Debate on Board Exams

Good morning, one and all! Today’s debate is quite interesting, as we are the victims, rather the part of the society who sees it very closely than the rest. Now, frankly speaking, within each one of us, somewhere or the other we feel, very strongly feel , that board exams are a curse or rather some dangerous, ferocious animals. Truly the very spirit of examination aims at something noble, but unfortunately the implementation process is very unrealistic.The present examination systems, as I said are very unrealistic, and moreover focus on the core subject of ‘Writing based on Memory’; there isn’t any scope for a child to enhance his/her creativity, there is always an obstruction on the out-of-box thinking. The child along with his parents suffer from acute tension, anxiety and fear during the period of exams, that lead to a very different mental status of a child, and is a symbol that the child is stressed out.It is not possible, to judge a student’s capacity in a mere 3 hour exam, How can it be possible that a 3 hour exam will foretell a student’s future? And that, this so called board exam be the only parameter to judge a child’s ability. It is really insane to say that, I feel. And moreover, its pure gambling at times, like it depends on the question, and the child’s preparations that coincide to give a better outcome. Sometimes it does and sometimes not. Mentioning draw backs of the exams will lead me to write a novel full of reasons.Present education system encourages cramming, unnecessary expenditure on help books and also encourages private tuition which has resulted in mushrooming of a large number of tuition shops in every city and even small towns by inexperienced tutors, with a lure to make huge turnovers†¦ Einstein once said and I quote â€Å"Every animal has their own talent, but if we judge a fish with its ability to climb tree, It lands to be a failure, always† This is what, board exam does, It tries to judge the memory power, and the power to reproduce the answers on the exam paper, It is a mechanical approach to test a human’s knowledge and not a holistic way.Now, I would like to ask you, what basically is exam!? Some may say, it’s an art to reproduce things on the exam paper, and yes truly it is! But what is the process involved? Do we give importance to that!? No, some of us might have cheated, used unfair means in the exam, and would come out bravely and speak ‘See I cheated and was undetected† we take credit for this, and here, the basic aim of board exams comes down breaking ! This symbolizes, and I conclude that board exams, or any Exam that focuses on memory, never helps the child in a long run. Debate on Board Exams Good morning, one and all! Today’s debate is quite interesting, as we are the victims, rather the part of the society who sees it very closely than the rest. Now, frankly speaking, within each one of us, somewhere or the other we feel, very strongly feel , that board exams are a curse or rather some dangerous, ferocious animals. Truly the very spirit of examination aims at something noble, but unfortunately the implementation process is very unrealistic.The present examination systems, as I said are very unrealistic, and moreover focus on the core subject of ‘Writing based on Memory’; there isn’t any scope for a child to enhance his/her creativity, there is always an obstruction on the out-of-box thinking. The child along with his parents suffer from acute tension, anxiety and fear during the period of exams, that lead to a very different mental status of a child, and is a symbol that the child is stressed out.It is not possible, to judge a student’s capacity in a mere 3 hour exam, How can it be possible that a 3 hour exam will foretell a student’s future? And that, this so called board exam be the only parameter to judge a child’s ability. It is really insane to say that, I feel. And moreover, its pure gambling at times, like it depends on the question, and the child’s preparations that coincide to give a better outcome. Sometimes it does and sometimes not. Mentioning draw backs of the exams will lead me to write a novel full of reasons.Present education system encourages cramming, unnecessary expenditure on help books and also encourages private tuition which has resulted in mushrooming of a large number of tuition shops in every city and even small towns by inexperienced tutors, with a lure to make huge turnovers†¦ Einstein once said and I quote â€Å"Every animal has their own talent, but if we judge a fish with its ability to climb tree, It lands to be a failure, always† This is what, board exam does, It tries to judge the memory power, and the power to reproduce the answers on the exam paper, It is a mechanical approach to test a human’s knowledge and not a holistic way.Now, I would like to ask you, what basically is exam!? Some may say, it’s an art to reproduce things on the exam paper, and yes truly it is! But what is the process involved? Do we give importance to that!? No, some of us might have cheated, used unfair means in the exam, and would come out bravely and speak ‘See I cheated and was undetected† we take credit for this, and here, the basic aim of board exams comes down breaking ! This symbolizes, and I conclude that board exams, or any Exam that focuses on memory, never helps the child in a long run.

Rhetorical Situation Essay

The rhetorical situation consists of a few different elements that the writer must consider when planning and writing an effective essay. The reader must consider his or her place within the rhetorical situation as they critically read a work in order to better understand the work’s general argument. A rhetorical situation has four components which include audience, purpose, persona and context. The audience includes the readers who your essay is implied to, the purpose is the reason for your writing, the persona is the way the author is presenting themselves in their writing, and the context includes the factors that influence writing such as their background history. These components are what make up a rhetorical situation and without them there is no rhetorical situation.  One of the first components of the rhetorical situation includes the audience, which is who the writing is directed to. In this case, the audience would be our professor. According to the CSUS Student Writing Handbook, â€Å"Sometimes teachers will play the role of â€Å"interested reader† and read your writing just to find out what you’re thinking or to get to know you better as a writer and a thinker† (29). When our professor reads our writing it gives them a better understanding of the writer, their thoughts, and imaginations expressed in words. Every kind of writing has its own audience they imply to and therefore it is important for a writer to know who their audiences are. Knowing your audience helps you to make decisions about what information you should include, how you should arrange that information, and what kind of supporting details will be necessary for the reader to understand what you are presenting. Audience also influences the tone and structure of the document. In Craik’s article, â€Å"Memory Changes In Normal and Pathological Aging,† he states, â€Å"Declining memory abilities are reported by virtually all older adults and give rise to the greatest number of complaints about aging in older people† (343). This shows that the audience Craik is mostly implying to would be older adults because those are the kinds of people who experience declining memory loss. As stated in the CSUS Student Writing Handbook, â€Å"Your audience will affect your purpose for writing, the persona you take on, and the way you develop and organize your text† (29). This clearly shows how important audience is and  how much it affects the other components of the rhetorical situation such as purpose, persona and text. One of the second components of the rhetorical situation would be the purpose which is the writer’s reason for writing such as to inform, entertain, explain or persuade. The purpose of an article is typically included in the introduction to give the reader an accurate, concrete understanding of what the document will cover and what the audience can gain from reading it. According to the CSUS Writing Handbook , â€Å"A writer’s purpose could include the goals the writer has for her writing, the purpose that’s set out for the writer in a teacher’s assignment, and the influence of factors like the audience the writer is addressing or the type of writing† (29). The purpose can also be described as the goals the writer is trying to accomplish in their writing for its audience to know what the article is about. It is important for readers to recognize that behind every text is a writer, and that the writer has a purpose or reason for writing and a particular point of view. For example, in the article â€Å"Memory Changes in Normal and Pathological Aging†, the purpose of this article was to inform others how memory loss occurs as one ages. A writer can have many purposes such as to inform the reader by providing them information, persuade or influence, and entertain. In this case Craik was trying to inform his audience in his article by giving factual information about memory loss and its symptoms. Persona is another component of the rhetorical situation which is the way the writer presents there selves in the text. Many concepts such as the way the writer includes voice, tone, attitude and the words they use in a text describes the persona of an article. As stated in the CSUS Student Writing Handbook, â€Å"The persona you take on in your writing will depend on your purpose for writing, the subject you’re writing about, the audience you’re writing to, the type of text you’re writing, and the context for writing† (29). For example, if an authors tone is very serious in their writing with many facts, information and research included, then their writing would most likely pertain to people like scientists, doctors or researchers. Therefore, this is how the persona of an article can easily shape their audience because of the kind of tone the author displays. In the article â€Å"Memory Changes in Normal and Pathological Aging†, Craik presents himself with a  more serious tone and goes straight to the point. How he stated facts and statistics on memory loss creates the persona of his article. One of the last components of the rhetorical situation would be the context. As mentioned in the CSUS Student Writing Handbook, â€Å"The context of a rhetorical situation includes all the broader social, cultural, and historical factors that can influence writing† (29). This includes such information such as the background information of the author like where they are from or their history as a writer, it can include their cultural background, information on where and when they created their writing, or the history of the rhetorical situation. In many kinds of articles the authors clearly state personal information about themselves such as where they were born or other information to give their reader a better understanding of them. According to Bazerman, â€Å"The conversational model points up the fact that writing occurs within the context of previous writing and advances the total sum of the discourse† (658). By this quote Bazerman means that context can also include others past experiences that the writer has learned about. â€Å"Context could also be related to the type of text you’re writing—for example, in a timed essay test factors like how long you have to write and how broad or narrow the questions are will have a major effect on what you say and how you say it†, as quoted in the CSUS Student Writing Handbook (29). Therefore, not only does context include background history of an author, but context can also include instructions when you are witting a timed essay.   Whenever we write, whether it’s email to a friend or a toast for a wedding, an English essay or a resume, we face some kind of a rhetorical situation. The term the â€Å"Rhetorical Situation† is used to refer to all the features of audience, purpose, persona and context. These are all important elements that we need to think about carefully because it becomes a part of our everyday lives. Works Cited Bazerman, Charles. â€Å"A Relationship between Reading and Writing: The Conversational Model.† College English 41.6 (1980), 656-661. Craik, Fergus I. M. â€Å" Memory Changes in Normal and Pathological Aging.† Canadian Journal of Psychiatry 53.6 (2008): 343-345 Melzer, Dan, et al, eds. Student Writing Handbook. Sacramento, CA: Sacramento State University, 2009.

