the targeted consumers. Basically, the strategy of storytelling helps to increase a market share for the company. 2. In order to strike an emotional cord, there are different brand storytelling techniques that are effective. The technique of presenting the product as unique is very effective since it appeals to the emotions of the targeted people. People are compelled to think deep in a bid to establish the main reasons why the product is presented as unique compared to other similar market offerings. This marketing strategy is particularly designed to appeal to the emotions of the customers so that they can try the product. They tend to ask themselves this simple question: Why is the product better compared to other similar products found in the market? This is likely to compel customers to develop a positive perspective about the product. For instance, they will buy it on the basis of the emotional benefit they will gain from using it. In some cases, people are satisfied by the benefits they will derive from using a certain product. Therefore, the brand story should explain it all. 3. The other elements in the brand story that are effective in content strategies include things such as product feature and quality. In most cases, the consumers buy a product as a result of the information about that offering they have. Information about a product includes elements such as product features as well as quality. Customers are primarily interested in buying products that have value for their money. These products would satisfy the customers if they are comprised of quality features. This is the essence of marketing where the marketers seek to satisfy the

Strategic and competitive positioning of Lenovo Essay

Strategic and competitive positioning of Lenovo - Essay Example In relation to the study the company which has been selected is Lenovo group, a multinational IT firm with headquarters in Beijing, China and North Carolina, United States. Lenovo was established in 1984 as Legend and later renamed as Lenovo. The company is into developing, designing, manufacturing as well as selling personal computers, smartphones, tablet computers, servers, workstations, electronic devices, smart televisions, and management software. The company is known for its volume sales. Laptops and notebooks are Lenovo’s top selling products. Recent innovations in Lenovo’s ultrabooks and laptops have transformed the company into a major successful brand in the IT industry. The IT and computer industry is extremely competitive with few big players dominating the market. However, many new local brands are being launched serving niche customers and reducing overall market share for these bigger players. Three major companies, Lenovo, HP, and Dell dominate this comp uter market. While Lenovo leads the Chinese market, HP and Dell have captured major market share across other parts of the globe. Lenovo has been trying to develop its strategic positioning through innovation and differentiation. In 2003, Lenovo launched an application technology, enhancing overall positioning. Apart from that, through constant innovation, Lenovo computer has been able to maintain a leadership position in China for past eight years.

Critical Review of Text Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Critical Review of Text - Essay Example In the book, the authors provide a compelling look, through a study of the infrastructure’s current vulnerabilities, security gaps, and plans for its protection, of the systems that have been put in place. They also discuss the options that the United States has for the future, all to keep this critical infrastructure, which is vital resources, safe from attacks from both internal and external terrorists (Collins & Baggett, 2009). Various critical infrastructures, including telecommunications, energy, water, distribution of food, and agriculture, are discussed in the book as aspects of the United States’ social, political, and economic systems (Collins & Baggett, 2009). The first five chapters take on giving a condensed view of the American Department of Homeland Security. They also take a broad look at how critical infrastructure within the United States has evolved over the years, reviews important and key legislations made by the US legislature with regards to the in frastructure, directives made by the head of state concerning the infrastructure, and approach the country as a whole takes when assessing its infrastructure. The next five chapters delve into the national infrastructural sectors that the federal government identifies as being of critical importance. Finally, the third part of their book discusses all the hazards to critical infrastructure and their concepts, as well as homeland security’s four pillars. These four pillars include prevention, preparedness, prevention, and recovery (Collins & Baggett, 2009). The book is divided into three main sections with the first section made up of the first five chapters. In this section, the authors deal with what role prevention plays in securing the country’s critical infrastructure. The manner in which the country strives to ensure America is secure and safe is through enhancing the protection of their critical infrastructure to neutralize, deter, prevent, or even mitigate any e fforts by terrorists to exploit or destroy them (Collins & Baggett, 2009). Accordingly, the authors explain that this is done through legislation and directives from the executive branch. In addition, the section also discusses plans put, in place, to protect the country’s infrastructure, the roles played by the private and public sectors in coming up with a national strategy for infrastructure protection, and the manner in which their overall effectiveness is assessed (Collins & Baggett, 2009). The second section of the book sees the authors move further to give a detailed view of the particular critical infrastructure. According to the authors, critical infrastructure can be divided into six overall categories that are distinct but interdependent. Energy systems are the first category discussed with the authors placing hydroelectric power, nuclear reactors, and fossil fuels in the category (Collins & Baggett, 2009). Their second category is the transportation sector that in cludes air transport, rail transport, road transport, and water or marine transport. National icons and facilities are also defined as a category, as is the environment, which includes water infrastructure, food, and agriculture. Electronic transmissions including cyber space is also discussed as a category. Finally, public safety and its importance as a critical infrastr

