MBA for engineers

The time duration and requirements for the degree vary around the world but the main requirements include a few years work experience. It varies from 2 year programs to a 3 year program depending on the time one can give to it. Generally people opt for the degree after non technical degrees in order to enhance their job perspectives and get promotions at their current jobs. The MBA trend at one point fully saturated the job market with such graduates. This caused a shift/ decline in the MBA trend which was picked up a few years back with engineers opting for MBA instead of their regular Master programs.Opportunity cost of a MBA degree: The total cost of an MBA, inclusive of tuition as well as two years of Oregon salary, has risen to ‘four times the post-degree starting salary in the past 10 years† according to Fortune magazine. And in the case of Stanford Graduate Business School, for example, Pedestrians calculates the total cost to be â€Å"a whopping $351 ,662. † Full-time Mambas, however, at least have the luxury of being able to focus on their studies exclusively and have unrestricted access to all the program's resources (including career services).Part-time MBA programs are more affordable financially, but their principal cost is even more finite – time. For these students juggling work and school eaves very little time for having a social or personal life. The degree also takes longer to complete; typically three years in the United States. In addition, some MBA programs restrict on-campus recruiting to those with full-time status, and part-time students may not have access to all the programs or classes afforded their full-time counterparts. Executive MBA students, like their full-time counterparts, are able to complete their degree In two years.Admission, however, is usually restricted to applicants with more than ten years experience (Topmast. Coma's survey determines the average age of students to be 37). The MBA is also th e most expensive degree to obtain on the basis of tuition alone; for example, in 2012 the tuition to attend Wharton is $1 71 , 360. For most people, this is cost-prohibitive if their employer is not sponsoring the education. And, like part-time MBA students above, MBA students still have to wrestle with the time management problems of attending school while working full-time.Is MBA worth it for Engineers: When people have gone as far as they could with their present education, they have two options. Either they get an advanced degree or a similar degree as the previous one. This may be the answer to the people who want to untie working the same type of work and would like to continue in the same aspect of their career. But on the other hand, they have a second option and that is to get an MBA degree which will allow them to move up the career ladder. A lot of engineers wonder if they should seek an advanced engineering degree or an MBA degree.The answer to the question lies with the future goals of the individual. If they plan on Opening their own business one day, an MBA degree would be a valuable asset to them. Since looking at technical aspect of their degree is important for the business as well but the business requires more than that. It teaches how to look at technical skills from a business point of view and market the skills to prospective clients. Since one of the skills taught in an MBA is financial skill, it helps the technical background graduates manage their business with a keen sense of the market.Engineers excel at being able to stay focused and solve problems with a limited set of resources in a logical and practicable manner. When coupled with the ability to â€Å"talk the language of business† this combination is invaluable to an employer. On the value of the MBA education, Didgeridoo explained that there is a need for people who speak both the technical engage as well and the C- level language. Since engineers are given a problem st ate, a set of limited resources and are told to find a way out from the very beginning, they are able to work more effectively in MBA.He also said that his engineering background gave him a huge advantage in non technical fields while he was in his MBA program. Putting himself among people with non technical background, he realized that he had an overall advantage by allowing him to think like an engineer, having the language of an MBA. In a Wall street journal article, written by a Havana strategy roofless Julie Wolf, it was mentioned that with there maybe implications for middle managers looking to advance their careers but are being held back by the lack of managerial skills/ experience.Also in it, it was mentioned that corporate succession plans might favor functional experts who have managerial capabilities and at least general managers who are willing to work with the highly technical/ specialized counter parts. A candidate with both the technical expertise to understand the n uts and bolts of the product development cycle as well as the ability to see the wider marketing or striation picture is highly desirable. If you are looking to move â€Å"out of the lab coat† and into the corner office, obtaining an MBA may be just the ticket.If one is a candidate with the technical expertise to understand the mechanics of product development as well as see beyond the current market picture is available, then that candidate will be high desirable. Also if someone is looking to change their careers or move out of the laboratories, MBA might just be the ticket for it all. Since engineers overall act as managers at times, one can easily think about shifting the career focus if they think they have cached their maximum promotion level with the engineering degree.Some times it is not all about doing your own job but about getting others jobs done. This is one of the basic managerial skills which is learned outside an MBA degree. Having an MBA degree just provides valuable skills and a chance to shift the career away from the technical field towards managerial roles or acting as a bridge between the technical and non technical people. This characteristic is one of the most desired in the market currently since the HRS department requires technical assistance from time to time. Having both the kills can enable anyone to bridge the gap and earn more than before.For engineers, there is hardly anything challenging in the MBA program as they have already come from a curricula which involved a lot more technical study and advanced mathematics than a regular MBA program. Contradictions to the choice: People when asked about the requirement for promotion to management positions often reply that experience is the single most important factor. But according to Jay Rogers of Rangelands Engineering says that placement requests for an MBA graduate are as low as 0. 6% as compared to Engineering Masters degree and BBS in Engineering which comes close to 1. % and 97. 7% respectively. Also according to the same dataset applied above, the average salary of an MBA is less than that of an Engineer. So we can say that MBA can open some doors but engineering have fewer doors and choices which is why the salaries are high A lot of companies also believe that MBA is an expensive hire. Software and computer engineering is one area that is dominated with the startup culture with the idea that MBA is a hindrance instead of a help. A lot of companies also hold bias against the Mambas and how they try to run organizations.Similarly, top companies who have understood the importance of an MBA tend to hire people from the top schools. So if someone wants to shift careers, they will have to choose the top MBA programs since top companies have an image to take care of. On the other hand, people who just want to enhance their job skills or shift their positions in the same organization they are working in, any MBA degree is acceptable. It all depends on how one visualizes their future and what do they expect from the degree since all that is taught in an MBA program is something that you an learn by studying a few good books on the subject.MBA culture in Pakistan: MBA picked up the trend relatively late as compared to the rest of the world. By the time the trend of engineers opting for an MBA was picked up in Pakistan, the market was already saturated with the traditional Mambas. The engineers, who picked up the trend wanted job enhancement and promotions in their respective jobs. The study further details about what prompted the trend to emerge in Pakistan. According to the research we did, we came across two major reasons why people were opting for an MBA.

Directed Journaling Level 3

Guided Questions for Directed Journaling Level 3 (November 2012 Session) 1. To prepare graduates that conduct themselves in a professional manner by acting ethically, selfassessing, following codes of conduct and standards of practice with integrity. †¢ Review the responsibilities of the dental hygienist for reporting abuse under the Regulated Health Professions Act, as outlined in the CDHO Registrant’s Handbook and Professional Issues II (DH 202). Read the articles â€Å"Oral health professional alert: Elder abuse concern in the United States and Canada† and â€Å"Initiating discourse on recognizing and reporting child abuse†.Based on these articles, reflect on the following: – Describe your responsibility and obligation when you suspect abuse in Ontario. – Outline the consequences you could face if you neglected your duty. – Reflect your personal opinion about this responsibility and possible consequence. – Describe how you woul d handle a situation in the CADH clinic should you suspect abuse. Furnari, W. (2011). Oral health professional alert: Elder abuse concern in the United States and Canada. Can J Dent Hygiene 45 (2): 98-102. DeMattei, R. R. , Sherry, J. S. 2011). Initiating discourse on recognizing and reporting child abuse. Can J Dent Hygiene 45 (4): 253-258. 2. To prepare graduates that effectively communicate and collaborate with clients, substitute decision makers, communities and other professionals. †¢ Read the article â€Å"An Overview of health behavioural change theories and models: Interventions for the dental hygienist to improve client motivation and compliance†. Reflect on your communication with clients and discuss client belief/value modification using approaches identified in the article.Further, explain how you can overcome the challenge. Collins,S. M. An Overview of health behavioural change theories and models: Interventions for the dental hygienist to improve client mot ivation and compliance. Can J Dent Hygiene 45 (2): 109-115. 3. To prepare graduates who demonstrate critical thinking by determining credible information and integrating knowledge using an evidence-based approach to deliver the dental hygiene process of care. †¢ Read one of the articles listed below. Select one of these articles that pertain to a client you are currently treating.Based on the information in the article: – Highlight the significant findings within this article – Demonstrate how you have utilized the significant findings found in the chosen article within the dental hygiene process of care for your client DeAssis-Soares, M. R. F. (2011). Halitosis from tonsilloliths: Literature review for oral healthcare providers. Can J Dent Hygiene 45 (4): 223-228. An, S. L. , Ranson, C. (2011). Obstructive sleep apnea for the dental hygienist: Overview and parameters for interprofessional practice.Can J Dent Hygiene 45 (4): 238-252. 4. To prepare graduates that a dvocate for themselves, individuals, the community and the profession. †¢ Review â€Å"A Guide to†¦Choosing and Adapting Culturally and Linguistically Competent Health Promotion Materials† at the following link http://www11. georgetown. edu/research/gucchd/nccc/documents/Materials_Guide. pdf – How can you use this information to provide efforts of advocacy for the client to be able to meet the needs of clients of diverse cultures? – What type of advocacy can you engage in to assist the client? . To prepare graduates who are competent coordinators who model the mission, vision and priorities of the organization in the practice content by applying quality assurance standards and protocol to ensure a safe, productive and effective working environment and maintaining documentation and records consistent with professional practice standards. †¢ Assume that you have been given the responsibility of reviewing and updating the policies and protocols relat ed to safety in the CADH clinic.Review the articles outlined and answer the following: – Reflect on what this information means to the safety of clients, practitioners, and the public. – Identify where CADH’s policy are in compliance with the literature and where improvements are required. Leivers, M. , Kanji, N. N. , Hirji, S. K. , Hernandez, G. , Kaminska, B. D. , and do, H. L. T. (2012). Uniform contamination in the dental environment. Can J Dent Hygiene 46 (1): 50-56. 6. To prepare graduates who are competent clinical therapists who apply professional judgment consistent with standards of practice when safely delivering client specific dental hygiene process of are to individuals as independent practitioners or in partnership with other health care providers. †¢ Read one of the articles listed below. Select one of these articles that pertain to a client you are currently treating. Based on the information in the article: – Highlight the significa nt findings within this article – Demonstrate how you have utilized the significant findings found in the chosen article within the dental hygiene process of care for your client Pence, S. D. , Chambers, D. A. , van Tets, I.G. , Wolf, r. C. , and Pfeiffer, D. C. (2011). Repetitive coronal polishing yields minimal enamel loss. J of Dent Hygiene 85 (4): 348-357. Imai, P. H. , Hatzimanolakis, P. C. (2011). Interdental brush in type I embrasures: Examiner blinded randomized clinical trial of bleeding and plaque efficacy. Can J Dent Hygiene 45 (1): 25-32. 7. To prepare graduates as an oral health educator who uses theoretical frameworks and educational principles to assess, plan, deliver, evaluate and modify oral health behaviours. Read one of the articles listed below. Using the information from the article, reflect on how the information outlined in the article can impact your clinical practice as an oral health educator. Dempster, L. J. , Locker, D. , Winson, R. P. (2011). The dental fear and avoidance scale (DFAS): Validation and application. Can J Dent Hygiene 45 (3): 158-164. Waldron, S. K. (2011). Auditory sensory impairments and the impact on oral healthcare: A review of the literature. Can J Dent Hygiene 45 (3): 180-184.