Bringing a Change in Organizational Culture Essay

Critically explain why changing organisational culture is so difficult and how managers can do it. Culture can be defined as â€Å"a set of basic tacit assumptions about how the world is and ought to be that a group of people share and that determines their perceptions, thoughts, feelings, and, to some degree, their overt behaviour† (Schein, 1996). Organizational culture is depend on differences in norms and shared values which are learned in workplace and to direct behaviour of members in the particular organisation. Cabrera, Cabrera& Barajas 2001) Organisational culture was built on its shared beliefs and values which was the guidance to solve problems. This essay will introduce the definition of organisational culture and explain why changing organisational culture is so difficult. The main reasons are the fear of uncertain future and difficult to establish the organisational culture. In addition, the essay is to interpret how managers can change organisational culture and how does it work. Managers can change organisational culture through communication and management strategies. This essay may introduce the detail about changing organisational culture. Most scholars think that changing organisational culture is difficult; however a few people think it is easy to change organisational culture. As Chu (2003) stated that organizational culture is contributed to change. In his opinion, organisational culture can collect different values and actions to form a frame to guide the behaviour of members within an organisation. In other words, organisational culture can shape what employees do in the company and control tendency of company. For example, a company may have employees who are unwilling to change and who are conductive to change, if managers recruit staff that are innovated and willing to change, they may be the new power to change organisational culture. Therefore, to form a â€Å"change† culture can make changing organisational culture easier. However, it is also difficult to establish an organisational culture. It is need to experience a long time and face lots of difficult and challenges. According to levels of cultural analysis (Wood 2004), it shows how difficult to form the organisational culture, especially the deepest level of cultural analysis: common assumption. Common assumptions are to collect truths that organisational employees shares as a result of their common experiences and that direct beliefs and behaviours. It is extremely hard to isolate these modes, but it is interpret why culture is full of organisational life. It is hard to shape common assumptions if members of the organisation do not experience same ups and downs or cooperate long time. As Ferrara-Love (1997) stated that organizational culture does not appear in a night. On the contrary, organisational culture evolves during the time, and is the collective beliefs of individuals who worked together. Therefore, it is hard to establish organisational culture, to say nothing of changing organisational culture. At the same time, it is debatable to recruit plenty employees when the company want to change organisational culture. The new power is unstable to the company. It is hard for managers to control the new employees and it still need to cost much time. To conclude, it is difficult to change organisational culture. Organisational culture plays an ineradicable role to different kinds of organisational behaviours and members within organisations. Thus, it is always failure if certain problems of organisational culture were not being considered. Moreover, if managers want to change organisational culture which focuses on shared values or beliefs, it will be more difficult; because on the deepest of organisational culture, it formed invisible and omnipresent old guard or power which makes organisational change failure. As Locus and Kline (2008) stated that organizations always appear â€Å"learning disability† and â€Å"defensive routines† which obstruct the learning and organizational change. It shows the strong of conservative power. When managers try to change the organizational culture, they always face opposition. What was worse, the conservative power always important to the organisation. They make huge contribution to the company, which used to promote the development of company. Therefore, they play an important role to organisation. It is difficult for managers to challenge their authority. Moreover, the reason people do not want to change is the nature of people. People are easy to be used to do one thing and do not want to accept new thing. They are afraid of the unknown thing after change. As Ferrara-Love (1997) stated that people are comfortable with exist ways to finish the work. In their opinion, change is just the threat to their peaceful. Thus, they do not want to change organisational culture and dispute to change. It is obvious that changing organisational culture is so difficult. Leadership is the key to change organisational culture. The achievements of an organisation mostly depend on the leadership of managers. As Fishman and Kavanaugh (1989) stated that the culture of an organization and how employees want to change was formed substantially by leader. For example, if managers uphold to change organisational culture steady and have enough ability to direct staff, it will achieve maximum results with little effort to change organisational culture. Thus, managers are the guidance of the company; they are main factor to change organisational culture. Clement (1994) also expounded that management leadership is basic factor in a major organisational change effort. From this, it can be seen that the importance of leadership in change organisational culture. However, it is hard to change managers. If managers are not satisfied with their employees, employees can be changed, but managers will not changed unless the company go bankrupt. Thus, the most difficult to change organisational culture is to change the mind of managers. For instance, if managers make no attempt to make progress and milk-toast, it will be the most resistance to change organisational change. For this reason, the best way to change is from up to bottom. At the same time, change the mind and ability of leader is the difficult demand for changing organisational culture. To change organisational culture, managers have lot of things to do it. The role of managers is very important through up down system. As Ott (1989) suggested that the leader can do lots of things included staff selection, socialization, removal of deviating members, cultural communication and role model to guide behaviour. For example, managers can choose employees who will support to change organisational culture. Although it will not change the situation directly, they can be the power push the step of changing organisational culture. In the same way, managers can fire part of staff who opposes to change. It is not only reducing resistance to change organisational culture, but also overawe the opponent to change their minds. Furthermore, managers need to be the role model to change organisational culture. The behaviour of managers can be the maximum power to guide behaviour of managers. For example, when managers try to change organisational culture but not to do anything to change it, employees will not follow managers with any anxiety. To sum up, it is important to be the role model of changing organisational culture for managers. Furthermore, communication is an important tool for managers to change organisational culture. According to Fry (2003), he examined that leadership as motivation to change; managers need to communicate with employees about their feelings. In other words, managers should get in touch with employees and let them know core values of changing organisational culture and the need of changing organisational culture. The employees may understand the determination of managers and why to change organisational culture. Then, they can have their decision about changing organisational culture. In this way, it can reduce the distance between managers and employees, and let employees think they are also the participants to change organisational culture, they are not insignificant. When employees think they are the part of changing organisational culture, they will follow managers and try their best to help managers. At the same time, managers communicate with employees also can understand what employees think about and then do well about interactive. In addition, it can reduce the fear of employees about unknown future. As Kanter, Stein and Jick (1992) stated that communication is basic tool within any change process and failure to change always because of the feeling uncertain and anxious about their future. Thus, communication is very significant for managers to change organizational culture. In addition, to help employees to change organisational culture, managers need to teach them related skills and knowledge to work differently. As Ke and Wei (2007) suggested that employees thought to learn skills and knowledge as their main responsibility. Thus, employees may accept skills and knowledge easier than accept directly new culture. When they understand how to do, it may easy for them to accept to change organisational culture. At the same time, it is also the good way to remove their fear to uncertain future. When they master relevant skills and knowledge, they will be confident to deal with change of organisational culture. In this way, they will not fight against to change organisational culture as before. Then they can be the power help to change organisational culture. The most important things to change organisational culture are to change origin perception and beliefs. According to the definition of organisational culture, if managers want to change organisational culture, they must change shared values. The same as Whitely (1995) said that, managers need to be able to help employees to remove the past values which are not consistent with current shared vision of future organizational arrangements. The shared values and beliefs are keys of the organisational culture. Thus, managers need to change origin values of employees to change organisational culture. For example, managers can change new uniform to show the new the new appearance of company. According to Wood (2006), managers can create processes, systems and ways of working that enable to put the new values into practice. The new values can take place of the past one. In addition, managers can recruit and select new employees to help change origin values. As Harris and Metallinos (2002) stated that new employees were outside the company who did not affect by origin organizational culture, thus they were easy to accept new culture. That is why managers to select new employees to enlarge the power to change organizational culture. The new values and beliefs can be brought into the company in this way. In the same way, managers can retrain employees and engraft new rules to them, although it will not have better effect than new employees, it also can help to change organizational culture. In a word, managers need to create new values and beliefs to substitute origin one. Technology change also can promote to change organisational change. Although Weick (1990) thought technology change may make people anxiety about the values of new technology to their work, the new technology is the progress to organisational culture. There is no doubt technology change may improve work efficiency which may improve organisational culture. As Harris and Metallinos (2002) suggested that the application of new technology and subsequent development of system would promote standardization. The implementation of new technology can make employees understand new things which break routine. It also can be the sally port to open the mind of employees, let them know advantages of changing. When they can accept technology change, it is easy for them to support to change organisational change. Thus, managers can first bring in advanced technology to improve organisational change. Then teaching them to learn about it and establish new values in this process. This essay introduces what are the organisational culture and two main parts of organisational culture, the reason why changing organisational culture is difficult and how managers do to change it. This essay support to change organisational culture is so difficult because of the fear of unknown and difficult process to form organisational culture.

