Nj carrers

www.njcarrers.com   is   a   web   directory   of   its   kind   that   claims   to   provide   career   related   information,   when   you   need   it.   Unlike   casual   surfing   on   the   net,   when   one   is   looking   for   crucial   information,   the   approach   is   to   locate   what’s   true   and   up   to   date. Njcareers.com   comes   across   as   such   a   website. However,   with   the   good,   there   are   a   few   thorns   that   hurt   the   eye. The   first   thing   to   note   about   njcareers.com   is   that   it   Ã‚  is   compact   and   aims   to   provide   a   great   deal   of   information , which   is   the   objective   of   any   web   directory.   The   information   is   clearly   listed   under   precise   categories. There   are   popular   categories   and   links   on   the   home   page   that   cover   a   variety   of career   topics   such   as   job   search,   career opportunities,   career education,   top   companies,   work   at   home,   and   more. So   the   site   works   well   enough   as   a   one-stop   resource   for   links   to   other   websites   relevant   to   the   search   that   is   being   conducted.   Titled   www.njcareers.com,   it   leads   one   to   rightly   assume   that   the   directory   concerns   itself   with   being   a   resource   pool   for   career   opportunities.   The   website   has   links   to   several   websites   on   as   many   topics   related   to vocational   help,   education,   employment   etc.   Thus,   it   is   absolutely clear   why   the   website   exists   and   exactly   what   information   it   is   trying   to   provide. However,   the   website   is   a   maze   and   a   tad   confusing!   The   main   Ã‚  page   displayed   no   doubt   provides   ample   number   of   links   to   websites   that not   only   provide you   career   options and   job   openings,   but   information   regarding specializations,   career skills,   business schools,   training   and   work   at   home   opportunities,   but   there   is   no   link  Ã‚   back   to   the   home   page. You   may   continue   from   page   to   page,   but   there   is   no   way   of   getting   back   to   where   you   started, other   than   continuously   clicking   â€Å"back†Ã‚   on   the   browser   window.   Moreover,   explanatory   text   is   missing. There   is   no   clue   as   to   the   aim,   vision   and   objective   of   the   website,   which   must   be   mentioned   on   the   home   page   to   assure   a   visitor   that   you   mean   business!   Furthermore,   the   inclusion   of   separate   tabs   for   career   related   articles,   forums   etc   would   have   been   quality   additions   to   the   website. Next,   there   is   no   â€Å"About Us†Ã‚   or   â€Å"Contact Us†Ã‚   page   included   in   the   website,   which   means,   there   is   no   way   of   finding  Ã‚   out   who   made   the   website.   There   is   no   contact   information  Ã‚   either,   such   as   the   physical   address,   phone   number   or   even   an   e-mail.   There   is   also   no   clue   as   to   when   the   website   was   last   updated. These   factors   seriously   affect   the   credibility   of   the   website. A   good   point   to   be   noticed   is   the   uniformity   of   colour   and   font   throughout   the   website.   The   pages   within   the   website   do   look   similar   and   the   spacious   backdrop   and   organized   listing   of   categories,   gives   the   consumer   a   clear   view   of   what   information   is   available   to   him.   In   addition,   the   content   though   minimalist,   is   superior   with   no   spelling   or   grammar   errors.   Also,   adding   to   the   quality   of   the   website   is   the   fact   that   it   is   free   of   any   advertisement   banners,   and   thus   seems   unbiased   as   a   web   directory.   Although   the   website,   for   reasons   already   stated,   confuses   as   to   its   objective,   it   is   ea sy   to   find   the information   one   needs,   right   on   the   very   first   page. Njcareer.com   is   definitely   usable   and   accessible   if  Ã‚   a   visitor   manages   to   get   past   the   first   confusion.   It   definitely  Ã‚   has   links   to   information   that   the   visitor   may   want   to   get   a   look   at.   The website   is   uncluttered,   fast   but   also   dull and   unattractive.   It   does   not   look   like   a   fun,   interactive   place   to   be!   It   is   easy   to   navigate   but   only   going   forward   without   any   links   to   the   home   page   or   any   other   main   page   of   the   website. Also,   the   lack   of   a   sitemap   may   irritate   any   visitor! www.njcareers.com   can   definitely   do   better   to   increase   the   number   of   visitors   to   the   website   and   make   it   easier   for   the   users   to   readily   find  Ã‚   what   they   are   looking   for,   thus   enhancing   their   overall   experience.   This   will   encourage   more   and   more   return   visits!   Students,   professionals,   businessmen   and   homemakers   can   actively   use   the   sight,   once   the   tiny   flaws   have   been   rectified.   www.njcareers.com   will then   operate   as   an   efficient   online   career   information   service   provider,   which   is   not   only   enjoyable   but   in   which   visitors   can   have confidence. References www.njcareers.com/   

Online Teacing vs. Classroom Teaching Essay

Although it is very traditional for teachers to teach in a classroom, online teaching is rapidly becoming a very important factor in most colleges. Even though teaching in a classroom has its advantages, online teaching also has its advantages as well. Me personally, I would prefer to be in a classroom with an instructor teaching a class. This is because many individuals feel a stronger connection with their teachers and classmates when they are able to interact face to face. It benefits many individuals to see good teaching practices being demonstrated by their own teachers. Teachers can also evaluate the different ways individuals are able to communicate. Also, students are trained hands-on according to the standards and regulations of their state, and can be confident of meeting their state’s requirements. Online classes are gaining more and more legitimacy and are fast becoming a legitimate alternative to traditional classes. It’s a great asset because all students are required to participate in the class, and participation can be measured objectively. Therefore, nobody can skulk in the back of the room and not talk or dominate the conversation. Classes can also be taken from anywhere that has computer access, so people don’t have to put off their education because of distractions or lack of school access. Online courses emphasize reading, writing and discussion elements that are proven to be effective, and that students can use in their own classrooms. Students can do their classes and coursework at any time that is convenient, especially when traditional classes don’t meet. Plus in today’s society computer literacy is more and more a requirement on many jobs and in some classroom settings and online classes requires that students become computer literate. Online classes tend to train future workers for general requirements that are accepted in every state. A student might be trained for certification in almost any state by taking online classes. The question of online teaching programs versus traditional teaching programs isn’t usually a question of which offers the better education, but which education serves the student’s needs better. For those looking to be in that classroom environment, traditional might be better, but for those who have concerns over distance, convenience, or class participation, online classes may provide a solution that works for everyone.

Conservative Nostalgia in the United States of America Essay

Conservative Nostalgia in the United States of America - Essay Example On the other hand, conservatives hugely assume and believe that every individual should be responsible; there should be free markets, limited or minimum government intervention, a rigid and firm national defence personal liberty and those ancient American values (Lipsman 129). They more emphasize that the function of the government is to grant the individuals or citizens the freedom to fulfil their own goals and ambitions. The major points that are going to be discussed in this essay are the arguments that conservatives usually want and discuss whether if there reasons are valid and try to compare them with government policies and the liberals’ arguments. Most authors have come up with different ideas and opinion to justify the differences between the conservatives and the liberals and this essay is focused to bring out the arguments between the two sides, firstly, according to Lipsam, conservatives are usually focused on preventing the negative results and are better organize d whereas liberals concentrate on being creative and they are open minded and usually concentrate on positive outcomes (Lipsman 37). Generally, Anderson believes that conservatives have very strong motivation compared to liberals who focuses on preservation of purity and cleanliness this is evidenced where by conservatives are quicker, efficient hence letting up their ideologies, whereas liberals are effortful and deliberate hence there difference in ideologies too(Anderson 10). In this essay we are going to discuss some of the factors.

With reference to two areas of knowledge discuss the ways in which Essay

With reference to two areas of knowledge discuss the ways in which shared knowledge can shape personal knowledge - Essay Example The question of how personal knowledge can effectively have an influence on shared knowledge can be answered through a careful observation of the structure of both subjects. It is first however crucial to understand what shared knowledge is as well as its relationship to personal knowledge. Shared knowledge can be described as the collective knowledge of a society with regards to both standardized and overall subjects that affect individuals as a group. It can be seen as shared opinions between a group or groups of people that are usually held as a collective belief. This shared knowledge is normally passed on from generation to generation and thus become a popular point of view over a period (Lagemaat 54). They are, however, subject to change under various circumstances that would affect the society’s views as a whole. These circumstances may be caused by an individual(s) actions, or events that take place in a society completely rocking the fabrication of a previous notion. It can be argued that shared knowledge does in fact effectively affect the personal knowledge that develops in an individual. This is due to the rise and development of both matters and their effect on society. Shared knowledge can be seen as the foundation of the initial societal information that is passed on to an individual. From this shared knowledge and a collection of personal experiences, an individual is thus able to gradually develop their opinions. The fact remains that shared knowledge is indeed the first informational encounter that an individual experiences, and thus cannot be negated from the equation forming an individual’s personal knowledge (Heydon and Jesudason 13). A good example supporting this hypothesis would be the learning curve of a child since birth. When one is brought into the world, their primary source of knowledge is their guardians. Their guardians in turn retrieve their information form what can be seen as

Coke is good for our health or not Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Coke is good for our health or not - Essay Example When I changed clients, the situation was a little different from the new client’s workplace. There was no soda to get hooked to. I resulted to carrying several cans to the workplace and even get into the same queues that I used to pride myself as not participating in. At this point, I was getting a little concerned about my Coke addiction, and I started searching online for the negative effects of not just Coke too much fructose corn syrup. It is while I was reading the effects of excess fructose corn syrup that I discovered that fructose can also serve as an alternative to beer and cane sugar. I later realized that the type of addiction that an individual can experience in terms of Coke drinking can almost match the type of addiction from an alcoholic addiction perspective. In my research, it became evident that Coke is not a good beverage as we are supposed to believe. The highly consumer friendly classifieds are nothing but marketing gimmicks aimed at gaining public support by portraying Coke as a healthy beverage. Of concern to me was that high fructose diet often converts into fat as compared to any other sugar. According to experts and the opinion I read online, this high conversion rate into fats is the major cause of weight gain. Just looking around, I could notice that a lot of people in the streets were overweight. More specific is that most people line in queues at fast-food joints displayed a similar character trait, that of being overweight. Could there be a connection between Coke addiction and weight gain? The answer is yes. One specific example from an online website detailed how the Diabetes Prevention Program at Louisiana State University Medical Center explained to International Congress on excess weight that it was the introduction of excess fructose corn syrup that obesity cases started to increase. In my

Reaction paper of Ideoligy explore in venezuela Essay

Reaction paper of Ideoligy explore in venezuela - Essay Example Given its huge oil resources Venezuela should ideally command a lot of respect internationally as a economically stable state. This however doesn’t seem to be true with the larger percentage of it’s population living below the poverty line. At the time president Chavez took over the rains around 70% of the population was below the poverty line. It was expected and hoped that this condition would change. This however did not happen largely due to the ideologies adopted by the government. The gap between the rich and the poor is just too big considering the massive capabilities that the country has. The very thing that should generate prosperity seems to be driving the disparity. Oil should be good for any given country but when combined with corruption which is rampant in the country then the effects can be catastrophic as they are in this country. The oil industry is controlled by the rich and affluent political class. This class is well known for the greed with which they want to line their pockets with more wealth. They rarely consider the poor. The oil industry is very labour intensive which contributes for the high unemployment rates. Another factor that fuels this state is the fact that the country for the most part is dependent on imports which has never made it easy for any economy. Add to this the fact that every citizen is always trying to enrich themselves. Hoarding of these imported goods is rampart driving inflation in the country high (Dunaway 55). The high prices cause the government to try and rectify this and the most popular way for them is to make more money fuelling inflation. This inflation seems the poorer even poorer. One would argue that the best way to cure this would for a total overhaul the ideologies prevalent in the political class. Them being the main stakeholders in both the economy and the social level they are the ones who would drive any change in the country, ideological or otherwise. They need to

Organizational error that caused the failure of the space shuttle Essay - 1

Organizational error that caused the failure of the space shuttle Challenger launch - Essay Example Vaughan argues that NASA managers did not break any rules unlike reported before rather abided by them a bit too strictly. She has pointed out that rather it were the rules that kept on getting more and more accommodative each time a mission was accomplished successfully. Thus rules expanded like a rubber band, enclosing more and more dangers which previously turned out to be false assumptions. It was NASA’s culture where something which has worked once was assumed to work every time. O-ring seals were not a new problem but the previous successful launches prepared the managers’ mind that it is an acceptable risk. She argues that rather than developing new paradigms for unexpected consequences, people change the paradigms to accommodate the consequence or discard them at all. According to her, the same happened in the case of O-ring erosion where the risk level was reduced as the risk did not turn out to be as grave as previously thought. However the reduction in gravit y did not mean that the risk cannot become grave once coupled with some other risks. The O-ring erosion, sub-optimal temperatures & unexpected wind shears, all risks were expected to be less than grave, in the original paradigms but people failed to develop new paradigm for the combination. She has agreed that Challenger’s Disaster was a normal accident (p. 415) & normal accident always happen because of failure to develop new paradigms in extremely complex organization.