Conflict and war are inevitable in life

We are going to be discussing â€Å"Conflict and war are inevitable in life.† First of all, you cannot imagine a world without conflict and war as they are happening every day. Human beings are prone to conflict and war. War and peace are like Ying and Yang. They are combined and nothing can separate it. Needless wars occur around the world endlessly. Conflicts which are occurring now are: 1. Riots e.g: In Egypt. According to the BBC website, over 100 people have been killed due to the riots. You can disagree by saying† however, the police in Egypt are controlling the riots and rioters begin to decrease by each day according to the BBC. This shows that conflicts can be resolved is not inevitable.† 1. Our fellow teachers, like our Mr Harland are going on strike this Wednesday due to their pensions. This is out of the context however this is still a way of causing troubles in our society. â€Å"They are doing this because if they don’t they won’t be able to survive anymore. It won’t be fair on them would it?† Let’s think back a few years. Racism was very common in the United States and in many parts of Europe. Conflict and wars were created due to racism. People had to suffer in order to survive. Americans used coloured people (black) as slaves to do their bidding. This was inevitable in life! Yes it was a tragedy however that too has been resolved. People change their ways to a greater good. Rosa Parks was an extraordinary example. She stood up towards the white people and due to this, racism was soon abolished. So if it wasn’t for Rosa Parks, would racism have gone even further? Would I be sitting here having this discussion? Wars also occurred and are still occurring in around the globe. For example 1. Afghanistan. The British have to assist as well which endangers many soldiers and innocent people who did not want any of this to occur. All this happened because of one man. (Gadaffi). We are still trying to maintain peace around the world by assisting those in need. However, isn’t helping in the war going to increase the number of battles fought and how many more should have to die? I have also heard that the war in Sri Lanka has ended and people are rebuilding their lives. Wars get created and solved all the time. The Ultimate goal of war and conflict in my opinion is because of jealousy towards a person or people and for the satisfaction of human needs. Even in Julius Caesar, Mark Anthony and Octavius go up against Brutus and Cassius in a needless war. Why should people have to die without any cause or reason? This is exactly why war and conflict are inevitable in life.

Promotion of diversity and equality Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Promotion of diversity and equality - Essay Example Its main aim was to minimize if not entirely eliminate, discrimination against individuals, by changing the perceptions of people who may be different in any manner, as coined by cultural inheritance; and to give more rights to each category of individuals (Equality Act 2010). Professional practice is a function of power Influence, as has been witnessed in both contemporary and traditional societies. At every level of relationships, there is at least some power exerting force against individuals treated as its subjects (Sweeney, Lewis & Etherington, 2003). Professional practice is undermined by misuse of power, and the performance of individuals goes down, thus affecting service delivery. Care values have been on constant transition overtime. This change has not been devoid of results. Among the many advantages of positive transition of care values are improved performance of individuals; delivery of proper and more advance care to patients and people with unique needs; more liberal performance of individuals without discrimination among others. When fairness and diversity are not exercised in any given setup, social exclusion could set in, which brings with it damaging effects. Depression, anxiety, and insecurity are just but a tip of the iceberg. This can be passed from one generation to another; thus equality and diversity have to be promoted to annul the effects of discrimination and prejudice (Social exclusion unit, 2004). Lisa faces various problems in her life, and she falls as a direct victim of social barriers. She has no right to exercise her freedom, develop her full potential and finds herself in a most unwarranted position of a caregiver at a juvenile age. As discussed earlier, equality and diversity are strong terms that provide for an individual the opportunity to participate in daily life activities, develop full potential and mingle easily with the rest of the society members without facing

Case study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Case study - Essay Example Acquisition or alliance is a kind of strategy where a company purchases ownership stakes of another company in order to capture a particular target market. These strategies are also considered as among the pertinent growth strategies of companies in today’s business environment (Sherman, 2010). Many of the companies have come up with such strategies in the recent years. The latest company that has incorporated this strategy is Facebook. The company acquired the stakes of Instagram. It is the company that provides online services such as photo sharing as well as social networking for the users. The company has more than 30 million users worldwide with a total valuation of the firm of around US$20 million. Facebook, a social media giant offered a price of US$1 billion to purchase the stakes of the company. This acquisition will enhance the position of Facebook in front of its competitors, as through the assistance of it the company can provide finest photo sharing experience to its users all around the globe. This is also considered as among the key growth strategies of Facebook (Wharton, 2012; Kosner, 2012; BBC, 2012). This essay will analyse the entire case about the acquisition approach of Facebook and discuss the various threats and opportunities for the company. Furthermore, the essay will also analyse the methods of strategic development and evaluate the ones that will be applicable in Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram. In the later part of the essay, TOWS matrix will be used to analyse the strategic decisions of Facebook and Instagram regarding the acquisition. Strategic Opportunities and Threats of Facebook It can be observed from the analysis of the case study that Facebook will have certain opportunities as well threats as a result of its approach of acquisition of Instagram. There are certain potential benefits for the company. Opportunities It has been determined that owing to the acquisition of Instagram Facebook will strengthen its p osition in front of its major rivals in the market. Acquisition of Instagram will benefit Facebook users quite considerably. Facebook always intended to provide best photo sharing experiences to the customers or users. In this regard, the acquisition will enable the company to accomplish the aforesaid goal as Instagram is capable of delivering best photo sharing experiences for the users. In addition, the applications provided by Instagram will facilitate users of Facebook to leverage instant filters facility, which will be quite unique. This is also among the major opportunities for Facebook. Furthermore, it has been learnt that pictures and images taken from mobile devices appear to be blurred and ordinary. This aspect of photo viewing experience will be completely changed with the inception of the alliance of Facebook with Instagram as the later will enhance the quality of pictures captured and they can also be easily shared. Moreover, pictures taken with the help of cell phones cannot be processed before uploading them to Facebook, but with the help of

Financial Research Report Math Problem Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Financial Research Report - Math Problem Example These locations are thus the operational locations of the bank. The bank has been operated throughout the past 115 years and during this long term history, banking system all over the world has underwent a lot of change with respect to the technologies along with innovated products and services. The most interesting feature of the bank is that its mode of operating and doing business within the community did not change along with the market trend during its past numerous years of existence. The Chairman of Capital City Bank Group believes that his bank provides a favorable environment to the employees who work over there and provides great benefits to them through promotion of family values and various other amenities for making them feel like home (Capital City Bank Group, 2011). Capital City Bank Group is an outstanding performer in the US banking industry and the bank holds an excellent position of repute not only within the industry but within the business communities as well. Th e success of the bank is evident through the various achievements it has attained throughout its years of operations within the industry. During the recent past, the bank has expanded towards a wide geographical location outside the area of Tallahassee. Along with expansion through physical location spreading, the bank has also increased its reach of client towards various locations of the country (Capital City Bank Group, 2011). Capital City Bank Group is a financial services company which comprehensively values to its customers and this form of the bank’s business operations has added genuine value towards the prospect of the company. The prospect will be validated in the next sections of this research paper in terms of ratio and trend analysis of the banks’ performance over the past three years and projecting those of the future three years. Along with the projection of future performance of the bank, the stock performance will also be compared with that of S&P†™s 500 Index for evaluating the prospect of investing in the bank’s stocks. Ratio Analysis The ratio analysis and the trend analysis in this section will be performed with the help of past three years’ financial figures collected from the annual reports of Capital City Bank Group. The sources from where the data related to financial performance of the bank has been collected have been provided at the end of this research report. Ratios Actual 2008 Actual 2009 Actual 2010 Projected 2011 Projected 2012 Projected 2013 Liquidity Ratios Current Ratio= Current asset / current liability 1.34 0.96 1.86 1.89 1.94 1.98 Debt to equity ratio= Total liabilities / Owner’s equity 7.53 8.13 8.99 9.23 9.46 9.55 Operating Efficiency Ratio 64.91 % 77.33 % 84.23 % 86.25 % 88.37 % 92.33 % Profitability Ratios Return on sales or profit margin= (Net profit / Net Sales) *100 10.66 % - - 2.89 % 3.56 % 6.89 % Return on assets= (Net Profit / Total Assets)*100 0.59 % - - 0.52 % 0.56 % 0. 62 % Return on equity= (Net profit / Owner’s equity)*100 5.06 % - - 4.11 % 6.45 % 9.12 % Note: Ratios related to net profit during the years 2009 and 2010 have been kept blank due to the reason that

