Thursday, November 28, 2019

Atajan Atabayev. Essays - Emotions, Anti-corporate Activism

Atajan Atabayev. Jessica Brown. English 1 A. 13 February 2017. Buy Yourself Less Stuff Summary. All Humans enjoy spending money and desire to purchase new stuff such as a car, home, phone which they think will fulfill their expectation and add their life a bit happiness. However, people have a problem to invest money for the things which will improve their quality of life and make their happiness long lasting. To prove that fact nearly forty years ago, Richard Einstein which is the economist at the University of Southern California, examined people's carnal desire and how can it affect their life after having things they expected to have in their life. After gathering opinions, Easterlin discovered the cause of the unhappiness and It was a desire to have more things from life people can acquire which make them blind and turn their life never ending loop. In the article, Dunleavy brings to types of consumption. First is conspicuous consumption which drives as to buy more useless stuff and another is Inconspicuous consumption which is buying less stuff and using your money to improve the quality of your life and enjoy your life. First, Author talks about conspicuous consumption which is the result of our unhappiness. People in this attitude wants more materialistic stuff than nonmaterialistic stuff. Hence, humans adapt all the worldly things around them so fast and after sometimes they want even more mundane stuff, new stuff and better stuff. It doesn't matter how much you earn after sometimes you started to think would like more than you are currently making at your job. As Author believe monetary cycle never ends and distract you from genuine happiness, because We can be happy without nothing, but our brain wants all the best things made in the World to compete with other people instead they don't want to have all that things. However, people want to show other people how much money they do have and how many things they can purchase On the other hand, Inconspicuous humans enjoy simple things around them which makes them happy and we don't have to spend more money instead simple things give us joy and make us connected to each other. Dunleavy explains we have to pay money for the experience, not for the stuff. For example, instead of living big house, it is better to live in the small house and use bunch amount of money to go travel or spend your time with your friends. If we spend less money, it means we have more free time than our wealthy neighbor whose working 80 hours afford expensive Tesla. Instead, we can spend such a time with our family and enjoy a. We can also learn different skills such as cooking, playing piano instead of sitting in the front of the computer to make extra 40 $ an hour to buy new watch end of the day. At the end of the day, experiences make us happy. Money is also a great tool if we know how to spend it right. We have to pay it to realize our dreams, to learn new skills, enjoy new countries with our loved ones instead of buying new stuff which can't give us long lasting happiness.

Sunday, November 24, 2019

Lucy Stone - The Progress of Fifty Years - 1893 Speech

Lucy Stone - The Progress of Fifty Years - 1893 Speech This was Lucy Stones last public speech, and she died a few months later at age 75. The speech was originally presented as a speech to the Congress of Women held in the Womans Building at the Worlds Columbian Exposition (Worlds Fair), Chicago, 1893.  Stone is known as a proponent of womens suffrage and, earlier in her life, as an abolitionist. A short biography below (before Stones speech) was published with the speech in the official edition of the record of the Congress of Women, published at the direction of the Lady Managers, a committee charged by the United States Congress with overseeing the Womans Building and its events. Points covered in this speech: Education: A reflection that Oberlin College opened itself to both sexes and to all classes in 1833, followed by Mary Lyon opening Mt. Holyoke.Free speech: Anti-Slavery activism had led to questioning womens role as well, though the anti-slavery movement was divided on womens rights. She mentions the Grimke sisters and Abby Kelly.  Abby Kellys role in establishing the right to free speech for women, defended by Garrison and Phillips.Womens Sphere and womens work: Women began to enter new occupations. She mentions Harriet Hosmer among artists, business owners, Elizabeth Blackwell and medicine, ministry and Antoinette Brown, law and Lelia Robinson.Married womens rights: The property rights and legal existence of married women.Political power: Some limited suffrage for women had already been won, including full suffrage in Wyoming, school and municipal suffrage in other places.Womens organizations: Womens clubs, colleges for women and co-educational colleges, the  Womans Christian T emperance Union  and other reform groups and beneficent societies, factory, and prison inspectors, and the Board of Lady Managers for the Columbian Exposition, at which Stone was speaking. She closed with: And not one of these things was allowed women fifty years ago, except the opening at Oberlin.  By what toil and fatigue and patience and strife and the beautiful law of growth has all this been wrought? These things have not come of themselves. They could not have occurred except as the great movement for women has brought them out and about. They are part of the eternal order, and they have come to stay. Now all we need is to continue to speak the truth fearlessly, and we shall add to our number those who will turn the scale to the side of equal and full justice in all things. Full text:  The Progress of Fifty Years: Lucy Stone, 1893​ Related Primary Source Material on This Site: Laura Ormiston Chant: The Duty of God to Man  - 1893Ida Hultin: Essential Oneness of Ethical Ideas  - 1893Marriage Protest of Lucy Stone and Henry Blackwell  - 1855

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Monopolistic competition Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Monopolistic competition - Assignment Example Differentiation can help a company to create a market niche and set a price for a product, which will exceed its marginal costs, and thus will help a company to increase its economic profit in the short-run period (Mankiw, 2011). Product differentiation is considered to be one of the barriers for companies to market entry, as they will have to win the loyalty of the customers to a certain product. However, differentiation in monopolistic competition is not so significant and cannot exclude other products as substitutes (Mankiw, 2011). One of the examples of a company in monopolistic competition is Reed’s Dairy – a farm, which produces dairy products in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Reed’s Dairy used differentiation as a strategy to gain customers loyalty, get additional market niche and increase its profit. Real differentiation was used by Reed’s Dairy, as the farm started to produce hormone free milk and other dairy products. Besides the company offered its customers ice-cream, produced directly at the farm. Reed’s Dairy also used perceived differentiation, as it advertised its products as the best, delicious and most fresh. The company uses its website, facebook page and other means to advertise themselves and communicate with the customers (Reed’s

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Major Depressive Disorder Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Major Depressive Disorder - Case Study Example 2008). Major depressive disorder serves as a load on the economic as well as physical well being of the individuals. It serves to be the second most important clinical condition which hinders the normal life of the individuals and impairs them from leading a perfect life. Worldwide major depressive disorder accounts as the fourth most common pathology. This psychological condition is very dangerous because it accounts as a cause for 66 percent of all suicidal deaths and it also raises the risk of pathologies of the heart and associated vasculature (British Columbia Medical Association 2004). In the United States it majorly affects the people who are suffering from a medical condition since a very long time or those who migrate to the United States and females have a greater susceptibility of suffering from this condition (Paul et al 2007). Major depressive disorder patients present with a wide range of psychopathological conditions which differ from one person to another. It is characterized by a very low consideration regarding self existence. A person considers himself to be of no use and does not have a very high opinion of him. The patients have thoughts of remorse and do not consider their existence to hold any value. They have negative thoughts regarding everything. The patient feels low and distressed and has a bad temper along with a feeling of exhaustion and weariness. The patient cannot engage in activities which require him to remain focused and has a tendency to easily forget important things. Sleeplessness is also associated with major depressive disorder but an interesting fact is that some patients might also present somnolence. This contradicting pattern is also noted in the case of eating as some patients present with polyphagia whereas others may be anorexic. The patient complains of gastrointestinal tract

Monday, November 18, 2019

Entrepreneurship Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 1

Entrepreneurship - Assignment Example There are several applications that can provide a better outlook while ensuring that there is the ability to receive better alternatives with the competition. By working with a consultant, there is the ability to analyze and identify the problems which are occurring in a business as well as change several aspects to ensure that easier functioning occurs. When looking at the situation with News 4 U, it can be seen that alterations in the main system will also assist with a higher profit, ability to grow substantially and will help with alternatives in the business and the needs that are associated with this. 1.1 Company Background ‘News4u’ is a family newsagent business which was established in 2006 by Tanveer Ahmed. The independent sole trader is located in Southbridge of Edinburgh. There are four members of staff to help to run the business and to help assist with the store who are all members within the family, ‘News4u’ is open daily for fourteen hours bet ween the hours of 8-10pm. The newsagents provides to their customers daily products such as News papers, cigarettes, juice, crisps, stationary and a wide variety of Scottish Souvenirs. 1.2 Problem Background There are two areas that are continuing to provide complexities with â€Å"News 4 U† one which is based on the internal environment, and one which is based on the outcome from the external environment. The internal environment is currently having issues with the staff, specifically because of the small size of the business. There isn’t the ability to keep enough staff available for continuous shopping and to meet the demands of those that are in the store. This has created complexities in keeping the shop open for a longer period of time and is not allowing customers to receive the necessary support. Parallel to this problem are also issues with the paper work, which is currently out of date, and doesn’t provide a systematic way for employees and those overl ooking the business to keep up with the changes being made in the store. The second level of problems is based on the return from customers as well as the inability to keep up with competitors who are offering similar alternatives. Promotional deals are not providing the right alternatives for those working within the store. There are also difficulties with customers that are shopping in the store, specifically because of a lack of space that is available and a layout which is not conducive to seeing the variety of items which are available. By examining these aspects, there will be the ability to change the way in which the News 4 U works and to make the return more effective from customers and into relation to the competition. 2.0 Problem Exposition When looking at the particular problems with News 4 U, it can be seen that there needs to be an alteration first in the internal environment while connecting this to more efficient means with the external

