Explain some of the reasons for Talent Management failure in MNEs, and Essay

Explain some of the reasons for Talent Management failure in MNEs, and how would you advise organisations to address these issues - Essay Example In a global business environment, the competition is stiff and MNCs need to prepare adequately for the anticipated challenges with regard to their human capital. For instance, most of the MNCs are centrally managed from the headquarters and this creates rigidity in their subsidiaries in terms of giving the middle management the mandate to provide training and promotion of the local personnel as a way of managing the diversity of talent in MNCs (Story et al. 2014). In a knowledge-based industry, the knowledge of the personnel with regard to adapting to the constantly changing business environment is critical. As such, those responsible for the human resource management in these MNCs need to ensure that talent management is enhanced through training of personnel to improve their skills and knowledge management. In essence, where the human resource management of MNCs recognises the importance of knowledge management, innovation and creativity are enhanced. Conversely, the focus on expat riates rather than nurturing the local talent is a major contributor to talent management failure in MNES. This is because they deny HR the opportunity to embrace internal development by attracting, developing and retaining highly performing personnel (Story et al. 2014). This paper examines the reasons for talent management failure in MNEs and how they can be addressed. The human resource management in MNCs has failed to recognise the importance of training their personnel to handle future challenges effectively. Instead, MNEs are focusing on their more experienced personnel to handle the different task in their subsidiaries around the world. This has led to a situation where the local talent is ignored, and managers sent from the headquarters are given the mandate to handle only business functions at MNEs subsidiaries around the world. However, most of the managers sent from the headquarters lack the knowledge and understanding needed to develop a talent pool that can move a

The Five Stages Of Grief Cycle Social Work Essay

The Five Stages Of Grief Cycle Social Work Essay This paper reviews on how the death of child could affect the parents psychological well-beings as well as other factors that could influence their daily lifestyles. It is said that some parents might go through a five-stages of grief cycle during their bereavement period. The five stages of grief cycle include the denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. There are a few short term and long term effects of death of child on child being discussed in this paper. Besides, intervention programmes and their effectiveness were also being mentioned in this paper. Keywords: death, bereavement, parents Every parents love their children. Parents would do anything for the sake of their children. However, sometimes, unexpected loss of children could bring a great effect on parents. For example, the death of children. Some parents might go through the grief period for a few years. Death in human is defined as the permanent loss of a persons life (DeGrazia, 2011). Death is also what people mean by pass away. Death of a child is like losing a part of the parents lives. When the parents lose their child, it does not only mean losing a child, but also losing their identity as parents. Every parent would deal with their bereavement period differently. Bereavement is the word being used to describe the condition of grief when a loved one passed away (Christiane, 2005). Some parents would be well prepared to accept the truth while some might just stay in the stage of denial. According to United States Child Mortality (2007), out of 100000 children in United States, 53287 of the children died in years 2007. A few common causes of death on children are by accidents, cancer, and some developmental disorders that are presented during their birth (Medline Plus, 2007). All these causes are considered as unexpected causes of death. None of the parents would expect their children to pass away at their young age. It is very common for parents to have mental distress when they have experienced the loss of their loved ones such as their children. It could be a tough period of time for the parents to accept the fact that their children have passed away. Some of them would even stay in stage of denial for a long period of time. The process of grief includes five stages which is also known as the grief cycle. Grief cycle model was introduced by Kubler-Ross in year 1969. This model explains how the individuals go through the process of accepting the fact of death and bereavement as well as how they cope with them. The first stage in the grief cycle is named as denial. Denial is the condition when a person either consciously or unconsciously refuses to acknowledge the facts or the reality (Kubler-Ross, 1969). Denial is a natural defense mechanism that exists in every individual. An individual could stay at this stage when he or she experiences some traumatic changes that they can ignore. In death, a person might choose to avoid the fact that someone has passed away or going to pass away. The second stage of grief would be anger. The individuals might get angry once they are informed that someones life is going to end (Kubler-Ross, 1969). They might have the thought that why such an incident would happen on themselves or to the person they love. The individuals could express their anger in different ways. Some individuals might get angry at themselves while some may express their anger on others. They might project their anger on others by blaming others faults on the unlucky incidents. The third stage of grief is known as bargaining. This is the stage when the individuals bargain with God and hope that they could get a negotiation to have a longer life span (Kubler-Ross, 1969). When the individuals know the fact that they have limited time to live, they would start to pray or hope that they could have more time to fulfill their dreams or to work on their unfinished business. For example, if the individuals are told that they only have three months left to live, they might negotiate with God by asking for another three months to live so that they could have more time to find the solutions for their problems as well as to spend more time with their friends and family. The next stage of grief is the state of having depression. It is the stage which the individuals are prepared to have the feeling of grief. At this stage, the individuals are usually emotionally prepared to accept the facts. They might get upset, feel fearful or insecured, and so on. This stage is a sign of the individuals to start accepting the truth (Kubler-Ross, 1969). It is the time for the individuals to adjust their feeling to be emotionally prepared for the worst to come. For example, they could be feeling fearful of losing their loved ones. The last stage would be the acceptance. This stage indicates that individuals are well prepared for their condition (Kubler-Ross, 1969). The individuals could stay at this stage for a long period of time. They might be readily prepared for loss of ones life and calmly deal with all the challenges that have in life. Acceptance is a tough stage as the individuals are expected to accept the reality that they are dying or losing someone whom they love. However, not all individuals would experience all the five stages of grief. It depends on how they interpret the problems and how they deal with them (Kubler-Ross, 1969). Some individuals might skip a few stages and go into acceptance while some may stay in a certain stage for some period of time (Kubler-Ross, 1969). Some individuals might even do not reach the stage of acceptance at the moment they are ending their lives or losing someone. It is possible for the parents to experience either all the five stages of grief or some of them when they are about to lose their child or when they have loss their child. It is found that parents could develop the mental distress even though their children have passed away for five years. Some parents could even develop posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after the death of their children. However, there is gender difference in the duration of parents to bereave over the death of children. Study shows that women would bereave for a longer period of time as compared to men (Murphy, Johnson, Lohan, 2002). These mothers are diagnosed to have mental distress such as anxiety and depression. These mothers reported that they have difficulties in making decision and to remember things (Murphy, Johnson, Lohan, 2002). Mothers are said to score higher scores in PTSD as compared to fathers. Mothers are always those who would have more emotional problems as compared to fathers. This could be due to the fact that females tend to be those who would have higher level of anxiety (Craig, 2005). Another study stated that parents who have experienced loss of child were found to have higher level of depression, weaker psychological health, and higher level of physical health problems as well as having marital problems as compared to those who did not experience the loss of child (Rogers, Floyd, Seltzer, Greenberg, Hong, 2008). The parents might get too upset by the death of their child and some may even blame themselves on the death. They might blame themselves for not giving proper care to the children and cause them to pass away. The parents could keep having this thought in their mind and lead them to develop the symptoms of depression. In terms of physical health, because of the bereavement period that the parents are experiencing, they might just give up on their lives and do not take good care of themselves (Rogers, Floyd, Seltzer, Greenberg, Hong, 2008). They might not take in healthy food and cause them to have poor health. Besides, some parents might blame their par tners for not taking proper care of their child and eventually cause their child to pass away. The worst situation could lead to the divorce of both the parents. The conditions mentioned in the above are the long-term effects on parents with loss of child. Besides those stated in the above, there are a few short-term effects that could take place as well. For example, death of child could affect the job status of the parents (Rogers, Floyd, Seltzer, Greenberg, Hong, 2008). When the parents experience the loss of child, they would not be able to focus on the job that theyre doing. Most of the time, they would eventually make mistakes and lose attention in their work. In addition, the social life of the parents would also get affected during the bereavement period (Rogers, Floyd, Seltzer, Greenberg, Hong, 2008). The parents would try to avoid from the public and do not get involved in any of the social activities. They would try to avoid themselves from participating in the events that could lead them to think of their loss child. In order to help parents to pass through the bereavement period, interventions could be provided to them. According to Rowa-Dewar (2002), interventions could help to reduce the level of depression in mothers. Effective interventions should be developed in order to help parents to reduce their psychological distress level due to the death of their children. As the parents are going through the period of bereavement, a chaplain could be introduced to them in order to provide emotional support to the parents. A chaplain plays a role in providing advises and counseling to individuals who need them (World Fellowship Church, 2003). A chaplain is usually being introduced by churches and hospitals. Sometimes, if the families have their own religious leaders, they could be introduced to the parents at this stage as well. A chaplain serves as a person to provide emotional support to the parents. The parents could spend time to express their feeling to the chaplains as well as to discuss on the problems that they have with them. Besides, support groups could be established for parents who are experiencing the bereavement period. The parents could meet up once in a week to share their feelings with each other. The support group acts as a place for the parents to emotionally help each other rather than calling it a therapy group (YMCA Orange Country, 2012). By attending the support group, the parents are able to obtain emotional support from the other parents, to reduce their depression level, to decrease their feeling of loneliness, to make new friends, to share similar experiences, and also to cope better with the grief process (YMCA Orange Country, 2012). It would be easier for the parents to socialize with each other as they could have the similar experience hence can understand each other better. Most of the time parents do not share their feelings with people who do not have the same experience like them. They often have the thought that others could not understand how upset they are. Murray (1996), whom is a researcher and psychologist from University of Queensland, developed an intervention for parents who have undergone the death of child and to examine the effectiveness of her intervention. Murray (1996) aimed to use the intervention to reduce the mental distress of the parents. Parents who participated in the intervention reported to have reduced in level of depression and decreased in the feeling of separation as well as better satisfaction towards their marital status as compared to those who did not receive any interventions. Murray (2006) mentioned that in the intervention, mothers found to look for emotional support from many other relationships while fathers tend to depend on their marital relationship. This study indicates that effective interventions are suitable to help the parents who have loss child to recover better from the bereavement period. In conclusion, there are five stages in the grief cycle, which include denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Parents who experienced the loss of child could pass through some of these stages. Studies showed that parents could have high level of depression, fearful, and anxiety after the loss of their child. Long-term effects could last for a long period of time. In terms of short term effects, loss of child could affect the parents job performance as well as their social lifestyles. In order to help the parents to overcome the bereavement period, interventions could be provided to them. Counsellors, chaplains, and social support group could help the parents to recover from the grief period. It is important to provide emotional support to the parents as they might be psychologically affected severely due to the incidents experienced by them. Physical health is an issue to be focused on as well. This is because parents could neglect their health after the loss of their child. Hence, parents who experience the loss of child should not feel hesitate to seek help from the professionals.