What you feel is the most Significant Constitutional Amendment Essay

What you feel is the most Significant Constitutional Amendment - Essay Example It is worth noting that all ideas, whether good or bad, are protected under the first amendment (Bird 56). As an American citizen, I have been able to enjoy the right to free speech and freely expressing my ideas and opinions. However, there are other countries where citizens do not enjoy the same right. I travelled to Ethiopia a couple of years ago, for a vacation and to view the beautiful scenery. Before I embarked on the journey, I was thoroughly briefed regarding the stringent rules of law in Ethiopia. At the embassy, citizens were constantly reminded to be careful of what they expressed to avoid being detained by the police. In addition, once we were outside the embassy and into the city of Addis Ababa and its environs, we were to avoid expressing any views against the regime; lest we be imprisoned. Unlike in America, citizens have to be mindful of what they express to avoid being imprisoned. As a tourist, I found these unfamiliar and confusing due to my perception that all citizens in the world enjoyed similar rights like other Americans did. The experience was an eye-opener and since then, I have appreciated the right conferred on me by the Constitution; to express my thoughts freely. In Ethiopia, for instance, there are hundreds of journalists and other perceived dissidents who have been detained illegally by their government, as political prisoners. Fortunately, I was not imprisoned in Ethiopia, and I continued expressing my thoughts, regarding Congress on Twitter, once I was at the United States Embassy. Through research, I have been able to identify the importance of the first amendment through critical analysis of world politics and political journals. I identified the primary reason as to why the Arab Spring uprising broke was due to the atrocities committed by the regimes in North Africa and the Middle East. The atrocities are

Literary Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 6

Literary Analysis - Essay Example The transformation of Oedipus from a quester to sinner in the play can be seen as a dramatic device to reveal the tragic flaw, hamartia, of the protagonist. From a man who was in search of his true identity, Oedipus ends up being the King of Thebes where he remains unaware of the very horrors present in his life, from which he was trying to run away. Even though it can be argued that the sins committed by Oedipus can be the outcome of his ignorance, the years he spent in Thebes without any effort to find out the people whom he came across in the life he chose shows the extent to which he was blinded by power. In fact, the moment he became the king of Thebes distanced him from his search for identity. Tiresius’s accusations from the perspective of Apollonian reasoning and piety explore the irrational and irresponsible actions of Oedipus which were once considered heroic. When insulted by Oedipus for his blindness and alleged inability to foresee the future of Thebes, Tiresius retorts: Oedipus can be seen as belonging to that aspect of Greek culture which operated on the pragmatic aspects of life which included action at the expense of introspection though the element of piety was a major element in their day-to-day existence. In a broad analysis, it is possible to analyze Oedipus as a Dionysian representation in Greek terms, exhibiting sudden action, excesses, violence, ruthlessness, and so on. The Apollonian representations, on the contrary would depict contemplative action with due emphasis on intelligence over impulse. Terry Eagleton, in his Holy Terror (2005) observes how in Sophocles’s Oedipus at Colonus, Oedipus â€Å"is transformed into a tutelary deity, protecting the citizens of Athens from assault† (15) and states that the Dionysian impulse for violence is normally a reaction to â€Å"lack of piety† (Eagleton, 16). In Oedipus the King, the question of morality is not strictly the concern of its

Individual Case Assigment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Individual Case Assigment - Essay Example Since Liemandt has built the company on the principle that a businessperson must be willing to take risks and be innovative, their new employees technical skills learning usually begin in a model of brainstorming and discussion. By putting their heads together, the TU help new Trilogy employees share ideas and learn all sorts of complexities in programming. They acquire technical expertise and skills in this manner, and in many cases, come up with something new for Trilogy. While learning through sharing of ideas, TUers also undergo technical training dubbed â€Å"tech track.† Here. TUers learn core skill, which include software testing methods and java programming. Liemandt provides a challenge and demonstrates how they can come together as a team and achieve a common objective. He makes sure that they are able to work as a team by organizing social activities and teams building activities such as taking them to Las Vegas. Because the culture of the business has been willingn ess to take risks, he always plays a game with them to drive home his point. He plays L2K with them to encourage them to be risks takers as he considers the organization was born out of risk taking. Another change that new Trilogy members learn in the TU teams is the organization values. There are section â€Å"leads† instil in the TU teams how the company operates and how it relates with its customers. In terms of how well a new TU team of employees learn technical skills, values and culture, one can observe that Liemandt has barred manager from involving any new team during their training periods until they are assigned to them. This way, the new team has all the time to learn about Trilogy as much as possible. The TU policy, consequently, ensure that a new team is able to concentrate on learning new technical skills. Such freedom and Liemandt’s protection policy makes sure that the team learns well about the culture and values of the company and change to adapt to i ts needs. The fact that the team is separated from the other departments also helps in making sure that there is clear communication in the team. It also ensures consistency in all instructions given by the selected As Kurt Lewin observes, the more one feels the necessity for change, the more there is the motivation to do it. Liemandt may be observed to have developed an unfreezing stage where he went on an aggressive search for new skills for to start his idea of the TU team. His Force Field Analysis presented him with factors for change although he knew that doing so was a risk. Therefore, one can say that although TU helps new Trilogy members learn skills, values and culture of their new organization, the current state is that the program may he headed towards a lag phase. The future state of the organization should be one in which emerging issues about the TU team is addressed as a matter of concern (Burnes 983). As assessment of the effectiveness of TU in its first five years f or the organization can be examined on the following manner. First, Liemandt formed TU programs on realizing that he had a vision, but which he saw that the old employees might not embrace. This is why he got involved with the first TU team as the first teacher although he had neither plan nor curriculum. From the start of the program to the end, one can say that TU was ultimately effective for the organizat

Does Gender or Sexuality Affect a Young Person’s Transition to Adulthood Essay Example for Free

