Services Marketing. Case of Paul Smith Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Services Marketing. Case of Paul Smith - Essay Example Services as the core products represent a wide series of intangible elements for which the consumers render considerable value within the marketplace (Fashion United Group, 2009). From this perspective, the paper intends to relate the concept of services marketing with Paul Smith, one of the leading fashion retails based in the United Kingdom. The fashion retail unit was started by Paul Smith, a UK based fashion designer. In the year 1970, in Nottingham, Paul Smith started a boutique with small portion of his savings. By the year 1976, in Paris, Paul Smith brought in his inaugural menswear collection, which was rendered within the label of Paul Smith. Since then, in a long-standing successful tradition the company along with Paul Smith have placed themselves as among the eminent British retailers and fashion designers. Global collection of the company is presently wholesaled to around 66 nations. In the UK, there are 17 shops rendering Paul Smith collection (Paul Smith, 2012). In rel ation to Paul Smith, the identified strategic service marketing issues comprise ensuring effective customer relationship and loyalty, insecurity of the potential customers and uncertainties emerging due to the trend of fast fashion among others. The discussion will encompass an assessment of the fashion retail sector in terms of its size and competitive structure. The assessment will also encompass the opportunities and threats which can severely impact on the activities of Paul Smith. Moreover, the discussion will further involve summarising the commonalities and differences between the present services marketing strategies of the major players in the fashion retail sector. Identification of the organisation’s key strategic services marketing issues for the next five years will be portrayed within the analysis of the paper. In addition, the paper will also demonstrate the relationship among the issues affecting services marketing strategies. Fashion Retail Sector of the Unit ed Kingdom The fashion retail sector in the UK can be regarded as one of the major industrial sectors, which has encompassed rapid and continuous growth by a considerable extent. It can be observed from the assessment of past few years that the global retail sector is considerably shaping an independent and successful position through well build business strategies including sales and marketing, innovation and effective business policies. According to the present performance of the fashion retail sector in the UK market, it can be observed to have acquired a large amount of consumer preferences and expenditures through delivering exceptionally manufactured of textiles, clothing along with footwear and leather items. The steady growth in the fashion retail sector can be identified to have taken place due to cutting-edge innovation of products along with effective and convenient supply chain management of the service rendering companies which considerable play major roles within the i ndustry. Moreover, the fashion retai

A mom before the Prom Essay Example for Free

A mom before the Prom Essay Teen pregnancy has been gravelly increased in the last few years. Bad media influences (Many programs at TV programs or sexual content movies as well as other mediums) can be the factors that teen girls nowadays are getting a wrong advice that teen motherhood can a common way to live. Partners and friends’s bad influence is making them think that is right to have sex at a young age and will make them feel more popular. In that regards, this essay by Cristina page is restating the issue that more forms of bad media and wrong people’s influences are available today than ever before and consequently teens girls are much more exposed to a lot of information and these sometimes switch teen girl’s mind to do something wrong when they think is totally normal and it also has made teen girls to believe that having children at a young age might be beneficial because they think giving a child for adoption might improve their fortune giving them away for millions of dollars , so it can’t ruin her adolescence too but in reality it can really affect them. Personally I can share the view of the author in this essay: Teen pregnancy is in reality one of the most difficult experiences a teen girl might ever face when that can interrupt her education or other plans such as getting a better career or maintain fathers with them, but most of the time it doesn’t work and that’s when the situation gets worse. Children usually grow without a father figure when their parents have them at a very young age or sometimes they don’t even live with both parents because they can’t take care of them or support them economically. So when this children start to live without a parental guide , they grow adopting a bad behavior and getting the wrong advices from other bad people and turned into criminals , stealers, or other people of bad reputation because they live in a poor ambient without having a parent who can guide and help them to raise their levels of education. Most of the time, when teen moms decide to have a baby, teen girls don’t really take care of their babies when they are still formatting inside their body as old mothers and because of their immaturity, sometimes they don’t realize the huge damage they cause to their babies if they start smoking and drinking or working so hard because now they need to support themselves economically carrying heavy stuff when they have to rest the most during their pregnancy. Children are tending to born prematurely, with a disease, a mental retardation or even born death. Usually we think that there’s not any difference of acquiring the same standards of education or a good life when a kid’s parents are so young and the other’s parent are more mature. The children of teen parents can suffer more of abuse at home and at school or disregard from their parents and grow more with farness or adopt a bad behavior, so that implies that they could not do so well at school, they could get lower grades and repeat their classes or drop out from High School without completing their education. This might increase the raise of poverty in families with young parents too and this leads society into decreasing its economy too. I really enjoyed reading this essay because it deals with a controversial issue and restates the causes of why teen pregnancy is becoming a worldwide problem, it must be thought in class so we can share our own viewpoints about it. 10-) – I encourage people to consider more this issue because if we want a better life for our

Legalization of Marijuana Essay -- Marijuana Pot Legalize Weed Drugs E

Legalization of Marijuana This essay has problems with formatting Marijuana is a substance that has become very much a part of American culture. Nearly 65 million Americans have either used it occasionally or regularly. The use of marijuana hit mainstream America about thirty years ago and it has been accepted by a large segment of society ever since (Rosenthal 16). The debate on whether this substance should be legalized or not remains a very hot topic today. Despite government efforts to isolate and eliminate its use, it is clear that the use of marijuana is still very popular. There is an obvious problem concerning marijuana today. Governments on all three levels: local, state, and federal are trying desperately to find an appropriate policy involving marijuana. National polls show that more than 70% of the American people, from both ends of the political spectrum, support controlled access to marijuana for medicinal purposes. Despite fierce opposition from the federal government, voters in California and Arizona passed ballot initiatives in the fall of 1996 favoring the legalization of medicinal marijuana (Randall 33). If support for marijuana at least as a medicinal remedy is so high, then why have only a few states taken steps to change their policy? There are several reasons why marijuana remains illegal. Mainly, it is a political issue kicked around by certain special interest groups. Some of these groups perceive marijuana as a threat to the home, tearing families apart and causing them to abandon traditional values. However these groups usually are not legitimate areas of legislation. The more powerful groups have other, more practical reasons for keeping marijuana illegal. Among the most powerful of these groups are the combined law enforcement-judiciary-penal systems. This group sees the elimination of marijuana laws as a threat to their jobs. Add to this group defense lawyers, who stand to make millions of dollars defending marijuana offenders. Consciously or not, they support anti-marijuana laws (Rosenthal 2). Another interest group includes the scientists whose marijuana research is funded by the government. If marijuana were legalized, they would lose millions of dollars in research grants intended to prove the detrimental effects of the substance. Two other unrelated and very influential groups are the liquor lobby and phar... ...ions and penalties against drug trafficking, and oppose attempts to weaken international drug policies and laws. Support adherence to scientific research standards and ethics that are prescribed by the world scientific community and professional associations in conducting studies and review on alcohol, tobacco and other drugs. Support efforts to prevent availability and use of drugs, and oppose policies and programs that accept drug use based erroneously on reduction or minimization of harm. BIBLIOGRAPHY Abel, I. L. Marihuana : The First Twelve Thousand Years. New York : McGraw Hill, 2005. Garner, Charles. Personal Interview. May 21, 2007. Kluger, Jeffery. Personal Interview. May 16, 2007. Nahas, Gabriel G. Marihuana, Biological Effects. Illionois : Univeristy of Illinois Press, 2002. Potter, Beverly. The Healing Magic of Cannabis. California : Ronin Publishings, Inc., 2004. Randall, Robert C. The Patients Fight for Medicinal Pot. New York : Thunders Mouth Press, 2007. Roffman, Roger A. Marijuana as Medicine. Washington : Madrona Publishers, Inc., 2004. Rosenthal, Ed. Why Marijuana Should Be Legal. New York : Thunder?s Mouth Press, 1996.

Kindle Fire, Amazon’s Strategy Essay

The Kindle Fire was released on November 15, 2011 by Amazon. It’s a tablet computer, and it’s the last version of Kindle up to date. The product Its dimensions are 7. 5 by 4. 7 inches, with a 0. 45 inches of depth. The display is a 7 inches (180 mm) multi-touch color screen with a 600? 1024 pixel resolution. Connectivity is through Wi-Fi and USB. The device includes 8 GB of internal storage, which is enough for 80 applications, plus either 10 movies or 800 songs or 6,000 books. According to Amazon the Kindle Fire can run up to 8 hours of consecutive reading and up to 7. 5 hours of video. Let’s take a look on the software side. The Kindle Fire runs a customized Android 2. 3 OS. Along with access to Amazon Appstore, the Fire includes a cloud-accelerated â€Å"split browser†, Amazon Silk. The user’s Amazon digital content is given free storage in Amazon Cloud’s web-storage platform, 5GB Music storage in Amazon Cloud Drive, and a built-in email application allows webmail (Gmail, Yahoo! , Hotmail, AOL Mail, etc. ) to be merged into one inbox. Content formats supported are Kindle Format 8 (KF8), Kindle Mobi, TXT, PDF, DOC, DOCX, JPEG, GIF and a lot of others. Why it is an innovative product? And what is the Amazon’s strategy with the Kindle Fire? Amazon tries to surf on the Kindle success by launching this product way under the market price. Amazon is willing to sell its core tablet device at a loss (one-quarter its list price) and at painfully low margins because it is an efficient point-of-sale storefront. They have 18 million songs, books, movies and television programs. The surprisingly low $199 price point will especially undercut smaller competitors and force more affordable hardware and software economics-even at Apple. Amazon founding CEO Jeff Bezos, said that the Kindle Fire is â€Å"a service† that provides â€Å"seamless integration† to all things Amazon for the world’s largest online retailer. That represents a unique pipeline for marketers, as well as content providers, wanting to connect with consumers on very specific fronts, or any interest. Marketers and content providers can follow consumers in all their movements on the website and adapt all the marketing. Amazon’s Kindle Fire strategy is designed to bring consumers closer to their main activity, selling things. The Kindle Fire is pre-loaded with a new AmazonLocal daily deals and services which is a good way to stimulate connections between buyers and sellers. Amazon is linked with NBC Universal, Twentieth Century Fox, CBS and others to become a video service like Netflix. Kindle Fire’s alignment with the Android operating system also puts Amazon in line to do more with Google and its YouTube video service to become a dominant video streaming player.

