Monday, September 30, 2019

“Federal Reserve” Bailouts will Devalue the Dollar

Since at least August of 2008, the privately owned Federal Reserve family of members banks are being bailed out by the US taxpayer. Some financial writers such as Rodgers (2008) hold that the bailout has been occurring for far longer, but at least as far as the rather timid news media are concerned, the â€Å"public† side of the bailouts has occurred since September of 2008. This will lead to a serious devaluation of an already devalued dollar. The reasons and theory will be described in the body of this paper.The basics are the following: after years of reckless lending and irresponsible spending by the public, the value of major investments, especially real estate, was dangerously overvalued. Continuing high returns gave banks incentives, at all levels, to extend credit with few controls, leading to the inevitable crunch that many mainstream writers claimed would never happen. The result, predictably, is that the larger institutions such as the major insurance form AIG, were to be bailed out.The mechanism for this bail out is rather simple: the â€Å"toxic† paper held by the private banks are to be exchanged for marginally less toxic paper from the Treasury. However, this paper has no value unless the Federal Government could borrow the money. At the moment, there is an inexplicable international trust in the American government to forward the money, but the official $800 billion figure is far from the truth. Far more money is needed, and has been invested in this scam already. The arguments in favor of the bailout are poor and contrived.They seem to revolve around the argument that if the major institutions fail, the shocks through the economy would be so bad as to affect even the most marginal taxpayer in America. With major bank and insurance failures, the ordinary man in the street would be severely affected. Hence, the bailout is meant to protect the taxpayer. In addition, the argument also tacks on the addendum that the paper taken from th e failing institutions will eventually be resold on the international markets once the crisis has passed and some level of confidence bas been regained (Warring, 2008).This argument is very poorly thought out, since, by the same token, one’s boss should have his debts paid by the US taxpayer since his failure would lead to his employees losing their jobs. Hence, his debts should be paid. The argument against the bailout is equally simple: it continually places the economy at the mercy of borrowed money, and, more importantly, that the people who helped create this crisis are precisely the same ones that are being rewarded through bailouts.It is fundamentally undemocratic and oligarchic in that the ordinary taxpayer in debt receives foreclosure, while the elite receive taxpayer money. Lastly, and more importantly relative to this essay, the continuing bailouts of the major economic players will dangerously increase the money supply and lead to hyperinflation (Warring, 2008). I n dealing with the question of inflation and the fall of the dollar, the nature of the Federal Reserve institution needs to be dealt with. First of all, the Fed was created in 1913 as a private institution, not a part of the federal government.Its member banks, according to Standard and Poor, are the Rothschild dynasty in London, the Seif dynasty in Italy, Lehman Bros in New York (allowed to fail in September), Chase Manhattan and Goldman Sachs, both in New York. While some may protest that the executive branch has some appointative power over the Fed, the reality is that the above firms are some of the most generous with their money in presidential campaigns, and the Federal Election Commission reports that Goldman Sachs was the leading campaign contributor to both Obama and McCain campaigns, with $4 million to Obama and almost $1.5 million to McCain (Open Secret Reports, 2009). Hence, it needs to be mentioned straight forward that the Fed banks are self governing and help elect th e president in the first place. Hence, given the makeup of the Fed’s board, little discussed outside the web, one can see that the bailout is over not merely the American financial sector, but the globe’s. The significance of the fed relative to dollar devaluation is that whatever the US government cannot raise though loans, itself repressive of the dollar’s value and repressive of international confidence, must be printed by the Federal Reserve members banks.In more detail, the situation looks like this: The Federal Reserve international financial board of governors decided to increase the Monetary Base (MB) of the country last year. The MB is defined as the total amount of money in circulation plus the reserve of the members banks. This came to $1. 4 trillion by last December, coming up from $800 billion a month prior (Engdahl, 2008). With this, banks still did not want to lend, and confidence did not increase. Hence, there is a huge pool of liquid that is for cing the dollar down that is not restoring confidence.This in part is because the US is broke, also in part that the amount of dollars held by foreign investors in China, the Arab World, Russia and India is a massive amount, continuing a downward pressure on the dollar and threatening the US with severe depression if these states decided to dump even a fraction of these dollars on the market. Is it possible that the bailout is really designed to give confidence to foreign governments and private banks who are thinking of purging their dollar reserves and moving to Euros?The reality is that if there is a threat of devaluation, then states and investors might be induced to sell, creating a panic and bottoming out the currency. Since the Fed will not disclose the recipients of the loans, and, further, the Treasury department will not disclose the nature of the toxic paper they are buying, there is no rebounding in confidence, hence, the dollar looks terrible in international eyes. Henc e, the Fed, realizing the state, which backs the dollar in the first place, has no money to lend, will merely print the money to fill the gap (Engdahl, 2008).Hence, given the stagnant MP, plus the fact that the bailout is being financed by foreign borrowing and by printing, there is no question that the dollar will fall. Since 2000, the dollar has lost 40% of its value against the Euro. In the chart below, the dollar is compared with the Euro during the bailout from 28 December 2007 to 27 January 2008. The below graph does indicate some recovery of the dollar against te Euro, but there can be no doubt as to the long term weakness of the US currency.Apparently, there is some mild increase in confidence that the bailout might make the US economy more solvent, but the below information is too limited for a full understanding. From the beginning of the bailout until mid November of last year, the US debt increased almost $958 billion. Add to this the record breaking trade deficit of alm ost $1 trillion, and the dollar is in serous trouble. The increase in public debt due to the bailout out is destroying the dollar’s value. According to Asia News (2008), the US is now committed to over $8.95 trillion dollars to the bailout. The total US economy was roughly $13 billion, with the full debt at about $10 trillion. About 61% of this debt was held by foreign investors, the majority Asian. Since trillions of dollars are held by Asian investors, and debt in the US (both private and public) reaches levels of complete insolvency, the Asians will insist on eliminating dollars as a method of doing business and hence, the dollar will not only loose value, but collapse, leading to a crisis of Argentinian proportions in 2009 (Asia News, 2008).This year, the same author at Asia News writes: â€Å"But Asia now understands that the increase of money supply decreases the intrinsic value of a currency. That is why China is seeking a possible and rational attempt to decouple Asi an currencies from the dollar, as recent news stories report. (Asia News, 2009). Hence, the math is simple: too many dollars in circulation, too much printing by the Fed to create the bailout liquidity means the devaluation and eventual collapse of the dollar, and the US taxpayer is powerless over the private Fed as well as the foreign investors that are publically now saying they will eliminate dollar reserves.The reality is this: once there is a sense that a country is insolvent, and that it simply cannot pay its debts, compounded by a massive bailout that the country cannot possibly finance on its own, investors run to get rid of dollars. Even worse, capital fight can result, where money begins leaving the insolvent country, in this case the US, investing instead in Russia, China, Thailand or the EU. Hence, the bailout is merely the tail end of a long fall in th US dollar, a powerful symbol of the US government and corporate governance to control investment and spending.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Freedom in our time Essay

In times of war or in times of peace, in prosperity and in difficulty, United States has always seen from abroad as the embodiment of liberty. This has been the nation that, with its mistakes and wise moves, has eagerly defended freedom in the world. In spite of how different we might seem because of our skin colors, religions or backgrounds, freedom is the value that we all cherish most in our lives and it permeates every aspect of our society. Throughout history, many American men and women have valiantly fought and died for their freedom and the freedom of others. Like the American patriot Patrick Henry declared in his speech in 1775 â€Å"Give me liberty or give me death†, he wanted to let people know that he would rather die than live under tyranny and oppression. Read more: Dbq how did the constitution guard against tyranny essay In the seventeenth century in Europe, there was no religious freedom, Jews were persecuted in the old world and in England you belonged to the Church of the country or you went to jail. Immigrants came from across the globe in the nineteenth century to be free from religious oppression; they came to America, the country where a man could be himself. Albert Einstein, who emigrated from Germany in 1933, stated that â€Å"as long as he had any choice, he would stay in a country where political liberty, toleration and equality of all citizens before the law were the role† (56). Freedom is the ability to act as you choose; it is the right to do as one pleases, but always keeping in mind the popular saying of â€Å"my rights end when yours begin†. We have to respect the freedoms of others. Even if we do not agree with some people’s opinions, we still should respect and listen to them. But the truth is no one is absolutely free, government and even ourselves set limits to our freedom. In our daily life, we stress out over many things such as our jobs, careers, family and more; we live afraid of failure, loneliness or death. People cannot act freely when they are subjected to a constant fear of being punished, censured or abused. As long as there is something in our lives that perturb or bother us, we are no longer free. No matter how free we believe we are, there is always an invisible chain that fetters us. Slavery in our time (even if it does not have that name) shows when a person renounces to being himself and allows others to manipulate him or decide for him. The slave does not decide for himself about what he wants or what is better for him. He acts because he is told to do so, without questioning the orders he receives, even if his actions go against his principles or harm people they care about or society. In the nations, governments control freedom through laws that citizens have to follow. Law is connected with human responsibility for his actions and it is a way to ensure that our society is fair to all. In order to make it possible for all of us to live in harmony, the law restricts some people’s freedoms, in order to allow others to enjoy it. Freedom is a privilege that people too often take for granted. We seem no to value the lives that men and women sacrificed in battle for freedom and our rights. Without them, none of what we have now would be even possible. But when something is given to you, it does not mean as much to you if you would have earned it yourself, and in our case we were born with our freedoms handed. Our society has changed tremendously throughout history, and the meaning of liberty has done it too. Nowadays, women for example, have freedoms that by trivial they might seem, we did not have before, like the right to vote, to choose the person we want to marry or to go to college and study whatever we decide. We can now develop our talents and be what we want to be. The U.S. Constitution and its Bill of Rights bestow Americans freedoms and rights. I think today people are more likely to know the most popular songs, than the freedoms the Bill of Rights grants them. We cannot protect something that we do not understand and many Americans do not have an understanding of the freedoms they regularly enjoy. Defending our rights is a primary responsibility of being citizen. The ignorance, the lack of education and knowledge make a lot of people to blindly accept all the values and doctrines that others want to impose them. We should exercise our freedom to its fullest extent. One example of this is voting. We are not obliged to do it, but what better way to get involved in our community than by participating in the electoral process? Every single vote counts and it is our duty as citizens to choose our own leaders. The Bill of Rights, guarantees, in words, freedoms Americans didn’t want to be without. The free speech is guaranteed in the first amendment, and most people agree that is one of the most important freedoms we have. It allows us to express ourselves and speak our minds. In some countries, a person cannot say what he or she thinks because it will be considered a threat to government and will have to face the consequences. Freedom of speech and choice make people responsible for their words and actions. The freedom of the press exists in almost every country, although few nations have a press as free as the USA’s. This freedom is not possible when people cannot own the printing, paper and ink like in Cuba, where the freedom of the press is substantially restricted. The radio stations and television cannot exercise liberty when the electromagnetic spectrum belongs to the State and the license might be revoked. Neither can freedom prevail when the Government buys the silence of the media with state propaganda or the justice permits thieves to sue journalists that denounce corruption. Americans enjoy the right to express themselves and to be informed about how they are being governed. There are many facets to the meaning of freedom, but compared to other countries United States is blessed with it, even though the dualism of limitations and freedom will be always present. CITED WORK Einstein, Albert. The world as I see it. New York: Kensington Publishing Corporation, 2006, p. 56.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Bussiness essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Bussiness - Essay Example Chuodhury & Galeta (1998) provided seven goals for achieving competitive advantage. A great example of a company that has managed to sustain competitive advantage in while using the seven goals framework is Google, the search engine. There are quite a number of search engines to date yet Google has managed to stand out as the best. It successfully managed to hold off at least for a significant amount of time the entry of other search entries into the market. Which is often the quickest way to achieve competitive advantage, ensure uniqueness of a brand and hold off competition long enough to establish and renew a company. 2. Considering that Google was among the first search engines to effectively exist, it has established a reliable customer base which is yet another way to achieve competitive advantage. It has also managed to change appropriately to cater to the customers’ needs and wants. Google has further made an attempt to always offer more services and products like new web applications and recently advertising services. Despite the numerous entries into e-commerce and the numerous entries into similar businesses it is still highly possible for companies to achieve competitive advantage. Creating a unique niche is always the fastest way to do so yet upon the availability of similar fields within a certain niche use of strategy will ensure acquisition of competitive advantage as