Does Gender or Sexuality Affect a Young Person’s Transition to Adulthood Essay In this essay there will be a discussion about whether or gender effects the transition to adulthood. There will be a brief definition of gender and transition. There has been great debate over gender but there has been little about masculinity and femininity and the transition to adulthood. It will look at the transitions that gender goes through in relation to that of the past and present day. Then which will be compared if they have changed or continuously stayed the same. There will be theoretical discussion of the psychoanalytic and biosocial theory and how this helps us to understand if gender effects the transitions to adulthood. Being in school and going into the workforce will be examples of how these theories can be applied and explain again if the transitions to adulthood are effect by gender. Then to finished there will be a conclusion. When we think of gender we normal think of the sex of the person, so whether they are female or male. According to Mackenzie (2001:150) gender â€Å"relates to social divisions associated with notions of masculinity and femininity and such divisions vary according to changing contexts†. But is it as simple as this?! Gender is not just determined by whether you are male or female; it is a lot deeper than that as has a variety of aspects. These are gender assignment, gender role, gender identity and gender attribution. To become an adult there is considered to be five core transitions that a young person goes through. These are leaving home, completing school, entering the workforce, marriage and having children. This process is prolonged and varied compared to that of half a century ago. In comparison to then it takes longer for young adults to gain economic and psychological autonomy. According to Berlin et al (2010:20) â€Å" experiences in early adulthood now vary greatly b y gender, race, ethnicity and social class. In industrial society’s most men make the transition to adulthood by be able to go out and work. In comparison to some world cultures who make their transition through rituals. However, the passage form boy to man has become more complicated and hard to determine, which has cause issues which they are not mentally and physically prepared for flood et al(2007:666). Today there is contradiction and problems in relation to what it is to be a man is on the upraise and this is practically noticeable where there has been conflict, for example, in Northern Ireland (ibid). In Northern Ireland there is a tradition for men to live up the masculinity that was presented by other before them which has put pressure of the youths to be just the same. The homicide rates between 1969 to 2001 are a reflection of the phenomena that is associated with the transition of youth into adulthood and violence. There has been more studies on the gender norms is not new however there is significant difference in the amount of research on female and males. Morgan 1981 argues that ‘taking gender seriously’ means bring men back in. he stresses that if we accept that men is not the norm women the deviation and if we want to fully understand the life experiences and chances of all men and women we need to consider the social construction of both femininity and masculinity and focus our research and women and men experiences†. Marchbank Letherby( 2007:28) . Although it was not until the 20th century that subcultures were recognised as male due to the youth movement but still masculinity was not studied flood et all (2007:666). It is the belief of feminist that males disempowered women, according to McKinnon that there is system of power in which male dominances that oppresses women. Therefore, masculinity was seen as a problem. (Mackinnon, C. (1993) However Hearn argues that â⠂¬Å"In particular, it refers to the way in which particular forms of masculinity persist not just in relation to femininity, but also to other forms of masculinity. Accordingly, different forms of masculinity exist in relations of power, that may be characterized as hegemonic or subordinated in relation to one another† Bagihole cross (2002: 208). This suggests the men are not only oppressors of women but of other men. Men and female are different in respect to the gender roles in which they adopt. Naturally men are more strong, aggressive and emotionally detached compared to females who nurturing and caring. However, the family play’s is significant in terms of gender and the transition to adult. The family are the first interaction that the child will have and this is where the main socialisation occurs. They will learn the norms, values and morals form their family In the 1950’s and 1960’s the family role and adult responsibility were viewed as bring synonymous. Men were characterized by the capability to marry and support the family. Whereas, it was getting married and becoming a mother for women. By the age of twenty one woman was married and had a child by the age they was twenty three. This suggests that by the age twenty that men and women were recognised as adults. In the 20th century there was not much relevance’s of when adolescence was, but in their late teen ’s men worked and most of them had formed families. Transitions to adulthood were similar today and just before the industrialization because like then becoming and adult was a gradual and characterized by â€Å"semi-autonomy† with youths waiting until they were economically stable to set up a home. Eagly (1987) social role theory looks at two structural aspects of gender relations. These are the gendered divisions of labour and gendered based hierarchy. This theory demonstrates how these factors pin down the beliefs that society has about men and women. It shows hoe roles of individuals require particular traits and behaviour in order to be seen competent of their gender. Society for example has the idea that women have to be the child bearer and a process the child rearing traits. This is due to the biological reproduction that they have. The theory believes that due to the role segregation it encourages set beliefs and stereotype. This can be seen with the traits associated with each gender. Males are expected to be aggressive, brave, breadwinner and physical able. Whereas, in terms of female they are considered to be caring and nurturing due to their child rearing traits. The gendered stereotypes are reinforced by the status differences of men and women. There appears to be a link between divisions of labour and hierarchy. It is said that makes roles carry more importance and statuses compared to those of females. Home rearing is considered to be of low status compared to that of males who are of high statuses and bring money in. This suggests that stereotypes towards gender reflect upon the status of their traditional roles. It was Freud psychoanalytic theory that looks at the idea that biological factors and the social environment as defining influences of a child’s gender role development. Freud believed the gender role developed in the phallic stage, the child will experience a biological based attachment for the parent of the opposite gender. It was the belief of Freud that it was due the child’s identification with the same gender that resulted in gender role development. The theory helps to explain the reason why boys and girls act in certain ways. Freud stated† that boys are more motivated then girls acquire a more define gender role† Lowu (2007:291) there will is more define because of social pressures. According to money and ehrhardt (1972) biosocial theory there are specific events that determine a person gender role. Almost from the minute that the parent’s find out the sex of the child they will treat the child according to their gender. For example, if the sex of the child is a boy then the colour that the parent will dress them is typically blue and pink if it is a girl. The environment in which the child lives in is also determined by their gender. According to jones (2009:81) the colours that the parents pick shows masculinity or femininity. Therefore as there is this assumption then this affects the clothes, activities and toys they are encouraged to do, this would suggest that each gender are encourage to go down a particular path. The colours that the parents pick shows masculinity or femininity. Therefore as there is this assumption then this affects the clothes, activities and toys they are encouraged to do, this would suggest that each gender are encourage to go down a particular path This then in term may affect the way in which they portray themselves as young adolescents in school. Most girls fine this transition from youth to adolescence quiet difficult, most girls will portray themselves in a way to which they will achieve male approval, this is more easy for those of the popular group. This allows more opportunity for this type of grills to put them at rick and in dangerous situation as they are portraying an older sexuality. According to Woods (1994:32) state â€Å"that women are portrayed as women as sex objects who are usually young, thin beautiful, passive, dependent, and often incompetent and dumb. Female characters devote their primary energies to improving their appearances and taking care of homes and people†. If this is the image that is being injected in the youth minds then it is likely that this is how they will behaviour as they enter into a relationship. This can be seen as negative thing in the eyes of feminists as they beleive that women are oppressed by men. However, if they are raised the same way they have been parents were raised then this would be considered the norm. However, those who were not part of the in crowd reject the notion that there body was for the desire of men only. They opted for the comfy culture rather than the ‘tarty’ look. At this age there is a lot of images that young people will be surround by the media. As mentioned before there is the portrayal of ideal women all over the media, it this girl both in the popular crowds and none popular crowds can have an effect on the transition to adulthood. These images will allow the young girls to think that they have to look a certain way in order to be desire by males (Renold. E. (2005) This may resul t in it effecting there health as they may develop an eating disorder to get their desire look. This could be detrimental their ability to have a family in the future. This suggests that they will not meet one of the five core traditions. In comparison males transitions to adulthood by building on hierarchy among there group. A way that they do this is via showing there masculinity by taking up sports, this will be were all the hierarchy ranking will take place. If they have a problem they will generally solve their issue by fighting this results in them protecting their man hood. Whereas with girls if they have an issues with other then this will go on for a period of time ( Goodwin 2006) Another transition that men and women have is going to full time work. This can be a hard transition to adjust to as being a young adolescence most of the time does not mean having the responsibility of a full time job. Especially for women as they will also have to consider with the right time to have a family is. A problem with this is that they will have to a battle for equal pay. The equal pay act was not introduced till 1947 and was a direct change due to the changing roles of women in society. This means that men and women will receive the same amount of pay for the same job. As well as this, they can apply for the same position in a job regardless of where it is in the hierarchy. However, saying this and it being put into action is different. Still today there is a debate about men and women’s pay. If a man and women go for the same job it is more likely that the man will be given the job. A reason for this may be that if a women has ring her finger the employer will take into account that there is a high chance she will want a family. This mean that they would have to pay for maternity leave,whereas will a man this would not be the case. It is the believed that there is â€Å"An important part of this cultural change comes from providing better information to employees and to shareholders on a companys record on equal pay and employment, (www.guardian.co.uk) This may affect the way women transition into the workforce, this is because they may be put of the idea of career as they may feel what’s the point working at the same level as men only to receive less pay then them. To conclude it would suggest that gender does have a effect on the transition to adulthood. It is apparent that the way in which gender transitions in the past was based on the idea of the men being the bread winner and the female the child bearer. However this has seemed to change as time has moved on. The different theories look at the transition from different points of view but all suggest that gender does affect the transition. It will appear that girls more than more have a tougher time making the transition due to surrounding influences in society.

