Black Fly Beverage Company Essay

Black Fly Beverage Company is a small beverage company based in London Ontario. The company has achieved recent success in the selling and promoting of their first alcoholic beverage, the cranberry/blueberry vodka cooler. The immediate success of this product presents two critical issues that the company must address. These critical issues are: †¢Black fly must expand its product mix in order to capture a larger market share in order to compete with larger established brands within the market place †¢Black Fly must also address capacity issues that will arise with an increase in demand or introduction of a new flavor Analysis. Current Situation Black Fly’s cranberry-blueberry vodka cooler has been well received by consumers due to its natural tasting ingredients and no chemical sweeteners producing a premium product different than existing similar beverages. The company now must take this opportunity to give their consumers another product to further explore the brand. Attempting to penetrate deeper within their current product will not allow its customers to further explore their favorite brand of vodka cooler. This will cause Black Fly to begin to lose their customers to other competing companies that offer multiple products and flavors (see exhibit 9). Black Fly also must also address the company’s capacity issues in order to allow them to meet the LCBO’s average order lead-time of seven days. At full capacity Black Fly is meeting the required lead time with minimal margin of error to account for delays, however, during the holiday season, which will occur as early as next month, the company will not be able to keep up with the increase in demand and will fail fulfill the LCBO’s order in time (see exhibit 7). Options The first option available to Black Fly would be to expand its product mix with the addition of a new flavor to compliment their existing cooler. The company will be able to take advantage of economies of scale through the current production; therefore a minimal cost of $30,000 will only be needed to cover development and merchandising fees. To cover this initial cost Black Fly will have to sell an additional 127 cases a month to break even, an increase of 10. 58% (see exhibit 2). It has been projected that adding another flavor to the product line could increase sales by 50 to 75 percent. This projected increase in sales would produce an annual expected ROI of 373% and 609% respectively (see exhibit 5). If however sales increased by only 10% due to the risk of cannibalization of their original recipe then the expected ROI would be -5% (see exhibit 5). This increase in sales however will put additional strain on the company’s current capacity (see exhibit 8). A second option to Black Fly would be the addition of a new specialty spirit-based product called â€Å"Spiked Ice†. This packaged ready to freeze cooler would be a non-competing product to the already successful cranberry-blueberry vodka. An advantage to this product is that there is no other product similar to it out in the marketplace. The LCBO has also committed to sell 8,000 cases of the product over the four summer months, which would produce revenues of $277,200 (see exhibit 3). Over this four month period this option will produce an ROI of 15% (see exhibit 6). To produce â€Å"Spiked Ice† the company however will have to purchase expensive machinery costing $500,000 and spend an additional $40,000 on merchandising and product development. To cover these costs Black Fly would have to sell an additional 7,585 cases of â€Å"Spiked Ice† (see exhibit 4). This may prove difficult as this new product is very seasonal producing higher sales in the summer months and potentially smaller sales in the fall and winter months, a time in which the LCBO has not committed to sell this product at this time. Another disadvantage to this option is the space that this new machinery would occupy in the already small warehouse. Black Fly’s current facilities cannot produce â€Å"Spiked Ice† and the original vodka simultaneously which would result in Black Fly loosing monthly revenues of $23,641 (see exhibit 1). Recommendation It is apparent that Black Fly must attempt to offer a variety of products to enhance its product mix and to keep current customers from trying other flavors offered by other competitors. At this time the best way to proceed with this will be to launch a new flavored vodka to compliment the already successful cranberry-blueberry vodka. The low initial costs and economies of scale gained through this option will allow Black Fly to introduce this new flavor quickly and efficiently to capitalize sales during the upcoming holiday season. To help address the concern of future capacity issues it would be recommended that Black Fly hire two more part-time workers and to run the production process seven days a week. This will be possible due to the expected high ROI associated with this option. This increase in production will allow the company to complete six full runs amounting to 3000 cases within the seven day lead time required by the LCBO ( see exhibit 10). In the future it will become necessary to upgrade to a larger facility and at that time it would be beneficial to begin producing â€Å"Spiked Ice†, however at this current time, given the company’s limited time in the market, it is suggested that Black Fly only pursue the launching of a new flavor. After the company has received sales from the holiday season the company will then be able to better address the possibility of relocating to a new warehouse and address their plans for â€Å"Spiked Ice† for the upcoming summer months.

Philosophy of Knowledge Essay

David Hume’s â€Å"The Origin of Our Ideas and Skepticism about Causal Reasoning† states his beliefs about knowledge and his idea that we can only have relative certainty of truth. Skeptics concur that there is not enough evidence to predict the future or prove truth. In â€Å"An Argument Against Skepticism,† John Hospers argues that we can have absolute certainty because there is enough evidence from the past and from our own experiences to prove an argument to be true. Although both Hume and Hospers make strong arguments, Hospers’ philosophical beliefs on different levels of knowledge and evidence are more convincing than Hume’s concepts on knowledge and truth. Hume’s argument is based on the idea that we can only be certain of analytical truths, such as mathematics; synthetic truths, or â€Å"matters of fact† are only and can only be probable, not truth. He believes that induction cannot be rationally justified because the premises support but do not guarantee the conclusion to the argument. Hume states that through experience, people assume that the future will represent the past, and that similar things will be coupled with similar qualities. Skeptics, like Hume, believe it is not an absolute truth that the sun will rise every day; it is merely supposed that history will repeat itself. If there is any suspicion that nature will change, experience becomes useless in predicting the future. Hume questions why we should accept the uniformity of nature, and anyone who argues this point is said to be â€Å"begging the question.† He comes to the conclusion that there is no real evidence to prove that inductive arguments are true or false, and accepting them is just routine but can’t be justified. Hospers believes that because there are different amounts of evidence needed to find certain truths, there are different levels of knowledge. In daily life, we use the weak sense of know, and therefore we do not need absolute proof. Why should people be so skeptical of propositions that are not relevant to everyday life? Hospers also poses an argument to Hume’s idea that synthetic truths are probable and can never be actual truths. Hospers believes that an argument that has a probable conclusion can become a certainty, or truth, if evidence permits it. He argues that these â€Å"matters of fact† are probable until time and evidence make them certainties. Because we use the â€Å"weak sense of know† in our everyday lives, why wouldn’t we accept the uniformity of nature, and the idea that the past outlines the future? The sun will rise everyday in my lifetime, because it always has, and there’s no logical reason that it would cease to do so. If, as far as we know, nature’s past has always shown a vision of nature’s future, there is no reason to be skeptical about it. Hume’s point that induction cannot be justified makes sense but is arguable. If the premises support but do not guarantee the conclusion to the argument, it can still be easily justified with little evidence. Hospers’ view on the amount of evidence needed to prove that something will happen in the future, is much more reasonable and realistic in everyday life.

International bussiness Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

International bussiness - Assignment Example Brazil has experienced massive socioeconomic transformation, and this can be dated back since the World War II. The country has seen growth from an economy that relied more on exportation of few primary products to the present day economy that is characterised by large and diversified industrial sector. The country has also transformed from a previously largely rural population to an increasingly urbanised state today. All these are clear illustrations that show the enormous strides that Brazil has taken towards its status among the fastest growing and emerging nations in the world. Brazil has an estimated population of about 200 million people which is a rapid growth from the 17.4 million in 1900. About 87 percent of the country’s population is urbanised compared to 30 percent in 1940. After going through several decades of industrialisation, Brazil presently produces more than 35 million tonnes of steel, 3 million vehicles, 66 million tonnes of corn and 60 million tonnes of cement among others annually. Other primary goods produced in the country include refrigerators and television sets. The country has a well-developed road network covering over 1.5 million kilometres well as a widespread supply of electricity (TWB 2014). The political system in Brazil involves the president being the supreme entity especially in matters concerning executing policies approved by the lower and upper houses. The Congress has a regulatory function towards decisions and actions taken by the executive. The two chambers (Chamber of Deputies and the Senate) have a role in creating legislation which are thereafter signed into law by the president. In matters of national economy, the Brazilian government has a pivotal role and influence in many aspects of the economy and its consequential growth. For example, the Government expenditures accounts for more than 40 percent of the country’s GDP. Technological advancements is an essential part in the economic