Friday, September 27, 2019

Environmental Analysis Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Environmental Analysis - Assignment Example It seems all of these are basic and generic strategies used by Toyota which is found from the theory of competitive advantage by Porter (1980). This only proves that Porter’s theory of competitive advantage still applies until today. Due to this competitive move that Toyota is trying to achieve, the company was able to cut cost while ensuring customers about its cutting-edge technology. With this move, Toyota will be able to cut cost for the price of its offerings but it is still to ensure customers with its standard quality products. Toyota has become the leading car manufacturer and producer in the world because of its quality line of offerings and cutting-edge technology. This remarkably was able to gain social acceptance. This is due to the fact that the society is eager to accept something new and in line with the age of technological revolution. However, the real threat behind this smooth social acceptance for the products manufactured by Toyota is actually on the fact t hat they are assets of the company. Toyota’s products are certainly its assets. However, recent world-wide recalls of products produced by Toyota have triggered social concerns. This particularly includes quality and safety issues. It was noted that in the year 2009, Toyota paid $10 million to four families in the UK who were killed from a runaway Lexus car due to faulty design (BBC News, 2010). Within 12 months up to November 2010, there were reported 229 products recalled in the UK due to health and safety issue, production and design flaw and other related quality issues which part of them were car products (BBC News, 2011). This only shows that the market in the UK is very determined to stand on the quality of offerings which might be difficult for Toyota to get through after it had suffered from issues on quality related matters. Considering that Toyota’s products are its assets in obtaining its target revenue, the incidence of quality problem has substantially tr iggered social concerns among buyers. This is due to the fact that in the UK alone, quality is tantamount to safety and value for the money invested on certain products. This can be clearly observed how the government had responded aggressively to product recalls as initiated by Toyota Motors. The problems affecting Toyota are not only focused on social issues but they also include highly political concerns. With the increasing concern on cutting-edge technology, government has brought forward the necessity to conduct thorough investigations on product quality and implementation of efficient technology. It is therefore clear in here that there is a strong link between political and technological concerns. On the part of Toyota Motors, there is a strong downside of technological exploration. However, on the part of the law, Toyota Corporation still has to face any noted violations as believed by the law to be beyond reasonably doubted. For the law, this is just to ensure social safet y and corporate responsibility. Thus, Toyota was fined particularly in the US for about $16.4 million, the highest so far in history due to legacy issue on car recalls in line with quality issues (BBC News, 2010). Another important aspect that needs to be understood is in line with environmental concerns. The emission of green house gases leads to global concern about the environment. In other countries for instance,

Thursday, September 26, 2019

The structural frame paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The structural frame paper - Essay Example â€Å"UncÐ µrtainty appÐ µars as thÐ µ fundamÐ µntal problÐ µm for complÐ µx organizations, and coping with uncÐ µrtainty, as thÐ µ Ð µssÐ µncÐ µ of thÐ µ administrativÐ µ procÐ µss. Just as complÐ µtÐ µ uncÐ µrtainty or randomnÐ µss is thÐ µ antithÐ µsis of purposÐ µ and of organization, complÐ µtÐ µ cÐ µrtainty is a figmÐ µnt of thÐ µ imagination, but thÐ µ tightÐ µr thÐ µ norms of rationality, thÐ µ morÐ µ Ð µnÐ µrgy thÐ µ organization will dÐ µvotÐ µ to moving toward cÐ µrtainty† (Thompson, 2003, p. 159). That is, thÐ µ organization is dÐ µvoting a lot of Ð µnÐ µrgy towards cÐ µrtainty, from this pÐ µrspÐ µctivÐ µ, through maintaining a codifiÐ µd training program and a hiÐ µrarchical powÐ µr structurÐ µ. ThÐ µ organization usÐ µd for this rÐ µport is, as mÐ µntionÐ µd, thÐ µ forÐ µign languagÐ µ school. In this organization, of thÐ µ tÐ µaching staff of thÐ µ branch officÐ µ and thÐ µ officÐ µ staff, thÐ µ of ficÐ µ staff is thÐ µ dominant informal powÐ µr coalition. This is bÐ µcausÐ µ thÐ µy havÐ µ much morÐ µ contact with thÐ µ rÐ µgional salÐ µs managÐ µr. ThÐ µ tÐ µachÐ µrs do not havÐ µ any powÐ µr or contact with this sidÐ µ of thÐ µ organization at all rÐ µally, and arÐ µ motivatÐ µd by prizÐ µ incÐ µntivÐ µs, travÐ µl timÐ µ, and othÐ µr mÐ µthods. ThÐ µ sizÐ µ and composition of thÐ µ group is not proportionatÐ µ to thÐ µ numbÐ µr of tÐ µachÐ µrs rÐ µtainÐ µd by thÐ µ branch officÐ µ. ... ThÐ µ most important stakÐ µholdÐ µrs of thÐ µ organization arÐ µ its studÐ µnts. IntÐ µrnally, thosÐ µ non-dominant powÐ µr coalition positions in thÐ µsÐ µ sÐ µctors could also includÐ µ, in thÐ µ Ð µxamplÐ µ of thÐ µ forÐ µign languagÐ µ school, thosÐ µ tÐ µachÐ µrs who arÐ µ sÐ µnt to work at othÐ µr organizations as outsourcing labor, and thosÐ µ who arÐ µ kÐ µpt as thÐ µ corÐ µ tÐ µachÐ µrs of thÐ µ branch, into sÐ µparatÐ µ coalitions of tÐ µachÐ µrs. This is not rÐ µally Ð µffÐ µctivÐ µ, though, bÐ µcausÐ µ most of thÐ µ tÐ µachÐ µrs want to movÐ µ up in thÐ µ organization’s formal powÐ µr structurÐ µ by joining thÐ µ officÐ µ staff as a tÐ µachÐ µr trainÐ µr, thÐ µ lowÐ µst rung on thÐ µ officÐ µ staff laddÐ µr. Thompson (2003) for Ð µxamplÐ µs statÐ µs, â€Å"ThÐ µ Ð µmployÐ µÃ µ who scorÐ µs wÐ µll on a small boundary can Ð µxpÐ µct to bÐ µ visiblÐ µ, intÐ µrnally or Ð µxtÐ µrnally or both, and thus havÐ µ thÐ µ possibility of bargaining for a job at a largÐ µr or morÐ µ critical sÐ µctor of thÐ µ organization or of anothÐ µr organization†¦ such jobs can frÐ µquÐ µntly bÐ µ Ð µntÐ µrÐ µd with common skills† (p. 111). This shows how thÐ µ tÐ µachÐ µr trainÐ µrs and othÐ µr officÐ µ staff mÐ µmbÐ µrs arÐ µ thÐ µ dominant formal powÐ µr coalition in thÐ µ organization’s structurÐ µ, bÐ µcausÐ µ Ð µvÐ µn though thÐ µy arÐ µ outnumbÐ µrÐ µd by thÐ µ tÐ µachÐ µrs, thÐ µy arÐ µ morÐ µ of a stablÐ µ labor pool for thÐ µ organization, bÐ µcausÐ µ it tÐ µnds to havÐ µ high tÐ µachÐ µr turnovÐ µr. TÐ µachÐ µrs arÐ µ paid thÐ µ lÐ µast, of all thÐ µ positions. PÐ µriphÐ µral powÐ µr rÐ µlationships nÐ µÃ µd to bÐ µ mÐ µntionÐ µd in tÐ µrms of thÐ µ tÐ µachÐ µrs of thÐ µ forÐ µign languagÐ µ school. This also involvÐ µs paying attÐ µntion to thÐ µ dominant sÐ µctors which makÐ µ

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Journal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 61

Journal - Essay Example In this respect, I am most interested on studying Intrapersonal context of communication as one of the theories that explore the complex system of the society. Interpersonal relations constitute attribution theory, uncertainty reduction theory, expectancy violation theory, and cognitive dissonance. Attribution theory remains an important aspect of interpersonal relations which affirms that whatever the cause may be, there always remain a strong need to comprehend and make clear what is going on in our world. This attribution theory gives the need for people to explain their feelings and desires which prompts interaction in various social settings. This opens up interesting influence and possibilities which promotes communication as a tool of interpersonal relations (Wood 919). The importance of understanding intrapersonal communication and the theories cannot be overestimated as it plays central role in defining our diverse and unique identities. This theory is viewed as the point at which all communications begin, which leads on to overt communication. It is therefore important that interpersonal relations theory is given much emphasis as it dictates the aggregate working of the entire

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Home Schooling Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Home Schooling - Research Paper Example This project stresses that the family which study together stays together. Home schooling is the common thread woven throughout their lives that pulls the family together. It also allows giving quality education to the children .Home as always been the heart of a child’s education. One need not be a professional teacher to home school a child as they are natural learners and parents are natural teachers. Parents are the best teacher a child could have as no one knows the children better than them. The parents knows the strength and weakness of their children and can train them accordingly .Rather than teaching home schooling should be treated as a guiding a child for their future development. This report declares that from the earliest days, a child’s education took place inside the home. Children learned from parents, from a large extended family, and from everyday life. In his book writes that â€Å" History shows that today’s home education sprang from a rich heritage of family based learning† Families made sure that the children learned important life skills, reading, writing, math skills and socializing skills. In the beginning times, school education was not mandatory for children. Many children were taught home as they could not walk the distance to and from school and mass transportation was not yet an option. Some children were kept at home by bad weather, snowstorms and floods. As industrial revolution swept the country, school transportation improved and so did attendance at public schools.

Monday, September 23, 2019

Research critique of a quantitative article Essay

Research critique of a quantitative article - Essay Example 3. List the researcher's suggestions for further studies. As noted on page 131, the researchers advise repeating the same study while controlling for surgical procedure and the use of nitrous oxide, to determine any causative attributes. They also suggest that a future investigation might compare scopolamine as a single agent, as well as concluding on page 132 that future studies could also consider other antiemetics affecting alternative receptor pathways. 4. Indicate if the findings are clinically significant. The majority of findings in the study are clinically significant, as indicated on page 130, Tables 1-3, as well as Figures 1-3. These significant findings include the overall incidence of nausea within 24 hours of surgery, the initial PACU antiemetic treatment, the second PACU nausea treatment, the mean time to first request for nausea treatment, the time to the first nausea event, as well as the time to the first emetic event. The incidence of emesis did not achieve statistical significance, nor was any significant difference noted in the demographic variables, patch placement times, or the occurrence of side effects. 5. Identify the implications of the findings for nursing. ... Particularly, the use of a transdermal methodology will require nurses to interact with patients regarding proper use, symptomology, and postoperative procedure. 6. Identify the researcher's generalization of the findings. The generalization of the findings is found on page 127, in the abstract. It summarizes the article and offers a condensed recommendation. 7. Evaluate the sample. a. Sampling criteria. The sample criteria were straightforward and appropriate to the purpose of the study. By establishing an ASA I or II in patients 18 years or older, as well as excluding those with potentially mitigating conditions (p. 128), the researchers avoided skewing the results. b. Sample size. The sample size was adequate to the task of initial investigation, but too small to draw sweeping conclusions. The authors attenuated the effect of a relatively small sample size by performing a power analysis as discussed on page 129, and wisely allowed for attrition. c. Characteristics of sample. The sample group was diverse in terms of gender, race, and risk factors present, but all participants fell within the primary criteria of having three or more high risk factors for PONV. d. Sample mortality. There were no anaphylactic incidents within either sample group. There was attrition of four subjects as noted on page 129, one for accidental removal of the transdermal patch, one for failure to properly log responses during the data collection period, and two for intentional removal of the TD patches. e. Method used to obtain the sample. As noted on page 128, the sample was obtained after approval from the institutional review board and focused on high-risk patients scheduled to undergo general anesthesia of longer than one hour. Once