The Word of God Does Not to Turn Evil into Good Essay -- Religious Arg

The Word of God Does Not to Turn Evil into Good Conscience is sometimes spoken of as the voice of God within. To many this seems a rather unsophisticated thing to say. It may seem the sort of thing a non-intellectual theist might casually affirm, perhaps in a well-intentioned effort to encourage conscientiousness in himself and others. But the idea that men have a sort of inner guiding light which is a reflection of the mind of God is far from being simple-minded. True or false, it is a basic concept with wide ramifications. For a theist, it is altogether natural to suppose that in some way the human moral sensitivity derives from God. The Bible starts off with the story of Adam and Eve eating of the fruit of ``the tree of knowledge of good and evil''. Whereupon their ``eyes were opened'' and they became ``as gods'' knowing good from evil (Genesis 3:5,7,22). Paul in Romans (2:14-15) speaks of a natural understanding (``conscience'', ``by nature'', ``written on the heart'') present in all men, which he assumes to be authoritative. Most Christian theologians (Calvinists excepted) have held that human moral awareness reflects in some way and to some degree God's own judgment of good and evil. We are said to be made in the image of God. Sophisticated philosophers such as Whitehead and Peirce have held that men live under the inflowing radiance of God's beauty and goodness, men recognizing these values and being attracted to them. Even Plato and Aristotle have an understanding of these issues remarkabl y compatible with the statement that conscience is the voice of God. Atheists of course cannot accept the phrase in any but the most poetic sense, as Dewey permits use of the word ``God'' in his book, A Common Faith... ...onscience. Under some circumstances I have a duty to stick a needle into my child.) So we see that in the end the only morally compelling reason even to obey God is that, all things considered, we feel a conscientious duty to do so. If God's will were to turn out to be in fundamental conflict with our sense of right and wrong, and we had no reason to suppose that we would ever find his apparent evil to be really good, then for what reason at all could a man justify the violation of his own integrity for the sake of a being with fundamentally different values? Nothing about the word God is magic to turn evil into good. Thus Abraham can only be commended for what he decided to do if we suppose he felt a conscien tious compulsion to do so, a compulsion that was either felt directly or resulted from his belief that God's will would finally be revealed as good.

Lebanese Women’s Rights

LEBANESE WOMEN’S RIGHTS FIGHTING FOR FREEDOM, ATTENTION, &DIGNITY BY MAZEN AL KHANSA ENG201 INSTRUCTOR ISSAM HATOUM 7 January 2009 I picked this topic because it excited and stimulated me to believe that we are now accepting Lebanese Women to be equally adversarial with men and to attain their rights for better living. The audiences shown are all Lebanese Women to be spoken for that have given up their social, economical, and political being to degradation, failure, and fugitivity. OUTLINE: Thesis: Lebanese women nowadays enjoy equal civil, social, and economical rights and attend institutions of higher education in large numbers, thanks to Arab societies/Islamic religion that provided for her. I. Rights for Lebanese Women A. Economic Rights and equal opportunity B. Political Rights and Civic Voice C. Social and Cultural Rights II. Recommendations for preserving women’s rights and continuity in Lebanese civilization III. Other Rights for Women Worldwide(Particularly USA) The family in Lebanon, as elsewhere in the region, assigns different roles to family members on the basis of gender. The superior status of men in society and within the narrow confines of the nuclear family transcends the barriers of sect or ethnicity. Lebanese family structure is patriarchal. The centrality of the father figure stems from the role of the family as an economic unit, in which the father is the property owner and producer on whom the rest of the family depend. This notion prevails even in rural regions of Lebanon where women participate in peasant work. Although the inferior status of women is undoubtedly legitimized by various religious texts, the oppression of women in Arab society preceded the advent of Islam. The roles of women have traditionally been restricted to those of mother and homemaker. However, since the 1970s Arab societies have allowed women to play a more active role socially and in the work force, basically as a result of the manpower shortage caused by heavy migration of men to Persian Gulf countries. In Lebanon the percentage of women in the labor force has increased, although the Islamic religious revival that swept Lebanon in the 1980s, reasserted traditional cultural values. As a consequence, veils and abas (cloaks) have become more common among Muslim women. Among Christians, the war enabled women to assume more independent roles because of the absence of male family members involved in the fighting. Notwithstanding the persistence of traditional attitudes regarding the role of women, Lebanese women enjoy equal civil rights and attend institutions of higher education in large numbers (for example, women constituted 41 percent of the student body at the American University of Beirut in 1983). Although women have their own organizations, most exist as subordinate branches of the political parties.

How to be a true friend Essay

Life can be a lonely thing without companionship. People always talk about the true value of friendship but people do not know the friendship actually what it stands for and how to be a true friend. True friend is the one, in which the individuals do not have to maintain formalities with each other. A true friend you are talking about is counted as your family member. The relation you share with him/her reaches a stage that even if you do not correspond for sometime, your friendship remains unscathed. But Acquaintances are easy to come by but true friends are a whole other story. So I will talk about how to build friendships and three right ways to be a true friend. â€Å"If you’re absent during my struggle, don’t expect to be present during my success.† Will Smith said. People all have bad days, or weeks, or even months. People all feel overwhelmed at times. A true friend should be present for their highs and lows. It’s easy to be there for our friends when they ask you out for fun things like drinks at the bar, dancing in the club, or laughs at the theater. But are you willing to be there for the hard times that are the opposite of fun? You might not feel comfortable while spending time with an emotionally fragile person on the verge of tears, but true friends are readily available when they’re needed the most. When the other person is in trouble, a true friend comes to know that merely by listening to their â€Å"Hello† over the phone. A true friend does not desert each other when one is facing trouble. They would face it together and support each other, even if it is against the interests of the other person. So to be a true friend is to help your friend whatever you can do. Second, people should be more truthful and vulnerable. Ironing out conflicts with friends is more difficult than with family members. Most pe ople make the mistake of assuming that friends can help easily sort through conflict, but it’s the opposite. People often have different allowances for emotional expression. For example, I have learned that the hard way. Months after  befriending a now former friend, I learned that the person was speaking badly about my privacy to another friends. Because the person knew personal information about me, what he said was more convincing and harder to overcome. In many ways, you have to be much more strategic about choosing friends. When a conflict arises, pick up the phone to discuss with your friend, rather than using email. But even that can be awkward if there’s been a behind-the-back controversy. So if you can’t accept a person as they are, you will never know the feeling of true friendship. All best friends are friends, but not all friends can be best friends. In this world of cynics and back stabbers, there are still some people who are worth being friends with. They have to be recognized and respected for being best friends for the lifetime. Full disclosure will strengthen your friendship and make you both feel at ease in each other’s company. Finally, true friends will adv ice you with the constructive criticisms. A true friend is not scared to tell you what you’re doing wrong. They’re not scared to seriously intervene if they see that something is seriously bad for you or if you’re going down the wrong path. But they always support their criticism with advice that can help you improve. â€Å"The truth is rarely pure and never simple†, Oscar Wilde said. Confronting a person about an inconvenient truth isn’t easy, but sometimes it needs to be done. If you have something to say and can’t find the nerves to do it, ask yourself, â€Å"How would I feel if it was me making a very bad decision and my friend said nothing about it?† While speaking out doesn’t guarantee you’ll change their mind, staying silent does guarantee you’ll regret not speaking up sooner. In my conclusion, a true friend will sacrifice their own comfort or happiness and put you first. A true friend is not a fair-weather friend. They are there for you in good times and in bad times. A true friend is someone who is honesty and can rel y on. Best friends support even each other, even if the whole world opposes them. It is not easy getting true friends for the lifetime. If you have even one true friend, consider yourself blessed.