Introduction to Microeconomics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Introduction to Microeconomics - Essay Example pply in positively related to price because at a higher price producers can earn more profit by supplying more output.(Ian Hobday, p 100,105) In a market price is determined at the level at which demand equate supply as illustrated in figure 3. This discipline also offers explanation of factors that determine demand and supply. The factors that determine and influence demand are many. Demand is determined by changes in incomes of consumers, changes in tastes and fashion, changes in income tax, changes in population, changes in price of related goods, advertising and others. All of these factors bring shifts in demand curve and change equilibrium price and output. â€Å"British Gas reported 98 percent increase its six months operating profits of 2010 as compared to the same period during previous year â€Å"The profits reached to ?585m due to unusual cold winter which boosted the demand of  gas prices  by 8 percent.†( Aubin Lawrence, 2010) Price of related goods affects de mand has been witnessed, â€Å"With oil constantly trading above $100, consumers -- particularly those looking to buy cars -- are vying for alternatives that aren't too heavy on their wallets†(Debarati Bose,2011) Supply is determined by changes in costs of production, technical progress, changes in weather/disasters and others. All of these cause supply curve to shift and change equilibrium price and quantity.(Dan Moynihan and Brian Titley , p158-165) see figure 4 .On many occasions shortages are observed due to climatic changes and so forth. â€Å"European wheat stocks are expected to hit a 30-year low as dry weather could cut yields of some major European producers up to 20 percent†( Cat Contiguglia, 2011).See figure 4. Microeconomics analysis tells firms whether of raise prices or to decrease them. This...This paper demonstrates the main concepts of the Microeconomics. There is also 4 figures in the essay which graphically illustrates these concepts Microeconomics can be defined as a study of market behavior at micro level such as behavior of households and firms. It focuses on interactions between individual buyers and sellers and the factors that influence their decisions. In its broadest sense study of microeconomics deals with the efficient allocation of limited recourses that are available to fulfill unlimited wants of the society. This concepts is known as the basic economic problem which occurs due to scarcity. Due to scarcity individuals have to make a choice. This applies the principle of â€Å"opportunity cost† which is the cost of next best alternative forgone. Goods and services are produced by bringing together the four factors of production namely, land, labor, capital and enterprise. Production Possibility curve demonstrates principles of opportunity cost and full-employment Microeconomics explains price determination in goods and services markets and analyses the behavior of firms and consumers. This discipline also offers explanation of factors that determine demand and supply. Demand is determined by changes in incomes of consumers, changes in tastes and fashion, changes in income tax, changes in population, changes in price of related goods, advertising and others. Supply is determined by changes in costs of production, technical progress, changes in weather/disasters and others. with the help of microeconomics societies can predict behavior of firms and consumers and respond to possible changes in the markets. Causes and correlations can be identified with the help of theories that the disciple offers.

Funding in singaporean health system Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Funding in singaporean health system - Essay Example The funding also enables competition between the different private health care facilities. The funding also encourages individuals to choose between the public and private health care facilities. Singapore uses the 3M health care financing and services provision. The first 'M' is the Medisave introduced in 1984, the second 'M' is the Medishield introduced in 1990 and the third 'M' is the Medifund introduced in 1963. These 3M form the centerpiece of Singapore health care financing. The 3M medical strategy was designed to curb the reliance of the public on fee for service, third party reimbursement. New medical schemes have been added to the 3M, these include the Eldercare and Elderfund. The Singapore government offers subsidies to public health, outpatient services, hospital services and preventive care. Classes B and C are highly subsidized accounting for the higher costs of running private hospitals. This is practiced at the private sector. It is done individually or through an employer. It is popular among professionals and companies. It is practiced in the private sector. With this type of funding, the companies control the health care expenditure. The system is not used at a national level in Singapore. Widely practiced in Singapore's private sector. ... Fee for service Widely practiced in Singapore's private sector. It is practiced at a family medicine and specialist level. This form of financing for the private sector is growing rapidly in Singapore. It is based on free to choose basis. It is personal and very efficient. However it cannot serve the Singapore entire population as it is expensive. The sector progress as the economy grows (Toh, 2008). Cost containment In the Singapore method of health care financing the health care cost do not pose any problem so long as the rising national income is matched with the health care costs. This means that as the GDP increases, the health care costs should also plummet. This however is problematic due to the fact that the health care cost might increase faster than the GDP. As hospitalization cost increase the cost of the premiums are bound to increase. In the 3M system, all the money spent on the health care is directly the money earned by the health facilities. This system makes the health care providers lack any incentive to contain costs. The system thus limits health care providers from practicing entrepreneur skills. The 3M scheme has resulted in the cutting back of the government spending on healthcare but not to the private spending. Government promotion to the private sector Singapore is striving towards becoming a regional medical hub. This initiative is funded by the government and aims at promoting the private health care sector. The government has spent millions of dollars in attracting foreign based biotechnology and pharmacetucal companies. Some multinational drug companies operating in Singapore include Merck, Sharp & Dohme, Aventis, GlaxoSmithKline, Schering-plough and Pfizer. (Taylor & Blair,

Systematic Approach to Learning and Development Essay

Systematic Approach to Learning and Development - Essay Example The significant role of systematic approaches could also be found in other fields of activities such as medical and engineering where they serve as the foundation for any kind of activities (Sadler-Smith, 2006, p.51-52). From the perspective of learning and development, systematic approach supports these activities by enhancing their effectiveness and guides them in attaining desired learning objectives. The systematic approach towards the process of learning and development rationalizes its complex structure by dividing the entire process into several steps of learning and development. The systematic approach encourages the execution of the process of learning and development in a cyclic or iterative manner. Each of the phases present in the cyclic model represents a step in the learning process. In order to achieve the excellence, it becomes very essential for organizations to encourage their learning and development activities. The practice of continuous learning provides organizations with a competitive edge that ensures that they are ahead of their competitors. The systematic approach towards learning and development also supports organizations in developing their knowledge base on a regular basis. Emphasizing the training needs as per the need of the employee base is an important aspect of learning and development at the organizational level. The systematic approach to learning and development is classified into separate steps which begin with identification and evaluation of learning and development needs. During the primal stage of learning and development, identification of performance level is done which helps in identification of areas where learning and development activities are required. After the assessment of current performance level, subsequent steps of identification of learning needs are performed.  

Abrahams Promise by Michael Wyschogrod Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Abrahams Promise by Michael Wyschogrod - Essay Example This book is also an attempt by the author to bring Jews and Christians together and this he has done by raising logical questions that reflect upon their profound sameness rather than their deep differences. Kendall has not argued about the similarities or differences that Christians eagerly claim their Jewish faith roots, but he has endeavored a reason to consider that what escorts Jews to understand Christian theological concepts and why there is a need for the Christians to learn about treating minorities with dignity. This book reveals how the gap that has built over centuries should be bridged in order to gain an in depth understanding of both communities. Declaring the reason behind Gods love, Kendall points out what God expect from humans is the divine acknowledgement of their relation of their bodies with their souls, and since God believes in a free love, he has never limited humans. As a matter of fact, God himself is never limited to any particular genealogy. He had always possessed the right not to select Abrahams descendants as chosen ones or to replace his chosen ones with any other people not chosen. Kendall portrays Abraham, Issac and Jacobs God and presents before the readers a notion that God selected Israel as he loved Abraham descendants and chose them from among all groups. According to Kendall â€Å"God wanted a people who could not leave him† (Kendall, 2004: 50). For this reason Kendall points out that God favored and loved Israel in the same manner as a man loves a woman or his wife. What Kendall wants the reader to contemplate upon is the question he addresses that what caused God to choose a biological family rather than a community of faith (ibid). Wyschogrods perspective of the Jewish community is an answer to the above question, that suggests that God chose community of family is that of Abrahams descendants that elucidates Gods school of thought to

Community in American History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Community in American History - Essay Example The popularity of slave trade was not only limited to North American colony, but also extended to Southern colonies as well as states (Daniels 54). Daniels asserts that slave trade was a fundamental mechanism through which immigrants were brought into the NEW World, especially The United States (Daniels 54). As they were transported from Africa into the New World, particularly the United States, African slaves carried with them their African culture. The African culture fused with others, both European immigrants and immigrants who were never considered part of immigration such as Asians and Indians. Despite not having been acknowledged as part of immigration, African slaves formed crucial part of the community, where they worked in sugar plantations. As time elapsed, African slaves multiplied through birth. â€Å"At the end of the colonial period, roughly every fifth American was either an African immigrant of the descendant of one† (Daniels 55). This swelling number significantly contributed to the diverse community that has become inherent in the history of the United States. Over 10 percent of American people can accurately trace their ancestry to immigrants of African origin. Unfortunately, most historians have simply ignored the or explicitly covered black history. Historical evidence that can reveal adequate information about the history of immigrants of African origin is not in existence. African immigrants basically had no literature that could be used to document their past. However, there are modern literatures about African slaves, written by the slave merchants together with other white participants in the slave trade as well as observers. These literatures are often exaggerations and largely miss the point ab out the background African slaves. For example, Alex Haley developed a falsified literature about African past, mainly founded on a novel

