Demographic Transition Model

The demographic transition model seeks to explain the transformation of countries from having high birth and death rates to low birth and death rates. In developed countries, this transition began in the eighteenth century and continues today. Less developed countries began the transition later and are still in the midst of earlier stages of the model. CBR CDR The model is based on the change in crude  birth rate (CBR) and crude death rate (CDR) over time. Each is expressed per thousand population. The CBR is determined by taking the number of births in one year in a country, dividing it by the countrys population, and multiplying the number by 1000. In 1998, the CBR in the United States is 14 per 1000 (14 births per 1000 people) while in Kenya it is 32 per 1000. The crude death rate is similarly determined. The number of deaths in one year is divided by the population and that figure is multiplied by 1000. This yields a CDR of 9 in the U.S. and 14 in Kenya. Stage I Prior to the Industrial Revolution, countries in Western Europe had high CBR and CDR. Births were high because more children meant more workers on the farm and with the high death rate, families needed more children to ensure the  survival of the family. Death rates were high due to disease and a lack of hygiene. The high CBR and CDR were somewhat stable and meant the  slow growth of a population. Occasional epidemics would dramatically increase the CDR for a few years (represented by the waves in Stage I of the model. Stage II In the mid-18th century, the death rate in Western European countries dropped due to improvement in sanitation and medicine. Out of tradition and practice, the birth rate remained high. This dropping death rate but the  stable birth rate at the beginning of Stage II contributed to skyrocketing population growth rates. Over time, children became an added expense and were less able to contribute to the wealth of a family. For this reason, along with advances in birth control, the CBR was reduced through the 20th century in developed countries. Populations still grew rapidly but this growth began to slow down. Many less developed countries are currently in Stage II of the model. For example, Kenyas high CBR of 32 per 1000 but low CDR of 14 per 1000 contribute to a high rate of growth (as in mid-Stage II). Stage III In the late 20th century, the CBR and CDR in developed countries both leveled off at a low rate. In some cases, the CBR is slightly higher than the CDR (as in the U.S. 14 versus 9) while in other countries the CBR is less than the CDR (as in Germany, 9 versus 11). (You can obtain current CBR and CDR data for all countries through the Census Bureaus International Data Base). Immigration from less developed countries now accounts for much of the population growth in developed countries that are in Stage III of the transition. Countries like China, South Korea, Singapore, and Cuba are rapidly approaching Stage III. The Model As with all models, the demographic transition model has its problems. The model does not provide guidelines as to how long it takes a country to get from Stage I to III. Western European countries took centuries through some rapidly developing countries like the Economic Tigers are transforming in mere decades. The model also does not predict that all countries will reach Stage III and have stable low birth and death rates. There are factors such as religion that keep some countries birth rate from dropping. Though this version of the demographic transition is composed of three stages, youll find similar models in texts as well as ones that include four or even five stages. The shape of the graph is consistent but the divisions in time are the only modification. An understanding of this model, in any of its forms, will help you to better understand population policies and changes in developed and less developed countries around the world.