Deborah Tannen Text Analysis

Deborah Tannen Text Analysis Rationale This task links to part two language and mass communication and the topic of stereotypes. It explores how media shapes gender stereotypes. The nature of the task is an online opinion article from the feminist blog Jezebel. The author criticises linguistic professor Deborah Tannens books, stating that the media creates situations of miscommunication between men and women which are vaguely based on reality. Thus, the task critically investigates the handling of gender stereotypes in a range of media; both Tannens scholarly works and the online article. The text type was chosen as online media fosters a critical discussion of gender stereotypes through the ability to comment. The task contains comments that feature contrasting tones and syntax, highlighting the controversial nature of gender stereotypes. The task was inspired by Megan Carpentlers Jezebel article On George Tiller And The Profound Power of Language, mirrored in formal qualities and the title. The target audience of Jezebel is young and likeminded feminists due to it being an online publication, demonstrated through the use of popular culture allusions, such as Sex and the City. The task features Jezebels typical conversational and ironic tone which allows the reader to feel a personal connection with the author, achieved through the use of contractions and rhetorical questions, and exemplified in hyperbolic phrases such as women use hidden directives; or, I mean, I guess they could, maybe. The voice of the task shifts to persuasive in the last paragraphs of the article, as the author argues that the media causes gender stereotypes. This argumentative tone is achieved through logos and hypophora, such as What came first, the language or the patriarchy? after which the author reiterates their opinion in stating the patriarchy came first. Thus, the aim of the task is to persuade the reader of the authors opinion. 300 words. Works Cited Carpentler, Megan. On George Tiller And The Profound Power of Language. Jezebel. Jezebel, 6 Jan. 2009. Web. 01 Mar. 2016. . Works Cited: Images Used Fundraising Ideas for Social Justice | MobileCause. MobileCause. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Mar. 2016. . Studio Portrait of Young Woman. Getty Images. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Mar. 2016. . On Deborah Tannen and the Profound Power of Language Jane Carter7/03/16 Women: what do they want? Thats a question thats plagued not only hundreds of clueless husbands and boyfriends on Valentines Day, anniversaries, or other celebrations. Yet, why is that all men seem to be so clueless when it comes to understanding half of the earths population? Let psychologist, linguist, and Georgetown professor Deborah Tannen enlighten you: its all in your words. The writer of bestsellers with catchy, fun titles such as You Just Dont Understand: Women and Men in Conversation and Thats Not what I Meant! How Conversational Style Makes or Breaks Relationships both works read across the country in the eighties and nineties by millions of frustrated middle-aged mothers- has long stated that women and men are two tribes headed for war. Men and women will never be able to understand each other, and its all because of our language and conversational style, says Tannen. Men see language as a way of asserting dominance, Tannen writes, whereas women simply see it as a way of confirming ideas: never creating their own, obviously. Women are only capable of merely asserting the thoughts of others. Women see language as a means of empathy and providing emotional support, whereas strong, independent men only ever use their language to solve real problems. Men are only concerned with facts; we all know women are far too emotional to deal with hard-core knowledge. How could we, anyhow, when all we ever do is use our language to communicate our feelings or converse with others about their own feelings? It is also a well-known fact that men use imperatives, Tannen says, whereas women use hidden directives; or, I mean, I guess they could, maybe. But, what does this mean? Does gender inequality stem from grammar and syntax? Can we emotional women, with our hidden directives, blame ourselves and our language for the patriarchy? Tannen might be shouting Yes! Look at the transcripts! I have evidence!, and she might very well be true. Gender differences do affect language, though what came first, the language or the patriarchy? Let us first deconstruct gender: it is merely a construct. We live in a world where we colour-code our children in desperation to keep the gender binary system going, and we divide everything according to gender: cats are feminine, dogs are masculine, toy cars are for boys, and dolls are for girls. The division carries on into stereotypes: women are social, men are commanding, girls are emotional, boys are rational. From Sex and the City to What Women Want, these stereotypes are reflected in the media and broadcasted left, right, and centre. Men and women are shown to be polar opposites, completely unable to understand each other, and its all because of their language. Middle-aged women speak like prepubescent teenage girls, using words such as sort of or the ever-present filler like: minor interjections that show women are active listeners, says Tannen, and caring, domestic, beings. Men- if they talk to each other at all- are commanding and avoid confronting their feelings because they are, after all, far too driven by problem-solving and real problems, not their miniscule emotions. The amount of times I have seen or heard married couples bicker and argue on televised sitcoms is ridiculous, and its the same pattern every time: men dont understand what women are saying, and women cant seem to comprehend what men mean. Be it for comedic purpose or otherwise, these stereotypes and seemingly innate differences in language, or conversational styles as Tannen puts it, were drilled inside of all of our heads from a very young age, and the effect is momentous. The classic example is the exchange of Whats wrong? Nothing. Picture the scene: a married couple utters those phrases. Who asks the question, and who answers it? I can guarantee you three things. Firstly, you pictured a man and woman. Secondly, you imagined the woman answering. Thirdly, she probably didnt have a very nice tone of voice. Am I a magician, really good at guessing, or is there more to the issue than it seems? The phrase nothing haunts millions of married men, as those two words are built to never truly mean nothing because, as Tannen has showed us, womens speech is loaded with complex meaning, ready to be enciphered by mens rational brains, yet it seems men are never quite able to do so, perhaps because nothing simply means nothing; nothing more and nothing less, despite the media often portraying quite the opposite. The media creates these situations of miscommunication between men and women. Although vaguely based on reality, one can hardly argue that they accurately depict this wonderfully complex world we live in. Generalisation is a dangerous thing, and yet, Tannen devises equally generalised assumptions and psychological theories to explain this division of language broadcasted in the media and transferred to real life. To answer the previous question I asked, the patriarchy came first, and Tannens work did nothing but compose a deeper division between men and women that the media was already keen on creating. We arent two tribes heading for war. Men arent from Mars, and women arent from Venus. Perhaps someone should explain to Mrs. Tannen that there are extra-terrestrial forms of life. We all are, in fact, from planet Earth; our lovely home with its wonderful entrenched sexism. Comments Marline | 7.03.2016 Tannens work did nothing but compose a deeper division between men and women. What?! Im pretty sure Tannen isnt some weirdo on Reddit Tannen isnt a man-hater, and she isnt some woman-hater either, shes just a psychologist!!! Disappointing article, youve totally over-analysed her lol JSev | 7.03.2016 i take AP Psych and her work is SO sexist!! try READING it its horrible lmao Jessica L. | 8.03.2016 agree with you!!! wish we didnt use psychology as evidence for sexism. makes me sad to think people believe her   media brainwashed usà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦..