First World War Causes Essay

What were the causes and consequences of the First World War? There were several reasons that led to WWI; the European nations were growing more powerful and the arm forces as well. Another cause was the alliance system which cause conflict between several countries because there were treaties and agreements in which not every country agreed with. Imperialism also took a great part of the war, many countries wanted to colonize other countries such as Africa, South America, the pacific, and Asia. Almost all of the countries had a great military power and as all of them were fighting for the same reason, the war was inevitable. Many rivalries emerged among these countries. One of the most important causes of the war was the assassination Austro- Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The archduke was killed by a Serbian and his death was seen as a threat to the Austria-Hungary multinational empire. This event turned into a declaration of war. Due to the alliance, the European Nation got involve in the conflict and it resulted in a world war. Russia was defending Serbia and surrounded Germany and Austria-Hungary (who were allied) with their troops. Germany was already planning to invade Russia by using the Schlieffen Plan which was supposed to prevent war, but the plan fail. The First World War had as many consequences as causes. the end of the great war was marked by the creation of the League of Nation which consisted of peacekeeping so this horrible events would not happened again and to have a collective security. Unfortunately the United States did not join the treaty and this weakened the treaty. The WWI ended with the signing of the Treaty of Versaille which stated that Germany was the only responsible for the war that occurred and they demanded that Germany was to pay the reparations. This treaty also established the changing of the borders in Europe. One of the mayor consequences of the war was the great depression it left. The war left many countries without money, which meant there were no jobs, no money to export or import.

3 Erroneous Uses of Scare Quotes

3 Erroneous Uses of Scare Quotes 3 Erroneous Uses of Scare Quotes 3 Erroneous Uses of Scare Quotes By Mark Nichol Rules are made to be broken, but more often they are made to be followed, because violation of those rules, in writing as in any other human endeavor, often leads to unintended consequences. One case is the careless use of quotation marks for emphasis. Scare quotes, as quotation marks employed for this purpose are called, are often used to call out nonstandard or unusual terms, or merely to introduce a word or phrase. However, although this strategy used to be common, scare quotes have taken on a new role that has largely, at least among careful writers, supplanted the old technique: Now, they are better employed to convey derision, irony, or skepticism. For example, a writer who describes how â€Å"the institute offers workshops in ‘self-awareness therapy’† is widely presumed not to be gently preparing the reader for the appearance of an unfamiliar phrase; more likely, they are calling attention to what they feel is preciously New Age-y terminology. Meanwhile, the statement â€Å"The Pentagon’s strategy of ‘pacification’ certainly did make things quieter in the neighborhood† comments on the evasive military euphemism, while â€Å"The ‘new’ model strikes me as less sophisticated than the old one† calls attention to an unjustified adjective. Here are three types of superfluous usage of scare quotes: 1. The astronomers reported Tuesday that they had combined more than 6,000 observations from three telescopes to detect the system of exoplanets. Exoplanets is a term that has only recently entered the general vocabulary, but neologism is not a criterion for use of scare quotes; simply introduce the word, define it, and move on: â€Å"The astronomers reported Tuesday that they had combined more than 6,000 observations from three telescopes to detect the system of exoplanets.† (In the article from which this sentence is taken, a definition of exoplanet follows the statement.) 2. They engaged in listening exercises and musical analysis so as to better understand the musical DNA of their favorite songs. If you use an established term in an unfamiliar but analogous sense, trust readers to make the connection; don’t bracket the term in scare quotes: â€Å"They engaged in listening exercises and musical analysis so as to better understand the musical DNA of their favorite songs.† 3. So-called â€Å"notification laws† require businesses to notify customers when certain unencrypted customer data is improperly accessed. Never employ scare quotes around a term introduced by the phrase so-called. Yes, you may want to signal to readers your dissatisfaction with the term, but so-called performs that function, so scare quotes are redundant: â€Å"So-called notification laws require businesses to notify customers when certain unencrypted customer data is improperly accessed.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Punctuation category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:30 Religious Terms You Should Know20 Pairs of One-Word and Two-Word FormsNarrative, Plot, and Story

The Monster in Eli Roths Hostel

The Monster in Eli Roths Hostel Free Online Research Papers He awoke in a dark, damp room that appeared to be a basement. Josh had not the slightest clue where he was. â€Å"Where the fuck am I?† he kept bellowing. Finally a man removed the burlap sack covering Josh’s face. â€Å"You, oh God, oh Shit!† Josh recognized the man from the train ride to Slovakia. Josh pleaded â€Å"Please, please, I didn’t do anything to you!† The man in the old-style executioner’s outfit was amused by his victim’s mental and emotional anguish. Josh pleaded with this dark figure to let him go. â€Å"I had always wanted to be a surgeon† the man said as he secured a scalpel. He then offered to open the door. Before untying his victim, the man used the scalpel to cut both of Josh’s Achilles’ tendons. The executioner was delighted to see Josh squirm to the door; leaving behind him two distinct trails of blood. What exactly had Josh done to deserve this? What crime had he committed? Josh was an American, and his executioner had the cash to pay for his life. In Eli Roth’s Hostel, a crime syndicate known as â€Å"Elite Hunting† operates out of a post-Soviet nation. The organization sponsors a very twisted form of slavery. Elite members may purchase human beings and kill them in any way they please. They just show up at an abandoned factory, pay for a victim, and have their way with the victim’s life. It’s not that simple though, as certain people cost more than others. For instance, a European victim costs less than say, a Japanese victim. Imports are a bit pricier than domestics. What is truly disturbing is that Americans cost the most. The demand to kill an American is higher than the demand to kill any other kind of person. While you can torture an Asian for $10,000, to do the same to an American costs $25,000. This is a clear symbol for the way in which Americans are viewed by the world. Take for instance a 2005 world survey conducted in 25 nations including the U.S. The survey showed that 75 percent of the respondents disapproved of how our leaders in Washington had dealt with Iraq. The majority of the 26,381 respondents also disapproved of the way five other foreign policy areas had been handled. This included the U.S. government’s dealing with Iran’s nuclear weapons program, global warming, and the military prison in Guantanamo Bay. This survey is a display of the current distaste for the U.S. and its government’s policy. In Jeffrey Jerome Cohen’s Monster Theory, Cohen describes the monster’s body as that of culture: â€Å"The monster is born only at this metaphoric crossroads, as an embodiment of a certain cultural moment-of time, a feeling a place† (Cohen 4). In other words, this monster, this intense dislike for the American people, traces it s origins to feelings of resentment and rage towards the U.S. government’s recent policies, especially that of the war in Iraq. Some may argue that the big-wig killers in Hostel pay more for Americans only because they are imported from overseas, but I contend that that the high price of Americans is due to the world’s view of the American people. In a survey found on people-press.org conducted in nine countries including France, Germany, and Turkey, all of these countries showed increasing belief in two years that the U.S. was over-reacting to terrorism. Another survey found on the same web site showed that most European nations disapprove of the United States using force in Iraq without United Nation’s approval. There is an apparent strong, unfavorable opinion of the United States. The monster in Hostel, then, is a cultural crisis. One must ask if the actions and decisions of the United States’ government have made the Americans appear as monsters to the European people. According to an article by Brian Eno on time.com, most Europeans regard Americans as stupid, arrogant, and ignorant. Eno says of the American people, â€Å"I could fill this page with names of Americans who have influenced, entertained, and educated me. They represent what I admire about America: a vigorous originality of thought, and a confidence that things can be changed for the better. That was the America that I lived in and enjoyed from 1978 to 1983.† Eno continued in his article, â€Å"That America was an act of faith- the faith that (otherness) was not threatening but nourishing, the faith that there could be a country big enough in spirit to welcome and nurture all the diversity the world could throw at it.† Eno believes the U.S. has taken a downhill course since S eptember 11: â€Å"But since Sept. 11, that vision has been eclipsed by a suspicious, introverted America†¦. The gated community†¦. Designed to keep the (others) out, it dissolves the rich web of society into a random clustering of disconnected individuals. It turns paranoia and isolation into a lifestyle.† It is difficult to put aside Eno’s arguments for the way other first-world nations look at us. After establishing itself as a world power after WWII, the U.S. became more and more comfortable with using military force. Vietnam and the Gulf War are two examples of our government using military force willy-nilly. Our current struggle is arguably unjustified and makes our government look foolish. You see the paranoia of our people at airports. How many times have you felt nervous when sitting next to an Arabic person on an airplane? Brian Eno makes vital points in regards to where the distaste for America comes from. However, we must ask if the U.S. and American people deserve being the target of this European loathing. In Hostel, for example, there is a scene when the two American characters are in a club in Amsterdam. They get into a fight with a Swedish man and are escorted out of the club by a bouncer. The mammoth Dane mutters something in the manner of â€Å"fucking Americans† as he throws them to the street. It is far too common for Americans traveling abroad to face such harassment. In many instances, though, it is brought upon by us. Americans, such as the two from the film, often act cocky and arrogant and forget to respect the place where they are at. The monster in Hostel is the intense hatred and disgust the U.S. receives from the rest of the civilized world. In Roth’s film we see this hideous and horrendous monster grow into acts of evil that even the S.S. of Nazi Germany would frown upon. You see this monster in the eyes of the torturers’ faces as they take great care not to kill their over-priced, American, animal bitches too quickly. It clearly costs more for an American because the killers get more satisfaction from it. Hostel’s monster is a cultural one. It was given life via the way in which the U.S. makes decisions and the actions of our government. The reaction by the rest of the world has to be a monstrous one. The United States is a world power and has been since World War II. Because of this and our advances in military technology, Americans are afforded the luxury of being weak and soft. We don’t have to watch the news at night. We don’t have to worry about coming under attack. We were proven wrong on Sept. 11, but our government reacted in the wrong way. Our president even used the attack as an excuse to mobilize forces into Iraq. These actions were all blunders and the world recognizes that. Our false senses of security and superiority have caused us to become rude, arrogant, and ignorant. This has become such a problem that our allies are starting to turn against us. We lacked support from both France and Germany when entering Iraq. The U.S. felt that it didn’t need U.N. approval to liberate Iraq. These actions created Hostel’s monster. In a sense, we are the mothers and fathers of this monster. 18 February 2007. news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6286755.htm 19 February 2007. http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?ReportID=206 Eno, Brian. â€Å"The U.S. Needs to Open Up to the World† 12 Jan. 2003 time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,407288,00.html Cohen, Jeffrey Jerome. â€Å"Monster Culture.† Monster Theory. Cohen, Jeffrey Jerome. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1996. 3-6. Hostel. Dir. Eli Roth. Perf. Jay Hernandez, Derek Richardson, Rich Hoffman. Lion’s Gate Films, 2006. Research Papers on The Monster in Eli Roth’s HostelCapital PunishmentThe Effects of Illegal Immigration19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraArguments for Physician-Assisted Suicide (PAS)Influences of Socio-Economic Status of Married MalesPETSTEL analysis of IndiaThe Relationship Between Delinquency and Drug UseThe Masque of the Red Death Room meaningsHip-Hop is ArtComparison: Letter from Birmingham and Crito