What Foreign Aid Is Essay - 1730 Words

What Foreign Aid Is There are two words that many politicians like to shy away from, and those two words are, foreign aid. Taking a firm stand on either side of this topic is usually side stepped by decision makers. Their opinions are usually based on a case by case analysis. This extremely controversial topic involves whether or not to support the policy of foreign aid to needy or sometimes not so needy countries. What benefits does foreign aid have for the countries that receive it, and does it have any benefits for the countries who give? Some may say that instead of spending money on foreign aid, money should be spent on domestic aid. Those who argue in favor of foreign aid say that it is an investment in the future of†¦show more content†¦Some people would still be against this type of aid, and their argument would be that if money that goes to Mexico was invested in helping small business get started, America would be less dependent on other countries for their goods or services. In this case the nay-sayers were proven wrong because Mexico recently repaid the United States in full, plus interest, and a year in advance. Another form of foreign aid is a certain amount of credit is given to the receiving country in order to buy American made goods only. This form of aid not only helps the country in need, but it also pumps money into the US economy. Still some may wonder why should we care about a country such as Russia, to whom the U.S. has recently given aid to recently. The U.S. cant afford to have an ex-superpower unstable economically because of their nuclear capabilities. Because Russia is in the unstable beginnings of a democracy the U.S. wants to keep Russia on the right track. If that includes giving them aid in order to help feed their people, then that is what the U.S must do. Because reinstatement of the old regime would result in turmoil throughout the world. After communism was overthrown in the former Soviet Union the world went through big changes. There was no longer two world super powers, and all of a sudden a 40 year cold war ended. As stated the U.S. uses foreign aid as a tool to implement their political views in other countries.Show MoreRelatedWhat Role Does Foreign Aid Play? Developing Countries?1466 Words   |  6 PagesWhat Role Does Foreign Aid Play in Developing Countries? Many countries around the world receive foreign aid from the United States and other developed countries every year in large sums. This money is dispersed throughout the receiving country, it is the hope of the United States that this will help to create development economically and politically as well as promote the belief of democracy in these countries. The aid is intended to enhance infrastructure within the country so local institutionsRead MoreWhat Role Does Foreign Aid Play? Developing Countries?1768 Words   |  8 PagesWhat Role Does Foreign Aid Play in Developing Countries? Many countries around the world receive foreign aid from the United States and other developed countries every year in large sums. This money is dispersed throughout the receiving country, it is the hope of the United States that this will help to create development economically and politically as well as promote the belief of democracy in these countries. The aid is intended to enhance infrastructure within the country so local institutionsRead MoreForeign Countries Should Not Help Out A Less Developed Country?1348 Words   |  6 Pagesstudies have shown that giving money alone does not help, it could actually make the country worse off. Foreign countries should not give money to developing nations because the developing countries become too reliant on the developed countries, it does not help the developing countries, and with money, comes corruption. The better way for foreign aid to work which is to give technological aid. A quote from Maimonides, â€Å"Give a man a fish and y ou feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feedRead MoreThe United States Should Stop Sending Aid For Foreign Countries Essay1291 Words   |  6 Pageshave different views, but they both had the same opinion that the United States should stop sending aid to foreign countries. In this essay my view is that the United States should stop sending aid to foreign countries. I will defend my view against poverty by discussing Garret Hardin and, James Shikwati views on poverty, and how the United States and other countries will benefit from not sending aid. Garret Hardin mentions environmentalists use the metaphor of Earth as a spaceship. People persuadeRead MoreThe World Enters A Globalized Age Essay1151 Words   |  5 Pages As the world enters a globalized age, the interactions between nations become increasingly important. What was once a ‘all for one, one for all’ mentality, with nations acting mostly in their own best interests -barring, of course, the alliances made between nations, often military in nature acting against a common foe- has become a question of the common good. What obligation to help, if any, do countries with well developed economies and militaries have towards those nations in need? Nations thatRead MoreThe Effects of War and Peace on Foreign Aid in Somalia1360 Words   |  6 Pagesof War