Childhood model Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Childhood model - Essay Example Obese children should learn from healthy children through observation. In addition, they should be encouraged to adapt the requisite behaviors. Lastly, they should believe in their ability to change. Social cognitive theory came about because of the work conducted in the field of social learning theory advocated by Miller and Dollard in 1941. The theory has been applied in marketing where celebrities are used to introduce a product to a given demographic. A good example is the use of Drogba as the brand ambassador for Samsung in Africa. Students who perform well are rewarded with presents at the end of the academic year while those who exhibit good behavior are rewarded with leadership positions. The influence of the media is associated with social cognitive theory. People embrace behavior that is rewarded and shun what is punished (Ross, Lepper and Ward, 2010). Social cognitive theories are applied in the training of nurses and in their day-to-day responsibilities. Self-efficacy highlights an individual’s confidence in his or her ability to perform and master tasks. A student with a higher self-efficacy handles the Foley catheter with relative ease while one with a low self-efficacy would struggle handling

Natural sister Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Natural sister - Essay Example condary intervention in the case of the disaster would include laboratory testing and x-ray imaging in order to detect internal fractures and metabolic upsets. For example, the nurses in Haiti could use X-ray images to identify broken limbs. The testing enables nurses to make well-versed diagnoses and thus offer effective treatment. Tertiary intervention involves follow-up activities that nurses can engage in after treating an incident. In this case, the nurses would conduct physical examinations especially for broken limbs and laboratory tests for other metabolic problems. The intervention is easier if access to health care services for victims is streamlined. The above intervention would be ideal in the response phase of the disaster. The reasoning is that at this stage, the health hazards can be determined. In addition, it is impossible to ascertain the level of damage before a disaster. The response requires a collective effort of the public, government and civil societies. The government plays a bigger role in ensuring that the medical services reach all the people affected by the disaster and ensuring availability of medical

Put the best subject you fell its good Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Put the best subject you fell its good - Essay Example The film portrays mistreatment due to sexual orientation and gender. In the film, Brandon had not accepted herself as a girl and she groomed herself as a man and even dressed like a man. Before being raped, Brandon had declined Lotter’s love advances and this led Lotter together with Marvin to rape her at Nebraska (Pierce, 1999).The two men before had trailed Brandon to the bathroom and assaulted her by hitting her in the head and ribs. The two men seemed not happy with her sexual orientation to the extent that they pulled her pants and underwear down in front of people for everyone to see her true identity (Pierce, 1999). In fact, after beating her, Lotter and Marvin sliced their initials on her face to show male dominance and to portray her as weak. The two men also delight in revealing the genitals of Brandon. The film shows the two men pulling Brandon out to their vehicle, drove to a remote area and raped her. It is also after this rape that they brutally beat her and told her not to tell anyone (Pierce, 1999). When she went to report the matter to the police, the police asked her about the turn of events. It is these proceedings that show absence of diversity due to mistreatment because of sexual orientation (Pierce, 1999). Additionally, when Brandon went to record a statement with the authorities, Deputy Laux asked her why she dressed like a man and socialized with women and not men. Brandon felt that she was not being treated equally and she cancelled her follow-up appointments with the Deputy (Pierce, 1999). Some of these diversity issues presented in this film can have detrimental effects on the society. Discrimination against sexual orientation is particularly damaging and can be the root cause of other evils within the society. Through reference to the Boys Don’t Cry film, discrimination against an individual may have physical and emotional impact on the affected individuals. This may leave

Legal philosophy Essay Example for Free

Legal philosophy Essay The crucial element lies in bringing the guilty to justice; but for that to happen, it has to be determined first who is guilty and who is not, not just in terms of who committed the crime, but whether a certain action and the consequences of it fall under the category of crime at all, and under what criteria. There is a great scope of ambiguity and fuzziness here. The battle between good and evil seems to have been going on for all the time, and yet good and evil are highly relative terms. There exist no clear-cut distinctions, no separate black and white segments. In many ways, good and evil constitute a messy flux, and criminal justice system is needed to sort these things out on a continual basis. Law, with the moral and legal philosophy underlying it, directs the criminal justice system in this complex task of determining good from evil, the right from the wrong, as well as the right from the good. These laws are not static and fixed entities, they can and do change with time; legal philosophy is constantly evolving. Our perceptions and interpretations of the good and the right need to be reconsidered from time to time. The ongoing struggle is to evolve a society that is more firmly based on justice and freedom. Justice requires that each citizen have an equal and fair starting position in respect of the physical necessities, educational opportunities, and employment opportunities. And the principle of freedom requires that the government not force a single conception of the good upon individuals, but simply guarantee that individuals are free to pursue their various goods as they perceive them (Garner 2005). The choices freely made reflect a variety of views of what is good. Human beings are uniquely individual personalities, endowed with immense potentiality for mental and spiritual growth. The role of society lies in being caring and tolerant about the individual and the differences in the unique individualities of people, and displaying a commitment to respect all its members who are in the process of cultivating their freedom and realizing their potentiality. It is not the governments business or right to determine what is good, but only to guarantee justice and freedom of choice to individuals. The guarantee of justice and freedom of choice will protect individuals’ pursuits of their various private conceptions of the good. In this way, the government ensures â€Å"The greatest good for the greatest number,† the principle on which utilitarianism is founded (Penslar 1995). Each individual is free to pursue his or her own conception of the good life, as long as it does not bring harm to others. The government should be neutral as to the conceptions of the good life, in order to respect persons as free and independent agents of action, capable of choosing their own ends. For example, the good lies in the fact of each individual being free to follow a religion or belief system of his own choice, or not to follow any should he choose to. Unfortunately, this condition is very likely to be violated in modern world where fundamentalism is gaining ground everyday. If we take the United States, for example, three things are happening 1) Evangelical Christianity is spreading like wild fire: â€Å"The Evangelical Christian movement is the fastest growing segment of American religion with 42% of all Christians in America identifying themselves as Evangelicals† (Cobia 2007) 2) as is common knowledge, the government is growing more powerful and centralized, and 3) a very high percentage of people in the government, including the president himself, are fundamentalist evangelical Christians (McMahon 2006). In such a scenario, it is very likely that, in the near future, basic individual freedom to choose his or her own would be breached and fundamentalism be imposed as a state-sponsored religion. When that happens, the theory of evolution will be removed from textbooks and Biblical doctrine of creationism taught in its place. Science would stagnate, progress would stop, and humanity may slip back to dark ages. Upon considering such a possibility, we can see how ensuring individual freedom to determine one’s own good is conducive to the good of the society as a whole, promotes progress and enlightens humanity. When individual freedom is lost, be it in religion or any other sphere of life, the spirit of humanity starts dying.