What Makes an Author Bundle Successful

What Makes an Author Bundle Successful What Makes an Author Bundle Successful? It’s no secret that we at Reedsy like to explore the power of communities and what they bring to authors and publishing professionals (maybe because we’re building one ourselves!). I firmly believe that authors grow stronger when they unite and work together, a prospect that–like indie publishing itself–only gets easier with new and better technologies.While the notion that â€Å"like attracts like† brings independent authors together with other indies, and hybrid authors in commune with other hybrid authors, the next wave of online community-building is a frontier awaiting those eager to experiment and explore new opportunities. Outside the Box: Women Writing Women is the perfect example of that: 7 indie and hybrid authors (all members of the Alliance of Independent Authors) launching  a â€Å"contemporary fiction† bundle, available for purchase on Amazon  for a limited time.Sharing resources, sharing readershipsThe idea behind such a co llective effort is simple: explore the power of the group. â€Å"I’ve admired the power that author collectives like Triskele Books have,† says Jane Davis, author of the novel An Unchoreographed Life, which is included in the Women Writing Women project. Creating a bundle, is, in a way, like forming a collective for a limited period of time.Boxsets usually have an â€Å"expiration date† that functions for two reasons: First, it creates a sense of rarity. This, coupled with the uniting of several prominent voices, makes it easier to generate excitement both among readers and in the media. Or as writer, editor, and bestselling ghostwriter Roz Morris told us in an email:â€Å"We’ve already been interviewed by The Guardian books pages, Books + Publishing (the Australian counterpart of Publisher’s Weekly) and have interest from the arts programmes of BBC Radio 4. If any of us had approached them on our own– impressive though our CVs might lookâ €“we probably wouldn’t have got even a reply.†More importantly, a bundle aggregates reader bases. While it’s likely that some of Davis’s readership already knows a couple of other authors in the bundle, they probably haven’t heard of a majority of authors included. So it’s still a bargain for them to get the bundle and the 4-5 books they haven’t read yet for $12.Cumulated reader bases usually result in cumulated sales. Though sales aren’t usually the #1 objective of forming a bundle, they can unlock additional discoverability potential. Let’s take the example of the Deadly Dozen. This boxset was released in March of last year by The Twelve, a consortium of thriller authors who joined their marketing and promotion efforts and managed to sell over 100,000 copies in the first six weeks, hitting both NYT and USA Today bestsellers lists.Though the boxed set was priced at a mere $0.99, appearing on both bestseller lists tre mendously increased the profile and discoverability of The Twelve, and gave its participant authors access to new readers they might have never have found on their own.The Twelve’s Deadly Dozen was pulled a few months after its release. The 7 authors from Outside the Box have also set an expiration date to the bundle: it will be available for 90 days, and not one more.Why run bundles on a limited period of time if they sell so well? First, there’s the rarity factor that comes with a â€Å"limited edition†. But more importantly, bundles usually record most of their sales in the first few weeks (as do most single books); box sets are more about aggregating existing readerships than finding new ones, unless you hit a list or special ranking or get exceptional PR – which all bring immediate results anyway. Once these readerships have purchased the bundle, there aren’t necessarily many more sales to be made.David Gaughran also shared a similar experienc e with me when I asked him about The Indie Author Power Pack, a box set he released in October 2014 together with Joanna Penn and Sean Platt/Johnny B. Truant:â€Å"The primary aim with the box was to shoot for the NYT. The original plan was to leave it up only for November and December for two reasons. 1) All the promo was front-loaded to try and hit the NYT so sales were naturally going to tail off anyway, and tail off faster than if we were aiming to, for example, maximize sales or maximize income. 2) Plan B if we missed the list was to slowly raise the price as it fell in the rankings and make some money out of it. And 3) Sales of the box set were cannibalizing sales of the individual titles, so it was always going to be a temporary thing.†Raising the voice and standard of self-publishingThere is something even more interesting in the Outside the Box initiative. When I asked the authors about their goals, they didn’t mention hitting lists or even making sales. Inste ad, they focused on the excitement this new projects brings both to them and to readers. Kathleen Jones expressed it perfectly in a recent email:â€Å"I’m intrigued by the contrasts and resonances that are set up when you put seven very different books and authors together. You know your work is going to be read by readers who wouldn’t normally have bought it. There’s an edge to that and it’s very exciting.†The main message that comes from this initiative, though, is really the desire to brandish and wave the indie flag as high as possible. By uniting 7 critically acclaimed works of indie contemporary fiction, their authors hope to demonstrate that author publishing is a valid quality route even in a genre that is still perceived by many as a traditional publishing chasse guardà ©e, according to Jane Davis:â€Å"I would like to change readers’ perception of self-published fiction, particularly those who are clinging to the belief that it i s the preserve of amateurs. I too was sold that line.The fact is that there is a new breed of hybrid authors who look at each writing project and decide if it is one to submit to their publisher or one to go it alone. With the Society of Authors advising their members that publishing contracts are no longer fair or sustainable, my belief is that the predicted growth in self-publishing will now come from authors who are currently under contract.†Roz Morris goes on to express a similar concern, which she hopes this bundle will continue to tackle:â€Å"We want to prove that fine, original authors are self-publishing as a mark of independence and integrity, and doing work of value and quality. You might ask: is that still necessary? Does anyone still consider self-publishing to be ‘vanity’ or second rate? They clearly do, because this is one of the issues we’ve been asked about most frequently.†To achieve this noble goal, the authors spared no effort whe n it came to giving the bundle the polished feel readers expect from sets managed in traditional publication. Each author contributed to production and promotion according to her strengths. Far from a collaboration in name only, the effort seems to have made a bona fide community of these writers that can only serve to better this project and the women’s individual endeavors.Finding the right balanceWhen we think about bundle success, a lot depends on pre-launch marketing and promotion, and on the number of authors involved. But I believe there is one inherent quality to a bundle that the author-partners absolutely must get right: the diversity balance.The books in the bundle must be diverse enough to make the box set interesting for readers (and to reduce their likeliness of having already read all its books). On the other hand, all books in a box set also have to be written in such a way that they appeal to the same target market–grouped either by genre, theme or cor e topic (non-fiction).Even within fiction, the landscape for bundles has become much more competitive. In his 2015 predictions for the publishing industry, Mark Coker announced that he believed this year would be one of collaboration between authors. If that is the case, we are about to see many more bundle efforts across all genres, which might threaten, in time, the â€Å"rarity† factor that has so much to do with their effectiveness.In that regard, the 7 authors of Outside the Box: Women Writing Women are ahead of their time; â€Å"contemporary fiction† bundles are rare due to the broadness of the generic distinction. But Outside the Box has been structured around an original common core that Joni Rodgers describes as â€Å"artistic integrity, serious craft chops and an unshakable belief that books by and about women are important.† Says Jane Davis:â€Å"I think it’s an incredibly strong set of books without borders. I don’t insult my readers b y assuming they only like to read one type of fiction. Visit any book club and you’ll see that readers welcome variety. But the irony of fighting against labels is that, ultimately, it was necessary to define what the box-set was about. Our decision was to focus on our characters and the boundary-breaking nature of our fiction.â€Å"It might very well be that OutsideThe Box: Women Writing Women is setting the template for indie author bundles in 2015. Here’s to their success.- - - We want to personally thank all the authors of â€Å"Outside the Box†, and David Gaughran, for their answers to our numerous questions on their respective experiences.This post was edited by our lovely editor Becca!You can find Ricardo (author of this post) and Reedsy on Twitter: @RicardoFayet  and @ReedsyHQ   What’s your take on author bundles? Have you ever contemplated doing similar? What’s been your personal experience? Do let us know what you think in the comm ents below!

The essential factors in the achievement of organizational goals Essay

The essential factors in the achievement of organizational goals - Essay Example It's My Bike recounted the experience of Debbie Martin as the new Supplier Quality Manager for the commercial product division of Cold Air Corporation. In this new position, Debbie encountered problems in the organization where a $250 bike is primarily involved. The bike was purchased by her predecessor and was currently utilized by her subordinate, Ronnie in order to inspect the incoming inputs in the plant's production line. As the company changed the supplier for one of its components, Ronnie's inspection became more frequent which consequently led to more frequent use of the bike. However, Cold Air Corporation is also currently undergoing a product transition handled by the Airhandler Quality managed by Steve Gregg. Because the distance from the Airhandler's office and the components for the new production line necessitated the use of the bike, Gregg borrowed the bike for his team's activities. This became the highlight of the case as Ronnie was quite hesitant in lending the bike to the other department while Airhandler Quality team argued that they are currently handling the most important project in the plant so they should take possession of the bike and Debbie should buy a new one. This paper will take a look at three problems encountered in... What seems to be one of the major causes of the recent misunderstanding was the real purpose of the bike. It should be noted that the conflict have arisen because there seems to be a vague designation of the bike. It was stated in the case that the bike was purchased by Debbie's predecessor in order to "aid in transporting testing materials and small samples from one end of the plant to another." However, there seems to be an inefficient communication within the organization as to where the bike should be used for. This can be indicated by the following situations: 1. the bike has been taken and repainted by the metal works department without the knowledge of Debbie or anyone in her department; 2. the bike was borrowed by the Airhandler Quality team for their own purposes and refused to return it without Debbie's formal request; and 3. Steve Gregg wants the bike to be utilized for his department as he is handling the most important project in the plant which will necessitate Debbie to buy a new bike for Ronnie's inspection. At the start of the case, it was stated that Debbie's boss is "not an easy person to work for" since he expects his employees to have a "take charge attitude and avoid bothering him with trivial issues." Taking this into account, Debbie should try to resolve the problem at hand first before resorting to his immediate superior. It is seemingly wrong that Debbie should bother his supervisor due to a $250 bike if he had given them responsibility and accountability in solving "trivial" problems within their department. In order to solve the conflict within the organization, Debbie should set the primary purpose which the bike will serve. As it was purchased by her

Strategic Marketing of Qatar Airways Assignment

Strategic Marketing of Qatar Airways - Assignment Example It is evidently clear from the discussion that strategic marketing orientation is an integral part of the modern-day business. Modern day business is ever-changing. It is very important for each and every organization to change their structure according to the time. The modern business is full of cutthroat competitions; managing competition is the need of the hour for the management across the world. Customers are the focus and understating customers continuously is a complex but important task. The performance of the company has significant dependency on inter-functional co-ordination. Organizational culture with their values and visionary thoughts also play significant roles in the marketing orientation. Shareholders are the pillars of organizational successes, it is important for every company to take care of the long-term interests of shareholders. With the help of this study Managing director of Qatar, airways will be able to get some insights of marketing orientation on the bas is of the above-written factors. The organization has 131 fleet sizes and the company covers 144 destinations across the world. According to Donavan, Brown, Mowen, customer orientation is all about a group of actions taken by the companies to identify and meet the needs of the customers. The authors said that previously organizations were more products centric but as the business scenario has changed nowadays organizations are transforming themselves into more customer-centric. They also commented that performances of the organizations are highly dependent on the continuous understanding of changing needs of customers. In the modern world of business customer orientation is the core factor and fundamental aim of every organization is to remain focused towards customers. They argued that in modern-day business every company relies on pricing, innovation and brand image. They commented that apart from all these things organizations can gain high competitive advantages through offering quality services and by meeting the customer expectations.