The Walt Disney Company Case Study Essays

The Walt Disney Company Case Study Essays The Walt Disney Company Case Study Paper The Walt Disney Company Case Study Paper BUSMRH 4490 Strategic Management Case 2 The Walt Disney Company: The Entertainment King Kaitlyn Kisiday Alex Maicks Chelsea Parker Jonathan Russ Ryan Terek 1. ) Why has Disney been successful for so long? Disney has sustained prolonged success for a variety of reasons. One source of success was the way Walt and Roy Disney decided to manage the company internally when the organization was founded in 1923. Disney emphasized teamwork, communication, and cooperation in the workplace to make employees feel valued and strengthen their commitment to the company. These values remain at the core of Disney’s corporate culture, and have been formally incorporated into their new-hire training program at the company’s corporate university. With the use of animation, Disney can control an entire entertainment experience, unlike actors, because cartoon characters and their environment can be created and controlled by imagination. Disney’s most distinct corporate skill, according to former CEO Michael Eisner, is the ability to manage that creativity. Eisner encouraged innovative ideas and was protective of the company’s creative efforts even at their earliest development. Emphasis on this development allowed Disney to take advantage of opportunities in the market and often become the first mover. Disney has proved successful at determining which advantages would be sustainable and which should only be temporary. The main contributors to prolonged success have been the results of the key strategic decisions made by the organization regarding diversification. Disney has used diversification to create additional sources of revenue beyond cartoon shorts and feature films by expanding vertically into television, theatre, retail, and the internet. Creating divisions outside production, such as Disney Music Company, Disneyland, Disney Cruises, and DisneyQuest, created cross-promotional opportunities among Disney’s products, services, and strengthened the brand itself. Disney’s ability to effectively manage both vertical and horizontal integration into a wide array of business activities and projects continues to drive the company’s progress and profit. 2. ) What did Michael Eisner do to rejuvenate Disney? Specifically, how did he increase net income in his first four years? Michael Eisner entered Disney as CEO in 1984, and committed his efforts to producing annual revenue growth and return on stockholder equity in excess of 20%. He also pledged to strengthen the Disney brand and protect corporate values of quality, creativity, entrepreneurship, and teamwork. Believing that â€Å"managing creativity† was Disney’s most unique corporate capability, Eisner was to able harness Disney’s creative and innovative capabilities to maximize profits from new and existing operations. Rebuilding the strength of their television programming and films was an important part of this strategy. Disney increased its presence on network television to re-establish Disney as a producer of quality programs, and increase demand for Disney’s other entertainment ventures. The Disney Sunday Movie, debuted on ABC in 1986, and was followed by the popular Golden Girls on NBC, and production of syndicated non-network shows. Disney also increased their screen presence and generated revenue by selling older programs to other networks through a newly created syndication operation. A struggling movie division produced two films, held only 4% of box office share, and generated a profit of only a $1 million 1984 [Exhibit A, page 6]. To increase film output, Eisner used the Touchstone label to compete in new segments of the film industry, predominantly comedies, without diminishing Disney’s core audience. These films were produced on moderate and closely managed budgets with intent to be profitable rather than to become the next box-office juggernaut. Disney also increased the output of their animated films though investment in new technology and human capital and the decision to release these films every 12 to 18 months, versus every 4 to 5 years. After four years, the Disney film division reached an averaged output of 15 to 18 films per year, produced the highest earning film in 1988, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and became the market leader with 19% box office share. Most impressively, income from the movie division grew from $1 million in 1984, to $34 million, $54 million, $131 million, and $186 million in each corresponding year. Income from Disney theme parks increased more than 200% during Michael Eisner’s first years, from $186 million in 1984 to $565 million in 1988 [Exhibit A, page 6]. New national advertising, increased park capacity, expanded hours of operation, and increased ticket prices contributed to the short term increase, while investments in new attractions, event spaces, and hotel development would help sustain steady profits into the future. In 1984, income from consumer products totaled $54 million [Exhibit A, page 6]. The new leadership and direction of the company under Michael Eisner from that time renewed the strength of Disney’s brand equity. A stronger brand supported development in the consumer products division of the â€Å"retail as entertainment† concept. The Disney Store, launched in 1987, achieved twice the average rate of sales per square foot in the retail industry. By 1988, income from consumer products totaled $134 million, increasing by more than 140% during Eisner’s first years as CEO. Successful leadership by Michael Eisner at Disney’s top resulted in financial success at Disney’s bottom line. Disney’s net income increased from $242 million in 1984 to $885 million by 1988. Over the same period of time, income growth averaged 40% each year, and Return on Equity reached 24% and 25% in 1987 and 1989, respectively. 3. Does Disney pursue vertical integration? Apply transaction cost economics to understand Disney’s vertical expansion decisions. Disney pursued vertical integration in a variety of ways. Aside from cartoon shorts and animation films, Disney expanded to enter the television, internet, and theme park markets with creations such as Disneyland, DisneyQuest, and the Disney Channel. Disney saw the internet as a possible distribution channel for its film library and its sports and news programming. Disney believed that the internet would soon be where entertainment in the home consolidates. Disney also pursued forward vertical integration. Disney ended their relationship with distribution partner RKO in 1953 and created Buena Vista to save distribution costs for their animated films. Disney was able to save ? of their gross revenues due to this decision to distribution their movies themselves. Disney also further improved the bottom line by avoiding exorbitant salaries by developing the studios own pool of talent. Disney also employed forward integration through the initiation of Disney Stores. This provided Disney with a wholly owned retail outlet to distribute product through that generated sales per square foot at twice the average rate of traditional retail. Disney Stores allowed Disney total control of customer experience and brand management in that space. The EuroDisney project is an example of Disney’s use of vertical disintegration. Although responsible for the design, development, and operation of the park, Disney did not have a majority ownership. Investment from outside parties limited their initial investment and share of risk. Disney chose to give up sole claim to the profits of EuroDisney in exchange for a fixed percentage of ticket sales and revenues. In many its operations, Disney employs a vertical integration strategy because it eliminates much of the transaction costs that come from working with the market, such as the possibility that the markets may fail. Creating contracts is another cost, as contracts take time and are difficult to form in a way that satisfies both parties involved, in an attempt to cover all possible contingencies. In addition, companies have their own, unique motives. When working in the market, there is always risk these other companies will work in their own favor as they come across opportunities that only benefit them. Also, Disney is very committed to holding to their values. This may create another cost in the form of conflict because they may come across differing views and cultures with other companies that do not run their business the same way. 4. ) What corporate strategy does Walt Disney employ? Identify and explain all types of diversification/integration within Disney’s overall corporate strategy. Disney employs both vertical and horizontal integration as part of their corporate strategy. The Walt Disney Company pursues a highly differentiated strategy, operating primarily in five distinct segments: Theme Parks and Resorts, Consumer Products, Media Networks, Studio Entertainment, and Internet and Direct Marketing. Theme Parks and Resorts is Disney’s second highest grossing segment. Included under this segment are all Disney Theme Parks, with the exclusion of EuroDisney, and all other resorts and resort activities. Sports teams, the Anaheim Mighty Ducks and the Anaheim Angels, as well as regional entertainment facilities like ESPNZone and DisneyQuest, are within this business line. Media networks, Disney’s highest grossing business line, can be broken down into two subcategories: Broadcasting and Cable Networks ; International. Broadcasting consists of ABC Television and Radio Network along with associated TV and Radio stations. Cable Networks and International includes ESPN, Disney Channel, Toon Disney, and SoapNet. Various newspapers and periodicals acquired through the ABC merger also fall into this business line. Studio Entertainment is a very diverse segment including: Television, Film, Home Video, theatrical, and music production, as well as, distribution and syndicated TV. Disney has created or acquired multiple movie production companies including Walt Disney Pictures, Touchstone, and Miramax, each company producing a very distinct product with a separate target audience. A similar pattern is identifiable with Disney’s various music production companies; each produces a distinct product with a distinct target market. Television production includes program development in the form of live-action, animation, and pay television services. Consumer Products consists primarily of licensing arrangements with various retailers, promoters, and publishers, where Disney allows third parties to use â€Å"Walt Disney†, Disney characters, and other intangible properties for specific purposes. Consumer Products also includes Disney Stores, Disney’s direct retail outlet. Finally, Disney also produces books, magazines, and audio and computer software for entertainment and educational purposes. Internet and Direct Marketing includes all of Disney’s’ online activities as well as the Disney catalogue. This includes entities such as the Disney catalogue, ESPN. om, Disney. com, GO. com, Etc. Aside from all the aforementioned business activities, Disney is or has been involved in many more projects and lines of business. Disney started an in-house travel company to work with travel agents and airlines to draw customers to Disney Parks and Resorts. Disney created the Disney Development Company to find the best way to utilize Disney’s unused acreage. Disney also has been involved in timeshares, night clubs, theatre operations, Disney On-Ice, and the Disney Parade. 5. ) Evaluate the benefits and costs of each type of diversification. From this analysis state and justify (through quantitative analysis) whether Disney is creating or destroying value via diversification? After analysis, Disney has an obvious benefit of diversification, mainly because it allows them to expand their initial business idea into several different markets. Disney was able to take a relatable set of characters and ideas in the film industry, and not only maximize the profits from those characters in the form of amusement parks, resorts, and other entertainment facilities, but also expand their business into other markets which may seem nrelated. While the initial start-up cost and recurring operating costs of theme parks, studios, and media networks are high, they have proven to be one of Disney’s highest grossing business ventures. For example, in 2000 theme parks generated $6. 803 billion in revenue and operating income of $1. 62 billion [Exhibit A, page 6]. These theme parks help create and support much of the Disney brand that p eople think of today, which is one of their strongest sources of value. In the media networks, Disney earned $9. 615 billion revenue in 2000 and produced an operating income of $2. 98 billion. The benefit of this venture is that Disney is able to spread their brand across the country by reaching cable audiences with the Disney Channel and ESPN stations, as well as local viewers, after their purchase of ABC. Once again, the costs and risk of creating a channel and buying a major television channel comes with high cost, yet Disney is still able to make a profit from this segment of their business. While the film industry had revenues of $5. 994 billion, expenses for the segment are high as they only saw an operating income of $110 million. This is one of Disney’s original lines of business, but it appears Disney has peaked in this segment. Even though profits aren’t as high as other segments of their business, the benefits of this segment still outweigh their costs. Additionally, due to the relatively cheap cost of consumer products line, in 2000 Disney was able to record an operating income of $455 million and with revenues of $2. 622 billion. Disney benefits by selling products related to their highly desired brand, and for a relatively low cost. Unfortunately for Disney, their internet and direct marketing line saw an operating loss of ($402) during 2000, the fourth consecutive loss for this segment. Disney once again tried to carry success over from their well established brand into a new segment. However, the costs and demands of owning and running an internet and direct marketing line appear to be outside of Disney’s core competencies. Even though they may have foresight to predict the importance of e-commerce in retail, Disney has yet to make a profit of this segment. Further supporting the benefits of Disney’s diversification is Disney’s Index on the S;P 500, having reached over 1,000 for the last three years of data provided (1998-2000. ) These marks were the highest Disney has ever reached in this Index, according to the data provided, and achieved at the height of Disney’s diversification. This upholds the position that Disney does produce value through its diversification into many different business ventures. 6. ) Which expansion modes have Disney utilized to implement its corporate strategy? Use facts from the case to identify the benefits and costs of each expansion mode. Disney has pursued three primary forms of expansion: Vertical expansion, Horizontal expansion, and Geographic expansion. Vertical and Horizontal expansion refer to Disney’s various product and business lines, and geographic expansion refers to Disney’s physical presence. Disney owns or has licensed parks on three different continents. By expanding geographically, Disney has become one of the most recognized brands in the world, in large part due to their physical presence. By having operations in multiple counties in several parts of the world, Disney is able to gain expertise and knowledge that can help it more closely connect it to its target market. Creating new parks, resorts, or other entertainment facilities carries huge initial start-up costs and recurring fixed costs. It also adds numerous employees and operations that can become difficult to manage efficiently. Expanding horizontally allows firms to take advantage of economies of scale by lowering the average cost per unit by spreading fixed costs over greater production. Another key advantage is the potential to gain new distribution channels. Following the ABC merger, Disney gained over 20 radio stations and many print media outlets. Seemingly, the primary motivation for Disney to integrate horizontally appears to be for economies of scope. Economies of scope is the utilization of a wider array of available resources to new create synergies. After Disney merged with ABC, they were able to utilize economies of scope through cross-promotion. They could advertise and tie-in Disney products on the acquired ABC media outlets and vice versa. Another advantage of vertical integration, made obvious through the merger with ABC, is the gain in market share. Though not stated explicitly, it’s not difficult to image that Disney may have gained substantial power in negotiations with cable and satellite television providers after merging with ABC. A major cost of horizontal integration comes from a new, bloated company. Departments become redundant across the organization, and the company becomes inefficient. Acquisitions like this also are accompanied by months and months of paperwork that ultimately distracts from the company’s primary operations. Disney and ABC were forced to mesh together two distinct corporate cultures. This can irritate and de-motivate employees, ultimately causing further inefficiency. Vertical expansion can create better coordination within the supply chain. When Disney created its own distribution company, Buena Vista, they were able to directly control all operations involved in the distribution of their media, eliminating the potential costs of negotiations and hold-ups. Another benefit captured by creating Buena Vista was the ability to capture downstream profit margin. Vertical expansion could eventually lead to Disney gaining more core competencies. Achieving lower unit cost, better coordination, and increase in core competencies create higher entry barriers for potential competitors. Vertical integration can also cause a firm to become too large and complex to efficiently manage. Owning and operating completely different business’ under the same corporation requires expertise in many different areas be successful, which can be a substantial cost. Exhibit AThe Walt Disney Company Financial Data, 1983 – 2000 ($ millions)

