Optimism Definition Essay

Optimism is a mental attitude or world view that interprets situations and events as being best (optimized), meaning that in some way for factors that may not be fully comprehended, the present moment is in an optimum state. The concept is typically extended to include the attitude of hope for future conditions unfolding as optimal as well. The more broad concept of optimism is the understanding that all of nature, past, present and future, operates by laws of optimization along the lines of Hamilton’s principle of optimization in the realm of physics. This understanding, although criticized by counter views such as pessimism, idealism and realism, leads to a state of mind that believes everything is as it should be, and that the future will be as well. A common idiom used to illustrate optimism versus pessimism is a glass with water at the halfway point, where the optimist is said to see the glass as half full, but the pessimist sees the glass as half empty. The word is originally derived from the Latin optimum, meaning â€Å"best.† Being optimistic, in the typical sense of the word, ultimately means one expects the best possible outcome from any given situation. This is usually referred to in psychology as dispositional optimism. Researchers sometimes operationalize the term differently depending on their research, however. For example, Martin Seligman and his fellow researchers define it in terms of explanatory style, which is based on the way one explains life events. As for any trait characteristic, there are several ways to evaluate optimism, such as various forms of the Life Orientation Test, for the original definition of optimism, or the Attributional Style Questionnaire designed to test optimism in terms of explanatory style. While the heritability of optimism is largely debatable, most researchers agree that it seems to be a biological trait to some small degree, but it is also thought that optimism has more to do withenvironmental factors, making it a largely learned trait.[1] It has also been suggested that optimism could appear to be a hereditary trait because it is actually a manifestation of combined traits that are mostly heritable, like intelligence, temperament and alcoholism.[2] Optimism may also be linked to health. Explanatory style Explanatory style is different, though related to, the more traditional, narrower definition of optimism. This broader concept is based on the theory that optimism and pessimism are drawn from the particular way people explain events. There are three dimensions within typical explanations, which include internal versus external, stable versus unstable, and global versus specific. Optimistic justifications toward negative experiences are attributed to factors outside the self (external), are not likely to occur consistently (unstable), and are limited specific life domains (specific). Positive experiences would be optimistically labeled as the opposite: internal, stable, global.[4] There is much debate about the relationship between explanatory style and optimism. Some researchers argue that there is not much difference at all; optimism is just the lay term for what scientists call explanatory style.[5] Others argue that explanatory style is exclusive to its concept and should not be interchangeable with optimism.[6][7] It is generally thought that, though they should not be used interchangeably, dispositional optimism and explanatory style are at least marginally related. Ultimately, the problem is simply that more research must be done to either define a â€Å"bridge† or further differentiate between these concepts. Philosophy Philosophers often link concept of optimism with the name of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, who held that we live in the best of all possible worlds, or that God created a physical universe that applies the laws of physics, which Voltaire famously mocked in his satirical novel Candide. The philosophical pessimism of William Godwin demonstrated perhaps even more optimism than Leibniz. He hoped that society would eventually reach the state where calm reason would replace all violence and force, that mind could eventually make matter subservient to it, and that intelligence could discover the secret of immortality. Much of this philosophy is exemplified in the Houyhnhnms of Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels. Panglossianism The term â€Å"panglossianism† describes baseless optimism of the sort exemplified by the beliefs of Pangloss from Voltaire’s Candide, which are the opposite of his fellow traveller Martin’s pessimism and emphasis on free will. The phrase â€Å"panglossian pessimism† has been used to describe the pessimistic position that, since this is the best of all possible worlds, it is impossible for anything to get any better. The panglossian paradigm is a term coined by Stephen Jay Gould and Richard Lewontin to refer to the notion that everything has specifically adapted to suit specific purposes. Instead, they argue, accidents and exaptation (the use of old features for new purposes) play an important role in the process of evolution. Some other scientists however argue the implication that many (or most) adaptionists are panglossians is a straw man. Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time Michael Shermer relates Frank J. Tipler to Voltaire’s character Pangloss to show how clever people deceive themselves. Shermer explores the psychology of scholars and business men who give up their careers in their pursuit to broadcast their paranormal beliefs. In his last chapter, added to the revised version, Shermer explains that â€Å"smart people† can be more susceptible to believing in weird things. Optimalism Optimalism, as defined by Nicholas Rescher, holds that this universe exists because it is better than the alternatives.[8] While this philosophy does not exclude the possibility of a deity, it also doesn’t require one, and is compatible with atheism.[9] The positive psychologist Tal Ben-Shahar uses optimalism to mean willingness to accept failure while remaining confident that success will follow, a positive attitude he contrasts with negative perfectionism.[10] Perfectionism can be defined as a persistent compulsive drive toward unattainable goals and valuation based solely in terms of accomplishment.[11] Perfectionists reject the realities and constraints of human ability. They cannot accept failures, delaying any ambitious and productive behavior in fear of failure again. [12]This neuroticism can even lead to clinical depression and low productivity.[13] As an alternative to negative perfectionism Ben-Shahar suggests the adoption of optimalism. Optimalism allows for failure in pursuit of a goal, and expects that while the trend of activity will tend towards the positive it is not necessary to always succeed while striving to attain goals. This basis in reality prevents the optimalist from being overwhelmed in the face of failure.[10] Optimalists accept failures and also learn from them, which encourages further pursuit of achievement.[14] Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar believes that Optimalists and Perfectionists show distinct different motives. Optimalists tend to have more intrinsic, inward desires, with a motivation to learn. While perfectionists are highly motivated by a need to consistently prove themselves worthy. Assessment Life Orientation Test (LOT) Designed by Scheier and Carver (1985), this is one of the more popular tests of optimism and pessimism. There are eight measurements (and an additional four filler items), with four positively (â€Å"In uncertain times, I usually expect the best†) and four negatively (â€Å"If something can go wrong for me, it will†) worded items.[15] The LOT has been revised twice–once by the original creators (LOT-R) and also by Chang, Maydeu-Olivares, and D’Zurilla as the Extended Life Orientation Test (ELOT). All three are most commonly used because they are based on dispositional optimism, which simply means expecting positive outcomes.[16] Attributional Style Questionnaire (ASQ) This questionnaire created by Peterson et al. (1982) is based on the explanatory style definition of optimism. It lists six positive and negative events (â€Å"you have been looking for a job unsuccessfully for some time†), and asks the respondents to record a possible cause for the event and rate the internality, stability, and globality of the event.[17] An optimistic person is one who perceives good things happening to them as internal, stable, and global. There are several modified versions of the ASQ including the Expanded Attributional Style Questionnaire (EASQ), theContent Analysis of Verbatim Explanations (CAVE), and the ASQ designed for testing the optimism for children.[16] Health Research has emerged showing the relationships between several psychological constructs and health. Optimism is one of these concepts and has been shown to explain between 5–10% of the variation in the likelihood of developing some health conditions (correlation coefficients between .20 and .30),[18] notably including cardiovascular disease,[19][20][21][22][23] stroke,[24]depression,[25][26] and cancer.[21][27][28] Furthermore, optimists have been shown to live healthier lifestyles which may influence disease. For example, optimists smoke less, are more physically active, consume more fruit, vegetables and whole-grain bread, and consume more moderate amounts of alcohol.[29] The relationship between optimism and health has also been studied with regards to physical symptoms, coping strategies and negative affect for those suffering from rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, and fibromyalgia. It has been found that among individuals with these diseases, optimists are not more likely than pessimists to report pain alleviation due to coping strategies, despite differences in psychological well-being between the two groups.[30] A meta-analysis has confirmed the assumption that optimism is related to psychological well-being: â€Å"Put simply, optimists emerge from difficult circumstances with less distress than do pessimists.†[31] Furthermore, the correlation appears to be attributable to coping style: â€Å"That is, optimists seem intent on facing problems head-on, taking active and constructive steps to solve their problems; pessimists are more likely to abandon their effort to attain their goals.†[31] It should be noted that research to date has demonstrated that optimists are less likely to have certain diseases or develop certain diseases over time. By comparison, research has not yet been able to demonstrate the ability to change an individual’s level of optimism through psychological intervention, and thereby alter the course of disease or likelihood for development of disease.