Report Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Report - Case Study Example New homes built on traditional practices cannot improve the general respiratory health of occupants. Further, well executed energy retrofits have led to improvement in self rated health and ensures that occupants have reduced visits to general health practitioners (Tassos, 6). Energy efficient devices are important to low income families because the income they save in using efficient energy sources can be used to by food, afford medical care and health insurance. Weatherization assistance programs are important in saving energy bills. In addition, they also ensure that there is a reduced water cost (Tassos, 7). Energy Efficiency and Renewable in Home Retrofits reduce the production of contaminants that can harm the health of occupants. Some of the contaminants that harm the health of occupants include carbon monoxide, mold and mist. Efficient energy home retrofits improve ventilation in rooms, reduce moisture and condensation, increase safety, improve thermal comfort and ensure that residents live in a comfortable environment (Tassos, 14). Conventional energy upgrades are dangerous to the occupants. Homes without measure put in place to ensure that there is adequate flow of air can affect the indoor air quality. The risk factors associated with poor quality indoor air include asthma, allergies and other respiratory complications. Efficient home energy retrofits reduce the water heater temperature to 120 degrees. This ensures that energy is saved and reduces the risk scalding (Tassos, 12). Saving on the energy use in homes requires the use of specific technology such as the properly designed and executed home energy retrofits. These home retrofits also ensure that green house gases are not emitted into the atmosphere. Investing in the use of efficient home energy retrofits will help in the implementation of healthy housing best practices in order to meet the objectives of energy

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

Paraphrase - Essay Example However, misconceptions can arise from such ads that will affect the very lives of consumers. For example, the product being advertised claims or gives the impression that it can make the consumer become as fit as the model when in fact it has nothing to do with how the model looks like. Viewers who associate the product with the model’s great physique will then buy without actually researching further about the effects or importance of the product. Consequently, the issue on intelligent buying arises which makes the topic on advertising even more important. In Charles O’Neill’s The Language of Advertising, he presents how advertisers convey their messages in subtle ways that often trap the consumers in various ways. One of his points is that, advertisers often appeal to people’s emotions. For instance, he explains that in promoting the pick-up truck called the Ram, an ad that features the background of a farm and portrays hard-working farmers is used along with the reading of a poem entitled, â€Å"So God Made a Farmer† (323). Although the ad was simple and it did not use any attractive, naked men or women in the scenes, it was very successful because many viewers were emotionally touched by the ad, having them associate with the American culture that the ad reflects. Another means advertisers utilize is the use of sexual perceptions. They use men and women that are famous and beautiful which the majority would appreciate and desire to be associated with. Moreover, the advertisements adjust to the modern peo ple’s attention span. Since people are often busy, they do not have the patience to listen to long sentences that will appeal to their logic. Instead, they need short, simple sentences that may give them empty and often unreliable information. O’Neill argues that advertisers are making consumers stupid in many ways. For instance, because advertisements primarily aim to convince consumers that they need to buy their products,

Annotated Bibliography Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Annotated Bibliography - Assignment Example In this journal, the writer argues that there is no single organization that can perform better without a proper functioning department of human resource management; therefore it is important that the human resource managers cooperate. Elwood F. Holton II, James W. Trott, Jr. (1996). "Trends Toward a Closer Integration of Vocational Education and Human Resources Development", Journal of Vocational and Technical Education, Vol. 12, No. 2, p7. In this text, the writer describes the matter of human resource development in detain and explains all the issues involved for its success, as well as describing its importance to an organization as a whole. In this journal, we find that the writer describes human resource development in detail and then goes ahead to explain how it supports the sharing of knowledge in an organization, as well as the workforce. This journal discusses the issue of integrated managerial training in detail, and explains how it greatly helps or even how it is strategic for the development of management in an organization or company. In this book, the writers try to give the readers a clear understanding of the importance of human resources and its performance, and then describe the benefits that an organization can get from a well structured department of human resources. In this book, the writers try to describe in detail how a typical department of human resources should look like and goes ahead to explain the different components of the department and its leadership. The writer, in this article explains what a human resource management is and discusses the international human resource management comprehensively, which include integrating people, process and context. Budhwar, P. S., Schuler R. S. and Sparrow P.R. (eds.) (2009).   Major works in international human resource management.   Volumes

Report and Accounts for Tesco PLC Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Report and Accounts for Tesco PLC - Essay Example The report provided shows an insight of supermarket sector, the emphasis majorly being on the analysis of its finances, competence, resources and culture. There are two options on future strategies that are suggested regarding financial strategies.This company is amongst the biggest in the globe, vested in operations in approximately 2,318 outlets and has employed over 320,000 employees. It also offers services only via its subsidiaries. The United Kingdom is its largest market, in which it runs in four ways superstore, extra, express and metro. The firm’s own labels of products are categorized under three levels inclusive of normal, finest and value. The firm makes sales of approximately 40,000 products of food inclusive of clothing and some other lines that do not deal in food stuff. Apart from convenient products, many stores contain gas stations, making them amongst the largest independent retailers of petrol in Britain. Other services offered by Tesco include personal fin ance. The main reason for the success of Tesco is the various products they deal in, popular products and the brand preferences. Furthermore, Tesco operate online sales of product which has seen them expand internationally and get customers all over the world. There are reasons as to why Tesco is customers’ favorite store in the UK. Tesco have got a well analyzed capital structure which supports the growth of business plan with consideration of their expertise in financial system and cash management. Financial Analysis In Britain, Tesco services offered by this firm are via Tesco bank. The main products offered are inclusive of mortgages, credit cards, savings accounts, and loans. They also offer insurance services like insurance on cars, travel and life. The awareness of these services is boosted by their website and leaflets given out in their stores. Tesco generated a profit worth 130 M pounds in 2007 which rated the value of shares at 66 M pounds. The impact that this mov e created towards the sector of finance brought diversification to the brand of Tesco. It also provided for growth opportunities in the external retail sector.In 2008, announcement was made on of purchase of 50% of its shares. In the year 2009, Tesco Finance changed to a bank. Other financial service was the intent to buy Dobbies Garden. This enterprise owns 28 gardens, almost half in the UK. In 2007, the deal had been sealed by BODs of Tesco on receivership of 53% of shares meeting the conditions that were set. This led to Tesco’s shares rising to 65% and in 2008, the acquisition was fully met. Tesco commenced selling of petrol in the year 1974.The main sources of finance for Tesco plc is long term debts, retained profits, commercial paper, leases, issues and bank borrowings.By the year 2006, Tesco was rated fourth biggest retailer after Carrefour, Wal-Mart, and Home Depot. In 2007, this firm managed to jump Home Depotdue to the sale of division of Depot’s professiona l supply and fall in value of US dollar on Britain pound. Immediately behind was Metro which may also make its way ahead in case the euro becomes stronger against pound. Though, Metro has its sales inclusive of wholesale turnover in terms of billions and its turnover in regard of retail is less than that of Tesco’s.Instead of Tesco increasing its revenue by way of increasing its leverage, they take

Annotated Bibliography Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Annotated Bibliography - Assignment Example In this journal, the writer argues that there is no single organization that can perform better without a proper functioning department of human resource management; therefore it is important that the human resource managers cooperate. Elwood F. Holton II, James W. Trott, Jr. (1996). "Trends Toward a Closer Integration of Vocational Education and Human Resources Development", Journal of Vocational and Technical Education, Vol. 12, No. 2, p7. In this text, the writer describes the matter of human resource development in detain and explains all the issues involved for its success, as well as describing its importance to an organization as a whole. In this journal, we find that the writer describes human resource development in detail and then goes ahead to explain how it supports the sharing of knowledge in an organization, as well as the workforce. This journal discusses the issue of integrated managerial training in detail, and explains how it greatly helps or even how it is strategic for the development of management in an organization or company. In this book, the writers try to give the readers a clear understanding of the importance of human resources and its performance, and then describe the benefits that an organization can get from a well structured department of human resources. In this book, the writers try to describe in detail how a typical department of human resources should look like and goes ahead to explain the different components of the department and its leadership. The writer, in this article explains what a human resource management is and discusses the international human resource management comprehensively, which include integrating people, process and context. Budhwar, P. S., Schuler R. S. and Sparrow P.R. (eds.) (2009).   Major works in international human resource management.   Volumes

Internet Law & Governance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Internet Law & Governance - Essay Example The meeting also generated an understanding of the suitability of units established to manage various activities by stakeholders involved the internet use. Stakeholders in the meeting, therefore, discussed that the UN Secretary General gain power to develop WGIG that would research on internet laws. Another outcome of the WGIG meeting was the formation of a private body, ICANN. The functions of ICANN were to manage and oversee significant technical issues and developments regarding internet communication. Among the issues of concern addressed by ICANN is the assignment of names and numbers using IP. Decisions, which ICANN usually makes, are a result of consultations with stakeholders in the sector. Such a statement means that policies and decisions formulated depended on agreements of concerned parties (Reed 56). Many governments, globally, have a realization of the effects of laws that ICANN formulates especially in cases where they fall in line with their national legislation. Among the sections of the laws, which may intersect with the national law are privacy, cyber security, intellectual property and enforcement of the law (Kohl 10). There are claims that some nations request and approve increased control of internet administration through collaborative means. Some nations have an idea that is administering laws would be simple if there are coordinated interstate efforts. Such a move informed the reason for the proposal to have an internet governance body at the UN head offices, Geneva (Drake 50). Proposals by member nations faced opposition from other stakeholders such as America that advocate the suitability of ICANN to ensure internet governance. Currently, America retains the mandate of controlling other speakers of ICANN (Cerf 113). Because of its fundamental contribution to internet governance, America now holds the leadership role of managing DNS because of contractual

Energy Drinks as an Emerging Social Problem Essay Example for Free

Energy Drinks as an Emerging Social Problem Essay It seems like there is a new drink on the markets that I beginning to stir some questionable issues on health issues. It does not contain alcohol, but simply is packed with sugar and caffeine. Energy drinks are â€Å"in† right now thanks to the media advertising and trying to sell their products. Debate has been stirred on whether anyone should be drinking these drinks, especially young adults and children. The stimulants contained within energy drinks can disrupt the hearts rhythm, elevate heart rates, cause hypertension, anxiety, headaches, interrupted sleep patterns and in some rare cases can lead to seizures. All of the combined ingredients in energy drinks and their effect are still not fully researched and unknown of the consequences, but definitely it has been figured out that energy drinks are NOT good for the body. What is now just an issued because â€Å"according to doctors† ; might later turn into laws where there has to be an age limit to be able to buy energy drinks. More than likely they won’t become illegal, but there will be a restriction on them for the safety of the younger population in the United States. As mentioned earlier drinking energy drinks is started to become a problem because doctors played the role of claimsmakers. Right now they are trying to convince the general public that something is wrong and something needs to be done about it. To them, consuming energy drinks is a â€Å"troubling condition†. Because of this discovery that energy drinks are bad for the body, the media began to cover this issue. It is not a big issue right now and cannot be described as a social problem because this emerging social problem has really only gotten to the media coverage stage. Time will still tell what the public reaction is going to be. Right now it seems like there has been no reaction to this issue. There are still 3 stages this emerging social problem need to go through; policy making, social problems work, and policy outcome. The claimsmakers have used typifying examples to try to show that energy drink consumption really is a problem. Natural News. com mentions that a 15 year-old boy with ADHD went to the hospital and was suffering from a seizure after drinking two bottles of Mountain Dew and his pill, but energy drinks have 3 to 5 times the amount of caffeine that sodas do. The claims warrants here are simple; something needs to be done to protect the younger population from troubling and unhealthy choices. In conclusion, claimsmakers want restrictions on energy drinks to make it harder for young adults to consume; thus a healthier America. Energy drink consumption seems to be the cigarette of their generation for a lot of young people. Just how cigarettes ended up with laws being made for them, it is very possible that energy drinks will get some kind of restriction on them. This debate on energy drink consumption has begun to get heated and forecasting a big change in policies for energy drinks are very possible in the near future. http://www. devonbate. com/energy-drinks-that-big-of-a-deal/ http://www. foxnews. com/health/2011/02/15/energy-drinks-harming-kids/ http://www. naturalnews. com/032786_energy_drinks_side_effects. html.