Effects of advertisement for childeren and youth Research Paper

Effects of advertisement for childeren and youth - Research Paper Example Unfortunately, while these are normally targeting adult’s children who often have unrestricted or unsupervised access to TV, this becomes collateral damage when exposed to the many sexually insinuative adverts out there. Take an example of Gucci it runs among others a commercial with a picture of a half-naked man with a woman on her knees at his feet in magazines accessible to children (Poulton, 2011). According to the longitudinal carried out in 2009 and presented to the pediatric societies, children exposure to sexual content on TV makes them more likely to become sexually active early and hence run a greater risk of sexually transmitted diseases (Morris, 2011). Moreover, another negative aspect of TV commercials on children is that they can encourage bad behaviors such as drug and alcohol abuse as well as violence. Camel cigarettes was under fire recently when a cigarette commercial was claimed to target teen age girls, in the one of the ads was a picture of a little, classic, black dress and fashion accessories, juxtaposed with a patent leather cigarette case. This could clearly have attracted the attention of teenage girls who would normally associate with the most of the aforementioned items (Boyles, n.d). This and such commercials others portraying violence and other conventionally antisocial behavior are likely to negatively influence children. Nonetheless, not all adverts are negative and several of them actually play an important role in informing and educating children on per tin tissues such as health and even sexuality. Condom adverts for instance are known to have a negative effect on teens, however, the upside is they provide information on safe sex, and this information is very important to keep help them protect themselves should they decide to have sex anyway. Ultimately, it is the collective duty of parents and TV and advertising firms to keep children safe form the adverts that

Insights Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Insights - Essay Example India for instance has not passed through the process of industrialization but has jumped into the post modern period unlike the developed nations who have their foundations in place. In order to hold back from the dangers of sudden breakdown, it is important for these nations to insulate themselves properly against the impact of economic downfalls in US which might trickle down to the regions enjoying so far the benefits of outsourcing. The countries like India and China need to develop a strong base of R&D in order to be self sufficient in technology instead of having to borrow the knowledge and tools from abroad. The economies need more inventions and innovations in this field in order to preserve originality. This will help the economies to gain more confidence in them because in a flat world sustainability is also an important concern to be addressed. One major problem which often arises is the fact that owing to the difference in exchange rate. Any invention requiring a patent is more likely to be shelled out to a multinational firm which will buy it expensively rather than an India firm. With globalization being so effective over the last decade and the common playing field enabled by triple convergence, Indians are more likely to sell their inventions to a multinational firm especially if it is something related to IT which might help business operations perform more efficiently.

Discuss the ways in which contemporary organisational theory can be Essay

Discuss the ways in which contemporary organisational theory can be read as criticism of organisational theories developed in the course of the 20th century - Essay Example During the early 20th century the imperialist era started while the situation then demanded the workers of revolutionary and the new type parties are said to be capable to lead then bring the completions which was then victorious as the struggle that is against bourgeoisie preserving the rule and then set up the repressive ramification with state apparatus, the military machine which is said to be powerful and the means in economic, political and ideological for the purpose of disuniting as well s disarming with those people who are working. The workers of new type are said to be capable in order to lead the class who are working and not to be advanced as well as organized and conscious part in politics with the class considerably working but also in the organization as the highest form that directs all the proletarian organizations with all forms of struggles by the proletariat. There is also evolution of capitalism during the 20th century with pre-monopoly capitalism that becomes v ery imperative with the said working class raising the This is also the period that marked the struggle which is against the right line of opportunist in terms of International leadership in order to build the revolutionary parties that is proletarian capable to lead the socialist revolutions in terms of the countries classified as the capitalist imperialist and the revolutions that are said to be democratic in Asia, African and those countries who are said to Latin-American under the oppression and plunder while both the revolutionary trends may form the integral parts of the world as the revolution in socialist area as well as the organization and at the same time leading the proletariat with the toiling masses in terms of democracy and of course socialism. The struggle was then experienced on all the fronts under the CPSU leadership leading to the great victory regarding the Revolution of October while forming the Third International as well as the communist parties' formation that happened and experience all over the world which was then surrounded with the class as revolutionary and organizational mass. The adverse were said to be the real break through from the stagnant period facing the movement of revolution by the first decade of the 20th century. The trade unions was then organized as part of the said activities which was then during the period while Lenin was able to write the Trade Union Organizations considerably of tremendous value that served the development as well as the economic struggle consolidation but became very important in terms of auxiliary in agitation for politics and the organizational revolution and those right who are Contemporary Organizational Theory P

Social Impact of Technology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Social Impact of Technology - Essay Example and deforestation as a result of this insatiable need for paper (which resulted in environmental degradation) were sky high not to mention the untidiness associated with littered paper all over. With the age of computers however, people could now store a lot of information on tiny microchips that would have otherwise taken up truck-loads of papers in the ancient world. Computers have in this way single handedly saved our environments (Hintz & Hintz, 1983). World economies have also flourished because of these machines. Because of computers, there is now faster communication, better service delivery and exchange of currency through a plethora of network services and e-mails. Lucrative business engagements can now be initiated via Skype, for instance, or simply by sending mail at the click of a button. In addition, operational costs have been significantly reduced and businesses spend much less on communication unlike the old days when messengers had to be expensively hired and paid (Knowles, 1976). Education has been made much easier too. Almost all information and books are now found in the internet unlike in the past where learners had to contend with the mental drawbacks or visiting distant and paying for library fees and tuition to acquire basic information. One can now access almost all information from the comfort of their homes and send and receive feedback on various issues from other students without much hassle. Computers have in addition, improved the quality of education now offered in the modern school. Teachers are now free to focus on student development unlike in the past when one, for example, had to rush through a lecture in order to go and manually calculate scores for end-session evaluations and so on (Hintz & Hintz, 1983). Perhaps one of the grey areas concerning this fantastic innovation concerns its influence on relationships and morals where it can present both positive and wildly negative impacts. In as much as computers have allowed

Derivatives and Alternative Investments Coursework

Derivatives and Alternative Investments - Coursework Example If the swaps market were less liquid than it is, market mortgage lenders would find it more difficult and expensive to manage the interest rate risk of the prepayment option in fixed rate mortgages (Greenspan 2004). The extensive use of interest rate swaps means that volatility of the swap spread can affect a large range of market participants, as they rely on a stable relationship between the interest rate swap rate and other interest rates in using swaps for their hedging objectives. For this reason, trading activity that would stabilize the swap spread performs a useful role in ensuring that market participants can rely on the market for their trading and hedging needs. By market convention, the fixed-rate payer that has a long swap position in a fixed/floating interest rate swap is called the taker or buyer of the swap, while the floating-rate payer that has a short swap position in the fixed/floating interest rate swap is called the provider or seller of the swap. The fixed-rate payer and the floating-rate payer of an interest rate swap are called the counterparties of the swap. ... For instance, a fall in the market prices of the fixed/floating interest rate swaps will make the existing swap contract a liability to the counterparty with a long swap position and an asset to the counterparty with a short swap position. Conversely, a rise in the market prices of the fixed/floating interest rate swaps will bring a gain to the counterparty with a long swap position and a loss to the counterparty with a short swap position. Financial managers should be able to determine at any time the market values of the individual swap contracts held by their firms, if they want to manage the swap positions of their firms in a prudent fashion. In the following, we shall develop and discuss models for determining the market values of existing long and short swap positions. Credit risk and interest rate or market risk are the two major types of risk inherent in an interest rate swap position. In this section, some brief comments on the credit risk are followed by a more detailed exa mination of the interest rate risk. Since interest rate swaps are private contractual agreements between two counterparties, they are of course subject to a credit or default risk: the counterparty might not meet its interest payment obligation. However, it should be pointed out that the credit risks in interest rate swaps are relatively unimportant for two reasons. First, because entering into an interest rate swap agreement is a voluntary market transaction performed by two counterparties, a counterparty’s credit standing must be acceptable to the other counterparty If one counterparty’s credit standing has not reached the par, then a letter of credit from a

Public Nuisance which the Teenage Youngsters Commit in the Essay

Public Nuisance which the Teenage Youngsters Commit in the Neighbourhood - Essay Example It is seen that youth have infringed human rights by giving cause for complaints by local pensioners to law enforcement agencies and other concerned authorities regarding their night activities. Even family members of the resident pensioners have booked complaints regarding the youth on a number of occasions. But no action was yet forthcoming, although they were regularly committing the nuisance in the locality. Under Article 11 of UK Human Rights Act 1998, which relates to freedom of assembly and association under subsection 1, it is seen that â€Å"everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and to freedom of association with others.† (Article 11: Freedom of Assembly and Association). An interpretation of this section could be in terms of fact that it is possible that this article shall not circumvent enforcement of legal limits on enforcement of these rights by members of the law or others, â€Å"in case this is necessarily prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security or public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.† (Article 8: Right to Respect for Private and Family Life). In this case, the applicant filed a case regarding noise pollution from Heathrow Airport, Section 76(1) of the Civil Aviation Act (CVA)1982, which enforce a â€Å"statutory bar† on the action being brought against noise pollution caused by aircraft flying across Heathrow Airport was arbitrary and one-sided. Their complaint was that this provision substantially annulled their privilege to seek recompense in Civil Courts under Section 6 of the Act. However, even when the case reached a higher Court, it held that the main contention was the applicability, or otherwise of Section 76(1) and the question of Article 6(1) did not arise.