and Peace on Foreign Aid in Somalia Rachel Gardner Professor Marco Mena Sociology of Developing Countries Strayer University 5/4/2014 The Effects of War and Peace on Foreign Aid Foreign aid plays a major role in the sustainability of economic and social activities of developing nations. Whether in the form of development or humanitarian aid, the foreign aid is key to ensuring better living conditions and economic development for these states. These forms of aid are influential in pushingRead MoreForeign Aid Essay1342 Words   |  6 PagesForeign aid is defined as the help given by one nations government to another nation to help with social and financial advancement. Also, foreign aid is used in order to help a country to respond a disaster such as natural disaster, disease, etc. It can include providing financial help, medicines (science), food, clothes, etc. Likewise, foreign aid can be used for education (knowledge), infrastructures, equipment, and to fight poverty. I believe that foreign aid helps poor countries especiallyRead MoreThe Government Should Not Be Taxing Us For Someone Else s Needs1709 Words   |  7 Pagesto get rid of foreign aid. This paper is about how the government is taking our tax money and giving it to people in lower income countries. Us government should not be taxing us for someone else s needs because 1. People are already having trouble with taxes, and now that we added this it is going to be almost impossible for some people to live in this economy. 2. People that care about this should be funding this, not the people that have to pay taxes. 3. When we help them what do they assistRead MoreThe Beginning Of Foreign Aid Essay1505 Words   |  7 PagesIntroduction: 1.The beginning of Foreign Aid All human beings regardless of their background require a set of resources to survive. These are food, water, shelter and clothing in addition to this, healthcare, education and sanitation are also essential for a person’s wellbeing. 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A Poetry Analysis Justice Essay Example For Students

A Poetry Analysis Justice Essay In the piece Justice, the author included victims of notorious crimes in the Philippines who encountered at least any f the following: kidnap, rape, hazing, manslaughter, massacre, and murder. The literary piece Justice by Christine Caramel Villain is a poem written in the form of concrete poetry known as Carmen figurate, in which the words are typographically arranged in such a manner that a visual image is formed. In using shaped verse, the poet creates an illustration of a lifeline. The rises and falls, or the peaks (to represent the highs) and valleys (to represent the lows) of the fluctuation of the lifeline, which in electrocardiography (a noninvasive medical procedure for recording electrical activities of the heart) indicates that a certain individual is still living as characterized by his/her active heartbeat, are composed of names of victims murdered in the Philippines. The linear portion of the lifeline after a series of waves, however, is made up of iterations of the word Justice, which is written in a repetitive way for emphasis and further retention to the memory of the readers. In electrocardiography, the flat line implies that the beating of the heart has already terminated, thereby causing death. According to the author, the reason for the placement of the names within the yeoman part of the lifeline is to depict that the cases pertaining to the concerned people are yet unsolved and unclosed, or still withheld and hanging. As a result, the memory of the demise of the injured party lives on in spite of them being already deceased. On the other hand, the author has committed some minor mistakes in writing the names of the victims by way of misspelling a few of them (I. . , Chris instead of Crisp in Crisp Mended, Stateliest instead of Easterlies in Easterlies Eviction, Rockwell instead of Rachel in Rachel Groaned, and Regis instead of Regales in Marvin Regales). Other name entries are also mistaken for the reason that in one case, the surname linked to the first name is incorrect (Chapman instead of Hellman in Maureen Hellman) and in another, the first and s econd names are interchanged Cohn Roland instead of Roland John in Roland John Chapman). As for the organization of the names, the following sequence is maintained: Marjory Aching, Jacqueline Aching, Maureen Hellman, Roland John Chapman, Jesus Lenin, Nadia Blanch, Crisp Mended, Easterlies Eviction, Carmela Eviction, Jennifer Eviction, Geraldine Palm, Given Grace Sibilance, Ray Bernard Appearance, Rachel Groaned, Marvin Regales, and Marc Andre Marcos. However, the author failed to be consistent with the order of the names at the endmost part of the lifeline in which the last input is Marvin Regales instead of Rachel Groaned, provided that the order of the name list is the basis for succession. Other errors marked in the work include the failure to insert Roland John Chapman in between Maureen Hellman and Jesus Lenin at the first sequence of the names. Other names are as well deficient such as Biz at the second sequence, Men at the third sequence, and Erg at the latter sequence mentioned. Space fillers are also added so as not to ruin the figure and