Racism and Identity Hand in Hand Essay --

In society, there are many misconceptions in terms of racism. According to the merriam-webster dictionary, racism is define the belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others . Many people would agree with that definition. What is racism? The normal person if asked will simply reply, not liking someone for the color of their skin. Racism from my attitude which is substantiated by historical events is a system of power .Therefore is a system of power that is used to control the world and its people. Racism was employed by Europeans to subjugate and discriminate against other groups, in particular Africans/black people. It is also a power which ran through a systemic way to hinder and sabotage other groups. The system is so elaborate that it almost seems nonexistent on a systematic level. Hence, this is why many people do not think it exists anymore. Racism is pervasive in society and remains a silent code which has a profound effect society. Ralph Ellison author of the award-winning novel , Invisible Man deals with racism and how it effect an individual .I would analyze racism and display how it effect ones identity . Vocabulary, defines identity as an individual characteristic by which a thing or person is recognized or known. In other words it is how one views, look, sees and defines themselves. Many people identity are influenced by religion, environment, parents, culture, gender, teachers and textbooks. Media also can play a role in shaping one’s identity. This can include internet, news, movies, radio and etc. One’s identity can be shaped by many different things or experiences. The things that shaped my identity are family, race... ...e.. Fanon's work displays that double consciousness is also a condition of colonized people. ‘Black Skin, White Mask’’ documentary states the reaction of racism between black and white arise when the white become aware that one is attracted to black something. Something blacks meaning a black person. In conclusion racism appears in the field of vision. In summary, Racism influences ones (blacks) identity. This has a negative effect in the Black community .Often blacks looks thru the eyes of a white person to feel in power which lead to double conciseness. The Invisible Man story makes the reader, well at least in my case draw upon times in which I have indirectly experienced racism and lack of self-esteem. However, I know that by definition of racism I am affected by its global and local systematic approach to keep me and those who resemble me, subjugated.

Aphra Behns Oroonoko †Slaughter of the Human Spirit Essay -- Behn Or

Oroonoko – Slaughter of the Human Spirit   Aphra Behn introduces her characters in Oroonoko as beautiful people who possess a pure, innocent love.   Behn does this in an effort to make her readers feel and question.   Her poetic description of their emotions magnify the horror of the final scene.   Behn's romantic love story is brought to a tragic end through brutality and death.   Why did she choose such an ending?   Her decision to have Oroonoko take the life of his wife and unborn child leaves her audience questioning.   Was what they had love?   If not, what was it?   What had killed their innocence?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The story of Oroonoko and Imoinda began with him approaching her and ended with the cut of his knife.   Oroonoko both began and ended the story that was "theirs."   Therefore, when analyzing their relationship it is most important to examine Oroonoko's behavior.   Oroonoko is the one who determined what path their story would take.   What drove him to end "their" story in such a brutal way?   What caused him to act so uncontrollable?   The truth is that his heart couldn't stand to lose her again.   He couldn't risk not finding her.   He was scared because he realized that he could not protect her.   Even the strong, powerful Oroonoko was not able to rescue her and her unborn child from slavery.   His hope and innocence were killed by fear.   He finally met a force that could beat him.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Throughout the story, Oroonoko exhibits his power and control.   In order to once again prove his courage, Oroonoko goes hunting to kill a tiger that had been too fierce and powerful for others to conquer.   When Oroonoko comes upon the tiger, she is devouring her new kill.   Upon Oroonoko's approach, the tiger stares at him with a "very fierce rag... ...heaven.   This is a beautiful image.   Does it really matter how they chose to exit this world?   The truth is that it does.   Ã‚  Ã‚   Aphra Behn's tale of Oroonoko is not only a tragic love story.   It is also a story about slavery and how it can kill a person.   The relationship between Oroonoko and Imoinda is described as pure and innocent.   Their story compliments the point that Behn was trying to make about slavery.   Slavery can kill hope, purity, and innocence.   Slavery does not only kill the human spirit.   It slaughters it. The student may wish to begin the paper with the following quote: "And these two People represented to me an absolute Idea of the first State of Innocence, before Man knew how to sin." (pg.10) Works Cited: Behn, Aphra. â€Å"Oroonoko.† The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. AH Abrams. New York. WW Norton and Company, Inc 2000.

Day Care in New York

Currently there are only about twelve or so day-care investigators on Long Island, whose responsibilities are to inspect and monitor all 1,659 providers caring for 35,319 preschool children in Nassau and Suffolk Counties. This number of investigators is insufficient, and has hindered the ability of these two counties to properly inspect the quality of day care in These inspectors are called licensors or licensing representatives, who are civil servants and make a maximum of $44,739 this year. For an individual to be able to become an inspector of child care in the state of New York, the requirements are at least six years of experience as an inspector of day-care or other children's programs or as a designer or reviewer of various social services programs, as well as some background The requirements in New York appear to be much stiffer than those in many other states. For example, California requires simply a college degree or six months experience with the state. Top officials have stated that all over the state of New York investigators have been struggling with their work as a result of the recent surge in day-care providers. The state has said that licensors will arquire help in the very near future. The help will arrive in two forms: In New York State this year, the number of cases per licensor is at its lowest since five years ago. It has dropped from 165 to 156 cases per licensor. During the next year, the state of New York will commission eleven or so workers at the Suffolk Department of Social Services and the Child Care Council of Suffolk to, working under contract with the state, inspect day-care providers in the county. This is in an attemp to lighten he work loads of the licensors in Suffolk county. â€Å"It swells our ranks in terms of people who are out there actually doing inspections and are able to recommend an enforcement act,† said Suzanne Zafonte Sennett, director of the state Bureau of Early Childhood Services. Nassau county has not yet voulenteered to participate because of doubts about the magnatudes of its potential positive effects. This year, for the first time ever, the state began giving formal training to licensing representatives. Experts from the State University of New York have developed two new training tools for the investigators. This past summer, the Long Island representatives went for their first ever formal training in day-care regulation, and have also in the past year obtained copies of a two volume manual of the state regulations, policy statements, state social services law and other guidelines to help investigators do their jobs more efficiently. Suzanne Zafonte Sennett also said that by next February investigators will have the aid of a new laptop-based computer network called the Child Care Facility System. This system will allow investigators to track each provider's complete history that can be updated as necessary at a quite rapid rate and used by everyone working in the field of day-care regulation. The system will do away with the current abundance of stacks of paper and manila folders that are the core of the state's system now, and will allow investigators to do their jobs quicker and with more efficiency. She said the plan is â€Å"basically, get rid of the paper and put the entire licensing inspection process and the monitoring process online through a The intense desire to improve the regulation of day-care recently has shown greatly. The percentage of child care complaints that were substantiated in the past five years is at its lowest, with drastic drops from 35% on Long Island to 19%, and 35% in New York State to 23%. If the current interest in improving the regulation of child care in the state of New York continues, the inspectors jobs will become less stressful, and child care will improve substantially and with great impact.

Eve Teasing

Eve Teasing: Law of the Land Now a day we often see the scenarios of eve teasing on the daily. It is being spread out from country side to country side day by day and it is being introduced to the new generation as regards eve teasing on and on. We see a statistics compiled by Bangladesh Women Council of last 10 months 3908 women have been oppressed and harassed in various ways. Of which, suicide case was 300. In addition, most all of these suicide events are involved with eve teasing. At present, school, college, university going girls are often being hunted of eve teasing on the street.It is to say, hunting of eve teasing of a girl is so general visible, just in its opposition the visible of penalty of eve teaser is rare. Learner or not learner such woman as well take mentally preparation before going out from their room for this that she would be teased on the path with slung languages or bad attitudes by vagabonds. ‘Eve teasing’ on the street is one such reflection o f the inner beast in men, women are subjected to this social evil irrespective what background they are from. The lexically meaning of teasing is to make fun of a person playfully or annoyingly.It is a euphemism used in the sub continent for sexual harassment or modesty of women by men, with eve being a reference to the biblical Eve. Namely, staying hither and thither or turning point of college going path, to make tease known or unknown girl, or make tone, comment or display abetment or throw slang language or attempt to capture photography by mobile phone etc is called eve teasing, which includes a small sexual harassment or rape. If there is no parent or guardian with any woman who will be hunted of eve teasing, we can say that definitely. Now think a bit, we can give hundred percent surety concerning eve teasing.But can we give one percent as to any positive deed? All suicides caused by eve teasing do not come to light on the news paper. In addition to last some years, Trisha, R umi, shimi, Sadia, Toshi such many unknown mothers-sisters have departed from this beau world. Question is here-why did they give their lives? Did they have no right to protest, move freely and live fairly? Definitely, they had said rights as per Article-11, 32 and 36 of Bangladesh Constitution which denote as fundamental rights to live in the society free and fairly. Think a bit, they are very our mothers-sister who are being hunted of eve teasing.Still today our mothers-sisters are being harassed throughout road, school, college, university even office-court and they are forbearing silently. But Allah says in the Holy Quran- Man is the protector of the Woman. The question is that, why do they keep silent. The answer is that, they have no might and no body to stand beside them. Nevertheless some so-called reformists talk concerning women’s rights. Here there is apprehension that they who talk regarding woman’s rights, infringe at first from their family. In the name o f woman’s rights or modern era they would like to bring out the on road and set up the western culture in this country.Someone claim that Islam dishonors woman and treat her as inferior and they have no equal position in society like man. Actually we are accustomed to make comment with such objection about woman’s position in Islam. Still Islam restrains and Islam gives her proper position in society and honors him having high respect as mother. Allah says â€Å" And their Lord has accepted (their prayer) and answered them(saying); â€Å"Never will I cause to be lost the work of any of you, be he male or female; you are members, one of another.. (3:105)†. Eve Teasing Eve Teasing: Law of the Land Now a day we often see the scenarios of eve teasing on the daily. It is being spread out from country side to country side day by day and it is being introduced to the new generation as regards eve teasing on and on. We see a statistics compiled by Bangladesh Women Council of last 10 months 3908 women have been oppressed and harassed in various ways. Of which, suicide case was 300. In addition, most all of these suicide events are involved with eve teasing. At present, school, college, university going girls are often being hunted of eve teasing on the street.It is to say, hunting of eve teasing of a girl is so general visible, just in its opposition the visible of penalty of eve teaser is rare. Learner or not learner such woman as well take mentally preparation before going out from their room for this that she would be teased on the path with slung languages or bad attitudes by vagabonds. ‘Eve teasing’ on the street is one such reflection o f the inner beast in men, women are subjected to this social evil irrespective what background they are from. The lexically meaning of teasing is to make fun of a person playfully or annoyingly.It is a euphemism used in the sub continent for sexual harassment or modesty of women by men, with eve being a reference to the biblical Eve. Namely, staying hither and thither or turning point of college going path, to make tease known or unknown girl, or make tone, comment or display abetment or throw slang language or attempt to capture photography by mobile phone etc is called eve teasing, which includes a small sexual harassment or rape. If there is no parent or guardian with any woman who will be hunted of eve teasing, we can say that definitely. Now think a bit, we can give hundred percent surety concerning eve teasing.But can we give one percent as to any positive deed? All suicides caused by eve teasing do not come to light on the news paper. In addition to last some years, Trisha, R umi, shimi, Sadia, Toshi such many unknown mothers-sisters have departed from this beau world. Question is here-why did they give their lives? Did they have no right to protest, move freely and live fairly? Definitely, they had said rights as per Article-11, 32 and 36 of Bangladesh Constitution which denote as fundamental rights to live in the society free and fairly. Think a bit, they are very our mothers-sister who are being hunted of eve teasing.Still today our mothers-sisters are being harassed throughout road, school, college, university even office-court and they are forbearing silently. But Allah says in the Holy Quran- Man is the protector of the Woman. The question is that, why do they keep silent. The answer is that, they have no might and no body to stand beside them. Nevertheless some so-called reformists talk concerning women’s rights. Here there is apprehension that they who talk regarding woman’s rights, infringe at first from their family. In the name o f woman’s rights or modern era they would like to bring out the on road and set up the western culture in this country.Someone claim that Islam dishonors woman and treat her as inferior and they have no equal position in society like man. Actually we are accustomed to make comment with such objection about woman’s position in Islam. Still Islam restrains and Islam gives her proper position in society and honors him having high respect as mother. Allah says â€Å" And their Lord has accepted (their prayer) and answered them(saying); â€Å"Never will I cause to be lost the work of any of you, be he male or female; you are members, one of another.. (3:105)†.