Performance Enhancing Drugs Should Be Legalized Essay Example for Free

Performance Enhancing Drugs Should Be Legalized Essay The illegal use of anabolic steroids by professional athletes is often a hot button topic in the news. Steroids were banned due to the negative side effects associated with its use. Despite the ban, many athletes are suspected of illicit steroid use to enhance their performance. There is great cost associated with random testing to determine if such athletes use steroids. Anne Whitaker and Rosalyn Carson-Dewitt, in the article, â€Å"Point: Performance Enhancing Drugs Should Be Legalized†, make a somewhat effective argument as to why it should be legalized. This article provides an argument for the legalization of anabolic steroid use by athletes. The authors parallel the use of cosmetic surgery and unhealthy diet regimens by models and actresses and the use of steroids by professional athletes to stay at the top of their games. The authors provide factual information regarding steroids and the effects its use has on the body, followed by their opinion as to how legalization would benefit not only the sports world, but also society as a whole. Whitaker and Carson-Dewitt provide a number of facts regarding the characteristics of steroids, the effects of their use, and the history of its illegalization. They describe different methods for use: cycling (on and off use of a particular dose), stacking (taking multiple steroids simultaneously), and pyramiding (increasing and decreasing the dosage over time) (Whitaker and Carson-Dewitt, 2011). The authors go on to describe the physical effects of steroid use such as organ damage, stroke, cancer and high blood pressure (Whitaker and Carson-Dewitt, 2011). The authors then provide a timeline as to the banning of steroid use in various professional sports organizations followed by a national ban. It is the opinion of Carson-Dewitt and Whitaker that steroids should be legalized. They opined that legalization would have manifold benefits: increased safety and regulation of steroid use, decreased access and use of steroids by teenaged children; and reduction in the costs associated with testing. While, on the surface, these opinions seem to be logical, the arguments are not all supported by facts. The claim that legalization of steroids would reduce its use by teenagers, simply because they would be prescribed by doctors, is baseless. Teenagers would likely continue to access steroids through the same methods currently used. The cost of testing may or may not be reduced as regulation would still limit the amount of steroids to be safely used. Testing would still occur to verify that legal safe limits were observed. The factual information contained in the article is sufficient to provide a perspective from which to understand the authors’ argument. The authors fail, however to provide factual information to support their claims. This results in an argument that sounds plausible on the surface, but falls flat with any amount of critical thinking. For this reason, I believe the authors failed to make a compelling argument. References Carson-Dewitt, Rosalyn, and Whitaker, Ann. â€Å"Point: Performance Enhancing Drugs Should Be Legalized.† By: Points of View: Steroids, 2011.