Waiting for Godot and Dumbwaiter Comparison

Waiting for Godot and Dumbwaiter Comparison Among the best plays which can be compared to one another in different ways are Waiting for Godot written by Samuel Beckett and The Dumb Waiter written by Harold Pinter. One of the common elements the two plays share is the waiting factor which leads the few characters of both plays to do many absurd activities to fill the passing of time. Pinter has used many of the characteristics of Waiting for Godot in his own play showing the absurdity of the world through an absurd waiting for someone or something that never arrives. In this short essay these two plays are compared focusing on the waiting factor shared by the two. Examples are also provided from both plays in a comparison table on page 8 to 11, on the factors that result to the absurdity. Plots The plot in Waiting for Godot is a desert with a tree in the middle and the characters come to the scene at the beginning and leave at the end of each day. The scene is one location and it doesnt change throughout the play. This resembles the small world we are living at and it means we are all trapped in a cage like prisoners that we either cannot leave or are afraid to do so as a result the only thing we do is to wait for someone dominant and powerful to help us who never arrives so the waiting goes on. Plot in The Dumbwaiter is a basement room with two beds, flat against the back wall, a serving hatch, closed, between the beds. Also a door to the kitchen and lavatory, left and a door to a passage, right. Many of Pinters plays, as in Samuel Becketts Waiting for Godot, take place in one location. The single location again takes on the form of a prison for the characters, a space from which they either cannot leave or are afraid to do so. Rather than bore the audience with lack of variation, the repetitive actions that come along with the single space generally constitute one of Pinters (and Becketts) main themes. The environment also assumes attributes beyond its scope. The serving hatch, for instance, becomes a symbolic channel to a higher power, or God, whom Ben fears, while the bathroom develops into a place of mundane repetition for Gus. The basement also functions as part of the mystery and betrayal of the Dumb Waiter. It makes us to think who owns the building? Is it still a ca fà ©? Is Wilson inside? (4) American Heritage Britannica concise Encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Pinter http://www.eng.fju.edu.tw/iacd_2003S/c_pm_lit/dumbwaiter.htm Characters Waiting for Godot has five characters as Estragon, Vladimir, Pozzo, Lucky and a messenger boy. The Dumbwaiter has two characters named Gus and Ben. As with Godot, in The Dumbwaiter the two characters are one dominant, one submissive, who share the amount of letters and syllables in their names (although Pinters Gus and Ben are simpler names-and simpler characters-than Becketts Vladimir and Estragon). Guss difficulty in putting on his shoe corresponds to a similar problem with a boot in Becketts play. In both plays, moreover, the characters have been stranded in one place with an unclear purpose, at least from the audiences perspective (1). In both plays, characters have not got any good communication. In Waiting for Godot plot is static. There is a lot of repetition, stability and progress. In The Dumb Waiter dialogues are non-sense of conversation. We see the scene as a room is his view of world. It is identical with Becketts view of the world. The world is going down, the drain. We see the toilet which smells very bad, dirty. And the feet of Vladimir and the breath of Estragon are stinky (2). In Waiting for Godot, the two characters are not satisfied and they both are waiting but in The Dumbwaiter, Ben is hopeful and satisfied with the world which is the room, while Gus is questioning everything and is not satisfied. Figure of Power (the Godlike) Pinters opinion of god is the man upstairs. He is the boss. He is the ruler, master. He is the figure of power. He comes with them and leaves. He doesnt get in touch. It could be anytime. This is direct influence of Beckett on Pinter with the idea of Godot who lives somewhere else nearby. In both plays the Godlike character is away and uses messengers to contact the characters on the scene. In Waiting for Godot, Beckett uses a boy as the messenger with the difference that in The Dumbwaiter Pinter uses the dumbwaiter as the messenger for Wilson (the figure of power). Central Action (Theme) Like a lot of theaters of the absurd, both plays are tragic and comic in nature. The plays are therefore referred to as a tragicomedy, or black comedy. As the very titles of the plays reveals their central action, in both of them people are waiting. And the major theme is the act of waiting for someone or something that never arrives. Because they have nothing to do in the meantime, time is a dreaded barrier, a test of their ability to endure (3). Because they repeat the same actions every day, time is cyclical. And time loses meaning when the actions of one day have no relevance or certainty on the next. http://www.archive.org/stream/pinteracriticale007278mbp/pinteracriticale007278mbp_djvu.txt http://www.soundofevil.com/ingilizce-hikaye-roman-kitap/14138-waiting-godot-amp-dumb-waiter-amp-end-game-samuel-beckett-harold-ingilizce-kitap-ozeti.html http://www.shmoop.com/waiting-for-godot/time-theme.html The Waiting In both plays the people are waiting for off-stage characters who exercise a powerful, god-like influence over the on-stage characters. No acceptable path existed for them to end their waiting and, therefore, they were forced to wait. Through this, the play showed that there are things for which one must wait and that no amount of initiative will end this waiting (1). Their situation, then, is that of people waiting for nothing much, in a universe that has nothing much to offer. As they wait, and we watch, we learn something about how man behaves under such circumstances. We see them devising, with diminishing success, games to play to pass the time; we see them try again and again to understand the unintelligible; we see them discuss committing suicide, but never without finding an excuse to put it off; we see them cling to each other for company while continually bickering and talking about how much better off they would be apart (specially in Becketts). Time Time in both plays is a dreaded barrier, a test for their abilities to endure. It is also cyclical and loses meaning when actions of one day have no relevance or certainty on the next. We see in Waiting for Godot that the characters even cannot tell the time of the year or the day. And also in The Dumbwaiter the room does not have a window so they guess the time and there are no words of a watch or looking at a clock in the play. Ben intentionally does not remember the emotional subjects and the times they spend together before or a fun they had and when Gus brings them up Ben tells him not to talk or asks him to do something or changes the subject so nothing stop him from what Wilson has asked him to do which is murdering Gus which happens at the end of the play. The time factor has relation to the next part which is Repetition as it is well explained as follows. And as Velissariou indicates: When reality is not measured by time and is not limited by spatial boundaries but lies in a n infinite time and an abstract space, then words can never be definite about a meaning which must perpetually elude them. (2) Repetition The repetition in the plays provides further evidence of the unimportance of time for Vladimir and Estragon and also for Ben and Gus. Both acts are identical excluding a few small deviations. With one day after another being basically the same during their wait, it is no wonder that Vladimir and Estragon had trouble telling one day from the next and that they had trouble remembering what happened during each day. Because of this lack of significant change, time had no meaning for them, and therein lays the larger theme that these scenes help to convey. If the day before was meaningless and if most of the periods before this were meaningless, time itself was meaningless for them as well. As Estragon said at the beginning of the second day in reference to that day, For me its over and done with, no matter what happens, which suggested his own realization of the meaninglessness of that day and of time itself. An example of a clearly cyclical pattern in Waiting for Godot that well introduces the repetition is when Estragon sings a song as follows: A dog came in the kitchen And stole a crust of bread, Then cook up with a ladle And beat him till he was dead. Then all the dogs came running And dug the dog a tomb And wrote upon the tombstone For the eyes of dogs to come: A dog came in the kitchen . . . . Questions while Waiting Estragon: (anxious). And we? Where do we come in? Estragons question is left unanswered by Vladimir. Note that these questions seem to bring pain or anxiety to Estragon. Beckett conveys a universal message that pondering the impossible questions that arise from waiting, cause pain, anxiety, inactivity and destroy people from within. Note that both Vladimir and Estragon ponder suicide, by hanging themselves from the tree, but are unable to act through to anxiety, as Estragon states, Dont lets do anything. Its safer (1). And also in the case of The Dumbwaiter whenever Gus tries to bring up something emotional, and to ask questions, Ben refuses to speak with him. This disconnection is the essence of their relationship. They do not speak with, but to each other. Silences and Pauses Both plays are filled with silences and pauses during the waiting. In theater of the absurd silences and pauses have three different applications. Either the characters are in a state of shock, or they are making time pass or they are hiding information from one another. Silences and pauses do carry meaning in these kinds of plays as if they are the same as using words to convey meaning. In Waiting for Godot, the silences are as a result of not having much to do trying to pass time until Godot comes and also lack of good communication. In the Dumbwaiter, silences and pauses are as a result of hiding information from Gus who will be the victim of the day at the end of the play when Ben shots him and the secrets are revealed. It is worth to mention Velissarious point of silences in Waiting for Godot here as: The silences in the play effectively Becket the terms an audience might adopt in order to understand them; the meaning is communicated by the intervals between words. In Didi and Gogos dialogue about the dead voices the silences are evenly distributed, atomizing the exchange into fragments of cross-talk. The empty stage is filled for a moment with the presence of dead people, worn out voices, fragmented whispers, murmurs and rustlings, and this sudden proliferation of the thoughts, speech, and noises of dead people suffocates Didi and Gogo because they themselves are emblematic of that dead humanity. Beckett stages the sounds of silence, the other side of language, and Didi and Gogo, in their yearning for authenticity, aspire to the point of overlap, to the zero, to the point where all difference is obliterated. It is a form of death-wish. The dead voices are heard inside their silences talking of the past, of dreams and hopes; presence is once again commensurate with absence. (1) Universality of the Waiting As human beings were all clinging to the hope of some kind of salvation, some kind of Godot to come and save us from our intolerable suffering, our poverty, our disease, our boredom, our quiet desperation (2) or a kind of Wilson to instruct us through our life. This hoping, this waiting, removes us from the potentially liberating awareness that the moment were actually suspended in, this moment between birth and death that glows so briefly, is ultimately more important than any vague better future we might desire. Life is a lengthy period of waiting, during which the passage of time has little importance. Each day the characters wait for the savior, and, if he doesnt come that day they will continue to wait. The amount of time that they had already spent doing this and the amount of time that would do so in the future is unknown, but neither is important because time is meaningless for them. Each day they would continue to wait for the unknown savior until he either came or time ended through their death. Sum up The plays confront the absurdity of existence and challenge us to figure out who we are and what were doing here. In this random universe, where everything who lives and who dies, whos up and whos down, is a matter of pure chance, and the odds arent necessarily in our favor, what do we do? Whats our purpose? The Dumbwaiter shows the same waiting as in Waiting for Godot with the difference that there is a more violent atmosphere which gives the sense of deceiving and murder. So Waiting for Godot and the Dumbwaiter are plays about waiting, about the repetition, the meaninglessness, the absurdity of waiting, of feeling (and being) suspended in time instead of moving forward in a meaningful direction and for the possibility of a better future that we are not quite fully convinced will ever arrive. You can find the comparison table with examples provided based on the factors mentioned above from the two plays as follows: EXAMPLES Factors Waiting for Godot Repeating actions VLADIMIR: Theres man all over for you, blaming on his boots the faults of his feet. ( He takes off his hat again, peers inside it, feels about inside it, knocks on the crown, blows into it, puts it on again.) POZZO: (He puts the pipe in his pocket, takes out a little vaporiser and sprays his throat, puts back the vaporiser in his pocket, clears his throat, spits, takes out the vaporiser again, sprays his throat again, puts back the vaporiser in his pocket.) Repeating words Nothing to be done ESTRAGON: Why doesnt he put down his bags? POZZO: I too would be happy to meet him. The more people I meet the happier I become. From the meanest creature one departs wiser, richer, more conscious of ones blessings. Even you . . . (he looks at them ostentatiously in turn to make it clear they are both meant) . . . even you, who knows, will have added to my store. ESTRAGON: Why doesnt he put down  his bags? Killing Time VLADIMIR: That passed the time. ESTRAGON: It would have passed in  any case. VLADIMIR: Yes, but not so rapidly. VLADIMIR: Shall I tell it to you? ESTRAGON: No. VLADIMIR: Itll pass the time. (Pause.) Two thieves, crucified at the same time as our Saviour. Silence POZZO: (Silence.) Its the nicotine, one absorbs it in spite of ones precautions. (Sighs.) You know how it is. (Silence.) But perhaps you dont smoke? Yes? No? Its of no importance. (Silence.) But how am I to sit down now, without affectation, now that I have risen? Without appearing to -how shall I say- without appearing to falter. (To Vladimir.) I beg your pardon? (Silence.) Perhaps you didnt speak? (Silence.) Its of no importance. Giving irrelevant answers to the other person POZZO: True. (He sits down. To Estragon.) What is your name? ESTRAGON: Adam. POZZO: (who hasnt listened). Ah yes! The night. (He raises his head.) But be a little more attentive, for pitys sake, otherwise well never get anywhere. Not knowing the time the Godlike comes or sends message He said Saturday. (Pause.) I think. ESTRAGON: You think. VLADIMIR: I must have made a note of it. (He fumbles in his pockets, bursting with miscellaneous rubbish.) ESTRAGON: (very insidious). But what Saturday? And is it Saturday? Is it not rather Sunday? (Pause.) Or Monday? (Pause.) Or Friday? VLADIMIR: (looking wildly about him, as though the date was inscribed in the landscape). Its not possible! ESTRAGON: Or Thursday? Got used to waiting VLADIMIR: No further need to worry. ESTRAGON: Simply wait. VLADIMIR: Were used to it. Not doing what they say they would ESTRAGON: Well, shall we go? VLADIMIR: Yes, lets go. (They do not move). ESTRAGON: Then adieu. POZZO: Adieu. VLADIMIR: Adieu. POZZO: Adieu. (Silence. No one moves). VLADIMIR: (to Estragon). Give him his hat. ESTRAGON: Me! After what he did to me! Neve! VLADIMIR: Ill give it to him. (He does not move). Being promised that the master will come BOY: (in a rush). Mr. Godot told me to tell you he wont come this evening but surely tomorrow. Not remembering (or not wanting to Remember) the past Vladimir mentioned the time that he and Estragon had spent in Macon country picking grapes. Estragon did not remember this period, and even Vladimir has trouble remembering details of their time there, such as the name of the man for whom they worked. They couldnt remember the day before or even if it was the same place they were waiting for Godot Not knowing the time POZZO: What time is it? VLADIMIR: (inspecting the sky). Seven oclock . . . eight oclock . . . ESTRAGON: That depends what time of year it is. POZZO: Is it evening?