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Implementation of the Hand-off Communication Tool Assignment

Implementation of the Hand-off Communication Tool - Assignment Example They typically occur during shift changes. Inadequate communication has been cited as a major cause of medical errors (Reisenberg, Leitzsch, & Cunningham, 2010). Researchers who were exploring the causes and nature of human error in intensive care settings found out that verbal communication between nurse and physicians contributed to 37% of medical errors (Reisenberg, Leitzsch, & Cunningham, 2010). In an Australian study, more than 14,000 admissions were investigated. The study revealed that approximately 17% of the cases had an adverse event closely associated to it. Among the 17% of the cases, 11 percent were attributed to communication errors (Reisenberg, Leitzsch, & Cunningham, 2010). According to TRICARE (2005), the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) requires that institutions of healthcare ought to implement a standardized approach to handoff communications in an effort to meet the ever growing need of patient safety. Current Scenario The cur rent tool in use has been associated with a number of delays. Nurses would file reports indicating that beds were not ready; patients missed their medication, nurses themselves not being ready and the absence of vital patient information. A questionnaire was submitted to healthcare personnel in an effort determine the cause of the delays. ... In other clinical nursing scenarios, many errors have been identified that have resulted from communication problems. For instance omission of critical information as a result of poor communication between healthcare personnel, miscommunication that has results in misunderstanding of information, inability of the receiving nurse to contact the ongoing nurse due to communication problems, use of communication tools like reports that often become too routine and result in loss of focus by many healthcare personnel (Ong, &Coiera, 2011). Other problems arising due to absence of standard communication procedure include idle chatting during handoffs that dilutes the importance of handoffs, illegible handwriting in reports, reports with judgmental statements, absence of research on handoffs and data that is in support of best practices, ethnic, cultural and racial barriers which interfere with communication channels, language barriers that frustrate efforts to communicate effectively, and s taff who resist change that comes with implementation of new routines (Reisenberg, Leitzsch, & Cunningham, 2010). Implementation I pass the baton is a technique that was designed with a primary purpose of streamlining the handoff process and have a well established and standardized means of communication. The main idea behind the use of this tool is to minimize information loss and more importantly ensure that exchange of information occurs in a timely manner and with a high level of accuracy. The culture and needs of a healthcare institution often dictate how the technique will be utilized. I pass the baton stands for I-introduction, P-patient, A- assessment, S-situation, S-safety concerns, B-background, A-actions, T-timing, O-ownership, N-next. This tool requires that a

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Regional Geography Essay Example for Free

Regional Geography Essay The reaction has been disjointed and slow, and results seen are even harder to find. Hillstrom and Hillstrom agree that â€Å" Pollution is a particularly insidious form of habitat degradation, fundamentally impacting fragile ecosystems in myriad ways, some of which are invisible to the naked eye† (17), mentioning specifically acid rain, and farm pesticide use as a couple of the not so quickly identifiable sources of habitat degradation. The authors of World Regional Geography point out that Environmental degradation in one place is often the result of demands for resources or goods in other places, and air and water pollution can flow across borders(18). The authors also note that Small farms are now being replaced by corporate farms and high tech operations such as shrimp farms, most of which, ironically cause environmental degradation and yet receive government assistance(19). Degradation also results when the vast expanses of concrete, in highly developed areas of urban sprawl, during heavy rains, sends tumultuous, unrestricted flow of groundwater to run amok. The water washes soil and impurities along with the run off, salts from road maintenance, as well as chemicals used by various processing plants. It is a vicious cycle, As economic prosperity expands, peoples consumption of goods and resources increases, and environmental degradation is usually the result, even when aware, to make the dollar, degradation processes are too often ignored as long as possible (20). Degradation can involve loss of plant life, and biodiversity, as well as pollution of soil and water sources. We need to become more active in defense of animal habitats, because realistically we too are animals, and the biodiversity that is important to wildlife, is equally important to humans. (17) Hillstrom Kevin, Hillstrom Laurie Collier. North America: A Continental Overview of Environmental Issues. Edition: illustrated, Published by ABC-CLIO, 2003. P. 43. (18) Hapke Holly M, Goodwin Conrad Mac, Pulsipher Lydia Mihelic, Pulsipher Alex. World Regional Geography: Global Patterns, Local Lives. Edition: 3, illustrated, Published by Macmillan, 2005. p. 13. (19) Ibid. p. 169. (20). Ibid. P. 455. 7 Johnson and Klemens warn us that Sprawl is leading to the loss of rare and common species and possible species extinction. It is also leading directly to the loss of our natural environment, of ecosystem functioning(21). The ecosystem is a delicate balance, and we can not continue to disregard the warnings. If the ecosystem were to stop functioning the world could become a science fiction movie stage. Imagine a world without birds and bees, our major natural pollinators, and the resulting plant species extinctions that would follow. Plant extinctions would be soon followed by animal extinctions, right on down the food chain. This stark truth could very well come true in the not so distant future, if humans do not make changes to accommodate the animals we share the earth with. One of the biggest changes that could occur, that would help slow the detrimental progress of urban sprawl, would be to adopt more compact development planning. Instead of subdivisions spread across hundreds of acres, connected by a network of roads to the strip malls a few miles in one direction, and the factories a few miles in the opposite direction, plan more considerately, keep the sprawl to a minimum. Also when in the planning process, demand developers leave larger buffer zones, as well as intact habitat corridors to allow wildlife unrestricted movement between the islands of adequate habitat. Stricter oversight, and regulation of corporations discharging waste into the environment is a must, for wildlife and their habitat, and for humans as well. It is a shame that in this age of technology, the scientific community seems to have thought of everything geared towards production and convenience, and yet neglected to foresee the destruction of our environment that has resulted. Works Cited: Emel Jody, Wolch Jennifer. Animal Geographies: Place, Politics, and Identity in the Nature-culture Borderlands, Edition: illustrated, Published by Verso, 1998. Hapke Holly M, Goodwin Conrad Mac, Pulsipher Lydia Mihelic, Pulsipher Alex. World Regional Geography: Global Patterns, Local Lives. Edition: 3, illustrated, Published by Macmillan, 2005. Hillstrom Kevin, Hillstrom Laurie Collier. North America: A Continental Overview of Environmental Issues. Edition: illustrated, Published by ABC-CLIO, 2003.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Islam And French Colonial Rule In West Africa History Essay

Islam And French Colonial Rule In West Africa History Essay Following the European conquest of Africa there was a substantial expansion in both Muslim and Christian societies. Though Christianity was perceived by some as a machine of colonialism and part of a European civilising mission, taking Islam was on the other hand viewed as anti-colonial, reflecting a form of resistance rather than collaboration. Islam offered a sense of community during colonial rule when the continent was experiencing a time of rapid change and mobility. F admin sought to systematically manage the practice of Islam in their colonies in a way of which they could bring it into alignment with the F perspective of modernity and make Islam serve as a bulwark for the states authority. At same time officials half heartened efforts slavery, inconsistent labour cash cropping projects and arbitrary power by poorly trained and underfunded admin brought dramatic and unexpected changes in how comm. were org and how individuals understood their position in soc. West African Musli ms drew creatively on centuries of Islamic thought and soc experimentation to craft new identities and comm. out of the changes brought by F. Example was how followers of Yacouba Sylla gave a new meaning to the hollow and alien terms that colonial politicians spoke about such as freedom, dev and modernisation. They made them central themes in a mystical Sufi practice that looked little like the enlightenment-based liberal republicanism governors hoped to create or like reformist Islam promoted by modernisers elsewhere. (Hanretta 2009, 3) The terms accommodation and collaboration are commonly used by historians to describe the relationship between Islam and French colonial rule in West Africa. In Islam and Social Change in French West Africa, Hanretta states that in places like Senegal, Mauritiana and Mali, when successful in representing their version of Islam as being compatible with the dictates of colonial rule, they were given access to metropolitan power to use against other religious leaders for clients and patronage. This relationship could be seen as a collaboration of resources between the colonisers and the Muslim colonised, to maintain order and peace (Hanretta 2009, 138-139). Another traditional Islamic community were the Sufi Brotherhoods, in particular the Tijaniyya in Senegal, Mali and Guinea, who split into branches and networks that have cultivated family networks. Of the Tijani scholars there were who actively opposed French colonial rule in the 19th century, by the 20th century many became outspoke n collaborators of the colonial government (Heck 2007, 65). Heck and Hanretta mention Seydou Nourou Taal, grandson to al-Hajj Umar Taal, who contributed to and organised many Tijani jihad movements, whilst Seydou Nourou became one of Frances greatest Muslim intermediaries. When colonial occupation began, many Muslim leaders accepted European administration who agreed to grant them limited control over their communities; this was what part of what the Europeans thought was an efficient and cheap system of governance (Hanretta 2009, 60). These are examples of when Muslim leaders and communities chose to cooperate with the colonial regime and shows that areas under Islamic rule decided to accommodate French colonial rule and in some parts of West Africa, Muslim leaders obtained a peaceful relationship between the two. Brenner looks at the case of Agibu where the motivating ideology for al-Hajj Umar was reformist Islam, which opposed the civilising mission of the French colonial ideology. The relationship between Islam and colonial French rule is built on clashing ideologies and conflict. Brenner states that between the two world wars there was a confrontation between Tijani Sufism and French Islamic policy, and the major French goal with respect to Islam was maintenance of political stability. The French had realised by the second decade of the 20th century that their greatest threat to colonial rule in West Africa was Islam because it had the potential to unite large numbers of people to form resistance against European domination. The relationship therefore could be one of conflicting aims, where the French tried to impose rule among Muslims who did not want to be ruled by non-Muslims. The French were persistent, they promulgated a new native policy in 1909 where Governor General William Ponty e xpressed concerns that Muslims shouldnt govern non-Muslims and in 1911 it was decreed that all administrative correspondence, as well as judgements by native courts, should be written in French, rather than Arabic. These attempts to dissuade the spread of Islam failed however it showed that he wanted French colonial rule to monopolise the politics of Agibu and this meant reducing Islamic influence. This was similar to French Soudan where colonial military officers aimed to limit conversion to Islam (Mann 2003, 264). However, Islam grew more rapidly than ever, becoming the dominant religion of commercial centres in Soudan, where new arrivals that came to seek work in these towns converted to Islam. This chapter of Agibus history should be described as Domination and the French Challenge to Islam (Brenner 1984, 32-38). French Colonial rule in Agibu posed a threat to Islamic values and Islam posed a threat to colonial rule, creating a relationship of conflict. Robinsons explanation of the relationship between Islam and French colonial role in Senegal is a good example of both conflict and collaboration. The French werent able to accommodate rule within Muslim societies, they found it difficult to adjust and through practice and trial and error they did manage to exert a form of indirect rule over the societies. Their intentions behind this form of control was to cut French costs, whereby they used the local population to grow peanuts, pay taxes and in essence, maintain order. This however caused many of the Muslims to resent colonial chiefs and persuaded them to become marabouts that although abandoned their political powers they did encourage their followers to pay tithes but provided them also with an education and welfare as well as assurance. The French recognised the importance of marabouts in maintaining order and brought back Amadu Bamba (Muslim scholar and Sufi leader) from his exile who they had previously accused of plotting to w age a military jihad against the French (Heck 2007, 61-62). This shows collaboration between the colonial French and Bamba. They believed that he would help to stabilise the colonial economy and political order, he returned realising that French colonial rule would endure and that they had but no choice to accommodate (Robinson 2004, 182-196). After Mamba died the Murids became the dominant and economic force in the peanut basin and accepted colonial rule (Searing 2002, 128-130). In his book Sufism and Politics Heck goes on to say that Bambas return from exile not early pacified relations between his followers and the French colonial system but it developed a pattern of understanding and proved to be profitable for both sides (Heck 2007, 63). Here the relationship began by the French adjusting to ruling over Muslim societies and eventually exploiting them to grow peanuts and pay taxes to cut administration costs. This completely turned around when the French had to seek help from Ba mba and other marabouts to maintain order and therefore join forces with Muslim leaders and societies, thus forth displaying a relationship of compromise. It is important to be aware of what earlier French Islamic policy was in colonial Africa in order to examine the relationship between Islam and French colonial rule in West Africa. The presumptions made by French colonialists of Islam and Africans had implications on their reaction towards Muslim leaders and their subjects. Hanretta states that there is no doubt that the beliefs the French held about Islam, Africans and the nature of the colonial mission deeply influenced the reactions of the officials to Yacouba Sylla and his followers. Through a working, shifting compromise, Muslim leaders were tolerated and even patronised, but also carefully scrutinised. A lot of the action taken by the French in West Africa was based on experiences they had encountered in Algeria, for example the idea that Muslim networks, particularly Sufi tariqas could be used as intermediaries provided they were small and particularised, small enough not to gain enough power to compete with regional systems a nd African enough to protect themselves from North African and Middle Eastern influences. Harrison agrees that if we are to find a serious and sustained development of French policy towards Islam it is necessary to look north to Algeria where a definite consensus emerged at the end of the 19th century (Harrison 1988, 15-27). French policy in the 1920s and 1930s turned on the distinction between good and bad tariqas, during this period a the bad tariqa was the Hamawaiyyah and naturally once Yacouba became seen as a Hamallist preacher the administrators goal was to determine whether him and his followers shared the tendencies of this order (Hanretta 2009, 127-128). The relationship between Islam and French colonial rule in West Africa could be characterised by a set of corrections the French were making from the mistakes they had made in North Africa. Sense of cooperation was seen with the leftist Popular Front government in France and Yacouba. It is said that although they were only in power for two decades, their reformist approach abroad had last effects on French West African Policy. In 1936 the Popular Front government helped boost Yacoubas efforts to organise his entire community into a single labour pool. The government also sought to mend the rift between eleven-beads and twelve-beads to bring Hamawis under a more effective control. The most important was the dispatch of Seydou Nouro Tal to Nioro, he was grandson to the head of the powerful twelve-bead Tal family who were opponents of the Hamawiyyah. He was released to reconcile with Shaykh Hamallah (founder of Hamawiyyah) and essentially offer him and his followers minimal protection for their submission to Seydou Nourou (administrations chosen leader of West Africas Muslim population). Thereby the Popular Front were able to change the image of the Hamawiyyah from being s een as a part of a larger politique musulmane to being integrated into Frances hierarchical network of Muslim clients (Hanretta 2009, 95-96). De Coppets attitude to Sheikh Hamallah portrayed him as benevolent and liberally minded, Harrison in France and Islam in West Africa suggests that the initiative for his Muslim policy in French West Africa came from himself and the impression Islam had on him in Mauritania (Harrison 1988, 193). In Fetishizing Religion Mann speaks of how Cardaire, a military colonial officer was cautious of the growth of Saudi-sponsored Wahhabism as a threat to French Africa, serving as director of Soudans Bureau of Muslim affairs he supervised the state-sponsored Hajj, where he accompanied pilgrims to the Hijaz. The fact that the state sponsored people to go on pilgrimage shows that they were tolerant and didnt oppress them from continuing their religious practices (Mann 2003, 270). Accommodation didnt take place between Muslims and a coherent colonial regime but rather was a result of temporary and local constellations of power in which religious elites and administrators shared similar goals. Muslim entrepreneurs able to take advantage of the conflict within administrative depictions of Islam. In areas where the states control of religious institutions was strong, French officials were able to influence a process of creating an environment where certain forms of Islam and certain networks of Muslim leaderships and certain ways of responding to French presence would thrive. An important resource Muslim elites could seek to control was the production of knowledge about African Islam, knowledge that in turn directed the activities of the colonial state. It seems almost as if the relationship was defined by them using each others resources against them and then realising how they would succeed and what methods they would use to gain power and changing it, to suit them (Hanretta 2009, 138-139).