Economics and Production Possibilities Curve

Soha Oean Problem #1: Using either a graph or table (Refer to page 22 for help with graphs and tables) use two goods to construct a production possibilities curve. Clearly explain what a variety of different points on the curve mean. What would make the curve expand or contract? Why is efficiency lost at the extremes, as when substantially more of one good and very little of another is produced? Answers:- To construct this curve we need four assumptions:- 1-The economy produces just two goods example Cars and Tractors. 2-There is finite amount of resources available example land, labor and capital. -The resources are used efficiently. 4-The methods of production that are used does not change or technology does not change. The production possibilities curve will be helpful in understanding the need to make choices and the role of opportunity cost when resources are scarce. In our example Tractors and Cars as the economy two goods, if society decided on producing only Tractors the prod uction will hit its maximum level. In the other hand the cars production will be zero. One Tractor =2 Car, the opportunity cost of producing one Tractor is 2 cars. That takes more time and resources to produce one Tractor than car.By looking at the table A or graph A, we have an inverse relationship because the two variables change in opposite direction, 1 Tractor = 2 Cars. When car number decrease, Tractor no increase, and when car number increase, tractors number decreases. â€Å"The six data points in the table A are plotted in the graph. Observe that an inverse relationship always graphs as a down sloping line†. (McConnell,2012 ). Curve will expand when 2 goods are produced efficiently example if I chose to produce one Tractor and 2 cars then we are producing less than our capacity even though we have the resource to produce more.Basically what makes the curve expand is when there are grows in economy its production possibilities curve will expand because more can be prod uced conversely, the production possibilities curve will contract with economic growth meaning less can be produced. When we shift our resources toward making only tractor or only car, if we increase the cars only than the Tractors , then the production will be less efficient and we have higher opportunity cost because it can cost a lot higher to reallocate resources than simply handing over the metal that was meant for tractors to the care manufacture. Applying the Production Possibilities Model) Supply reflects the marginal cost (CM) of producing the good. â€Å"The market ensures that firms produce all units of goods for which MB exceeds MC and no units for which MC exceeds MB. At the intersection of the demand and supply curves, MB equals MC and allocative efficiency results. † (McConnell pg. 59) Table A Points TractorsCars A010 B18 C26 D34 E42 F50 Graph A Reference: Applying the Production Possibilities Model – Free Video †¦ (n. d. ). Retrieved from http://ed ucation-portal. com/academy/lesson/applying-the-production-possibilities McConnell? Brue? Flynn: Microeconomics: Principles †¦ n. d. ). Retrieved from http://www. scribd. com/doc/26127377/McConnell%E2%88%92Brue%E2%88%92Flynn-Microeco Problem #2 Part A: Go to the internet auction site eBay ® at www. ebay. com and select the category Jewelry and Watches, followed by Loose Diamonds and Gemstones, and then Diamonds, Natural. How many natural diamonds are for sale at the moment? Note the wide array of sizes and prices of the diamonds. In what sense is there competition among the sellers in this market? How does that competition influence prices? In what sense is there competition among buyers? How does that competition influence prices?Answers:- Active listings are 726,550 as of 10/26/2012 at 1:54pm. Sellers are ratings play a big part in this competition as well as direct reputation. Reputation is a powerful force to make firms behave well, even when they supply highly complicate d products. Whenever there are many buyers and few sellers price will rice. â€Å"The limited supply of diamonds is also controlled by a few large companies. Many have argued that these companies have supported high prices by artificially limiting supply. Greater competition among the major jewelry suppliers may lead to lower prices†. ( Diamond Grading and Buying Guide).The demand for diamond is generally measured in relation to the manufacturing capacity, at the moment there is a manufacturing over- capacity. In the medium to short term, there will be inadequate natural diamond available. (Diamond Grading and Buying Guide) Sellers compete in price which is varying according to diamonds quality, color, clarity, cut and size. There are over 16,000 different polished diamond prices. Since price is determined by supply and demand, then there are many sellers and buyers similar products are supposed to be identical. All sellers and buyers have full knowledge of market conditions and sellers nd buyers can enter the market or leave the market at will. If large quantities of Diamonds were suddenly found and was available for sale, price of diamonds would fall. Diamond Grading and Buying Guide – Jewelry by LuShae. † Insert Name of Site in Italics. N. p. , n. d. Web. 30 Oct. 2012 . Problem #2 Part B: Describe what would happen if an outside agency determined the prices eBay could charge. I believe the idea for having eBay is to be able to find a deal and to bargain with customers you would normally not be able to interact with because of the cost of travel and business to locate these items.All of these economic actors participate in the market in order to achieve specific goals. Consumers aim to maximize their own happiness; businesses attempt to maximize profits and government agencies try to maximize social welfare. Foreigners pursue these same goals as producers, consumers or government agencies. In every case, they pursue to achieve these goals by buying the best possible mix of services, goods or factors of production. If an outside agency try to determine the eBay price, example a ceiling price this lower price seemingly makes diamond more affordable for everyone, including the poor.But what about the quantity of diamond supplied? Diamond controls do not increase the number of diamonds available. On the contrary, price controls tend to have the opposite effect. Price ceilings have three predictable effects they:- †¢ Increase the quantity demanded. †¢ Decrease the quantity supplied. †¢ Create a market shortage. (Supply and Demand) Some suppliers simply decided that selling their diamond was no longer worth the effort. They decided, instead, to leave the market. Other suppliers will sell cheap and less quality diamonds, Slowly but surely the quantity of

Reading Philosophies Essay

Is the student| |Constructivist |and cultural belief can influence the |along with the teacher a book. |responding or actively participating in class | | |learning along with interactions of other |Teacher will give the student a project on a topic|discussions | | |students in the classroom. and then will present it in front of the class |Mind mapping will have the students list and | | |In a classroom that utilizes the theory of |Have the students watch a clip or a movie and then|categorize new concepts | | |constructivism, there would be: |the teacher will conduct a discussion afterwards |Pre-assessments allows the teacher to know what | | |Vigorous participation |Teacher can take the students on a field trip to |the students know and what topics they will need | | | Small group interactions |relate real world experiences to the concepts |to be taught | | |New concepts shown within context |learned in class |Hands on activities assess how the students can | | |Previous knowledge used to create new | |utilize a particular learning tool | | |knowledge | | | |Questions or activities to lead to new | | | | |concepts | | | | |This theory is based on the teacher defines |Teacher can have the students underline a portion |Assessments though individual work. Is the | |Explicit or Direct |and model the concept, guides the students |of the text on an overhead or on the board to |student completing and doing individual | |Instruction |through application, and creates guided |depict whatever topic is being discussed, like |assignments? | | |practice until there is mastery of the |naming the nouns, proper nouns, prepositions, etc. |Assessment through a test or quiz with an essay | | |concept. Ask the students to check the text on the overhead|writing or proje ct report | | |In this model, the classroom will consists |because you need to prove whatever topic is being |An informal assessment through having the | | |of: |discussed |children do â€Å"thumbs up or thumbs down† | | |Direct instruction of phonemic awareness |Ask the students to read a passage to see if it | | | |Decoding skills |sounds right and makes sense, then ask if there | | | |Rules of language |should be any revisions | | | | |Skill based worksheets, flash cards, or game | | | | |relating to the new concept | | Reading Philosophies It is important to know what type of effective teaching strategies you want to have when you step inside the classroom doors. Although there are many different teaching styles, the two most common philosophies are direct/explicit instruction and constructivist. Choosing either method is a matter of preference and what will work best for the teacher and the students. No matter what, the information that is given to the students must be informative and related to their needs as well as their particular grade level. This essay will discuss both approaches and what method I would like to utilize when I become a teacher. â€Å"Teachers can give students ladders that lead to higher understanding, yet the students themselves must climb these ladders† (Slavin, 2009, p. 231) emphasizes the view of a constructivist in which the students are vital roles in their own learning and development. A traditional idea about teaching is comparable to the constructivist method of teaching. This method commonly has the teacher identifying learning objectives, planning learning activities, and creating assessments. However this theory relies on the student’s knowledge and more hands on activities. The teacher’s role is to facilitate personal learning by establishing a community of learners, and by making it clear to the student that he or she is part of the community (Baines & Stanley, 2000). Jean Piaget is well known for generally attributing to the formalization of constructivism. Piaget felt that accommodation and assimilation will help students construct new knowledge from their past experiences. When students assimilate, they will digest their new experience into a pre-existing context without altering the new context. It is also important to know that constructivism is not a specific pedagogy. In short, this theory describes how learning happens, despite of whether students are using their past experiences to comprehend the lesson. In a constructivist classroom, there would be (1) vigorous participation (2) small group discussions (3) concepts introduced within context, and (4) authentic literature, (GCU, 2013). Truthfully, many aspects of constructivism are commendable (Baines & Stanley, 2000). One component of this theory is small group discussions. The next theory is direct or explicit instruction. This model (1) sets the stage for learning (2) teacher provides clear explanation of what to do (3) modeling the process (4) guided practice, and (4) independent practice. Throughout explicit instruction, teachers are responsible for monitoring the students’ needs and providing them a kind of scaffolding that is appropriate throughout their learning process. Modeling is a key component of scaffolded instruction (Truscott & Truscott, 2004). When this strategy is used there will be gradual withdrawal of supportive learning structures to eventually become the sole responsibility of the student (Truscott & Truscott, 2004). This concept has been known to improve learning however it may take a long time for the student to master. However once it is mastered, the student feels a sense of accomplishment and self-sufficient. Explicit instructions make the student responsible as well in a different way that constructivism is administered. Students will know and understand what they are expected to perform by themselves and what goals that they will work towards. In the content of reading, studies have shown that direct teaching of word meanings in a reading passage is more effective than an uninstructed vocabulary learning approach (Sanbul & Schmitt (2010). There is an allowance for student engagement as well. Learning is an active process. Teachers of this model will maintain the classroom with proper behavior; however students should stay actively involved in the lesson in order to have the greatest impact on their learning. While they are being taught, students will be focused on the lesson as well as try to make sense of the new material. I feel that either theory is the not better than the other. I feel that both theories can work together in a classroom if they are balanced out. A study was conducted at the University of Kansas of 83 students who were targeted in the winter of kindergarten as being high risk for reading failure. Interventions were conducted in small groups of one to six students for thirty minute sessions, three times per week, for a two year period (Kamps, Abbot, Greenwood, Wills, Verrkamp, Kaufman, 2008). Reading comprehension is a very complex skill to teach. In this study, the students worked on comprehension strategies including decoding words, phonological awareness, alphabet knowledge and rapid letter naming. As a result, the findings from this study proved that small group instruction improved in critical early literacy skills. Some students even advanced to grade level performance (Kamps, Abbot, Greenwood, Wills, Verrkamp, Kaufman, 2008). I feel this is a great example of both theories placed into one. The teacher was incorporated by working directly with the students; however the students were placed in smaller groups like in the constructivism theory. In my classroom, I would use constructivism to create a print-rich environment with student’s work posted and a time that students are free and able to discuss classroom topics. I would also relate the content that is being taught to a life experience so the students can understand that specific content area. I would also create high levels of interaction with lots of group work. However there will be a time for explicit instruction. I will monitor the students for understanding to make sure that they are deriving meaning from the instruction. I also think it is important that I model the assignment before I give it, especially for kindergarten because their understanding for directions is still very new. All teaching strategies or theories require some form of assessment to make sure the student understands the given concept. Although both theories are quite different, the assessments are the same. The assessments are either formative or summative. Teachers will use formative assessments through class observations of participation, questioning strategies, and peer or self assessment. Through summative strategies, it is usually benchmark exams or state mandated standardized testing. In conclusion, both theories have been proven to be very successful. Researchers agree that teachers need to be adaptive to meet students’ diverse and individual needs (Parsons, Davis, Scales, Williams, Kear, 2010). No one can clearly state which theory works better. I have observed both theories inside classrooms of today and the students were successful in their learning. I feel that whatever works best for you and your students, then just go for it. Bottom line, we need the students to become successful and proper citizens once they graduate so I hope to do my best when I am teaching and use both theories to make it happen. References Baines, L. A. , & Stanley, G. (2000). ‘We Want to See the Teacher. ‘. Phi Delta Kappan, 82(4), 327. Kamps, D. , Abbott, M. , Greenwood, C. , Wills, H. , Veerkamp, M. , & Kaufman, J. (2008). Effects of Small-Group Reading Instruction and Curriculum Differences for Students Most at Risk in Kindergarten. Journal Of Learning Disabilities, 41(2), 101-114. Parsons, S. A. , Davis, S. G. , Scales, R. Q. Williams, B. , & Kear, K. A. (2010). How AND WHY TEACHERS ADAPT THEIR LITERACY INSTRUCTION. College Reading Association Yearbook, (31), 221-236. Slavin, R. E. (2009). Educational Psychology. In R. E. Slavin, Educational Psychology (pp. 30-44). Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, Inc. Sonbul, S. , & Schmitt, N. (20 10). Direct teaching of vocabulary after reading: is it worth the effort?. ELT Journal: English Language Teachers Journal, 64(3), 253-260. doi:10. 1093/elt/ccp059 Truscott, D. M. , & Truscott, S. D. (2004). A professional development model for the positive practice of school-based reading consultation. Psychology In The Schools, 41(1), 51-65.