Comparison between Policy Alternatives in the Company Assignment - 15

Comparison between Policy Alternatives in the Company - Assignment Example It is very important that at this point and time to understand the sentiments of the employees and not react on impulse decisions. Currently there are many issues facing the company. Company is going through a lot of changes, and to make the implementation of the changes through caution, steps related to change management are required to be taken. The issues that are being faced are: The only option other than taking the employees on board is to do massive hiring, which will be very costly for the company. Also, many people who could be beneficial for the company will shy away due to the company’s fear of massive layoffs. Technology implementation is a process that will require timeas it cannot be implemented in a snap and the policy makers have to be patient. Employees are an asset for any company. In todays world, creating a product that is unique is one thing but today the competition is not only on product basis but majorly upon the kind of employees that the company has. Employees need to be aboard if the company wants to remain successful (Cameron & Green, 2004). Implementing the Lewin change model is the best possible solution. In this case, the employees need to be told that technology is being implemented to benefit them, not to replace them. The new technological change must be discussed with them, and this process will be known as the unfreezing part. The employees should be told how with the use of technology they can get more tasks done in lesser time and how it is going to make their lives easier for them. A proper analysis should be conducted and the employees’ technical capabilities reviewed. A workshop divided into three levels must be conducted and each and every employee placed in the levels accordingly depending on their knowledge of the technology. This will help the management make decisions about the length of training that needs to be conducted.