Friday, November 15, 2019

Reviewing The Problems Of Music Piracy Media Essay

Reviewing The Problems Of Music Piracy Media Essay Music internet piracy is causing serious problems within the global society, especially the music industry. Music internet piracy itself has resulted in big music companies such as Sony, in losing millions of dollars every year and is progressively growing. There have been many institutions and strategies that have been adopted by the music industry to combat music piracy which have addressed music piracy but have not had the ability to stop it. In this essay, I will be investigating The effect of Peer-to-Peer internet piracy on the music industry. I will be doing so by breaking up my essay into different sections. These include an introductory section on music publishing and copyright infringements: this will give some background information as to the whole concept of music rights. Then I would be investigating The Global Music Industry and to follow this, a section on why music piracy has been so successful. Straight after this I will look at the industrys response to combat music piracy and finally a section on the future of the music industry This topic is worthy of study because it outlines the impact of music piracy on the music industry. This should make you think twice before downloading a song or album because you will witness the effect it is having on the artists, producers, singers, and companies if you consistently download music. If music piracy continues, it will have an effect on people entering the music industry because they are being denied of the money they deserve. Music Publishment and Copyright Infringement Music piracy is defined as the illegal duplication and distribution of sound recordings.  [1]  Each time an album or single is purchased a faction of that sale goes to the artist or band that made the song. This money is called a royalty payment. This is where musicians earn most of their income. If people continually download music or tracks from the Internet without paying for them, the musicians receive no royalties.  [2]  This is a serious problem because if singers are not payed, this will threaten the future of music copyright as they might leave the industry due to the decreased return. Music copyright is the legal right to publish and sell copies of an artists, singers, or writers work.  [3]  In the music industry, the copyright to a song is usually shared by the singer and their recording company under the condition that the recording company pays the singer for a share in their copyright, which gives the company the right to prevent any other organisation from selling the songs. The consequence of another company being found selling copies of the song is that the singer or their recording company has the right to sue and press charges against that company for breaking copyright laws.  [4]  The artists have this right to make sure that only their companies can sell their songs, which would result in only that company receiving the money. But when the music is downloaded from the Internet, the companies do not get money out of it as it is a free transition to the downloader. The Global Music Industry The global music industry was quite successful during the 1990s. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic industry (IFPI), album sales grew from US$24.1 billion to US$38.6 billion during the decade.  [5]  Those days are well over now and the industry is struggling and sales have been falling quite rapidly. The Institute for Policy Innovation said music piracy is costing the U.S. economy $12.5 billion every year. 71,060 U.S. jobs lost, a loss of $2.7 billion in workers earnings, and a loss of $422 million in tax revenues, $291 million in personal income tax and $131 million in lost corporate income and production taxes.  [6]  So not only is music piracy threatening the future of music copyright, it is also threatening the global society in terms of jobs, taxes and salaries. This problem has arisen from the online music file sharing programs that are now available to use through the internet. The most commonly used file sharing is Peer to Peer (P2P) networking, which was used by Napster. Napster was created in June 1999 and made the work of many artists available for free. Napsters popularity was immediate and according to Mediametrix, a company that provides internet rankings and measurement, Napster was the fastest software adoption in history  [7]  and 2.8 billion music files were downloaded each month.  [8]  Napster is a different way to distribute MP3 files. Instead of storing the songs on a central computer, the songs live on users machines. When you want to download a song using Napster, you are downloading it from another persons machine, and that person could be your next-door neighbour or someone halfway around the world.  [9]  Napster also used a centralized directory that facilitated efficient searches for songs, albums and artist s,  [10]  which made it very user-friendly that helped it become more popular and widely used around the world. Given the impact on the music industry, the Recording Music of America (RIAA) soon filed a case against Napster in the U.S. District Court of San Francisco for à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"engaging in or enabling, facilitating or assisting others in the copying, downloading, uploading, transmission, or distribution of copyrighted musical work or sound recordings protected by copyright or state law without the express permission of the rights owners.à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ Ã‚  [11]  Napster was then shut down February 2001. This did not see the end of file sharing on the internet though; many other peer-to-peer alternatives to exchange music over the internet remained available such as Freenet, Gnutella, Gnarly, Wired Planet  [12]  and KaZaA. For instance, KaZaA, is currently holding the new record of most downloaded software with more than 230 million users worldwide.  [13]  In all the countries listed by the Yahoo Buzz Index, which is an index that measures internet searc h sing the Yahoo search engine, KaZaA was the number one and most popular search term on the internet in many weeks during 2003.  [14]     [15]   The graph above demonstrates the increasing sales of music from 1991 to 1998, but due to the introduction of Napster in 1999, music sales have decreased rapidly from 2000 onwards and are still decreasing. The graph also indicates that it is projected that in 2012, there would be an increase in the amount of digital format spending on music and less CD sales compared to the sales in 2006. File sharing has been growing ever since it started. In June 2001, IFPI estimated there were 3 million simultaneous global users and 500 million files available for copying at any stage in time. In 2002, the IFPI estimate went up to 5 million simultaneous users and 900 million files.  [16]  Clearly we can see now that file sharing is increasing rapidly every year and is getting more popular with more users and files being put up to download. In 2002, NetPD, a company that provides protection services to copyright owners whose material is being pirated through the internet, reported that 3.6 billion files were downloaded monthly, of which around 60% and 70% were music files.  [17]  The most popular albums are suffering the most. The most popular albums are available for downloading almost immediately after release and in some cases before release. Popular artist Eminems album was available for download even before it was released.  [18]  So it is fair to say that copyright protection technology has been ineffective in preventing music from being downloaded and threatens the future of music copyright. Not only are the producers and artists losing money, the top five recording distributors are also feeling the effect of music piracy. The five recording distributors or record labels combine to distribute over 80% of all sales in the United States in both 2002 and 2003.  [19]  These Big Five companies are , Universal Music Group (IMG), Warner/Elektra/Atlantic (WEA), Sony, Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG), and Electric and Musical Industries (EMI). These companies have tremendous market power in the signing of artists, the release of new albums and the distribution of the albums. If music piracy continues, it will threaten the rights of these big companies sales and music copyright  [20]  and impact on their commitment to sign and develop new artists.   [21]   Table above presents aggregate market share data for total album sales in 2002 and 2003, the two years in the data sample.  [22]   Reasons That Contribute to Music Piracys Succession File sharing and music piracy over the internet has been successful due to many aspects that are changing within the society. Back in the 90s there was no technology around to assist in file sharing. That is why the music sales were so successful in those days. But now society has super fast broadband speeds and new computer technology that assist to make file sharing and music piracy possible and simple to do. In this section of the essay I will be underlining all the aspects that have been introduced in the society that have made it easier for music pirates (pirates being a person who downloads music or uploads music on the Internet), to make file sharing and music piracy so successful. The first reason for music piracys success is the development of broadband and cable internet which has facilitated music swapping. A soundtrack that takes more than 12 minutes to download with a dial-up connection can be downloaded to your computer in as fast as 20 seconds with a high speed connection.  [23]  Napster enjoyed the super fast speed of the internet in Universities and used it effectively until they were banned because file swapping was consuming much of the bandwidth available. In the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, file sharing had amounted to 75% of the total bandwidth.  [24]  Now that the internet speeds are faster and more efficient, downloading music is much easier and makes life much easier for the pirate. If this continues and technology keeps on improving, then this will surely threaten the future of music copyright because as mentioned before it is quicker to download and easier. Another change in technology that has the ability to threaten the future of music copyright is that it is getting easier to use such digital formats. The development of digital compression formats has had a major influence on the illegal distribution of music. Online delivery is possible in Motion Picture Expert Group-1 Audio layer 3 format (MP3).  [25]  MP3 is a digital compression method that reduces a piece of recorded music to one-tenth of its original size.  [26]  This is the format used in the online sharing of pirate copies. MP3 is the most popular and productive format of data compression. MP3 compresses the data without significantly compromising sound quality which is what the pirates want. Also, the ease of trading songs using MP3 format will discourage consumers from buying legal copies of albums or songs,  [27]  which potentially does have the ability to threaten music copyright as it has become very easy to download and store music with minimal hassle, due t o the MP3 format. MP3 files are more productive to use than CDs. A 5 minute soundtrack that would take more than 50 megabytes in CD compression format would only take a file of 5 megabytes to store without noticeably affecting the sound quality. This 5 megabyte compressed file takes 12 minutes to download with a dial-up internet connection (56Kbps modem downstream), 1 minute and 20 seconds with a regular DSL or cable connection (512Kbps downstream) and 20 seconds with a fast DSL connection (2000Kbps downstream).  [28]  So now that faster internet assists with faster downloads, many people buy fast speed broadband to download compressed MP3 files efficiently and effectively. The development a myriad of portable MP3 players ranging from top of the range IPods to inexpensive pocket sized MP3 players has also had an impact and will further threaten the future of music copyright. People can upload (rip) CDs to their PCs hard drives and listen to music on their computer. The computer then has the ability to compress the files to a suitable MP3 format to reduce the storage memory on the hard drive and to facilitate the sharing of the files over the internet, and convert the files back to a CD format and burn CDs that can be played by any MP3 player. So the portability of the music is now more convenient, as now the music can be carried in a MP3 player device. MP3 players and IPods are the most popular sources of listening to music, so now if everybodys downloading music files off the internet, they will find it more convenient to listen to music from a little device such as an MP3 player. So if there is a growing number of MP3 users, there would also be a grow ing number of music downloaders, which has the impact to threaten the future of licensed and copyrighted music. The Industrys Response in Combating Music Piracy The music industry has adopted many strategies, punishments and policies to combat and prevent music piracy from continuing. In this section of the essay I will analyse the responses that the industry have implemented to combat music piracy. The first response that the music industry implemented was that the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) individually sued participants in file sharing network. On June, 25, 2003, the RIAA announced publicly that it would be monitoring file sharing networks and taking legal action against users of these networks. This announcement had the effect of reducing file sharing activity across the board because many consumers became concerned about the risk of being sued for thousands of dollars. The RIAA focused their attention on the major offenders who were averaging more than 1, 000 copyrighted music files each.  [29]  Doing this reveals that as a result of the lawsuit strategy, album sales increased by 2.9% over the 23 weeks in the data sample after the strategy was announced. During this period, actual record sales in the U.S. were an average of 11,470,652 albums per week, based on national level data reported by Billboard magazine (2003) each week, and thus would have been 11,147,378 per week in the absence of the reduction in file sharing caused by the lawsuit strategy.  [30]  As you can see this lawsuit strategy was effective in combating music piracy. It increased the music sales and helped overcome the issue of music piracy. RIAA continued with this for 23 weeks and stopped it. Because RIAA had focused only on the major offenders, this gave the chance for many casual users who initially abandoned file sharing for fear of being sued to return to the music piracy networks. Another successful strategy that was implemented by the music industry that has eased music piracy was that it put up legal digital music online. Many companies and organisation are now allowing music to be downloaded with a cost attached to it. The most popular and prominent organisation is ITunes. ITunes charges their customers $0.99 per track downloaded. As of April 7, 2009, and onwards, ITunes is charging $1.29 per track to the most popular songs and $0.69 per track to the least popular songs.  [31]   The ITunes store has sold 8 billion tracks since its launch in mid-2003. It has been confirmed that recent months have seen music sales climb very high to four billion projected track sales each year.  [32]  Between January 6, 2009 and July 21, 2009 the service sold 2 billion songs.  [33]  This compared to the sales between April 28 2003 and January 10, 2007 to sell the first two billion songs. ITunes has also been running extensive programmes of live events in London, hosting great and packed crowds and some of the worlds popular and successful artists.  [34]  So we can tell by this information that ITunes is a successful implementation by the industry and is continuing to grow rapidly. It is getting so popular that ITunes is now extending its stores to new European markets during this year.   [35]   This graph shows a rapid increase of music sales of ITunes from 2002 to 2009. Another strategy that the industry has been implemented is that the major labels such as, Pressplay, owned by Sony and Universal; AOL MusicNet, owned by the other 3 big labels (EMI, AOL Time Warner and BMG) and by RealNetworks, are set to begin offering consumers digital-music subscription packages.  [36]  Most services offer unlimited downloads, for a fixed charge from US$10 to US$20 per month and the possibility to do permanent burnable downloads for around US$1.  [37]  These digital- music subscription packs contain their own library of music and customers are admitted to download the licensed music that is on display and available for downloading. This proved to be a successful strategy as well. It gave consumers maximum downloads for a fixed price, the consumers were happy to use it because they were secured when downloading songs as they were legal to download. The music industry decided to seize CDs from CD companies in Italy, Greece and Spain due to the fact that these companies are producing more CDs to store downloaded music and distribute them illegally. Total seizures of CD-R discs in 2001 were three times higher than in 2000, at 9.6 million.  [38]  Seizures of blank discs destined for illegal CD-R labs totalled 19 million, compared to less than one million a year earlier indicating massive levels of anticipated production. There were also major actions against the mass-producing CD plants. Around 42 CD manufacturing lines, up from 20 the previous year, were put out of action by IFPI assisted police initiatives, mainly in Indonesia, Malaysia and Philippines. These manufacturers have a potential annual production capacity of some 200 million CDs, roughly equivalent to the legitimate market in the UK. A further 22 manufacturers were taken out of action in the first four months of 2002.  [39]   In some places, like the United Kingdom, the Three strikes policy has been introduced to try and combat music piracy and illegal file swapping across the internet. The three strikes policy disconnect the Internet for users who have offended the copyright violation which have been promoted by the RIAA.  [40]   Hull, in the UK, has put the three strikes policy into practice to deal with the internet users caught downloading copyrighted material. Karoo, the citys only internet service provider (ISP), serving approximately 90,000 internet users has been cutting connections immediately if a user is caught downloading copyright material without warning the offender. This harsh practice of cutting the internet connection without notifying the customer, has brought controversy from customers and several digital rights group. Under the new law, Karoo will send three written warnings notices to the customer before cancelling their (ISP) connection, after the (ISP) accepted it was exceeding the expectations of copyright owners. The (ISP)s policy remains contentious as well as substantially harsher than that of other UK (ISP)s, which have apparently been unenthusiastic to deal with illegal file sharing across their networks, and only lately agreed to send warnings notices to persistent offenders.   [41]   The Future of the Music Industry The future of the music industry looks grim for the years ahead. In this section of the essay I will be investigating the future of the music industry and music copyright. File sharing has made a dramatic change in the distribution process since it started causing changes in the music industry. In 1999, 51% of albums were sold in retail stores and 34% in other stores.  [42]  In 2002 and 2003 the share of sales in music stores had a dramatic drop to approximately 35%, whereas the other stores had increased to 50% of music sales. Also, by 2003, 5% of all music acquisition occurred through the internet and music piracy, and it is continually growing. The reason is that the industry is shifting from retail stores to sales through large electronics chains such as Best Buy and Circuit City, as well as mass merchants such as Wal-Mart.  [43]  Therefore, music piracy is effecting not only music sales music copyright, it is also effecting the business industry. Now that most of the music is electronic and can be downloaded at home using the internet, music retailers such as Sanity have suffered due to internet file sharing and music piracy, which does ha ve an effect on the future of the music retail industry as more music is being downloaded than sold traditionally in retail stores. Also, buying a record may be replaced with downloading a record,  [44]  which can affect the future of music industry as downloading a record eliminates the need for labels to manufacture, warehouse, and ship tangible products.  [45]  If consumers continually downloading music and ignore buying them, the industry will affect what music the public listens to and how they listen to it.  [46]  Because of this, many digital labels would be introduced. In the new web-based music industry, artists could make their own labels and record companies individually on the internet, using their own computer. This can affect the current major record labels as many indie  [47]  labels could easily produce their own record labels at home, which will increase the popularity of them, resulting in some of them being as successful as past indies such as Yahoo and Microsoft, which will give way to a more dynamic free market.  [48]   CONCLUSION In this essay I investigated The effect of Peer-to-Peer internet piracy on the music industry. I believe I have demonstrated that music piracy does have the ability to threaten the future of music copyright. I have also analysed the implementations the music industry have implied to combat this problem within the society and evaluate how successful they were to prevent music piracy from continuing. In conclusion, music piracy is infringing copyright laws and costing the music industry millions of dollars each year. With the introduction of Napster in 1999, music sales decreased extraordinarily. In 2001, Napster was put out of business but this did not see the end of music piracy. KaZaA, a Napster successor than came in business and is now holding the record for most downloaded files. As you can see, music piracy is very hard to stop because if you shut down one distributor, many other distributors and organisations come into the illegal world of music piracy. Music piracy is getting easier due to the technologies available for the pirate to work with. Now there is super fast broadband internet speed, data compression, MP3 and portable players for the pirate to use to successfully download music efficiently and effectively. Digital music is now one of the most popular formats of music. The music industry has been working hard to combat music piracy and file swapping online. Although they did not completely stop music piracy altogether, they had certainly eased it and decreased the number of music downloads online. The most successful strategy that was introduced by the industry was to put legal music online. The music was digital, but it had a price fixed to each track. Many companies, namely ITunes, put their songs online legally and this decreased the level of music piracy over the Internet. ITunes is continually growing and is selling more and more tracks each year. A new focus that could be emerged from my study in this essay is What should the global society and music industry do in order to stop music piracy at once and for all?