Simple moving average for product 8 Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Simple moving average for product 8 - Term Paper Example Valuable information will need to be strategized based on the product name, store, product store id, sales, promotion, date, 3 weekly, and 4 weekly. The selected product data will be based on a long period of time. The strategy will be tested on the products rather than an individual product, for the reason that the representative products will be tested. Since the daily product data was not available, the three and the four week data will be used instead. One advantage for the strategy is that the transaction cost will be reduced2. For product store 8a, the forecasting accuracy for 3 and 4 weekly are 7.6 and 6 respectively. Product 8b for 3 and 4 weekly are 13.67 and 15.5 respectively. Product 8c1 are 4.67 and 3.5 for 3 and 4 weekly respectively. For product 8d1, the forecasting accuracy for 3 and 4 weekly are 20.33 and 22.5 respectively, while the forecasting accuracy for 3 and 4 weekly are 4.667 and 5.75

Digital Technologies Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Digital Technologies - Article Example Digital technology is a novel field focusing on computational thinking and creating an awareness platform for digital systems. It entails creating a number of solutions to day to day out problems digitally (Weber & Dixon, 2007). The concepts surrounding this term include software, hardware, data and the manner of its delivery to the external parties. Commonly, they will exist as pictures, diagrams, and symbols. In addition, it comprises a series of steps that when followed in the order presented, solve the task at hand. Digital technologies in the wider scope explore the usage of information systems in place to meet their needs. These needs range from entertainment, communication and information want. It is also inevitable to work with other people in the community to organize these ideas and data using information systems and disseminate it for the consumption of the entire community via the cyberspace.The methodologies involved in the collection of the data will include: the use of questionnaires and interviewing persons who have had hands on digital libraries. Further, the research seeks to delve more into reviewing secondary sources readily available on the internet, journals, and books to form the basis for continuing this project. The consequent realization of the application will amount to a better and more improved digital library system. That will address the current loopholes in our libraries and accommodate the ever changing needs of the consumers in this day and age.

Cyprus bank crisis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Cyprus bank crisis - Essay Example In 2002, the late mortgage payments recorded the highest value in the recent history of Europe. The first sign of a financial crisis appeared in the EU zone alarmed the policy makers and called for an urgent European crisis management framework. Nevertheless even by the end of year 2009 formulating of such an effective crisis management framework had been inadequately progressed. The currently unfolding banking crisis in Cyprus can be considered as the latest stage of EU zone banking crisis. Fragility of the Cypriot Banking System: Situation before the Bailout The following chapter presents existing literature regarding the problems of banking system in Cyprus. Gunsel, 2007, defined bank failure as â€Å"a situation in which banks were closed because of financial difficulties.† Accordingly during the period of 1999-2002 the rate of banking failure in North Cyprus had been as high as 32.4 percentage proportion of the total banks in the country. The number of total banks in North Cyprus declined from 37 in 1999 to 25 towards end of 2002. Example: the Cyprus Credit Bank Ltd., Cyprus Liberal Bank Ltd., Everest Bank Ltd., Kibris Yurtbank Ltd. and Cyprus Finance Bank Ltd., were closed due to bankruptcy in 2001. Moreover, the Cyprus Commercial Bank Ltd., Yasa Bank Ltd., Tilmo Bank Ltd., Asia Bank Ltd., and Cyprus Industrial Bank Ltd. were taken over by the Saving Deposit Insurance Fund (SDIF) of the country during the same time period. Estimated cost of banking failure in year 2000, amounted approximately 200 trillion TL, (almost 50 percen tage proportion of the national GNP of previous year) in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Banking sector comprised of 6.3 percentage proportion (568.4 million TL, in 1977 prices) of the country’s GDP in 1999. It steadily declined reaching 4.8 percentage proportion (416.1 million TL, in 1977 prices) by 2002. The global economic crisis is recognized as the leading cause of this deteriorating. In 1999 the banking sector provided employments to approximately 3.5 percentage proportion of the total working population in Northern Cyprus. Contribution of the financial for providing employments to the Cypriot economy severely dropped after closing of the banks. In 2002 only 2.6 percentage proportion of the country’s employments were provided by the financial institutions. Further, the other sectors in the economy showed slight recovery from the economic crisis towards the end of year 2002 however, financial sector remained unrecovered. The failure of the system was evid ent in the revoking of banks from operation and taking over by other banks (Safakli, 2003). Failure of the Banking System: Root Causes Gunsel, 2007, revealed that inadequate capital, poor asset quality, high interest expenses, low profitability, low liquidity and small asset size are significant variables that determine the likelihood of bank failure in North Cyprus. Black, 1995, revealed that poor risk analysis by the banks especially during the expansion phase of the business cycle can trigger banking crises. Inefficient internal credit control systems may fail to monitor the amount and quality of bank loans. Hoenig, 1999, revealed that connected lending or lending to the companies or development projects connected with the bank owners or managers despite their limited profitability as a major cause of bankruptcy in the region. Banks which lack capital assets are more susceptible to the shock of an economic downturn. According to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) a mini mum of 8 percentage proportion capital to risk weighted assets ratio is required for all international banks. High leverage can affect

Creating a Health Promotion Program for Type II Diabetics Essay

Creating a Health Promotion Program for Type II Diabetics - Essay Example Of course, not all goals will be met for all clients, but it is important to have an optimal objective. The main overall goal of the program is for clients to retain long-term exercise habits. The effective disease management program approaches the problem of diabetes in terms of access, prevention, diagnosis, and prevalence. This is seen as a positive move forward. Goals and methods of the diabetes disease management program include reducing morbidity and mortality. Diabetes often leads the patient to die of a related condition and the patient needs to be educated about risk first and foremost. This group of authors state that, â€Å"The goal is to not only to provide clinical information about new therapy, but also information about the effect of the therapy on aspects of life that are valued by patients, or health related quality of life† (Curtis et al., 13). It is important for evidence based professionals to know their clients and to improve their quality of life, in ways that decrease the incidences of diabetes. The quality of life problems and priorities of people with type II diabetes are various. Patients who cannot control their diabetes or are unable to may develop complications from the disease that are very serious, such as the risk of blindness, renal failure, and even the amputation of lower limbs. â€Å"Adjunctive referral to a diabetes support group may be helpful for some patients when complications arise. Establishing group involvement may be difficult at the stage when serious complications set in, however, because healthier members sometimes have difficulty accepting patients with complications† (Diabetes, 2005). This presents a barrier to the disease management plan for a group format because some patients may see those diabetics with severe complications such as blindness as a reflection their own future with the disease, and react negatively, thus

Dispersed Team Dynamics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Dispersed Team Dynamics - Essay Example The effectiveness of studies on the dynamics of the teams has influential merits for the management students as they can convert their individual skills to collective enthusiasm at their prospective workplace. This essay will focus on the summative evaluation of the different elements of virtual team management and the practical utility of the methods applied in the course structure and identify the questions for future exploration. The course design for the topic of dispersed team dynamics has successfully covered the different theoretical aspects associated with the virtual team management applications. The basic learning from the course encompasses the technical and scientific knowledge associated with the formation of virtual teams and their functions. The lectures and practical sessions of the course effectively address the essential features of operational management, communication and the principles of collaboration in order to empower the learners to develop their employability at the challenging job market conditions. The course literature evidently focuses on the technical and personal competencies required for the virtual team managers. The current tendencies of the global HR environment of collectively demand the management students and leadership aspirants to explore their own potentials on the basis of the required adaptability skills essential for coping up the change-inflicted challenges. Accord ing to Lpesinger and DeRosa (2010), the emphasis of envisioning the changes as part of virtual team management functioning is essential for team leaders because of the importance of visions in strategic planning and decision making (p.93). As part of the course, the virtual team has taken a definition for the students as they realize the scope of this HR practice device across the multi-cultural and diverse employment

The Socio-Political And Cultural Context of Nursing Essay

The Socio-Political And Cultural Context of Nursing - Essay Example There are various patterns of knowing in case of nursing practices that address the â€Å"who†, the â€Å"how† and the â€Å"what†. However, it has been understood that the pattern of the socio-political knowing tries to address the â€Å"wherein†. This pattern picks up views of the nurse from the thoughtful nurse-patient relation and tries to position it at the broader context where the nursing takes place. The sociopolitical knowing may be perceived as being understood at two levels. The first level is the sociopolitical context of the persons while the second one is the sociopolitical context of nursing as a profession (Barker, 2009). The term cultural competence can be defined as the capability to understand and respond in an effective manner to the needs such as cultural and linguistic that is brought to the healthcare experience by the health care providers and the organizations (Seright, 2007). Sex can be termed as the various biological and physiol ogical characteristics of male and female whereas the gender can be defined as the socially constructed behaviors, relationships, norms that are considered as appropriate by the society for men and women. The gender inequalities are considered to be a serious issue. The issue is not about the socially constructed differences between men and women. However, it is about that this difference provides rise to discrimination and inequalities. Since both men and women are biologically different, therefore differences in health risk, needs and conditions tend to arise. Social, Political and Cultural Context of Health and Inequalities across a Range of Groups and Contexts It has been found in the history of social work that there have been growing concerns regarding the social inequalities and also upon the focus to diminish systems of oppression. In the case of the British context, the approaches of anti-racist to social work appeared during the year 1980. This was in response to the conce rns over discrimination, inequalities, and injustice in providing the service and delivery along with the racism within the profession itself (Graham & Schiele, 2010). Both the terms oppression and discrimination are grounded on the belief of superiority of one group over the other along with the consequent rights of greater power and opportunity in the society. Oppression can be termed as political, economic and cultural actions and the behaviors that may harm the individuals through exploitation. In nursing, there are various patterns of knowing. However, two more patterns of knowing have also been found and it would be beneficial to include these within the reflection. One of the patterns of knowing is unknowing. Unknowing signifies awareness that the nurse doesn’t understand the patient when they first meet. When the nurse recognizes this unknowing then she tends to remain attentive to the clients’ perspectives. There has been a debate in the nursing literature reg arding the place that sociology occupies in nursing. According to the view of Cooke, nurses tend to have negative attitudes.  Ã‚  