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction Essay -- Aesthetic Attitude

Visit any major museum of art, at any given time, and one could find an abundance of monumental names listed on tiny plaques hanging next to even more recognizable works of art. The excitement felt by any art enthusiast when walking into these buildings of time and creation, is undeniable and especially unique. Could it be the atmosphere of the building, the presence of artwork, the people, possibly the grandeur of the space, or perhaps, could it be the spirit of the artists themselves, peering through the work they created? As onlookers peer into the artworks in front of them, there is no question as to whether or not they considered what the artwork means, where it came from and what the artist was interested in who created it. The intrigued viewer quite possibly could also want to have a conversation with that artist and ask them questions about the artwork and what it was that they were thinking about when producing it, with a goal of better understanding what they were looking at. As the viewer and after serious contemplation, would you believe you understood the artwork as the artist or artist’s society believed the work? Could you appreciate the work the same? Walter Benjamin, a well known German-Jewish Marxist literary and cultural critic, philosopher, translator and essayist introduced ideas and questions similar to these in his epic essay, â€Å"The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.† He wrote about many different ideas concerning the concept of art, writing, po litics and society. Benjamin was born in Berlin on July 15, 1892. He worked and lived in Germany for the majority of his life. He earned a Ph. D in 1919, but never held an academic career (egs.edu, 2009). â€Å"He dedicated his life’s work to writ... ... 41-46. Ebscohost. Web. 12 Nov. 2009 Luehrman M., Unrath K. â€Å"Bringing Children to Art- Bringing Art to Children.† Art Education. Jan. 2009: 41-47. Print. Peim, Nick. â€Å"Walter Benjamin in the Age of Digital Reproduction: Aura in Education: A Rereading of ‘The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.’† Journal of Philosophy of Education 41.3 (2007): 363-380. Wilson Web. Web. 2 Nov. 2009. Stolnitz, Jerome. â€Å"One The Apparent Demise of Really High Art.† The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 43.4 (1985): 345-358. Wilson Web. Web. 15 Oct. 2009. Stolnitz, Jerome. â€Å"The Aesthetic Attitude’ in the Rise of Modern Aesthetics.†Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 36.4 (1978): 409-422. Wilson Web. Web. 15 Oct. 2009. Townsend, Chris. â€Å"Knowledge as Spectacle.† Art Monthly 322 (Dec.2008/Jan.2009): 11- 14. Wilson Web. Web. 15 Oct. 2009.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

The Male Characters in Alice in Wonderland Essay -- Alice in Wonderla

It is amazing that nearly all critics of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland focused solely on the character and adventures of the female protagonist/hero. A somewhat right-wing and didactic critique at Decent Films writes, â€Å"Alice embodies the gender feminist narrative of vibrant young girls losing their mojo as they come of age in patriarchal society.† The woman’s magazine, Jezebel, while praising the movie as â€Å"refreshingly feminist† seemed to notice only that the hero who fights against the forces of evil is a woman. Jezebel mentions other characters, but does not take the time to catalogue their relationship to feminism. In an Associated Content piece by Adriana Tanese-Nogueria which does, commendably, explore the feminist theme much more richly than many other reviews, still, the main focus is on Alice’s journey of feminist liberation. But Lewis Carroll also takes a look at the men in this story. Men during the Victorian era were kn own to have the control over the household and have a job. Their lives were around getting the perfect wife and making a lot of money. So when one reads some of the characters in Alice in Wonderland, one can see some difference in how he portrays some of the characters. When thinking about male characters, one would have to also include the male animal characters. During the time Carroll wrote this book, some would say that he bace the character on real people. The animals that portray different men that Lewis Carroll knew in the Victorian era. One could not talk about the men without including every male character . So first let’s start talking about the one character that leads Alice down the rabbit hole in the first place. The white rabbit is the one who gets Alice interested in... ...: ‘Refreshingly Feminist,’ Lacks Heart†. (The Jezebel review also provided a list of other sources for reviews. It was very helpful in preparing this piece.) http://jezebel.com/5486801/alice-in-wonderland-refreshingly-feminist-lacks-heart National Catholic Register. Reprinted at Decent Films. â€Å"Alice in Wonderland (2010)†. Steven D. Greydanus. http://www.decentfilms.com/reviews/aliceinwonderland2010 Sigler, Carolyn. "Authorizing Alice: Professional Authority, the Literary Marketplace, and Victorian Women's Re-Visions of the Alice Books." The Lion and the Unicorn 22.3 (1998): 351-63. ProQuest. Web. 7 May 2014. Spilka, Mark. "Victorian Childhoods." Michigan Quarterly Review 39.2 (2000): 411-21. ProQuest. Web. 7 May 2014. Woolf, Jenny. â€Å"Lewis Carroll's Shifting Reputation.† Smithsonian.com. Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press. April 2010. Web. 6 May 2014.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Circumstances Surrounding Osama Bin Laden’s Death

Joe Jumper was a normal everyday person like most adults. He would get up from bed and get ready for the day by showering and eating. Then he would drive off to Walmart where he worked as a cash register. But something was different about Joe everyone noticed that he carried around a bag and when asked what was inside he would never tell. So that being people thought he was weird and he was kind of an outcast. Joe didn’t care what those people thought because in the end he probably ended up saving them.What was in the bag was his suit of all black. His secret indentity was Night Rider. As Night Rider he patrolled the city at night of course or on his offdays. People really didn’t know who he was but were very thankful of him. So one night when he was out his head just started twitching and he could sense danger. So he looked around and for some reason it took him to the Vikings Stadium. He went inside and went to the Away team’s locker room. Well in there he foun d out the reason why he got the twitch. Aaron Rodgers.Night Rider loved the Minnesota Vikings so to help them out he spit fire near Rodgers which made him jump back. Then Night Rider snoke in the shadows and got behind Rodgers. Then he tied him up, taped his mouth shut, and locked him in the janitor’s room. The game was about to start so he went and found a good seat in stands. He watched the game and saw the Vikings blow out the Packers mainly because they couldn’t find Rodgers. So the Packers went home and Joe thought he forgot something somewhere in the stadium. Well I guess it doesn’t matter I better get home before someone notices me.