Biography of Heinrich Hertz

Biography of Heinrich Hertz Physics students around the world are familiar with the work of Heinrich Hertz, the German physicist who proved that electromagnetic waves definitely exist. His work in electrodynamics paved the way for many  modern uses of light (also known as electromagnetic waves). The frequency unit that physicists use is named the Hertz in his honor. Fast Facts Heinrich Hertz Full Name: Heinrich Rudolf HertzBest Known For: Proof of the existence of electromagnetic waves, Hertzs principle of least curvature, and the photoelectric effect.Born: February 22, 1857 in Hamburg, GermanyDied: January 1, 1894 in  Bonn, Germany, at age 36Parents: Gustav Ferdinand Hertz and Anna Elisabeth PfefferkornSpouse: Elisabeth Doll, married 1886Children: Johanna and MathildeEducation: Physics and mechanical engineering, was a professor of physics in various institutes.Significant Contributions: Proved that electromagnetic waves propagated various distances through the air, and summarized how objects of different materials affect each other on contact. Early Life and Education Heinrich Hertz was born in Hamburg, Germany, in 1857. His parents were Gustav Ferdinand Hertz (a lawyer) and Anna Elisabeth Pfefferkorn. Although his father was born Jewish, he converted to Christianity and the children were raised as Christians. This did not stop the Nazis from dishonoring Hertz after his death, due to the taint of Jewishness, but his reputation was restored after World War II. The young Hertz was educated at the Gelehrtenschule des Johanneums in Hamburg, where he showed a deep interest in scientific subjects. He went on to study engineering in Frankfurt under such scientists as Gustav Kirchhoff and Hermann Helmholtz. Kirchhoff specialized in studies of radiation, spectroscopy, and electrical circuit theories. Helmholtz was a physicist who developed theories about vision, the perception of sound and light, and the fields of electrodynamics and thermodynamics. It is small wonder then, that the young Hertz became interested in some of the same theories and eventually did his lifes work in the fields of contact mechanics and electromagnetism. Life's Work and Discoveries After earning a Ph.D. in 1880, Hertz took up a series of professorships where he taught physics and theoretical mechanics. He married Elisabeth Doll in 1886 and they had two daughters. Hertzs doctoral dissertation focused on James Clerk Maxwells theories of electromagnetism. Maxwell worked in mathematical physics until his death in 1879 and formulated what is now known as Maxwells Equations. They describe, through mathematics, the functions of electricity and magnetism. He also predicted the existence of electromagnetic waves. Hertzs work focused on that proof, which took him several years to achieve. He constructed a simple dipole antenna with a spark gap between the elements, and he managed to produce radio waves with it. Between 1879 and 1889, he did a series of experiments that used electrical and magnetic fields to produce waves that could be measured. He established that the velocity of the waves was the same as the speed of light, and studied the characteristics of the fields he generated, measuring their magnitude, polarization, and reflections. Ultimately, his work showed that light and other waves he measured were all a form of electromagnetic radiation that could be defined by Maxwells equations. He proved through his work that electromagnetic waves can and do move through the air.   In addition, Hertz focused on a concept called the photoelectric effect, which occurs when an object with electrical charge loses that charge very quickly when it is exposed to light, in his case, ultraviolet radiation. He observed and described the effect, but never explained why it happened. That was left to Albert Einstein, who published his own work on the effect. He suggested that light (electromagnetic radiation) consists of energy carried by electromagnetic waves in little packets called quanta. Hertzs studies and Einsteins later work eventually became the basis for an important branch of physics called quantum mechanics.  Hertz and his student Phillip Lenard also worked with cathode rays, which are produced inside vacuum tubes by electrodes.   Heinrich Hertzs portrait and drawings of electrical fields that he studied appeared on a German postage stamp in 1994. Deutsche Bundespost. What Hertz Missed Interestingly, Heinrich Hertz did not think his experiments with electromagnetic radiation, particularly radio waves, had any practical value. His attention was focused solely on theoretical experiments. So, he proved that electromagnetic waves propagated through the air (and space). His work led others to experiment even further with other aspects of radio waves and electromagnetic propagation. Eventually, they stumbled across the concept of using radio waves to send signals and messages, and other inventors used them to create telegraphy, radio broadcasting, and eventually television. Without Hertzs work, however, todays use of radio, TV, satellite broadcasts, and cellular technology wouldnt exist. Nor would the science of radio astronomy, which relies heavily on his work.   Other Scientific Interests Hertzs scientific accomplishments werent limited to electromagnetism. He also did a great deal of research on the topic of contact mechanics, which is the study of solid matter objects that touch each other. The big questions in this area of study have to do with the stresses the objects produce on each other, and what role friction plays in interactions between their surfaces. This is an important field of study in mechanical engineering. Contact mechanics affect design and construction in such objects as combustion engines, gaskets, metalworks, and also objects that have electrical contact with each other.   Hertzs work in contact mechanics began in 1882 when he published a paper titled On the Contact of Elastic Solids, where he was actually working with the properties of stacked lenses. He wanted to understand how their optical properties would be affected. The concept of Hertzian stress is named for him and describes the pinpoint stresses that objects undergo as they contact each other, particularly in curved objects.   Later Life Heinrich Hertz worked on his research and lecturing until his death on January 1, 1894. His health began failing several years prior to his death, and there was some evidence he had cancer.  His final years were taken up with teaching, further research, and several operations for his condition. His final publication, a book titled  Die Prinzipien der Mechanik (The Principles of Mechanics), was sent to the printer a few weeks before his death.   Honors Hertz was honored not only by the use of his name for the fundamental period of a wavelength, but his name appears on a memorial medal and a crater on the Moon. An institute called the Heinrich-Hertz Institute for Oscillation Research was founded in 1928, known today as the Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications, Heinrich Hertz Institute, HHI. The scientific tradition continued with various members of his family, including his daughter Mathilde, who became a famous biologist. A nephew, Gustav Ludwig Hertz, won a Nobel prize, and other family members made significant scientific contributions in medicine and physics.   Bibliography â€Å"Heinrich Hertz and Electromagnetic Radiation.† AAAS - The Worlds Largest General Scientific Society, www.aaas.org/heinrich-hertz-and-electromagnetic-radiation. www.aaas.org/heinrich-hertz-and-electromagnetic-radiation.Molecular Expressions Microscopy Primer: Specialized Microscopy Techniques - Fluorescence Digital Image Gallery - Normal African Green Monkey Kidney Epithelial Cells (Vero), micro.magnet.fsu.edu/optics/timeline/people/hertz.html.http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/Biographies/Hertz_Heinrich.htmlâ€Å"Heinrich Rudolf Hertz.† Cardan Biography, www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/Biographies/Hertz_Heinrich.html.

Weltering in Gore

Weltering in Gore Weltering in Gore Weltering in Gore By Maeve Maddox The expression â€Å"weltering in gore† has been around at least since 1593 when Christopher Marlowe used it in Edward II: Upon my weapons point here shouldst thou fall, And welter in thy goare I just noticed it in an Amelia Peabody mystery by Elizabeth Peters. In The Curse of the Pharaohs (1981), Amelia is reluctant for her husband to stand guard over a tomb. He asks if she’s afraid she’ll find him in the morning â€Å"weltering in his own gore.† The novel’s setting is the nineteenth century, so the use of the phrase is right on target. It was quite popular with journalists of the 1800s: There lay the criminal, weltering in his gore, on the grass in the yard. newspaper account of the execution of William Cocroft, Salt Lake City, 1861 Alonzo Bee, a son of the farmer hastened to the Doyle residence, where upon entering, the horrible sight of three human beings weltering in their own gore met his gaze. account of a murder, 1883 An 1808 reading textbook. (then in its 9th edition). designed for the use of schools includes this description of a man who survived a murderous attack with the help of his faithful dog. The man was found wounded, scalped, weltering in his own gore, and faint with the loss of blood. The dog was credited with saving its master’s life by licking the wound. Both weltering and gore have a place in this 1922 National Geographic story about a drawing that depicts the dedication of a temple to Huitzilipochtli: To this is attached, on the right, the figure of a priest who has just sacrificed a human victim, the latter pictured as dying on the ground,weltering in his own blood. To the left is the great temple of the War God, the stairway being shown as plentifully besprinkled with the gore of the hecatomb of victims. In current usage weltering in gore isn’t entirely gone. Here’s an example from the movie review of a documentary about an Australian criminal: [Chopper is] alternately shocking and hilarious, as Chopper launches a vicious attack on a fellow inmate and then, as his victim is literally weltering in his gore, takes pity on him and offers him a cigarette. DVD Times. Too bad the writer thought it necessary to insert the â€Å"literally.† Whether classed as a clichà © or not, the phrase is wonderfully expressive on its own. The word gore has several meanings. As a noun gore can mean â€Å"clotted blood,† as in the weltering expression. It can also mean â€Å"a triangular piece of ground.† The surname Gore comes from this land sense. And gore can mean a â€Å"triangular piece of cloth† used in sewing to make a â€Å"gored skirt† or to enlarge an article of clothing. As a verb gore means â€Å"to pierce or stab.† It is usually used to describe the action of a horned animal. Ex. The toreador was gored by the bull. Both the verb and the noun with triangular connotations derive from an OE word for spear: gar. The point of the Anglo-Saxon gar was triangular in shape. The origin of the noun in the sense of â€Å"clotted blood† is OE gor, â€Å"dirt, dung, shit.† The sense â€Å"clotted blood† had developed by the1560s. Like gore, welter has more than one meaning, both as noun and verb. As a verb, welter means â€Å"to roll or twist the body.† It can also be used to describe the rolling, writhing motion of inanimate objects. Ex. The ship weltered in the waves. As a noun, welter can mean â€Å"a confused mass.† Ex. a welter of contradictions, a welter of fans, a welter of evidence, a welter of misunderstandings. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Arrive To vs. Arrive At30 Baseball Idioms50 Synonyms for "Song"