Information Technology-Use of Statistical Measures in Research Essay

Information Technology-Use of Statistical Measures in Research - Essay Example This paper studies the use of two of the most common statistical measures used in information technology research viz. measures of central tendencies and variability. Statistics enables the researcher in viewing the collected data in two ways. Descriptive statistics describes the shape of the data. Frequency and distribution are forms of descriptive statistics that help in this. Descriptive statistics uses measures such as mean, median, mode, correlation ,covariance etc.This data may be a sample or population data and we may have population mean compared to sample means etc. Inferential statistics attempts to fit a model to collected data and establishes causality .Inferential statistics also deals to develop predictive models which are based on causality analysis. In this paper mainly simple concepts of descriptive statistics are explored and inferential statistics is not touched upon. Statistical measures, not having real existence, simply support an argument or hypothesis and are just mental constructs. While statistics helps in summary organization of data, interpretation of the same, on its way to hypothesis, is the primary task of the resea rcher. Comparative cost of ownership analysis of Server Operating Systems was done with elaborate use of mean analysis and t test significance (Cahner, 1997). Mean and standard deviation model, multivariate model, Markov process model and time series model were used as part of statistical technique in developing Misuse Detection Systems (Christina, 1997).Statistical user profiles were used as part of multilayered security system (Steve, 1999).A combination of arithmetic mean, median and standard deviation gave sufficient support to help conclude on Survey results on Operating systems'(David, 1998). Discussion A basic primer of descriptive statistics is necessary not only for understanding such concepts but also for pointing to their specific use on research data. "The most frequently used average is the Mean, which is the balance point in a distribution. Its computation is simple - just add up the scores and divide by the number of scores.Formally mean is the value around which the deviations sum to zero.The formal definition also explains as to why informally one defines the mean as the balance point in a distribution. At mean value the positive and negative deviations balance each other out. A major drawback of the mean is that it moves in the direction of extreme scores. If in any two distributions most values are about same size however in one distribution one or two values are inordinately high then the mean of such a distribution would be pulled up greatly in comparison to the other distribution. This is a skewed distribution. For such skewed distributions, a different average, the Median, which is defined as the middle score is used. To get an approximate median, scores are put in order from low to high and count is made till middle score, which is set as median. The Mode is simply the score with highest frequency. The mode is sometimes used in informal

Integration of different theories Essay Example for Free

Integration of different theories Essay Integration of different theories Employing the Behavioral, Cognitive-Behavioral, Psychodynamic, Existential, Humanistic, Family Systems, Gestalt and Client-Centered Eclectic stance primarily involves the incorporation of distinct concepts within a single framework. The important thing is that of flexibility and resiliency on one’s part when to apply or implement which of the theories in the context of his/her client. It starts with the identification of specific problems and especially the root causes. When this is confidently achieved, the therapist is actually midway to attaining his/her goals which includes not only the relief of the symptoms that the sufferer is currently experiencing but especially the reduction of the occurrence if not altogether eliminated (Corey, 2004). THERAPIES -The Behavioral model utilizes what is termed as the learning theory posited by Skinner and Watson and the rest of the Behaviorism school. It assumes that the principles in learning i. e. , conditioning (Associative and Operant) are effective means to effect change in an individual. Generally, the thrust of this theoretical perspective is focused on the symptoms that a person is experiencing. Just as many of the errors of the patterns of behavior come from learning from the environment, it is also assumed that an individual will be able to unlearn some if not all these by using the techniques as applied based on the learning principles. To a certain extent I believe that this still works: reinforcements are effective to some extent and in some or many people hence I am incorporating this stance separate or distinct from the Cognitive-Behavioral approach. In behavior therapy therefore, thoughts, feelings and all those â€Å"malfunctioning† and unwanted manifestations revealed in one’s activities can be unlearned and the work of a behavior therapist. The basic concepts include â€Å"extinguishing† – utilized when maladaptive patterns are then weakened and removed and in their place habits that are healthy are established (developed and strengthened) in a series or progressive approach called â€Å"successive approximations. When these (factors) are reinforced such as through rewards in intrinsic and extrinsic means, the potential of a more secure and steady change in behavior is developed and firmly established (Corey, 2004). Cognitive-Behavioral therapy. In the cognitive approach alone, the therapist understands that a client or patient comes into the healing relationship and the former’s role is to change or modify the latter’s maladjusted or error-filled thinking patterns. These patterns may include wishful thinking, unrealistic expectations, constant reliving and living in the past or even beyond the present and into the future, and overgeneralizing. These habits lead to confusion, frustration and eventual constant disappointment. This therapeutic approach stresses or accentuates the rational or logical and positive worldview: a viewpoint that takes into consideration that we are problem-solvers, have options in life and not that we are always left with no choice as many people think. It also looks into the fact that because we do have options then there are many things that await someone who have had bad choices in the past, and therefore can look positively into the future. Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy postulated primarily by Ellis and Beck â€Å"facilitates a collaborative relationship between the patient and therapist. † With the idea that the counselor and patient together cooperate to attain a trusting relationship and agree which problems or issues need to come first in the course of the therapy. For the Cognitive Behaviorist Therapist, the immediate and presenting problem that the client is suffering and complaining from takes precedence and must be addressed and focused in the treatment. There is instantaneous relief from the symptoms, and may be encouraged or spurred on to pursue in-depth treatment and reduction of the ailments where possible (Corey, 2004). Psychoanalytic therapy. The Psychodynamic perspective is based on the work of Sigmund Freud. He created both a theory to explain personality and mental disorders, and the form of therapy known as psychoanalysis. The psychodynamic approach assumes that all behavior and mental processes reflect constant and often unconscious struggles within the person. These usually involved conflicts between our need to satisfy basic biological instincts, for example, for food, sex or aggression, and the restrictions imposed by society. Not all of those who take a psychodynamic approach accept all of Freud’s original ideas, but most would view abnormal or problematic behavior as the result of a failure to resolve conflicts adequately. Many of the disorders or mental illnesses recognized today without a doubt have their psychodynamic explanation aside from other viewpoints like that of the behaviourist, or the cognitivists. From simple childhood developmental diseases to Schizophrenia, there is a rationale that from Freud’s camp is able to explain (Corey, 2004). The Existential approach, as put forward by Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Sartre, Heidegger, Rollo May, and Frankl, believes that the individual’s potential may lie dormant but that it is there waiting to be ushered in time. It recognizes that man is able to achieve great heights and that these are just waiting to be tapped not only by him/herself but that also when helped by a practitioner who is persuaded of this notion. It examines such major issues as free will and the challenges of exercising this free will, the issue of mortality, loneliness and in general, the meaning of life. The Therapy is effective when the practitioner works with elderly care and death and dying issues. It focuses on the individual needs but takes into consideration the significant relationships and the meanings they bring into the person’s life. Transcending the issues and problems are primary intentions of the therapist at the same time being realistic that certain limitations do exist and may hinder the process of recovery (Rubinstein et al. , 2007; Corey, 2004). -Humanistic therapy. Allport, Bugental, Buhler, Maslow Rollo May, Murphy, Murray, Fritz Perls and Rogers are those that helped usher in the Humanistic theory and consequent therapy. It holds in view the individual as possessing the options or freedom to choose, creativity, and the capability to attain a state where he/she is more aware, freer, responsible and worthy of trust. Because the human mind has immense potential, the approach assesses as well that forces from the environment bear on with the individual and depending on the interplay that occurs within the individual person, the result will either be destructive or constructive to the person. In sum, humanism takes into the perspective that essentially humans are good and not evil, and that the therapy facilitates by harnessing on the human potential through the development of interpersonal skills. This results to an enhanced quality life and the individual becomes an asset rather than a liability to the society where he revolves in (Corey, 2004). Family-Systems therapy. This theoretical viewpoint has been the by-product of the works of Bateson, Minuchin, Bowen, Ackerman and many others. Usually done in pairs or by a team of practitioners, family systems therapy has its roots in behavioral and psychoanalytic principles. This model understands that the family is a unit and its members or any of its members with an issue or a problem must be addressed in the context of the family as a unit. It puts its emphasis on the relationships among the family members, their patterns of communication more than their individual traits and/or symptoms. The systems theory portion of the therapy indicates that whatever is occurring or happening is not isolated but is a working part of a bigger context. In the family systems approach then, no individual person can be understood when removed from his relationships whether in the present or past, and this is specially focused on the family he belongs to (Corey, 2004). Reference: Corey, Gerald (2004). Theory and practice of counseling and psychotherapy. Thomson Learning, USA.

Reactions to Imprisonment Essay Example for Free

Reactions to Imprisonment Essay When an individual is subjected to being incarcerated for a significant amount of their life, that person once released has had a life experience, which impacts them greatly. Whether that impact is prosperous or not depends on the individual. While imprisoned some allow themselves to take advantage of their time by learning form their mistakes, while others utilize their time by becoming more mischievous. A prime example of someone who received a positive impact form being imprisoned is Socrates Fortlow of Walter Mosleys Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned, this specific individual learned to be zealous, compassionate and resourceful throughout his twenty-seven year sentence in jail. From Socrates release from jail he has displayed an extremely zealous outlook on life. As a man seeking employment, Socrates zealous personality is the key factor in him receiving a job at Bounty Supermarket for boxing and delivering groceries. I been down there evry day for five days, an evry day I go in there I ask em if they got my okay from the head office yet, is how Socrates explained his persistent attempt to his friend Stony Wile. As a lower class, African American, ex-convict, Socrates is not the ideal candidate for employment. One would believe that without his zealous attitude he would not have been able to obtain the job he took such pride in executing. Socrates also made a zealous attempt to modify his violent behavior. For years he gave himself a grade everyday. Anytime he wrote down failure somebody had been hurt by those big rock-breaking hands. Socrates found himself in physical confrontations only when he felt it was necessary. He even attempted to apply physical intimidation to beneficial use. Socrates swore to himself that hed never hurt another person except if he had to for self-preservation. Therefore Socrates zealous attitude served as an aid for him throughout numerous aspects of his life. Compassionate is the descriptive word that comes to mind when contemplating the acts of this convicted murdererSocrates compassion is especially demonstrated when he saves a stray dog and nursed him back to health after an uncaring driver hit the dog. In contrast of what many may think about ex-convicts, this one in particular has a caring heart and reached is out not only to Bruno, the stray canine but also his friend Right Burke. Right Burke was suffering from cancer and his days were limited. Mr. Fortlow did his best to make this suffering mans last days as comfortable and enjoyable as he could. Although not a wealthy man, Socrates used his heart and his mind to initiate his goals. He not only reached his heart out to Right but also to a troubled adolescent named Darryl. He wanted to reach out to the blubbering child and tell him that it was okay Socrates was the only father Darryl had in his life, so Socrates did his best to show Darryl how to be a man. He looked out for Darryls interest the best way he knew how. Although its been said in order for a person to be able to murder they have to have a lack of compassion, Socrates incarceration rehabilitated him into a man full of compassion. Being resourceful is a personality attribute that at person with limited finances and an incarcerated individual will quickly obtain. Socrates showed his resourceful nature by actions such as cooking a whole meal on only a hot plate and restoring round dinette table, with three broken legs, lying in the street into new condition. Mr. Fortlow also tended to himself when he was cut with a broken bottle by cleansing out the wound and sewing up his ripped up coat. Socrates resourcefulness has been a prosperous effect of his imprisonment. This effect enabled Socrates to conserve his funds on things that were not necessities. He took a bag of leftovers home at the end of every week from the store. These were items that a financially stable person would turn their nose up at, but for someone less fortunate such as Socrates they were gourmet foods. One would tend to believe without Socrates resourceful nature, survival wouldve been made much more of a nuisance. A man attempting to survive in a lower class neighborhood needs certain characteristics in order to survive. One would infer that Socrates was able to obtain these attributes through his twenty-seven year imprisonment. Socrates Fortlow was zealous, compassionate and resourceful and without these characteristics he would not have been able to survive.