Monday, September 16, 2019

A Dining Experience

Yesterday I had the privilege of eating at a great Melbourne restaurant – Maha. The food was exceptional but what I came away from the meal with was†¦. well it was an ‘experience’ and not just a ‘meal’. A number of things went into the 3 hours that we dined at Maha that stood out and left me pondering what I could learn from the success of this restaurant and apply to my own business. Walking into Maha there was an immediate transformation that occurred that drew us into the experience. Situated on a small and fairly ugly street filled with the back ends of buildings and car parks (I have to say I wasn’t expecting much of a place in this part of the city) – Maha’s fit out immediately created an impression that lasted for the rest of the afternoon (and beyond). It was anything but like the street outside and was a luxurious yet tasteful version of a middle eastern dining room. Dark, cosy and inviting – in stark contrast to the bright, stark, surrounds of concrete outside. Lessons: first impressions matter a lot and can create a lasting impression that sets up the experience someone has of what you’re doing. Unexpected contrast is also something that will grab people’s attention and make them take notice of what you’re doing. Lesson #2: Simplified Dining Sometimes dining in places like Maha can be an overwhelming experience for a guy like me. I’m no gourmet and being confronted with a menu filled with dishes that need translation and being overwhelmed with a wine list with so many options that I have no idea where to start isn’t my idea of a great way to start a meal. Instead at Maha we were warmly greeted, seated and giving a very simple drinks menu (with an invitation for a more extensive one if we required it). The menu for the day was a banquet (chefs choice – although we could have some input if we had special needs) which I also appreciated. Conversation was not interrupted with choices of food and drinks and the overwhelming nature of those menus and wine lists were eliminated. Lessons: choice is great but sometimes it can be overwhelming and simplicity can be appreciated. Lesson #3: Engaging the Senses Throughout the meal it was not just our taste buds that were stimulated. In the corner a three piece band played middle eastern music, outside was a court yard where people smoked shi sha pipes (creating sweet smell that drifted into the room) and at the end of the meal we were offered to have our hands rinsed in a little lemon cologne which engaged both our senses of smell but also touch. The cologne also made a lasting impression – even as I fell asleep last night it lingered on and I was once again reminded of the experience of Maha. Lesson: engage the senses and you transform something that can be quite one dimensional into something experiential. Lesson #4: Unexpected Gifts When it came time for the bill to be brought to the table the waitress also delivered three small white boxes (one for each couple) with some small pastries in them. They were a little take home gift to extend our visit. These gifts served a several purposes including: something we didn’t ‘pay for’ – it is amazing what impression getting something for free makes (or course we DID pay for the gift as the pastries would not have cost much and our bill more than covered it). This perceived extra value and a gift will of course create a lasting impression, increase the chances of us returning and telling our friends about the experience. extending the experience – today as I ate a pastry (24 hours after dining at Maha) I’m still thinking about the meal. Lesson: gifts (big and small) and extra value create an impression! Lesson 5: Focus Upon the Positive As we were about to leave our waitress stopped by the table. Instead of asking if everything was ok (often the way wait staff word this question) our waitress asked us what our favourite part of the meal was. Couching the question by asking us for the best part of the meal was a pretty smart move as it shifted our minds away from parts we might not have enjoyed (not that there were any for me) and onto the best parts of the meal just as we were about to leave. We left pondering the good rather than what could have been better. This also served as a great way for the staff to gather feedback on what was working – something that no doubt helps them to continue to improve what they do. I also wonder whether asking this question set up some cues in our minds that might be repeated later as we discussed the meal with others. We’d already each said something good about the meal within seconds of completing it – perhaps that’d be what we’d say next time we spoke about the meal. Lesson 6: Choreography/Process As we drove home from Maha V and I both commented on how those behind the restaurant must have put some real thought into the experience that they offered those who dined with them. Having eaten in another of the restaurants owned by one of the owners we saw some patterns in some of what we’ve mentioned above. Our experience didn’t just happen. Everything from the ways in which we were greeted, through to the small touches like the lemon cologne and complimentary pastries were intentional and planned steps in a choreography of a typical visit to Maha. I’m certain that the process evolved over time but the experience was not left to chance – there was a clearly thought through process in place which ensured the best chances of a great experience for diners and a profitable business. Best of all, the ‘choreography’ wasn’t obvious or intrusive in any way, it just naturally unfolded. Lesson: great experiences don’t always just happen. A little thought can go a long way to helping people move through an experience in a positive way. Which of these principles could you take and apply in your blog or online business?

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Automation in Daily Life Essay

Automation is the use of machines, control systems and information technologies to optimize productivity in the production of goods and delivery of services. The correct incentive for applying automation is to increase productivity, and/or quality beyond that possible with current human labor levels so as to realize economies of scale, and/or realize predictable quality levels. In the scope of industrialisation, automation is a step beyond mechanization. Whereas mechanization provides human operators with machinery to assist them with the muscular requirements of work, automation greatly decreases the need for human sensory and mental requirements while increasing load capacity, speed, and repeatability. Automation plays an increasingly important role in the world economy and in daily experience. Automation has had a notable impact in a wide range of industries beyond manufacturing (where it began). Once-ubiquitous telephone operators have been replaced largely by automated telephone switchboards and answering machines. Medical processes such as primary screening in electrocardiography or radiography and laboratory analysis of human genes, sera, cells, and tissues are carried out at much greater speed and accuracy by automated systems. Automated teller machines have reduced the need for bank visits to obtain cash and carry out transactions. In general, automation has been responsible for the shift in the world economy from industrial jobs to service jobs in the 20th and 21st centuries.[1] The term automation, inspired by the earlier word automatic (coming from automaton), was not widely used before 1947, when General Motors established the automation department. At that time automation technologies were electrical, mechanical, hydraulic and pneumatic. Between 1957 and 1964 factory output nearly doubled while the number of blue collar workers started to decline.[2] Advantages and disadvantages * Install automation where a high degree of accuracy is required. * Replacing human operators in tasks that involve hard physical or monotonous work.[3] * Replacing humans in tasks done in dangerous environments (i.e. fire, space, volcanoes, nuclear facilities, underwater, etc.) * Performing tasks that are beyond human capabilities of size, weight, speed, endurance, etc. * Economy improvement: Automation may improve in economy of enterprises, society or most of humanity. For example, when an enterprise invests in automation, technology recovers its investment; or when a state or country increases its income due to automation like Germany or Japan in the 20th Century. * Reduces operation time and work handling time significantly. * Frees up workers to take on other roles. * Provides higher level jobs in the development, deployment, maintenance and running of the automated processes. The main disadvantages of automation are: * Security Threats/Vulnerability: An automated system may have a limited level of intelligence, and is therefore more susceptible to committing errors outside of its immediate scope of knowledge (e.g., it is typically unable to apply the rules of simple logic to general propositions). * Unpredictable/excessive development costs: The research and development cost of automating a process may exceed the cost saved by the automation itself. * High initial cost: The automation of a new product or plant typically requires a very large initial investment in comparison with the unit cost of the product, although the cost of automation may be spread among many products and over time. In manufacturing, the purpose of automation has shifted to issues broader than productivity, cost, and time. Reliability and precision The old focus on using automation simply to increase productivity and reduce costs was seen to be short-sighted, because it is also necessary to provide a skilled workforce who can make repairs and manage the machinery. Moreover, the initial costs of automation were high and often could not be recovered by the time entirely new manufacturing processes replaced the old. (Japan’s â€Å"robot junkyards† were once world famous in the manufacturing industry.) Automation is now often applied primarily to increase quality in the manufacturing process, where automation can increase quality substantially. For example, internal combustion engine pistons used to be installed manually. This is rapidly being transitioned to automated machine installation, because the error rate for manual installment was around 1-1.5%, but has been reduced to 0.00001% with automation.[citation needed] Lights out manufacturing Main article: Lights out (manufacturing) Lights out manufacturing is when a production system is 100% or near to 100% automated (not hiring any workers). In order to eliminate the need for labor costs all together. Health and environment The costs of automation to the environment are different depending on the technology, product or engine automated. There are automated engines that consume more energy resources from the Earth in comparison with previous engines and those that do the opposite too. Hazardous operations, such as oil refining, the manufacturing of industrial chemicals, and all forms of metal working, were always early contenders for automation. Convertibility and turnaround time Another major shift in automation is the increased demand for flexibility and convertibility in manufacturing processes. Manufacturers are increasingly demanding the ability to easily switch from manufacturing Product A to manufacturing Product B without having to completely rebuild the production lines. Flexibility and distributed processes have led to the introduction of Automated Guided Vehicles with Natural Features Navigation. Digital electronics helped too. Former analogue-based instrumentation was replaced by digital equivalents which can be more accurate and flexible, and offer greater scope for more sophisticated configuration, parametrization and operation. This was accompanied by the fieldbus revolution which provided a networked (i.e. a single cable) means of communicating between control systems and field level instrumentation, eliminating hard-wiring. Discrete manufacturing plants adopted these technologies fast. The more conservative process industries with their longer plant life cycles have been slower to adopt and analogue-based measurement and control still dominates. The growing use of Industrial Ethernet on the factory floor is pushing these trends still further, enabling manufacturing plants to be integrated more tightly within the enterprise, via the internet if necessary. Global competition has also increased demand for Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems. Automation tools Engineers can now have numerical control over automated devices. The result has been a rapidly expanding range of applications and human activities. Computer-aided technologies (or CAx) now serve the basis for mathematical and organizational tools used to create complex systems. Notable examples of CAx include Computer-aided design (CAD software) and Computer-aided manufacturing (CAM software). The improved design, analysis, and manufacture of products enabled by CAx has been beneficial for industry.[4] Information technology, together with industrial machinery and processes, can assist in the design, implementation, and monitoring of control systems. One example of an industrial control system is a programmable logic controller (PLC). PLCs are specialized hardened computers which are frequently used to synchronize the flow of inputs from (physical) sensors and events with the flow of outputs to actuators and events.[5] An automated online assistant on a website, with an avatar for enhanced human–computer interaction. Human-machine interfaces (HMI) or computer human interfaces (CHI), formerly known as man-machine interfaces, are usually employed to communicate with PLCs and other computers. Service personnel who monitor and control through HMIs can be called by different names. In industrial process and manufacturing environments, they are called operators or something similar. In boiler houses and central utilities departments they are called stationary engineers.[6] Different types of automation tools exist: * ANN – Artificial neural network * BPM – Bonita Open Solution * DCS – Distributed Control System * HMI – Human Machine Interface * SCADA – Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition * PLC – Programmable Logic Controller * PAC – Programmable automation controller * Instrumentation * Motion control * Robotics Limitations to automation * Current technology is unable to automate all the desired tasks. * As a process becomes increasingly automated, there is less and less labor to be saved or quality improvement to be gained. This is an example of both diminishing returns and the logistic function. * Similar to the above, as more and more processes become automated, there are fewer remaining non-automated processes. This is an example of exhaustion of opportunities. Current limitations Many roles for humans in industrial processes presently lie beyond the scope of automation. Human-level pattern recognition, language comprehension, and language production ability are well beyond the capabilities of modern mechanical and computer systems. Tasks requiring subjective assessment or synthesis of complex sensory data, such as scents and sounds, as well as high-level tasks such as strategic planning, currently require human expertise. In many cases, the use of humans is more cost-effective than mechanical approaches even where automation of industrial tasks is possible. Overcoming these obstacles is a theorized path to post-scarcity economics. Applications Food and drink Automated restaurant The food retail industry has started to apply automation to the ordering process, McDonald’s has introduced touch screen ordering and payment systems in many of its restaurants, reducing the need for as many cashier employees.[7] University of Texas has introduced fully automated cafe retail locations.[8] Some Cafe’s and restaurants have utilized mobile and tablet â€Å"apps† to make the ordering process more efficient by customers ordering and paying on their device.[9][10] Some restaurants have automated food delivery to customers tables using a Conveyor belt system. The use of robots is sometimes employed to replace waiting staff.[11] Stores Many Supermarkets and even smaller stores are rapidly introducing Self checkout systems reducing the need for employing checkout workers. Online shopping could be considered a form of automated retail as the payment and checkout are through an automated Online transaction processing system. Other forms of automation can also be an integral part of online shopping, for example the deployment of automated warehouse robotics such as that applied by Amazon using Kiva Systems. Automated mining Main article: Automated mining involves the removal of human labor from the mining process.[12] The mining industry is currently in the transition towards Automation. Currently it can still require a large amount of human capital, particularly in the third world where labor costs are low so there is less incentive for increasing efficiency through automation. Automated video surveillance The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) started the research and development of automated visual surveillance and monitoring (VSAM) program, between 1997 and 1999, and airborne video surveillance (AVS) programs, from 1998 to 2002. Currently, there is a major effort underway in the vision community to develop a fully automated tracking surveillance system. Automated video surveillance monitors people and vehicles in real time within a busy environment. Existing automated surveillance systems are based on the environment they are primarily designed to observe, i.e., indoor, outdoor or airborne, the amount of sensors that the automated system can handle and the mobility of sensor, i.e., stationary camera vs. mobile camera. The purpose of a surveillance system is to record properties and trajectories of objects in a given area, generate warnings or notify designated authority in case of occurrence of particular events.[13] Automated highway systems As demands for safety and mobility have grown and technological possibilities have multiplied, interest in automation has grown. Seeking to accelerate the development and introduction of fully automated vehicles and highways, the United States Congress authorized more than $650 million over six years for intelligent transport systems (ITS) and demonstration projects in the 1991 Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA). Congress legislated in ISTEA that â€Å"the Secretary of Transportation shall develop an automated highway and vehicle prototype from which future fully automated intelligent vehicle-highway systems can be developed. Such development shall include research in human factors to ensure the success of the man-machine relationship. The goal of this program is to have the first fully automated highway roadway or an automated test track in operation by 1997. This system shall accommodate installation of equipment in new and existing motor vehicles.† [ISTEA 1991, part B, Section 6054(b)]. Full automation commonly defined as requiring no control or very limited control by the driver; such automation would be accomplished through a combination of sensor, computer, and communications systems in vehicles and along the roadway. Fully automated driving would, in theory, allow closer vehicle spacing and higher speeds, which could enhance traffic capacity in places where additional road building is physically impossible, politically unacceptable, or prohibitively expensive. Automated controls also might enhance road safety by reducing the opportunity for driver error, which causes a large share of motor vehicle crashes. Other potential benefits include improved air quality (as a result of more-efficient traffic flows), increased fuel economy, and spin-off technologies generated during research and development related to automated highway systems.[14] Automated waste management Automated waste collection trucks prevent the need for as many workers as well as easing the level of Labor required to provide the service.[15] Automated manufacturing Automated manufacturing refers to the application of automation to produce things in the factory way. Most of the advantages of the automation technology has its influence in the manufacture processes. The main advantages of automated manufacturing are higher consistency and quality, reduced lead times, simplified production, reduced handling, improved work flow, and increased worker morale when a good implementation of the automation is made. Home automation Home automation (also called domotics) designates an emerging practice of increased automation of household appliances and features in residential dwellings, particularly through electronic means that allow for things impracticable, overly expensive or simply not possible in recent past decades. Industrial automation Industrial automation deals with the optimization of energy-efficient drive systems by precise measurement and control technologies. Nowadays energy efficiency in industrial processes are becoming more and more relevant. Semiconductor companies like Infineon Technologies are offering 8-bit micro-controller applications for example found in motor controls, general purpose pumps, fans, and ebikes to reduce energy consumption and thus increase efficiency. One of Infineon`s 8-bit product line found in industrial automation is the XC800 family. Agriculture: Now that we’re moving towards automated orange-sorting [1] and autonomous tractors, the next step in automated agriculture is robotic strawberry pickers. Agent-assisted Automation refers to automation used by call center agents to handle customer inquiries. There are two basic types: desktop automation and automated voice solutions. Desktop automation refers to software programming that makes it easier for the call center agent to work across multiple desktop tools. The automation would take the information entered into one tool and populate it across the others so it did not have to be entered more than once, for example. Automated voice solutions allow the agents to remain on the line while disclosures and other important information is provided to customers in the form of pre-recorded audio files. Specialized applications of these automated voice solutions enable the agents to process credit cards without ever seeing or hearing the credit card numbers or CVV codes[16] The key benefit of agent-assisted automation is compliance and error-proofing. Agents are sometimes not fully trained or they forget or ignore key steps in the process. The use of automation ensures that what is supposed to happen on the call actually does, every time. Relationship to unemployment Based on a formula by Gilles Saint-Paul, an economist at Toulouse 1 University, the demand for unskilled human capital declines at a slower rate than the demand for skilled human capital increases.[17] In the long run and for society as a whole it has led to cheaper products, lower average work hours, and new industries forming (I.e, robotics industries, computer industries, design industries). These new industries provide many high salary skill based jobs to the economy.