The advent of the internet age and mobile technology Essay

The advent of the internet age and mobile technology - Essay Example With this virtual shrinking of distances between people comes the ability to be much more customized in terms of solutions and marketing. To be sure, the ability of companies to remain competitive in today's global business climate depends on their ability to anticipate and meet the personal needs of each individual with whom they conduct transactions. Technology enables businesses to detect various degrees of individual interest in various subjects, and then match marketing campaigns in a way that is most likely to resonate with various categories of people. A more standardized approach may have been necessary back in the day when companies depended on a certain amount of business within a particular defined geography and set of hours in order to deliver goods and services most efficiently within those constraints. Standardization was also a marketing tool designed to reassure potential consumers of a particular product or service that the purchase were making was identical in quality to those of other who are making the same purchase. In the pre-internet age, when product information and research was not as readily available as it is today, such an assurance would have been very important to consumers who would otherwise have little reason to be confident that their purchases would meet their needs. Today, howev

The technological advancements that have changed human lives Essay

The technological advancements that have changed human lives - Essay Example The innovation of computers and cellphones changed our mode of communication, accuracy, efficiency, and speed of doing things. This has led to complex interactions between humans and machines, which changes our values and culture. As such, there are questions regarding the long-term effects of technology and the possibility of technology conquering us. In this context, there are two concepts of technology, which include Wilbur Mercer and Buster Friendly. This paper will give a detailed answer as to whether I am Wilbur Mercer or Buster Friendly and, more importantly if it matters who I am. In doing this, the paper will rely on evidence from Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? By Dick, Phillip K and a video presentation by Amber Case entitled â€Å"We’re All Cyborgs Now† among other scholarly sources. Wilbur Mercer symbolizes Mercerism that is a technology product, which defines a religion created by emotional connections by people from everywhere. It also encourages int eractions with other humans with a view of sharing the suffering and teaches its members to treat their neighbors the way they would want to be treated (Landsberg 38). On the other hand,  Buster Friendly is a technology product that depicts a media personality that derives an alternate media reality and offers entertainment on Earth (Sims 132). Seemingly, the show seeks to convince people that what has been happening lately is fine and normal and claims that Mercerism is a false religion (Rossi 262). There are various critics and praises for in Wilbur Mercer or Buster Friendly in the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. Notably, the two compete for humans' attention and the resultant control of humans' thoughts. This manifests the strength of technology on humans to their oblivion. Personally, I chose to be Wilbur Mercer. It is quite clear that the modern society values religion as one of the fundamental aspects of human life. Ideally, religion derives spiritual teachings an d morals that control actions and dominate our personal thoughts and decision-making in our daily lives. As such, the use of religion in the novel, â€Å"Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?† is very significant and I support it. Indeed, in this novel, Dick portrays a wide range of religious analogies and references and manifests how humans rely on religion in times of isolation, war, distress, destruction, and instability. Actually, Dick confirms that Mercerism that in the novel acts as the people’s religion is fundamental in deriving hope and unity among human beings in times of dire need. Dick devised his story to reflect human life in 2021 where there was nuclear war fought by rockets and the effects of the nuclear fallout and radioactive dust that plagued the Earth (Dick 4). This created a sense of dire need and desperation. Dick portrays the plagued Earth as an uninhabitable place after the human beings engineered its destruction (Dick 16-17). However, he shows s ome inhabitants who remained and suffered on Earth due to the harsh and isolated conditions they lived in. Most assuredly, this a destitute condition where there are very few people surviving and hence the need for Mercerism. Notably, Dick displays Mercerism as a mass religion criticized by many people at his time (Dick 20-27). This would indeed reflect a religion like Christianity, which is facing critics among scientists. Indeed, Wilbur Mercer would represent Jesus Christ in this context. In addition, just like people interpreted religion before the scientific evolution, Dick portrays people interpreting Mercerism literally in the novel. Mercerism has far-reaching benefits in that it encourages people to care for other people’s feelings and to share in their suffering. It asserts that if you hurt

20 Things 20-Year-Olds Don't Get Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

20 Things 20-Year-Olds Don't Get - Assignment Example The assignment "20 Things 20-Year-Olds Don't Get" analyzes the article which is a good piece fit for young graduates or those yet to complete their studies. It gives pieces of advice to young people on how to face life once they come out of school. It targets both the employed young people and those yet to secure jobs who share the objective of excelling in life. The tips are applicable in the real life and are vital in overcoming the challenges that come with employment, especially for the young generation. Young people require reminder on the necessity to protect and maintain a good reputation. Damaged reputation follows you wherever you go. On working hard, the author is not very right. Being first to arrive at work and the last to leave does not translate to being effective in the workplace. It is better to work smart and achieve the set goals than spending more hours at the workplace. Hard work does not depend on the number of hours spent working but on the quality and timely delivery of targets. The point that I will take from the article is advancing in technical skills to complement my degree. According to the article, this will boost the chances of getting employment. The author also stresses on networking as a strategy for ensuring employment. It is true that securing jobs today rely more on the people that one knows than skills possessed by the person. Expanding on the network guarantees the timely receipt of information about employment opportunities.

American and Canadian Industry Today Research Paper

American and Canadian Industry Today - Research Paper Example While the recent economic recess across the globe affected the United States financial sector to a great extent and consequently, also affected the American industries, Canada on the other hand, has proved to be promising and capable enough to continue with its industrial progress. However, in the post economic recess era, while the US industries are showing the potential to retain their lost glory, collaboration and mutual support between both nations, in terms of resources and technologies have proved to be positive. The boon of globalization has provided both nations with scope to support each other so that the process of survival becomes easier in the highly competitive business scenario. While respective industrial prosperity of both Canada and US is dependent on export and import between these two nations, financial cooperation between United States and Canada has not shown much positivism since last few years. However, with the intention to make the situation better in terms of respective financial assistance in February 2010, Prime Minister of Canada Stifen Harper and President of the United States Barack Obama made cooperative deal which focused on exploring avenues of free trade among the two countries and for the public works the reciprocity in gove rnment procurement programs. It is quite clear from governmental policies of both these nations that they are providing a greater deal of importance over the aspect of mutual coexistence in terms of trade and financial assistance, compared to earlier times. It has been realized by either of the nations that the process of mutual cooperation is continued, it will be quite challenging for them to retain position of their industries in the highly competitive market. The United States of America is known as the high ranked nation is all the prospective. Who’s GDP is one of the highest among the developed nations ( $ 14.266 trillion

Internet Spam Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Internet Spam - Essay Example The internet spam is an economic way of sending unsolicited bulk messages to the masses of the society. The economic viability of internet spamming process is very high as the senders of the spam messages derive benefits due to low cost involved with maximum access to the target customers. The sender of the spam message through the internet channels are not required to incur any considerable cost and are able to send the message to an unfiltered section of the people. The advertisers in internet spamming process are only required to manage a list of bulk recipients to whom the desired advertisements are sent through the online mode. It is very difficult to hold the sender of internet spam as accountable for the activity of sending unsolicited messages (Kutais 35). The barriers of entering the field of internet spam are very low for the advertisers and the senders. Due to this reason, there has been increase in large numbers of internet spam. The costs of internet spam are; however, b ore by the internet service providers and the public. The loss of available space and productivity due to the internet spam is incurred by the service providers. The internet spam sent over the internet channels have also resulted in numerous frauds which have affected the interests of the users of internet. Due to this reason, the internet spam has come under legislative consideration in various jurisdictions. Problem Definition The problem definition in the area of internet spam has been derived from the underlying problems that occurred due to the activities of spamming over the internet. The spamming over the internet has gained prevalence due to the wide use of internet channels by the users in recent times. Almost all communication is passed through the internet by the users due to the prompt delivery of the communicated messages and the increasing access to the World Wide Web at affordable costs. Thus the advertisers or senders of the spammed messages found that they could re ach out to maximum number of people in society at lowest operating costs. But the fact whether these messages are unsolicited by the users of internet were not taken into consideration by the advertisers. Knowing fully well that the messages may not be solicited by the recipients, the advertisers, anonymous senders or senders with pseudo-names keep sending bulk messages that unnecessarily cover large spaces over the internet. This caused problems to the service providers as they incur losses of productivity and useful online space that could be used for revenue earnings. The internet spam also reflects mal-intention on the part of the senders as these misguide the users of internet with lucrative offers with underlying software viruses in disguise. By accessing the internet spam, the systems of the user get affected by harmful viruses which impose undue monetary loss (Brunton 48). Other than these, the most significant problem is caused by the internet spam that contains fraudulent offers in the advertisements. The spam is often unethical in influencing the users to share their user identification and passwords in order to access the offers advertised over the internet. The users get lured by the cheap offers and get trapped in the frauds intended by the spammed messages in the internet. Problem Evidence The evidence of the problems occurring due to the internet spam,