Focal Point Consultants Essay Example for Free

Focal Point Consultants Essay While observing CanGo for last two weeks we at FPC (Focal Point Consultants ) have identified some six major issue that we feel should be addressed to allow the organization to better achieve there over all goals. First Concern—Priority 1 CanGo appears to have a financial issue and there is has not been a complete audit to address this issue. Also CanGo needs to learn how to use the resources that they already have and redefine the processes and procedures. First Recommendation The financial team at CanGo needs to work with all the key areas of the company to conduct an audit of current processes. This audit will allow for everyone to review all the current processes that are in place and determine what they can do to enhance them and at the same time the financial team can use this data to outline how much the current processes are costing the company overall. At the conclusion of this analysis the reports will allow for the company to cut spending in the correct areas so that they can improves the others. There are many things that can be done to make improvements without spending money or having to acquire new technology or devices. Within the warehouse for example the layout can be enhanced even more so that people are not wasting time walking. Minor and Major changes to just the layout will allow the CanGo to improve efficiency and overall performance. Each department head needs to complete a detailed time study on the processes they outlined above. Once this time study is complete then the data can be used to see what is taking the longest and make changes to that process. By taking these steps it will allow CanGo to approach improvements in the correct manner by taking those actions that don’t have ny hit to the company’s bottom line. After all these types of changes are complete that is when and only when money should be spent on new technology and devices to make processes more efficient. Second Concern—Priority 2 The loyalty of customers for the specific targeting market is declining. Second Recommendation Think about how you want to be treated as a consumer. Now apply that same concept to the targeting market. Review the evaluations that are submitted by the consumers. It will tell what impression the company is making. Also, spend time in the Customer Service department. This the first point of contact for consumer. How they are handle will determine whether a consumer will return: Customer service might just be the most critical of all in running your business. If your customers like how they are treated, not only will they keep coming back, but they will refer you to others. Treating customers as individuals and not as a stepping stone up your ladder of success can go a long way. Listen to their concerns and build a relationship with them. If your customer feels as though you have their best interest they will be loyal to you. Your customers can really do a lot of your marketing for you. Word of mouth, especially in a world where Facebook and Twitter are some people’s main way of communicating, is a very powerful tool (Debs Marketing Connections, 2012). Third Concern – Priority 3 Online purchases CanGo has talked about that they have a high rate of items added to the online shopping cart. Although this information does not support the amount of purchases actually received via CanGo’s online website. Third Recommendation  Having a high rate of items added to an online shopping cart means that you have a good storefront and getting customer’s to actually place the items within there shopping carts. This is only one piece of the multipart puzzle. The shopping site needs to be enhanced to entice the customer to actually complete their purchase as that is how we are going to make money overall. Since there is a high traffic volume to the website we would also recommend that the marketing team reach out to a third party website advertising company that will pay to place ads on CanGo’s website. This will drive also be another source of revenue for CanGo so they can then reinvest this money back into the company. Fourth Concern – Priority 4 While Reviewing the videos from weeks 3 and 4 I saw a issue that they is an issue within the warehouse and they do have a solution but no really reviewed the reports that Debbie provided. I think that these reports should have been reviewed while in the meeting so that they could have discussed all the points of the issue and the recommended solution to the warehouse productivity issue. Then Liz asked the group a question I wonder how the board will feel about this recommendation. Fourth Recommendation A solution to this problem would be to complete a full audit of the issue and do a trial run analysis of the proposed solution. This would allow for recommendations to be made to the board and the results of the proposed solution can be given right away. As people need to see measurable figures so that they can tell if something will be worth putting the time and money into the project. Fifth Concern – Priority 5  In the week 4 Videos they are talking about the market segment of boys in Japan. They ask each other questions about how they can get the market analysis complete and then the gentlemen having lunch say that I will do it. Fifth Recommendation There are a couple of thing on this