Samsung managing intangible assets across borders

Samsung managing intangible assets across borders Unlike other electronic companies Samsung origins were not involving electronics but other products. In 1938 the Samsungs founder Byung-Chull Lee set up a trade export company in Korea, selling fish, vegetables, and fruit to China. Within a decade Samsung had flour mills and confectionary machines and became a co-operation in 1951. From 1958 onwards Samsung began to expand into other industries such as financial, media, chemicals and ship building throughout the 1970s. In 1969, Samsung Electronics was established producing what Samsung is most famous for, Televisions, Mobile Phones (throughout 90s), Radios, Computer components and other electronics devices. In 1978, Samsung Semiconductor became a separate entity producing for the domestic market. With the development of a 64K DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) VLSI chip (Very Large Scale Integration electronics chips) it expanded globally. In 1987, the founder and chairman, Byung-Chull Lee passed away and Kun-Hee Lee took over as chairman. In the 1990s Samsung began to expand globally building factories in the US, Britain, Germany, Thailand, Mexico, Spain and China until 1997. In 1997 nearly all Korean businesses shrunk in size and Samsung was no exception. They sold businesses to relieve debt and cut employees down lowering personnel by 50,000. But thanks to the electronic industry they managed to curb this and continue to grow. In the financial crisis in that year, Samsung was facing US $20 billion in debt and had to slim down the company by more than 100 non-essential businesses in a restructuring process. It kept only 47 affiliated companies and strategically re-focused on four technical components: displays, storage media, random access memory (RAM) and processors. The history of Samsung and mobile phones stretches back to over 10 years. In 1993 Samsung developed the lightest mobile phone of its era. Then they developed smart phones and a phone combined mp3 player towards the end of the 20th century. To this date Samsung are dedicated to the 3G industry, making video, camera phones at a speed to keep up with consumer demand. Samsung has made steady growth in the mobile industry and are currently second but competitor Nokia is ahead with more than 100% increase in shares. It is ranked as number 21 of the 100 most valuable brands worldwide carried out by Interbrand in 2008. This is an increase of more than 200% since 2000 with brand value rising from US $5.2 billon up to US $17.5 billion.  [1]   Samsung has recently overtaken Sony as the worlds biggest producer of televisions. Its philosophy of bringing people the latest technology at a fair price has quickly made it a firm consumer favorite, while its phones are now second only to Nokia. Looking ahead, the brand realizes the importance of having stronger representation at the point of sale, so it will open more Samsung retail outlets to deliver the full brand experience. The restructuring process led Samsung also to focus on core businesses. It restructured its business into four strategic business areas Home Network, Mobile Network, Office Network and Core components that support network products. Samsung follows a simple business philosophy: to devote its talent and technology to creating superior products and services that contribute to a better global society. Every day, its people bring this philosophy to life. Its leaders search for the brightest talent from around the world and give them the resources they need to be the best at what they do. The result is that all of its products-from memory chips that help businesses store vital knowledge to mobile phones that connect people across continents- have the power to enrich lives. And thats what making a better global society is all about. At Samsung, a rigorous code of conduct and some core values are at the heart of every decision they make. Quite simply, a company is its people. At Samsung, they are dedicated to giving their people a wealth of opportunities to reach their full potential. Everything they do at Samsung is driven by an unyielding passion for excellence -and an unfaltering commitment to develop the best products and services on the market. In todays fast-paced global economy, change is constant and innovation is critical to a companys survival. As they have done for 70 years, they set their sights on the future, anticipating market needs and demands so they can steer their company toward long-term success. Operating in an ethical way is the foundation of their business. Everything they do is guided by a moral compass that ensures fairness, respect for all stakeholders and complete transparency. A business cannot be successful unless it creates prosperity and opportunity for others. Samsung is dedicated to being a socially and environmentally responsible corporate citizen in every community where they operate around the globe. COMMUNICATION POLICY Since 1998 Samsung has been an official sponsor of the Olympic Games: Nagano (1998), Sydney (2000), Salt Lake City (2002) and continued its sponsorship until 2008. During the Games Samsung provides athletes, organizational staff and journalists with especially developed mobile phones promoting Samsungs products and delivering its promise of being an innovative and flexible company. With the Olympic Games Samsung gained quick, cost-effective global exposure. Its brand awareness increased after each Olympics about 2% and had a huge impact on the quick rise of the brand. Brand value increased since 2000 until 2004 about 100%. Samsung lends support to people and their communities in many different ways. Their current area of focus is on investing in teenagers futures, through support of science education and creative thinking that encourages leadership; assisting children in low-income families by supporting educational infrastructure and discovering and supporting outstanding students; and supporting programs that encourage family well-being. They also carry out programs in these areas at each of their eight volunteer centers. Samsung provides support for diverse artistic and cultural activities around the world. Over the years, Samsung has contributed extensively to numerous museums, galleries and exhibits in Korea and in many countries, including the United States and France. The Samsung Museum of Modern Art collects preserves and exhibits modern and contemporary art from Korea and abroad, while the Samsung Childrens Museum, the first of its kind in Korea, invites children have fun exploring the world they live in. Samsung also hosts and supports various cultural events for children and programs that encourage their early artistic development. In 1995, Samsung launched the Social Contribution Corps to encourage employees to get involved in community service. The initiative has since expanded to eight volunteer centers across Korea, manned by social welfare experts who support the development of employee volunteer programs. Their employees use their expertise and skills to give back to local communities and each employee donates an average of 10 hours to community-based projects. Strengthening the minds and fostering the creativity of young people is a primary focus of many of Samsungs programs. Samsung is a major supporter of the Korea Youth Science Olympiad, the countrys most prestigious science competition for junior, middle and high schools and the National Students Creativity Olympiad, aimed at encouraging inventiveness among students from junior to high school levels. Since 2001, Samsung has teamed up with the Green Family Movement Association to run a green school, which promotes environmental awareness in children and enables them to take practical steps to protect the ecosystems. For its target customers, Samsung established both in B2C and B2B the concept of hero products. It means that each Samsung subsidiary has to define at least one hero product, e.g. mobile phone, TV or digital camera, which has based on local or regional market research potential to become a blockbuster. Samsung very closely involves its target customers in the development/research process via generating feedback on its B2B online platforms. To achieve business impact, a common planning/monitoring across disciplines is needed with a brand management via value creation and innovation rather than simple cost controlling. Samsung, when switching its strategy towards a premium brand, started to move its planning towards communication activities which have impact on each step of the customer relationship path, i.e. from awareness to purchase to loyalty. Two major directions of impact towards high-end distribution channels and an emotional approach for its campaign were Samsungs strategy. In its latest campaign, Samsung cemented the companys new up market image by promoting its products in high-end distribution channels. Despite several challenging moments for the semiconductor industry, such as the recession in early 1990s and early 2000, Samsung aggressively increased its investments in the business unlike the rest of the industry which laid-off workers to cut cost. This preemptive investment strategy helped Samsung to gain market share and to meet the rapidly growing demand for 4 megabyte chips after 1994 in the global market. Samsung became the number one memory chipmaker in 1993. By pursuing twin goals of leading-edge technology and producing one generation-old products in the niche market of memory chips, Samsung successfully avoided risks of failing in the market. They laid out Flash memory where text, photos, sound and screen can be saved in the small-sized chips. Samsungs market share of memory chips has been growing continuously from 10.8% in 1993 to 28% in 2004, but it still follows Intel in the non-memory sector. In 2000, Samsung asserted that digital consumers, a growing importance of business networks and technical devices would create new demands for semiconductors in the future. Samsung recently announced its plans to beat Intel in computer chip sales and to make a better partnership with it at the same time. Synergy effects will be drawn when all three core elements of investment, leading-edge technology and the unique digital products work together within a dynamic business interaction. Samsungs vice president Yun Jong-Yong stated that the company will try to become one of the top 3 electronics firms by 2010 in terms of quality and quantity and will therefore try to raise its brand value and revenues in its semiconductor business over Intel. Despite tough competition Samsung and Intel both plan on building better platforms to improve combined business opportunities. Samsung is already leading the electronic market in some product segments, such as in the set-top box as leading product in home networking. FUTURE CHALLENGES As the market leader in semi-conductor chips, the third largest cellular handset maker in the world behind Nokia and Motorola, and the largest manufacturer of flat display screens in the world, Samsung has indeed come a long way from its humble beginnings of 1938. But Samsung faces some tough challenges in the future. Maintaining consistency Samsung has invested billions of dollars in global advertising and brand building activities. Given its presence in multiple industries on the one hand and its consistent investment in RD on the other, it will be difficult for Samsung to sustain its investment in branding activities. But Samsung must not be complacent and reduce the brand budget. It has not yet reached a position where the brand can live independent of its products as Sony does. Therefore, it will be extremely important that Samsung continues to build and nurture its brand in a consistent manner. Spreading the corporate brand too thinly Even today, the Samsung name is found on literally everything from ships, memory chips, to mobile phones and camcorders. Although the company is leveraging its brand to build new business and gain considerable advantage in existing businesses, this can prove dangerous to the corporate brand. As Samsung has been trying hard to position itself as a premium lifestyle brand worldwide, many of the businesses in the Samsung portfolio do not match this positioning. Therefore, although it might appear as an advantage at the outset, spreading the corporate brand too thinly across a wide array of businesses might prove costly to Samsung in the long run. Local and international competition Today Samsung is faced with never-seen-before competition in the consumer electronics industry. Not only should it fight the leaders like Sony and Canon, but also the new crop of companies which are following the Samsung path to compete with Samsung, the most significant one being the LG Group of South Korea and potential competitors from China and Taiwan. Although Samsung has a comfortable lead time due to its top-notch technology and constant innovation, this should not lead to any sort of complacency. Samsung should continue investing in technology and design capabilities on the one hand and marketing and brand management activities on the other to maintain the lead over its rivals that it has so tirelessly built over the past decade. There is a high intensity and constant competition in the electronics industry and usually the main competitors come up with new products very often. If a company does not keep up with trends and new products, they will lose their customers and profits. According to Barney and Hesterly, high levels of rivalry are indicated by such actions as frequent introduction of new products by firms in an industry (Barney, Hesterly, 2008, p. 46). Rivalry tends to be high where there are numerous firms in an industry and these firms tend to be roughly the same size. Furthermore, rivalry tends to be high when firms are unable