Guide for the internment of japanese americans Essay Example for Free

Guide for the internment of japanese americans Essay Read and be prepared to provide a brief summary of one of the personal stories (chapters) from Last Witnesses: Reflections on the Wartime Internment of Japanese Americans, Erica Harth ed. (Chapters will be handed out at the March book group session.) Reading questions: 1. Carefully read the ‘Note for Students’ at the start of the book, paying particular attention to what Edward Countryman says about written history. He says â€Å"But good historians always approach the past on its own terms, taking careful stock of the period’s cultural norms and people’s assumptions or expectations, no matter how different from contemporary attitudes. † What point is he making here and do you agree with him? 2. The various essays in the book are taken from historical scholarship produced over time and with very different access to government documents and personal records and remembrances of the events surrounding Roosevelt’s signing the Executive Order. What does this scholarship tell us about writing with proximity to an event? How can this help us, as teachers, explain to our students what the historian does? 3. Roger Daniels in ‘The Decision for Mass Evacuation’ argues that Japanese Americans were placed in ‘concentration camps’. Other commentators continue to call the sites ‘Internment Camps’. Does it matter what these places were called? 4. Daniels quotes from one of the California proponents of removal (p. 50) that the Japanese could not be trusted at all because they had been so discriminated against in the past that they had become â€Å"unassimilable† and could not be well enough known to be trusted. Compare this point of view to the arguments used to ‘drive out’ the Chinese from the same places in the late nineteenth century. How much do you think being able to brand a group as ‘the other’ plays a role in these two cases? Do you think the same arguments were utilized after September 11 to justify Guantanamo? 5. Why did FDR, despite all of the evidence he was presented to the contrary, sign the Executive Order? In a related question, How did the tenor of the times lead the Supreme Court and a variety of seemingly able attorneys to bend the law, hide crucial evidence, and carry out the removals? 6. How is Gordon Hirabayshi like many of the leading Chinese individuals we read about in Driven Out? 7. Think about social guilt and historical responsibility and whether countries must think through past injustice and apologize for them and make some sort of reparations? We have the cases to consider from our readings of the Chinese on the West Coast, African Americans post-slavery, and Japanese Americans after the Second World War. Does the generation that did not inflict the harm owe the apology and the debt, or does this sort of thinking prolong the discord and inhibit efforts at reconciliation? 8. Dorothea Lange was hired by the War Relocation Authority to document the relocation process, but when the Army saw the tenor/tone of her work they impounded all of the photos and most of them never saw the light of day until 2006! Compare some of the photos from Ansel Adams and Dorothea Lange and try to figure out why Langes were disappeared.’ (See links below.) Web Sites: 1. Exploring the Japanese-American Internment through film and the Internet. http://www.asianamericanmedia.org/jainternment/ President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 authorizing the mass incarceration of over 110,000 Japanese Americans during World War II. Two-thirds were American citizens. Over half were children or infants. Their crime: their Japanese ancestry. Forty-six years later our government officially apologized for this grave injustice and paid reparations. Could it happen again to another group of Americans? 2. This site supplements a recent PBS documentary titled ‘Children of the Camps’. ‘Children of the Camps’ is a one-hour documentary that portrays the poignant stories of six Japanese Americans who were interned as children in US concentration camps during W.W.II. The film â€Å"captures a three-day intensive group experience, during which the participants are guided by Dr. Satsuki Ina, a university professor and therapist, through a process that enables them to speak honestly about their experiences and the continuing impact of internment on their lives today.† http://www.pbs.org/childofcamp/ 3. This amazing site contains an annotated directory of Internet-based resources on the Internment. http://newton.uor.edu/DepartmentsPrograms/AsianStudiesDept/asianam-intern.html 4. Great website with historical timeline, memories, posters from the camps and other primary source material. http://www.geocities.com/Athens/8420/main.html 5. Site is the Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco. Site contains lots of primary sources and a collection of articles from the San Francisco News during March 1942 when the Executive order was signed. http://www.sfmuseum.org/war/evactxt.html 6. Famed photographer Ansel Adams took a series of 242 photographs at the Manzanar War Relocation Center. Photos can be found at this site. http://www.asianamericans.com/AnselAdamsManzanar.htm 7. Dorothea Lange and the Internment of the Japanese http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist/lange.html

Use Of Intelligent Agents In E Commerce Information Technology Essay

Use Of Intelligent Agents In E Commerce Information Technology Essay Software agents can be defined as semi-autonomous software entities which support individuals cope with the complexities when working in a distributed information environment. This paper describes how these intelligent agents involved in e-commerce transactions. 1. Introduction In recent years the World Wide Web has become largest market place due to its exponential growth enabled extensive progress in new information society functions such as electronic commerce. Electronic commerce, known as e-commerce, is a type of industry where buying and selling of product or service over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks.[1] Simply e-commerce is buying and selling over the internet medium. Electronic commerce involves business to business (B2B), business to customer (B2C) and customer to customer (C2C) transactions. It covers a wide variety of issues including security, trust, reputation, law, payment mechanisms, advertising, ontologies, electronic product catalogs, intermediaries, multimedia shopping experiences, and back office management. Agent technologies can be applied to any of these areas in e- commerce.[2] 2. Intelligent Agents According to IDMs definition intelligent agents are software programs that carry out some set of tasks on behalf of a user or another program with some degree of independence. So doing, gain some knowledge or representation of the users desires. According to Meas definition software agents are computer programs that run in the background and perform tasks autonomously. Software agents are becoming an important part of these Modern information systems because they diminish the complexity, and they achieve this technically and psychologically. Technically, each agent provides a locus of intelligence for managing a subset of the information in the system, either on its own initiative or under the direction of a user. Each intelligent agent can be readily replicated and then distributed as needed. This agent-based approach to information management is both scalable and cost-effective. Psychologically, people need abstractions by which they can understand, manage, and use complex systems effectively. A natural and convenient abstraction appears to be one based on humanizing the information system components that is, treating the components as animate. In this abstraction, software components are like human agents. The abstraction is effective, because people have a lot of experience in dealing with other people, and they can apply their experience to understanding and dealing with complex software. [3] Software agents were first used few years ago to filter information, match individuals with similar interests, and automate repetitive activities. More lately, agents have been applied to e-commerce, encouraging a revolution in the way people conduct transactions in e-commerce. Intelligent agents in e-commerce web sites can carry out many decision making and problem-solving tasks that usually require human intelligence, such as diagnosis, data sorting, planning, or negotiation. They can answer email messages, search the Internet for valuable information, carry out comparisons, or even become electronic pets. O. Etzioni and D.S. Weld [5] defined a software agent as a software entity which functions continuously and independently in a specific environment often occupied by other agents and processes. The requirement for endurance and independence derives from human desire that an agent should be able to do activities in a flexible and intelligent manner reactive to changes in the environment without constant human observation. An agent that functions over a long period of time should be able to implement from its experience. Also, an agent should be able to occupy an environment with other agents and processes, and to be able to communicate and collaborate with them. 2.1 Types of Software Agents Hendler [4] distinguishes four types of agents by function. Problem-solving agents -They do many traditional planning expert systems did, namely collect data, analyze a situation, and make a conforming decision for how to act on the users behalf. Purchasing agents is an example for this category. User-centric agents- These type of agents enable interaction with the user. Also they provide a better user interface by getting knowledge about the users system use preferences and tailoring the interface to the user preferences. Control agents They control the operation of some agents in a multi agent environment. In this context one needs to remember that agents are not only mobile, but also small in size, each with a very specialized capability. Hence, the interaction of several agents might be required to provide sufficient intelligence and capability. These are very progressive agents used in research experimentations. Transaction agents- These agents translate information between different data standards within a unrelated database or file environment. Between these four types, the ones that create contention are problem solving agents specializing in data gathering. They may be aided by transaction agents to access data from numerous data sources and may be controlled by control agents. However, the most important functionality is the ability to collect and analyze information from remote sites. 2.1.1 Characteristics of Software Agents Dependable with the requirements of a specific problem, each intelligent agent might possess to a greater or lesser degree the attributes stating below [5, 6, and 7] Reactivity: the capability of selectively sense and act. Autonomy: goal-directedness, and self-starting behavior. Collaborative behavior: can work in collaboration with other agent to attain a mutual goal. Knowledge-level communication ability: their ability to communicate with human and other agents with language more approaching human-like speech than symbol-level protocols. Inferential capability: can perform on abstract task specification using previous knowledge of general goals and chosen methods to achieve flexibility. Temporal continuity: persistence of uniqueness and state over long time periods. Personality: the ability of exhibiting the attributes of a believable character such as emotion. Adaptively: being able to learn and progress with experience. Mobility: ability to transfer in a self-directed way from one host platform to another. 3. Intelligent Agents in e-Commerce Artificial intelligence (AI) started to play a important role in many leading information systems. In the past, its use of AI has been limited due to its complexity, huge designs and lack of expertise in system developers. AI involvement is now essential in nondeterministic systems such as workflow, data mining, production planning, supply chain logistics, and most lately, e-commerce. Intelligent agent technology is the next logical step in overcoming some shortcomings in e-commerce. Namely, successful computer systems underlying e-commerce require judgment and the knowledge of experts such as buyers, contract negotiators and marketing specialists [8] Also e-commerce covers a broad range of issues; some of them are away from the scope of consumer buying behavior model. There are a variation of theories and models that describes buying behavior, such as the Nicosia model, the Howard- Sheth model, the Engel-Blackwell model, the Bettman information-processing model, and the Andreasen model [9].Acoording to Aleksander Pivk and MatjaÃ…Â ¾ Gams these models all have a comparable list of six fundamental stages of the buying process, which also relevent where agent technologies apply to the shopping experience[8] Identification: In that stage characterizes the buyer becoming aware of particular unmet need by inspiring through product information. Agents can play an significant role for those purchases that are repetitive (supplies) or predictable (habits). One of the oldest and simplest There are many examples in abundant use, one very aware of is a notification agent called Eyes by Amazon.com, which observers the catalog of books for sale and notifies the customer when certain events occur that may be of interest to the customer Brokering: There are two types of brokering namely product brokering and merchant brokering. In product brokering once a buyer has recognized a requirement to make a purchase the buyer has to determine what to buy through a critical evaluation of retrieved product information. There are several agents systems that lower consumers search cost when deciding which products best meets their needs. The result of this stage is a get attention to set of goods. In merchant brokering stage combines the consideration set from the previous stage with merchant-specific alternatives to help determine who to buy from. Negotiation: in this stage of buying behavior, price and other terms of the transaction are settled between merchants and buyers. Real-world scenarios negotiation increases transaction costs that may be too high for either consumers or merchants.. The most of business-to-business(B2B) transactions contain negotiation. Payment and Delivery: this stage can either indicate the end of the negotiation stage or cause to place another order. In some cases, the presented payment or delivery options can affect product and merchant brokering. â‚ ¬Ã‚  Product Service and Evaluation: this post- purchase stage contains of product service, customer service, and an â‚ ¬Ã‚  evaluation of the satisfaction of theâ‚ ¬Ã‚  Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  total buying experience and decision. Considering above five stages, It can be recognized the roles of agents as mediators in e-commerce. The nature of agents makes them suitable for mediating those consumer behaviors involving information filtering and retrieval, personalized evaluations, complex coordination, and time-based interactions. Those roles correspond most especially to the need identification, product and merchant brokering, and negotiation stages of the buying behavior model. 4. Benefits of intelligent agents in e commerce 5. Limitations of Intelligent Agents A major limitation intelligent agent technology using most e-commerce activities is that agents can pose a security risk to remote hosts as well as their original host). A broad discussion of these risks and possible countermeasures is provided to International Journal of Electronic Commerce by T. Mandry ,G.Pernul and A. Rà ¶hm the following possible risks were identified.[9] Stealing data and Illegal access Web agents may try to get access to databases they are not permitted to access or for which there is an access charge. Free use of resources Agents always tries to steal resources from remote hosts. As long as this is in line with accepted protocols, it is an acceptable practice. However, if agents cover-up as alternate processes, they may use insupportable levels of resource. Unauthorized program execution This also known as Trojan horse. Agents can be masquerade and then execute programs that are eventually harmful to the remote hosts. Such Trojan horses attacks have now been used frequently on the Internet.. Data stripping or alteration (by server). Technically it is possible to strip Web agents of their data. This is mostly a concern for a site that sends out agents to remote hosts, but also it could potentially affect other sites. For instance, suppose Buyer has a trusted relationship with both Seller 1 and Seller 2. However, there exists a competitive relationship between the two sellers. An intelligent agent that originates from Buyer and travels to Seller 1 and then to Seller 2 could be stripped by Seller 2 to obtain competitive data about Seller 1. Resource exhaustion resulting in denial-of service -. Web agents can exhaust remote host properties to the point where the remote host can no longer function correctly. Deceitful agent behavior. Agents can mislead other agents or hosts about their intent and can lie about transactions. 5. Discussion This paper describes how intelligent software agent can automate and add value to e-commerce transactions and negotiations. By using intelligent agent based e-commerce techniques, businesses can more effectively and efficiently make decisions since they have more accurate and reliable information and recognize consumers perceptions and behaviors. Benefits and limitations of using intelligent agents in e-commerce are also discussed through this paper.