problem that needs to be solved first managers should not interrupt an employee’s lunch unless it is extremely urgent. This is an issue because the employee stated he is Just trying to enjoy my lunch break. The Manager should have approached the employee at a later time when he was not at lunch. Then there is the issue of the market analysis. This assignment should get assigned out to a third party marketing company that can tap into the market in Japan and gauge what the consumer wants. This would be a lot more cost effective than attempting the complete this analysis on their own and wasting resources that they dont have in the first place. Sixth Concern – Priority 6 Sales are not increasing as projected for the company possibly due to the design of the online purchasing process. Sixth Recommendation Place a test run on the current online purchase process as a consumer. Time the entire process to see how long it takes. As the test run is being completed, keep the consumers’ needs and wants in mind. Determine if needs were met as well as satisfied. View the information available to see if it’s appealing to lead to the purchase the item. Also, notate likes and dislikes of the experience. Have a group of employees to assist to gather more information for comparison. Determine what updates can be implemented to entice the consumer to make a purchase. Keep track of different trends to keep a competitive edge for things like: 1.  In-store pick up. In the past few months we’ve seen Walmart implement in-store pick up for orders placed online, while Sears and Kmart are going a step further bringing online purchases out to your car. In Chicago, Sears and Kmart are even testing home delivery and bundling items with those from its retail partners at Sears’ Marketplace, further blurring the lines between online only retailers and those that came before. And in Florida, Farm Stores lets shoppers order groceries online and pick up at a drive through. 2. Pick up depots.  Smaller retailers without a vast network of stores like Walmart or Sears may open designated pick up locations for goods ordered online. Retail consultant Neil Stern of McMillan/Doolittle points to French retailer Chronodrive. com as an example. 3. Mobile Apps. Smartphones are the dominant cell phone and apps for all platforms are growing. The ones that allow for price comparisons or send out coupons are already among the most heavily used with good reviews, but we’re just getting started. 4. Less flash more function. Forget about flashy apps or features like virtual dressing rooms.  Consumers haven’t responded to these and rightly so. Maybe the technology will get there, but until it does, user reviews are better gauges of clothing fit and quality than any technology can offer. 5. Video. Look for more user-generated video on retail sites. Retailers are letting customers upload video clips modeling new clothes or using a new purchase. Davis believes this is one trend that will definitely pick up speed. 6. Social networking. Facebook and Twitter aren’t even close to played out yet. Consumers can increasingly â€Å"like† or follow a favorite retailer and get discounts or tips on deals.  JCPenney is using Facebook to actually sell goods and more than 12 million consumers â€Å"like† Victoria’s Secret on Facebook as of last month (March), making it the most popular retailer on the site (its Pink brand ranks No. 2, according to the ChannelAdvisor Facebook Commerce Index). That’s an active population of customers reaching out and requesting information from the retailer. And social shopping is just getting started, says Jim Okamura, managing partner at Okamura Consulting, a group specializing in online retail. There’s evidence (that Facebook offers) a good return on investment and there are a lot of retailers that haven’t done anything yet,† he says. â€Å"This is going to be the year of Facebook testing. 7. Daily deals and flash sales. This may seem like a very crowded playing field, but sites like Ruelala and OneKingsLane are reproducing at a furious pace. And based on how quickly many items sell out, often within minutes of email notifications going out, more will jump on this popular trend. 8. Retail based social networks. This is one trend experts don’t expect to happen at any large level. Sears is still trying to build a social network of its own customers and Walmart tried and abandoned a similar effort, neither attempt bodes well for its success. Facebook really owns this space, but look for small, focused sites to create communities of like-minded users, says Okamura. 9. International. â€Å"There’s been an accelerating trend in international or cross border e commerce, of small niche online retailers are now doing 10-20% of their sales outside of their own country,† says Okamura. Look to online shops like SousVide Supreme that sells specialized cooking equipment and StyleTrek. com, a community built to launch up and coming international designers as models. Other big name retailers like Zara and Top Shop are building out their online business to reach U. S. shoppers, even as the store base grows more slowly. 10. Deal aggregators. Of course there are always deal sites, like Dealnews, ConsumerSearch, FatWallet and Brad’s Deals that are cutting through the din of so many sites and sales to bring consumers only the information they’re interested in. (Forbes, 2012).