Saturday, September 14, 2019

Alexander the Great vs Napoleon Bonaparte, What I Got so Far

When we think of Alexander the Great, we think of an outstanding war hero. When we think of Napoleon Bonaparte, we think, again, of an outstanding war hero. If a random person were asked who either of these rulers was, their first response would be a fact about war. Alexander and Napoleon share similarities in their warfare, and how they used it to conquer and establish new lands. Alexander the Great’s strong perseverance and incredible battle strategies led to increase his power over his empire. Napoleon used his intelligence and skill of manipulation to earn respect and support from the French people, which gained him great power.Both men had similar qualities attaining leadership but their strategies to reach this were very different. Alexander the Great was King of Macedon, a state located in Northern Greece. Aristotle tutored him until the age of 16, and by the age of 30 he had created one of the largest empires in the ancient world. As he was undefeated in battle, Alexan der is considered as one of history’s most successful military commanders and his battles and strategies are still taught at military schools worldwide. Alexander III of Macedon, commonly known as Alexander the Great, was born on a bright July day in 356 B.C. and died in June of 323 B. C. During his lifetime he was: King of Macedonia (336-323), Pharaoh of Egypt (332-323), King of Persia (330-323), and the King of Asia (331-323). From reading that alone, it is known that he was a conqueror and successful ruler. Alexander was the son of his predecessor Phillip II who passed away in 336 B. C. leaving the throne, a strong kingdom, and a very experienced army to Alexander. Alexander was awarded to be general of Greece and went on to complete his father’s military expansion plans. With this set up now, King Alexander wasted no time.In 334 B. C. he invaded the Persian-ruled Asia Minor and began a campaign lasting roughly ten years. During this campaign, specifically the battl es of Issus and Gaugamela, Alexander had broken the powers of Persia. Alexander the Great went on to overthrow King Darius III to conquer the entirety of the Persian Empire and now has a kingdom that reigns from the Adriatic Sea to the Indus River. That wasn’t enough for King Alexander; he wanted to reach the â€Å"ends of the world and the Great Outer Sea†. With this, he set off to invade India in 326 B. C. but was orced to turn around at the expense of his troops. Alexander the Great died in Babylon in 323 B. C. ; in years following his death many civil wars broke out and tore apart his empire. Many years later, in a galaxy far far away, on the date of August 15, 1769 another war hero and emperor was born, Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon reigned over the French from May 18, 1804 to April 11, 1814 and ruled Italy over the years from March 17, 1805 to April 11, 1814. Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, set up Napoleonic Code; it was a major influence in civil law jurisdict ions.Napoleon is best recognized for his role in the wars against France, known as the Napoleonic Wars. His success in these multiple battles led Napoleon to be known as one of the best military leaders of all time. His strategies and campaigns are studied at military schools around the world. Napoleon Bonaparte was born into a family of noble Italian ancestry. Napoleon settled in Corsica in the 16th century and later was trained as an artillery officer at a prestigious military school in France, where they most likely talked of Alexander the Great’s military conquests and strategies.In 1799, Napoleon staged a â€Å"coup d’etat† and made himself first consul. 5 years later the French proclaimed him emperor where he engaged in a series of battles, as said before these were known as the Napoleonic Wars. These wars involved every major power in Europe; after Napoleon’s many victories France maintained a dominant position of authority amongst the continent of Europe. In 1812, the French invasion of Russia and the Peninsula War were turning points in Napoleon’s career. Napoleon’s army was heavily damaged nor ever fully recovered.Just a year later, the 6th Coalition defeated what was left of Napoleon’s army and further invaded France, forced Napoleon to give up the throne, and exiled him to the island Elba. After a year of being exiled, Napoleon escaped from Elba and returned to France where he gained back control. It was only for a short period of time, until he was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. He spent the last four years of his life in confinement on another island, Saint Helena, where he died of stomach cancer.