Non financial factors before decision to discontinue course

Non financial factors before decision to discontinue course As the course used to be popular, there must be certain amount of students have joined for this course. Thus, if Mawar College wants to discontinue this course, they must place their first priority to these students. As what they expected, students will have tons of questions and of course they will feel frustrated and angry. They could even come out with the petition with the hopes that the college could continue running this course before they graduate. Even if the college has decided to discontinue this course, they also have to consider on where they should place these students as they only halfway studying for this course. They have to understand that all these students will absolutely feel unhappy and discontent if the college place them in another course that is not as famous as the course they are studying now. This issue could possibly bother the students and could affect their emotions making them hardly to concentrate well on their studies. (Olejnik and Holschuh 2007) These grievance students will also raise this issue to their parents and again, their parents will call or even pay a visit to Mawar College to identify the reasons and details that halt the course from continuing. However, the college has to remember that not every of these parents are understanding and willing to listen the explanation by management. As being customers, most of them only concern on how much they have already paid and where their children will be placed to. Even some of these parents might argue and quarrel with the college management. When these parents concerns are not being addressed, they might carry out some conducts which could possibly spoil the reputation of the college. For example, these disgruntled parents will start spreading their dissatisfaction about the college because of its failure to meet and satisfy their suspense. (The Associated Press 2010) Recapping above, the image and reputation of Mawar College will be affected and people will start losing confident to the college. Other students might reluctantly register to any courses that run by this college as they worry the same incident might be happening again. Even their parents may discourage them from studying under this college and request them to further their studies in another more reliable college. This has clearly showed that their good impression to the established Mawar College has dashed out and people will hardly believe this college anymore. The Mawar College rankings among other colleges can come to a deep fall and they might face difficulties to gain back their credibility and again be competitive advantage among its competitors. (The Indian Express Limited 2010) Besides of affecting the reputation of the college, the reputation of the well-known University will also be affected. People around the world will start doubting whether the University is having any problems that lead to the discontinuing of the course. University will definitely feel displeasure and will not allow any accusation that will influence its goodwill. This would certainly be a hard job for the college to run any courses under this University in the future since they have break their promises. The University could possibly sue the college if the college breaches the contracts. Hence, the college has to bear the risk of facing legal suits from the University if they have decided to end the course. The college might lose huge amount of money for the purpose to compensate the University because of their doings and this would be a loss to Mawar College. (The Times of India 2010) As the college has already employed a large group of full-time lecturer for this course, thus every of this lecturer will be affected too if the college discontinue the course. They could be appointed in teaching another course and subjects or even discharged by the colleges that will definitely reduce their level of income. Their motivation and enthusiasm in teaching will also decrease due to their dissatisfaction to the college. This could also affect the rest of the college employees and their level of production will start decreasing once they have lost faith to Mawar College. (Race 1999) Other than above, there are still many factors that the college has to realize and take into account before making their decision. As the course used to be famous, I can assume that certain scholarships and loans have been given to some students to further up their studies on this course. Therefore, it would be a tough and complicated task that these students have to gone through for the cancellation of loans or transferring their scholarships if this course has to be stopped. Certain welfare organizations such as Genting Malaysia and Hong Leong Group that provide free scholarships to Mawar College on this course will also feel discontent because it will burden up their works when the students have more enquiries regards on their transferring or cancellation of scholarships. (Sunway University College nd) People that do not understand the reason of why they discontinue the course might also claim that the only intention for the college is to make profits and ignore the future of the students. Thus, all these will trouble the college and they hardly to survive in the market as people and other Universities have lost their reliability to this college. The college might face problems when they have to search and look for other Universities and running their courses because these Universities also dread the same case will be happening again and affects their reputations. Mawar College will also face difficulties in employing high qualification lecturers due to their spoilt image and have no choice but to employ new lecturers without much teaching experiences. As they are new, most of them still could not master the lectures and issues such as the failing of students in exam could possibly occur because they do not know the correct ways of teaching the students. When the students are unable to show their achievements, again the reputation of the college will be affected. (BNET nd) All these clearly show that there are different non financial factors that the college has to consider and it is pertinent to make a correct decision in order to prevent any unforeseen circumstances from happening that could lead them into a deep fall and hardly for them to bounce back in the education industry. Part C Investment appraisal methods are act as a tool for planning an investment and decide whether or not to accept the projects. (Gotze et al 2008) There are a few different investment appraisal methods can be used, including discounted cash flow (DCF), payback, (Smith 2007) and Accounting Rate of Return (ARR) whereby DCF includes the methods of Net Present Value (NPV) and Internal Rate of Return (IRR). The NPV under DCF has been recognized as the sound of all the investment appraisal methods due to its consideration on the time value of money. This time value of money refers to the amount of money that the business need to be compensated for forgoing the use of the money for a period of time if it has to be invested in a project. (Evans et al 2003) NPV is a method of including all the cash inflows and outflows that will be earned and used in a project at a chosen acceptable rate of return and taking the net total. (Evans et al 2003) Even though there are many advantages in using NPV, but payback method and ARR are still widely used and adopted by many businesses due to the limitations brought by NPV and benefits of payback and ARR methods. (Fabozzi and Peterson 2003) The weaknesses that business normally face when using this NPV approach is they hardly to make accurate long-term forecast of cash flows they can receive in the future. No company can predict the future cash flows as factors such as future sales, costs of labor, interest rate, and government policies can affect the estimated cash flows. Overestimation or underestimation can sometimes bring uncountable loss to the business. (Siddiqui and Siddiqui 2005) Further, in reality it is difficult for business to determine the discount rate, which is cost of finance or cost of capital. It is not an easy job to calculate various costs of finance such as share capital and loans. (Coombs et al 2005) They also have to take the bank interest rate, risk and future inflation into account when deciding the cost of capital because the money value of RM1 in the future will be lesser than its today value. (Bowhill 2008) Moreover, NPV method will assume that the discount rate will remain the same throughout the project running periods. But in fact, these discount rates are easily swayed from year to year. Business has to prognosis the future discount rate which sometimes might be a big differences compared to their forecast with the real situation. (Groppelli and Nikbakht 2006) Besides that, NPV also not suitable to be used in the situation when comparing projects with different lives times. (Siddiqui and Siddiqui 2005) They also have a weakness whereby they never take the size or capital invested into account but only look at the higher yield of NPV. (Moyer et al 2009) This can be shown by the example where a project with size RM1 million that yield NPV RM1500 will be recommended compare to other project with capital RM 1000 with a NPV of RM800. (Coombs 2005) Calculation of NPV which is expressed in money form is not favorable by most of the companies compared to percentage form. (Fabozzi and Peterson 2003) Payback method also has been called as payout method (Belkaoui 2001) and it refers to the number of years a project or investment will take to pay back the initial cash outlay. This is only done when the cumulative cash inflows equally same with the cash outflows. (Bowhill 2008) Payback method is still widely used because it offers information regard to the risk of the investment. Risk analysis can be made depends on the payback period of the investment. (Moyer et al 2009) Risks will be dwindled by using this payback method because it focuses on earlier cash flows and not the later cash flows which are hardly to predict especially in this fast pace world. (Walker 2009) The business will face less risk with the shorter payback period and vice versa. (Moyer et al 2009) Furthermore, payback method will clearly show the liquidity of the investment because it measure the net cash earned by the investment in shorter term. (Bowhill 2008) For company that always concern the liquidity of their businesses will definitely adopt this helpful method so they could know whether their businesses are in strong or weak liquidity to perform or carry out any plans or activities. (Moyer et al 2009) This simple to use and easy to understand method (Walker 2009) can be applied especially to small projects where only a simple decision is needed without consider other cash flow implications. (Bowhill 2008) There is no complicated calculation needed and thus many companies find it is the best way to check whether the money invested can be generated back in reasonable period of time. (Groppelli and Nikbakht 2006) Last but not least, ARR is the average annual profits divided by the initial investment and it also known as Return on Investment (ROI) that used for performance appraisal. (Walker 2009) The investment will only be accepted and applied if the ARR was the same or higher than the target rate set by the company. (Bowhill 2008) This percentage form of ARR is easy to compute and understand especially to business people because it sounds familiar as return on capital employed that mostly applied by companies. (Coombs 2005) ARR is always been used due to its consideration on all the returns and whole life of the investment into account. ARR is the only one that is based on the accounting profits and focus on accounting income rather than cash flows. (Belkaoui 2001) The amount and value calculated by ARR also relevant and used for financial statement presentation such as balance sheet. (Shim and Siegel 2004)