to differentiate their products from competitors in an industry. This can be seen in the personal computer and DVD industry. In the PC laptop industry, companies are focusing more on services that accompany the laptops and the designs of the computers. In the DVD industry the products are very similar and perform the same functions, thus it is hard to compete with existing co mpanies. If a company decided to compete in this industry, they have to compete with intense price rivalry. Dell focuses their strategy on selling their computers online and providing excellent customer service. They save money on not having a physical store and focus on online distribution instead. This saves them money and they can compete on other levels. With the popular trend of the internet, companies are now competing with providing more services online and expanding their online advertisement. The threat of Substitutes Substitutes in the consumer electronics industry are many and the different companies competing in this industry must apply many strategies in order to compete and make profits. The substitutes in the electronics market can be divided in to 4 categories. As will be mentioned the important factors in every industry of the general electronics market. Telecom The substitutes in the telecom industry are landline phones and email. At the moment, landline phones are losing popularity because of lower prices and popularity of cell phones and internet calling programs. In the cell phone industry, Apples I phone has the latest technology with its Touch screen, but companies are following and introducing new phones. Samsung has just introduced new line of innovative cell phones for 2008. Cell phones and PDAs have standard features and the only product differentiation lies with adding services such as Bluetooth, gaps and other communication applications and tools that are important for customers in the cell phone industry. Samsung provides an affordable PDA with the modern features to satisfy the average telecom user. Apple and Nokia are selling mobile phones with new technology for a high price for customers who are willing to pay more. There are not many substitutes for PDAs. The main one is using a cell phone or computer, laptop to call someone using e.g. Skype. Laptops / PC In the PC industry, the threat of substitutes is not very high because there are not many products that can do what a computer or laptop can provide. The only substitutes are portable and handheld devices. They are competing on price and trying to increase value based on service and customization. The major substitutes for computers are PDAs and cell phones for contacting other people. In terms of writing documents, portable devices are substitutes. Digital Cameras In the digital camera industry, there are two major substitutes. The first one is the film camera, and the other one is the cell phone camera. Unfortunately, there is not much interest in film cameras because of outdates technology and cell phone cameras dont provide the same quality and storage as digital cameras. HD TV Television have recently become very popular with the new HD technology. The substitutes for TVs are computers and laptops. For people who travel a lot, prefer to watch movies and favorite shows on their laptops because they can download or stream popular TV shows and movies from online sites. Furthermore, another substitute for TVs are going to the movies or watching videos on your IPod. Because of the limited availability and space on IPods and the smaller size of a laptop screen, TVs will still stay popular and be high in demand. Managing the Samsung brand architecture The Samsung name is used to represent every business unit of the Samsung group, as mentioned earlier. Even though the trend of late is to nurture a strong corporate brand, as Unilever and PG have been doing, Samsung lacks the necessary similarity between its various business units. Therefore, Samsung should develop a strong brand architecture system which will define and monitor the interaction of various brands within the Samsung portfolio with the corporate brand. This will be easier said than done, given the extremely diversified business units of the chaebol (Korean business conglomerate). The brand architecture would also guide Samsung in acquiring new brands to enter the value segments of different markets, as LG has done with the Zenith brand in the US to target solely the value segment. With the millions of dollars that Samsung has spent over the past decade to build the Samsung brand, it will be a major challenge to put in place a strong architecture system which will help the branding practices of Samsung going ahead. Creating the Samsung personality Most great brands are those that have strong personalities, with Apple iPod being the latest proof. But Samsung seems to have ignored this crucial aspect in building its brand. Although Samsung has been doing all the right things in its communications, it has not focused on creating a strong personality for its brand. It does not own anything specific in the consumers minds, like a Harley-Davidson standing for the rugged independence of western America or a BMW standing for the ultimate driving experience. As has been well recorded in the branding literature, a successful brand not only provides the customers with functional benefits, but also emotional and self-expressive benefits. So far, Samsung has emphasized the functional benefits of leading-edge technology, contemporary designs and exciting features. It needs to go beyond this and create a cult following for its brand, like the Apple iPod has done. Samsung needs to ensure that its brand can live on independently of its products. This could prove to be a major challenge. Although it is still a newcomer, Samsung has made significant inroads into the home and office printing markets over the past few years. The company has secured the second-place position in the laser printer category, following behind Hewlett-Packard but surpassing Brother and Lexmark. Samsungs ultimate intention is to achieve the top-tier position by 2010, but this is an aggressive goal that will require the right products and solutions, as well as a sound go-to-market strategy. Samsung has certainly been keeping on top of market trends, and it has launched a product range that is designed to meet the demands of todays consumers. The company has scrapped its A3 products and now offers multifunctional versions of all its devices, as well as recognizing the importance of the scanning function. Probably the most important announcement in 2008 comes from the solutions area, as Samsung finally has a competitive offering for this field. Samsungs next challenge will be to engage the channel to market these solutions. Samsung has enjoyed a year of growth and success. It is regarded as one of the worlds leading companies, producing products that are highly respected in the marketplace. The Samsung name is everywhere: in Asia, Europe and the Americas; the Northern and Southern hemispheres; in long-established nations and newly emerging ones. Samsung name means quality and innovation, and represents the combined teamwork of tens of thousands of employees worldwide. Samsung is moving to the forefront of the industry today because of its decade of dedication to the simple principles of change, innovation and creativity. Now that it is at last experiencing the success it has so long pursued and worked so hard to achieve, its mission has broadened. For with success come serious challenges and responsibilities. I believe that it is well prepared to meet these challenges and responsibilities. Success at Samsung has been the result of its relentless and fearless pursuit of change. It has taken the accepted and charged its employees to change it for the better. And it has dared to imagine the unimaginable. Nothing for it is ever finished-it can always be improved. It has used change as a motivator for its employees, as a metaphor for its culture and as a measure of its forward movement. Change has created momentum throughout the company. At Samsung, change has resulted in success-and success necessitates further change. It is now incumbent upon Samsung more than ever to continue to change at an accelerated rate. It will always stretch to greater heights. It will not rest on its laurels. People from the company will work harder, reach farther and continue to encourage and value change in order to maintain their leadership position. The responsibilities implied and demanded by its accomplishments are to its customers, its employees and to the communities around the world where it has made an impact, as well as to those where it will be influential in the future. Its customers have come to expect great products and service from it and Samsung will continue to deliver these. Its employees have come to expect a fertile environment in which they can create and a management structure that encourages, nurtures, values and rewards the creative process. Exploration of the possible-and sometimes the impossible-will always be encouraged. Among its immediate neighbors and around the world, there has been much transition. The world economy and social order have both been affected. There is much uncertainty ahead. It is its responsibility, broadly, to make the world a better place. Samsung do this every day through its products, which create better lives for the customers, and through demanding the highest standards throughout the organization. Now that the company finds itself in a leadership position, it is favorably situated to build on its legacy of change, innovation and creativity. Its five core values-people, excellence, change, integrity and co-prosperity-have served it well in the past and will continue to provide the sturdy foundation for a rewarding future. As employees worked to achieve these goals, they relied on these core values to overcome formidable obstacles: fierce competition, unhealthy economic environments and a rapidly changing world with many risks. Now stuff must look to these core values to maintain and improve their position as a market leader. It is now up to Samsung to redefine the future. It is not just their desire, but now also their duty to continue to strive to reach new heights. By taking on responsibility for the future, they can lead by example and demonstrate to the world that with hard work, it too can change for the better. Their growth and their future will come from the loyalty of their customers. They have earned this loyalty from their hard work in the past, and it will inspire them in the future. It is this loyalty that fuels the Samsung spirit and compels them to always keep moving ahead. It will not be easy maintaining their leadership position, but they are prepared for the challenge. They will redefine the future through their creative talent and by continuing to cultivate a culture that does not fear failure. The best measure of the success will be their ability to look back a year from now and be proud of their accomplishments, which were once only dreams. At Samsung, stability and security come from change. Through it, people working in the company will continue to aspire to lead and be prosperous. CONCLUSION Samsung Group is more than just the nations largest conglomerate. It is a mega brand with considerable cultural significance à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¢ a business card with the blue and white logo is much coveted, while any Korean national would take pride in a Samsung billboard in a foreign country. Samsung has made itself noticeable as one of the most innovative and quality brands in the electronics industry. Samsung strives to be sustainable and achieve competitive advantage by remaining at the forefront of the digital market. Samsung policy is We will devote out human resources and technologies to create superior products and services thereby contributing to a better global society. Samsung provides the electronics market with a full range of great consumer products, ranging from mobile devices to home appliances. They have proved themselves an innovative and efficient company that strives to provide their customers with the newest products for a great price. With their wide range of products they have generated a powerful supply of products. In order to secure future success in a very competitive market, they need to focus on being innovative and expand their products in to new markets and countries. Samsung should also invest heavily into establishing its brand name in foreign countries to attract talent. Applying all of these recommendations and suggestions will generate a better future for Samsung and will make them be able to compete with other companies in the industry. Samsung is a market leader or major market share holder in its many segments. Samsung leads but does not lead a pace that cannot be followed or easily copied. For example, Apple leads the digital music player market at a pace that its competitors cannot follow. Apple passed its competition through its competitive advantage: innovation. Company culture at Apple creates the pace of innovation and new product designs and introductions. Samsung needs to lead the market through an innovative competitive advantage to push a pace not easily copied. Samsung has encountered foreign competition because foreign competition has acquired its own domestic talent. Samsung should invest heavily into establishing its brand name in foreign countries to attract talent. Samsung is moving to the forefront of the industry today because of its decade of dedication to the simple principles of change, innovation and creativity. Now that it is at last experiencing the success it has so long pursued and worked so hard to achieve, its mission has broadened. For with success come serious challenges and responsibilities.