Manufacturing strategy Essay

1.1 Introduction to OFF Shoring and NEXT Shoring: Off shoring is the type of relocation of an industry or an company of a business from one country to another i.e typically an operational process, such as manufacturing process. Next shoring is â€Å"the transfer of business or manufacturing processes to companies in a Nearby location. Where both parties may be benefited from one or more of the following dimension of proximity i.e Cultural, linguistic, political etc., 1.2 Understanding the change in Market, Manufacturing Cost and Technology: Over the decade Manufacturing cost, market and Technology has played an important role in selecting the location of the Manufacturing industry weather it has to Off shored on Next shored. Therefore understanding these three are the major factors for selecting the location of an Industry. Combination of economic force is fast eroding in developing nations cost advantage as an export platform for developed countries market. Mean while with an increasingly flexible work force and a better corporate sector is becoming more attractive place for manufacturing many goods consumed in the developed countries. An Analysis conducted by BCG (Boston Consulting Group) that by sometime around 2015 for many goods destined in the developed countries manufacturing in their neighbouring place is more economical than producing in the developed nations. The key reasons for this thought are mentioned below, Wage and benefits increases of 15 to 20 % per year at the average in developing countries which will slash the advantage over low cost states in the Developed countries. Because Labour accounts a portion of Products Manufacturing Costs. Transportation Cost, Duties, supply chain risks, Industrial real estates and other cost have increased considerably in the past decade this also plays a role but this additional cost will be differed at the minimum level when compared to developed and developing nations. Technology which is another major factor for choosing the Location of Manufacturing Industries. Where Automation, R&D and other measures to improve the productivity in developing nations may reduce the manufacturing price but in modern decade Technology is wide spread it reaches every nook and corner at a rapid phase than in the 60’s. Market is the main criteria  for an Industry to be started. An Industry which has started Next to its marketing area will have an advantage of immediate feedback, customer response to the product. Thus gives them an edge for R&D to develop their products to further level. Thus from our understanding change in Market, manufacturing cost and Technology will have a say on setting up an OFF Shore or a NEXT Shore location for an Product. 1.3 Drivers for OFF Shoring and NEXT Shoring: 1.3.1 Drivers For Next Shoring Manufacturing companies look to externalise back office Responses on impact of Next-shoring on supply chain, services to focus on core operations. Risk associated with supply chain management are increasing in low-cost countries Labour wage rates in offshore locations in emerging synchronization economies like India, China, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia are increasing, as workers are demanding higher wages. Cost of shipping goods around the world is rising due to Lead times and higher fuel price Eastern Europe has emerged as a location for Next-shoring operations, backed by favourable factors like highly skilled talent, especially technical talent and close proximity to end markets like the UK. Other factors include cultural similarities, time zone and strong data protection laws Tax incentives are usually not the main driver but they could tip the balance just as manufacturing taxes may make a country less attractive. 1.3.2 Drivers for OFF Shoring: Key driving forces for demand shifts to the developing countries are economic growth, demographics and rising incomes in emerging markets, in particular in Asia. further major factors driving this trend are: – Localisation of products to address local mid market – Proximity to demand and regional raw materials resources – Vast scale of operations and flexibility – Diligence and industrial skills of workers – Better â€Å"time to market† and reduction of logistics costs ASIAN economies have emerged as major sourcing destination for global  companies. Growth of the employable population and increased investments in the region. National/regional regulatory effects (safety standards, etc.) and free trade agreements. Within Asia itself, a shift can be noticed as rising wages and higher costs in china are making manufacturers consider other locations in southeast Asia. ASIAN countries like India, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam provide a dynamic talent pool with highly educated and young people as well as lower wage costs. 1.4 Debate on â€Å"In future, next shoring, not the off shoring, drives manufacturing location decision† According to me I accept the topic â€Å"In future, next shoring, not the off shoring, drives manufacturing location decision†. In the Next future next shoring is what the manufacturing industries will consider to have competitive edge over the market. Over the past few decades there has been an advantage over the cost (like Labour, land) in developing countries over developed countries. Eg. In India, China, etc., where the manufacturing industries have got much cheap labour force and land for their industries to start. They have enjoyed a great success by installing their manufacturing units in these low cost locations. But in recent years the advantage over the cost has shrinking due to globalisation and annual wage rise, which might see off their advantage over the developed nation. Rewind 15 or 20 years. Offshoring was all the rage. As far back as 1979, companies were starting to send manufacturing to low-wage destinations like India, China, Taiwan and Vietnam to lower labour costs. According to John Shook of the Lean Enterprise Institute, â€Å"There was a herd mentality to offshoring and an inability to see the total costs.† Today, wages in Asia are rising from 15 to 20% annually, according to The Boston Consulting Group (BCG). As a result, the economics of manufacturing in India, China, Taiwan and Malaysia aren’t as appealing as they once were. In fact, today, manufacturers are doing something that would have been unthinkable a decade ago: they’re bringing manufacturing home. A few examples: in January, Bill Simon, Wal-Mart U.S. President and CEO  committed to buy $50 billion of American-made products over the next 10 years. Similarly, after producing appliances offshore for years, General Electric is moving production operations back to the United States. GE CEO, Jeffrey Immelt, stated in the Harvard Business Review that outsourcing â€Å"is quickly becoming outdated as a business model for GE Appliances.† According to The White House blog, Ford, Apple, and Caterpillar are making large investments in U.S. facilities. Thus according to the above points I accept â€Å"In future, next shoring, not the off shoring, drives manufacturing location decision† 1.4.2 A Case Study for selecting Next Shoring than off shoring: Melville, N.Y.-based MSC Industrial Direct Company, a direct marketer and distributor of metalworking and maintenance, repair, and operations supplies, distributes approximately 600,000 industrial products from 3,000-plus suppliers to 320,000 customers. Global sourcing is here to stay, whether operations are in Mexico, China, or other countries, said by Doug Jones, the company’s executive vice president of global supply chains in 2013. There is just as much opportunity in global sourcing as there was five years ago—if not more. â€Å"They used to be focused on China or India, but their Shanghai office now is looking at a number of countries.† There is pressure to source in America, and MSC Industrial Direct’s product offering takes that into account. â€Å"The way we go to market is to have a ‘Made in the USA’ product in every category,† Jones said this earlier this year. G lobal sourcing does brings challenges, however. The company follows a rigorous process to qualify a new production source, with a focus on quality. MSC also weighs the impact of lead time on cost and service. We realize our service model increases from 10 or 15 days to 180 days from purchase order to receipt if we source in China or India,† Jones explains. â€Å"We weigh the additional investment in lead time and inventory, currency valuations, and other factors, and make sure our total landed cost (TLC) still looks good or almost equal to cost in USA, Where they receipt the product at much less time. Monitoring TLC is no small task at MSC, which maintains a global sourcing team dedicated to managing it. This add further cost to monitor. On considering all these MSC starts to Next shoring its supplier base to market  area 1.5 Conclusion Thus from the above case studies and market analysis it’s time to move on from OFF shoring to Next shoring in the Near future which seems more economic and fruitful for manufacturing sector. Even though OFF shoring at present seems more economic currently but in the Near future we are expecting the wage rise factor which would nullify the cost advantage in developing nations and will make the manufactures to rethink on their strategies of OFF shoring and tends to change their strategy for Next Shoring. Thus â€Å"In future, next shoring, not the off shoring, drives manufacturing location decision† PART-B 2.1 Role of Korean Culture in Samsungs Success: It has become increasingly important for employees to have vested stake in the growth potential of its company. People expect a participatory work environment where they can feel a sense of dignity, pride, and ownership of the organization’s vision. Samsung Mobiles strives to build a creative organizational culture, and acknowledges that the investment we make in strengthening the core competencies of our employees will have a direct impact on our competitiveness. We actively promote a flexible organizational culture that allows employees to pursue a healthy work-life balance, in a dynamic, creative and challenging work environment that is not risk-averse. As an international company we embrace individuals with different background and abilities. Korean Culture :- Work & Life Balance through Work Smart Samsung Mobiles has not only contributed to balancing work and life but also to improving productivity by adopting a flexible work schedule in Korea to help eliminate unnecessary overtime and to maximize work performance through effective time management. We introduced a pilot, flexible work schedule in  our TV, mobile phone, and consumer electronics sectors beginning in 2009 and expanded it to all divisions in 2010. Under this new effort, employees arrive at work between 6.00 a.m. and 1.00 p.m. and to work eight hours per day. As of March 2012, approximately 65,000 Korean employees have taken advantage of this system out of a total of 100,000 Korean employees. Samsung believed it is important for everyone to be able to assume personal responsibility for their time. This will continue to contribute to a working atmosphere that allows employees to focus on their job in an autonomous and creative atmosphere. Thus they branded this as Work smart strategy. This helped Samsung a lot in its success. Work Culture that Encourages Learning and Development Samsung Mobiles has established a Creative Development Research Institute System to provide employees with opportunities to pursue creative new ideas that take full advantage of their talents and professional passions in a way that encourages taking risks. This new initiative encourages employees to be more entrepreneurial in developing creative ideas that can become new businesses. Once an employee’s plan is accepted, they may concentrate on the project as a member of a task force for up to one year. During this period, they will be free from their usual responsibilities and may receive a dedicated work space, development expenses and necessary equipment as appropriate. Successful outcomes are encouraged through an incentive program; however they are not subject to penalty if they don’t achieve their goals. The first outcome of the Creative Development Institute, ‘eyeCan,’ was launched in February 2012. The eyeCan is a special mouse for the disabled, which allows its user to use a computer using eye movement. Samsung Electronics will continue to support similar technology projects that our  talented workforce introduces to assist those in need. 2.2 Analysis of Samsung Mobiles using P.E.S.T and Poter’s 5 Force Model: As the main objective of this thesis is to analyze the European and the U.S. mobile phone markets, the selected framework supports this aim by approaching the markets on two different levels. Primarily, the analytical framework focuses on micro-environment i.e. looking at the markets from the viewpoints of the actors (suppliers, distributors, customers) and from that of competition. To analyze the contribution of each of these actors and other sources of competition, another well-established model, Porter ´s five forces, will be utilized (Section 2.3). Where necessary, the observed phenomena are also interpreted from a wider, macro environmental perspective although more detailed analysis of macro-environmental factors will be omitted. The exclusion is justified by the fact that competition, even though influenced by the macro environment, takes place within the micro environment. In addition, concentrating on the micro-environment allows a broader and more in-depth treatment of th e most relevant actors present in the micro-environment. On another dimension, the framework applies two different conceptual approaches, namely, international business (IB) environment and industrial organization (IO) economics. These approaches together serve to supplement the strongly microeconomics focused framework with suitable concepts grounded in the strongly 7 related IB and IO disciplines. While the industrial organization focuses on the company/market boundary from the perspective of imperfect competition, international business focuses on the qualities of international markets and companies operating across country boundaries. These approaches will be discussed in detail in Section 2.4. The analytical approach of the thesis is summarized in . Figure 1. Analytical framework of the study 2.2. Macro-environment By definition, the macro-environment involves factors outside of the direct  control of the business. These factors, then, include the economy, government policies, social changes etc. A firm may, for example, be influenced by new legislation or changes in taxation policies but the firm rarely has power to shape them itself. Thus, macro factors have the ability to fundamentally change the environment of an organization but the relationship is typically one way. (Gillespie, 2007) One of the most utilized frameworks to analyze the macro factors is the PEST analysis. The PEST framework stands for â€Å"Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental and Legal† and is used for analyzing the macro-environment in which companies operate and which also significantly affects each business independent of its size (Johnson et al., 2006:65) in each case including (or excluding) some factors and giving more weight to some in comparison to others. However, it always aims at capturing the essential of the macro-environment under a few broad categories to facilitate understanding and management of each factor within the business and to identify the key drivers of change (Johnson et al., 2006:69). Table 2.1. Components of the PEST analysis (Gillespie, 2007) Even though the macro-environment will not be analyzed in detail in this thesis its influence in a company’s decision making processes is evident as well as its ability to change to conditions under which competition takes place. For example, the Finnish government’s decision to allow bundling of mobile phones had a direct impact on both handset manufacturers’ and mobile operators’ business. Thus, references to the macro environment and changes in it will be made alongside the analysis on companies and their micro-environment. 2.3. Micro-environment The micro-environment can be defined as consisting of â€Å"stakeholder groups that a firm has regular dealings with† (Gillespie, 2007). For the purpose of this thesis, the focus will be on suppliers, distributors, customers and competition as illustrated in Figure 1 following the concise definition of micro-environment by Gillespie (2007). Suppliers In regard to its suppliers, any company generally needs to address questions such as â€Å"Can they provide the quality we require at a good price?†, â€Å"Can they adjust to changes in the supply volume?† and â€Å"What is out power relative to our suppliers and vice versa?† Increasingly, however, large multinational companies in particular are concerned about the ethicality of their suppliers’ operations. Recently, for example, Samsung was alleged to have used so called ‘blood metals’ in their mobile phones, to which Samsung responded by implementing yet more stringent systems to track the origin of its raw materials (Yle, 2010). Especially in the business of mobile phone manufacturing, suppliers and supply chain management (SCM) play a crucial role. Since mobile phones, smart phones in particular, contain numerous highly specialized components and modules, handset manufacturers generally acquire most of the components, software and even ass embly from their suppliers and subcontractors (see the mobile phone value system in Figure 9). Samsung, for example, lists 35 countries as its main supplying locations and applies its so called Code of conduct to all its business partners. In the Code of conduct (Samsung,2011f) Samsung states that â€Å"†¦Samsung encourages its partners, subcontractors, or suppliers to strive beyond legal compliance in areas such as governance, human rights and the environment. Samsung incorporates ethical, social and environmental criteria in its procurement agreements and commits to monitoring the performance of its partners and to taking immediate and thorough remedial steps in cases where the ethical performance of its business partners comes into question.