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Key Business Calculations and Revelant Financial Flows :: GCSE Business Finance

For my assignment I have been asked to demonstrate compentence in handling key business calculation and basicly demonstrate my understandings of the revelant financial flows. Introduction For my assignment I have been asked to demonstrate compentence in handling key business calculation and basicly demonstrate my understandings of the revelant financial flows. I am able to choose my own business, provided with information needed. For my chosen business I need to do the following: Task 1: I have been asked to explain how business may calculate break even in order to indicate profitable activity levels, to adapt break-even calculations for selected business in the light of changing cost and sale price data, then to recommend appropriate coursers of action for a selected loss making business. Task 2: In task 2 I have been asked to explain the meaning of cashflow with reference to a spreadsheet containing at least six sets of monthly data, to explain how a profitable business could go bankrupt due to cash flow problems and to recommend ways in which a selected business might control its cash flow most effectively. Task 3: I this section I have been asked to explain how a budget midht be used to monitor expenditure for one cost centre for my selected business, explain the importance of budget variance information to managers of my selected business and to recommend ways in which managers might deal with a cost centre that consistenly records an unfavourable budget variance in the caseof my selected business. Task 4: In task 4 I have been asked to explain simple ways of recording transactions for my selected business, to explain how fraud can take place in the process of recording transactions for my selected business and recommend simple fraud detection and prevention measures for a small business. Unit 3 Investigating Financial Control Task 1, a) P1 In this task I have been asked to explain how a business may calculate their break even. Break even is a calculation of profit and loss in the year. Break even is very important for any type of company, because all the types of companies need to found out where their incomes and losses meet. I own a sandwich bar company and I have to found out how could I break-even with my losses and incomings. My start up cost is around  £100,000 but that has nothing to do with on working out my break-even. To break-even I need to know my running cost, which splits in to fixed costs and variable costs. Fixed cost is a cost of my phone bills, gas bills, electricity bills, if I would be renting the property the rent cost would also be included in the fixed cost and also the tax to the