Effect of the Internet on Business Development

Effect of the Internet on Business Development The internet is a network of computers who can share data and communicate between them. Its reach is almost every place in this world (see table 1). Any other technology has never changed a business as fast as internet has done. There are many stories of how a business been transformed on internet. EBay, the biggest e-shop was created by his founder to trade niche goods but now, one can buy or sell almost everything in this world to virtually everywhere. You can transform your business if you are nicely connected to your customers, suppliers and other trade partners. Internet is the best possible connector in a business who is at your service for virtually nothing. There is whole world at your disposal and you dont need to open a shop everywhere. Only thing you need is internet connection with some computer system. If you are able to offer a better deal you are in business otherwise, irrespective of how big or small you are, you are going to run out of business. The impact of interne t includes: Less importance of economies of scale. Fewer barriers to internationalization. Lower marketing communication costs. Greater price standardization. Less information floating time. Easy and fast communication between buyer and sellers. Changes in intermediary relationships. The internet lowers transaction costs in three ways: Search costs: The amount of information available to the buyer and the seller can be increased with the help of internet and that can be accessed conveniently and timely. Contracting costs: The internet helps to establish better communication and monitor the performance of partners in business relationship. It is easier to negotiate and compare prices via internet. Co-ordination costs: The cost of sharing information is reduced due to internet and is helpful in integrating business operations. What is e-business? (Kotler and Keller, 2009) e-business describes the use of electronic means and platform to conduct a companys business. E-business is short form of electronic business, where internet and related technology is used for normal business operations. Here internet is used to increase productivity, reduce costs and thus to increase turnover. The effect of Internet on business Internet has changed the business immensely. It has made the world come closer and trade economically and efficiently. It has created a virtual market where everything is available, not physically but virtually. The greatest effect internet has done on business is that it made trade price sensitive and more logical. A customer now is able to do the research work or comparisons before buying a product or services. Not only customer but it has benefited firm as well. Now firm is able to reach distant customer easily and cheaply. They can create awareness about their product and can interact directly with customer to know their preference, problem and potential solution. There is lot more to come and has impact on almost every sector of business. In further chapters we will discuss about these impacts in detail. Dissertation Objective The objective of writing this dissertation is as follows: To analyse the role of internet in development of business. To highlight the way a firm can effectively use internet technology to gain competitive advantage over their competitors. Project Structure This dissertation is divided in seven chapters with each chapter dealing with a specific topic dealing how internet helps in developing a business. First chapter Introduction contains the basic detail about the internet and their business application. Chapter 2 with heading literature review discusses about the internet and its impact on international marketing, the internet and the e-value chain and international marketing strategy and e-business. Here, the things discussed are the essence of the academic work of known writers. Chapter three discusses about the virtual market (market space) and their different aspects (like how this market can be exploited, what the possible pitfall are and where opportunities lies). Chapter four is about marketing on internet. Here some of the important discussions are on interactive marketing, push marketing and advertising via internet. There is also discussion about global business strategy and driver that need to be adopted for international ma rketing via internet. In chapter five, the academic analysis of internet as a tool for development of business is done. Here porters generic competitive advantage model, Rayport and Sviokla model of marketspace and Dutta and Segevs market space model has been discussed in brief. Further a SWOT analysis of inter is done with some suggestions. In chapter sis a very brief case study of eBay is done. Chapter seven is about the managerial implication of the changing scenario due to internet and in marketplace. Literature Review The Internet and its impact on International Marketing The Internet (Fletcher et al, 2005) The internet is a global network of interlinked computers operating on a standard protocol that allows information exchange. (Carolyn Siegel, 2004) It is the worlds largest network of interconnected distributed computer networks. Thus we can infer that any system which is able to share information to other system through a globally accepted protocol is part of internet and this whole interconnection may be called as internet. Internet commerce (Kotler and Keller, 2009) e-commerce means that the company or site offers to transact or facilitate the selling of products and services online. The internet user in the world is growing fast and so is the market scope for the marketers. According to Internet World Stat, 23.8% of total world population are active internet user. Thus, a vast population of more than 1.5 billion is ready to buy and sell on internet given a better deal. It can be only imagined the vastness and growth of market that within 8 year (2000 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" 2008) the world internet users grew by 342% and out of those users, 85% have purchased something on internet (Source, Nielsen, Feb 2008). The Internet and International Marketing (Carolyn Siegel, 2004) Marketing is a collection of activities that bring buyers and sellers together to make exchanges that satisfy and give value to all parties. (Carolyn Siegel, 2004) Internet marketing or e-marketing (electronic marketing) is marketing on internet with the help of emails, World Wide Web or other means. It also includes production and selling of internet related products. According to Fletcher in 2005, the introduction of electronic business has changed the fundamental principles of international marketing. He pointed out certain things that internet has changed are: Size of firm is no longer a barrier to internationalization. No need of overseas intermediaries as it became easier to locate customer and deal directly with them. No longer is traditional way of internationalization (moving from familiar to less familiar country) applicable as information became easily available and the communication medium is interactive. The internet (as a low cost medium) allows small and medium firms to become global marketer at their early stage. This is due to the fact that internet can help establishing better communication among overseas customers, suppliers, agents and distributors. We will discuss more about drivers of internet business model, impact of internet on international marketing in chapter 5. Characteristics According to Richard Fletcher et al, 2005, the internet is both communication and a marketing intelligence tool. As a communication tool it helps to build and maintain effective communication with overseas suppliers, distributors and customers. The internet has good information processing capability which acts as link between firm and external environment (discussed later). This ability of internet used as marketing intelligence tool. The internet is used as marketing channel and has following characteristics: Ability to store vast amount of data (information) inexpensively at virtually different location. Interactivity and ability to provide information on demand. Relatively low entry and establishment costs for sellers. Serve as distribution medium for goods like software, e-books etc. Powerful and cheap tool for searching, organizing and processing information. The ability to provide better insight of a product than that of other form of printed catalogue. The Internet and the e-value chain Netchising or Virtual value chain According to Beck and Morrison (2000), the physical value chain activity while globalization has not seen good results. This is due to the fact that a firm uses their resources in overseas activity at the expense of opportunities of domestic market. Not only that, there are other problem faced by an organisation like coordination of physical operations across the globe, the cultural differences, the cost of expatriates and vulnerability to environmental risk that can damage reputation of the firm. Most of these problems can be effectively solved by netchising, a term coined by Beck and Morrison (2000). Netchising is the practice of handing over overseas operations to partners (generally overseas) by outsourcing, subcontracting or franchising. Netchising has following advantages: Efficiency: generally overseas partners are more efficient and are specialized in carrying out the outsourced activities than the outsourcing firm. Convenience: exchange of information becomes easy. Now, orders can be directly placed to the firm without any local agent and a firm can also share information to the customers directly. Reduction in Transaction cost: It reduces the cost of carrying business operations which ultimately benefit the profitability of firm. International value chain According to Plumley (2000), international e-business value chain is the combination of e-commerce platform and secure transaction support (see figure 2.1). The e-commerce platform builds on the countries business rules and language where as secure transaction support builds on currency clearing and legal requirement. According to Gartner Group, internet affects the supply chain (see figure 2.2). It shows that a customer can buy and pay for the product or services easily and at the same time a supplier can also communicate directly with customer and with their own other internal departments. International information chain According to Karmarkar (2000), internet value chain is closely linked with international information chain. The language and cultural differences is the main hurdle in the path of globalization of a firm. When a firm deals with information product (like music, e-books or software) then it becomes easier to go global. In certain cases when product or services are not much attached to language or cultural factors (for ex. Technical publishing and industrial services), then also it is easy to become global. In production of information product and services low labour cost is the key as relative cost of hardware and software has come down. Now, firms look for low cost labour market (like India, China) to develop information products. Outsourcing of information services (customer care service such as call centres) and software development cell are some examples. Thus we can say that in information value chain, the physical infrastructure doesnt play a vital role. International Marketing Strategy and e-business Internet issue and foreign market entry According to Oxley and Yeung (2000), the e-commerce readiness of a market is determined by three factors: The rule of law: A customer is not able to see the original product while purchasing online. Therefore, they need to be assured that if they purchase a product or service online; they will get them as they were told or shown online in given time limit. According to survey by e-consultancy in 2008, 84% buyers look for the sign that a website is secure before making a purchase. Thus, a market (country) must be able to provide an environment where property rights are well defines, courts are efficient in resolving disputes and consumer credits and consumer protection regulations are well established and enforced (i.e. strong tradition of the rule of law). The transactional integrity of online business: It is difficult to track a e-business trader by their e-mail address or website. Also, the entry and exit barrier in e-business is low and this is used as a weapon by dishonest e-traders. They can execute fraud and again be able to do it with a new name (as they can entre again in market with new identity). When dispute arises, it is hard to practise legal action in a different country and can be costly. The availability of infrastructure: migration from traditional market to online market is not possible until customers have access to personal computer and internet connection at reasonable price. Apart from these facilities, they do have the facility of credit card or online payment system. Thus, internet related infrastructure and financial infrastructure are essential Electronic Marketplace Internet a virtual market According to Garrison, (1996), the internet acts as a catalyst for sociological change. It has changed the nature of market, the way of business operation and the mode of communication with customers and other business partners. It has created a market space which has affected the traditional marketplace and consumer preferences by providing greater facilities to them. Internet has become the largest market available to mankind where almost everything is been sell or bought. This market space doesnt exist in physical terms but can get everything available in physical market. Physical vs. Virtual Value Chain Value chain is nothing but a set of value adding activity for the product or services. Rayport and Sviokla, 1996, argued about a new value chain termed as virtual value chain where product or services exist as a piece of information and can be delivered through information based channel of communication. This virtual value chain is different from physical or traditional value chain where one can see or touch products. He said the virtual world as market space while the physical world as marketplace. According to Fletchar et al 2005, the virtual value chain is a realm where products and services exist as digital information delivered through information based channel. He also differentiates virtual value chain and physical value chain on the basis of information used. The virtual value system uses information as the source of value while in physical value chain it is used as a supporting element of value adding process. Thus we can say that now a day a firm has to compete in two busin ess environment, one is traditional and other is virtual business environment. The distinction between the two can be understood by this example. when consumers use answering machines to leave a message, they are using an object that is both made and sold in the physical world, however when they buy electronic answering services from the phone company they are using the market space à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬  a virtual realm where products and services are digital information and are delivered through information-based channels. (Rayport and Sviokla, 1996) Figure 2: The Virtual Value Chain in relation to The Physical Value Chain (source: Hollensen, 2001). Adoption of Value Adding Activities: Company adopts value adding information activities in the following three stages: Visibility: Here large scale information systems are used to coordinate activities in the physical value chain. Mirroring Capability: It is the capability of substituting physical activities with virtual and thus creating a parallel virtual value chain in the marketspace (see figure 2). New Customer Relationship: This is the flow of information to customer to deliver value in new ways. This parallel physical and virtual value chain operation allow firms to deliver value to their customer in both marketspace and marketplace. These operations create marketspace based relationship with customers. The virtual value chain consists of five steps, say, gathering, organising, selecting, synthesizing and distributing information. These value adding activity allow company to identify customers desires more effectively and fulfil them more efficiently. This happens, for example, when a car manufacturer shifts its RD from the physical to the virtual value chain. By doing so, they involve customers of different locations in the new product development process. The physical value chain is linear (a sequence of activities with defined input and outputs), whereas the virtual value chain is non-linear (a matrix of potential inputs and outputs that can be accessed and distribute by a wide variety of channels). Relationship marketing It is a way of marketing where marketers or firm try to attract, maintain and enhance relationship with customers and other business partners. Internet (or website) acts as the best medium to communicate with people related to business. Firms now focus on relationship marketing to gather information from customers, to develop customized product or services for a focussed customer group. The internet helps firms to improve relationship with their customers and suppliers; and help them to work effectively. Now a firm doesnt need a middleman or a agent as they can sell directly to the customer via internet. Thus the distance with customer is decreasing and a firm need a smaller supply chain which can increase their profitability. The lesser distance also allows firms to establish a close relationship with customer and provide those customized products or services as per their need. The firms (like eBay, Google etc) involved in innovative business have always realized the power of customer relationship. They bank on the ability to process large relationship database. With the help of this relationship database they formulate their strategy and develop innovative way of marketing. The relationship marketing not only benefit the firm but also the customers. The customers are benefitted because firm can develop customized and focussed marketing message. Mattsson, (1996), has described a relationship as combination of three main components, which affect the parties involved in a business. Those components are legal(L), behavioural(P), and atmospheric (E). These three factor determines the success and failure of a relationship marketing in a particular market. Thus it is possible to have a successful buyer-seller relationship in domestic market totally failure in overseas market. Finally we can say that relationship marketing includes the management of a firm and thus it must be included in the business plan Marketing on the Internet Internet and Global Business Strategy (Kotler and Keller, 2006) e-marketing describes company offers to inform buyers, communicate, promote and sell its products and services over the internet. Drivers of Internet Adoption in International Marketing Once a firm establishes an internet portal (website), they automatically become a MNC (Multi National Company). Quelch and Kelvin (1996) describe two evolutionary paths of a website: Information to Transaction Model (figure 4.1) adopted by existing MNCs where they offer information to address the needs of existing customers. Transaction to Information Model (figure 4.2) adopted by internet start-up companies where they begin with transaction and use the medium to build brand image and secure repeat orders. The basic purpose of these models is either to reduce cost or to increase revenue. According to Quelch and Kelvin (1996), these drivers fall into four quadrant as given in figure 4.3. Internal customers focus/ cost reduction (quadrant 1): This is applicable to the companies who use website as a tool to communicate with their customers. Their main focus is to provide customer services for domestic market. They just happen to attract international traffic. Internal customer focus/ revenue generation (quadrant 2): This is applicable to the companies who use website not only to communicate with their domestic customers but also offer transactions online. This enables a firm to reach those international customers who might be inaccessible via other media. External customer focus/ cost reduction (quadrant 2): This is applicable to the companies whose main aim is to attract international audience through their website. This happens to benefit all customers because of the international scope of operations. External customer focus/ revenue generation (quadrant 3): This is applicable to the firms who not only focus on attracting international audience but also offer transactions worldwide. Here transaction involves connecting buyers and sellers. Company target providing services to existing customers and attract new customers from global market. Impact of Internet on International Marketing Variables The modification in marketing mix variables is necessary while using internet for international marketing. The impacts of internet on application of marketing mix while going to international market are as follows: Pricing: Due to internet customers are more aware of prices in different countries and thus there is increase in price standardization across borders and price differential become narrow. One advantage of this is that price can be customized easily with customers need and their profile (segment). Distribution Channels: Internet has dramatically reduced the number of intermediaries earlier needed for worldwide distribution channels. As now, less capital is needed for inventory and thus the role of intermediaries has been changed. The new roles of intermediaries include collection, spreading, interpretation and distribution of information rather than traditionally handling and distribution of products. Creation of new Market: Internet offers new opportunities for firms to create market by helping buyers and sellers to locate and negotiate trade terms with each other (ex. eBay etc). There is also a market developed for executing transaction between traders (ex. PayPal etc). New Product Diffusion: The traditional test as you go practice where shifting products from one country to another is now outdated. Now, new product announcement or launch generates immediate demand (as information travel faster on internet) and that requires immediate availability of goods. Customization: Due to internet, getting demographic and purchasing profile of customer became easy. This allows firms to customize products for local adaption as per local market demand. Advertising on internet Internet is a low cost advertising medium having reach to global audience. Advertising on internet includes banner advertising on website, email, blogs and links to search engines. As traditional media of advertising is quite expensive and at the same time internet infrastructure is improving day by day and able to prove support to video and graphics on web. With this improvement a firm can successfully launch an online advertisement campaign. Interactive advertising According to Haeckel, Marketing interactivity is a person-to-person or person-to-technology exchange designed to effect a change in the knowledge or behaviour of at least one person. He also point out that interactivity is function of certain dimensions, which is given as: I = Æ'(N, C, F, SI, CI, T, CT, SY, M) Where, I = impact of interaction, M = Type of media involved (Other factors not discussed as not relevant to current topic). Now, as a technology, internet is the strongest media for interactive marketing. The reason for that is Internet is used by almost a quarter of the total world population. It is not limited to a particular geographic reason. The growth of user is fast. Cheapest and fastest way of interacting with majority of population (both for customer and marketers). Haeckel also pointed out that there is going to be much more business and marketing use through internet. He made a graph which shows how we find usage of a new technology with time (see graph below) and thus we can say there is more in store than what we are seeing and using presently. Even interactive marketing may see turnaround with this technology. Marketing with push technology (Wetzel, 2008) defined push marketing as, customers are provided information by receiving or viewing advertisements digitally, such as: e-mail, SMS, RSS, phone calls, etc., as subscribers of the latest product and service information provided by the company. The internet is the cheapest and most effective media that is used for push marketing. Advantages of Push Marketing via Internet Tracking of Customer Preference: It is easier to track user preference with the help of push technology (internet) and customize according to their preferences. A good example of this is Google AdSense that tracks the users visited website or keywords in mail and according to those criteria it shows advertisement (related link). Increase Accessibility: With the help of push marketing a firm can increase customer accessibility by the firms marketing and advertisement of the products. Subscribers get pushed by built in developed software called PointCast that enable users to receive automatic content updates via their internet connection and web presence as the channel to get information when their computers are not in use. Corporate identity in cyberspace Firms are now using web to extend and reinforce their companies brand image in a cost efficient manner. This serves as a complementary media device that re-establishes a firm in consumers mind. By providing valuable information to users a firm can expand their brand image. The regular updating of information may attract customers to visit website regularly, which will reinforce firms image and provide them a chance to create a new and extended cyber image. Analysis and Methodology Competitive Advantage via Internet Porters three generic strategies for competitive advantage According to Porter (1985), a firm can earn high return if they are able to position themselves well enough, irrespective of the structure of the industry and profitability of the industry. He pointed out the fundamental basis for above average performance is sustainable competitive advantage in long run. For that sustainable competitive advantage he gave three generic competitive strategies. Cost Leadership: According to porter (1985), a firm is having cost advantage over his competitors if the cumulative cost of performing value activity is less than the competitors. He further discussed that a firms cost position is a function of; (a) the composition of their value chain to their competitors, (b) their relative position in cost drivers. Now, we see that how internet helps them to achieve them cost leadership by affecting the above two functions. Differentiation: Porter (1985) describes another strategy for competitive advantage is to differentiate their product with competitors products. This means raising the quality with ignoring the cost for the sake of quality. Now internet can help them to do that by interacting directly with customer and customizing products according to target group. Many firms now use blog site to interact with customers and promoting their new or customized product. Focus: Porter describe this as customizing products or services to suit a focused or small segment of consumer group. The internet helps firms to focus on different aspects of the products and customer group. Internet even allow firm to receive specification from each and every customers and according to them they can produce customized products or services. As discussed in chapter 3, the relation of physical and virtual value chain (Hollensen, 2001), we find there is virtual value chain corresponding to each physical value chain. By applying this value chain a firm can become cost leader as it depends on two factors discussed above. A firm can shift to virtual value chain to gain cost advantage over their competitors physical value chain. For example Federal Express (FedEx), a shipment company allows consumer to track their parcels. This tracking system via internet is very efficient and economical. The FedEx has now reduced more than a million query calls per month by providing online shipment tracking system. This is one of the way of reducing cost and step towards cost leader position and at the same time it differentiate FedEx from their competitors. But this is not enough as sooner or later others will follow same practice and FedEx lose the competitive edge. The real edge lies on the innovative and creative way of finding or chang ing physical value chain to virtual value chain. So now apart from technology, innovative idea of using technology is the key for success of a firm. Stuck in the middle Porter (1985) points out a situation, where a firm try to achieve both generic strategy (cost leadership and differentiation) but fails to achieve any of them. He calls this situation as stuck in the middle. According to him, a firm stuck in the middle will compete at disadvantage as others competitors (cost leader, differentiators) will be better positioned to compete in any segment. In case of Google AdSense, Google is offering a differentiated advertising tool at very low cost (usually one get this via auction, where price is driven by customer not producer) is offering a differentiated (highly unique and effective) advertisement. Here both cost leadership and differentiation is achieved by Google with the help of technology. Johnson et al (1998) discuss about the core competency of a firm may be difficult to imitate because they are complex. The google is doing the same thing by making the internal structure complex, which is hard to imitate by competitors. Thus, they can put the mselves in a position where for an advertisement position (ex. Out of five position or space, advertisers bid for first position then second and so on), firms bid among themselves. Thus, it is possible to achieve a position where a firm can achieve cost leadership and differentiation without compromising one for the other with the help of technology (say internet) and their own creativity (say way of using internet). E-business marketing Models and International Competitiveness Rayport and Sviokla Model According to Rayport and Sviokla (1995), the internet has changed the nature of trade. Internet has made both physical location of inventory and the actual place (marketplace) of trade irrelevant. They argued that traditional marketplace (the physical market) transaction has been replaced by markets place (virtual market or e-market) transaction. They concluded that brand equity is created in marketplace through content (i.e. the product offering), context (the communication programmes) and infrastructure (i.e. the pricing and value chain activity related to distribution). While in market space (internet marketing); content, context and infrastructure has been transformed to innovate new ways of creating value. The changes are: Content: Now, everything possible is delivered electronically whether it is product, service or information. Even though operating system (Microsoft window) are available online. They tim