Anton Chekovs A Marriage Proposal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Anton Chekovs A Marriage Proposal - Essay Example His fundamental focus is on the common man, their lives and problems and the manner in which they deal with them. A similar situation is also observed in the play â€Å"A Marriage Proposal†. As the name suggests the play is about Ivan Vassiliyitch or Lemov proposing Stepan Stepanovitch’s or Tschub’s daughter Natalia Stepnaovna. Although the play is extremely hilarious and chaotic yet it is observed that Chekov uses the comical aspect of the play to reveal varied human behaviors. Moreover this revelation of characters is reiterated by employing two techniques i.e. the character’s self-revelation and the explication of the fellow characters. Hence by using this technique Chekov presents the readers with an in-depth character analysis where the reader is enlightened about an individual’s personal perspective as well as the manner in which the other people perceive him. Since the commencement of the play Chekov divides the responsibility of each character’s introduction amongst the fellow characters as it is also apparent from the fact that rather than using stage directions or any other technique he utilizes dialogues as a mode for explaining the characters of Lemov and Natalia. Lemov represents a young nervous man who is at a point in life where he badly desires to get settled though he is agitated at broaching the subject with the respective bride’s father Tschub. This hesitation is highly apparent in the lines where he says, â€Å"It is not the first time I have had the honor of turning to you for assistance†¦ I beg your pardon I am a bit excited I’ll take a drink of water first† (Chekov 499). These lines depict his restlessness as well as provide the readers with an interesting insight about his character that he is a young man at brink of committing himself in a matrimonial relationship and the whole process of asking for Tschub’s daughter’s hand makes him jittery. Lemov’s dialogues also enlighten the readers about the reasons for marrying Natalia as he says, â€Å"I’m cold†¦the chief thing is to settle matters†¦I’m thirty-five a critical age you might say†¦I must live a well regulated life† (Chekov 500). In other words Lemov represents a guy in the prime age of getting married, who has a bad case of nerves about committing himself in a binding relationship. However he is brave enough to be willing to take the plunge because of his stature in life and the requirement of his health i.e. he believes having a wife will cure him from a bad heart. Moreover he is a man who has the habit of either talking in riddles or straying from the actual topic as it is evident from his failed attempts of proposing to Natalia. As time and again he says, â€Å"Only listen until I have finished†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Chekov 502) rather than coming directly to the point he keeps getting in arguments with Natalia because of his lack of being able to steer the conversation in the right direction. Moreover through his assertions the readers realize that he considers himself a self-righteous and a fair man which is again concluded from his assertion, â€Å"my lady I have never appropriated other people’s property and I shall permit no one to accuse me of such a thing† (Chekov 503). His indignation further highlights his personality traits to the readers although Natalia believes otherwise. However it cannot be denied that he is a highly principled individual yet he has a kind heart and has the tendency of eventually giving in to an argument. This is apparent from the lines, â€Å"it was only principle of the thing the property isn’t worth much to me but the principle is worth a great deal† (Chekov 507). These parallels of opinions about Lemov’s character i.e. his personal opinion about himself and

Internet Spam Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Internet Spam - Essay Example The internet spam is an economic way of sending unsolicited bulk messages to the masses of the society. The economic viability of internet spamming process is very high as the senders of the spam messages derive benefits due to low cost involved with maximum access to the target customers. The sender of the spam message through the internet channels are not required to incur any considerable cost and are able to send the message to an unfiltered section of the people. The advertisers in internet spamming process are only required to manage a list of bulk recipients to whom the desired advertisements are sent through the online mode. It is very difficult to hold the sender of internet spam as accountable for the activity of sending unsolicited messages (Kutais 35). The barriers of entering the field of internet spam are very low for the advertisers and the senders. Due to this reason, there has been increase in large numbers of internet spam. The costs of internet spam are; however, b ore by the internet service providers and the public. The loss of available space and productivity due to the internet spam is incurred by the service providers. The internet spam sent over the internet channels have also resulted in numerous frauds which have affected the interests of the users of internet. Due to this reason, the internet spam has come under legislative consideration in various jurisdictions. Problem Definition The problem definition in the area of internet spam has been derived from the underlying problems that occurred due to the activities of spamming over the internet. The spamming over the internet has gained prevalence due to the wide use of internet channels by the users in recent times. Almost all communication is passed through the internet by the users due to the prompt delivery of the communicated messages and the increasing access to the World Wide Web at affordable costs. Thus the advertisers or senders of the spammed messages found that they could re ach out to maximum number of people in society at lowest operating costs. But the fact whether these messages are unsolicited by the users of internet were not taken into consideration by the advertisers. Knowing fully well that the messages may not be solicited by the recipients, the advertisers, anonymous senders or senders with pseudo-names keep sending bulk messages that unnecessarily cover large spaces over the internet. This caused problems to the service providers as they incur losses of productivity and useful online space that could be used for revenue earnings. The internet spam also reflects mal-intention on the part of the senders as these misguide the users of internet with lucrative offers with underlying software viruses in disguise. By accessing the internet spam, the systems of the user get affected by harmful viruses which impose undue monetary loss (Brunton 48). Other than these, the most significant problem is caused by the internet spam that contains fraudulent offers in the advertisements. The spam is often unethical in influencing the users to share their user identification and passwords in order to access the offers advertised over the internet. The users get lured by the cheap offers and get trapped in the frauds intended by the spammed messages in the internet. Problem Evidence The evidence of the problems occurring due to the internet spam,

Comparing and Contrasting PCs and mainframes Essay Example for Free

Comparing and Contrasting PCs and mainframes Essay Before the existence of personal computer or PC, there is minicomputer or microcomputer, the term â€Å"computer† simply referred to mainframes. Mainframes and personal computers have changed drastically over the years but their core functions and systems have stayed the same. The mainframe is used to connect multiple users for large organizations, while personal computers are generally used for a single user. The more drastic changes for mainframes and personal computers have been the increase of speed, memory, and the reduction of size. Mainframes use to be the size of buildings, now they are the size of a normal Intel blade server system. Last time when you need to access the mainframe you need to use a terminal for data entry or retrieve certain data. Then, the idea came to off load some of the processing from the mainframe and place it on a personal computer. Compare A mainframe is not much difference from a personal computer. There are many similarities between mainframes and personal computers which stands to reason since one evolved from the other. Both mainframes and personal computers have one or more central processor units, a huge number of memory, one or more busses, and one or more I/O systems. Another similarity between the two is that they are both IBM-based systems and similar hardware is used to build them. They can also perform some complex calculations, applications and handle multiple programs. Another area is that both require operating system to work and also to handle and optimize all the I/O systems or modules. Differences Although they are much similarity between the mainframes and computer as mention above, the similarity stop there as they are many differences too. Mainframes cost much more in terms of thousands of dollar than a normal personal computer or server. The mainframe nowadays takes up less space and less power consumption compare to a server farm task to do the same job. As mention (Shurkin, 1996), Transaction processing jobs run constantly in real-time and must be available more than 99. 99% of the time. The reboots and lock-ups common with PCs are simply not acceptable. Thousands of individual users can log in simultaneously from a variety of sources such as computer terminals, ATM, or Internet web sites, and complete a single transaction. Time-sharing jobs can be started when needed from a computer terminal by authorized users who then use the mainframe as their own big PC. Finally, batch jobs are started automatically by the system at regular times according to a strict predetermined schedule. Batch jobs are used to do the periodic processing required on the data being received from transaction and time-sharing jobs. Closing the accounting books at month-end or copying disk files to tape for backup are examples of batch type processing. The OS or Operating System in a mainframe such as from IBM z/OS which is the successor to the IBM OS/390 can run Multiple Virtual Systems (MVS). The new IBM z/OS support WebSphere ® Application Server on z/OS, and also the new zFS (System z File System) Direct I/O capability in z/OS. This help to enhance performance improvements to the system, and also provide an easier Parallel Sysplex functionality (IBM, September 2011). In an article by (Barnett G, 2010) stated that the mainframe is best suited for enterprise cloud computing as it is easily able to handle hundreds of complex applications or programs, and most important able to run hundreds of environment in a single physical footprint and easily deliver the 247 availability that our customers demand. Conclusion (Doerbecker Patterson, 2002), stated that the role of the mainframe has gradually changed from that of a data processor to that of a server, with the processing being done on the users PC. It has also been modified to interface to the Internet through the addition of TCP/IP protocols, Unix, and Java programming, to enable businesses to connect to their customers over that network. Once the only form of business computer available, the mainframe has survived the PC revolution and maintained an important function in commercial computing.