Sunday, November 10, 2019

Gender Stereotype

Stereotyping was an act of generalizing a group by observation of some group members, but later it becomes a popular belief and assumption to certain groups. Although sometimes these assumption made by stereotyping can be correct but most of the time it affects our judgment by oversimplifying our further observation on the others. People sometimes rationalize their stereotyping by ignoring evidence that contradicts the stereotype, thus created unconscious stereotype. Unconscious stereotype can lead to discrimination, under performance, and false understanding to certain groups. One of the unconscious stereotypes we hardly notice in our everyday life is the gender stereotype. Ever since we were kids, boys are socialized to be tough, aggressive, loud, and athletic; girls are socialized to be sensitive, passive, quiet, and nonathletic. â€Å"Parents encourage their sons and daughters to participate in sex-typed activities, including doll playing and engaging in housekeeping for girls and playing with trucks and engaging in sports activities for boy. † said by Susan D. Witt in â€Å"Parental Influence on Children’s Socialization to Gender Roles†. And because of this, boys tend to stand out more than girls, and girls did not usually speak out in public. Although it was only an issue of being passive or aggressive, but it had lead most male to stereotype female as less intelligent because of how most female did not speak out their opinions; so did I. And because of this stereotype, most men believe that women are not competent to work in a po sition higher than men and women are expected by men to be housewife. According to Chang Tianle, â€Å"If a successful woman does not assume traditional duties at home, she will probably be accused of being selfish and concentrating too much on her career and neglecting her family. † Women would get blamed if not doing most of the housework at home even though they are making the major earning for the family. As a male myself, I have thought that female were less intelligent and athletic than male. The main reason is because of the way media have portrayed female. In movies and TV shows, female were hardly the main haracters. In news, the important figures such as politicians were usually male. Even in a family, male usually seems to be the one that was supporting it. Later, there had been some false scientific belief that supports gender bias. According to Caryl Rivers and Rosalid C. Barnett in â€Å"The Difference Myth†, â€Å"Victorian-era scientists generally accepted as fact that larger brains of men made them intellectually superior; women’s smaller brains made them closer to children than to mature adults. But this had proven to be wrong; the brain size has now proven to be proportional to the body size and does not determine intelligence. But most false beliefs are still widespread and had lead to so many people believing that female were inferior to male, and I was just like most average male, believed that female were less intelligent, athletic, and not as worthy as male in the society. This unconscious bias created a world with most men having a higher status than women. According to J. D. Nordell in â€Å"Position of Power†, â€Å"women need to be 2. 5 more productive than men to be judged equally competent. It created an unequal work environment for women and took away their opportunities . Although now I try not to stereotype female as less intelligent, sometimes my judgments are still unconsciously affected by this idea of stereotype. In my biology lab, there is a girl in my group. At the first day of the lab, she was very talkative but slow on her work, so I unconsciously assumed that she might need my help in the following labs. But later I observed that she was actually doing better than me on lecture and had answered most questions that I did not know. It turned out that she does not need help at all. So I conclude that the reason why she was slow in lab was because she was being too talkative and was not focusing in the lab, and because of this, I had unconsciously labeling her with the stereotype of being less intelligent. The idea of stereotype affected my judgment while I was not aware of it. â€Å"Even though formal barriers to women’s workplace advancement have been dismantled, unconscious bias continues to interfere. †Said by J. D. Nordell in â€Å"Position of Power†. I agree with his statement because of a lot of phenomenon of unconscious gender bias still exist in our everyday life just like the experience I had in biology lab. People are too used to linking people to certain groups but not fully observing them, thus stereotyping occurred. As of now, I try not to let the thought of stereotype affect my judgment. But I believe that in some scale, stereotype has become a habit for me and also for most people. Although I try not to stereotype others, it still unconsciously affects my daily judgment. Being the same to aversive racism, unconscious stereotype is also hard to be eliminated. The reason of it is that people are not aware of it and they think that they are making rational judgment. And the self-fulfilling prophecies then lead the stereotyped to act in a way to confirm the stereotype. â€Å"If others perceive you as talented, you become more talented. If you are perceive as less able, your ability shrinks. † Said by J. D. Nordell. This unconscious bias then becomes a cycle. We perceive most women as passive, thus leading more of them not to speak up. Gender stereotype had made a great impact on people’s expectation on different gender. When we speak of stereotyping, we usually think of racism, but forgetting how it affects gender. And because of this, gender stereotype become so subtle. We usually do not realize it when we are stereotyping other gender. And sometimes the self-fulfilling prophecy can support our stereotyping. Stereotype then becomes a habit. Stereotyping not only affects the victim, it also affects the stereotyper. When we get used to stereotyping others, we eventually weaken our observation and reasoning skills. Gender Stereotype Stereotyping was an act of generalizing a group by observation of some group members, but later it becomes a popular belief and assumption to certain groups. Although sometimes these assumption made by stereotyping can be correct but most of the time it affects our judgment by oversimplifying our further observation on the others. People sometimes rationalize their stereotyping by ignoring evidence that contradicts the stereotype, thus created unconscious stereotype. Unconscious stereotype can lead to discrimination, under performance, and false understanding to certain groups. One of the unconscious stereotypes we hardly notice in our everyday life is the gender stereotype. Ever since we were kids, boys are socialized to be tough, aggressive, loud, and athletic; girls are socialized to be sensitive, passive, quiet, and nonathletic. â€Å"Parents encourage their sons and daughters to participate in sex-typed activities, including doll playing and engaging in housekeeping for girls and playing with trucks and engaging in sports activities for boy. † said by Susan D. Witt in â€Å"Parental Influence on Children’s Socialization to Gender Roles†. And because of this, boys tend to stand out more than girls, and girls did not usually speak out in public. Although it was only an issue of being passive or aggressive, but it had lead most male to stereotype female as less intelligent because of how most female did not speak out their opinions; so did I. And because of this stereotype, most men believe that women are not competent to work in a po sition higher than men and women are expected by men to be housewife. According to Chang Tianle, â€Å"If a successful woman does not assume traditional duties at home, she will probably be accused of being selfish and concentrating too much on her career and neglecting her family. † Women would get blamed if not doing most of the housework at home even though they are making the major earning for the family. As a male myself, I have thought that female were less intelligent and athletic than male. The main reason is because of the way media have portrayed female. In movies and TV shows, female were hardly the main haracters. In news, the important figures such as politicians were usually male. Even in a family, male usually seems to be the one that was supporting it. Later, there had been some false scientific belief that supports gender bias. According to Caryl Rivers and Rosalid C. Barnett in â€Å"The Difference Myth†, â€Å"Victorian-era scientists generally accepted as fact that larger brains of men made them intellectually superior; women’s smaller brains made them closer to children than to mature adults. But this had proven to be wrong; the brain size has now proven to be proportional to the body size and does not determine intelligence. But most false beliefs are still widespread and had lead to so many people believing that female were inferior to male, and I was just like most average male, believed that female were less intelligent, athletic, and not as worthy as male in the society. This unconscious bias created a world with most men having a higher status than women. According to J. D. Nordell in â€Å"Position of Power†, â€Å"women need to be 2. 5 more productive than men to be judged equally competent. It created an unequal work environment for women and took away their opportunities . Although now I try not to stereotype female as less intelligent, sometimes my judgments are still unconsciously affected by this idea of stereotype. In my biology lab, there is a girl in my group. At the first day of the lab, she was very talkative but slow on her work, so I unconsciously assumed that she might need my help in the following labs. But later I observed that she was actually doing better than me on lecture and had answered most questions that I did not know. It turned out that she does not need help at all. So I conclude that the reason why she was slow in lab was because she was being too talkative and was not focusing in the lab, and because of this, I had unconsciously labeling her with the stereotype of being less intelligent. The idea of stereotype affected my judgment while I was not aware of it. â€Å"Even though formal barriers to women’s workplace advancement have been dismantled, unconscious bias continues to interfere. †Said by J. D. Nordell in â€Å"Position of Power†. I agree with his statement because of a lot of phenomenon of unconscious gender bias still exist in our everyday life just like the experience I had in biology lab. People are too used to linking people to certain groups but not fully observing them, thus stereotyping occurred. As of now, I try not to let the thought of stereotype affect my judgment. But I believe that in some scale, stereotype has become a habit for me and also for most people. Although I try not to stereotype others, it still unconsciously affects my daily judgment. Being the same to aversive racism, unconscious stereotype is also hard to be eliminated. The reason of it is that people are not aware of it and they think that they are making rational judgment. And the self-fulfilling prophecies then lead the stereotyped to act in a way to confirm the stereotype. â€Å"If others perceive you as talented, you become more talented. If you are perceive as less able, your ability shrinks. † Said by J. D. Nordell. This unconscious bias then becomes a cycle. We perceive most women as passive, thus leading more of them not to speak up. Gender stereotype had made a great impact on people’s expectation on different gender. When we speak of stereotyping, we usually think of racism, but forgetting how it affects gender. And because of this, gender stereotype become so subtle. We usually do not realize it when we are stereotyping other gender. And sometimes the self-fulfilling prophecy can support our stereotyping. Stereotype then becomes a habit. Stereotyping not only affects the victim, it also affects the stereotyper. When we get used to stereotyping others, we eventually weaken our observation and reasoning skills.

Friday, November 8, 2019

Free Essays on Puritans

The earliest form of Puritan political correctness has greatly influenced the progression of American society. Past events have the ability to affect the reputation of the area in which they occurred throughout history. Distinguished events may become a model for future peoples. Notorious events may leave a stigma on the area. A region such as Nazi Germany is remembered today for the abhorrent Holocaust that took place there many years ago. As Germany is remembered for a certain event in the past, the Salem witch-hunt has left a dark mark in New England’s history. Paul Johnson, a historian, wrote an article for The Spectator on Puritan New England and the Salem witch-hunt. I both qualify and refute many of his ideas throughout the article. New England Puritans were led by their god to live humbly and dress modestly. They enforced their ideals in all aspects of life. Puritan society was very strict. Education was very important to those who wanted to preserve their central values. Religion was most important to the Puritans because they believed that God governed all. As Johnson states, the Salem witch-hunt was unnecessary. It is â€Å"the quintessential event of New England history†. It will forever be remembered that the witch-hunt took place there. Many innocent men and women were killed due to false accusations of witchcraft and communicating with the devil. Johnson believes that although it has been made public and discussed in politics for many years, it still remains peculiar to the region. I agree that many view the occurrence differently. Both ends of the â€Å"political spectrum† have different opinions. Some, as does Paul Johnson, believe that it was a horrible, needless event, and others belie ve that it can be justified in some ways. Today, there are also those who believe that it can be overlooked. I agree with Johnson’s statement that all will agree that it was excessive, irrational, pious, and moralistic. The Salem w... Free Essays on Puritans Free Essays on Puritans The earliest form of Puritan political correctness has greatly influenced the progression of American society. Past events have the ability to affect the reputation of the area in which they occurred throughout history. Distinguished events may become a model for future peoples. Notorious events may leave a stigma on the area. A region such as Nazi Germany is remembered today for the abhorrent Holocaust that took place there many years ago. As Germany is remembered for a certain event in the past, the Salem witch-hunt has left a dark mark in New England’s history. Paul Johnson, a historian, wrote an article for The Spectator on Puritan New England and the Salem witch-hunt. I both qualify and refute many of his ideas throughout the article. New England Puritans were led by their god to live humbly and dress modestly. They enforced their ideals in all aspects of life. Puritan society was very strict. Education was very important to those who wanted to preserve their central values. Religion was most important to the Puritans because they believed that God governed all. As Johnson states, the Salem witch-hunt was unnecessary. It is â€Å"the quintessential event of New England history†. It will forever be remembered that the witch-hunt took place there. Many innocent men and women were killed due to false accusations of witchcraft and communicating with the devil. Johnson believes that although it has been made public and discussed in politics for many years, it still remains peculiar to the region. I agree that many view the occurrence differently. Both ends of the â€Å"political spectrum† have different opinions. Some, as does Paul Johnson, believe that it was a horrible, needless event, and others belie ve that it can be justified in some ways. Today, there are also those who believe that it can be overlooked. I agree with Johnson’s statement that all will agree that it was excessive, irrational, pious, and moralistic. The Salem w... Free Essays on Puritans Man’s Deep Thoughts in Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening Robert Frost’s poem Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening is a poem that deals with the inner thoughts of a man. The speaker stops to soak in his surroundings on his way home. He begins to realize there are many beautiful things surrounding him. His thoughts begin to wander as he thinks about the snow, what the owner of the woods might think if he caught him stopping there, and what the horse thinks. The speaker of the poem stops to rest for a moment. While he is stopped, he begins to look around. He sees the snow and hears the wind: â€Å"of easy wind and downy flake† (line 12). He realizes that the woods are filling up with snow. This is a beautiful sight. The frozen lake is far from him and it is the darkest day of the whole year. As the speaker notices that the woods are filling up with snow, he begins to wonder â€Å"whose woods these are I think I know† (line1). This makes him wonder what the owner of the woods might think of his stopping out in the middle of the woods â€Å"between the woods and frozen lake† (line7). He soon reassures himself â€Å"the owner will not see me stopping here† (line 3) because his house is in the village though† (line 2). Next, he wonders what the horse thinks: â€Å"my horse must think it queer† (line 5). He is not stopped close to a farmhouse, and the only thing one can hear is the falling snow and the horse’s bells: â€Å"The horse shakes his bells to ask if there is a mistake; he gives his harness bells a shake to ask if there is some mistake†(lines 9-10). The horse is probably tired and wants to hurry home, so the stop puzzles him. The narrator stops to take in the beauty of the wintry surroundings. The whole scene that surrounds him has absolutely captivated his mind. The speaker thinks the woods are lovely, dark and deep. He also realizes that he must be on his way because he has promises to keep: â€Å"but I have pr...