†- Samsung Thus, mobile phone manufacturers rely on suppliers to varying but generally great extent and can even be held responsible for choosing suppliers that use e.g. child labour or non-recyclable materials. To construct an iPhone, Apple, for example, sources its Retina display from LG, the A4 processor from Samsung, gyroscopes from STMicroelectronics, touch sensitive panels from Wintek and TPK, and chips from Skyworks Solutions and TriQuint Semiconductor (Apple Insider, 2010). However, some conglomerates, e.g.  Samsung manufacture most of the modules in-house which enables cutting down the number of suppliers and facilitates integration in the production process. Even if the recent business wisdom has advised companies to divest non-core functions and focus on a few core competencies, Samsung has proven that conglomerates may be highly profitable while retaining their non-core parts. Unlike Motorola, Samsung kept its component manufacturing in-house and focused on synergies from producin g both components and end products. (Hyà ¶ty, 2011:250-252) Distributors The second essential element of a company’s micro-environment is distributors. The choice of distribution channels is critical for a number of reasons. Firstly, the distributors strongly influence the final sales price of each product and thereby directly affect the sales quantity. Second, the distributors and later retailers play an important role in how the product is presented to the customer and, to some extent, how it is positioned relative to competing products. Finally, the choice of the distribution channel affects how customers perceive the brand. While Samsung, for example, utilizes a wide range of sales channels for its Samsung branded products, it sells its luxury phone brand Vertu (typically gold and diamond decorated, ranging from $6000 to $300 000) only in Vertu and Samsung flagship stores (Vertu, 2011; Dialaphone, 2007) In the mobile handset business, the distribution channel plays a crucial role. While in Europe most mobile phone manufacturers rely on a large number of individual distributors and retailers, in North America the bulk of handset sales is carried out by mobile network and virtual operators (see Figure 22). The long-lasting dominance of mobile operators over distribution in the United States has allowed them to introduce additional requirements related to e.g. tailoring and branding of phones, and together with subsidies a commanding position in the industry. Still, the choices related to distribution come down to the same basic questions, i.e. what are the total costs, how is the brand communicated, how flexible is the distributor etc. Customers The third element of the company’s micro-environment is customers. In this  respect, it is common to separate between individual consumers and organizational (or industrial) customers (or buyers). While consumers are traditionally considered less rational and impulsive in their decision making process, companies tend to be viewed as professional buyers following strict budget, cost and profit considerations. (see e.g. Webster & Wind, 1972; Baumgartner & Steenkamp, 1996) These kind of clear differences in purchasing behaviour have been questioned (Wilson, 2000) and today’s B-to-B marketers widely recognize that emotions play an important role also in business buying decisions (Kotler & Armstrong, 2006:178). In the mobile phone business, consumers represent an enormous variety of tastes, preferences and affluence. In developing countries, the sales of low-end mobile phones (often under $50) dominate, while in developed markets of e.g. Europe and North America, consumers often opt for more advanced models incorporating cameras, GPS navigation, Internet browsing etc. Moreover, most of these consumers appreciate value added features and post-purchase services provided by the manufacturer (e.g. Apple App Store, Nokia Ovi Store and Google Android Market) and often base their purchase decision on the combination of the phone and the availability of these services (see e.g. Singh & Goyal, 2009). Industrial buyers, on the other hand, tend to value services related business use of the phone (e-mail, data security etc.) and supplier’s ability to provide a communications solution to the company instead of only handsets. Finally, with regard to the mobile phone industry in Europe, Asia and the United States, there are some significant differences in customer profiles. While in Europe & Asia a handset manufacturer can sell both directly to the consumer and via distributors and retailers, in the United States the only major customer is the operator that, then, functions as a distributor and retailer. This, obviously, has its effect on what kind of marketing is needed to reach the end customer. Competition The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines competition as â€Å"the effort of two or more parties acting independently to secure the business of a third party by  offering the most favourable terms†. (Merriam Webster Online, 2011) Correspondingly, The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics states that â€Å"competition arises whenever two or more parties strive for something that all cannot obtain.† (Stigler, 2008) In this thesis, these competing â€Å"parties† are handset manufacturers who act to â€Å"secure the business† or â€Å"strive for† the limited resource, i.e. the money, of their customers. In terms of developed economic theory, competition is one of the most researched areas of economics. Economists generally differentiate perfect and imperfect competition, concluding that no other system is more Pareto efficient than perfect competition. According to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD, 1999) perfect competition is defined by four conditions: a) There are such a large number of buyers and sellers that none can individually affect the market price. This means that the demand curve facing an individual firm is perfectly elastic. b) In the long run, resources must be freely mobile, meaning that there are no barriers to entry and exit. c) All market participants (buyers and sellers) must have full access to the knowledge relevant to their production and consumption decisions. d) The products should be homogenous. Imperfect competition, thus, occurs when any of the criteria for perfect competition is not satisfied, e.g. when there is information asymmetry between buyers and sellers, either buyers or sellers are able to influence prices or products are not homogenous. In regard to the mobile phone industry, there is a clear case of imperfect competition. Firstly, the three largest manufacturers Samsung, Samsung and Nokia held about 64 % of the global unit sales in Q1/2010 while the tenth largest Huawei had 1,3 %. (Gartner, 2010) This kind of a market situation is generally referred to as an oligopoly â€Å"in which producers are so few that the actions of each of them have an impact on price and on competitors† (Merriam Webster Online, 2011). Second, there are fairly high barriers to entry due to the capital intensive nature of the business. In addition,  gaining market share generally requires significant investments in marketing and established manufacturers can benefit from advantages of scale. Poter’s 5 Force Model The Porter’s five forces model has been criticized, for example, for its underlying assumptions. Firstly, an industry is assumed to consist of an unrelated set of buyers, sellers and substitutes and competitors that interact at arm’s length. Second, companies can gather wealth that allows them to erect barriers against existing competition and new entrants thereby creating structural advantage. Finally, the prevailing uncertainty is assumed low enough to permit predictions about the participants’ behavior and choose a strategy accordingly. In addition, one should also note that the model was developed more than 30 years and, since then, new industries have been born and the old ones taken new shapes. In an argument that the classical model such as the Five Forces and value chain analysis were designed for the analysis of traditional industrial firms and do not apply well to today’s knowledge-intensive companies. Figure 2.2 Porter’s Five Forces –model The rationale for choosing the Five Forces framework was as follows. The model was to be well-known and tested. Even though Porter’s model has been criticized for its applicability to certain industries and for its assumptions, few models have gone through such thorough testing and prevailed. While no model is perfect the limitations of the Porter’s framework are, nevertheless, well-known and documented. Finally, the use a widely accepted framework facilitates reading and interpretation of the results as opposed to some other model with less prevalence and academic/practitioner interest. Table 2.2 Opportunities and Threats for Samsung Mobile 2.3 Suitable Business strategy to overcome threats and grab Opportunity in Samsung: Global R&D (Research & Development) In 2003, Samsung invested 3.5 trillion won ($3 billion) or 8% of total revenues in R&D. It acquired 1,313 US patents in 2003, ranking it 11th in  the world in US patent awarded. (Exhibit 9) Samsung has about 19,700 researchers working in R&D. Researchers account for approximately 34% of its total employees. Every year, R&D engineers developed about 100 new technologies and they work on the development of core technologies in the fourth generation (4G) mobile communications and in next generation memory chips. Samsung’s Information and Telecommunication R&D Center is in Suwon, where the company’s headquarters are located. This R&D Center was designed to incorporate all of its business specialties—semiconductors, electronic components, multimedia, and telecommunications—to maximize technological synergies among them. The Suwon R&D Center also interconnects with other R&D centers, both in Korea and in other countries. In the mobile business, Samsung has applied for 12,000 patents in Korea and 25,000 patents overseas since 1998. The main focus of R&D is the development of new technology standards for 4G communications and the mobile Internet. Samsung holds approximately one hundred patents related to 3G and 4G technologies. Recently, Samsung sold its cdma2000 1x EV-DO system to Japan and Southeast Asian countries. Global Marketing Samsung’s clever marketing strategies played an important role in lifting Samsung’s image from that of a low-end manufacturer to that of a global digital technology leader. For effective global marketing and branding, Samsung established a new organization to deal with its integrated global marketing activities. Eric B Kim, who used to work at IBM, was recruited to lead the Global Marketing Department. One of his most important decisions was to cease all existing contracts with 55 advertising agencies and to sign a $400 million contract with one ad agency, FCB Worldwide. Since then, Samsung has unveiled a series of corporate branding campaigns and the slogan, â€Å"Samsung DIGITall: Everyone’s invited.† One of Samsung’s major global branding strategies is Olympic sponsorship. In  1996, Samsung was an unofficial sponsor of the Atlanta 1996 Olympics, having sponsored the Samsung Expo in the Pavilion of the Main Stadium. In the same year, Kun Hee Lee was selected as an IOC member, and Samsung received an opportunity to participate in TOP (The Olympic Partners). The IOC proposed that Samsung participate in sponsoring the home appliance category for the Olympics. However, Samsung wanted to utilize the opportunity to promote a high-tech image, and felt that the home appliance category was not enough to emphasize Samsung’s technological advances. Samsung set its sights on the telecommunications category and believed that, through the Olympic sponsorship, it could shed its image as a low-end home appliance maker and reposition itself as a high-tech mobile communications company. To win the sponsorship negotiations, Samsung concentrated its marketing resources on the mobile phone business. Samsung’s Key Issues to rectify their threats Though Samsung has continued its success in the mobile phone business, it faces a number of challenges to keep the growth momentum in the future. First, competition in the mobile phone market will become more intense. Lower entry barriers will bring in more competitors to the market, and the â€Å"digital convergence† will accelerate the competition even further. Companies from other industries such as PCs or network services will compete directly with Samsung. As such, it will have to devise more creative win-win strategies in the highly uncertain digital convergence landscape. Second, the sustainability of Samsung’s high-end strategy, which was attributed to Samsung’s brand building, may be in question. Samsung has achieved high profit margin, which is comparable to that of Nokia, mainly based on its high price, while Nokia has done so based on its cost dynamics. In terms of per-unit cost, Nokia spends less on R&D and marketing. One might doubt whether the high-end strategy can really be sustainable. As the mobile communications market becomes saturated, future revenue sources  will come mainly from emerging markets (China, Brazil, India, Eastern Europe, etc.). First-time buyers in emerging markets tend to prefer affordable phones. This could hurt Samsung unless it begins to cover the low and middle-end markets. Nokia and Motorola, as well as many newcomers from China, have already targeted those emerging markets. How to compete in the low and middle-end markets, while preserving its premium brand image, will be important questions in Samsung’s future growth. Third, Samsung is highly dependent on foreign companies for core technologies and modules. For example, it sources core CDMA base-band chips from Qualcomm and sophisticated camera-phone modules from Japanese firms. Consequently, the proportion of royalty payment in total manufacturing cost is likely to increase unless Samsung develops its own technologies. Some industry experts argue that most of Samsung’s patents are on applied technologies, which are developed based on others’ patent-protected core technologies. Recently, Samsung experienced a shortage in the supply of Qualcomm chips and camera-phone modules. This suggests that Samsung’s high dependency on core technologies and product modules would threaten not only its future profitability but also its competitive position. Product Life Cycle of Samsung Galaxy : For my analysis it will be useful to understand how Samsung has introduced its Galaxy Smartphones. The introduction stage of a product is one of the most important, because in this stage a company positions its products in the market. In order examine the strategic choice of the company I need to understand the strategic possibilities in the introduction stage of a product. According to Kotler and Keller, company’s positioning and differentiation strategy must change throughout the life of its products. I will give a brief description of the stages of the product life cycle and strategic possibilities in each of these stages. According to Kotler and Keller to be applicable to a product the assumptions behind the life-cycle are that the product must have limited life; sales go through different stages, with different challenges, opportunities and problems; profits change at different stages; products require different manufacturing, financial, marketing, purchasing and human re source strategies in each life  cycle stage. The Smartphone products fulfill these assumptions. Kotler and Keller recognize 4 different Life-cycle stages for a product. Introduction Stage Introduction is a period of slow sales growth as the product is just introduced. It is also recognized with heavy advertising. According to Shaw (2008) in the introduction stage a company can choose by penetration strategy or niche strategy. A penetration strategy involves aggressive marketing mix and product for the mass market offered at a low price. A niche strategy according to Shaw (2008) involves a narrow market segment and a higher price. In this stage Shaw (2008) recognizes only two possibilities targeting the mass market with low price and a niche strategy involving higher price. Looking at the smartphone market it is possible for the companies to target mass market with higher price as for instance iPhone & Nokia does. This is also due to the affordable terms of the mobile operators where people can buy the Smartphone on leasing. 6.2 Growth Stage This is a period of rapid growth and market acceptance. Here the profits are higher. According to Shaw (2009) in the growth stage companies can choose between two strategic options these are segment expansion and brand expansion. In segment expansion, the company can add new target segments, with their own marketing mixes. Strategic alternative to segment expansion might be brand expansion. This strategy adds new products or variations to the existing line. The strategy delivers to the customer segment bigger choice, or greater value. Some of these strategy ideas might be delivery, gift-wrapping (Shaw, 2012). 6.3 Maturity Stage In maturity stage the sales are lower as the product is already bought from most of the Potential buyers (Kotler and Keller 2009 p.490). According to Shaw (2010) in Maturity stage it is common for a company to employ s stable marketing mix. As the Product moves further on the curve harvesting strategy becomes necessity. 6.4 Decline Stage Here sales decline and profits erode (Kotler and Keller 2009 p.490). In this stage Shaw (2011) recognize only divesting strategy as an option. The following picture shows the life cycle of Samsung Galaxy (first model in Smartphone ) by Samsung which was launched in 2008. Where in the introductory period it was blooming since it was on affordable cost. This model was soon hit in the market. In 2009 its has started its tremendous growth. In around 2010 it reached its maturity state. Where Samsung enjoyed a lot on its success. This encouraged Samsung to do R&D in Galaxy model and they started to develop a lot newer version. Due to introduction of new models and everyone had the current model, Galaxy has started to decline in 2011. Figure 2.2 Product Life cycle of Samsung Galaxy