Human Growth & Development Reflection: Procastination Essay

Being a student in high school, the problem with procrastination is most definitely a very common occurrence. To try to curb this horrible problem you will need to find a study method that works for you and sparks an interest in the material you will be studying. In my case, I have never seemed to have found a effective study method that worked for me and one that had sparked an interest in whatever I may have been studying for. For many years I had studied for tests employing study methods such as highlighting the text, simply reading the material covered by the test, reading all of the information at one time, and the most used among high school and college student but definitely the least effective one, cramming that didn’t do much good and resulted in poor test scores. After learning about how memory works in Human Growth and Development, I was very curious to see how well these new so called â€Å"golden† study methods would work for me. I quickly tested out these new study methods for a test that I had been procrastinating for. To my surprise, the Method of Loci which at first had seemed quite silly turned out to work perfectly and helped me achieve a perfect score of one hundred on my test compared to the previous test of the same type which I had received a score of eighty-five. For me to find my study method that worked for me during my sophomore year of high school was a bit late. Even though it may have been a bit late, I definitely believe that my terrible problem with procrastination on important tests may have thankfully found a solution that lasts a great deal of time and hopefully will help me in the future to pursue a career in medicine.

Monaco grand prix economic impacts Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Monaco grand prix economic impacts - Essay Example They are typically organized by variable combination of national governmental and international non-governmental organizations (Sylt and Reid, 2010).† The Monaco Grand prix has great economical impacts; first and foremost it leads to technological development of mass communication especially satellite television. This development means that revenues from television to host the events increase overwhelmingly. The television rights are sold very highly like the rights to host Olympic games in 2000 in Sidney was over US$1 billion (Sylt and Reid, 2010). There is also a lot of corporate sponsorship which provide huge sums of money to the host countries. The event is also useful in marketing products and showcasing various country attractions hence attracting tourism and foreign investments. This event is one of the most significant events ready to transform the country. This leads to an increase in the volumes of tourists who come to the event for various reasons (Sharkey, 2011). In return, the huge visitor or tourist volumes increase the revenue received from the tourist and hence boosts the local trade. To host such an event, a lot of marketing and publicity has to be done, this leads to the host country being known world wide and having a positive image which in return boost tourism even during the non pick periods (Sharkey, 2011). Hosting such a mega event gives the host country a chance to be put on the world map, by providing significant exposure to the world. They serve as a platform to show the cultural, economical and political power of the host. By hosting such a significant event it shows that the country has entered the international scene as a major figure. This has been the case for countries like Singapole, Japan which hosted the 2002 FIFA World Cup, South Korea etc which little was known about them but after hosting sporting events their economies emerged and the political status became known

Are males and females motivated differenlty in PE Essay

Are males and females motivated differenlty in PE - Essay Example The participants were asked to answer a questionnaire to establish the gender differences in the motivation of students to participate in sports. The author, Nathalie Koivula, used a seven-point scale very similar to the one used by this author in the questionnaire created for this study. The author also discussed relevant research and studies previously conducted by other researchers. Koivuli (1999) concluded hr findings after explaining the results by stating that: The findings of the present study suggest that gender and gender-based processing correlate with the reasons given for participation in sports, some of which have been demonstrated in the present study, as well as earlier ones, to correlate with both frequency and the amount of time spent participating. It is therefore of interest to include these variables when generating and elaborating theoretical models to explain sport behavior. This article is useful to this study in that gender differences with regards to motivation is discussed in detail. This author was able to glean important points that was explained in the discussion section of this dissertation. It is important to note that although Koivuli had different results than this author, a point of comparison was made and an improvement in the motivation for participating in PE classes was seen as a result. Student Motivation in Physical Education: Breaking Down Barriers; Student Motivation in Physical Education Typically Declines after the Early Years. Why? and What Can Be Done about It? By Claire M. Mowling et al. This article discusses student motivation with regards to participation in Physical Education classes. The author delves into intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and how they present a problem with regards to students not being encouraged that much to participate actively in PE classes. The author then proceed to outline methods on how to bring down the barriers and improvements that can be made in order to address the issue

Consists of ten short-answer questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Consists of ten short-answer questions - Essay Example According to Murray (2012), examples of prewriting strategies include free-writing and brainstorming. Prewriting strategies are writing techniques used by individuals as they prepare to write a research paper, essay, or project. They are consider the preliminary stages in ascertaining and as well investigating a subject matter. In free-writing, an individual scribbles down each and every thought he or she has regarding a particular subject matter. In brainstorming, an individual recollects what he or she can remember regarding a particular subject matter in his or her mind. Subsequently, these recollections are scribbled down on a in form of a list. It is worth noting that free writing involves writing opinions that one generates in his or her mind regarding the matter in question. In this writing strategy, the correctness and precision of what is being written down is not imperative. The main objective is to generate ideas that can be useful is structuring the paper. In contrast, focused writing involves scribbling down individual thoughts centered on specific question. Though free-writing are focused writing are similar, the essayist in focused writing writes down his or her ideas focusing on a previously described or delineated project or question (Murray, 2012). A comparison and contrast paragraph elucidates the variations and correspondence among two or more subject matters. It is important to posit the fact that there is no limit to the number of variations and correspondences indicated on the paragraph. A cause-and-effect paragraph, on the other hand, is a paragraph elucidating the reasons behind a particular occurrence. This type of paragraph seeks to offer a response to issues put forward by a particular subject or mater (Murray, 2012). In other words, a cause-and-effect paragraph answers the why while a comparison and contrast paragraph explicates the

Psychiatric Nursing Reflective journals Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Psychiatric Nursing Reflective journals - Essay Example To my queries, she had just stared at me as if she was scared but today she called me up. Seizing the opportunity, I moved up. Nervously pulling me to her side and looking around to ensure that nobody was within hearing distance, she whispered in my ear. Her neighbor was plotting to kill her and her husband, it seemed. She had heard noises from her backyard which sounded like gunshots when she had been in the kitchen at home. Her movements appeared jerky and speech was not incoherent but appeared monotonous. Realizing that her suspicious and guarded nature was characteristic of her condition, paranoid schizophrenia, I pretended to be a good listener to gain her confidence. She claimed that the neighbor of around her age was attracted to her and was eyeing her sexually. Several times he had approached her for sexual favors. She had told her husband about this but he did not believe her. At times the neighbor had thrown stones at her house when she was alone and had rung the doorbell s everal times. Each time she went to the door, there would be no one. Saying all of this at one go, she quickly pushed me aside when she noticed the nursing supervisor arriving. When the supervisor had left, Mrs. Jones again strode up to me and caught my attention. She told me that her husband was a good man but he did not believe her stories and told me to keep what she told a secret. Half an hour later, Mrs. Jones did not appear to want to talk with me. When I smiled at her, she seemed to have no recognition. I was a little taken back by the stony look on her face. Her husband had told me that she was a receptionist in a hotel and very much appreciated by the others and customers. Believing that she was then well, she had stopped her treatment. He had not noticed the medicines not being taken. This had triggered this episode. She had also not kept her appointments with the psychotherapist. Anyone would have

Developing Cybersecurity Law and Policy Assignment

Developing Cybersecurity Law and Policy - Assignment Example Other sections of the Register include the presidential document, reader aid and federal register xml files. These sections guide the users who are mainly federal agencies on new regulations and prerequisite information to participate in rulemaking (GPO, 2013). The Federal Register is used by the relevant agencies to call for public participation in policy creation (Mead, 2004), as the majority of civil users bring in ideas that may not be available within federal workforce. Citizens are also in a position to keep track of current updates on cyber security laws and regulations. Daily updates ensure continuous information gathering and dissemination since cyber technology is highly dynamic (Cate, 2009). Topic 2: US Cyber Command US Cyber Command is a sub-unit in the US strategic command that was created by the Office of the Secretary of Defense in 2010. It is charged with planning, integrating, coordinating, synchronizing and directing military cyber space operations and managing fede ral information networks. This was an essential step in reinforcing the Department of Defense’s capability to remain in control of its information network reducing vulnerability to cyber warfare (Kenneally, 2001). This is especially the case since intelligence information handled in the network should remain protected for national security (Kenneally, 2001). ... The president appoints a cyber security coordinator commonly referred to as the cyber czar who is a government employee. It is necessary that this position be held by the government to control biased service by private institutions that may manipulate the information systems, hence making it more vulnerable to hackers (Kenneally, 2001). Academia may have its practice based on theoretical information, thus less flexible to the dynamics involved in cyber operations. This handicaps its efficiency in service delivery. An individual who is open-minded is the most appropriate to hold this position since they have a realistic approach to cyber security management (Kenneally, 2001). Topic 3: Renewed Interest in Public-Private Partnerships Several frameworks have been put in place to improve cyber security in both the public and private sectors. Public-private partnership is essential for effective protection of U.S assets, infrastructure and economic interest from attack on cyber activities. This kind of partnership enhances information sharing, minimizing the risks of the use of cyber facilities especially in the era of increased global connectivity. Partnership enables pooling of resources required for effective workforce education and training and investment in cyber security (Guttmann et al., 2003). Both the public and private sectors should be actively involved in policy making and setting cyber law that remains ahead of possible risks and in pace with technological developments. It is of importance to create an enabling environment that respects the privacy and civil liberties of all partners involved while at the same time enhancing optimal collaboration in