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Modern marketing approach

Modern marketing approach Introduction This paper supports the statement â€Å"the product/service dichotomy in marketing theory is no longer sustainable.† The present day marketing approach is a result of the many revolutions and changes that come about in marketing as a result of increased competition.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Modern marketing approach specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Modern marketing approach emphasizes â€Å"cost leadership, differentiation and focus† (Baker and Saren, 2010) The cost leadership attribute entails the product cost advantage of the product in relation to existing products in the market. Differentiation emphasizes creation of products with unique qualities that gives it an edge over the other products in the market. Focus on the other hand implies targeting particular market niches either based on age demographics, lifestyle geographic locations or any other appropriate attributes. Produc t/Service Dichotomy Product manufacturers often endeavor to achieve customer fidelity by delivering to them goods that satisfy their needs. This has led to the development of the â€Å"product/service mix† as pointed out by Baker and Saren (2010) in this scenario, service as a facet of the mix has continually been growing its importance. Technology and globalization have played a pivotal role in enabling different service providers reach out to the dispersed customers. Web applications for example, powered by the internet enables service providers to serve customers at any point. The earlier marketing approaches placed emphasis on the value within the product, which were always produced and distributed to the wider market. Because the value of the product was seen to be within the product, producers did not have to convince the buyer or persuade them the buy the product. The marketing practice therefore comprised distribution of the products to the â€Å"waiting† consu mer. The services marketing is said to have come in lime light during the 70s (Schiffman and Kanuk, 2000). The services’ marketing was uniquely packaged to center on individual services and making it different from the traditional goods marketing. There was a visible difference between manufactured goods and services in the sense that goods are tangible and can be felt whereas services are not.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Continuous market dynamics and technological advances have seen manufacturers shift from the old method of manufacturing for a speculated market to a situation where they accurately predict the customers needs and respond to them appropriately. By addressing the customers’ needs, manufacturers aim at creating customer dependency to their products and are assured of them buying. This process calls for the need to carry out a feasi bility study well in advance to establish what the customer needs and then customizing the products to feed the customers’ needs (Baker and Saren, 2010) Manufacturing companies have come with different ways of customizing products to fit individual needs; this can either be through use of colours that are synonymous to a certain group or tags that can be identified with a target market. The books sector is a good example where customers have widely applied the strategy of â€Å"product personalization† by providing them with unique names (Schiffman and Kanuk, 2000). High levels of competition and technological advancements have consistently pushed manufacturers and service providers into a need to pay more attention to the customer. They have been forced to categorize customers and strive to satisfy each customer’s unique need. There is a growing â€Å"perception that goods and service are similar,† this as pointed out by Lusch and Varg (2006) is as a â⠂¬Å"result of co-production.† The shift towards the notion that goods and services are similar has led to studies into the need for customer integration. Researchers on the subject-customer integration have often pointed out that the process allows customers to take part in adding value to the products. Through customer integration, Lusch, and Varg (2006) argues that three levels of serving the customer; â€Å"the facilities level, transformation and utilities.† The practice also enhances decision making, value addition and resource utilization. The support structure for the three levels of service provision is usually founded on the difference between â€Å"direct and indirect service provision.† In this framework, the resources service provision level brings integration when there is an exchange between a company and the customer (Lusch and Varg 2006). The structure also helps in identifying who between the customer and the service company is responsible for th e express and circuitous provision of services.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Modern marketing approach specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More At the decisions level, the support framework indicates that there is a relationship between the company and the customer at the point of making a decision. The value addition stage of value provision on the other hand indicates that customers and service companies collaborate in service provision. Niche Targeting Most recent marketing strategies target particular groups of people classified either according to age, gender, social status or job. Marketing attempts directing towards the youth for example are more frequent as a contemporary marketing approach. In this case, the marketing team studies the bahavor of its target market and develops a product that is customized to fit the needs of the chosen niche. This is common for example with the fashion companies, mobile phone man ufacturers and mobile service providers. Increase in the number of firms engaged in the production of similar goods or provision of similar services is responsible for the increased competition. Each organization strives to attain levels of competitive advantages over the others. Michael Porter formulated three important strategies which business organizations can use to gain competitive advantage; he points out â€Å"cost leadership, differentiation and focus† (Zeithaml, etal., 2005). As the main strategies for attaining competitive advantage. Current marketing strategies seem to have outgrown Porters’ strategies The modern marketing strategies emphasize the need for market segmentation as opposed to Porters’ three strategies alone. In the old days, price and product sophistication was used as a strategy to create market segments. Product pricing often meant that the product is affordable to a particular group of people by default and not some. Depending on the level of sophistication, a product would by default of preference to a particular social class. This type of strategy requires a substantial amount of promotional effort which results in a product that serves a narrow market segment rather than the mass market. The approach to niche marketing in the present day scenario requires inclusion to ensure sustainability. This means the modern approach to niche marketing is more focused to unique abilities and talents among people rather than in the different categories of people.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The unique abilities and skills may lie in the type of technology used by the organization or the unique talents among the organization’s manpower. (Palmer, 1997) points out the strategy that Apple Company has been using to make its i-products stand out of the competition as a typical example of this. The Dynamics of the Niche Market Niche markets are often very vibrant and keep on evolving with time. An organization can capture a niche and own it for time and loose it to other competitors in the field with time. Schiffman and Kanuk (2000) points out that shopping malls were niche markets for quite some time, he observes the changes that have occurred since then exposed malls to stiff competition. The same scenario is said to have happened to watch brands such as; Dual time. Changes in lifestyle, technology taste and preference among consumers contribute to the frequent shifts in the niche market. One would observe that what is considered fashionable within a given niche may not last long as other products keep on being launched into the market. Goods meant for niche marketing are often tailored to some technology and marketing procedure that fits the desired niche. The market usually begins with a boom but is filled up with competitors with time. This means that if an organization is to focus on niche marketing, then it must develop the most innovative strategies and be ready to continuously evolve and seek new niches for its products. Focus to a particular niche requires robust support in terms of resource but it does not necessarily translate into large revenue output. It is therefore not advisable for a particular firm to target niche marketing as a sole strategy for its product line. There is need to diversify into other strategies to cushion the organization from diverse effects of niche marketing incase of poor performance (Zeithaml, etal., 2005). Such an organization must also invest in developing right talents that can formulate and put into op erations appropriate strategies to achieve success. A niche in this case can not be looked at as a marketing strategy, rather it is a process resulting from an organizations’ proficiency in producing products that appeal to a particular group of people (Gilmore, 2003). Attaining sustainability in this course requires continuous innovation both in marketing skills and product development. Inclusive networking and sourcing ideas globally stands out as one of the strategies to successfully run a niche market. Niche marketing must strive to uniquely package products and invest in efficient manufacturing processes, cost effective distribution channels and adopt different marketing strategies. Technology serves as a major pillar in attaining the mentioned attributes. Technologically supported manufacturing, distribution and marketing helps in cutting down on cost and achieving high profit margins. Computer aided manufacturing and computer aided design are the key technological tool s that have helped in increasing manufacturing precision, reducing wastage and developing goods that suit the customers taste and needs. In supply chain, technological tools such as; RFID and EDI play an important role in speeding up the process and eliminating errors in the supply chain (Pasuraman and Berry, 2004). Leadership and sustainability in niche market is squarely based on the profitability of the strategy used. In order to attain leadership, there is needs a sound strategy that serves the whole market. This requires that an organization can be able to serve the market with as many products as possible at a minimum cost Pasuraman and Berry (2004) indicates that there is need to pursue â€Å"scale, scope and niche in a single business model in order to attain leadership in niche marketing.