Community Health Partnerships Essay Example for Free

Community Health Partnerships Essay Community: Social groups of any size whose members reside in a specific locality, share government, and often have a common cultural and historical heritage. A social, religious, occupational, or other group sharing common characteristics or interest and perceived or perceiving itself as distinct in some respect from the larger society within which it exist ( Stanhope Lancaster, 2012). Community Health: Refers to the health status of a defined group of people, or community, and the actions and conditions that protect and improve the health of the community. Those individuals who make up a community live in a somewhat localized area under the same general regulations, norms, values, and organizations. For example, the health status of the people living in a particular town, and the actions taken to protect and improve the health of these residents would constitute community health (Green Ottoson, 1999). ). Community Health is the meeting of collective needs by identifying problems and managing behaviors within the community itself and between the community and the larger society (Stanhope Lancaster, 2012). Community as Client: The concept of community as client is based on the assumption that community nursing practice is â€Å"community oriented,† seeking â€Å"healthful change for the whole community. The community is a client only when the nursing focus is on the collective of common good of the population instead of on individual health (Stanhope Lancaster, 2012). Community Health Partnerships: defines as voluntary collaborations of diverse community organizations, which have joined forces in order to pursue a shared interest in improving community health. Community Health Partnerships differ from traditional community organizations in their mix of public and private members and they diverge from grass roots organizations with their inclusion of multiple constituents and stakeholders. (McKenzie Smeltzer, 1997) Lay community members have a vested interest in the success of efforts to improve the health of their community. Lay community members who are recognized as community leaders also possess credibility and skills that health professionals lack. Therefore, successful strategies for improving  community health must include community partnerships as the basic means, or key, for improvement (Stanhope Lancaster, 2012). Overall impression of participating family’s community and environment is an inner suburb of New York City named Hackensack, New Jersey, a city in Bergan County, New Jersey. Located 12 miles north west of Midtown Manhattan and about seven miles from the George Washington Bridge, from a number of locations, you can see the New York City skyline. The Metropolitan campus of Fairleigh Dickinson University borders the Hackensack River. The city is known for a great diversity of neighborhoods and land uses existing in very close proximity of each other. Within its borders are a massive medical center, a trendy high-rise district about a mile long, classic suburban neighborhoods of single family homes, stately older homes on acre-plus lots, older two –family neighborhoods, large garden apartments complexes, industrial areas, the Bergan Count Jail, a tidal river, and Hackensack River County Park. Cultural Diversity and Vulnerable Populations present in the Community: The racial make-up of the city was White, African American, Native American, Asian, Pacific Islanders, Hispanic or Latino. My participating family consists of an African American woman C.R. 68 years young whose family lineage is African American and Dutch, shares a lovely suburban two- family home with her daughter K. R. who is 48 years young and her life partner S. M. who is thirty nine years young and a native of the British Virgin Islands. It is my understanding from the family that same sex households are most certainly part of the community as well as interracial couples. The home is very nicely decorated, well-kept and the grounds are well manicured. The fact that the younger ladies are a same sex couple makes them part of a vulnerable population. I asked â€Å"if there were any prejudice or pressure they feel from the neighborhood regarding their lifestyle†? They both responded there is no pressure or prejudice put upon them. I must mention the time I have begun to spend with them, talking and observing their behaviors with one another, I have to say,† there is more love between the two of them than some heterosexual couples have in their little finger for each other† and they are not embarrassed by their life style nor do they hide who they are. They are both beautiful people inside and out. Aspects of the Community that could affect residents’ health: The  factor in the community that could affect health is the fact that there are many industrial areas surrounding the communities. The chemicals, fumes, and gases that ar e put into the air of the community and inhaled by all potentially could be of danger to the community. The County Jail and the potential of escaped criminals pose a threat to the community; Flooding is a potential threat during hurricanes and storms. Reproductive and Sexual Health of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Health is relevant to the community in that the goal is to maintain and improve health and well-being. LGBT individuals encompass all races and ethnicities, religions, and social classes. Eliminating health disparities and enhancing efforts to improve health are necessary to ensure that LGBT individuals can lead long healthy lives (healthy 2020), REFERENCES: Green, L.W., Ottoson, J. M. (1999). Community and Population Health, (8th ed.) Boston: WCB/McGraw-Hill McKenzie, J. F., Smeltzer, J.L. (1997). Planning, Implementing and Evaluating Health Promotion Programs: A Primer; (2nd ed.), Boston: Allyn Bacon. Stanhope, M., Lancaster, J. (2008) (8th ed,). Population-Centered Health Care in the Community. St. Louis, MO. http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics

Inequality Gap between the Global North and South

Inequality Gap between the Global North and South Introduction: The term Global South refers to â€Å"The Third World† which it colloquially replaced to describe the poorest countries in the world, countries particularly in the South Asia, Middle East, Central and South America, Africa and Oceania that were unaligned with either the Communist Soviet bloc or the Capitalist NATO bloc during the Cold War. There is an immense social, economic and political gap between the wealthy Global North and the poorer least developed countries of Global South. The Geographical division of the world differentiating the rich from the poor starting from the Global South includes all of Asia except Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Brunei, and the South East Asian ‘dragons of Hong Kong, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand; all of Africa; the Middle East, except the oil-rich UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain; and Central and South America. The North includes Europe; the USA, except Bermuda and the Bahamas; Canada; and the European republics of the former Soviet Union. Newly industrialized countries such as South Korea and Taiwan now have more in common with the industrialized North and fast-developing Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, Peru, and Chile than with other countries in the developing world. (http://www.talktalk.co.uk/reference/encyclopaedia/hutchinson/m0030871.html) The Third World or Global Souths persistent underdevelopment can be explained by analysing both the internal and the external factors that consistently contribute towards halting its progress. When Imperialism started in United States, which was a natural product of economic pressure due to sudden advance of capitalism which needed foreign markets for goods and investments. Europe was going through the same scenario, overproduction in the sense of excessive manufacturing plants and surplus capital which could not find stable investments within the countries, forced Great Britain, Holland, Germany and France to place large portions of their economic resources and capital outside their own political domain and stimulate a foreign policy of expansion to new regions and areas. Germany in the early 1900s was suffering severely from what is called a glut of capital and manufacturing power and had to move to new markets and trade settlements were forced upon Asia Minor, West Africa and other colonies. Improvements in method of production and industrial revolution boosted a machine economy with one nation after another adapting industrial methods, it became difficult for their mer chants, manufacturers and financiers to dispose profitably their economic resources, so they used their Governments in order to secure for their particular use, some distant underdeveloped countries by annexation or protection. These economic conditions of affairs form the taproot of Imperialism.(Hobson, 1954) Hence my point being that the developed world has used the developing world for its own gain and cheaper raw materials and labour. Due to the relationship of interdependence between world economies and world trade there are dominant countries which expand because they are self sufficient and there are dependent countries that can only do this only as a reflection of these dominant countries. The concept of dependence allows us to see the situation of these countries internally as a part of the world economy. In the Marxist tradition, the theory of imperialism has been developed as a study of this process of expansion of these imperial centres and their quest of world domination. Scholars following the Marxist tradition have presented the most extensive analysis of foreign economic policy. Karl Marx himself was primarily concerned with developments within national economies, although he did not ignore international and global problems. The international aspects of capitalism assumed a place of importance for Marxist scholars. Marxist theories can be divided into two basic types: instrumental and structural. (Laski, 2003) Instrumental Marxist theories view governmental behaviour as a product of direct social and societal pressure. In its sophisticated form, Marxist arguments analyze the general ties between the government officials and the capitalist sector. I would like to quote Mr. Harold Laski here who argued that ‘historically we always find that any system of government is dominated by those who at the time wield economic power; and what they mean by ‘good is, for the most part, the preservation of their own interests. (Laski, 2003) Structural Marxist have different arguments. They do not link the behaviour of the state to any capital class and see the state playing an independent role within the whole capitalist system. Analysing this from an economic perspective, we can see that capitalism is not self sustained towards general equilibrium in the long run profit because the labour cannot be exploited in the long run due to technological advancements which decrease the ratio of labour to capital in the long run. This process leads to more goods produced than its members can consume also known as under consumption and this drives the weaker firms out of the market and capital accumulation and greater power in the hands of owners or managers of capital. The relationship between giant multinationals, advanced capital societies and foreign activity has been emphasized by some recent Marxists like Harry Magdoff and James O Conner. Through the behavioural theory of the firm, Magdoff suggests that corporations are systems of power and each firm tries to control and capture its own market. This fact could not be realized at the beginning of capitalism because the level of competition was too high. Businesses seek to maximize control over actual and potential sources of raw material and foreign markets. The foreign investment by these multinational guarantees this control. And these corporations are the foundation of the American capitalist system and their political power is immensely great and for these reasons the United States, the leading capitalist nation in the world maintains an international economic system with minimum constraints on the functioning and operation of these giant multinationals. (Magdoff, 1960) Although another Marxist James OConner maintains that in modern capitalist systems, monopoly sector is the most important source of profits. However the monopoly sector can expand rather quickly than demand and employment and this leads to aggressive foreign policy. Thus overseas activity can create new opportunities of investment, sales and profit. Marxist analysts have also suggested a relationship between capitalist system, military expenditure and imperialism. This military power is important in direct sense because the use of force may be necessary to keep foreign areas open to investment and trade. (Connor, 1973) One of the main focuses of these capitalists was the supply of cheap raw materials and United States was itself dependent on foreign sources for some commodities that were essential for industrial operations and also military equipment. One author argues that all American foreign policy can be explained by the need â€Å"to insure that the flow of raw materials from the Third World is never interrupted.† (Dean, 1966) Marxist theories tend to explain the effect of imperialism and capitalism on underdeveloped countries. A famous quote of Karl Marx, â€Å"Capitalist production, therefore, develops technology, and the combining together of various processes into a social whole, only by sapping the original sources of all wealth the soil and the labourer.