A Cause For Concern

A Cause For Concern Subject of language and identity, which leads to the death of a language, if language dies. Language and identity comes under my course, part 1, under language and cultural context. On the 4th of February 2010, while browsing through BBCs website I stumbled upon a captivating and according to me a very sad article. It read last speaker of ancient language of Bo dies in India, Boa sr.s story saddened me, she died at the age of 85 and for almost thirty years she didnt have anyone to converse with in her native language. Imagine not being able to use English for thirty years, you loose the freedom to express in your first language. As a journalist I knew what it meant for the world to loose a language, its disheartening, in essence a piece of history and culture is lost, I believe it is as important to preserve and save a language as it is to save and preserve the environment, but everyone is not aware of the adverse affects language death can cause. As a journalist, I thought of it as my moral responsibility to throw light on language death and its adverse effects. Thus, I wrote this article and decided on publishing it in a newspaper as it would reach a larger gr oup of people and educate them on why they should preserve their native language. Language death Approximately 7000 languages exist in todays world and this number is rapidly dwindling, is it a cause for concern? As globalization spreads around the world, it is natural that smaller communities would like to move out of their seclusion and seek interaction with the rest of the world. The number of languages dying is sorrowful. People naturally tend to shift their language use due to globalization and they leave behind their native language if it is not spoken by a lot of people. Asking them to hold onto a language they do not want anymore and preserve it, just for the sake of linguists and not the community itself, it is a bit too much to ask for, isnt it?But theres actually more to it than what meets the eye. Why fight this? A national geographic study states that every 14 days a language dies. By 2100 more than half of the languages spoken on the earth may disappear, taking away with them a wealth of knowledge on world history, culture and natural environment. Language is the road map of a culture. It tells you where its people come from and where they are going. Rita Mae Brown This quote by the American writer Rita Mae Brown gives us an insight into why preserving a language is of importance. A language defines a culture, through the communities who speak it. Every language has words that portray a particular cultural practice or idea, when translated into another language, the precise meaning might not come across. What we essentially lose is cultural heritage. The way of expressing the relationship with nature, with the world, it is also the way in which people express humor, their love, their life; most importantly communicating effectively with family is lost. Languages are living, breathing organisms holding connections that define a culture. When a language dies a culture is lost. Because of the close links language and identity share, if an individual or group thinks of their language as useless, they think of their identity as the same. This could have adverse effects; it could lead to depression, drug abuse and social disruption. And as parents no longer pass on their language to their children the connection between grandparents and children is lost which leads to traditional values not being handed on and theres a vacuum that remains where people for generations realize they have lost something. Many languages are in danger of extinction that have rich oral cultures with stories, songs, and histories passed on from generation to generation, but with no particular written form. Much of what us humans know about nature is encoded in oral languages. For thousands of years now native groups have interacted closely with the natural world and have insightful understanding on local lands, plants, animals, and ecosystems. Many still are not documented by science itself. Therefore studying indigenous languages proves to be beneficial while learning about the environment and conservation. Sanskrit is one such ancient language that is loosing its prominence and its speakers decreasing everyday. It was said to be the mother of all languages. Sanskrit is not practically used and maybe that is one of reasons of its decline but I believe it should be conserved because of the traditional values it possesses and because of its richness in culture. Take for instance Arthashastra, it is an Indian treatise written in Sanskrit which deals with statecraft, economic policy and military strategy it was written all the way back in 4th century BC. These concepts are not new and modern, they have been around for a long time now, if we do not conserve Sanskrit we will loose all of this valuable knowledge and also lose a piece of history. Another such language dying out is Palenquero. Palenquero is thought to the one and only Spanish-based Creole language in Latin America. Fewer than half of the community speaks it. It is spoken in the village of San Basilio De Palenque. Many children and young adults understand the language and pronounce a few phrases, which is a great sign as the village of San Basilio De Palenque is trying to preserve its language and spread it, the villages resilience is commendable. Looking at the village of San Basilio De Palenque other communities whose languages are endangered, should take inspiration and not loose hope in their endeavor to save their language. Why do languages die out though? Throughout history, the languages of powerful groups and imperial countries have spread while the languages of the smaller cultures and groups have become extinct. This happens due to official language policies and also the allure of speaking a highly prestigious global language such as English. These trends explain why a small country like Bolivia would have more of language diversity rather than a big country like the USA. As big languages spread, children whose parents speak a comparatively smaller language tend to grow up learning the more dominant language. Those children may never learn the smaller language, or they may just fail to recall it as it falls out of use. These trends have occurred throughout history, but what is alarming and worrying is the rate at which languages are disappearing, it has significantly accelerated over the recent years. Associations and initiatives such as Enduring voices, Living tongue, and the endangered languages project by Google are trying to preserve language and that is a sign of hope. The organizations that are involved and that have come up with these ideas are national geographic and Google. The death of a language is an indication of a human crisis: the loss of a store of wisdom, the sense of a community being thrown away. As we try to stop global warming and save the environment, we should also try and save our languages, as they are an integral part of our heritage.

Call Of The Wild :: essays research papers

Call of the Wild The Call of the Wild has a very interesting plot. It is centered around a St. Bernard and Scotch Shepherd mix, named Buck. At home, which was a large house in the sun, he ruled over all dogs. Buck was Judge Miller's inseparable companion, until a man named Manuel, who was the one of the gardener's helpers, committed a treacherous act. Manuel, to cover his Chinese lottery gambling debts, stole Buck from his sound sleep and brought him to a flag station called College Park. There, the exchanging of money took place. It was simple. Manuel needed money to pay off his gambling debts, and Buck was a prime candidate. Buck was loaded onto an express car to Seattle. When he got there, he was bought by two men named Perrault and Francois. He was loaded onto a ship called the Narwhal and taken to the Yukon, where he was to be trained as a sled dog. There were other sled dogs that Buck came to know well, each with their own unique personality. After only a short time of training, Buck was a sled dog, traveling with the team of huskies and mix breeds from Dyea Beach, to the town of Dawson. After several trips with Perrault and Francois, Buck was traded to a gold seeking family. They knew nothing, or hardly nothing, about managing a sled team. There trip began with a very bad start. The family had loaded up their wagon with too much unneeded baggage, and it was top heavy. As the dogs began to pull away and pull around a curve, the baggage tipped over along with the sled and thus the unnecessary baggage was discarded, and the trip was barely completed because of harsh weather, wrong supplies, and poor management skills of the dog handlers. All except a man that went by the name of John Thornton, perhaps the only sane one in the group. After one of the men repeatedly beat on a dog, Thornton became enraged. He threatened to kill the man. A few minutes later, the rest of the family that left Thornton behind fell through some

Basics of Ghost Stories :: Ghost Story Stories Ghosts Essays

Basics of Ghost Stories INTRODUCTION The ghost story writer has to attract the reader's attention straight away. The way story begins is important and often links with the rest of the narrative. The opening of a short story must try to engage the reader quickly. I think all ghost stories should always have a lot of suspense in it, to create anticipation and excitement. Some symbolic object/place for example a knife, a key must play a major part in the narrative. The story should also have lots of detail to get the feeling as if the reader is there to create different types of atmospheres, such as horror, terror, and excitement. They should also have a mysterious end, to make the reader go away thinking about it. Most people are interested in ghost stories because of the thrill and horror that is in it. Ghost story's challenges us to see how much of the paranormal we can take onboard and because it is a story they can always back away from it if it gets too unnerving. I have read "Wish Master", in which a demon awakes from an ancient pot that is destroyed in a robbery in a museum. Then the demon goes around asking people for their wishes and he always does something opposite to fulfil the wish. Ghost stories always seem to be set in lonely or isolated places. The language writers use to describe settings in ghost stories are usually quite unpredictable because there is a lot of descriptive use of imagery to paint a specific kind of picture for the reader. Ghost stories gained prominence in the Victorian period and a lot of classic stories were written during this period. They were written to entertain and feed the imagination of the populace who were intrigued by stories of the supernatural. Atmosphere is mood the writer is trying to create in a story. It is important because it builds a good impression on the reader. It is created through the use of language tools: such as similes, metaphors and onomatopoeia. The atmosphere of the story is developed right from the beginning. It largely depends on the writers purpose/intentions. So you do expect different kind of atmosphere to be created in both of these stories because in the "The Signalman" Charles Dickens is trying to scare the reader and in "The Deadfall" Ted Hughes is trying to get a message across. Atmosphere is important in building tension in the story, which I believe is vital for a ghost story. In 'The Signalman' by Charles Dickens the narrator meets a lonely signalman. At first he seems to be scared of him.

Organizations And Its Cultural Differences

The procedure of specifying organisational civilization goes by the fact that the definition in itself is obscure. Harmonizing to Schein, â€Å"culture is what a group learns over a period of clip as that group solves its jobs of endurance in an external environment and its jobs of internal integration† ( Schein, 1990: p111 ) . All these develop over a period of clip and go a portion of organisational civilization and they are turned into implicit in premise of what should and should non be done. Schein farther adds that these implicit in premises are the cardinal to understand organisation civilization and their manifestations which he calls as artefacts and values. Artifacts are referred to as seeable points such as organisation layouts and values are organisation specific beliefs such as ways to manage jobs ( Schein, 1990 ) . On the graduated table of cultural values expressed by Hofstede, UK scores high on individuality, low on power distance and uncertainness turning away, which means British employees are based on single features, do non prefer hierarchal organisation construction and do non indispensable demand organized attack and ordinances ( Hofstede, 1993 ) . In UK organisations openly display of emotions and showing positive or negative attitudes are really rare scene and therefore are sooner avoided. During meetings, British co-workers will near concern with an air of formality and withdrawal. This sort of work force attitudes can be reflected with Schein ‘s three degrees of organisational civilization under â€Å"values† of how people think and feel under different fortunes ( Schein, 1996 ) . It is more individualistic attitudes and loose bonds between employees that make them more self oriented instead than working under groups, thereby constructing close relationships ( Jodie 200 7 ) . Successes in these organisations are measured by personal accomplishments than group activities taking to less group motive and togetherness in accomplishing a common organisational end. On the 2nd dimension of Hosftede which is power distance, UK organisations tend to be comparatively low compared to the universe norm of 56. One of the grounds that can be argued for low power distance is the equality between the societal degree in these organisations between directors and their subsidiaries, as there is a less stiff system in topographic point for turn toing higher-ups. The orientation factor inside the organisations helps to maintain a strong concerted engagement within the power degrees and this enables to make a more stable environment between the employer and the employee. This involves the implicit in premises that determine perceptual experiences, thought and procedure of different persons and their feelings ( Schein, 2004 ) . For illustration if we take an English company, characterized by a low power distance, we will happen that subordinates interact with their higher-ups to propose alternate solutions of a job or a determination ( Meier, 2004 ) . Relations hips between higher-ups and subsidiaries are frequent and they are considered like a manner of bettering the public presentations of the group. On the reverse in an Indian organisation which is characterized by high power distance, people are strongly linked with the thought of esteeming the hierarchal authorization and the obeisance of the higher-ups is considered the best manner of accomplishing the ends of the company. Here, relationships between directors and their work force are strongly affected, peculiarly with respect to the acknowledgment of the power. In this manner high power distance persons need a forceful director that tell them what to make, on the contrary, low power distance persons prefer a laxer director and they do non ever accept his thoughts or determinations. It will be a challenge of these organisations to unearth them as it would enable in constructing a better apprehension with the work force which would ensue in turn toing newer challenges faced in this dy namic concern environment. On the 3rd dimension of Hofstede which is uncertainness turning away, UK is on the lower terminal compared to the universe ‘s norm of 65. It is deserving stating that Countries with weak uncertainness turning away like UK are comparatively unafraid, less dependent and do n't experience endangered by the positions of others. There will be small differing of idea procedure within the administration and working together in complex undertakings would be much easier. For illustration if we consider Gallic directors that are characterized by high uncertainness avoidance we can see that they take a long clip to do a determination. They analyse all facets of the determination and seek to measure their determinations logically. So they tend to believe more before playing and sometimes if the hazard is excessively high they could even decline to move whereas a British opposite number, low on uncertainness turning away, would be more matter-of-fact. They accept the hazard of doing errors and ever prefer to move immediately alternatively of believing long ( Meier, 2004 ) . In this sense, besides subordinates with a civilization of low uncertainness turning away are more willing for rapid alterations than those with a civilization of high uncertainness turning away. In this instance, the challenges of directors is to understand which is the better scheme to follow in conformity with accomplishing the company ends and be able to alter, as needed, their behavior and that of their work force, demoing a good capacity of adaptability and flexibleness. The above treatment has shown that many jobs are likely to look in a workplace where different civilizations, behaviors, attitudes, values and beliefs meet. Directors of transnational companies should possess sound cognition, direction accomplishments, personal traits, features and motive to pull off a multicultural work force. The best manner to get the better of these troubles and struggles is to educate the directors about cultural differences in order to do the workers cognizant of the diversenesss and do them cognize how to be more unfastened and tolerant towards each other. Finally, as the growing of transnational companies has been steady there is surely an huge demand of understanding of in-depth cultural issues for guaranting harmonious and productive work-culture in every administration.MentionsHofstede, G. ( 1993 ) , ‘Cultural Constraints in Management Theories ‘ , Academy of Management Executive 7, p81-94.Jodie R. Gorrill ( 2007 ) , Intercultural Communication , transverse cultural Training communicating Group, www.communicaid.com/cross-cultural-training/culture-for-business-and-management/doing-business-in/British-business-and-social-culture.php # [ Accessed: 3rd April 2010 ] .Meier O. ( 2004 ) , Management Interculturel, Paris, Dunod.Schein, E. ( 1990 ) , ‘Organizational Culture ‘ , American Psychologist, 45 ( 2 ) , p109-119.Schein, E. ( 1996 ) , Culture: the losing construct in organisation surveies, Administrative Science Quarterly 41, p229 – 240.Schein, E. ( 2004 ) , Organizational civilization and leading, 3rd erectile dysfunction, San Francisco: Jossey – Bass.