Business Potential of Data Solutions

Business Potential of Data Solutions 1. AUTHORISATION The project â€Å"Business potential of data solutions in the Kolkata SME market† has been done during my Summer Internship Program at Vodafone India during February to May of 2011, as a partial fulfillment of the requirement of PGPM program of IBS Kolkata. 2. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The Summer Internship Program at Vodafone India was a great learning experience for me. The project was quite interesting as the telecom industry is a highly evolving industry in India with intense competition and lots of changes happening. The project would not have been a smooth run for me without the help of lots of people. I would like to mention Mr. Saugat Kumars (company guide) help at Vodafone with respect to practical exposure to the telecom industry. He had given me thorough insight into the dynamics of the telecom industry and also facilitated practical exposure through variety of activities. I would also like to acknowledge Mr. Siddhartha Kars (marketing manager) guidance regarding project formulation, questionnaire designing and chalking out a plan towards effective execution of the project. Also, there were a lot of other people at Vodafone, who helped me to understand this industry and work through my project. In the academic front, I would like to mention the support of my faculty guide Prof. Bhaskar Basu and my SIP coordinator Dr. Subir Sen. They have given me constant guidance throughout my project regarding academics and SIP formalities. Most importantly, I am grateful to my family who had been always supportive and encouraging in all my endeavors. 3. TABLE OF CONTENTS 4. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY As part of my Summer Internship Program of IBS Kolkata, I got an opportunity to do an assignment at Vodafone India. The project was â€Å"Business potential of data solutions in the Kolkata SME market†. Vodafone is one of the premier telecom companies globally and getting an opportunity to work there helped me gain a lot of exposure in the corporate world. The Telecom is a high volume industry in India with lot of competition. The Telecom industry in India is divided into 23 circles and around 14 telecom service providers are presently operating in these circles. The most prominent among the service providers are Vodafone, Airtel, Reliance Communication, Tata Teleservices, BSNL, MTNL, Idea Cellular, Aircel, Uninor etc. The telecom products and services can be broadly classified into voice and data. The data solutions primarily include data cards, Blackberry services, mobile internet, internet leased line and wireline broadband. Vodafones business operations are broadly classified into business and consumer divisions. My project was in the business division and was focused into the SME market of Kolkata. For Vodafone, a SME company is typically a company with annual turnover ranging from 10 to 250 crore rupees. The SME market of Kolkata is highly diversified with companies ranging from various industries, which include manufacturing, en gineering, IT/ ITES, healthcare, education, hospitality, financial services, travel tourism, logistics, real estate, trading (whole sellers/ retailers), pharmaceuticals, etc. In the initial phase of my summer internship at Vodafone, I was required to do secondary research about the telecom industry (both national and global). From the secondary research, I learnt a great deal about the major telecom companies, telecom products services, evolution of telecom technologies and the key operational issues of the telecom industry. Next I was given exposure to field operations through tele-marketing, visiting SME clients, traveling with the sales team, visiting distributors of the company and market mapping. The field exposure helped me to get a feel of the market at the basic level. This exposure later proved to be hugely beneficial when I started doing market survey. The methodology of the project was to do a market research on a sample (consisting of SME companies in the Kolkata area). For time constraints, the sample size was kept at 65. Questionnaire was designed and market survey was conducted. Analysis was done on the data collected, ranging from SME company profiles, market size of the sample with respect to different products, client perception regarding various attributes of telecom service providers, competition among service providers and future SME market implications. From the initial analysis it was found that the SME clients are highly demanding with respect to value they are getting and the price of the products. They were highly aware of their businesss end to end operations and knew very well what kind of products would add value to their business operations. Regarding data solutions, wireless data has huge potential in the coming years. The whole project helped me to learn a lot about the telecom industry and also get exposure to the sales marketing operations of a MNC company like Vodafone. 5. INTRODUCTION The Telecom Industry has evolved a great deal over the past two decades. Advancement in communication and information technology has changed the industry structure dramatically. Earlier our communication needs were restricted to landline phones. But now almost everybody has a mobile phone connection. Mobile phones have changed our lives immensely. It has given us the power of communication anytime anywhere. At present the industry is going through tremendous transformation with the convergence of telecommunication, information technology and computer technology and thus making vast resources of information available in the palm of our hands. Wireless internet is the latest trend in the industry with the advent of 3G technology and in the long term there should be information boom, with gradual advancement towards LTE (long term evolution) and 4G. Wireless internet boom has already been experienced outside India mainly in North American, European and South East Asian markets. It has e ntered India quite late with roll out of 3G and is expected to create huge impact in our social and professional lives. This project is only concerned with the business potential of data solutions. Before going deep into the project let me give a brief idea about the telecommunication industry, telecommunication technologies, major telecom players and various products services. 5.1. TELECOM INDUSTRY: MARKET SCENARIO 5.1.1. GLOBAL SCENARI By the end of 2010, there was an approximately 5.3 billion mobile cellular subscriptions worldwide, including 940 million subscriptions to 3G services. Access to mobile networks is now available to 90% of the world population and 80% of the population living in rural areas. People are moving rapidly from 2G to 3G platforms, in both developed and developing countries. In 2010, 143 countries were offering 3G services commercially, compared to 95 in 2007. Towards 4G: a number of countries have started to offer services at even higher broadband speeds, moving to next generation wireless platforms they include Sweden, Norway, Ukraine and the United States. Mobile cellular growth is slowing worldwide. In developed countries, the mobile market is reaching saturation levels with on average 116 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants at the end of 2010 and a marginal growth of 1.6% from 2009-2010. At the same time, the developing world is increasing its share of mobile subscriptions from 53% of total mobile subscriptions at the end of 2005 to 73% at the end of 2010. In the developing world, mobile cellular penetration rates was expected to reach 68% at the end of 2010 mainly driven by the Asia and Pacific region. India and China alone were expected to add over 300 million mobile subscriptions in 2010. In the African region, penetration rates would reach an estimated 41% at the end of 2010 (compared to 76% globally) leaving a significant potential for growth. The number of Internet users has doubled between 2005 and 2010. In 2010, the number of Internet users would surpass the two billion mark, of which 1.2 billion would be in developing countries. A number of countries, including Estonia, Finland and Spain have declared access to the Internet as a legal right for citizens. With more than 420 million Internet users, China is the largest Internet market in the world. While 71% of the population in developed countries are online, only 21% of the population in developing countries are online. By the end of 2010, Internet user penetration in Africa would reach 9.6%, far behind both the world average (30%) and the developing country average (21%). While in developing countries 72.4% of households have a TV, only 22.5% have a computer and only 15.8% have Internet access (compared to 98%, 71% and 65.6% respectively in developed countries). At the end of 2010, half a billion households worldwide (or 29.5%) would have access to the Internet. In some countries, including the Republic of Korea, Netherlands and Sweden, more than 80% of households have Internet access, almost all of them through a broadband connection. The number of people having access to the Internet at home has increased from 1.4 billion in 2009 to almost 1.6 billion in 2010. There has been strong growth in fixed (wired) broadband subscriptions, in both developed and developing countries. At the end of 2010, fixed (wired) broadband subscriptions would reach an estimated 555 million globally (or 8% penetration), up from 471 million (or 6.9% penetration) a year earlier. Despite these promising trends, penetration levels in developing countries remain low: 4.4 subscriptions per 100 people compared to 24.6 in developed countries. The developing worlds share of fixed (wired) broadband subscriptions is growing steadily. By the end of 2010, the developing world would account for an estimated 45% of global subscriptions (up from 42% five years earlier). Africa still lags behind when it comes to fixed (wired) broadband. Although subscriptions are increasing, a penetration rate of less than 1% illustrates the challenges that persist in increasing access to high-speed, high-capacity internet access in the region. With the rapidly increasing high-bandwidth content and applications on the Internet, there is a growing demand for higher-speed connections. For example, at the minimum broadband speed of 256 kbps, downloading a high-quality movie takes almost 1 ½ days compared to 5 minutes at a connection speed of 100 Mbps. With increase in GDP per capita, the propensity to consume increases and thus increases the availability of various services. In the above figure, GDP per capita and the penetration level of broadband services are mapped against each other. Countries like USA, Switzerland, France, Italy, Spain, Belgium and Canada have high per capita GDP and the broadband penetration is also high in these countries. South Korea has comparatively low per capita GDP but very high broadband penetration. On the other hand, UAE and Saudi Arabia have comparatively high per capita GDP, but their broadband penetration is low. Brazil, Russia and China have comparatively low per capita GDP and their broadband penetration is also low. India is nowhere in the picture in terms of broadband penetration. Data business is seeing a steady growth across global markets. In 2010, data revenue generated per subscriber is highest in US Canada followed by Western Europe, Asia Pacific and Eastern Europe. According to Vodafone, the future of telecom business lies in the mobile data category with majority of the revenue share being generated from there. In 2014, an estimated $337bn revenue will be generated from mobile data business, almost $138bn increase from 2010. India and China are the two emerging economies with substantial number of mobile customers and still having average mobile penetration level at 45% and 54% respectively, thus making them highly lucrative markets for mobile phone service providers. With a high GDP growth, market customers growth and potential for SIM penetration, India is a high value market. Figure: Market Share of Telecom Service Providers Globally (by number of subscribers) (www.knowledgebase-script.com) Globally, China Mobile is in the first position (522m subscribers), followed by Vodafone (333m), Telefonica (202m), America Movil (201m) and Telenor (172m). Two Indian companies Bharti Airtel (125m) and Reliance Communication (100m) are in the top 15 list. 5.1.2. INDIAN SCENARIO The number of telephone subscribers in India increased from 671.69 million in Jun-10 to 723.28 million at the end of Sep-10, registering a sequential growth of 7.68% over the previous quarter as against 8.11% during the QE Jun-10. This reflects year-on-year (Y-O-Y) growth of 42.09% over the same quarter of last year. The overall tele-density in India has reached 60.99 as on 30th September 2010. Subscription in Urban Areas grew from 452.59 million in Jun-10 to 487.07 million at the end of Sep-10, taking the Urban Tele-density from 128.20 to 137.25. Rural subscription increased from 219.09 million to 236.21 million, and the Rural Tele-density increased from 26.43 to 28.42. The share of Rural subscribers has increased slightly to 32.66% in total subscription from 32.62% in Jun-10. About 66.83% of the total net additions have been in Urban areas as compared to 63.47% in the previous quarter. Rural subscription recorded a decline in rate of growth during the quarter, from 9.18% in Jun-10 to 7.81% in Sep-10. Rate of growth for Urban subscription increased marginally from 7.61% in QE Jun-10 to 7.62% in QE Sep-10. With 52.21 million net additions during the quarter, total wireless (GSM + CDMA) subscriber base registered a growth of 8.21% over the previous quarter and increased from 635.51 million at the end of Jun-10 to 687.71 million at the end of Sep-10. The year-on-year (Y-O-Y) growth over the same quarter of last year is 45.79%. Wireless Tele-density reached 57.99. Wireline subscriber base further declined from 36.18 million at the end of Jun-10 to 35.57 million at the end of Sep-10, bringing down the wireline Tele-density from 3.06 in Jun-10 to 3.00 end of Sep-10. Internet subscribers increased from 16.72 million at the end of Jun-10 to 17.90 million at the end of Sep-10, registering a quarterly growth rate of 7.02%. Top 10 ISPs together hold 95% of the total Internet subscriber base. Number of Broadband subscribers increased from 9.47 million at the end of Jun-10 to 10.30 million at the end of Sep-10, registering a quarterly growth of 8.79% and Y-O-Y growth of 42.93%. The growth in the number of Broadband subscribers during the quarter and also on Y-O-Y basis is more or less similar to the growth in the overall telephone subscriber base. Share of Broadband subscription in total Internet subscription increased from 56.7% in Jun-10 to 57.6% in Sep-10. 