† Product/service dichotomy hampers development of marketing strategies The idea of creating a division between the approaches to service and product marketing makes it hard to devel op successful marketing strategies. Marketing of consumer and industrial services ought to be treated as one to allow the use of similar strategies in either. Often those who support the division of the product and services stress on differences in terms of the structure, marketing approach, response to environmental pressure and their markets. On the other hand, those opposed to this argument feel the dichotomy approach falls short in reality in the sense that; products and service marketing are similar. The only difference as pointed out by Rathmall (1974) could be in terms of the sizes of the companies involved. Division of marketing for products and services is often used as the platform for developing marketing theory and their application. Here, the dichotomy serves as a guide for developing distinct marketing actions tailored to particular products, enterprises and market divisions. Service marketing tends to target the final consumer as opposed to industrial product marketin g that targets buyers within the supply chain. Probably according to Rathmall (1974) this is what describes the difference between the two as far as marketing entails. Environment and company size are the main distinctions in product and service dichotomy. Environmental influences which undermine marketing efforts such as infrastructure can be a basis for differences between product and service marketing. Company size dictates the amount of resources available for investing in the marketing. Amount of resources available for marketing puts different platforms as far as marketing of products and services concerns. The Size of the Firm vs. Marketing Activities Most small firms often use contemporary marketing approaches building it both on the relational and transactional marketing theories. This brings on the same platform the marketing practice adapted by both small enterprises and the big ones. Traditionally, only the big firms used the transactional and relational marketing theori es to develop marketing strategies for their products. The size of an enterprise plays an important role in the manner in which the enterprise plans its marketing. Often, small enterprises adopt informal type of marketing plans unlike large enterprises which formulate formal marketing plans. Generally, there are several similarities between the informal and formal marketing plans adopted by small and large enterprises. There are wide similarities between in how the marketing decisions are developed and implemented. The general decision making strategies are used by both the small and large enterprises to develop marketing decisions. Another similarity is exhibited in customer relations duration anticipated by both product and service providers. They all aim at developing a sustainable customer relation, to achieve this; a lot of emphasis is placed on effective customer relations. Another similarity between small and large enterprises lies in the manner in which they develop and keep their customer contacts. Right from the first transaction with the customer, both large and small enterprises seek to keep the contacts of the customer for purposes of future communication and interaction. Enterprises often have a database of customers to act as a reference to track the customers buying behavior. Marketing as a process requires an investment to enable logistical procedures and planning. The only difference regarding investment in marketing is reflected in the budget but both the product enterprises and service enterprises must invest in marketing. It has also been noted that both small and large enterprises practice some aspects of traditional marketing. The problem of using traditional marketing approaches often has been lack of compatibility with the modern environment and customer behavior. Generally, by small enterprises adopting broad marketing strategies, they reduce the marketing distinctions between them and large enterprises. Small enterprises are continuo usly emphasizing investment of financial resources, time and effort in the development of personal relationships with the customers and raising their competitive levels in the market. Relational marketing provides an effective strategy for small firms to be as competitive as large firms. By enhancing the use of traditional marketing strategies, small firms can create a stable base from which they can strengthen their customer relations and be in a better position to compete the large firms. Planning and performance evaluation is another area that brings out more similarities between large and small enterprises’ marketing strategies. As pointed out earlier, small enterprises adopt a rather informal marketing plan, modern small business managers are increasingly coming to the realization of the need to adopt formal marketing plans to compete effectively with large firms. Another implication from marketing planning is that there is no empirical support of planning to performance in marketing. Palmer (1997) argues that whether a firm large or small adopts a formal plan, the difference might only be in the structure of the marketing approach but not necessarily in performance. Since evaluation of a marketing plan rates performance, planning may not be a strong factor as such. Firms should rate their marketing performance majorly from the customers’ response as well as their feedback. Marketing in the Service Industry Service industries, like industrial companies must constantly revolutionize their marketing strategies to put themselves in strategic positions in relation to the customers. There is in fact a higher need of growth and development in the service industry than in industrial markets. The major challenge in the service industry as pointed out by Palmer (1997) is the continuous fluctuation of overheads. The service sector became a prominent part of the economy towards the end of the twentieth century and has continued to play an important rol e in supporting economies. The sector continues to be a major source of employment, and therefore an excellent need for the services to be looked as importantly as the goods industry. Taking the service industry with the same weight as the goods industry should then be translated to the marketing approaches and strategies applied in both industries. Distinction of marketing strategies between goods and service industries would mean lead to making ineffective the traditional marketing strategies that have been existence for long. This is because the service industry as indicated earlier is a new venture in the world. Compared to goods industry which has been in existence for several years, with already established marketing strategies, it is important that the service marketing industry. Service purchase involves dealings which unlike the goods industry do not lead to material ownership. Since the emergence of the services industry, marketing of its products has been continually chan ging to take the same line as the products industry. The 4ps model of marketing has often been cited as inadequate in selling services Gronroos (1990) proposes an enrichment factor to this model in order to suit the service industry; â€Å"process and the participants should also be added to the list to make it effective as a services marketing tool. Time and speed are two other important elements of service marketing as pointed out by Palmer (1997) customers always make a repeat order for services from a provider that guarantees maximum effectiveness, efficiency and also delivers to the promise. The marketing speed is however an element that is controlled solely by the marketers. Services in which speed is important include; the food industry due to its perishable nature, transport service is another sector where speed of service delivery matters a lot. Integration of Product and Service Marketing Services do not have tangibility as opposed to goods, goods have evidence. Gronroos (1990) points out that â€Å"some pieces of evidence bundled with services can not be categorized as a true element.† However, service evidence as pointed with plays an important role in the fulfillment of the service. Customers use service evidence to appraise the performance of the service provider. Evidence in the service provision process helps minimize risks and gives the customer more confidence to purchase the service. Besides, evidence also helps to distinguish one service from another. Providing Evidence in Service Marketing Dichotomy is often used as evidence by service providers, â€Å"the quality of the product that accompanies the service they receive† (Bell, 1973) this includes the cost of equipment used to provide the service. Taking an example of a lodging or restaurant, cheap lodging or restaurant equipment implies poor service and expensive equipments on the other hand translates to classy services. This fact is used to differentiate service providers in terms of quality. Branding is also used as evidence in service provision. Borden (1965) points out that â€Å"service branding makes the product acceptable.† Once a service provider brands a service and runs a campaign to make it popular, customers develop more confidence in the service. A popular brand develops the customers’ confidence and reduces their perception of underlying financial risks in buying the service. The brand acts as evidence to what the customer can not feel or touch. Customers develop strong confidence in popular brands and buy them with same ease as a visible product. Branding consists of two stages; primary and secondary. The primary state consists of tangible evidence about the product which as earlier mentions lacks in services. Bell (1973) suggests that â€Å"the name of the service provider can be used as a primary brand.† The secondary brand then follows on the description given to the service. Companies distributing strong brands in the markets stand out of the rest because of the brand name. The environment in which the service is used can also serve as evidence for the service. Marketers can rely on this factor, to market the service as easily as they can to a product. The environment in which a product is used gives an opportunity for a marketer to create a mental picture of the service to the potential buyer. Borden (1965) indicates that a marketer out to create awareness of services provided by an amusement park can use words like â€Å"fun filled or enjoyment place† to create a mental picture about the park to the customer. The marketing message is another sort of evidence marketers in the contemporary world use to convince consumers about the service. Besides the message, customers are also given some incentives to lure them to the service. Mobile phone service providers for example promise free call time or launch a competition in which users of the service stand a chance to win some gifts. T his strategy is one of the best that marketers have focused on to convince consumers to use their services. This is described by Assael (1987) as the â€Å"power of communication† in which a market tends to glorify the service to the consumer. Along the same vein, the media has become a prominent tool with which marketers use to spread their service messages to the consumer. Service structure is another important tool for marketers, service marketers need to create structures which they can use to appeal and convince the customer why he or she should use the service. These structures could be in form of the tools that the service provider uses to deliver the service. Assael (1987) suggests that an air transport service provider can flaunt to the customer about the best airplanes in the company possession. With this structure, a marketer can make the customer imagine how good it is to use the service. By seeing the best rated airplane for example, a customer can be convinced t hat the service provided will be classy. Conclusion This paper has demonstrated that the product service dichotomy is increasingly loosing popularity in the modern business world. Although seen as a step towards the creation of market segments for products and service. Creating a distinction between products and services for the purposes of marketing is increasingly becoming a thing of the past as market researches continue pouring new approaches to integrate service and product marketing. References Assael, H., 1987. Consumer Behavior and Marketing Action. Boston: Kent Publishing Company. Baker, M. and Saren, M. 2010. Marketing Theory: a Student Text. London: Sage Publications. Bell, D., 1973. The Coming of the Post-Industrial Society. New York: Basic Books. Borden, N. H., 1965. The Concept of the Marketing mix. New York: John Wiley Sons. Gilmore, A., 2003.Services marketing and management. London: Sage Publications Gronroos, C., 1990.Services Management and Marketing. New York: L exington Lusch, R. F. and Varg, S. L., 2006. Theservice-dominant logic of marketing: dialog, debate, and directions. New York: M. E. Sharpe, Inc., Palmer, A., 1997. Principles of Service Marketing.London: McGraw Hill. Pasuraman, A. and Berry, L. 2004. Marketing Services: Competing Through Quality.New York: Simon Schuster Rathmall, J. M., 1974. Marketing in the Service Sector. Massachusetts: Winthrop Publishers, Inc Schiffman, L. and Kanuk. L. L., 2000. Consumer Behavior. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Zeithaml, V. A. etal., 2005. Services Marketing: Integrating Customer Focus across the Firm. London: McGraw-Hill.