Real Politics :: Free College Admissions Essays

I have worked on many political campaigns in my life and I have enjoyed the work but the Virginia Gubernatorial election was a turning point in my life. I was seventeen and this campaign was different, this time I had a lot of responsibility, I was in control of a portion of a city and I was determined to show people that I could make a difference. It was the knowledge that I could make a difference that showed me that I wanted to work in politics either running as a politician or campaigning for one. I will continue to gain experience by volunteering on political campaigns and I will gain knowledge by completing my Bachelor’s degree in political science. This was the day that I decided that I can do more and effect more than I had ever believed possible. It was November sixth and right in the middle of fall. The leaves were changing color, falling off the trees, and the foliage was covering the ground. I remember my parents waking me up at 5am; it was hard for me to wake up because the night before I stayed late working at campaign headquarters and preparing for this day. It was the last day to make a difference; it was Election Day. When I finally got out of my bed it was still dark, I jumped into the shower then picked up a bagel for the road. It was dark and cold outside and my hands were shaking either from being nervous that I wouldn’t do a good job or just the cold weather. It was about a ten minute car ride to where my mother and I would be working for the day. When we arrived we immediately set up the signs, so everyone would know that this was the voting place. My mom went inside the school to meet some of the other people who would be working at the school. Her job was to check off all the people who voted that day. This list would later be given to me so I could relay the information to headquarters. But while she was inside I was still setting up the signs outside. This would be the beginning of a long and frustrating day. As I was putting up the signs I ran into another person who was also putting up signs for our candidate.

Embittered Woman in Great Expectations, A Rose for Emily, and Sunset B

The Embittered Older Woman in Great Expectations, A Rose for Emily, and Sunset Boulevard      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The character of the delusional, embittered older woman is prevalent in literature and movies. Since Dickens created the memorable Miss Havisham in Great Expectations, she has evolved with the times into many other well-known characters, including Miss Emily in Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily" and Norma Desmond in the film Sunset Boulevard. In each of these incarnations, the woman seeks revenge after a man's betrayal prevents her from meeting society's expectations of women, but finds no peace in her bitterness and ends up becoming a shriveled shell of the person she once was. By examining how the Miss Havisham archetype has been reinterpreted, one can see how society's expectations of women have changed and how these changes affect the character.    In Victorian times, a woman's identity and place in society were determined by who she married. The woman was the "angel in the house," bringing moral purity to the household, and often had free time to pursue lighthearted activities such as crocheting and entertaining guests. She was also responsible for raising the children and teaching them to be virtuous, as she was. Without marriage, however, a woman had few opportunities, and became a governess, an old maid, or a prostitute, none of which carried much if any social standing. Thus, a woman's greatest fear was to end up without a husband, especially as a result of some event that brought embarrassment or a stain on her character.    Miss Havisham has a Victorian woman's version of great expectations; she is about to become the epitome of the "angel in the house," a wealthy wife of high societal status, when her dreams... ... like Estella, who are able to survive those prejudices, even a lifetime of negative experiences, and emerge with strength and hope. Though we pity Miss Havisham, Miss Emily, and Norma Desmond, they chose to lock themselves away from the world rather than trying to overcome their situations. Perhaps they could have done something more to help themselves, but it seems that they did not try. Perhaps what makes the difference between an Estella and a Miss Havisham is a rose, one person like Pip who cares enough to reach out and take her hand, and show her that there is hope.    Works Cited    Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations. New York, Penguin Books, 1996.    Faulkner, William. "A Rose for Emily." The Story and Its Writer. Boston, Bedford/St. Martin's, 1996.    Great Expectations. Fox, 1998.    Sunset Boulevard. Paramount, 1949.

Pathos for the Native American Indian Essay

â€Å"Brother, our seats were once large, and yours were very small; you have now become a great people, and we have scarcely a place left to spread our blankets; you have got our country, but are not satisfied; you want to force you religion upon us† (177) Long before the white man appeared, Native Americans owned the great and vast lands, relying on and praising the Great Spirit for sun, rain, and life. Upon crossing the seas, the white man was welcomed and befriended. As the white men grew in numbers, so did their appetite for land and control. The Caucasians brought contention, confusion, distrust, and problems. As though all of this were not enough, they also brought a new, â€Å"superior† religion. Red Jacket, an eloquent chiefly orator, finally spoke up for the Native population in his Speech of Red Jacket, the Seneca Chief to a Missionary. Red Jacket effectively appeals to pathos using comparison, sufficiency, and tone to convince white missionaries that Native Americans do not wish to worship as the white man, to destroy his religion, or to take it from him; but only to enjoy their own. Red Jacket relies on pathos to convince the white missionaries that the Native’s religion must be saved and guarded. Where there was no common ground between the Caucasians and the Indians, Red Jacket chose to relate to his audience through universal human emotions. His speech allows the listener or reader to visualize the injustices felt by a nation of people who had their homelands stolen from them. To convey the importance of saving their religion, Red Jacket compares the Indian’s religion and the Caucasian’s religion. Instead of focusing merely on the Indian’s noncompliance to the white man’s religion; he braces his arguments in describing his own religion. The contrast between the two beliefs is as distinct as the contrast between their skins. Red Jacket opens his speech saying, â€Å"Friend and Brother, it was the will of the Great Spirit that we should meet together this day† (176). He continues  describing the Great Spirit as a great being with immense love for his red children. It is the Great Spirit that brings the sun up each morning and down each night; it is the Great Spirit who created the buffalo, deer, and all other animals; it is the Great Spirit that taught them to hold a great reverence for life and earth. From this description of the Great Spirit, several themes can be seen that coincide between the Indian’s beliefs and their actions. The Native’s compassionate, respectful, and thankful nature correlates with their humble belief in the Great Spirit. Compare that to the Caucasian’s greedy, proud, ethnocentric nature. These traits are contradictory between the their beliefs and actions. By contrasting, Red Jacket shows that the white man’s presentation of Christianity was h ypocritical in that their words conflict with their actions. Red Jacket’s most powerful comparison of the two cultures’ religion is found in his conclusion: â€Å"Brother, if your white men murdered the son of the Great Spirit, we Indians had nothing to do with it, and it is none of our affair. If he had come among us we would not have killed him; we would have treated him well, you must make amends for that crime yourselves† (178). In this inference to the crucifixion, Red Jacket makes a subtle but distinct statement about the difference between the Caucasians and the Indian. In essence, he is saying that only the white man is capable of murdering their own savior; an accusation that undoubtedly solicited a strong reaction. To raise the awareness of the grievous deeds done to the Indians by the Caucasians, Red Jacket uses sufficient evidence of the white man’s dealings with the Natives to exemplify the lies told by the Caucasians to the Indian. He specifically describes the ways in which the white man has taken advantage of the Indians trust to invoke sympathy from the reader. First, Red Jacket effectively leads into his injuries from the white man by illustrating the Indian’s initial hospitality to the Caucasians. Speaking of the Caucasian’s arrival, Red Jacket states: â€Å"They found tribes, and not enemies; they sat down among us. We did not fear them; we took them to be friends; they called us brothers; we believed them† (177). But this first encounter between red and white skin would later be known as an evil day. In  Red Jacket’s words: â€Å"We gave them corn and meat; they gave us poison in return† (177). He tells how the Indians were deceived, giving all they had to the white newcomers who took and took until the Indians had nothing left. The white men crowded them out, claimed their lands, brought with them liquor, contention, and confusion. All of the evidence Red Jacket includes sufficiently shows the reader how the Caucasian stripped the Indian’s of everything, even their culture and religion. Use of such evidence entices the reader’s empathy. Red Jacket is selective in the tone of his text to ensure that he speaks to the white man in equality with respect. Despite the Caucasian’s tendency to talk down to the Native’s, Red Jacket speaks as though on the same level. This equality is apparent throughout the entire text as Red Jacket consistently addresses the white man as â€Å"Brother†. As he was a victim, one would assume that Red Jacket’s reply would be livid, however, he delivers his speech in a very patient, respectful, and firm tone. In doing so, Red Jacket demonstrates an awareness of his audience. He surely knew that speaking words of hostility would only solicit an equal and opposite reaction that would have no chance of fostering change. Never once does he criticize or try to press his own beliefs on the Caucasians; he simply declines to accept Christianity. â€Å"Brother, the Great Spirit has made us all; but he has made a great difference between his white and red children; he has given us a different complexion, and different customs. Since he has made so great a difference between us in other things, why may we not conclude that he has given us a different religion according to our understanding; the Great Spirit does right; he knows what is best for his children; we are satisfied† (178). This exemplifies Red Jacket’s tone in his speech. A level of tolerance can be seen in this quote, which has a pacifying affect on the reader. His firm and civil tone makes his point successfully. Whether or not Red Jacket’s oratory caused much change in the Caucasian’s dealings with the Native Americans, it made a strong statement concerning the Indian’s stance on religious values. His speech is persuasive, considerably due to his ability to play on the pathos of the listener or  reader. In contrasting religions through beliefs and actions, providing sufficient, convincing, and supporting evidence, and speaking in a tone appropriate to his audience; Red Jacket makes it very clear why the Indian’s have no desire to adapt the white man’s religion. Through pathos, he draws the reader’s sentiments to see their case. â€Å"We also have a religion which was given to our forefathers, and has been handed down to us their children. We worship that way. It teaches us to be thankful for all the favours we receive; to love each other, and to be united† (178). In Speech of Red Jacket, the Seneca Chief to a Missionary, it becomes obvious t hat religion is a deep rooted part of Native American culture that should be protected at all costs.