86.89% of the Broadband subscribers are using Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) technology. Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) for GSM-Full Mobility service declined by 10.16%, from Rs.122 in QE Jun-10 to Rs.110 in QE Sep- 10, with Y-O-Y decrease of 33.1%. ARPU for CDMA full mobility service declined by 1.34%, from Rs.74 in QE Jun-10 to Rs.73 in QE Sep-10. ARPU for CDMA has declined by 17.5% on Y-O-Y basis. GSM subscription continues to grow at a faster rate. At the end of Sep-10, GSM subscribers constituted 84.12% of the wireless market. The GSM subscribers were 578.49 million at the quarter ending Sep-10 as against 527.62 million at the end of the previous quarter, showing a growth of 9.64%. Bharti with 143.29 million subscribers continues to be the largest GSM mobile operator, followed by Vodafone (115.55 million). The CDMA subscriber base increased to 109.22 million during the quarter ending Sep-10 from 107.88 million at the end of previous quarter, thereby showing a growth rate of 1.23%. Reliance with 55.29 million subscribers continues to be the largest CDMA mobile operator. However, in terms of net additions during the quarter, Sistema added the highest number of subscribers (1.54 million), followed by Tata (1.20 million), rest of the service providers recorded decline in subscribers. Figure: Market Share of Telecom Service Providers (GSM) in India (by number of subscribers in million, 2010) (www.trai.gov.in) 5.2. INDIAN TELECOM INDUSTRY 5.2.1. INDIAN TELECOM INDUSTRY FRAMEWORK TRAI The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is the independent regulator established in 1997 by the Government of India to regulate the telecommunications business in India. DoT The Telecom Commission and the Department of Telecommunications are responsiblefor policy formulation, licensing, wireless spectrum management, administrative monitoring of PSUs, research and development and standardization/validation of equipment etc. WPC The Wireless Planning and Co-ordination (WPC) Wing of the Ministry of Communications, created in 1952, is the National Radio Regulatory Authority responsible for Frequency Spectrum Management, including licensing and caters for the needs of all wireless users (Government and Private) in the country. It exercises the statutory functions of the Central Government and issues licenses to establish, maintain and operate wireless stations. WPC is divided into major sections like Licensing and Regulation (LR), New Technology Group (NTG) and Standing Advisory Committee on Radio Frequency Allocation (SACFA). SACFA makes the recommendations on major frequency allocation issues, formulation of the frequency allocation plan, making recommendations on the various issues related to International Telecom Union (ITU), to sort out problems referred to the committee by various wireless users, etc. TDSAT TDSAT (Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal) was set up in May 2000 by the government of India. The TDSAT was set up so that it can adjudicate over disputes that arise in the telecommunication sector. TDSAT was established with the view to protect the interest of the consumers and service providers of the telecommunication sector and also to encourage and ensure the growth of the telecommunication sector. The various functions of TDSAT (Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal) are that it can adjudicate any disputes that arise between a group of consumers and service providers, a licensee and a licensor, and also between two or more than the service providers. 5.2.2. INDIAN TELECOM CIRCLES The Indian telecom sector is divided into 23 circles which are as follows: Business Potential of Data Solutions in the Kolkata SME MarketPage 1 Soumya Santa Dwari 10BSP0611 PGPM 2010 12, IBS Kolkata Andhra Pradesh Assam Bihar and Jharkhand Chennai Delhi NCR Gujarat Haryana Himachal Pradesh Jammu Kashmir Karnataka Kerala Kolkata Madhya Pradesh Chhattisgarh Maharashtra and Goa (except Mumbai) Mumbai North East Orissa Punjab Rajasthan Tamil Nadu (except Chennai) UP(E) UP(W) West Bengal (except Kolkata) Business Potential of Data Solutions in the Kolkata SME MarketPage 1 Soumya Santa Dwari 10BSP0611 PGPM 2010 12, IBS Kolkata (www.vodafone.in) 6. VODAFONE Vodafone Group plc is a global telecommunications company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the worlds largest mobile telecommunications company measured by revenues and the worlds second-largest measured by subscribers (behind China Mobile), with around 341 million proportionate subscribers as of November 2010. It operates networks in over 30 countries and has partner networks in over 40 additional countries. It owns 45% of Verizon Wireless, the second largest mobile telecommunications company in the United States measured by subscribers. The name Vodafone comes from voice data fone, chosen by the company to reflect the provision of voice and data services over mobile phones. Its primary listing is on the London Stock Exchange and it is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It had a market capitalization of approximately  £92 billion as of November 2010, making it the third largest company on the London Stock Exchange. It has a secondary listing on NASDAQ. Vodafones operations are categorized in two divisions: Consumer This division caters to the B2C market and primarily operates like a FMCG company. Business This division caters to the B2B market and operates more like a corporate services company. Vodafone Indias ‘Business division is operational in 9 circles. Vodafones Business division operates through marketing sales team and service team. The marketing sales team again operates through KAM (key account manager) They give direct and highly customized service to the corporates and government and are meant for organizations having annual turnover greater than rupees 100 crores. Channel Partner CP is responsible for giving service to small organizations having annual turnover less than rupees 100 crores. 7. VODAFONE: SWOT ANALYSIS 8. DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT IN BRIEF We have to explore the SME market of Kolkata region and identify client needs in terms of data solutions. We also need to compare Vodafone with its competitors in terms of product offerings in the areas of business data solutions for the SME segment. Finally, we need to evaluate the business potential of the Kolkata SME segment in terms of data solutions for Vodafone, both at present and in the near future. 9. OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT To find understand the requirement of data solutions in Kolkata SME base (business sector specific data solution requirements). To estimate the market size of data solutions in the Kolkata SME base. To compare the data solutions of Vodafone with its competitors. To forecast future product/ service requirements in Kolkata SME base. 10. KOLAKATA SME MARKET The Kolkata region is largely composed of SME companies rather than large MNCs. For Vodafone, a SME would typically be a company, whose annual turnover is in the range of rupees 10 to 250 crores. Vodafone (Kolkata circle) has divided Kolkata region into 6 zones CBD 1 (central business district), CBD 2, North, South, Howrah and Hoogly. The main concentration of SME business in Kolkata is in the central business district area comprising of Dalhousie, BBD Bag, Esplanade, Central Avenue, Burrabazaar, AJC Bose Road, Chowringhee, Park Street, Park Circus, Camac Street, Shakespeare Sarani, Sarat Bose Road, Minto Park, etc. A lot of SME companies in Kolkata will also fall in the IT/ ITES category, which are mainly concentrated at Sector V, Salt Lake and Rajarhat New Town. Typical features of a SME would be: Small workforce Unorganized Will look for more value for money Less buying power compared to corporates Key decision maker would be one or two individuals for all operations 11. VODAFONE: PRODUCTS SERVICES The various products and services of Vodafone that we are dealing with are as follows: Wireless Data Solutions (2G/ 3G)  § Data Cards/ USB Dongles  § Blackberry Plans  § Vodafone Mobile Connect Fixed Line  § Voice  § Data Machine to Machine Solutions  § Telemetry Solutions  § Vehicle Tracking/ People Tracking/ Asset Tracking Solutions  § Security Solutions Bulk SMS Toll Free Numbers Audio/ Video Conferencing VPN (virtual private network) GVN (global virtual number)/ Interactive SMS 3G specialized products  § Office in a Box (1 3G simcard, 1 fixed line slot, 4 slots LAN + Wi-fi)  § Wi-mi (1 3G simcard, 5 Wi-fi connections) 12. SUMMARY OF THE WORK DONE Initially, we did secondary research on global Indian telecom market, evolution of telecom technologies, SME market, latest trends in the telecom industry (3G, 4G, Machine to Machine solutions, LTE) and various telecom products services. Next, we were given field exposure in terms of tele-marketing, traveling with FOS (Fleet on Street) team, visiting SME clients, visiting company channel partners and market mapping. Next, we designed questionnaire keeping in mind the project objectives. Finally, we conducted market survey. The learning that we achieved by doing the above tasks are of tremendous value for the execution of our project. It not only gave us an insight into how we were going to approach the project but also an invaluable ground level market exposure. From the field exposure we got a clear picture about the micro level sales operations of the telecom business, the Kolkata SME market overview and most importantly the soft skills of client handling. The learning outcomes of the activities undergone are briefly described below. Activity Learning Outcomes Secondary Research Got an overview of the telecom sector (global national) Became aware of the major telecom companies Came to know about the various telecom products services Learnt about the evolution of telecom technologies Also learnt about the latest trends in the telecom industry Got an idea of the SME sector business structure Tele Marketing Learnt the art of sales pitch Learnt about telephone etiquette Got an idea of how to communicate to a business client Learnt about how to influence a potential customer and close a deal Traveling with FOS Got an idea about the basic level sales and client handling operations of a telecom company Got practical experience of face to face business negotiations Learnt about how to keep business relationship with clients Channel Partner visits Learnt about the sales distribution of a telecom company in the B2B sector Got an idea of the operations of a channel partner Learnt about how company and channel partner operations are integrated SME client visits Got a feel of the Kolkata SME companies Became aware of the client expectations from a telecom service provider Got an idea of the clients perception of Vodafone and its products services Learnt about how to professionally handle clients and responsibly execute tasks Market Mapping Exploration of the Kolkata business areas and identification of prospective clients Business Potential of Data Solutions Business Potential of Data Solutions 1. AUTHORISATION The project â€Å"Business potential of data solutions in the Kolkata SME market† has been done during my Summer Internship Program at Vodafone India during February to May of 2011, as a partial fulfillment of the requirement of PGPM program of IBS Kolkata. 2. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The Summer Internship Program at Vodafone India was a great learning experience for me. The project was quite interesting as the telecom industry is a highly evolving industry in India with intense competition and lots of changes happening. The project would not have been a smooth run for me without the help of lots of people. I would like to mention Mr. Saugat Kumars (company guide) help at Vodafone with respect to practical exposure to the telecom industry. He had given me thorough insight into the dynamics of the telecom industry and also facilitated practical exposure through variety of activities. I would also like to acknowledge Mr. Siddhartha Kars (marketing manager) guidance regarding project formulation, questionnaire designing and chalking out a plan towards effective execution of the project. Also, there were a lot of other people at Vodafone, who helped me to understand this industry and work through my project. In the academic front, I would like to mention the support of my faculty guide Prof. Bhaskar Basu and my SIP coordinator Dr. Subir Sen. They have given me constant guidance throughout my project regarding academics and SIP formalities. Most importantly, I am grateful to my family who had been always supportive and encouraging in all my endeavors. 3. TABLE OF CONTENTS 4. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY As part of my Summer Internship Program of IBS Kolkata, I got an opportunity to do an assignment at Vodafone India. The project was â€Å"Business potential of data solutions in the Kolkata SME market†. Vodafone is one of the premier telecom companies globally and getting an opportunity to work there helped me gain a lot of exposure in the corporate world. The Telecom is a high volume industry in India with lot of competition. The Telecom industry in India is divided into 23 circles and around 14 telecom service providers are presently operating in these circles. The most prominent among the service providers are Vodafone, Airtel, Reliance Communication, Tata Teleservices, BSNL, MTNL, Idea Cellular, Aircel, Uninor etc. The telecom products and services can be broadly classified into voice and data. The data solutions primarily include data cards, Blackberry services, mobile internet, internet leased line and wireline broadband. Vodafones business operations are broadly classified into business and consumer divisions. My project was in the business division and was focused into the SME market of Kolkata. For Vodafone, a SME company is typically a company with annual turnover ranging from 10 to 250 crore rupees. The SME market of Kolkata is highly diversified with companies ranging from various industries, which include manufacturing, en gineering, IT/ ITES, healthcare, education, hospitality, financial services, travel tourism, logistics, real estate, trading (whole sellers/ retailers), pharmaceuticals, etc. In the initial phase of my summer internship at Vodafone, I was required to do secondary research about the telecom industry (both national and global). From the secondary research, I learnt a great deal about the major telecom companies, telecom products services, evolution of telecom technologies and the key operational issues of the telecom industry. Next I was given exposure to field operations through tele-marketing, visiting SME clients, traveling with the sales team, visiting distributors of the company and market mapping. The field exposure helped me to get a feel of the market at the basic level. This exposure later proved to be hugely beneficial when I started doing market survey. The methodology of the project was to do a market research on a sample (consisting of SME companies in the Kolkata area). For time constraints, the sample size was kept at 65. Questionnaire was designed and market survey was conducted. Analysis was done on the data collected, ranging from SME company profiles, market size of the sample with respect to different products, client perception regarding various attributes of telecom service providers, competition among service providers and future SME market implications. From the initial analysis it was found that the SME clients are highly demanding with respect to value they are getting and the price of the products. They were highly aware of their businesss end to end operations and knew very well what kind of products would add value to their business operations. Regarding data solutions, wireless data has huge potential in the coming years. The whole project helped me to learn a lot about the telecom industry and also get exposure to the sales marketing operations of a MNC company like Vodafone. 5. INTRODUCTION The Telecom Industry has evolved a great deal over the past two decades. Advancement in communication and information technology has changed the industry structure dramatically. Earlier our communication needs were restricted to landline phones. But now almost everybody has a mobile phone connection. Mobile phones have changed our lives immensely. It has given us the power of communication anytime anywhere. At present the industry is going through tremendous transformation with the convergence of telecommunication, information technology and computer technology and thus making vast resources of information available in the palm of our hands. Wireless internet is the latest trend in the industry with the advent of 3G technology and in the long term there should be information boom, with gradual advancement towards LTE (long term evolution) and 4G. Wireless internet boom has already been experienced outside India mainly in North American, European and South East Asian markets. It has e ntered India quite late with roll out of 3G and is expected to create huge impact in our social and professional lives. This project is only concerned with the business potential of data solutions. Before going deep into the project let me give a brief idea about the telecommunication industry, telecommunication technologies, major telecom players and various products services. 5.1. TELECOM INDUSTRY: MARKET SCENARIO 5.1.1. GLOBAL SCENARI By the end of 2010, there was an approximately 5.3 billion mobile cellular subscriptions worldwide, including 940 million subscriptions to 3G services. Access to mobile networks is now available to 90% of the world population and 80% of the population living in rural areas. People are moving rapidly from 2G to 3G platforms, in both developed and developing countries. In 2010, 143 countries were offering 3G services commercially, compared to 95 in 2007. Towards 4G: a number of countries have started to offer services at even higher broadband speeds, moving to next generation wireless platforms they include Sweden, Norway, Ukraine and the United States. Mobile cellular growth is slowing worldwide. In developed countries, the mobile market is reaching saturation levels with on average 116 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants at the end of 2010 and a marginal growth of 1.6% from 2009-2010. At the same time, the developing world is increasing its share of mobile subscriptions from 53% of total mobile subscriptions at the end of 2005 to 73% at the end of 2010. In the developing world, mobile cellular penetration rates was expected to reach 68% at the end of 2010 mainly driven by the Asia and Pacific region. India and China alone were expected to add over 300 million mobile subscriptions in 2010. In the African region, penetration rates would reach an estimated 41% at the end of 2010 (compared to 76% globally) leaving a significant potential for growth. The number of Internet users has doubled between 2005 and 2010. In 2010, the number of Internet users would surpass the two billion mark, of which 1.2 billion would be in developing countries. A number of countries, including Estonia, Finland and Spain have declared access to the Internet as a legal right for citizens. With more than 420 million Internet users, China is the largest Internet market in the world. While 71% of the population in developed countries are online, only 21% of the population in developing countries are online. By the end of 2010, Internet user penetration in Africa would reach 9.6%, far behind both the world average (30%) and the developing country average (21%). While in developing countries 72.4% of households have a TV, only 22.5% have a computer and only 15.8% have Internet access (compared to 98%, 71% and 65.6% respectively in developed countries). At the end of 2010, half a billion households worldwide (or 29.5%) would have access to the Internet. In some countries, including the Republic of Korea, Netherlands and Sweden, more than 80% of households have Internet access, almost all of them through a broadband connection. The number of people having access to the Internet at home has increased from 1.4 billion in 2009 to almost 1.6 billion in 2010. There has been strong growth in fixed (wired) broadband subscriptions, in both developed and developing countries. At the end of 2010, fixed (wired) broadband subscriptions would reach an estimated 555 million globally (or 8% penetration), up from 471 million (or 6.9% penetration) a year earlier. Despite these promising trends, penetration levels in developing countries remain low: 4.4 subscriptions per 100 people compared to 24.6 in developed countries. The developing worlds share of fixed (wired) broadband subscriptions is growing steadily. By the end of 2010, the developing world would account for an estimated 45% of global subscriptions (up from 42% five years earlier). Africa still lags behind when it comes to fixed (wired) broadband. Although subscriptions are increasing, a penetration rate of less than 1% illustrates the challenges that persist in increasing access to high-speed, high-capacity internet access in the region. With the rapidly increasing high-bandwidth content and applications on the Internet, there is a growing demand for higher-speed connections. For example, at the minimum broadband speed of 256 kbps, downloading a high-quality movie takes almost 1 ½ days compared to 5 minutes at a connection speed of 100 Mbps. With increase in GDP per capita, the propensity to consume increases and thus increases the availability of various services. In the above figure, GDP per capita and the penetration level of broadband services are mapped against each other. Countries like USA, Switzerland, France, Italy, Spain, Belgium and Canada have high per capita GDP and the broadband penetration is also high in these countries. South Korea has comparatively low per capita GDP but very high broadband penetration. On the other hand, UAE and Saudi Arabia have comparatively high per capita GDP, but their broadband penetration is low. Brazil, Russia and China have comparatively low per capita GDP and their broadband penetration is also low. India is nowhere in the picture in terms of broadband penetration. Data business is seeing a steady growth across global markets. In 2010, data revenue generated per subscriber is highest in US Canada followed by Western Europe, Asia Pacific and Eastern Europe. According to Vodafone, the future of telecom business lies in the mobile data category with majority of the revenue share being generated from there. In 2014, an estimated $337bn revenue will be generated from mobile data business, almost $138bn increase from 2010. India and China are the two emerging economies with substantial number of mobile customers and still having average mobile penetration level at 45% and 54% respectively, thus making them highly lucrative markets for mobile phone service providers. With a high GDP growth, market customers growth and potential for SIM penetration, India is a high value market. Figure: Market Share of Telecom Service Providers Globally (by number of subscribers) (www.knowledgebase-script.com) Globally, China Mobile is in the first position (522m subscribers), followed by Vodafone (333m), Telefonica (202m), America Movil (201m) and Telenor (172m). Two Indian companies Bharti Airtel (125m) and Reliance Communication (100m) are in the top 15 list. 5.1.2. INDIAN SCENARIO The number of telephone subscribers in India increased from 671.69 million in Jun-10 to 723.28 million at the end of Sep-10, registering a sequential growth of 7.68% over the previous quarter as against 8.11% during the QE Jun-10. This reflects year-on-year (Y-O-Y) growth of 42.09% over the same quarter of last year. The overall tele-density in India has reached 60.99 as on 30th September 2010. Subscription in Urban Areas grew from 452.59 million in Jun-10 to 487.07 million at the end of Sep-10, taking the Urban Tele-density from 128.20 to 137.25. Rural subscription increased from 219.09 million to 236.21 million, and the Rural Tele-density increased from 26.43 to 28.42. The share of Rural subscribers has increased slightly to 32.66% in total subscription from 32.62% in Jun-10. About 66.83% of the total net additions have been in Urban areas as compared to 63.47% in the previous quarter. Rural subscription recorded a decline in rate of growth during the quarter, from 9.18% in Jun-10 to 7.81% in Sep-10. Rate of growth for Urban subscription increased marginally from 7.61% in QE Jun-10 to 7.62% in QE Sep-10. With 52.21 million net additions during the quarter, total wireless (GSM + CDMA) subscriber base registered a growth of 8.21% over the previous quarter and increased from 635.51 million at the end of Jun-10 to 687.71 million at the end of Sep-10. The year-on-year (Y-O-Y) growth over the same quarter of last year is 45.79%. Wireless Tele-density reached 57.99. Wireline subscriber base further declined from 36.18 million at the end of Jun-10 to 35.57 million at the end of Sep-10, bringing down the wireline Tele-density from 3.06 in Jun-10 to 3.00 end of Sep-10. Internet subscribers increased from 16.72 million at the end of Jun-10 to 17.90 million at the end of Sep-10, registering a quarterly growth rate of 7.02%. Top 10 ISPs together hold 95% of the total Internet subscriber base. Number of Broadband subscribers increased from 9.47 million at the end of Jun-10 to 10.30 million at the end of Sep-10, registering a quarterly growth of 8.79% and Y-O-Y growth of 42.93%. The growth in the number of Broadband subscribers during the quarter and also on Y-O-Y basis is more or less similar to the growth in the overall telephone subscriber base. Share of Broadband subscription in total Internet subscription increased from 56.7% in Jun-10 to 57.6% in Sep-10. 