to discipline the use of names t fit the form (such as ma after Groaned at the second sequence and sad after Given at the third sequence). But this does not actually suffice and is not proper since the text should be as important as the shape, hence being called Carmen figurate (visual poem) and not merely Carmen (poem) or figurate (image) alone. If fillers are supplied, the main purpose of the poetry, which is to preserve congruity between the figure and the content, is by all means defied. As for the spatiality of the poem, however, commas or spaces are not used to separate one person from another. The names are keyed in one after another and without interruption. Tell all the Truth but Tell it Slant by Emily Dickinson analysis EssayEven the seven-time repetition of the word Justice at the flat segment of the lifeline is written with no pauses at all. Punctuation marks are not even utilized per SE. On the other hand, although names are written repetitively to signify importance, the poem might have been more effective if it is appropriately punctuated with the aid of commas for short and slight pauses, or semicolons for the intention of a caesura or an extended pause before shifting from a thought or idea t the succeeding one. However, if the aim is to establish a complete stop, a period can be employed. Also, it would be of assistance if the initial letter of the names is write in capital letters to show that each person is important. Moreover, the upper and lower ends of the zigzag lines should entirely carry the names of the victims instead of breaking then placing them in separate lines. Aside from the order of the names, however, there is little attempt at harmonious arrangement (Holcomb, 2007) f the poetry. There is no other particular pattern observed than the mere arrangement of the names. The author, in this literary work, used run-on lines that are suggestive of continuous reading. Lastly, the objective of the poetry, which is to find meaning and explanation yet not in the literal sense is accomplished, since the concept of Justice is embedded within an illustration of a lifeline. This suggests, as represented in the graph, that Justice in the Philippines is dead, as the cases of the abused involved in murder have still not progressed over the years. This may also mean that criminal Justice in the country is already limping, for some witnesses of the crimes are unwilling to lodge complaints, support prosecutions, (Asian Human Rights Commission).

Web Portal Essay Example

Web Portal Essay Automatic Identification of Temporal Information in Tourism Web Pages Stephanie Weiser*, Philippe Laublet**, Jean-Luc Minel* * MoDyCo, UMR 7114, CNRS 200 avenue de la Republique, 92001 Nanterre ** LaLIC, Universite Paris-Sorbonne Maison de la recherche, 28 rue Serpente 75006 Paris E-mail: steph. [emailprotected] com, Philippe. [emailprotected] fr, [emailprotected] fr Abstract This paper presents our work on the detection of temporal information in web pages. The pages examined within the scope of this study were taken from the tourism sector and the temporal information in question is thus particular to this area.The differences that exist between extraction from plain textual data and extraction from the web are brought to light. These differences mainly concern the spatial arrangement of the text, the use of punctuation and the respect of traditional syntactic rules. The temporal expressions to be extracted are classified into two kinds: temporal information that concerns one parti cular event and repetitive temporal information. We adopt a symbolic approach relying on patterns and rules for the detection, extraction and annotation of temporal expressions; our method is based on the use of transducers.First evaluations have shown promising results. Since the visual structure of a web page is very important and often informs the user before he has even read the text, a semiotic study is also presented in this paper. 1. Introduction With the methods of the Semantic Web, portal applications can be created, relying on ontologies. For these applications and many service applications, temporal information is often essential. For example, a tourism web portal would need information about the type of tourism object and its location in time and space.In addition, the extracted information must be stored in the knowledge base according to the ontology used by the application. In this paper we will focus on temporal information in tourism web pages. The temporal informat ion has to be detected, extracted and annotated. The annotation format will probably rely on existing XML tools (Stern 2007). To perform these tasks, we encountered three main kinds of difficulties. First, we have to deal with complex, imprecise temporal information. Of course, single dates are easy to process but more complex expressions, such as periods or repetitive information (e. . from March to July, open every day except Tuesday), must be treated as well. Second, after being extracted, the information needs to be linked to the proper tourism object. If the web page concerns only one object, this is straightforward, but some web pages concern many objects and an analysis is therefore necessary to decide how to link each piece of