Mattel Case Study

Recently Mattel faced challenges regarding their toys manufactured in China. They found out that these toys made in China have high lead content that can poison children. Mattel immediately recalled these toys, specifically: 253,000 â€Å"Sarge Cars,† â€Å"345,000 batman, 683,000 Barbie and Tanner sets and 1 million Doggie Day Care Sets (iVillage, 2007). Mattel immediately asked their retailers to recall these toys. How did the management of Mattel arrive to this kind of decision in order to solve this problem? This study will examine the decision process. Mattel believes in proper management is important to ensure the success of the company. And to be able to achieve it, a good manager is needed. Managers are vital ingredient of a company’s success because they are the ones responsible i company (Long, 1998). Ethics is also vital in an organization. Several times we hear about organizations being hit by scandal dealing with issues of ethics, integrity and trusty. In reality, several organizations are ethical and are not beset with scandal, lawsuits and investigations. The reason most organizations considered ethical are not dealing with this negative press is because many have instilled a culture of ethics and integrity. Since Mattel believes that ethics will be helpful to their productivity and survival, as contrast to what is perceived on television, for example, where people at all means do whatever they could to achieve something, even if it meant being dishonest. (p. 208) Mary Guy (1990) wrote that individuals who are considerate with regards to making ethical decisions influence the new comers of the organization, and will later on develop their own sensitivity on ethics. (p. 161) Ethics requires the decision maker to consider things based on important values. (p. 5). According to Jacobs and Jaques (1987), the skill requirement at the organizational level requires ethics because it is responsible for the organization’s reputation of their products and services. The company should respond to the social and community needs and it should also be concerned with public relations. (p. 31) The influence of ethics in decision making is crucial because the company or organization judges a situation based on what is morally right and fair for their clients or consumers. Not only will they lose their regulars if they fail, but they will also lose potential patrons (McGregor, 2004). They also base their decisions on how wise it should be. Seldom are there companies who are gearing towards unethical decisions just for the sole reason of achieving a goal (Minor, 2002). Usually, success comes with the right, ethical, decisions; and it has been proven for many years that is why organizations are required to make these sound judgments. References Guy, M.E. (1990). Ethical Decision Making in Everyday Work Situations. Westport, CT: Quorum Books Jacobs, T.O., & Jaques, E. (1987). LEADERSHIP IN COMPLEX SYSTEMS. In J. Zeidner (Ed.). Human Productivity Enhancement: Organizations, Personnel, and Decision Making Vol. 2. Volume: 2, (pp. 7-31). New York: Praeger Publishers Long, B.C. (1998) Coping with Workplace Stress: A Multiple-Group Comparison of Female Managers and Clerical Workers. Journal of Counseling Psychology. 45(1): 65 McGregor, G. (2004, October 8). Service Network. Journal of Counseling Psychology. 45(1): 65 Miner, J.B. (2002) Organizational Behavior: Foundations, Theories, and Analyses. Oxford University Press. New York: Oxford University Press. iVillage.com (2007) Mattel Toys Recalled from China. www.iVillage.com Mattel Case Study Recently Mattel faced challenges regarding their toys manufactured in China. They found out that these toys made in China have high lead content that can poison children. Mattel immediately recalled these toys, specifically: 253,000 â€Å"Sarge Cars,† â€Å"345,000 batman, 683,000 Barbie and Tanner sets and 1 million Doggie Day Care Sets (iVillage, 2007). Mattel immediately asked their retailers to recall these toys. How did the management of Mattel arrive to this kind of decision in order to solve this problem? This study will examine the decision process. Mattel believes in proper management is important to ensure the success of the company. And to be able to achieve it, a good manager is needed. Managers are vital ingredient of a company’s success because they are the ones responsible i company (Long, 1998). Ethics is also vital in an organization. Several times we hear about organizations being hit by scandal dealing with issues of ethics, integrity and trusty. In reality, several organizations are ethical and are not beset with scandal, lawsuits and investigations. The reason most organizations considered ethical are not dealing with this negative press is because many have instilled a culture of ethics and integrity. Since Mattel believes that ethics will be helpful to their productivity and survival, as contrast to what is perceived on television, for example, where people at all means do whatever they could to achieve something, even if it meant being dishonest. (p. 208) Mary Guy (1990) wrote that individuals who are considerate with regards to making ethical decisions influence the new comers of the organization, and will later on develop their own sensitivity on ethics. (p. 161) Ethics requires the decision maker to consider things based on important values. (p. 5). According to Jacobs and Jaques (1987), the skill requirement at the organizational level requires ethics because it is responsible for the organization’s reputation of their products and services. The company should respond to the social and community needs and it should also be concerned with public relations. (p. 31) The influence of ethics in decision making is crucial because the company or organization judges a situation based on what is morally right and fair for their clients or consumers. Not only will they lose their regulars if they fail, but they will also lose potential patrons (McGregor, 2004). They also base their decisions on how wise it should be. Seldom are there companies who are gearing towards unethical decisions just for the sole reason of achieving a goal (Minor, 2002). Usually, success comes with the right, ethical, decisions; and it has been proven for many years that is why organizations are required to make these sound judgments. References Guy, M.E. (1990). Ethical Decision Making in Everyday Work Situations. Westport, CT: Quorum Books Jacobs, T.O., & Jaques, E. (1987). LEADERSHIP IN COMPLEX SYSTEMS. In J. Zeidner (Ed.). Human Productivity Enhancement: Organizations, Personnel, and Decision Making Vol. 2. Volume: 2, (pp. 7-31). New York: Praeger Publishers Long, B.C. (1998) Coping with Workplace Stress: A Multiple-Group Comparison of Female Managers and Clerical Workers. Journal of Counseling Psychology. 45(1): 65 McGregor, G. (2004, October 8). Service Network. Journal of Counseling Psychology. 45(1): 65 Miner, J.B. (2002) Organizational Behavior: Foundations, Theories, and Analyses. Oxford University Press. New York: Oxford University Press. iVillage.com (2007) Mattel Toys Recalled from China. www.iVillage.com

Debut Albums and High Social Status Essay

Different people have different ambitions. I have many ambitions in my life. Some want to be rich. Some wish to become leaders of the country to gain honor. Some desire to be great scientists. There are others who are mainly led by a spirit of adventure. The latest craze among young boys and girls is to go to foreign countries. Their aim in life is to earn a lot of money within a short period. I am a human being. I too have my own ambition. My ambition in life is not wealth, power or high social status. I am too modest a young man to aim at any of these things. My ambitions are simple enough. My first ambition is the service of the poor and the down-trodden. My heart weeps at the sight of people in trouble. I do my best to help those who need my help. And what a joy it is to me to find that I have been of service to someone. To work for others gives me a sort of peace of mind. My second ambition in life is to become a good, hardworking and an honest engineer. Different people have different ambitions. I have many ambitions in my life. Some want to be rich. Some wish to become leaders of the country to gain honor. My ambition in life is not wealth, power or high social status. I am too modest a young man to aim at any of these things. My ambitions are simple enough. My first ambition is the service of the poor and the down-trodden. My heart weeps at the sight of people in trouble. I do my best to help those who need my help. And what a joy it is to me to find that I have been of service to someone. To work for others gives me a sort of peace of mind. My second ambition in life is to become a good, hardworking and an honest engineer.