86.89% of the Broadband subscribers are using Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) technology. Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) for GSM-Full Mobility service declined by 10.16%, from Rs.122 in QE Jun-10 to Rs.110 in QE Sep- 10, with Y-O-Y decrease of 33.1%. ARPU for CDMA full mobility service declined by 1.34%, from Rs.74 in QE Jun-10 to Rs.73 in QE Sep-10. ARPU for CDMA has declined by 17.5% on Y-O-Y basis. GSM subscription continues to grow at a faster rate. At the end of Sep-10, GSM subscribers constituted 84.12% of the wireless market. The GSM subscribers were 578.49 million at the quarter ending Sep-10 as against 527.62 million at the end of the previous quarter, showing a growth of 9.64%. Bharti with 143.29 million subscribers continues to be the largest GSM mobile operator, followed by Vodafone (115.55 million). The CDMA subscriber base increased to 109.22 million during the quarter ending Sep-10 from 107.88 million at the end of previous quarter, thereby showing a growth rate of 1.23%. Reliance with 55.29 million subscribers continues to be the largest CDMA mobile operator. However, in terms of net additions during the quarter, Sistema added the highest number of subscribers (1.54 million), followed by Tata (1.20 million), rest of the service providers recorded decline in subscribers. Figure: Market Share of Telecom Service Providers (GSM) in India (by number of subscribers in million, 2010) (www.trai.gov.in) 5.2. INDIAN TELECOM INDUSTRY 5.2.1. INDIAN TELECOM INDUSTRY FRAMEWORK TRAI The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is the independent regulator established in 1997 by the Government of India to regulate the telecommunications business in India. DoT The Telecom Commission and the Department of Telecommunications are responsiblefor policy formulation, licensing, wireless spectrum management, administrative monitoring of PSUs, research and development and standardization/validation of equipment etc. WPC The Wireless Planning and Co-ordination (WPC) Wing of the Ministry of Communications, created in 1952, is the National Radio Regulatory Authority responsible for Frequency Spectrum Management, including licensing and caters for the needs of all wireless users (Government and Private) in the country. It exercises the statutory functions of the Central Government and issues licenses to establish, maintain and operate wireless stations. WPC is divided into major sections like Licensing and Regulation (LR), New Technology Group (NTG) and Standing Advisory Committee on Radio Frequency Allocation (SACFA). SACFA makes the recommendations on major frequency allocation issues, formulation of the frequency allocation plan, making recommendations on the various issues related to International Telecom Union (ITU), to sort out problems referred to the committee by various wireless users, etc. TDSAT TDSAT (Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal) was set up in May 2000 by the government of India. The TDSAT was set up so that it can adjudicate over disputes that arise in the telecommunication sector. TDSAT was established with the view to protect the interest of the consumers and service providers of the telecommunication sector and also to encourage and ensure the growth of the telecommunication sector. The various functions of TDSAT (Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal) are that it can adjudicate any disputes that arise between a group of consumers and service providers, a licensee and a licensor, and also between two or more than the service providers. 5.2.2. INDIAN TELECOM CIRCLES The Indian telecom sector is divided into 23 circles which are as follows: Business Potential of Data Solutions in the Kolkata SME MarketPage 1 Soumya Santa Dwari 10BSP0611 PGPM 2010 12, IBS Kolkata Andhra Pradesh Assam Bihar and Jharkhand Chennai Delhi NCR Gujarat Haryana Himachal Pradesh Jammu Kashmir Karnataka Kerala Kolkata Madhya Pradesh Chhattisgarh Maharashtra and Goa (except Mumbai) Mumbai North East Orissa Punjab Rajasthan Tamil Nadu (except Chennai) UP(E) UP(W) West Bengal (except Kolkata) Business Potential of Data Solutions in the Kolkata SME MarketPage 1 Soumya Santa Dwari 10BSP0611 PGPM 2010 12, IBS Kolkata (www.vodafone.in) 6. VODAFONE Vodafone Group plc is a global telecommunications company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the worlds largest mobile telecommunications company measured by revenues and the worlds second-largest measured by subscribers (behind China Mobile), with around 341 million proportionate subscribers as of November 2010. It operates networks in over 30 countries and has partner networks in over 40 additional countries. It owns 45% of Verizon Wireless, the second largest mobile telecommunications company in the United States measured by subscribers. The name Vodafone comes from voice data fone, chosen by the company to reflect the provision of voice and data services over mobile phones. Its primary listing is on the London Stock Exchange and it is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It had a market capitalization of approximately  £92 billion as of November 2010, making it the third largest company on the London Stock Exchange. It has a secondary listing on NASDAQ. Vodafones operations are categorized in two divisions: Consumer This division caters to the B2C market and primarily operates like a FMCG company. Business This division caters to the B2B market and operates more like a corporate services company. Vodafone Indias ‘Business division is operational in 9 circles. Vodafones Business division operates through marketing sales team and service team. The marketing sales team again operates through KAM (key account manager) They give direct and highly customized service to the corporates and government and are meant for organizations having annual turnover greater than rupees 100 crores. Channel Partner CP is responsible for giving service to small organizations having annual turnover less than rupees 100 crores. 7. VODAFONE: SWOT ANALYSIS 8. DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT IN BRIEF We have to explore the SME market of Kolkata region and identify client needs in terms of data solutions. We also need to compare Vodafone with its competitors in terms of product offerings in the areas of business data solutions for the SME segment. Finally, we need to evaluate the business potential of the Kolkata SME segment in terms of data solutions for Vodafone, both at present and in the near future. 9. OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT To find understand the requirement of data solutions in Kolkata SME base (business sector specific data solution requirements). To estimate the market size of data solutions in the Kolkata SME base. To compare the data solutions of Vodafone with its competitors. To forecast future product/ service requirements in Kolkata SME base. 10. KOLAKATA SME MARKET The Kolkata region is largely composed of SME companies rather than large MNCs. For Vodafone, a SME would typically be a company, whose annual turnover is in the range of rupees 10 to 250 crores. Vodafone (Kolkata circle) has divided Kolkata region into 6 zones CBD 1 (central business district), CBD 2, North, South, Howrah and Hoogly. The main concentration of SME business in Kolkata is in the central business district area comprising of Dalhousie, BBD Bag, Esplanade, Central Avenue, Burrabazaar, AJC Bose Road, Chowringhee, Park Street, Park Circus, Camac Street, Shakespeare Sarani, Sarat Bose Road, Minto Park, etc. A lot of SME companies in Kolkata will also fall in the IT/ ITES category, which are mainly concentrated at Sector V, Salt Lake and Rajarhat New Town. Typical features of a SME would be: Small workforce Unorganized Will look for more value for money Less buying power compared to corporates Key decision maker would be one or two individuals for all operations 11. VODAFONE: PRODUCTS SERVICES The various products and services of Vodafone that we are dealing with are as follows: Wireless Data Solutions (2G/ 3G)  § Data Cards/ USB Dongles  § Blackberry Plans  § Vodafone Mobile Connect Fixed Line  § Voice  § Data Machine to Machine Solutions  § Telemetry Solutions  § Vehicle Tracking/ People Tracking/ Asset Tracking Solutions  § Security Solutions Bulk SMS Toll Free Numbers Audio/ Video Conferencing VPN (virtual private network) GVN (global virtual number)/ Interactive SMS 3G specialized products  § Office in a Box (1 3G simcard, 1 fixed line slot, 4 slots LAN + Wi-fi)  § Wi-mi (1 3G simcard, 5 Wi-fi connections) 12. SUMMARY OF THE WORK DONE Initially, we did secondary research on global Indian telecom market, evolution of telecom technologies, SME market, latest trends in the telecom industry (3G, 4G, Machine to Machine solutions, LTE) and various telecom products services. Next, we were given field exposure in terms of tele-marketing, traveling with FOS (Fleet on Street) team, visiting SME clients, visiting company channel partners and market mapping. Next, we designed questionnaire keeping in mind the project objectives. Finally, we conducted market survey. The learning that we achieved by doing the above tasks are of tremendous value for the execution of our project. It not only gave us an insight into how we were going to approach the project but also an invaluable ground level market exposure. From the field exposure we got a clear picture about the micro level sales operations of the telecom business, the Kolkata SME market overview and most importantly the soft skills of client handling. The learning outcomes of the activities undergone are briefly described below. Activity Learning Outcomes Secondary Research Got an overview of the telecom sector (global national) Became aware of the major telecom companies Came to know about the various telecom products services Learnt about the evolution of telecom technologies Also learnt about the latest trends in the telecom industry Got an idea of the SME sector business structure Tele Marketing Learnt the art of sales pitch Learnt about telephone etiquette Got an idea of how to communicate to a business client Learnt about how to influence a potential customer and close a deal Traveling with FOS Got an idea about the basic level sales and client handling operations of a telecom company Got practical experience of face to face business negotiations Learnt about how to keep business relationship with clients Channel Partner visits Learnt about the sales distribution of a telecom company in the B2B sector Got an idea of the operations of a channel partner Learnt about how company and channel partner operations are integrated SME client visits Got a feel of the Kolkata SME companies Became aware of the client expectations from a telecom service provider Got an idea of the clients perception of Vodafone and its products services Learnt about how to professionally handle clients and responsibly execute tasks Market Mapping Exploration of the Kolkata business areas and identification of prospective clients