information to its object. Third, the web pages we deal with are all of the same type: tourism web pages. However, they vary a lot as they are made by different people, have different forms and concern different types of tourism objects.We will try to show that a semiotic study of some pages is necessary to take into account some of their specificities. The work presented in this paper is situated within the framework of the EIFFEL project. Its main objective is to create a portal in the area of tourism with different functionalities. This portal, for use by the local tourism sector, will include a specialised search engine. It will allow users to find and collect precise and essential information in context. It will also help the territory as a French region to promote its services. This is a wideranging project (Noel et al. 008) which is based on web semantic technologies, knowledge representation and linguistic methods and expertise. It includes automatic identification, selection and extraction of various items from the Web according to existing ontologies. This project involves mainly two companies – Mondeca and Antidot – and three laboratories – LIRMM (CNRS), INRIA-Rocquencourt and MoDyCo (CNRS). Our co rpus, meaning that the pages have been collected for this particular study, in a precise context, is composed of more than 5000 tourism web pages in French. These pages were collected by automatic crawling of websites.They were collected by the company Antidot and transformed into XML files in order to make them more suitable for automatic processing. 2. Temporal Information in Web Pages The detection and extraction of temporal information is a subject that has already been widely studied (Battistelli et al. 2006), but mostly in the context of â€Å"printed textual objects† and not in texts specifically written for web pages. One of the aims of this paper is to show that studying the same type of temporal information is very different when it takes place in a web context.In tourist guide books, for example, the information is a lot more structured and standardized than on our web sites, which are extremely diverse and do not follow a 127 common page model. Every entry of a gu ide concerning a particular tourism object is often structured in the same way and contains the same type of information. Linguistic markers allow us to locate each piece of information. Punctuation is very rigorous and facilitates interpretation, especially automatic interpretation. On the other hand, on web pages, punctuation – if there is any – is rarely correctly used.More often, white spaces or new lines are used as separators. Even if the analysis of a text is not easy, a lot of syntactic tools already exist to perform this task automatically. For example, it is possible to build the syntactic tree of a given sentence, find the verb, etc. However, some complicated tasks, such as anaphora resolution, can make the analysis of texts a lot more complex. What we are interested in here is that the difficulties that are encountered for web pages are very different from those that text analysis presents.For example, in a tourism guide book1, each restaurant entry is stru ctured in the same way: name, address, phone number, metro station and opening details, e. g. ouvert tous les jours (open every day). Each item can easily be automatically processed. The problem is that, on a web page, the same kind of information would more likely look like the web page presented in figure 1. integrating temporal and spatial reasoning into XML query and transformation operations. Their work has lead to WebCal, a program which provides calendrical calculations for web services. 3. Tool and Method for the Temporal Expression DetectionWe have a symbolic approach relying on patterns and rules for the detection, extraction and annotation of temporal expressions (in French). We do not use any machine learning techniques. Our method relies on the use of transducers, created using the graphical interface of the Unitex corpus processor2. Unitex provides an intuitive and user-friendly method for creating transducers, which tag the output (as opposed to regular expressions wh ich do not modify the output). A wide variety of patterns can be recognized and tagged by our transducers, from very simple expressions to very complex ones.On one hand, generalizations can be made (such as using the symbol to tag all numbers). On the other hand, the transducers can be very detailed and precise for particular cases, for example, to recognize expressions such as a lexception du mois de mai – except in May. Here are a few examples of the expressions to be detected: (1) Le 21 avril April, the 21st (2) Du 10 au 21 mars From the 10th to the 21st of March (3) Du lundi au vendredi, 9h – 11h From Monday to Friday, 9am-11am (4) Inauguration du musee le 7 juillet 2006 Inauguration of the museum on the 7th of July 2006 (5) En Juillet et Aout ouvert tous les jours.Hors cette periode, fermeture le mercredi soir, le jeudi toute la journee et le dimanche soir. Horaires douverture: de 12h00 a 14h00 de 19h00 a 22h00. Open every day in July and August. Outside this peri od, closed on Wednesday night, all day Thursday and on Sunday night. Opening times: from noon to 2pm from 7pm to 10pm. Figure 1: Example For now, there is no tool able to interpret that Chez Paul et Bernadette Colas is the name of a Bed Breakfast or that Ouvert du 15 fevrier au 30 (open from February 15th to 30th) is its opening information.This is why the extraction of temporal information from texts can not be directly applied for Web pages: there is no standardized â€Å"syntax† for web pages. Our work is close to that of (Tenier et al. 2006). The object of their work is to extract, from web pages, information about contributors to scientific events. Our approach is more general since the web pages analyzed by these authors follow spatial arrangement rules while spatial arrangement on our pages is completely free. Our work is also close to that of (Bry et al. 2003) who aim at 1 3. 