London by William Blake with Composed upon Westminster Bridge by William Wordsworth Essay Example for Free

London by William Blake with Composed upon Westminster Bridge by William Wordsworth Essay Compare and contrast London by William Blake with Composed upon Westminster Bridge by William Wordsworth and show how each used his poetry to express his views about his life and times. Blake and Wordsworth both display different views and attitudes about the city of London in their poems. They both lived in the same era, Blake lived during the 18th and then on into the 19th century (1757- 1827) and Wordsworth also lived during the 18th and then on into the 19th century (1770- 1850). As the poems were alive in the same era of life they were both alive during the industrial revolution. This was a time when children of a very age were sent up chimneys and were made to sweep them clean. They were used because of their very small size. This turned Wordsworth and indeed Blake against London. They also didnt like other major cities in the country like Manchester, Birmingham and Liverpool. The main reason why they hated major cities, with London being the largest one was because they hated pollution. They both preferred the countryside and nature to the hustle and the bustle of Englands city environment. Both poets didnt really like what they saw around them. They were also both romantic poets. In the poem Composed upon Westminster Bridge, by William Wordsworth, the poet is expressing views towards London that are positive. This is unusual for Wordsworth as he normally was against the industrialisation of London. In the poem, Wordsworth is describing the early morning sight of London and in particular Westminster Bridge. He makes out that London looks as beautiful as the countryside without anyone awake and the major; air-polluting factories are empty and quiet. The beauty of the morning; silent, bare, Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie. A main reason, which turned both of the poets against London, was because of the factories and tall buildings, which were caused by industrialisation. They felt that it ruined the natural beauty that the country has. There is also use of different parts of speech, in particular personification. This city now doth, like a garment Also in the poem, which is a sonnet, Wordsworth tries to get the point across to the readers that anyone who doesnt see the beauty of London at this time in the day would have to be a very insensitive and not appreciate anything that was naturally beautiful in the world. Earth has not anything to show more fair: Dull would he be of soul who could pass by, a sight so touching in its majesty. Wordsworth, who was poet laureate, along with William Blake both believed in Pantheism. This meant that they both saw god in nature. In the poem London, by William Blake, the poet is expressing his real thoughts about London as a whole. That it wasnt really a nice place to be. Like William Wordsworth he didnt like London due to the fact that it had become so polluted due to industrialisation. The poem itself, contain four verses, each containing four lines in each verse. The poem is also written in doggerel style, because it is written in a crude and inartistic style. In the poem, Blake is expressing the bad details of London. His thoughts are dark and moody. He compares London to that of a battle site. And the hapless soldiers sigh. Runs in blood down palace walls. This for me sums up the exact thought of the poet, William Blake about London in general. When Blake was writing this poem, it was mid-night in London. The time of night is important in the poem as it reflects the dark and sombre mood of Blake. Right from the offset in the poem there is criticism of London, as Blake describes how the river has nowhere to go. As I wander each chartered street, near where the chartered Thames does flow. It is like the river is mapped out and has to flow exactly where it is shown on the map. This is because London has lost its natural beauty and is now so unnatural. The people who live in London are always having something to moan about, according to the Poet. This is because they are all so trapped in the City, many want to get out of London because it has become so industrialised and they want it so everything is naturally beautiful. And mark in every face I meet, Marks of weakness, marks of woe. Blake also feels trapped in London with nowhere to turn but to more factories. In every cry of every man. In every infants cry of fear, in every voice, in every ban, the mind forged manacles I hear. Blake uses different parts of speech throughout the poem. And blights with plagues the marriage hearse. An oxymoron is used here because people dont usually associate marriage with a hearse. The poets William Blake and William Wordsworth both express their own views towards London in their poetry, Blake with the dull view of London and Wordsworth with his unusual praise for London. Many different parts of speech are exercised in each poem for different reasons. But the poets give us their personal view towards London, each in a descriptive way.

Information Technology And Some Infrastructure Challenges Information Technology Essay