† Modernization Theory is another competing theory which tends to explain the underdevelopment of the Global South and also gives an essence of the internal factors involved in its causation. Modernization Theory suggests that the cause of underdevelopment in third world nations is their own policies and socio-economic structures that are based on feudalism, tribal system, family/cultural ties and primitive economic structures. The Third World society is lacking rules, regulations, law rule of jurisprudence and democracy and their underdevelopment is a product of their own slowness and failure to adapt to the modern worlds patterns of efficiency to modernize and develop themselves. While the modernization theory does recognize that the developed world has a role to play in the progress of the third world, the main focus of modernization theory is that the developed countries only have limited responsibility for the underdevelopment of the third world as the third world is largely respo nsible for its own poverty. They have a traditional societal approach and the new generation is expected to imitate their ancestors. In these societies there is hardly any belief of development and improved living conditions or the eagerness to engage in fundamental social changes such as a switch from subsistence economies to market economies. Traditional economies is where groups and individuals in position of immense power cause corruption and halt economic development and redistribute profits into their own hands. In order for underdeveloped countries to develop they have to abandon their traditional approach and their social and cultural models in replacement for the western traditions of free market system, good governance and stable economic planning. For capitalism to take hold and entrepreneurial environment with individual innovation and political freedom is required. (Isbister, 2003) A sound economic environment which will draw investment and prudent spending of public funds by officials for maintaining social infrastructure such as public safety and education is necessary for development. Disciplined monetary and fiscal policies are needed to create an investing environment for both domestic and foreign investors. Rule of law such as tort law and contract law should be enforced for businesses to expand from traditional family/tribal/cultural ties to person who will be trusting non-relative person, who will invest capital.    The benefit that the first world can give to the underdeveloped nations is the transfer of technological knowledge and assistance though enabling transnational corporations to introduce advance technology in their third world branch of plants. (Isbister, 2003) While the modernization theory implies that underdeveloped countries have to follow the same path of the first world , the dependency theory opposes the modernization theory and rather argues that impoverishment of the third world is caused by the economic well being of the first world. While contemporary dependency theory is largely Marxist in origin (Isbister, 2003), the foundation for the concept of dependency theory goes way far back to Adam Smith who acknowledged that the imperialist economic practices of the European nations had denied colonized peoples the benefits of socio-economic progress. The dependency theory argue that unfair economic practices and unequal trade conditions transfer the surplus generated in the dependent countries to dominant countries; financial relations are based on the viewpoint of the dominant countries based on export and loans of capital giving them interest in return and also control over the developing economy. Trade relations are based on monopolistic control of the market and the developing country are exporting their profits and interests out of their country but also bear the loss of control of their domestic resources. From colonial dependence in earlier times where the colonial countries of Europe economically dominated the colonized countries, to the financial-industrial dependence of the nineteenth century, where raw materials where supplied from these developing nations, each of the forms of dependence corresponds directly to the control that the first world had over the dependent world. Third world poverty is, therefore, not the result of tradition or accident but rather the direct result of plunder conducted by the first world for its own development and to sustain its economic position. As a result of first world actions in shaping the world order, in the eyes of dependency theorists, the third world has been impoverished and rendered incapable of balanced development. (Isbister, 2003) These two main theories discussed above (Modernization Theory Dependence Theory) are the primary theories of political science which try to explain the connection of Third World poverty and underdevelopment. The modernization theory adds value to these countries intrinsically and shares the fact that if the LDCs(less developed countries) do not change and move from their traditional socio-economic societal structures to the more modern and western style of governance, capitalism, democracy and rule of law. In my point of view the structure of dependence, by this I mean a situation in which one economy can only expand if another economies expansion in expected i.e. its own growth is dependent on a dominant countrys growth. The possibility of generating new investments depends on the existence of financial resources in foreign currency for the purchase of capital, machinery and raw materials that are not available domestically. The capital-industrial development depends on the amount of foreign currency a nation has to buy the raw materials and inputs for its industrial sector. The balance of trade in these countries is also less favourable and also the trade relations take place in a highly monopolistic international market which tends to lower prices of agricultural products, raw materials exported and raise the price of industrial capital equipment. Belonging to a Third World country myself and living majority of my life there in Pakistan, I personally think that the modernization theory goes beyond the dependency theory to explain the position of these LDCs as far as the internal factors are concerned where the more traditional society of the Third World like Pakistan need stability and change of reforms. Rule of law, democracy, equal distribution of wealth, human rights and openness in the mindset of a nation is very important for progress. However I do agree with the dependency theory in explaining the new world order which is purely market and capitalist. The true influence of external forces and world has been seen on developing nations and their economies. Foreign capital retains control over the most robust and dynamic centres of the economy and sends the profits back to the home country causing a highly unfavourable capital account in the LDCs Balance Of Payments thus ultimately limiting the supply of imported inputs. And the value of their export is usually very low and unfavourable terms of trade compared to the capital and technological export base of the First World. However the dependency theory criticises the modernization theory, both these theories tend to explain the economic gap between rich and poor countries. I tend to see the modernization theory with some bias as well because they suggest that the way of the western world is the only way towards development and progress but with development of nations such as China, whose export-manufacturing growth and totally different way of governance has proved the western philosophy wrong. However, in LDCs such as my country Pakistan, the feudal system has to be abolished. Feudalism halts the advancement of generations of workers and creates slavery and halts all kinds of advancement because of traditional ancestral approach unequal distribution of resources and wasting of what could actually be future human capital. I find parts of both these theories convincing for explaining the economic gap between the developed nations and the countries of Global South. External factors from the dependency theory and the internal factors of the modernization theory, together dissect completely the causes of the economic gap between the whole South/North divide. Bibliography: Connor, O. (1973). Fiscal Crisis. Dean, H. (1966). Scarce Resources. Gold, L. Recent Development in Marxists Theories Of the Capitalist State.(1975) Gold, L. W.(1975) Hobson, J. A. (1954). Imperialism. London: George Allen Unwin . http://www.talktalk.co.uk/reference/encyclopaedia/hutchinson/m0030871.html. (n.d.). Isbister, J. (2003). Promises Not Kept: Poverty and the Betrayal of Third. Laski. (2003). Foundations Of soverignity. Magdoff, H. (1960). Imperialism without Colonies.