HEHA Strategy for Obesity

HEHA Strategy for Obesity Strategy for Obesity As health indicators have been better in New Zealand, the development of well being has not been consistently everywhere. Obesity is one of the most common public health problems all over the world that is increasing. It also has related some problems which include  heart disease,  stroke, type II  diabetesand certain  cancers. One of the countries is New Zealand, the number of obesity and overweight has been increasing ever since the 80s, most of them are aged 15 years and above (31%) and about one out of nine children aged 2 to 14 (11%), New Zealand Health survey (2012/13). This essay will talk about the HEHA Strategy on obesity; techniques, procedure and its programs. Obesity is a disease of having too much body fat. It is not similar as being overweight, which means weighing too much, (Wikipedia). The response of New Zealand commenced on 2003 to obesity is theâ€Å"Healthy Eating-Healthy Action- Oranga Kai Oranga Pumau (HEHA) Strategy†with the a vision of an environment and society where individuals, families or whÄ nau, and communities are supported to eat healthy, live physically active, and to attain as well as to maintain a healthy body† in simpler terms it concentrate on the growing problems such as poor eating lifestyle, lack of exercise, and obesity. The Health department has specially made a group of researchers to evaluate this said Strategy for the reason that the HEHA Strategy explicitly identifies the significance of the evaluation. The Strategy is lively and it may be influenced by altering political and communal contexts. The complication of the environment, the program and the problem is reflected in the complexity of the assessment. The Strategys structure also recognises the importance of reducing the inequalities in health and it involves the treaty which the Crown and MÄ ori signed in 1840 which is considered to be New Zealands founding document, the â€Å"Treaty of Waitangi†. The viewpoint of this treaty is about partnership, participation and protection which is enshrined so much in the health legislation of New Zealand. Particular challenges have an effect on the assessment of the HEHA Strategy and other similar strategies. It is also a complicated intervention that is stirring in a complex condition and that encloses many not related aspects possibly to influence nutrition and physical activity. Moreover, this strategy’s aim of improving health, increasing physical activity and reducing obesity are long term goals and it may not be accomplished within the estimated time. The extent of nutritional behaviour is to be aware of the achievement of this said Strategy. The result that may be related to the HEHA strategy will be commencing, which is a Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey (NPAS). It is of course a survey and its plan is a continuing quarterly survey that set up four panels of respondents, each of them will be interviewed annually in three years. All of the chosen country representatives exist to have datasets which comprise info on nutrition, physical activity patterns and body size. It will later be analysed and used to make criterion to be compared to the estimates of the NPAS. A number of six thousand four hundred people which are all fifteen years old and above will be recruited to take part in the said activity. The partakers will be recruited from over six hundred random mesh blocks. Maori, Pacific Islander plus a list of deprivation have been sampled to help the estimates of the groups to be calculated. The trial reviews have looked at the past model for Ministry of Health nationwide surveys using the same group sampling met hods. This involves the certainty of a selected populace level rate that can be estimated by how old they are and where they came from, to make it possible into a precision of the estimates for observing the people changes in nourishment, the annual Computer Assisted Telephone Interview (CATI) survey will also be used for three years. This instrument for survey is made up of tons of questions from other state surveys and also some fresh questions. The question includes something about socio-demographic factors, physical activities and consumption of foods that has high fat, salt, sugar and MSG. The tactics of HEHA on creating a helpful setting also include questions regarding societal and environmental factors. The population’s estimate value will be copied for evaluating the multistage cluster sample by the standard methods. An examination will also be done to know the changes in health. In relation with the previous baseline, there will be a prepared national representative datasets. There are also programmes in schools that involve the HEHA strategy. An example of this is â€Å"The Fruit in Schools programme†. Its plan is to target lowest income decile schools. The students at the schools are supplied with a free quantity of fruit during school days. The schools that joined the programme are to carry out an entire school or society approach to make a supporting environment and should also supports healthy consumption, physical activities and smoke alcohol free. The schools should work in clusters to sustain itself in fruit provision in over three years. Here are some info’s of the programme; term four of 2005 phase one of Fruit in Schools programme was introduced to Sixty required schools in six District Health Boards (DHB), in term two of 2006 phase two went to fifty four schools more than a total of thirteen DHBs, in term four of 2006 phase three was rolled out to just about one hundred fifty six schools joined, covering all the twenty one DHBs. The entire number of schools that joined in all the phases is about two hundred seventy, and the total number of the children participating is approximately fifty six thousand. The New Zealand Council for Educational Research and Health Outcomes International is consistently evaluating the Fruit in Schools programme. The evaluation includes formative process and outcome components, Ministry of Health (2008). In conclusion, the HEHA strategy targets the communal and environmental factors, it supports healthy eating, living active or simply living healthy. It also has a lot of plans to promote health like the â€Å"NPAS† to know what the people want so the MOH can take action and â€Å"the fruit in school programme† which targets the children to take care of their health. REFERENCES Capital and Coast District Health Board. (2008). HEALTHY EATING HEALTHY ACTION: ORANGA KAI ORANGA PUMAU (MINISTRY APPROVED PLAN 2) from http://www.ccdhb.org.nz/initiatives/Heha/CCDHB%20HeHa%20PLan%2008_09Final.pdf Ministry of Health. (2004) TRACKING THE OBESITY EPIDEMIC: New Zealand 1977–2003. Wellington: Ministry of Health Ministry of Health. (2008). HEALTHY EATING – HEALTHY ACTION ORANGA KAI – ORANGA PUMAU: PROGRESS ON IMPLEMENTING THE HEHA STRATEGY 2008. Wellington: Ministry of Health. Ministry of Health. (2003). HEALTHY EATING – HEALTHY ACTION ORANGA KAI – ORANGA PUMAU:A STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK 2003 Wellington, New Zealand: Ministry of Health. Ministry of Health. (2008). A PORTRAIT OF HEALTH. KEY RESULTS OF THE 2006/07 NEW ZEALAND HEALTH SURVEY. Wellington: Ministry of Health OBESITY retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obesity OBESITY BY AGE 25 LINKED TO SEVERE LATE-LIFE OBESITY (2014) retrieved from http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/276413.php Rachael M McLean, Janet A Hoek, Sue Buckley, Bronwyn Croxson, Jacqueline Cumming, Terry H Ehau, Ausaga Faasalele Tanuvasa, Margaret Johnston, Jim I Mann and Grant Schofield. (2009) BMC PUBLIC HEALTH, BioMed Central Ltd, New Zealand THE 2012/13 NEW ZEALAND HEALTH SURVEY retrieved from http://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/obesity TRACKING THE OBESITY OF EPIDEMIC (2004) retrived from http://www.health.govt.nz/publication/tracking-obesity-epidemic

Ernest Hemingway :: essays research papers

Ernest Hemingway was a major American novelist and short story writer whose principal themes were violence, machismo, and the nature of what is called now “male bonding.'; His renowned style for his firmly non-intellectual fiction is characterized by understatement and terse dialogue (Riley 231). Hemingway had a life that included him running away several times. Hemingway had many jobs before becoming a novelist and short story writer. He also had many influences, from his father’s suicide to painters that influenced his writings. Ernest Hemingway, an American novelist and short story writer, whose style is characterized by crispness, childish dialogue and emotional understatement that has made him a major novelist and short story writer (Riley 231).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ernest Hemingway was born in Oak Park, Illinois on July, 21 1899 to his mother Grace Hall and his father Clarence Edmonds Hemingway (Rood 187). Even though he was born into a upper-middle class family, he single handedly revised the Byronic stereotype of the artist-adventurer (Lesniak 20). Hemingway’s childhood was rarely mentioned, other then that he tried to run away from home several times when he was still in high school (Lesniak 23). After Hemingway graduated from Oak Park High School, he went to work, in 1917, as a reporter at the Kansas City Star. In 1918 he enlisted as an ambulance driver for the Red Cross in Italy. In 1920 he starts working as a reporter and a foreign correspondent for Toronto. After being an ambulance driver in Italy in World War I, he converted to Catholicism and he often referred to himself for the rest of his life as “a rotten Catholic'; (Lesnaik 20). Hemingway married four times during his life, each time to a Midwestern American girl. First he married Hadley Richardson on September 3, 1921. On May 10, 1927 he married Pauline Pfeiffer. On November 21, 1940 he married Martha Gellhorn. Finally on March 14, 1946 he married Mary Walsh. He regarded the end of a marriage as a personal defeat (Rood 187).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hemingway had many kinds of figures. He was a craftsman dedicated to the art of letters who rarely wavered in his adherence to the highest standards of artistic probity. He also significantly influenced twentieth century writing on all levels through his pronouncements and the principles of professionalism which he introduced and lived. Hemingway was also a night-club roisterer, a slick and chromatically unreal advertisement in the rotogravures, unfairly “good copy'; for the gossip columnists, public brawler and braggart, and the “batter’d.

Why the British Government decided to colonise Botany Bay :: essays research papers fc

â€Å"Why did the British Government decide to colonise Botany Bay? In the evaluation of why Britain colonised Botany Bay, Australia, one can draw on many conclusions. When the First Fleet arrived at Botany Bay in January 1788, little did they realise that for years to come historians would be contesting the real reasons as to why the British Parliament planned to establish a colony in Botany Bay. The Botany Bay debate, as it has been known to be called, began among historians in the 1950’s when Geoffrey Blainey said that it was colonised for strategic motives#. These motives included such plans as there was a plant nursery to be established on Norfolk Island and Australia was to become a flax farm and a market garden that was to be surrounded by goal walls; there had been a failure of the growing of flax and pine on Norfolk Island, this at first had been very promising; and that flax and timber were vital to Britains economy as explained by the British Politicians in many letters. Along with Blainey’s argument came another debate, this being that Botany Bay, was colonised as it was a good outpost for trading purposes. The traditional view in the debate was that Botany Bay was the chosen place for the convict population and it is this traditional view that my argument will follow. The idea of establishing a colony in Botany Bay started with the â€Å"Matra’s Proposal†# in August 1783. Matra’s idea was that there was a possibility of a new colony of the Americans who had remained loyal to Britain during the War of Independence, this idea being rejected by all. Botany Bay was then seen as a solution to the ever growing number of filled rotting convict hulks along the River Thames and the overpopulated goals. The proposal for the establishment of the new colony being â€Å"Heads of Plan†# addressed the effective disposal of the convicts to the new colony. With Britain continuing to send convicts to Australia for many decades, the cost involved in transporting the convicts would be greatly decreased and it would be better than dealing with the problem of the overcrowded hulks and goals in England and the costs associated with feeding the convicts etc. Up until 1776 Britain had been transporting convicts to the American colonies but this practice was stopped with the outbreak of the American War of Independence.

The Value of a College Education Essay examples -- Value of Education

Introduction The main focus of the essay is on the meaning of an education. It’s stated that a real education consists of more than just training in the specifics of one’s chosen field. It cites lateral thinking and communication skills as the valuable life skills that should be learned. It then proceeds to examine the need for these skills in the real world and the need for these skills to be taught at university level. It starts by examining the general case of all students arriving in college for the first time and by the end gets to the particular needs of computer science students and others in the more practical disciplines. It examines the causes that made this course relevant, mentioning why these skills haven’t been learned already and why at a university level they aren’t still taught implicitly by college life. It shows how and why college believes the teaching of these skills to be a necessary part of a university education What is the nature of a university education? Are we here to graduate with distinctions, get jobs in our chosen field and continue to think like computer scientists, lawyers, doctors, physicists or historians? Or as many would argue are we here to learn a little about the real world without being exposed to its harsher realities? Computers and Society is a course that annoys a lot of students; they deem it irrelevant and would rather be sitting bathed in the glow of a monitor than listening to the lecturer. Why then is a similar course taught in most degree level computer courses? Somebody seems to believe we need a broader education. Why teach a computer scientist to think and talk? First the question of education. How can one define it? It’s either a broad concept whe... ...read but unable to distinguish what is worth reading," as G. M. Trevelyan put it. Since education is fast becoming a matter of churning out graduates competent in their fields with good job prospects and little else, the module is relevant. Bibliography: [TCD student’s union] University Record, Issue One, Volume Two http://www.tcd.ie/Student/Union/News/news.htm [Robert W. Lawler] Learning and Computing: A Work in Process http://datacase.mdn.com/LC.html [Jake Werner] Thoughts on education http://pubweb.acns.nwu.edu/~jww990/essays.html [Mikhail Bakunin] Bakunin on Education (Essay 1 and Essay 2) http://spunk.etext.org/texts/writers/bakunin/ [Penny McCall Howard] The Dalhousie Faculty Strike: A strikingly liberatory education http://www.tao.ca/~dasn/issue2/dal.html Quotes about Education http://rhf.bradley.edu/~cmacas/edu.htm