A Business Plan For An Online Store Marketing Essay

A Business Plan For An Online Store Marketing Essay In this computerized era, shopping online has never been so common and popular. This is the new trend where people nowadays actually prefer to purchase stuffs via online. Why? They dont have to go out all the way to a shopping mall, they get to find really good and cheaper bargains and online goods actually comes in more variety! These are also the purposes of us setting up a blog and introduce our services and goods via online. Customers can actually go to our blog (www.crowns-and-roses.blogspot.com) or go to our Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Malacca-Town-Malaysia/Accesorized/143106969046004?ref=mf#!/pages/Malacca-Town-Malaysia/Accesorized/143106969046004?ref=mf) and browse for our products. Right after theyve made their decisions, we will process their orders and within 2-3 days they can receive their purchases already. Convenient, isnt it? Our main business is to introduce affordable and good quality bags to all the females out there. Every girls love to buy bags. Hence, the business! We will also introduce a wide range and variety of different designs that you can never get in brick-and-mortar store in shopping mall. Scope Our scope will be just click and mortar store. We do not have any capital to set up a brick and mortar store yet. We are currently just students, on top of doing this business for BEL subject, we ourselves also would like to try some other alternatives to earn some side income for us. Next, we will only sell our products within Malaysia only. Anyone from Malaysia will be able to purchase our products. Our target market are more to females, aging between 15 years old and above. Females above 15 years old and above appear to be more financially stable than females who are below 15 years old and hence, they are able to purchase our products. Males are welcome to purchase our products as well if they intend to buy our products and give it to their mother or siblings or even friends. We expect our main customers to be Malaccans. This is simply because we will promote our products more to friends around us, and also because of the availability of COD, where people actually prefer to not pay for the additional postage fees. Limitations and Assumptions Our main limitations will be capital problem. We do not have much capital to do all ready stocks and buy hundreds of stocks for our customers to choose. Therefore, we will find a supplier who can supply us stocks, and our main job is to help her promote her products. And for every items sold, we are given some commissions. This method does not include any costs, and at the same time we can earn money. So why not? Secondly, our limitations will be transport problem. We are still students, and most of us do not have cars here. The only transportations available will be bus and taxi. In order to COD with a Malaccan customers, we will normally ask them to come to collect their goods around MMU Melaka. We are unable to choose other pick up points like Jusco or Melaka Sentral or Tesco simply because we do not have transport. Lastly, our knowledge in creating blogs are really limited. We are unable to hire professional webpage designer to help us design a really user-friendly webpage. We can only count on our own to come out with a webpage to publicize our products. Therefore, our website is just mediocre and not that appealing to people who have high requirements on blog designs. Besides, our blog also lack of certain functions. Stakeholders Our first stakeholders will be our customers. Most of our fund will come from our sales revenue. Second stakeholders will be the bag supplier from Taiwan, where we purchased our stocks under Batch A from them. Our third stakeholders will be our main bags supplier from Malaysia, which falls under Batch B products. Last but not least, we are our own businesss stakeholders because all the 5 of us come out with RM 550 total as a capital to start up our business. Acronyms definitions There are a few acronyms and definitions where you can find in our blog. Here we are going to explain them all out to clear our customers doubts. EC simply means Electronic commerce. PM means personal message, where customers can directly send us any pm in order to reach us. B2C simply means business to customers business, which exactly explains what we are doing. Click and mortar means we only have online stores, do not have any brick and mortar stores out there. While brick and mortar simply means a physical store outside. COD means cash on delivery, where our customers pay us on the spot we deliver the goods to them. Business Plan Executive Summary Electronic Commerce requires each of us to form a group consists of 5 people. And we are required to set up a blog and sell our goods to our customers via online. Firstly, we will be setting our blog via www.blogger.com. The link to access our blog is www.crowns-and-roses.blogspot.com. We basically get this idea from a group of American hard rock band named Guns N Roses. To make it sound more girlish, we changed to crowns and roses. The title for our blog will be Accessorized! Simply means that our products can be your accessorizes for your outfit of the day. We try to figure out and come out with some simple yet sophisticated layout, making sure that everyone loves the blog layout, feels attracted to it, and at the same time its user-friendly. We will have a few clickable links on our blog sidebar, where customers can view our products by categories. Not only that, we will also provide delivery method, payment method, Terms and Conditions for our customers references. The main objec tive of our blog is to make the customers feel that our business is trustworthy and reliable. Business description The main products that we are going to sell in our blog will be bags. We will be having a few series of bags for sales. Firstly, PG bags. This PG bags are a very well known brand in Taiwan. Sadly, Malaysia doesnt have this bags selling in any shopping complex. This brand is so famous because it is always updated with the latest fashion trend, always comes out with new arrivals, and most importantly, the price is very reasonable. Most of the bags price range are within RM 20- RM 60, which are affordable to all females. To make sure we get the authentic products, we have searched for a middle man to help us purchase the bags from Taiwan. So our products are directly imported from Taiwan and 100% quality assurance. Money back guaranteed if they are not authentic. We will price our products within RM 20-RM 60 as well. Selling bags bring us desirable profits, and the stocks are easy to handle as well. Operational plan Operation plan is all about how the business will operate and how for us to deal with the customer when they are purchasing our goods. Our blog business will be operating everyday including weekend too. The duration will be 24 hour and 7 day a week without rest. The blog will be updated with new products from time to time so that our customers can purchase latest design of the bags that suit them. Besides, there are also a chatbox in our blog, to those customers who are in doubt regarding our products, can always leave the questions at the chatbox there, and we will reply them according to their questions as fast as possible. The stocks of the bag will be replenished once the ready stock for now is finished, currently we have 18 bags ready stock, the customers can get their stocks right away with COD or postage method. For the dealing method, we will use poslaju for the postage method or we can also have a COD( cash on delivery) session around MMU Melaka with the customer if only the y are willing to come over here to get the bag. For the posting rate, it is RM8 flat no matter how many bags you purchase. Only applicable for residents in West Malaysia. For east Malaysia residents, the rate will be RM 12 no matter how many bags you purchased. Regarding the payment method, we have both Cimb account and Maybank account, both of the accounts can be used to pay for the bag. This will make the customer more convenient as they can pay online without going through all the hassle by going to the bank to deposit the money in the bank. Financial Report Targeted Sales (units) Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 6 Week 7 Week 9 Week 10 Week 12 Week 1 Week 2: There are no sales for this period because of the preparation for business plan. This is when we discuss, plan and decide on what to sell and which supplier to get from for our online business. Week 3 Week 6: Within this period, we start to create our blog and Facebook to advertise and start to promote to our friends. We got not much response from customers because this business is still new to them. While promoting our products, the bags that we order directly from the supplier in Taiwan has finally arrived at the end of Week 6. Week 7 Week 9: After few weeks of promoting our products through blog and Facebook, our online business finally start to have some feedback from our customers. Therefore, we target to sell about 5 bags for the beginning and from what we had targeted, we actually manage to reach our target sales within this period of time. Week 10 Week 12: From the response that we get from our customers, we target to sell around 10 bags in these 3 weeks. Our online business is quite successful because we had achieved our target sales again. Although the profit is not much but we hope that our sales will slowly increase from time to time. Below is the income statement of Accessorized e-commerce business: Income Statement For the Three Months Ending August 31, 2010 RM Net sales 795.00 Less: Cost of goods sold 666.80 Gross profit 128.20 Expenses Postage 24.00 Net profit 104.20 MARKETING PLAN Market analysis Target market Our target market will be female. Nowadays, not only teenagers move towards fashion but also middle-age female. Female teenagers are the most important target market. Throughout the trendy world, female teenagers are getting trendy and very particular about fashion. We are taking this opportunity to target female market as selling the most fashion bags. By selling best possible price, we believe that they will be affordable to purchase our products and we have faith in attracting them towards our fashion bags. Besides that, we will target middle-age women as one of the popular markets too. As adults, they are mostly having a fixed income so that they are willing to spent more money in order to purchase their lovely and interested products. Positioning We will set up in customers mind to show that our online business of selling bags is something that brings fashionable to them. Nowadays, female love to buy many types of bags in order to match with their dressing according to occasion. To make our business more attractive, a lot of display photo are post in the blog so that customers can have moe clearer picture about our fashion bags. To do this, customers should well know about our bags each time they recall the word of fashion. Pricing strategy Online business is something that brings convenience to customers and not something trouble. By starting up online business, we able to eliminate many cost. In order to making profits, we should develop few types of pricing strategy so that a best possible price can be achieved. First of all, we develop product line pricing. Product pricing is types of technique to set the price steps between various types of bags in a product line with a different price. Throughout our blog, we have categorized several of bags into different range of price to allow customers freely choose their favourite bags. Another one is psychological pricing. We fix our bags to price below RM50 so that customers are affordable to purchase. Based on psychological approach, we price each bag into RM29.90, RM39.90, RM49.90 rather than a round figure of RM30, RM40, and RM50. This is a marketing strategy to influence customers mind that the products are cheaper than round figure. Customers are more likely to purchas e our products due to this attractive strategy. Promotion plan Promotion plays an important role in business. A well promotion plan should be develop in order to attract huge customers to buy our products. In promotion plan, we use direct marketing. Subscribe mails are one the way to promote our business which giving sufficient information about all the description related our products and delivery and payments methods so that customers can know more about our business hence they can promote their friends either word-of-mouth or through online. By mailing to one customer, it can be possibly indirectly spread the news to others. In addition, we will come out with lucky draw section through the blog. For those customersm are selected, they have chance to get a free gift. Next, we use online media to develop an advertisement at Facebook, twitter or e-mail in order to create awareness about our blog. Facebook is kind of very popular media that used by everyone no matter what country you are. So we taking this opportunity to create a group named Accessorized and place a lot of display photo in Facebook. Not only that, we will take real photo with the bags to show that the reality of the bags. Customers can have a clearer picture about the quality and design of the bags. If customers have any inquires, we able to communicate diherectly with customers and reply them from time to time. Besides that, delivery and payment method, term condition are stated clearly and details hence customers will be convenience when they feel interested and can making order directly from us. This may pass an effective message and information to create awareness about out blog and the related products for customers understanding. Furthermore, Facebook can show that number of people like our page and information can be updated quickly so that customers can get the latest and effective news for our business progress. Last but not least, sales promotion is an effective strategy that affects customers purchasing decision. The promotion include that we create member special benefit which purchase one bag can automatically become a lifetime member. Members are entitled 5% discount on every purchase of bags due to limited time to period. This is a sales promotion to attract more customers delight and satisfaction. And also, customers who purchase 2 bags or more simultaneously will entitled free postage. By implementing sales promotion, customer attraction can be achieved towards our fashion bags. Distribution plan There are two types of delivery method which available to customers. First method is Cash on delivery (COD). Customers can make cash payment directly when they are nearby to us. The areas are only available in MMU Melaka. For instance, as we are MMU student, students who study in MMU purchase our products are able to pay cash payment and can get the products directly. Another way is postage where our products are in delivery services by using postage. Customers may charge postage fees when they purchase our products. We are using pos laju to deliver our bags. To remind that our business is within Malaysia only, so there will be two different prices in West and East Malaysia. For West Malaysia, it will charge RM8 flat whereas East Malaysia is RM12. No matter how many bags customers purchase, the charge are the same. Demand forecast To determining the forecast regarding to quantity of a product that customer will purchase, we focus more on female. Females love to shop and they are probable to buy our products. In addition, they treat bags as a fashion and they are most likely to buy many types of bags in order to suit with attire according to occasion. Thus, we can forecast that females are our target more and they will demand more. We will be doing a survey regarding the popularity of products to prove that our forecast is reliable and to estimate the quantity of our products that customers will purchase. Estimated people who involved with this survey will be approximately 50 people. Questionnaire This survey will only perform to 50 female: Do you like our bags? YES NO Have you ever purchased any products through online shopping before? (state what products) ____________________ Which price range appear to be affordable to you? RM20-30 RM30-40 RM40-50 RM50 and above OTHERS_________________ Do you think our bags are fashionable/up to the current trend? YES NO Which type of bags will you prefer as stated below? Sling bag Handbag Wallet/Purse COMPETITOR ANALYSIS Example of competitor SWOT ANALYSIS Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats Internal External Positive Negative Our strengths (S) are to provide some tips for the buyers to differentiate between the authentic and fake products. We are definitely selling authentic products where the bags have their own brand sign in it. Customers are confident to buy our products with a full trust. We also provide some tips and tricks to match bags with the attire of the day by our models. In addition, customers are able to search for all the detailed information about our products, order and delivery service and payment method throughout our attractive blog. Feedback and QA from our customers are highly encouraged so that we can to communicate and solve problems faced by customers. Our main weaknesses (W) is that customers cannot try the bags on their own to identify whether the bags really suit their preferences or not. This is because most of our stocks are from Taiwan, it is not like any other physical shop whereby customers can look at the quality, examine the quality of the bag and also try the bag on themselves before buying the bags. Next, we will be discussing on opportunities (O). In the trendy world, teenagers like to match their attire and also, our bag designs are trendy and fashionable. Thus, we have the opportunity to attract female to purchase our bags. They see bags as kind of fashion and they will feel interested towards our fashionable bags. Our main threat is that there are already have many bag sellers selling in the online market. An example of online competitors that selling bags are: www.baobaopifa.com. baobaopifa.jpg From the website, customers are allow to return the bags if they found any faults in the bags. This appear to be a benefit to customers but we are unable to do so. Thus, we must offer reasonable price and make attractive promotion to compete with those competitors in order to maximize our sales. And also, some of the customers prefer to purchase the bags at physical shop because they feel that it will bring more guarantees. For instance, Ecco shop is one of the brand selling various types of bags in a real shop. It is one of our competitors because Ecco shop does not only sell bags but they have also clothes and wallet. Risk Assessment We understand that every single business does carry risk. It is just different by the rate of risk that the business carry. Although there are many interruption on business that caused us to bear a huge risk, but we decided to accept it as a challenge towards the success. First of all, doubt of product quality will always be the main concern how people will think about when they do online shopping. Customer cannot touch, feel, see, and try on the product before they purchase. Hence, they will feel insecure, especially those who are having their very first transaction with the seller. We tried to overcome this problem by snapping real photos of the bags by our models. By looking at real photos, customer can have a clearer picture on the size and quality of the product. Besides, we also have this so called Chat Box and testimonial page that will allow customers to leave their comments if they have any satisfied or unsatisfied comments to voice out. Through the real feedbacks from custo mers, others will have more confidence on what we are selling on. Next interruption is that we are facing is selling price of our competitors. In fact, there are many seller that are selling exactly the same things as what we have. Sometime they are selling at a much lower price than us simply because they want to clear stock. In other words, they might be selling at a loss. We cannot follow this as we need to earn some profits to retain our ongoing business. So, how do we compete? What we can do is just to promise our customers on our products quality. We make sure that the price theyve paid definitely worth the quality of the bags we provide to them. The next interruption will be our products are less attractive to certain category of buyers. At the beginning stage of our business, we are unable to sell as much as other retailers did. Hence, we do not have so much capital to increase our stocks to satisfy our customers who come in different tastes. To overcome this problem, we fou nd a supplier that enable us to became an agent/middleman whereby we do not have to pay a single cent of capital. Although the profit was not that high but it is still able to sustain our business. Furthermore, we cannot serve those customers who prefer branded bags such as LV, and Gucci as our product status are not set as luxury line but just an ordinary product, hence this definitely caused us to lose certain amount of customer who prefer branded bags. Problem that we face during resources requirement process might also cost us a lot. First of all, the case run out stock is the most common problem among all. With the reason we are selling on first come first serve basis and each bag only limited to one unit, once the bag has been purchased, we are unable to satisfy another customer who shows the same interest. Besides, it might happen where products from suppliers do not match with what we have expected earlier on. Because this is not a face-to-face transaction, communication pro blem might happen during the ordering process. Hence, we have to seriously tell supplier what we exactly want and ensure that they provide the latest design for us in order to fit our customers taste. Blog blog1.jpg This is basically the interface of our blog. The main reason why we chose this template is because of the girlish colors, which consists of pink and red combination. And also the huge image that a girl carries a bag, totally suits to represent our blogs business. Below we are going to explain our blog in details : These are pages which consists of Home, Contact Us, Order Form, Testimonials and also Terms and Conditions. Customers can click on the button to access to the pages they want. This is a .GIF file which we will update from time to time. It works as a place for us to inform what we want to tell to our customers. We made it into .GIF file so that our customers will be more attracted to animated images and not static words. RSS button. Customers can click on the RSS button to subscribe to our blog and receive updates. Twitter button. Customers can share our blog via Twitter. Search button. Customers can search information within our blog by typing the keywords inside. blog2.jpg COD, CIMB Bank, Maybank are the three methods available for customers who want to pay us the money. Pos Laju and COD are how we deliver our products to our customers. blog3.jpg Here is a place where we will post all our contents. We will provide pictures, measurements, and also real pictures of the bags. blog4.jpg A category where customers can browse our products easier according to price and also availability of the products. A chatbox where customers can drop us questions and also testimonials. blog5.jpg This will be a place where we promote our friends EC blog as well. blog6.jpg Visitors This is a place where we check our blog view hits. Only unique visitors will accumulate the hits, not page load. Archive Customers can see how many posts we already had throughout the whole period. Feedjit This is a gadget where we can track where our customers come from. blog7.jpg Find us here! Customers can also check us out in Facebook. Right after they like our page, they will be able to browse our products. blog8.jpg Made easier for customers browsing. Customers can search keywords in our blog, see how many people are currently viewing the blog, like our blog via Facebook, share our blog to others, and chat with us in real time. Made easier for customers browsing. contact us.jpg Contact us page A page where we will provide the sellers name, handphone number and also MSN address so that our customers can ask questions directly to us. order form page.png Order form page Customers who have already selected their bags, will have to insert their information in the order form so that we can deliver goods to them. testimonials.jpg Testimonials page A place where customers leave feedbacks to us via chatbox, and we will transfer them to Testimonials page so that other customers are more convinced to purchase our products. TnC.jpg Terms and conditions page Customers must read and agree with our Terms And Conditions before they proceed in purchasing our products. This is to avoid any misunderstandings among the buyers and sellers.