Essays --

Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman shows us how one man's blind faith in a misconception of the American Dream becomes an obsession of accomplishment that destroys his life and nearly that of his family. Miller's main character Willy Loman somehow comes to believe that success always comes to those who are well liked and good looking. His downfall is that he does not equate success with hard work and perseverance. This faulty thinking keeps him from achieving his goals of wealth and status. His boys Biff and Happy are taught the same faulty values and are destined to fail as well. The devastating effects of Willy's obsession are seen throughout the family starting with Willy who begins to lose his mind and his confidence that he will someday prevail. He is torn between denial that he is ultimately a failure and desperation to succeed at any cost. In Willy's opinion a man without success is nothing. Linda, Willy's adoring wife weather's Willy's ups and downs with patience and hope that someday he will realize that he is successful. She believes that a home, a loving family, and food on the table are all anyone needs. Linda says to him "why must everybody conquer the world? You're well like and everyone loves you" (p292). She is often trying to point out his accomplishments, but, he turns a blind eye. Happy, Willy's youngest son is truly a mess. He follows in his father's footsteps into the business world, where he is admittedly unhappy, yet continues because it is what is expected of him. He, like Willy believes that success is the measure of a man. He says "I gotta show some of those pompous, self important executives over there that Hap Loman can make the grade" (p 250). We see his blind desire to succeed and know he's headin... ...g Charley, there's more of him in that front stoop than in all the sales he ever made" (p328). The final requiem of this play includes some brilliant lines. Most importantly, Linda's final words at her husband's grave; "Willy, dear I can't cry, why did you do it, I search and search and I search, and I can't understand it, Willy. I made the last payment on the house today. Today, dear, and there'll be nobody home. We're free and clear. We're free...We're free..." (p329). Linda knew all along what was important, and now Willy has died before ever realizing how much success he really had; a true friend in Charley, and the love of his wife and sons. His home, paid for and fixed up with his own two hands. If anything can be learned from the life of Willy Loman, it is that sometimes what we wish for is not what we need, and by striving blindly we might miss what we have.

Patriotism in Spiderman Movies Essay -- essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The portrayal of the feelings of the general public is constantly used in film to stir the audience. If the filmmaker can rouse their feelings, people will be more engrossed in the movie than they would be otherwise. What is arguably the strongest emotion in many people is the feeling of patriotism. As George Bernard Shaw said, â€Å"Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it.† Though this feeling is not necessarily based on logic, it is none-the-less one of the most powerful feelings along with hatred and love. Depending on when a movie is made, the amount of patriotism portrayed is directly related to the political and social climate on the time. Specifically, the recent movies Spider-Man (2002) and Spider-Man 2 (2004) both show the differing amounts of patriotism that were in the American psyche at those two close but far different times in history. Additionally, it can be shown that th e movies can even have their own effect on the patriotic feelings of the time. Comparing and contrasting the two movies reveals how the differing times affected the final product of both movies.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Spider-Man (2002) was filmed in 2001 before and after the events of September eleventh, 2001, but wasn’t released until eight months after in May of 2002. Though when the film was originally written and shot the amount of patriotism was evident, after 9/11 the political climate ...