Management Case study Essay

Case Study 1. How do information technologies contribute to the business success of the companies depicted in the case? Provide an example from each company explaining how the technology implemented let to improved performance. Information technologies are imperative to businesses and organizations that want to be successful. In this case, there were three companies that demonstrated how information technologies helped their business. The first company was eCourier. eCourier delivers packages around London and wanted to â€Å"keep real-time tabs on customer satisfaction†(Textbook, pg 5). eCourier used SeeWhy software to help give them customer data faster. This software allowed eCourier to see when client’s accounts were going dormant or if there were changes in the bookings. With this new data, eCourier saved money by not having to add extra staff to monitor who was happy with service and who was not. The second company was Cablecom. Cablecom was also interested customer satisfaction. They used statistical software to look through customer data and filter out trouble. They also found that using survey research in combination with statistical software gave a more accurate look at customer satisfaction or dissatisfaction. These two information technologies allowed Cablecom to see which customers were unhappy and helped them retain those customers. Finally, the third company was a law firm called Bryan Cave. Bryan Cave needed an alternative to the hourly fee normally charged by law firms. Clients wanted â€Å"fixed pricing and pricing that was adjusted during a project† (Textbook, pg 6). The law firm had spreadsheets to help breakdown the collection of fees and how much profit was being made but these spreadsheets were difficult and confusing. The company used business intelligent tools to help â€Å"lawyers track budgets in real time so that they could quickly make adjustments†(Textbook, pg. 6). The use of this technology led to improved profitability for the law firm and also improvement in hours worked by fee earners in the law firm. 2. In the case of law firm Bryan Cave discussed above, the use of BI technology to improve the availability, access, and presentation of existing  information allowed them to provide tailored and innovative services to their customers. What other professions could benefit from a similar use of these technologies, and how? Develop two different possibilities. Many professions can use business intelligence tools just like in the case of Bryan Cave law firm. The banking industry can use BI tools to stay competitive. With competition nature and increasing due regulatory legislation surrounding financial institutions, it is imperative that financial institutions monitor customer’s behaviors related to consumption of banking products in an effort to retain the customers. Business intelligence tools are being developed and marketed to banks to help monitor, analyze accounts, and determine customer profitability. This type of business intelligence tool would help the banks market to current customers based on their propensity to purchase products based on transaction behavior and other products the customers currently utilize. Additionally, a business intelligience tool that performs an analysis of the current fee structure charged for existing products in relation to the competition in the marketplace would help the bank determine if their pricing structure is competitive and in line with the competition. This technology would also help financial institutions identify which customers are profitable and whether or not fees should be increased or reduced. Currently, Chemical Bank has implemented a business intelligience tool that commerical lenders will utilize by cross rreferencing their loan portfolio and any prospect against to determine the profitability of the customer in relation to the company’s return on equity. The business intelligience tool will help the commerical lenders determined if the loan rate is in line given certain parameters such as the market, financial statements, and the customer’s business plan. Additionally, the tool will help determine if packaging a suite of products would benefit the customer if more products and services of the bank were utilized. Finally, Chemical Bank is investigating an innovative business intelligence tool called data cube is being considered for implementation. The data cubes would be developed from different reports for regional sales managers allowing them to manipulate the data to be more useful strategic planning and determining staffing solutions. BS&A software  company could benefit from business intelligence tools. BS& A provides tax software and assessing software to many Michigan townships and cities. Each platform communicates with any of the other BS& A platforms. From personal experience it is a wonderful program. To help retain current clients BS& A could use survey research to see what needs to be enhanced for each client or what needs to be simplified for each client. This would allow the company to then tailor its software to fit each customer’s needs. At the township I work, we needed a way to enter credit card payments into our tax program from BS & A. The only payments accepted in the software were checks and cash. By filling out the survey and sending it back via internet I was immediately contacted and the program writers made the necessary changes that allowed me to enter when a client of the township paid with a credit card. I was very satisfied with the results and BS & A retained my township as one of their clients. Case Study 3: Cablecom developed a prediction model to better identify those customers at risk of switching to other company in the near future. In addition to those noted in the case, what other actions could be taken if that information were available? Give some examples of these. Would you consider letting some customers leave anyway? Why? Cablecom used two softwares, SPSS’s statistical software and SPSS’s Dimensions survey research software, to study customer dissatisfaction. SPSS’s statistical software tells: 1. How many times problem occurred 2. How long does it took to fix the problem Drawbacks of this software: This may or may not tell what the problem was. SPSS’s Dimensions survey research software tells: 1. After how many months of service customers gets dissatisfied- 9 months 2. When customers switch most- between 12-14 months Drawback: why to wait till 7-9 months to find the problem? Actions to prevent switching: Find the problem, fix the problem: Send monthly satisfaction surveys to find the problem areas. If people are not responding very well then add some incentives to it like lucky prizes from the drawings of responders. Be PROACTIVE 1. Keep customers engaged by prroviding some money saving tips to customers with their monthly bill. Some 2. examples of tips that may improve customer retention are: family plans over individual plans that would allow for a cost savings; Explain the benefit of texting if it’s cheaper than making phone calls; explain the benefits of bundled plans over individual plans for phone, cable and TV; tips to increase the life of the products that Cablecom provides. Newsletters about new products and services, explaining how these are useful to customers and how they are better than competition. Brining a value added benefit to customers on a monthly or quarterly basis will create an affinity for the services a company provides. I will not consider letting some customers leave anyway, unless those are financially unsustainable on long-term basis. There are different reasons for this: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. If customer is there then job is available. It takes lots of advertising resources to get one customer. One satisfied customer brings more customers by word of mouth. One unsatisfied customer talks bad about company more loudly than a satisfied  customer talks good about company. Your competitor is getting your business. Question 9. In what major ways have the roles of information systems applications in business expanded during the last 40 years? What is one major change you think will happen in the next 10 years? The roles of information systems applications in business evolved in following order during the last 40 years: ï‚ · ï‚ · Technical changes or Data Processing: Until 1960 information systems was used for transactions, processing, record keeping, accounting. Managerial changes (1960s to 80’s): 1. Management reporting (1960’s): MIS helped in making managerial decisions from pre defined managerial 2. reports. Decision Support System (1970’s): Introduced to help management make decisions from the available raw data using unique inputs and style. ï‚ · Corporate Activities (1980’s to 2000’s): 1. Strategic end user support (1980’s): This includes end user computing, executive information for critical 2. 3. decisions, use of artificial intelligence for strategy building, expert systems for providing knowledge to end user and strategic information on how to place products and services in competitive world. Enterprise Resource Planning (2000’s): It includes every aspect of business ranging from manufacturing, supply, sales, HR, Inventory management, marketing etc. This also uses business Intelligence for better insight into competitor activities. Enterprise beyond vendors and customers or global Networking (1990’s): Introduction of e-commerce, ebusiness, development of internet, intranet and extranet. In future 10 years, speed and integrity of Information system will be crucial. This includes solving the problem of ethics in business, storage of personal information and data, missing or incorrect information. Some examples of the challenges include insider trading in stock market, corruption in news corporations, credit card and insurance companies. P.S.: I am having a hard time in fixing bullets and numbering on this page editor. It inserts numbers automatically when not needed and does not accepts bullets when needed. So proper formatting is a challenge unless I type on this page. Any suggestions or ideas to fix this problem are welcome. Gubir, I had the same problem with formatting so related to indenting. Insead of typing this editor, I have been typing in a Microsoft word document, to copy and paste the text over. It allows me to do a better spell and grammar check as well. ~Lisa Question 1 How can information technology support a company’s business processes and decision making and give it a competitive advantage? Give examples to illustrate your answer. As stated in the textbook, â€Å"information technology can help support all types of business by improving efficiency and effectiveness of businesses processes and decision making† (Textbook, p.4). Incorporating information technology early in the decision making process and working collaboratively with the different business units will provide opportunities to strengthen a company’s competitive position by creating innovative solutions to deliver in the marketplace. Additionally, it’s imperative to involve information technologist specialists or strategists  (depending on the title designated by companies) at the very early stages of decision making processes. Understanding the role of IT in the managerial decision making process will help the manager make better decisions that provide a competitive edge. For example, a manager of retail store deciding which product line to add to a store may analyze computer generated reports to support his or her decision as the goal is to remain profitable and have an edge over the local competitor. The manager would demonstrate poor decision making and leadership by reviewing reports after purchasing the product line. Carrying a product line that customers will not purchase does not make good business sense. Further, managers involved in a company’s strategic planning process should seek the knowledge and support of information technology specialists as well to determine the role information technology will play in developing and implementing the company short term and long term strategic initiatives. Information technology systems can be an essential ingredient in business processes such as product development, customer support processes, and ecommerce transactions (Textbook, pp. 8-9). For example, as a Retail Sales Manager for Chemical Bank, information technology representatives work collaboratively with me and other teams we develop new initiatives and projects to support the company’s strategic plans. Most recently, the company embarked on a mission to increase the services and products of the current customers at penetration rate of 70%. A manager is sought the support IT as I created training of my staff to achieve the goal and also to develop the reporting of data to monitor progress toward the goal. Without a robust product line and customer service centers to meet the needs of the customers, financial institutions are not profitable or competitive. Information technology helps financial institutions stay in tune with the customer’s needs, wants and pulse of the industry. Question 2. How does the use of the Internet, intranets, and extranets by companies today support their business processes activities? The Internet, intranets, extranets, and the technologies that support the  applications have changed the business processes, the productivity and communication of employees, and helped companies participate in a global marketplace. As a starting place, it’s imperative to evaluate how the Internet, intranets and extranets have revolutionized the work environment and productive of the employees driving businesses. Employees now ability to work virtually and collaborating with different work groups or teams from across the company via e-mail, videoconferencing, e-discussion groups without geographic barriers. By utilizing intranets (networks within the company or enterprise), employees can support business applications from anywhere they have access or connectivity to an intranet. For example, employees at the financial institution I am employed, Chemical Bank, can access loan documents needed to close a loan for customer instantly from a cue on their desktop instead of waiting for an inter-office mail delivery from the loan department. All 142 branches have equal access in real time for loan documentation. Obviously, the speedier process of delivering loan document supports the bank’s profitability by getting the loans on the book quicker as well as providing better customer service because there is less wait time for the customer. Additionally, employee work more efficiently and the exchange of ideas flows better with the use of the intranet for internal projects and the extranet for interfacing and exchange of ideas with customers. The extranet (the network or enterprise between the business and the customers/vendors) provides for the business and the employees the infrastructure to support business applications vital to many companies and the ability to collaborate among workgroups. (Textbook, p.12) Further, the Internet has benefits and supports businesses today by establishing a medium for the exchange of not only ideas but also goods and services. E-Commerce is defined by the book as â€Å"the buying, selling, marketing, and servicing of products, services, and information over a variety of computer networks†. (Textbook, p. 13) Businesses utilize the Internet in every step of the process involved in selling a service or good. Businesses advertise and market the goods and services on the Internet to promote the brand loyalty. Additionally, the ability to purchase goods on line and make payments increases the sales and profitability of companies. For example, Kohl’s department stores now have kiosks placed in their stores. Customers who cannot find a size of a particular item or merchandise that is no longer in  stock at one location utilizes the kiosk for service. The kiosk is an internet based selling system that allows customers to purchase items using their Kohl’s charge with all applicable discounts and the item will be sent to the customer’s home within a very short period of time. In years prior, customers would try to locate a sales representative who would contact another store to locate the item wanted which could take up to twenty minutes. Then, the option is given to the customer to pick up the item at another store that has it or have the merchandise delivered to a local store requiring another trip by the customer. The process was cumbersome and didn’t provide the customer with an exception customer service experience. The kiosk on the other hand provides instant service and creates customer loyalty. Finally, the market research and data that the Internet provides can support a company all the way from product development and innovation to the level of service being delivered by the employees on the front line. All of which is very important to businesses in making managerial decisions and deciding business processes. For example, financial institutions such as Chemical Bank are employing marketing firms to conduct Internet research to determine the brand loyalty of banking products or conducting online surveys to capture data about the customer’s experience in the branch as well as what products are missing from the bank’s current suite of products. Businesses can know how many â€Å"clicks† on their website to the feedback about the business’ service by monitoring Facebook and Twitter. 4. Why do big companies still fail in their use of information technology? What should they be doing differently? Big companies still fail in their use of information technology because they do not follow the right strategies to apply this technology to work effectively. Efficiency and effectiveness are the keys to a successful company. Companies have to be aware of the implications and abilities of f their information technology and how to apply it to their daily business  practices. They must be knowledgable and remain aware of the latest innovations in the technological machineries as well as its functions as well as its business applications. Many large companies do not realize the potential of the technology their current possess that contributes to them not seeing the value in the information technology because they are only measuring the information in terms of effeciency when they actually should be looking at effectiveness in supporting the organization’s buiness processes. Management of large companies fail to use information technology because they don’t realize how it enhances the organizational structure and culture of the company and it’s potential to increase customers and business value of the organization. Management has to play the biggest role in the change and take decisions accordingly to assist business and customer. Another important characteristic for big companies not to fail and do differently is to offer proper training for employees on the new technologies, to be able to work them in the appropriate way to deliver the right services. For example, Jackie Barretta, vice president and CIO of Con-Way, Inc. was able to benefit her cooperation from the changes she has made in adopting Agile development practices. Her actions have benefited the business as well as her employees, especially the IT department. There was less time to develop projects and a greater communication with IT as they worked jointly and determined priorities. â€Å"I made the case for change in IT by explaining how the business would benefit if we delivered the highest priority functionality faster. I also kept reiterating what was in it for them- and there was a lot† (Textbook p19) When companies’ presidents take change in consideration to benefit the company, therefore, they profited the company, the employees and the customers. 5. How can a manager demonstrate that he or she is a responsible end user of information systems? Give several examples. Managers have to be responsible end user of the information system. They have to be accountable for all aspects of corporation and take the right decisions at the right time to promote the business and its employees. Managers will have to be in charge and work thoroughly with the employees on the information system to make sure to deliver the benefits of the system. While doing so, managers have to secure the system and use ways to protect it through passwords for example to forbid the access to sensitive information. Also, if manager are working from computers not based in the company, there will be a great chance of viruses and spam that will put the information system in danger. Therefore, securing the work on the IS is a great deal before taking action or creating any change. Managers will have to monitor the work of their employees as well as the affectivity of their jobs on the system they are working on. When a manager knows of their duties and the responsibilities that are to be made for an efficient business then there will not be a problem delivering these liabilities through the information system. Being end users, managers will have to identify flaws and mistakes that take place and not over look them. When these strategies are used, it makes the job easy on both manager and employees as they work cooperatively and the security of the information system will not be likely jeopardized.