Commessay

Technology's Impact on Communication With new communication technology being introduced almost daily, the classical definition of how we communicate must constantly be redefined. Conversations now exist in a myriad of formats, most of which have only been around for the past 20 years. Faceable, Twitter, and various other current forms of social media now influence how we communicate. Modern technology offers a sterile virtual environment that lacks physical dimensions such as space and time.Modern immunization has progressed so much since the nineteenth century; we now question what Is real human interaction? Medal constantly evolves, which makes studying It difficult. Mass media greatly effects how we perceive other cultures, communities, and ourselves. The Invention of the telegraph, telephone, and radio transformed society In the 1 9th century. The Invention of the Internet changed how humans communicate forever. Unlike the others the Internet has become interwoven into our lives. The invention of smart phones and other Internet capable mobile devices ensures constant connectivity.We are now connected to Mass Media for the majority of our waking hours. News of earthquakes to wars around the world instantly zaps into our pockets regularly. Media directly influences how we create our own personal identity and how we perceive others. According to Michael Bugged author of Interpersonal Divide, media even shapes how we understand our own social identity. Constant connectivity gives us the freedom to control where we put our attention. People text and go on their emails during meetings. We use Faceable while out with friends.Now we create our own experience editing, deleting, and thus touching our thoughts and Ideas that we share. Faceable and Twitter offer us a perception of reality customized to our individual tastes and views. If we can live our lives only paying attention to what we chose to us will well miss something important? The novel Interpersonal Divide by Michael Bugged takes a critical analysis of how modern forms of technology have eroded our sense of community. Budge]a ask the question, â€Å"If electronic communication keeps us wired to the world.Why, then do so many feel displaced in the global village? Modern communication offers such a did array of conveniences, but distances us from our humanity. E. B White, of The New Yorker 1948: Television hangs on the questionable theory that whatever happens anywhere should be sensed everywhere. If everyone is going to be able to be see everything, In the long run all sights may lose whatever rarity value they once possessed, and It may well turn out that people, being able to see and hear practically everything, will be specially Interested In almost nothing. White 3) Mass media and its 24-hour news coverage perpetuate stories from around the world to its unman condition as portrayed by television. Bugged says overexposure to current forms of media may leave us unsympathetic or uni nterested in everything around us. We choose to spend more time with our electronic devices, and not with each other. Children say, â€Å"l love you† to there parents through text messages. Bugged believes modern forms of communication have not only changed society, but also us as individuals.The Internet offers us a way of customizing our experience in society, giving us the freedom to choose our interactions. He believes that humans seek acceptance and the Internet offers that. Without acceptance, we feel unloved. Without love we feel afraid. Lacking time, space, and form the Internet narrows perception and caters to our desires. Without the sense of community we feel unfulfilled we lose essential interpersonal communication skills. The real and virtually real blend so well that we cannot properly ascertain what is genuine from what is not.With all the technological advancements something as simple as tone cannot be properly communicated through cyberspace. In rigid text co nversation often the meaning of what we are trying to say to each other gets lost. Bugged believes cyberspace lacks authenticity, citing that private enterprise controls what we do and see. All technology in its infancy suffers from public ridicule and change. The biggest difference now is that change has happen in such short period of time. The printing press made millions literate, but put copy scribes out of business.The telegraph helped war become more strategic, but made war more violent. The radio made current events current to everyone, but instilled inherent fear into everyone. All these innovations came with great change to how we communicate. Today we can only speculate what negative changes the Internet will bring to society. We know the convenience the Internet brings, but what about the negative impacts? The Internet has changed the nature of entertainment, business, government, stock trading, and much more. 5000 years ago the invention of written language allowed peopl e to communicate, without needing to be face-to-face.Early Mesopotamia would scribe onto walls of caves messages to their counterparts, thus creating the first virtual reality. The printing press of the fifteenth century made it possible for hosannas of people receive the same information at the same time thus creating Mass Media. Telegraphs made direct communication possible at long distances, while telephones and radio let us communicate verbally. These technologies changed how society operated much like the invention of the Internet would in the twentieth century.Rapidly integrating into every facet of our lives the Internet has changed society faster then any of the other forms of media. Cyberspace offers us convenience and control like we've never experienced before. Being able to see your Ovid ones faces when you tell you are getting married, from 500 miles away now seems ordinary. The Internet allows us to get directions to a restaurant, check table availability, and the mana ger on staff all while brushing our teeth. We drive cars that now require Internet connectivity to function. We say things like â€Å"Google it† to prove our points in conversation.We even sleep with our mobile connected devices. People now sit in Social gatherings like Bars and parties in complete silence; we are now together yet alone. Joshua Moneywort, No Sense of place: The evolution of media has creased the significance of physical presence in the experience of people and physically present; one can communicate â€Å"directly' with others without meeting in the same place. As a result, the physical structures that once divided our society into many distinct spatial settings for interaction have been greatly reduced in social significance. Moneywort 2) With technology making virtual direct communication possible, interpersonal communication skills are needed more than ever. Often limiting non-verbal communications like touch, posture, and smell virtual immunization only offers a small percentage of the complexity of a face-to-face conversation. Large companies like Faceable and Apple continuously morph and change how they conduct business. Interpersonal contact is multidimensional; it exists in a specific time and place. Contact is the basic component of community in human relationships.The Internet alters our perception of the world and our place in it. We over indulge in technology isolating ourselves from humanity. As society grows and become more complex so must technology. We must ask the question of when does technology stop and society begin? Bugged says: The transformation of society from the real to the virtually real has been occurring since the nineteenth century, affecting how we perceive others and their cultures, communities, priorities, activities, and whereabouts. Bugged 1) The media offers a glance into other cultures and community virtual reality is not a new concept. What Bugged is trying to say is that now we are becoming satura ted with medias influence. Just about every facet of our lives now has some sort of device that offers some sort of prescribed convenience. Modern technology helps control our daily lives to an extent never thought possible. As a result, the way companies conduct their business has changed. New technology usually means a restructure in the labor force; the difference now is the speed in which it has happened.In 1994 roughly 3 million people, mostly Americans had Internet access, the fugue that increased to 26 million the next year roughly doubling every year after till the year 2000. Companies have downsized and implemented technology to replace its human workers. From automated call centers to online tech support, business has downplayed the importance of interpersonal costumer service. Not only is business lacking in human- to-human interaction, we are too. Small mobile devices like the phone can do everything, even tell you a Joke.Society has evolved quicker in the last 20 years than ever before. Over the past 10 years, studies of mobile communication has shown, those devices in our pockets, are so psychologically powerful that they don't only change what we do, they change who we are. Things we do now only a few years ago we would consider odd or strange, now seem familiar. We check our devices first thing the morning, before even saying hello to our loved ones. We have minor anxiety attacks when our phone battery dies. We take short breaks during social periods to check our Faceable and Twitter feeds.We feel it necessary to take pictures and update statuses of every waking minute of our lives. I share therefore I am. Technology has created an alternative society- one that is digital, a society where we can create our own persona and manage our identity. A world where we can control how our peers perceive us. Relationships are complex and varied, the Internet is linear and sterile; can it truly replace face-to-face interaction? We should not rely on Edie a nd technology to attain enduring relationships, which interactions and today pales in comparison to face-to-face communication.Technology can be the links through which we engage and befriend each other but to establish true relationships we must learn how to balance between the two societies. The classical definition of how we communicate has been redefined. Conversations now exist in a myriad of formats, most of which have only been around for the past 20 years. Current forms of social media now influence how we communicate. Modern technology offers a sterile virtual environment that lacks physical dimensions such as pace and time.Bugged calls attention to the problem that develops when we spend too much time in cyberspace rather than in real society. Constant connectivity gives us the freedom to control where we put our attention. The media and virtual communication shapes how we understand our own social identity. Overexposure to the media may leave unsympathetic or uninterested in everything around us. These days, those devises in our pockets are changing our minds and hearts offering us gratification. One, that we can put our attention wherever we want it to be; two, that e will always be heard; and three, that we will never have to be alone.

Particularities of Starting a Small Business Assignment

Particularities of Starting a Small Business - Assignment Example In addition, business financial statements are existent to assist the owners of businesses and decision makers and are the leading business planning function (Drucker 83). For a business to grow, the business financial statements should establish the finest forms of costs, benefits of every form of finance, available finance, the responsibility of financial markets in providing finance, and the risk connected to finance. These financial statements are employed to give insight into a business’ debts and asset at a given time. Apart from that, the information on the shareholder’s equity in the business is also incorporated. A balance sheet also indicates the abilities and strengths of a business. Moreover, the balance sheet evaluates the decrease or increase in the business value from time to time. The balance sheet appraises the asset and liability composition, the value of retained earnings, and the relative equity financing and proportion of debt (Drucker 84). Income statement provides information that concerns the business income earned in a given time. In addition, income statements illustrate the expenses of the business in acquiring the shareholder earnings and income per share. More often than not, income statements give a record of incomes after a year (Drucker 86). Every expense in the income statement should be equal to the business and its functions. Cash flow statements grant an evaluation of money movement in and out of business. Cash flow statements are essential in deciding whether or not a business has the adequate finance to handle expenses, acquire assets, and pay bills (Drucker 87). The cash flow statements entail information from financial activities, operating and investing. Various entrepreneurs find fault in building forecast with the perception that it takes too much time; time that could be used for business transactions instead of planning.  