Lenovo’s Product Life Cycle Essay

As a global leader in the PC market, Lenovo’s success rests on its ability to deliver consumer centric innovations in products that deliver a blend of mobility, performance and price. Design is an infrastructural element that helps define every aspect of a company, including Web site, stores, customer support, packaging, and messaging as well as its products. Lenovo has a well-earned industry reputation for delivering superior quality products. Quality is a fundamental component and commitment to customer satisfaction by delivering products that are of superior quality to comparable offerings from their competitors is the key to Lenovo’s success. In recent years, Lenovo relies heavily on local manufacturing strategies to shorten ship requirements and had achieved an award-winning use of thermoplastics and other recycled packaging materials. Lenovo-a consumer product Lenovo is a business that is built on product innovation, a highly efficient global supply chain and strong strategic execution. Its products range from exceptionally engineered laptops, ultrabooks, tablets, desktops and servers. It’s ThinkPad and IdeaPad that are the most popular among all of them. Lenovo’s systems are designed with extended battery life with up to 10 hours on some systems and with extended battery options that can last as long as 30 hours with the lithium ion technology. Smart air flow system allows the laptops to run cool which takes battery little power. Enhanced Windows 7 with Intel multi-core processors, One-key data recovery, ambient light sensor which automatically dims the system when not in use and VeriFace face recognition software for password login are among the few novel functional features that are available in Lenovo products. Lenovo has powerful security protection tools that prevent malicious malware, and viruses from swarming into the computers and can even locate and control PCs that have been stolen. Lenovo’s security begins with their core technology and award-winning ThinkVantage technologies that are exclusive to Lenovo. Their secure and private cloud files access allows sharing or streaming files without the need to store them locally. The premier X1 Carbon is the latest in ThinkPad’s and its island style X1 keyboard, light design which weigh less than 3 pounds and is only 18mm thin is truly considered the best. Its quality and simple design immediately reveals trendy and fascinating ThinkPad perception. Branding and design are to a large extent inseparable as a brand is not just a logo but it’s a gut feeling people have about a particular product and I believe that Lenovo is providing that to its customers with their latest innovative products. Packaging and Support Services Customers benefit from many of the advances that have been made in packaging. Lenovo is committed to offering environment friendly packaging for its products. Over the past several years, Lenovo has had a strong focus on increasing the use of recyclable materials in packaging; reducing the size and expanding the use of bulk and reusable packaging. Recent research estimates that Lenovo has totally eliminated over 1000 tons of packaging consumption by weight through design optimization and refinement across all Lenovo product shipments. The new packaging material, made from 100 percent recycled thermoformed cushions, enables PCs to be stacked together and requires less packaging material. This new material also helps minimize shipping costs. In addition, on many Lenovo notebook product lines Lenovo has implemented the use of 100% post-consumer molded fiber (paper pulp) packaging, which can typically be readily recycled in municipal waste streams. Lenovo is currently in the process of assessing the global availability of FSC certified packaging to support manufacturing facilities in all geographic regions. Lenovo’s Asset Tagging Service that is executed in production ensures that a user PC is easily identifiable and traceable right out of the box. Lenovo provides flexible options to meet personal or variable business needs. Lenovo’s reliability and its ability to provide speedy maintenance and repair deserve further emphasis. Lenovo’s Priority Technical Support service provides anytime direct access to the right level of tech support on the first call. Its accidental damage service offers protection from operational or structural damage due to common accidents like drops, spills, electrical surges or failure of the integrated screen which saves its customer the cost of repairs or a new PC purchase. Parts, labor repair and coverage of expenses while shipping to the repair center are all paid for by Lenovo as well. Warranty extensions are available for periods of up to five years. Accidental damage insurance, online tech support, on-site or in-home service of parts and labor coverage is also provided. User guides and manuals are readily available on Lenovo’s website for the customer’s convenience. Product Life Cycle Lenovo has a Transition service that saves its customers valuable time and resources, its hardware refreshes, and purchase through deployment to aged asset recovery. According to research, Lenovo’s PC management tools help users reduce costs that capture 80% of a PCs full lifecycle beyond the hardware price. Its ThinkVantage technologies reduce machine downtime and provide data security and their PC lifecycle analysis helps reduce the running and ownership costs. Lenovo helps customers manage the complete PC lifecycle and maximize the productivity and usefulness of devices; they do this by covering each phase of the typical PC lifecycle including planning, procurement, deployment support, asset management and disposal. Given the extent of technological advances both in hardware and software, nowadays a typical life cycle of the PC is estimated to be 3-4 years. According to Lenovo’s internal research, their customers have recorded consistent savings of up to $691 per PC over its lifecycle. Product issues and Warranty, Branding, Packaging considerations Packaging is an area where managers face issues of social responsibility, including concerns about the role of packaging in pollution, global warming, and resource use. The ink to print the package graphics often has toxins that later creep into the soil and water. Although Federal Fair Packaging and Labeling Act provide guidance on many packaging issues, many areas still require marketing managers to make ethical choices as even small changes can add up to big improvements. Lenovo is committed to ensuring that their products are safe throughout their life cycle as its products comply with the laws and regulations in each country that they ship to. Lenovo products are designed, tested and approved to meet the correct worldwide standards for product safety, electromagnetic compatibility, ergonomics and other regulatory compulsory requirements when used for their intended purpose. In addition, Lenovo maintains a series of specifications and standards that capture product environmental design requirements, including restricted and reportable materials, energy requirements, labeling and recycling. Lenovo has implemented a comprehensive product recycling programs worldwide to meet their customers’and legal requirements. Branding means the use of a name, term, symbol, or design or a combination of these to identify a product. A brand is the real asset to the company and Lenovo has a well-earned industry reputation for delivering superior quality products. Recognized brands make shopping easier and the more popular a brand name is the more control of target market there can be for that product. Successful branding should include easy identified label, dependable and widespread availability, and favorable shelf locations or displaying space in stores. In general, consumers are willing to pay a premium for well known branded products and Lenovo has used this to its advantage and has established a well deserved niche with its customers. A warranty explains what the seller promises about its product and a marketing manager should decide whether to offer a specific warranty, and if so what the warranty will cover and how it should be communicated to the target market. This is an area where legal, environment as well as customer needs and competitive offerings must be considered. Lenovo’s uses warranties to improve the appeal of their products as a marketing strategy and all the products carry written warranty agreements.. Most of the Lenovo’s laptops carry standard one-year warranty to fix your laptop for optimal speed and overall performance in the comfort of your own home. Marketing research needs Promotion and distribution of the product to its target market is very essential to the marketing mix. A target market of price conscious customers can be influenced by advertising campaigns that positions the company in consumers mind as value oriented product. Lenovo is already excelling in it marketing needs and will continue to adapt its marketing mix in response to evolving competition and customer needs. Even seemingly trivial differences in buying behavior are important because success often hinges on fine-tuning the marketing mix. Lenovo streamlines their distribution with the goal of providing consumers better service. Its fast global expansion is due to committed innovativeness, entrepreneurial spirit and teamwork across various cultures. Lenovo is committed to the goals of achieving customer satisfaction by delivering superior products, solutions, and services and ensuring they meet customer requirements. Lenovo frequently acquires inputs on design and product features fro m its customers and partners. Consumers are very observant and cautious of their products and consumer trust is one thing that is very difficult to establish nowadays. Lenovo’s global Quality Management System, which has received ISO 9001 certification, ensures the continual delivery of design improvements into Lenovo’s current and future products. Focusing on quality and sustainability in everything is how Lenovo gives back to the communities. References http://www.lenovo.com/social_responsibility/us/en/GreenPaper_Packaging.pdf http://www.lenovo.com/social_responsibility/us/en/Lenovo_ISO9001 Corporate_Certificate.pdf http://www.lenovo.com/social_responsibility/us/en/FY2011_Lenovo_Sustainability_Report.pdf# page=16&view=fit http://www.fastcompany.com/1830073/9-principles-great-branding-design http://www.doyoumatter.com/ http://www.lenovo.com/services_warranty/US/en/pdf/lenovo-warranty-services.pdf Lenovo Reveals ThinkPad X1 Carbon, Shakes Up Ultrabook Market Lenovo Reveals ThinkPad X1 Carbon, Shakes Up Ultrabook Market