Mitigation Strategies and Solutions

The mere mentioning of an Energy Conservation Plan may seem like a project that is too big for many. What needs recognition, immediately, is the fact that there is a dire need for energy conservation, it will save lives, and eventually may even save the entire human race. The one thing that I think all will be in agreement with is how much money it will save households and businesses. â€Å"Today's human way of life works around consuming energy in many aspects of daily life because we use an enormous amount of transportation, heat, and electricity. † (Mitigation Strategies and Solutions – Energy Conservation, Robert Gill III, August 20, 2009). If Governmental and Human efforts are put forth, in large amounts, it will bring down energy costs as well as allow humans to become healthier in various ways. Over the last eight weeks I have come to the conclusion that almost all living creatures, be them big or small, have some sort of energy usage associated with them. Energy comes in all different forms and is converted from one form to another. Non-renewable energy sources are becoming more complicated to find, because of this, resources are getting more and more expensive. Some types of non renewable energy resources are oil, coal, natural gas and nuclear. These forms of energy come from the ground. There are several forms living and non-living factors that contribute to the excessive use of energy. The easiest way to describe them would be to break them down into descriptive groups or categories. These types are not all different; the use of energy can be done in many of these categories at once. The first category is the use of Kinetic Energy; this type of energy is used when something is moving. For example, a car in drive and rolling produces a large amount of Kinetic Energy, another form of Kinetic Energy use is an animal jumping, a cat leaping or pouncing from one area to another. Often in combination with Kinetic Energy, one can find Gravitational Potential Energy, when things are high in the air, or sky for that matter, Gravitational Potential Energy is in effect. The drop of a ball from your hand, is a great example of Gravitational Potential Energy, however, Kinetic Energy comes into play when the ball is on the way down. Another example of when Gravitational Potential Energy is in use is when a bird is in the act of flight, once again Kinetic Energy is increased too. Chemical Potential Energy is another form of energy, this type of energy is effective when chemical reactions happen. Gasoline has a lot of Chemical Potential Energy stored in it and this is what helps make automobiles go. Chemical Potential Energy is the make up of electrical and magnetic and Kinetic Energy of the electrons, molecules and atoms. Another form of energy is Thermal Energy, this type energy is present when something is heated up and it has more energy then when it is cold. All living things have thermal energy; a lot of them make Thermal Energy because they cause chemical reactions to take place. One of the most important or greatly used forms of energy is Electrical Energy, it can be found in all power lines, above or below ground. When currents flow through an object Electrical Energy is active, voltage deposits or takes it away. For example, the use of an iron, energy is deposited, when something needs a battery for operation energy is taken away. Then there is Magnetic Energy, if two magnets are forced together, they repel each other, energy has to be present in order for this to happen, the energy is stored in what is called a magnet field. Energy is produced by the magnetic field when the two magnets are brought together. Lastly, Nuclear Energy, the energy that is known for being extremely unkind to man; energy is released when the sun works by fusing light atoms together to make heavier ones. Atoms that have become heavy will decay or split which causes energy to release; this process is called fission (UIUC Department of Physics, Living and Non-Living Things with Energy July 25, 2006). There are many non-living things that contribute to excessive energy use; however, they are used by living factors, humans. For example, a major portion of energy consumption is used right in our very own households. The following is a list of items, but is not limited to, â€Å"space conditioning at 44%, water heating at 13%, Lighting at 12%, Refrigeration at 8%, Home electronics at 6%, Laundry Appliances at 5%, Kitchen Appliances at 4% and other uses at 8%† (Earth getting overcrowded-November 2nd, 2008-Sheree Bega). These percentages are all based on one household’s usage; imagine the numbers when all of our world’s usage is calculated. Energy is greatly taken for granted by many, most don’t even think or imagine that there is a possibility that we can run out of energy. Humans are responsible for the damage being done to our planet, and for the non-renewable energy depletion. We are in an energy crisis, which is a very big problem. People need to become more aware of this problem and try to do their part to help preserve the non renewable resources that we still have left and to also help the environment by recycling and watching the energy use at home and in the car. One person can only do so much, and we may never see a difference from one person making that change. But if several people started making changes to their life styles, then there is a big possibility that we could start to see a big difference. This is an issue that everyone needs to know about and take seriously. If we do nothing, what will happen to mankind as we know it? What will we allow are children’s futures to be like if we do not take action now?