Converting Paper Records to a Computer Based Health Record Essay

Traditional utilization of paper based medical records leads to the dispersion of clinical information as a result of the heterogeneous character of hospital systems. Due to this, the development of a clinical information system that can integrate hospital information as well as enable cooperation amongst legacy systems became a difficult task. System integration as well as the development of an efficient clinical information management system was thereby dependent upon the creation of conceptual and architectural tools that will enable such an integration. In line with this, many healthcare institutions are currently seeking to establish the integration of their workstations through the utilization of technological tools. Such tools are effective in the arrangement of clinical matters as well as in the arrangement of administrative and financial information. Clinical information systems are utilized by healthcare institutions in their integration of information. At this point, the utilization of electronic medical systems in healthcare delivery is evident in countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Sweden, Hong Kong, Canada, as well as Australia. The current shift from a human memory based paradigm to a technological paradigm can be traced to the recent emphasis given on health care quality improvement and cost reduction. In lieu of this, policymakers started to adopt health information technology such as the Electronic Medical Record (EMR). According to Tim Scott in Implementing an Electronic Medical Record System, most information regarding the use of EMR systems are derived from the Regenstrief Institute, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, the Department of Veterans Affairs, LDS Hospital, and Kaiser Permanente. The information derived from the following medical institutions shows the following. First, success is dependent upon the organizational tools rather than on the type of technology used. Second, minimal changes were noted in terms of increase of quality and efficiency as a result of the system’s adaptation. Such findings thereby led to the slow adoption and implementation of EMR systems since majority of medical institutions as well as healthcare systems required the high verifiability of the system’s utility. True enough, researches within these institutions also showed that EMR systems increase the quality of patient care as it decreases medical errors, however, the economic aspect regarding its use has not been well documented leaving most medical institutions adamant regarding its implementation. In lieu of this, the paper is divided into three parts. The first part will present the rationale behind the formation of the technology based medical paradigm. It will be formulated within the parameters of Thomas Kuhn’s conception of scientific revolutions. The second part present a discussion of the various EMR components and the problems encountered in its implementation at Kaiser. The last part, on the other hand, will concentrate on presenting possible solutions to the problems evident in the utilization of the EMR systems within the Kaiser program while giving specific emphasis on the role of the agent in successful implementation. Thomas Kuhn, in his work entitled The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, discusses the very nature and necessity of what he calls scientific revolutions. In this particular work, Kuhn sees an apparent parallelism between political revolutions on the one hand, and scientific revolutions on the other. Kuhn writes: â€Å"scientific revolutions†¦ (are) those non-cumulative developmental episodes in which an older paradigm is replaced in whole or in part by an incompatible new one† (2000, p. 50). On a preliminary note, paradigms are frameworks in and through which we approach phenomena, in general. They are models, so to speak. Naturally enough, different models employ different methodologies, different methodologies in turn, generate different types of knowledge, which, consequently, have different criteria of proof or validity. Scientific development, as Kuhn contends, may appropriately be characterized by paradigm shifts and this he calls scientific revolutions. It is important to note that scientific developments do not occur in a vacuum. For the aforementioned reason, there is a felt need to situate scientific developments in the historical context within which they are conceived, proposed and ultimately, institutionalized and integrated as part of society’s shared knowledge. This is to say that scientific revolutions are also proper objects of historical analysis and discourse in as much as political revolutions are. Kuhn contends that there is a parallelism between political and scientific revolutions. As pointed out earlier, it is important to note that he characterizes scientific revolutions as â€Å"those non-cumulative developmental episodes in which an older paradigm is replaced in whole or in part by an incompatible new one. † Kuhn’s characterization emphasizes two important points. First, â€Å"that there is a replacement of an old paradigm by a new one†. Second, â€Å"that the new paradigm is not merely something new; it is also incompatible with the old paradigm†. This is to say that the incompatibility or the irreconcilability of the new paradigm with the old paradigm serves as warrant for the necessity of such a revolution. Although there are significant differences in both scientific and political developments, Kuhn argues that one may be justified in using the notion of revolution as a metaphor for understanding them. He writes: Political revolutions are inaugurated by a growing sense, often restricted to a segment of the political community, that existing institutions have ceased adequately to meet the problems posed by the environment that they have in part created. In much the same way, scientific revolutions are inaugurated by a growing sense, again often restricted to a narrow subdivision of the scientific community that an existing paradigm has ceased to function adequately in the exploration of an aspect of nature to which that paradigm itself had previously led the way. (2000, p. 150) Kuhn’s parallelism is thus, founded on the idea that in both cases, a sense of malfunction (in our institutions as for the case of the political, and in our paradigms as for the case of the scientific) necessitates for the occurrence of a revolution. In relation to this, the shift from a human memory based paradigm to the technological paradigm may be likened to a revolutionary development within the field of medical data acquisition and retention. The difference between the human memory based paradigm as opposed to the technological paradigm stems from the ascription of greater subjectivity in relation to human memory based data as opposed to technologically maintained data. As was stated in the first part of the paper, the heterogeneous characteristic of medical institutions stems from the existence of various separate holistic systems within it. As a result of this, deriving and correlating clinical information becomes tedious. The main reason for this stems from human memory based paradigm’s utilization of paper based records which has a high probability of non-viability and unreliability. Examples of this are evident in evidence-based medicine’s non-adherence to the traditional methods of training and practice. Second, paper based records fall short of their original expectations. The objective of the healthcare record is â€Å"to identify problems and to understand the impact of the illness on the individual† thereby enabling the â€Å"amelioration of the problem to the patient’s satisfaction, within the bounds of medical capabilities and society’s resource limitations†(Simpson and Robinson, 2002, p. 115). The main limitation of the paper bound records, therefore, stem from their inability of being multiply accessible to members of society. On the other hand, Scott related the reasons for the development of a technology based paradigm with the high verifiability of the positive results of technologically determined medical care processes. According to Scott, â€Å"new technologies make it possible to evaluate and intervene to improve care in ways not heretofore possible† (2002, p. 2). In line with this, members of both the public and private sector lobby for the accessibility of technological improvements. For the members of the private sector, this is due to the inclusion of the medical industry within the business sphere. For the members of the public sector, on the hand, demands for greater accountability for health care stems from the prevailing belief that technological advancements must be made accessible to the general public. According to the IOM, information technology’s role in the substantial improvement of the redesign of the healthcare system is important since it ensures the formation of â€Å"a strong infrastructure in supporting efforts to reengineer care processes†¦ oordinate patient care across clinicians and settings and overtime, support multidisciplinary team functioning, and facilitate performance and outcome measurement for improvement and accountability† (qtd in Scott, 2002, p. 4). The results of the success of the EMR are traceable to the developments within the field of e-Health. According to Silber, EMR serves as the fundamental building bl ock for the development of various applications such as the use of ICT by the Primary Health Care Team. Others involve the use of ERM for validation of research or as an instrument in Continuing Medical Education. Information necessary for the functions ascribed above, in relation to the personal health record, are possible since the health record’s functionality enables the inclusion of the following: practitioner order entry, electronic patient record, document management, clinical decision support, administrative data, integrated communication support, as well as access to knowledge and resources. According to Raymonds and Dolds, the functions of each component are as follows. The electronic patient record presents the patient’s history. Document management, on the other hand contains the actions undertaken in relation to the patient’s diagnosis. Clinical decision support as compared to the later contains â€Å"the alerts based on current data from the electronic medical record, evidence based practical guidelines or more complex artificial intelligence systems for diagnostic support†. Access to administrative related information such as admission and discharge are contained within the section encompassing administrative data. Integrated communication support however provides the tools for the facilitation of effective and efficient communication amongst members of the patient’s health team. The last part enables access to other sources of information regarding the patient’s condition (Scott, 2007, p. 4). The Kaiser Permanente EMR implementation presented one of the main problems in relation to the utilization of the components of the technologically based paradigm. It was recognized that the problems arose due to several factors which range from the software’s lack of efficiency up to the non adherence of specific qualities of the program with the social conditions in the region as well as the team’s lack of background in relation to the efficiency the program necessitates with regards to the division of the work flow as well as its dependence upon all the players within the medical institutions that the program was implemented. Scott however stated that what should be given credence with regards to the above failed project is not so much as the failure of the program but the possibilities it opened in relation to the creation and implementation of new EMR programs in the future. Scott states, â€Å"success and failure are socially negotiable judgments, not static categories† (2007, p. 43). Hence if such is the case it is thereby possible to conceive of the problems noted by Hartswood et al (2003) in relation to the user-led characteristic of EMR. The social negotiability of judgments thereby ensures the possibility of reversals in judgments as soon as occasions arise wherein a perceived failure may be reconnected with an overall success. In line with this, the continuous developments within the various EMR systems produced and implemented within the country ensures the viability and possibility of a near success and perfection within the system which in a sense also ensures the possibility of another scientific revolution in the near future whose scope may extend beyond that of the technological sphere.