You Decide Week 3 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

You Decide Week 3 - Assignment Example According to the integrated patrol strategy, the patrol officers are provided the opportunity of identifying the solutions to the problems. For instance, it has been mentioned in the case that case-to-fruition mentality is developed in which the lieutenants and sergeants continuously reviewed the crime data and then worked with the patrol officers to work out the problems. All those cases that required follow-up were returned to the patrol officers who responded to the cases before they were sent to the investigators; each officer was given the responsibility of doing the necessary investigation and ensuring that the crimes within the specific patrol area were resolved. Since every organization has to make some changes in its operations to enhance the productivity and efficiency of its employees, it is important for it to ensure that resistance to change is kept to a minimal level. In this case, the high resistance is expected from the patrol officers as they will have to increase their efforts to implement the new strategy in their working behavior. The biggest challenge will be to train the officers to develop an understanding about the process of using data in resolving a crime. Since they have been trained in solving cases on the basis of their expertise and own judgments; the new system will mandate them to seek help from the sergeants and lieutenants for solving a case. Besides that there is already an excessive burden on the patrol offices, giving them an additional responsibility that can develop a de-motivating feeling in them. In order to handle the resistance when implementing the new strategy, the Chief will have to first arrange a meeting with the entire team of patrol officers so that he can brief them about the need of implementation of this new strategy and he should also ask them to give their recommendation on dividing the work so that everyone can work smoothly and flexibly. When patrol

The ten faces of innovation IDEO's Strategies for defeating the Essay

The ten faces of innovation IDEO's Strategies for defeating the Devil's Advocate and Driving Creativity Throughout Your Organization Thomas Kelley, Jonathan - Essay Example Kelley does so by describing the way in which an innovation team can be built and function, providing numerous examples of application of these concepts. The introduction sets the scene by singling out the "devil's advocate approach" as the worst enemy of innovation, before defining three groups of roles, or "personas" which typically constitute a successful innovation-oriented activity. In a manner reminiscent of other team role models defined in organizational behavior, Kelley names the groups "learning", "organizing" and "building" personas. It is the learning group, which is the focus of the first three chapters. First the Anthropologist's role is discussed, where the key to beginning successful innovation is un-blinkered perception of how people behave. The theme continues with the Experimenter, whose accelerated failure allows for faster progress towards the goal, before closing with the Cross-Pollinator, adept at applying concepts from one area to a completely different one. Following this is the organizing group, again with one role per chapter. The Hurdler is the problem-solver, the Collaborator brings people together for a result and the Director sets the pace, the direction and the goals. The chapter on the last group, "building", open wi... The Caregiver is tasked with making it easier for the customer to transition to a new innovative context and the Storyteller, the final persona, enhances the motivation and the bonding of the team to produce real and useful innovation. The book closes with a final chapter with some general pointers on succeeding in innovation. The strength of the book lies in the very attainable possibility of replicating the innovation system that it describes. Kelley expresses the concepts and methods in terms that are related to everyday business life and does not make any excessive demand on the reader's intellect. The "cookbook" approach also allows readers to review their own organizations and to pinpoint any particular areas of weakness or malfunction. In a sense, the strength of the book is also its weakness: managing 10 different role models in a fast-moving business environment is a complex task and requires considerable energy. A section on a minimalist approach with ease of application would have been welcome, all the more so in that chapters on some roles (Director for example) appear to have been "padded" with more generic material. In addition, the transversal or underlying nature of certain personas notably in the organizing group could be further developed to enhance practical application. However Kelley makes a valid contribution to business in general with a workable innovation system underpinned by his own real experience. In the field of organizational behavior in particular, Kelley contributes at a micro-organizational level, mostly by charting the development of individual contributor roles, but also to some extent

Art & beauty Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Art & beauty - Essay Example By 1920s people started to take sunbath for leisure and a healthy and beautiful look. Beauty is an idea which changes with the matter of time. Historically, people had a standard that well-fed bodies are beautiful and with the changing time slim bodies have become a sign of beauty. It is a common saying in this world that beauty hails from art. Sensible art and media is the creation of selections arranged by an artist or media maker. Whereas these metaphors can provide us a fine idea of what people consider or think is beautiful, the metaphors do not essentially provide us a good plan of what people actually seem to be like. For instance, newspapers and television nowadays do not truly symbolize a precise sample of people in the actual world. In the olden times art was predicted as a base of beauty; quite a few even avowed that natural beauty is subsidiary to artistic beauty. Plato, conversely, divided art and beauty into two self-determining thoughts: genuine beauty reflects reality , whereas art is a misleading simulation of nature. Aristotle, by difference, held that good art is beautiful and that, consequently, the two are indivisible: a great work of art is an attractive work. The Aristotelian aesthetic belief succeeded for centuries, but it was the eighteenth century that provided growth to the concept that forming beauty is the necessary point of art (Freeland, pg 31-40). Kant holds that great art is beautiful, though it fluctuates appreciably from natural beauty: a good work of art is a beautiful image. An image can be beautiful even if its topic is not beautiful (Freeland, pg 10-15) Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) squabbles that beauty is the necessary trait of art, and natural beauty is a likeness of artistic beauty (Harold, 1972). In this view, beauty reflects deliberate creation, not minor results of sightless, natural forces. Aesthetic refers to someone's personal idea of what is beautiful. It can also be said as an individuals own taste and judgment of things. It is the theoretical idea of what beauty really is. Similarly in the case of arts one also uses his own personal idea to judge how beautiful one piece of art is. There has been a debate since the beginning of this world on the subject of aesthetics. Kant famously related aesthetics with the subject of arts. In his view a good view about aesthetics depends upon the originality and the beauty of the art works. While on the other hand David Hume gave his own perception about Aesthetics (Freeland pg 8-10). It stated that the view about the artworks depends upon an individuals own taste and culture. Aesthetics is directly related to arts when it comes to the appreciation of a work. Aesthetics may help one to realize the beauty of a piece of art. Q. What is art Why we value art so much. Freeland supports the "cognitive" concept of art--which, in her observation, holds that art is parallel to language as it "communicates complex thoughts." This is a doubtful suggestion, because it entails that art first and foremost occupies a straight transfer of information or awareness. At any rate, it is primarily fiction and drama between the arts that can pass on "complex thoughts," however infrequently as unambiguously as expository prose (Freeland, pg 148-155). The expression concept, according to Freeland, holds that art talks "something in the realm of feelings and emotions"--a vision she discovers too restraining. Art, she indicates,

Philosophy of Ethics Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Philosophy of Ethics - Research Paper Example The case revolves around these issues of integrity and the morality and ethics tied to making accommodations for racism and giving in to the racist biases of clients and their communities when making consulting and business decisions (Chapter 21, n.d., pp. 203-204) The first ethical problem has to do with the ethics of Mr. Wileys insistence that hiring a black consultant for the job at the hotel would not sit well with a backward community as the one that is present in the island. It is backward in the sense that it is unable to tolerate having a Black person doing the work, regardless of the persons qualifications, and regardless of the fact that Mr. Wiley respects Lenore and the consulting team that she has. The ethical problem here can be distilled into a question: Is it ethical to not hire a person because of his color/race, even though he is the most qualified for the work? The second ethical problem emanates from the first one. When Mr. Wiley insisted that hiring a Black consultant will not work, Lenore succumbs and recommends a white consultant instead, even though Dave Maverick, the black person, is the most qualified by her own professional estimation. The ethical problem is is it ethical for Lenore to give in to the demand of Mr. Wil ey and make a recommendation based on skin color rather than on who is best qualified for the work? (Chapter 21, n.d., pp. 203-204) There are two sets of stakeholders here that are relevant for the purposes of the ethical analysis, one set consisting of the hotel employees, guests and the Elura residents surrounding the hotel, as well as the guests; and the other set consisting of the consultants working for Lenore. Taking a step back, the ethical theories to guide the analysis center on Kantian ethics and Kants theory of duty. According to Kant, that which is moral or ethical is that which is dictated by our duties, meaning that an action is deemed right or wrong depending on

Application of the principles of health and safety to the operating Essay

Application of the principles of health and safety to the operating theatre environment - Essay Example The operating department practitioner (ODP) should be alert to any fears or apprehensions expressed by the patient and transmit such information to the surgeon (Lyons, 1997). The patient and his family should be encouraged to communicate freely with the physician. The preparation and care of the patient before surgery has one major goal to promote the best possible physical and psychological state of the patient prior to surgical therapy. To achieve this goal, the patient’s individual needs must be ascertained and his strengths and limitations evaluated. A plan of care can then be developed to assist the patient in adjusting physically and emotion ­ally to the surgical experience. Preparation for surgery should begin as soon as the patient is told that an operation is necessary. The anticipation of any surgical procedure will result in an emotional reaction  ­of some kind, and much can be done to allevi ­ate fears prior to admission as well as during hospitalization. The patient’s reaction will depend on many factors, including his person ­ality structure and his pattern of reaction to stressful events in the past. A surgical operation is a stressful situation in which the patient may believe that he is in danger of acute pain, serious damage to the body, disability, and death. In addition there is a fear of the unknown. This can be compli ­cated by fear of anesthesia or fear of separa ­tion from activities, family, and friends. The average patient also worries about financial problems, family responsibilities, and em ­ployment status. Anxiety will usually increase as the time for surgery draws near. The ODP can assist the patient, his fami ly, and surgical personnel by listening to the patient and helping him to verbalize his fears. Often the patient only wants the opportunity to acknowledge his fears to a caring, under ­standing, and accepting person (Saylor, 1975). The evening before surgery the