Global Warming Essay -- Environmental Global Climate Change

Global Warming Global warming is an important factor because every one in the world but most importantly for me it will effect all of my relatives, as it is predicted that countries such as Bangladesh will be totally fooled due to global warming. Global warming interest me because the planet we live in is changing and the change that is happening will effect the way we live and how the future generations live. It has direct effects on the us and the relatives we have all over the, for ex This changes which will likely to alter the natural weather and climate patterns is largely because of human activities in the last century. Scientists believe that the Earth's surface temperature has risen by about 1 degree Fahrenheit in the past century. They also believe that most of the warming over the last 50 years is due to human activities. We have changed the amounts and the types of gases in the atmosphere. Gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. What causes global warming? Green house effect. Gases such as Carbon dioxide are normally used to keep the earths at a temperature average level. Which is comfortable for us and the environment. How does the greenhouse effect work? As shown on the diagram the suns heat passe through the atmosphere, some of this heat is absorbed by the earth, and some of it is reflected back by the earth and the atmosphere. The heat that is released by the earth is also passed into the atmosphere, and some is reflected back into the earth and the surrounding gas. This keeps the planets temperature at a comfortable level, which allows plants, an... ...Ã… ¸ Buy energy-efficient appliances. Ã… ¸ Replace your light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs. Ã… ¸ Weatherise your home or apartment. Ã… ¸ Choose renewable energy. Ã… ¸ Plant more trees Ã… ¸ Change farming practices Ã… ¸ Political action What’s already being done? Ã… ¸ More efficient cars have been made, which release less pollution. For example most cars are fitted with catalytic converters. Ã… ¸ Cars can now use other forms of power, e.g. electricity, hydrogen and even cooking oil. Ã… ¸ Energy saving homes. Ã… ¸ Government laws stop big companies from producing too much pollution. Ã… ¸ Energy saving products introduced, e.g. fridges, cookers, and lights. Ã… ¸ More use of tidal, wind, solar and nuclear energy Ã… ¸ To stop people using cars more taxes. And people are advised to use public transport.

Icon or Symbol: A Teachers Moral Dilemma :: Education Teaching Papers

Icon or Symbol: A Teacher's Moral Dilemma Works Cited Missing It all happened so quickly. One moment I was at my blackboard, the next moment I was between two juvenile males who were trying to prove a "pride point" with their fists. I had, without a conscious thought about it, drawn a crown on the board. Next I heard chairs hitting the floor and screams of profanity. I was called a not-so-nice name by one of my students, followed by his strange comment: "We know who your favorites in this class are." Another student from across the room overturned his chair and, breath coming fast, managed to get out the words "Don't get on her, man. And don't you never mess with the crown! Don't mess with my blood, man!" Then they were at each other's throats and I was between them, not knowing what had happened. I work at a juvenile prison for all male offenders. Quite honestly, I feel as if my students and I speak different languages sometimes. After talking to students and counselors after this incident, I discovered that the crown I had drawn to represent Prince Hamlet of Denmark was interpreted as a gang symbol by the members of my class. By drawing the crown, I had somehow affiliated myself with the Ghetto Boys of Indianapolis. This angered my students who consider themselves members of a rival gang. What would Shakespeare think of such a situation? I guess the real question is what do I think about such a situation and how do I define my role in the classroom? Peirce's theory of signs and his classification from the point of view of the object of the sign (representant) is helpful in understanding this classroom incident. Peirce defined a sign as "anything which is so determined by something else, called its object, and so determines an effect upon a person, which effect I call its interpretant" (Houser 257). In this view, educators use signs all of the time, to interact with students. In fact, in his article "Toward a Peircean Theory," Nathan Houser relates Peirce's belief that "signs are the matter, or the substance of thought" (257). Peirce goes even further to say that life itself "is a train of thought" (Houser 256). In other words, life and signs are "fundamentally related" and unseparable for all humans (Houser 257). As a teacher, I present my students with signs (representants) in hopes of helping them to understand inf ormation.