Defibrillator :: essays research papers

General Questions What does AED stand for? AED stands for automated external defibrillator (or automated external defibrillation). What's an AED?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  An AED is a device used to administer an electric shock through the chest wall to the heart. Built-in computers assess the patient's heart rhythm, judge whether defibrillation is needed, and then administer the shock. Audible and/or visual prompts guide the user through the process. How does an AED work?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A microprocessor inside the defibrillator interprets (analyzes) the victim's heart rhythm through adhesive electrodes (some AED models require you to press an ANALYZE button). The computer analyzes the heart rhythm and advises the operator whether a shock is needed. AEDs advise a shock only to ventricular fibrillation and fast ventricular tachycardia. The electric current is delivered through the victim's chest wall through adhesive electrode pads. Why are AEDs important?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  AEDs are important because they strengthen the Chain of Survival. They can restore a normal heart rhythm in victims of sudden cardiac arrest. New, portable AEDs enable more people to respond to a medical emergency that requires defibrillation. When a person suffers a sudden cardiac arrest, their chance of survival decreases by 7% to 10% for each minute that passes without defibrillation. AEDs save lives! Who can use an AED?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Most AEDs are designed to be used by nonmedical personnel such as police, firefighters, flight attendants, security guards, and other lay rescuers who have been properly trained. Having more people in the community who can respond to a medical emergency by providing defibrillation will greatly increase sudden cardiac arrest survival rates. Why does someone having a heart attack need an AED?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When a heart attack becomes a full cardiac arrest, the heart most often goes into uncoordinated electrical activity called fibrillation. The heart twitches ineffectively and can't pump blood. The AED delivers electric current to the heart muscle, momentarily stunning the heart, stopping all activity. This gives the heart an opportunity to resume beating effectively. Will an AED always resuscitate someone in cardiac arrest?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The AED treats only a heart in ventricular fibrillation (VF), an irregular heart rhythm. In cardiac arrest without VF, the heart doesn't respond to electric currents but needs medications. The victim needs breathing support. AEDs are less successful when the victim has been in cardiac arrest for more than a few minutes, especially if no CPR was provided. AED Use Is an AED safe to use? An AED is safe to use by anyone who's been trained to operate it.

Les Miserable Essay -- essays research papers

t  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Les Miserables   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Les Miserables is one of the most captivating plays of our lifetime! It grabs the audience and pulls you in head first. You can't take out eyes off of the stage, and even if you can, the music will take your breath away! I have seen the play 3 times and I don't think I enjoy anything in this world more than watching that play!   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Les Miserables starts off on a chain gang in France. The sheriff comes out and gives one of the convicts his release papers. This convict is the lead role who name is Jeran Valjean, who has served 19 years on the chain gang for stealing a mouthful of bread. Jean Valjean leaves the prison and sets out to find work. But no one will give him work because of his tattoo which reads 24601, his prison ID number. Then in the time when he couldn't be more down a priest invites Valjean to stay with him. Despite the kind priest taking him in and feeding him, Valjean decides to take the silver from the table. In the run he gets captured be the police. But instead of telling the truth about Valjeans thievery, he gives the criminal more silver and sends the police away. He makes Jean Valjean promise that he will become an honest man with this silver.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The next scene in 10 years later set in a factory where we meat the other main character, Fantine. As she is reading a letter her perverted boss snatches it up with his hands and re... Les Miserable Essay -- essays research papers t  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Les Miserables   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Les Miserables is one of the most captivating plays of our lifetime! It grabs the audience and pulls you in head first. You can't take out eyes off of the stage, and even if you can, the music will take your breath away! I have seen the play 3 times and I don't think I enjoy anything in this world more than watching that play!   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Les Miserables starts off on a chain gang in France. The sheriff comes out and gives one of the convicts his release papers. This convict is the lead role who name is Jeran Valjean, who has served 19 years on the chain gang for stealing a mouthful of bread. Jean Valjean leaves the prison and sets out to find work. But no one will give him work because of his tattoo which reads 24601, his prison ID number. Then in the time when he couldn't be more down a priest invites Valjean to stay with him. Despite the kind priest taking him in and feeding him, Valjean decides to take the silver from the table. In the run he gets captured be the police. But instead of telling the truth about Valjeans thievery, he gives the criminal more silver and sends the police away. He makes Jean Valjean promise that he will become an honest man with this silver.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The next scene in 10 years later set in a factory where we meat the other main character, Fantine. As she is reading a letter her perverted boss snatches it up with his hands and re...