Monday, November 4, 2019

Investment analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Investment analysis - Essay Example Hedge Fund is an investment partnership of limited wealthy investors or institutions. The minimum investment requirement for entering a hedge fund is much higher than many other investment options. It is also a highly illiquid investment as the fund stays invested at least for a period of one year. Hedge fund is as similar as a mutual fund but differs in quantum of its investments and number of its participants. It is also less regulated than a mutual fund. Hedge funds are managed by a team of experts headed by portfolio managers. Most of the investors will have a say in the management of the fund. This essay will give a brief idea about the strategies adopted by hedge funds for managing funds and the implication of its operations in the overall financial sector. Hedge funds and its mode of operation Hedge funds operate in various methods to handle investment risk. There are several strategies being adopted by Hedge Funds to minimise the investment risk. Some of the most important st rategies are Long/Short Equity, Global Macro, Event Driven, Emerging markets, Equity Market-Neutral, Convertible Arbitrage, Fixed-Income Arbitrage, Short Sellers and Managed Futures. These strategies will be dealt in detail further. Long/short equity: As the name implies this strategy involves taking both long and short positions on stocks. The core concept of this strategy is to go short on overvalued stock and long on undervalued stocks. This strategy is adopted to make profit irrespective of whether the market rise or fall. It is used by hedge fund managers to make profit on both sides. The undervalued stock will increase in value to make profits while at the same time the value of overvalued stock will come down thus making profit on its short positions. â€Å"Thus, the goal of any equity long-short strategy is to minimise exposure to the market in general, and profit from a change in the difference, or spread, between two stocks.† (Barclay Hedge, 2011) Global Macro: Glob al Macro is a more sustainable investment strategy in the sense that it is based on top down analysis or the fundamentals. As the name signifies, this strategy considers the macro economic variables. Company specific investments are also based on factors like management quality, market share, company profits, market competition, financial position, and the like. This strategy also invests in all kinds of investment options like equities, commodities, currencies, etc. Hedge fund managers also hedge such portfolio with the use of necessary derivatives and other instruments. This has been proved to be one of the most successful strategies adopted by Hedge Funds. Event Driven: â€Å"An event-driven investment manager is typically looking to invest in situations where there is some form of corporate activity or catalytic change taking place.† (Leary, 2004) The events include mergers and acquisitions, bankruptcy, asset sales, or any other restructuring pertaining to a particular co mpany. Hedge fund managers predict the movement of the share price based on the nature of the event related to the company. For example a possibility

Friday, November 1, 2019

The Theme of Emancipation in A Doll's House & Girl by Jamaica Kincaid Essay

The Theme of Emancipation in A Doll's House & Girl by Jamaica Kincaid - Essay Example Both arms of the scale are equally important to strike the correct balance. Imbalance leads to many problems. Ibsen in â€Å"A Doll’s House† develops a powerful theme—that of emancipation of a woman. What can a doll do? It will be controlled by the string to which it is attached. It has no free movements of its own. That is the type of married life Nora and Torvald live. Nora’s submissiveness to him is seen in every aspect of her life; she is indeed the doll with human physical equipment (body) Forget the movements, even her thoughts are controlled by Torvald. A puppet has no existence of its own, and is totally dependent in its master as to what he will do with her. When Nora learns tarantella, the absolute controlling aspect becomes obvious. Out of sheer submission (and perhaps hidden fear in the mind) Nora pretends that she heeds him to relearn the dance and its each move. Torvald treats Nora like a sex object to be enjoyed at will. He takes her sexual submission for granted and as a matter of right for the husband. After he completes the session of teaching her tarantella dance, Torvald with the urge that reveals his craving for her body says, when she was gyrating, his blood was pounding and obviously he had strong urge for sex. He was constantly observing her physical assets and didn’t care much about her emotions. Nora was in no mood to respond and asked him to go away. Torvald reminded her that he was her husband. This adamancy on the part of Torvald indicates that as a husband he has the right to demand physical pleasure from his wife, at will! Torvald has poor opinion about Nora; he treats her like a child or a slave. She doesn’t have the freedom to spend the money which Torvald gives her on rare occasions. The following conversation reveals the essential gap in their mindset, when Torvald asks her whether she wants anything from him. Henrik Ibsen (2005, p.13) writes, â€Å"Nora :( speaking quickly) You might give me some money, Torvald. Only just as much as you can afford; and then one of these days, I will buy something with it. Torvald: But, Nora†¦. Nora: Oh, do! Dear Torvald; please do! Then I will wrap it up in beautiful gilt paper and hang it on the Christmas Tree. Won’t that be fun?†Torvald thinks that she would spend the money on children goods like candy and pastry. She has a fixed duty schedule of caring for the children, remain engaged in routine household work, and work on her needlepoint. She performs all her assigned duties, the main objective of which is to please Torvald. The issues raised in A Doll’s House by Ibsen, concern not a solitary case of Nora vs. Torvald, but the entire womenfolk of the Victorian Society. There were restrictions around women in every facet of their life. A Doll’s House is not the story of a House, but how the House assumes the form of the prison for the women. They have no freedom of free thinking and their mind is fettered. Nora was treated like a child by her father as well--that was the structure of the society as for the treatment for women! Her husband later dutifully took over the role of dominance. At every stage of life the growth of the women was curtailed. In many societies and in many households, the position of women, even today is comparable to the status of Nora. Even in some advanced countries, her position is equal as per the provisions of the Constitution only—the society still treats her as unequal with antiquated social views regarding women. It is a case of double fault. Women are inclined to use their feminine charm to secure what they want from men and remain satisfied at that level. This is the mindset that one sees in A Doll’s House. Men like Torvald are concerned about the controlling aspect and exercise