Analysis of the strategy development in the vsm group

6. Case analysisBackground to the analysisThe overall analysis of the scheme development in the VSM Group is reasonably straightforward ( in hindsight ) . In 1997, the new CEO joined the company. Given that the new proprietors Industri Capital did non seek long term ownership, his undertaking was to do the VSM Group a profitable company that would be fit for an IPO within the following 5 old ages or so. At the clip, the VSM Group still had a strong production focal point and concerns tended to stop at the mill Gatess. Like most other shapers of run uping machines, it had been fighting with unsatisfactory profitableness. Summarizing up the state of affairs in a simple SWOT analysis shows that the VSM Group was strong on production and merchandise development but had less proficiency in pull offing the parts of the value concatenation between production and the client. Although the market as a whole had been worsening for decennaries, the upper sections ( computerised machines with emb roidery capacity ) were still profitable. Given its capacity for developing and bring forthing high public presentation run uping machines, VSM opted for a scheme with the expressed purpose of going the taking manufacturer of premium run uping machines. However, the deficiency of competency on the market side was all excessively evident to the new CEO. VSM needed to increase client orientation in all parts of the value concatenation, so it started to work intensively with its independent retail merchants to develop them and, optimally, bring on them to cover entirely with VSM ‘s merchandise lines. In add-on, VSM started to spread out the figure of to the full owned retail merchants to spearhead its merchandises in profitable markets. Within the company proper, information and preparation was aimed at transfusing the impression that the employees at VSM had merely one beginning of income, irrespective of place within the company: the client. The VSM Group was strong on both production and R & A ; D but the merchandise market options for sing merely its production accomplishments to seek low cost advantage in the mid and top sections of the market looked less promising. To go a market leader and accomplish true distinction, it needed to supply new superior merchandises while developing new competency to pull off the linkages between production and retailing. The new theoretical account ‘Designer 1 ‘ hence played a important function in VSM ‘s new scheme, as does its attempts to widen its competency into retailing. The Pfaff purchase can be viewed in visible radiation of this scheme. Although the acquisition of Pfaff was non rather in line with the new scheme of the VSM Group, it was aligned. When Pfaff came up for sale, the expressed end of the VSM top direction was to do an issue possible for their proprietor. The purchase of Pfaff would alter the construction of the industry but the programs for an IPO of the VSM Group would hold to be postponed. However, this was acceptable to the proprietor who antecedently had sought out structural trades in other industries. Further, the purchase of Pfaff did non include any production capacity in Germany. The mark of the VSM Group was the Pfaff trade name. In the procedure, VSM discovered the works in Brno, which was non a portion of Pfaff, but a subcontractor. However, its function in the production of Pfaff branded machines was so of import that VSM decided to purchase the works and do it a to the full owned subordinate of the VSM group. This was non in VSM ‘s original program and is a good illustration of how a procedure position helps usInstructor ‘s Manualunderstand how strategic determinations are developed over clip. A farther of import strategic determination was to maintain Pfaff as a full-range premium trade name analogue to the original Husqvarna Viking line. This determination was the consequence of a instead drawn-out procedure and the concluding determination was far from obvious at the beginning of the treatments. Overall, the VSM Group is remaining with its scheme: premium merchandises and commanding the value concatenation while remaining profitable. However, the purchase of Pfaff has delayed several of these aims. Although the figure of to the full owned retail merchants has increased, it has increased less than originally planned. Further, the work to incorporate the retail merchant web for the Pfaff line started at square one and needed a batch of attending. Last, the underestimate of the badness of the German market has tied up the top direction squad well and drawn extra financess from the Group. Turning now to the specific inquiries:6.1 There were a figure of coincident alterations in the VSM Group in theperiod 1997-2003. Is the VSM Group still the same company?The last 25 old ages of the VSM Group are a history of considerable contextual, organizational and market alteration. In 1977, the Husqvarna company, a big maker of place contraptions and forestry equipment, was taken over by its fiercest rival Electrolux. In merely a twosome of old ages, the company was integrated into the elephantine Electrolux. Still, resources and competencies really changed surprisingly small through the old ages. The fabrication works hardly changed and the merchandise development section had a long tradition with section directors and employees functioning long footings. The purchase of Pfaff added no production resources since the Karlsruhe works was closed. However, the purchase of the Brno production installation did add to production capacity although non production competency. Consequently , a resource audit will demo that few resources or basic competencies have really been changed during this period. ( Note that we talk about alteration in quality instead than measure. ) Rather, the alteration procedure has been directed towards beef uping the linkages between functional countries in the value concatenation. To this terminal, several methods have been employed. The development of a mission statement ( which really did non be prior to the reaching of the new CEO ) , organizational alterations ( composing top direction squad ) , the physical resettlement of the R & A ; D and selling sections to the same edifice and the VSM programme for educating retail merchants are illustrations of this.6.2 How would you depict the strategic capableness of the VSM Group in 1997? In 2001? In 2003?The VSM Group has ever demonstrated high proficient proficiency compared to its rivals. This is briefly illustrated in appendix 1 where the ancestors of the present administration are descri bed. The VSM Group was e.g. the first to do a self- lubricating stitching machine through the usage of sintered metal engineering. Its streamlining activities during the 1980s were besides successful in cut downing the parts ‘ count and cost. This meant directing design attempts non merely to fulfill the consumer but  © Pearson Education Limited 2005 Instructor ‘s Manual besides to run into the demands of the production section for designs that were possible to bring forth more expeditiously. Historically, the thoughts for merchandise inventions have come from the R & A ; D section with small input from the selling section. This is non to state that the development applied scientists were uninformed about client demands, but instead that market information was non collected and channelled though the administration. Although the VSM Group had for a long clip required all its merchandise applied scientists to run up actively in their trim clip, we have a authoritative instance of a product- orientated administration. To understand the administration in 1997 see appendix 1 where the company ‘s historical background is laid out. A factory has been located at or near the present site for more than 300 old ages. Get downing as a metalworks for guns in the 17th century, the activities at the Husqvarna works have shifted from guns to rifles to run uping machines as demand has changed through the centuries. Resource places ( the factory ) and competencies ( notably the metalworks and mechanics ) have been used to follow new schemes as induced by alterations in the environment. During the period 1997-2000, the VSM Group took a figure of actions to better the linkages between functional countries. First, the directors of the international gross revenues companies were brought into the top direction squad, which provided an sphere for strategic conversation with other parts of the administration. Second, the work on the formal scheme papers ( including the mission statement ) brought together different parts of the administration, both horizontally and vertically. The written paperss besides served to pass on corporate schemes and values in a new and consistent manner. The carefully managed scheme procedure seemed to pay off in footings of organizational committedness. Third, traveling the merchandise development and selling sections to the same edifice was another measure to associate proficient expertness and selling know-how to organize a whole. It is of import to observe that the alteration towards market orientation was an overall attempt that involved alterations in the top direction squad, a new fiscal accounting system, every bit good as the physical resettlement of sections. Furthermore, it should besides be noted that the increased focal point on pull offing linkages extends beyond the company ‘s ain administration. The company ‘s high engagement in the development of the independent traders is another illustration of pull offing linkages. To descry this the pupils need to hold on the construct of the value concatenation ( subdivision 3.6.1 ) so as to non restrict the analysis to resources and competency controlled through ownership. At a insouciant glimpse, it may look clear that the resource place of the VSM Group had changed markedly by 2003. It so owned the Pfaff trade name and it had new in-house production capacity at the Brno works, which was cost efficient and capable of consistent quality. On the â€Å"front end† of the value concatenation, new traders had been added. However, on closer review the alterations may non be that important. Pfaff had established itself as a high quality trade name and the new production installation in Brno did add capacity but no new or different competency to the company. As it was, the Pfaff purchase looks more like â€Å"more of the same† than echt alteration. By 2003, VSM ‘s strategic capacity had non changed appreciably in quality but in measure. The company still possessed expertness in merchandise development and had  © Pearson Education Limited 2005 Instructor ‘s Manual efficient production installations. In add-on, VSM had two strong trade names with a planetary presence. On the retail side, VSM is still go oning its quest to ‘transform ‘ its retail merchants to transport its trade names entirely. 6.3 Are the nucleus competencies in 2003 more robust than in 1997? It is straightforward to individual out the merchandise development capacity of the VSM Group as a campaigner for a nucleus competency. The new strategic way has increased the purchase of this competency every bit good as spawned the development of others such as pull offing linkages. However, it is questionable whether merchandise development capacity in itself may be called a nucleus competency ; the Brother company has emerged as an advanced rival with potentially deep pockets. However, the hardiness of a nucleus competency tends to increase when it is embedded in a specific organizational context ; the decision is that the hardiness has increased with the focal point on edifice linkages within the value concatenation ( subdivision 3.6.1 ) . Robustness besides stems from ownership. The coming of to the full software-controlled run uping machines has made package development really of import for the stitching machine manufacturers. The acquisition of the little package manufacturer EMNET was seen as strategically of import in position of the company ‘s committedness to â€Å"enhance the joy of sewing† . Harmonizing to VSM, it saw the tendency as traveling towards farther integrating between computing machine and stitching machine, doing the usage of a Personal computer a excess measure for e.g. the building of embellishment. If VSM were non in control of its embellishment package, it could intend that in the hereafter it would be forced to trust to a great extent on outside parties in order to supply the full merchandises. Interestingly, a similar state of affairs was at manus in the early 1980s when electronic co ntrols were introduced in run uping machines. The strategic options confronting the administration at that clip were either to develop the necessary competency internally or to purchase the services and parts from an outside provider. Finally, the company ‘s determination was to engage applied scientists with grades in electronics in order to develop the new engineering internally. In hindsight, interviewees from merchandise development acknowledge this as an of import strategic determination since some rivals ( e.g. Bernina ) lost of import land in developing their ain engineering. Know-how in electronics has subsequently proved to be a threshold competency for run uping machine makers except for the lowest market sections.6.4 What are the of import factors in the macro-environment that influence VSM and its industry?The PESTEL model may be suited here. Some factors may be thought of as structural drivers of alteration, i.e. factors in the macro-environment that affect the wh ole industry, and some may merely be of importance to the individual administration. A common mistake committed by pupils in this analysis is to seek to make full each missive in PESTEL with some content, nevertheless undistinguished. We have chosen to give a few illustrations that in the yesteryear have shown to be of importance. Concentrating on a few outstanding factors gives the pupils a opportunity to derive deeper apprehension of these factors alternatively of merely fundamental apprehension of a long ‘laundry list† of possible factors.  © Pearson Education Limited 2005Instructor ‘s ManualPoliticalAlthough the political environment in Sweden is really stable, trade policy issues between the EU and the US have threatened the VSM Group in the yesteryear. In the alleged â€Å"Banana War† in the late 1990s, US governments threatened to enforce a high ( 50 % ) surcharge on targeted merchandises such as run uping machines, in response to EU protectionist patterns know aparting against imports of American bananas. This menace was really existent and would hold meant serious losingss in VSM ‘s cardinal market for premium run uping machines. This illustrates the importance of accounting for political conditions between provinces, and non merely within provinces. Another issue could be the general liberalization of trade. Low or no duties on fabric imports have made apparels much cheaper in the Western universe, pass overing out big parts of the fabric industry in the US and in the EU. Cheaper vesture has wholly undermined the old inducement to run up.EconomicOnce once more, the economic environment in Sweden is moderately stable for a little province. However, Sweden has non opted to joint the European Monetary Union ( EMU ) . The Swedish krona hence floats against both the US dollar and the Euro. In the short tally, it is possible to fudge fluctuations in the exchange rates. In the medium tally, these fluctuations will impact the income of the VSM Group in domestic currency. In the yesteryear, the profitableness of the VSM Group has showed clear covariation with the exchange rate of the Swedish krona, both in 1982 ( when the krona was devaluated by 16 % ) and once more in 1992 when the krona dropped over 25 % nightlong as the policy of fixed exchange rate was abandoned. Even in 2003, the VSM Group had to get by with shriveling net incomes ( in domestic currency ) as a effect of the bead in the US dollar.SocioculturalUnder the rubric of sociocultural factors, we find some of the st ructural drivers of alteration in the stitching industry. LOMLOTs ( Lots Of Money, Lots Of Time ) were often used by the VSM Group to depict a turning group of retired persons, peculiarly in the US, with plentifulness of clip for leisure activities and money to pass. Sewing out of necessity is no longer of import for bring forthing demand: you can purchase much cheaper than you can run up. Rather it is ‘higher ‘ motivations in the Maslowian sense that drive many consumers. This alteration in consumer gustatory sensations has had an impact on the industry: the gross revenues of low priced simple machines have plummeted, while more advanced machines show steady gross revenues. The fact that it is now possible to bear down $ 5000+ for a consumer stitching machine ( the Husqvarna Viking Designer 1 ) is besides an index of this alteration. Given that run uping machines are no longer a necessity, there is no â€Å"automatic† creative activity of demand. As such, the sti tching machine is now viing with other types of leisure activities: fishing, golf, or going. The VSM Group has clearly recognised this and its mission statement contains the phrase â€Å"creating demand for more originative utilizations of sewing† .  © Pearson Education Limited 2005Instructor ‘s ManualTechnologicalThe more and more widespread usage of the Internet and its capacity for file transportation has made it possible to easy upgrade characteristics of the stitching machines through a simple download of package ascents. The top theoretical accounts from the taking makers make usage of the Internet to administer embellishment forms and package for the building of usage embellishment. In add-on, the VSM Group distributes ascents of the operating system of the stitching machine proper. As of yet, no theoretical account has a direct linkage to the Internet. Rather, package has to be downloaded via a Personal computer. In category treatment, this may open up informed guess about what new characteristics we might see, given the rapid development for new applications of information engineering in other countries.6.5 What are the forces of competition in the sewing machine industry?The instance text contains adequate info rmation to do it possible to execute a Five Forces analysis. More ambitious enterprise might include external beginnings of information. From experience, it has been noted that pupils may hold troubles with understanding the difference between competitory competition within the industry, which is one of the five â€Å"forces† , and the degree of competition, the dependant variable in the theoretical account. The information provided in the instance ( notably in portion 3 ) makes it possible to execute a Five Forces analysis ( subdivision 2.3.1 ) . Persistently low profitableness over the concern rhythm fundamentally defines the degree of competition as â€Å"high† ( in the Porterian sense ) . Competitive competition seems to be moderate with moderate degrees of merchandise invention, absence of monetary value wars, or aggressive selling towards retail merchants. However, altering purchaser gustatory sensations have meant diminishing overall demand for run uping machines, particularly on basic theoretical accounts. Buyers have high bargaining power due to low exchanging costs between trade names since the industry is mature with a dominant design. In add-on, the typical stitching machine retail merchant carries several trade names. Therefore, it could be concluded that it is the demand side that put downward force per unit area on the industry ‘s net income borders. From the analysis of the environment the pupils are asked to develop an thought of how the market will develop and what alternate places the histrions in the industry may take. Section 2.4 in ECS will likely be helpful here, peculiarly the Strategic Group Analysis in 2.4.1. Besides subdivision 2.4.2, Market Segmentation, will be a cardinal reading since VSM ‘s scheme is to travel after a niche section that is still profitable even though the entire market for run uping machines is worsening. Therefore, the job of specifying the industry and to execute a dynamic analysis will come into drama.6.6 What are the following strategic issues Viking will hold to turn to? What strategic options might be considered?For the VSM Group, two issues stand out: keeping proficient leading and pull offing the value concatenation. Extra issues are trade name direction and pull offing the Pfaff acquisition. Issues of way, methods and â€Å"success criteria† for scheme development are dealt with in c hapter 7 of ECS. In the short tally, this would be â€Å"protect  © Pearson Education Limited 2005 Instructor ‘s Manual and construct on current position† . However, in the medium to long tally, issues of merchandise and market development will come in the equation. The notes below should be considered in this visible radiation. The proficient proficiency of VSM has been a repeating subject in this instance. It is true that capacity for merchandise invention is a cardinal portion of VSM ‘s strategic capableness, but it should non be construed as the beginning of competitory advantage for VSM. In recent old ages, its rival Brother has introduced automatic threading, a utile characteristic soon non available from VSM. In all, Brother ‘s capacity for technology seems to equal that of VSM. Nevertheless, maintaining proficient leading ( as it manifests itself in new merchandises ) is one key to VSM ‘s overall scheme. A good set of applied scientists is portion of the equation but cognizing how to bring forth the right sort of invention is even more critical. Hence the accent on bridging spreads within the value concatenation to better flows of information and resources in both waies. The instance contains a just sum of information on the procedure intended to increase client orientation in all p arts of the value concatenation. This goes for the R & A ; D, production, and marketing sections every bit good as the retail merchants. The concatenation metaphor is suiting in this instance: a concatenation is no stronger than its weakest nexus. The most hard portion to manage is the nexus of the value concatenation that VSM does non command through ownership: the retail merchants. The retail merchants have a critical function in the company ‘s contact with the client. Any alteration in the preceding parts of the value concatenation will be â€Å"filtered† through this concluding nexus to the client. Therefore, VSM has put a batch of attempt and money into developing retail merchants and supplying them with support such as trade name particular store insides and subsidiary merchandises such as instructional pictures and forms. This procedure is ongoing, for both trade names. Customer dealingss are a resource that has to be managed by the company: they can non be bough t and they take clip and attempt to construct. In comparing, technology accomplishments are less dearly-won to develop. VSM ‘s increased attempts in selling and client dealingss provide increasing hardiness ( ECS, subdivision 3.4.3 ) to their strategic capableness. The integrating of the retail merchants into the VSM administration is taken to its logical terminal in the instance of the confined store-in-store construct developed for the US market. Exclusive franchise in the â€Å"Dealer-Partner† programme is besides a move towards increasing control of the retailing concern. The inquiry is: will the constructs that have been proven successful in the US besides be applicable to other markets, such as Europe and Asia? The transmutation of VSM from a product-orientated company to one of market orientation has merely started. From a â€Å"Madchen fur alles† covering all market sections, the aim is now to fulfill the selected client group. This is besides clear from the placement of the freshly acquired Pfaff trade name. The purpose is to construct a relationship with the client. A critical strategic issue is hence to increase the cognition about the targeted client group. The mark group is frequently described as middle-aged adult females with above mean fiscal resources. In VSM ‘s corporate slang, the acronym LOMLOTs ( Lots Of Money, Lots Of Time ) seems to capture some of the indispensable features of this client section. The selling scheme is to do the clients think approximately run uping as an activity that makes good usage of their trim clip, all the piece recognizing Husqvarna Viking and Pfaff as the premium trade names for this activity. 288  © Pearson Education Limited 2005Instructor ‘s ManualBy 2003, the Pfaff line of machines had non been re-engineered automatically ; the basic engineering used is ‘old ‘ Pfaff. However, with new theoretical accounts designed by VSM ‘s ain applied scientists, integrati ng between the trade names will presumptively be more marked both in production and in R & A ; D. The inquiry is, will VSM be able to continue the differentiations between the trade names? There are many analogues that could be made to the auto industry on this issue, e.g. with the Volkswagen pudding stone. The selected scheme is dearly-won ; the debut of advanced merchandises and services is dearly-won. These costs have to be passed on to the consumers and the latest theoretical accounts retail for approximately $ 2000 to over $ 5000. Consequently, the demand for volume may merely be satisfied by a planetary presence. Market incursion in the US is good and in Europe critical stairss are being taken to increase it ( the acquisition of Pfaff is one portion of this ) . However, the instance of Asia is more debatable. In 2001, the VSM Group established a little presence in Tokyo, Japan, but gross revenues are fringy. This may be considered an effort to turn organically but what other o ptions are within range? Is the Asiatic market â€Å"worth† viing for or are resources better spent on consolidation and defense mechanism of VSM ‘s nucleus markets? VSM ‘s quest to â€Å"create demand for originative sewing† means that it has started transforming itself into a company offering more and more services ( after gross revenues, embellishment, run uping categories ) . The balance of the company is altering. The acquisition of Emnet and the quickly spread outing figure of package applied scientists underline the importance of a cognition base in calculating. The command for enlargement in instruction will besides necessitate development of new competencies. In the words of one interviewee, the run uping machine in the hereafter may work as â€Å"an ordinary printer† , the of import portion being forms, instruction and inspiring magazines. Consequently, an interesting strategic issue is how to equilibrate the traditional strength of the company, merchandise development, and the formation of competencies in information engineering and instruction. This is besides a inquiry of company individuality. Take one illustrati on. In interviews with the cardinal persons in the top direction squad, the figure of machines sold frequently surfaced during treatments on public presentation. The interviewees discussed the history every bit good as the hereafter in footings of gross revenues of hardware. The implicit in image was that the figure of machines was decisive for the success of the company, and direction should be focused on the relation between produced machines and gross revenues of machines. The nexus between gross revenues, production and logistics was emphasised. However, in a market-orientated company with the purpose to construct durable relationships with the clients, the figure of machines is simply an index of how many client relationships are initiated. Rather, the end must be to make an administration that aims to increase client satisfaction, advancing a uninterrupted hard currency flow from each of these relationships. One possible scenario could e.g. be that VSM will sell its machines a t a monetary value that is to a great extent subsidised and alternatively range profitableness through the gross revenues of forms and instruction. In this scenario, wholly new linkages between resources and competencies would be critical for the success of the company.  © Pearson Education Limited 2005Instructor ‘s Manual6.7 How does the scheme of the VSM Group fit its strategic capableness with its environment? How did it alteration from 1997 to 2003?A treatment of VSM ‘s scheme and its development physiques on the interplay between strategic stretch and fit – stretch in footings of considerations for bing resource places and tantrum in footings of constructing new resources to capture a place on the chosen merchandise market. In 1997, VSM already had several of import resources and competencies that served as the footing for the new scheme. First of all, VSM possessed an active R & A ; D section and an efficient production installation. It besides had a trade name name that was good regarded in most markets. However, its selling section chiefly supplied merchandise descriptions and run uping forms and was small involve in merchandise development. The market as a whole had been worsening for decennaries but the top section was healthy and VSM ‘s merchandise line was comparable to that of its rivals. Although the major histrions were endeavoring for distinction, most of them were featuring full merchandise ranges with similar characteristics on their theoretical accounts. VSM ‘s strategic analysis suggested that concentrating on the more expensive designs ( computerised run uping machines with embroidery capacity ) would do sense in visible radiation of the altering sociocultural factors act uponing the possible clients for run uping machines. VSM ‘s strong place in the US market likely influenced this decision well. Clearly, following a distinction scheme in footings of the â€Å"strategy clock† ( ECS, subdivision 5.3 ) , VSM seemed to travel clockwise towards a place of focussed distinction. The new top-of-the-line theoretical account â€Å"Designer 1† was instrumental in accomplishing this end. However, accomplishing a function as market leader was non every bit simple a s establishing a new superior merchandise and so merely bring forthing it ; it needed to make its clients. The sewing machine concern is dominated by little independent retail merchants, normally transporting several trade names. Controling the selling attempts of the retail merchants was hence peculiarly of import when seeking to sell a merchandise at about duplicate the monetary value of any machine from the competition. Further, VSM ‘s mission to make demand for its merchandises necessitated closer control of the communicating with its clients. To pull off the nexus between the production of run uping machines and the selling of run uping machines, VSM started an extended programme where independent retail merchants were invited to the Husqvarna works. On site, they toured the premises, received preparation on the new theoretical accounts and information on VSM scheme. In add-on, VSM besides started to supply complete store insides and developing programmes for terminal use rs. It besides closed contracts with selected retail merchants to go sole traders of the Husqvarna Viking scope of merchandises. In exchange, these retail merchants received extended selling support. The scheme development procedure combines elements of both stretch and tantrum. VSM ‘s original resource place had a batch of influence on its new scheme and in this regard, we have a instance of â€Å"strategic stretch† . However, some of VSM ‘s resources were non equal for this scheme. This was clear in relation to the selling maps of the value concatenation. In 1997, VSM has really small control over the selling activities pursued by its local traders. The value of proactive alterations earlier in the value concatenation hence threatened to be suboptimal since the possible benefits would non make its clients. Constructing this new resource ( i.e. pull offing the linkage between assorted parts of the value  © Pearson Education Limited 2005Instructor ‘s Manualconcatenation ) was deemed necessary to capture the targeted place on the merchandise market. In add-on, VSM had unequal co-operation between the R & A ; D and selling sections. In an attempt to promote increased co-operation and communicating, the R & A ; D and selling sections were moved into the same edifice. Previously, the R & A ; D section had been located near to the production line. In this regard, the scheme development was a inquiry of tantrum. The purchase of Pfaff meant adding new resources similar to what already existed in the VSM Group. The Pfaff trade name was strong and perceived every bit high quality. But pull offing two planetary trade names needed clear boundary lines. The pick to see the Pfaff trade name as being on a par with the Husqvarna Viking trade name was in line with the corporate scheme. The distinction between the trade names is founded on the penetration that perceived value and monetary val ues are by far the lone dimensions on which we map strategic groups ( see ECS, subdivision 3.3 ) on the market for run uping machines. Turning to features of the clients instead than the merchandise itself enabled VSM to utilize the value of the trade names in footings of being perceived as technologically advanced and dependable, while providing for a larger client group in its market communicating. Adding the Pfaff trade name allowed the VSM Group to make new client groups without stretching the trade names excessively much. Again, similarities with the auto industry, e.g. Volkswagen, may be interesting to discourse. 6.8 The instance starts with the reaching of the new CEO. What function did Mr. Runnquist drama in the transmutation of the company? How of import is he for the hereafter of the company? The strategic leading of the new CEO Svante Runnquist has several of import facets and many of the techniques can be readily recognised in ECS, chapter 10. Collaboration, instruction and communicating, intercession and way are all portion of the CEO method to enable alteration and construct committedness. First of wholly, the window of chance for him was at that place: the company had been sold and the CEO was freshly on the occupation. Furthermore, the new proprietor Industri Kapital had expressed demands on profitableness, so there was a touchable external force per unit area sensed by the administration. Finally, he seemed to be â€Å"the right individual in the right place† , coming to a production-oriented house which severely needed to upgrade the selling competency. The first thing Svante Runnquist did was to get down the development of a new mission statement and a scheme papers. Hitherto, the company had chiefly used activity programs to steer the short tally operations but no catching mission statement existed for either internal or external usage. The scheme procedure had some of import characteristics. First of wholly, representatives from selling, R & A ; D, production and finance were all included in the top direction squad working on the paperss. Second, in-between direction had to take part in the reappraisal and farther development of the scheme paperss. This made for committedness to subsequently phases. Third, the scheme as a procedure was emphasised by doing the scheme development in the top direction squad an on-going activity. The simple visual aspect of the stapled scheme underlined that this was non cast in rock.  © Pearson Education Limited 2005Instructor ‘s ManualWhy was Svante Runnquist successful in his attempts to advance market orientation in the company? Given that the fortunes were favorable, the persuasive rhetoric of Svante Runnquist surely played a portion. The proactive orientation of the scheme was met with some agnosticism among in-between direction since more urgent affairs seemed to exceed their docket. To counter this, Svante Runnquist illustrated the demand for alteration utilizing illustrations or narratives from other industries that had been capable to unforeseen alteration or reorganization. The demand to concentrate on the traders was illustrated by an in-house version of the value concatenation ( dubbed â€Å"The Viking client staircase† ) . It clearly illustrated that the traders and VSM were portion of the same value concatenation, that it was merely the trader that really met the clients and that the lone beginning of income for the value was the conc luding client.6.9 At two points in clip, the CEO of the VSM Group opens up a wide treatment on the strategic issues. What issues are discussed and why does he affect a larger group of the administration on these issues?In this instance, corporate-wide treatments on strategic issues are initiated at two points in clip. In 1997, the crafting of the original mission statement was discussed from top direction down to the store floor. Subsequently in 2000, the integrating of the Pfaff trade name line brought about a similar procedure. Albeit limited to a smaller circuit of people than in 1997, the procedure still involved people good outside the top direction squad. From interviews with the Chief executive officer it is evident that the aim was to derive legitimacy for the scheme. The issues discussed in both these procedures were really much related to corporate individuality ; the mission statement is formulated in footings of company features and â€Å"who we are† . The 2nd cas e of unfastened treatment on a strategic issue was initiated in relation to the Pfaff purchase. The integrating of the Pfaff trade name into the VSM Group was besides more a inquiry about corporate individuality. The image and feel of the new trade name and associated merchandise lines had to be discussed in relation to the bing Husqvarna Viking trade name and what the people working on it were approximately. Both these procedures seem to be sincere efforts to affect people of the administration in something that finally concerned their professional individuality. However, one time these procedures were closed through formal determinations, the CEO smartly argued for their execution. â€Å"You need to stand on the barricades† , as Svante Runnquist expressed it. It is interesting to contrast other strategic determinations to these really unfastened procedures. The determination to buy Pfaff was purely an matter between the proprietors of the VSM Group and the top direction squ ad. The same goes for the purchase of the Brno works. The deficiency of a wider procedure around these really of import determinations suggests that direction respect these issues as following instead than explicating scheme.