Information Technology And Some Infrastructure Challenges Information Technology Essay To successfully implement an information technology infrastructure into an organization, it is critical that all levels work and plan together, and that the planning performed be proactive and strategic. Some components of the infrastructure may require an upgraded or be deleted; however, some components may not. Certain information about information systems, interaction, and processes, once collected, organized, and comprehended, can form an essential component of infrastructure which will outlive many of the upgrades to equipment and software. The focus of this paper is to explain what managerial roles does information system support, how has the Internet improved supply chain problems, list and describe the components of IT infrastructure that firms need to manage, name and describe the management challenges posed by IT infrastructure, and finally define Open-Source software. Management Roles Managers continue to perform critical roles in todays organizations. They have a wide variety of responsibilities ranging from decision making, compiling data, making reports, to coordinating meetings. To understand managerial role better, we must look at both the classical and contemporary models of managerial behavior. Classical Model Henri Fayol was one of the most significant providers to modern concepts of management, having stated that the five primary functions of management were planning, organizing, coordinating, deciding, and controlling (Rushing, 2010). Fayol believed management theories could be developed and then taught. Henri Fayol proposed that it is important to have unity of command. This concept that suggests there should be only one supervisor for each person in an organization. Fayol also suggested that management is a common human activity that applies equally well to and organization as it does to a family. This type of management theory was basically unchallenged from the 1920s through 1990s. The terms associated with Fayols management theory were of a formal nature rather than describe what a manager actually does in the performance of his job (Laudon Laudon, 2006). Contemporary Models The contemporary behavioral scientists had discovered that managers do not typically behave as the classical models had first implied. Behavioral models state that actual behavior of managers appear to be less systematic, more informal, less reflective, more reactive, less well organized, and much more frivolous than students of information systems and decision making generally expected it to be (Laudon Laudon, 2006, p. 87). Analyzing managers daily behaviors, Henry Mintzberg discovered that these actions could be classified into 10 managerial roles. Managerial roles can be described expectations of duties that should be performed by a manager in an organization. Mintzberg discovered that these roles could be broken down into three categories: interpersonal, informational, and decisional. Interpersonal Roles In general, interpersonal roles will be established by the type of position you hold in an organization. For example, lower level managers will have dissimilar interpersonal roles than middle management. The Interpersonal roles of a manager can be broken down into three categories: figurehead, leader, or a liaison. Figureheads within an organization speak for their companies to the outside world and carry out symbolic duties such as passing out awards to employees (Rushing, 2010). Additionally, there are numerous administrative tasks and they are also in the public and professional limelight. As a leader you are responsible for ensuring a safe and productive environment for your employees. The development of your department and your employees lies on the figureheads shoulders and they must be able to promote growth while at the same time steering clear of conflict. As a liaison you must be prepared to correspond with others. Liaisons not only report to upper management but will have to work with peers from other factions within an organization such as vendors, and even clients. The liaison is responsible for knowing who to get in touch with to get to the bottom of any situation. Informational Roles A monitor, disseminator, and spokesperson are the three informational roles that a manager may assume (Hartman, n.d.). These informational roles are created as a result of enacting the set of interpersonal roles already described. A network of interpersonal contacts with both subordinates and individuals outside the work unit serves to establish the manager as an informational nerve center of the unit, responsible for gathering, receiving, and transmitting information that concerns members of a specific department. A manager takes on the monitor role by constantly scanning the environment for information or activities and events that may identify opportunities or threats to the organization. Much of the managers gathering of information is accomplished through the network of contacts established through the interpersonal roles. The information a manager gathers as a monitor must be evaluated and transmitted as appropriate to members of the organization. The transmittal of information by a manager activates the disseminator role. Privileged information may be disseminated to subordinates, peers, or superiors in the organization. Occasionally, a manager must take on the role of a spokesperson by speaking on behalf of the department to people inside or outside the organization. This might involve lobbying for critical resources or appealing to individuals who have influence on activities that affect the work unit (Wren, 2005). Decisional Roles Both interpersonal and informational roles are really preludes to what are often considered to be a managers most important set of roles: the decisional roles of entrepreneur, disturbance handler, resource allocator, and negotiator (Laudon Laudon, 2006). The entrepreneur role comes into action when the manager seeks to improve the work unit (Rushing, 2010). This can be accomplished by adapting new techniques to fit a particular situation or modifying old techniques to improve individual or group activity. Managers usually learn of new or innovative methods through information gathered in the monitor role. Whereas the entrepreneur role establishes the manager as the initiator of change, the disturbance handler role establishes the manager as a responder to change. Organizations, unfortunately, do not run so smoothly that managers are never called upon to respond to unwelcome pressures. In these cases, the manager is required to act quickly to bring stability back to the organization. When a manager is placed in the position of having to decide to whom and in what quantity resources will be dispensed, the resource allocator role is assumed. Resources may include money, time, power, equipment, or people. During periods of resource abund ance, this role can be easily performed by a manager. In most cases, however, organizations operate under conditions of resource scarcity; thus, decisions on the allocation of resources can be critical for the success of the work unit, division, or organization. As a decision maker, the manager must strive not only to appropriately match resources with subordinates but also to ensure that the distribution of resources is coordinated to effectively complete the task to be performed (Rushing, 2010). In addition to decisions concerning organizational changes, disturbances, and resources, the manager must enact a negotiator role. The process of negotiation is possible only when an individual has the authority to commit organizational resources. Hence, as managers move up the managerial hierarchy and obtain control over more resources, they become more involved in the negotiator role. Supply Chain Management Supply chain management (SCM) combines the art and science that goes into improving the way an organization discovers the components it needs to make a product or service and deliver it to its customers (Laudon Laudon, 2006). The idea of Supply Chain Management is built around two principal ideas. The first is that just about every product that reaches a customer represents the collective effort of multiple organizations. Together these organizations are referred as the supply chain. The second idea is that although supply chains have been around for a long time, many organizations have only paid attention to what was happening within their own organization. Few businesses understood and managed the entire chain of procedures that eventually delivered products to the final customer. The result was disorganized and often ineffective supply chains Internet and Supply Chains Supply chains in almost every business are at the start of a startling reinvention produced by the growth of the Internet. The change extends beyond performance advancements and efficiencies acquired from computerization and communication to incorporate brand new possibilities to create value. This new value results from coordinated supply chains that can extend to larger markets and shape goods and services to meet the customers needs and new products and services that adjust to the highly competitive and increasing environmental needs. The Internet alters the way in which supply chains are managed, designed and controlled. The information, choices and practices that form Supply Chain Management are shifting to the Internet, breaking old ideas and widening company boundaries. This common ground will be where entire supply chains truly can be synchronized. New unknown specialist providers of both virtual and physical activities will create their own exclusive roles in the new infrast ructure. In this ever changing environment, supply chain capabilities will be essential. But gaining those crucial competitive resources will not take place through the typical supply chain ideas of today (Challenges facing supply chain management, 2008). Internet Technology for Integrating Business Processes Information technology (IT) has always been utilized to handle exchanges of goods, services, and information between organizations. With the arrival of Internet-based business-to-business (B2B) electronic markets, on the other hand, real opportunities for online transactions have begun to open up (Samson, 2010). The emerging internet was definitely an unpredictable development. All the same, important operating criteria such as reliability, local structures and robustness always came to the fore. As a result, users had the opportunity to get access to a highly available international data network that stays operative even in case of a breakdown of some single nodes. One important aspect of globalization is concentration. As a logical consequence, international companies have to merge or to collaborate with each other to meet the requirements for a global distribution of their goods and services. In a networked economy, these enterprises are bound to unseal some parts of their IT infr astructure to allow the engaged parties an exchange of product and accounting data as well as current status information in order to sustain the supply chain. Furthermore, employees need improved business applications with enhanced functionalities to manage their all-day work. These applications replenish existing legacy systems by degrees. Long-ranging, these enhancements result in a heterogeneous network of computers and applications, as all those components require each other and have to be consolidated. In the context of integrating distributed business application systems, the vision of redundancy and robustness was not resumed consequently: A changing business environment results in new technical developments and increasing demand of IT supported execution of business processes (Needle, 2009). IT Infrastructure Information technology infrastructure can be defined as the tangible hardware used to link computers and users (Laudon Laudon, 2006). Infrastructure may include transmission media and other instruments that direct transmission paths. Infrastructure can also consist of the software that is used to send, receive, and manage transmitted signals. Additionally, infrastructure can refer to interconnecting hardware and software and not to computers and other devices that are interconnected. On the other hand, to some IT users, infrastructure is regarded as everything that maintains the continual flow and management of information. IT infrastructure today is comprised of seven major components: computer hardware platforms, operating system platforms, enterprise software applications, data management and storage, networking/telecommunications platforms, internet platforms, and consulting and system integration services (Samson, 2010). Computer Hardware Platforms The physical part of the computer is referred to as the computer hardware. This includes the digital circuitry, which is different than the computer software that executes within the hardware (Laudon Laudon, 2006). The hardware of a computer is rarely changed as compared to the computer software and data, which are soft in the sense that they are quickly created, tailored or deleted from the computer. The microprocessor is the core of any computing device. The two major companies that manufacture most microprocessing chips are Intel and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). Standard tests of the AMD chip alongside the Intel Celeron chip have shown that the AMD chip was better in performance. Operating System Platforms An operating system is the program that, after being initially loaded into the computer by a boot program, manages all the other programs in a computer. The other programs are called applications or application programs. The application programs make use of the operating system by making requests for services through a defined application program interface (API). In addition, users can interact directly with the operating system through a user interface such as a command language or a graphical user interface (GUI) (Greer, 2009). Enterprise Software Applications The goal of enterprise software applications is to integrate applications into seamless processes throughout an organization. The two most popular applications in this group are customer relationship management and supply chain management systems. Business processes that have traditionally been optimized for internal efficiency can now add the element of superior customer service, tailored to each customer, inspiring the skills of trained agents in the call center. Back office processes are greatly improved with better information from the customer. Additionally, agents can slowly decrease the flow of paper, in favor of more efficient communication avenues such as e-mail and the web (von der Weth Starker, 2010). Data Management and Storage Organizations are collecting increasingly more data on its customers, employees, and even the organization itself. Being able to manage and storing the data so that it is readily accessible and supply meaningful information to the organization is developing into a discipline in and of itself (Laudon Laudon, 2006). Storage area networks (SANs) provide an organized, cost-effective way to combine data from across any system within the organization. Online users want direct access to data and SANs help organizations with a way to provide it. Networking/Telecommunications Platforms As we continue towards a completely digital world, networking and telecommunications platforms will begin to merge together. Instead than having a platform for networking computers and devices and a separate platform for telecommunications, we will begin to see businesses providing a combination of computers and peripheral devices, handheld PDAs telephone services, cell phone services, and wireless services all packaged together into one. A myriad of telecommunications companies have already merged with Internet service providers to provide complete digital service packages (Eren, Subasi, Coskun, 2008). Internet Platforms The Internet and subsequent technology continue to develop the services businesses are able to offer their employees, customers, suppliers, and other business partners (Laudon Laudon, 2006). Intranets and extranets constructed on Internet technologies provide businesses an easy and economical way of providing services that were extremely expensive just a few years ago. Many small and medium-sized businesses are using Web hosting services instead of purchasing new hardware necessary to support Web sites, intranets, and extranets. Its more cost effective and easier to have these service-providers manage hardware, software, and security issues, leaving the organization to concentrate on its primary processes. Consulting and System Integration Services Systems used in many large organizations are so complicated that its almost impossible to manage them by alone. Integration services offered by the companies like IBM and Hewlett-Packard are essential in keeping up with all the changes. In various ways it makes more sense for a company like Nike to focus on its core processes of making sports apparel and let a company like IBM take care of the technology issues. These services become more vital as many organizations combine their old legacy systems with newer technologies such as wireless networking. The old legacy systems merely cant be thrown away but must work flawlessly with todays newest technologies. Some organizations prefer not to completely replace legacy systems because its not cost effective, requires large amounts of training, and causes too much change in the organization. Its simpler to use middleware and other technologies to combine new and old systems (Schmidt, Otto, Osterle, 2010). Management Challenges Developing and managing a sound IT infrastructure raises multiple challenges: making wise infrastructure investments, coordinating infrastructure components, dealing with scalability and technology changes, and management and governance. Infrastructure Investments Just like investments in home remodeling often fail to provide a significant return on investment (ROI), it is frequently the case with investments in superior IT infrastructure components. IT Managers are constantly under the gun to decrease costs in order to fund new projects or to meet cost-reduction goals. Managers should make decisions to prevent overspending on component parts of the organizations computer systems. For example, high reliability storage, will offer little value if matched with servers or network connections of lower reliability. A string of high reliability components may surpass the necessities of the service they support. Any time the performance of any component notably goes above the requirements the incremental savings is pointless (Laudon Laudon, 2006). Coordinating Infrastructure Components Todays organizations develop IT infrastructures by choosing a variety of wholesalers, people, and technology services and fit them together so that they work as a whole (Samson, 2010). Because each part of the whole IT infrastructure has its own priorities, managing them collectively can be quite difficult. Some components of infrastructure will need to be upgraded or are subject to upgrade or replaced, as is with most components of computing systems. However, some components are not. Specific information about information systems and associated processes can form an essential component of infrastructure which will outlive many upgrades of equipment or software. Dealing with Scalability and Technology Changes In general terms, scalability refers to the ability of a system to maintain, if not improve, its average performance as the number of clients grows (Laudon Laudon, 2006). As an organization continues to grow, it can quickly out grow its infrastructure. On the other hand, if an organization downsizes, they may be stuck with an infrastructure that is too big and expensive to keep running. Every component of the infrastructure has some kind of management or operational overhead associated. Therefore, it is imperative that the organization recognizes these changes and takes appropriate actions to keep the organization moving forward. Management and Governance One of the most vital tasks for successful information management is developing the business governance over its program and related projects (Wren, 2005). Governance will apply a priority to the often-conflicting organizational pressures. It will take organizational plans and goals and help to form them into bounded endeavors. However, many organizations battle to get their governance programs up and running. They cant acquire interest, and they are in need of ideas to discuss after the initial objective is created. Information Systems and Ethical Issues Information systems introduce new and often complex ethical issues (Carroll Buchholtz, 2006). This is very true today because of the challenges created by the Internet and e-commerce to the safeguard of privacy and intellectual property. New ethical issues caused by vast use of information systems include creating accountability for the consequences of information systems, establishing standards to safeguard system quality that look after the safety of individuals and society, and upholding values and establishments considered vital to the quality of life in an information world. Whether you manage your own company or work in a large business, youll be facing these issues, and youll need to know how to handle them. Open-Source Software Open-source software (OSS) is computer software that is created by a cooperation of several thousand programmers worldwide (Chan Husted, 2010). Some open source software is accessible within the public domain. The term open-source software was derived as part of a marketing campaign for free software. Open-source software is based on the premise that it is superior to commercially produced proprietary software because thousands of programmers around the world working for no pay can read, perfect, distribute, and modify the source code much faster , and with more reliable results , than small teams of programmers working for a single software company (Laudon Laudon, 2006, p. 209). Advantages Open-source software experts have identified several advantages and disadvantages. The key advantage for an organization is that open-source software is an excellent way for companies to attain better market penetration. Organizations that present open-source software are able to create an industry standard and, therefore, gain an advantage over its competition. Additionally, it has helped create loyalty to the developers. In turn, the developers feel a sense of empowerment and ownership of the end product. Furthermore, less marketing and logistical services costs are required for OSS. Also, it helps organizations to keep up on of all technology developments. Another advantage is that it is an excellent tool to market an organizations image, incorporating its commercial products. The open-source software development method has produce reliable, high quality software rapidly and at a much lower cost. Likewise, it offers the promise for a more adaptable technology and quicker improveme nt. The mix of different perspectives, business objectives, and personal goals helps speed up innovation. Additionally free software can be developed in concurrence with entirely technical requirements. Open-source software does not entail considering about commercial demands that tends to degrade the software quality (Chan Husted, 2010). Disadvantages On the other hand, it can be argued that the open-source development process may not be as clear and that some system testing and documentation may be overlooked. Nonetheless this is usually only true for smaller jobs. Bigger, successful jobs tend to define and impose, as a minimum, some rules because they are needed to ensure good teamwork. In the most complex projects these rules may be as strict as reviewing even minor change by two independent developers. Even though many companies like IBM and Sun Microsystems support open source software there are no great financial interest involved.   A majority of the developers and advocates of free source software tend to believe in an unrealistic society that does not involve intellectual property rights   Therefore most of the applications are not dependable and you cannot run essential business operations on them. Another disadvantage is that once you choose to use open-source software you are on your own.   Although there is a lot of help available on the Web, there is no real skilled support available.   Basically, you have to learn how to install and use applications on your own, without damaging your data and hardware. There are no documents and manuals made available to help you since the software is being constantly being changed (Chan Husted, 2010). An additional drawback is that most of the open-source applications are not compatible with some of todays devices (Chan Husted, 2010). For example, there is no such thing as plug and play hardware when you are using open-source operating systems.   Occasionally it is hard to get modems to work with open source operating systems. Finally, technical support is more expensive compared to commercial software (Chan Husted, 2010). People who offer support for open-source software count on earning lots of money to provide support and in fact this is the only income model alleged in support of the open source software movement.