1. ClassificationAs shown in these examples, the type of temporal information to be identifi ed varies. Two main types can be highlighted: temporal information that concerns one particular event and repetitive temporal information. For the first type there are dates (concert on October 1st), periods (festival from May to June), and times (the concert starts at 8:00). For the second there are times (the museum opens at 10am), periods (the restaurant is open from Monday to Saturday) and exceptions (the camping ground is open all year long except in January). More complex examples, such as from MarchLe guide du routard – Paris balades 2007 p. 231 :  « Le SaintAmour 2, av. Gambetta, 75020. 01-47-97-20-15. Metro PereLachaise. Ouvert tous les jours  » (Open every day) 2 Unitex: http://www-igm. univ-mlv. fr/~unitex 128 to July, open every day except Tuesday, can also be included in this classification. In addition, not every occurrence of temporal information needs to be detected, since they do not necessarily concern a tourism object. For example, a single date, which is not introduced by a linguistic marker such as heure douverture (opening time) probably does not concern a tourism object.Single dates like these often concern the web page itself as in Derniere modification : 25/10/2006 (last modification : 25/10/2006). Therefore, we have been careful not to detect these dates. One problem that has been encountered is that some lexical marks are ambiguous. For example is Friday and Sunday night to be interpreted as meaning Friday night and Saturday night, or rather Friday all day and Saturday night? The context is therefore necessary to remove the ambiguity. For this example, if the object is a concert, the first interpretation will probably be the right one.For the whole corpus of 100 pages, we obtain a recall rate of 92% and a precision of 76%. Figure 2: Recall for the first evaluation 3. 2. Technical Information The tool Unitex, which uses dictionaries based on the tables of the LADL3, allows the user to process corpora on the lexical, syntact ic and morphological levels. It allows for the identification and tagging of structures which correspond to regular expressions, represented by finite state graphs. This graphical representation makes using Unitex more intuitive than the use of long regular expressions.We built our transducers using this tool, following the linguistic study that listed the patterns of temporal expressions that could be found on web pages. The set of transducers includes one main transducer and 23 secondary graphs. These transducers include 88 lexical markers (like ouverture – opening, mars – March, inauguration) and 22 grammatical markers (like sur – on, le – the, dans – in). Figure 3: Precision for the first evaluation The important variation in the results is due to the fact that there are not a lot of temporal expressions to detect in the pages (7 for sets 1 and 3, 9 for set 2, 20 for set 4 and 8 for set 5).The precision for set 5 is especially low because one p age contains a forum with 4 temporal expressions that are detected but do not concern a tourism object. 4. Evaluations 4. 1. First Evaluation The transducers allowing the detection of temporal information were manually created from a study of a set of pages. In order to evaluate and optimise them, we tested them on sets of 20 web pages, randomly manually selected from our corpus. This operation was performed five times and the transducers have thus been tested on 100 different pages. The results of this experiment are presented in the diagrams below.Recall and precision were calculated for each set of 20 pages (figure 2 and figure 3). 4. 2. Second Evaluation A different procedure was used for the second evaluation. We deliberately manually selected 25 pages containing temporal information. Some of these pages were randomly opened and selected when they were found to contain temporal information; for the others our transducers were applied to more than 200 pages and those with result s were selected. For these 25 pages, the recall is 39,1% and the precision is 46,5%. Here are a few numbers to explain these figures. These pages contain 69 expressions to detect.The transducers match and tag 58 expressions: 27 are correctly detected, 3 are falsely detected (they should not be detected because they do not correspond to temporal tourism information), 28 expressions are incompletely detected and 25 expressions are missed. We are faced with two kinds of incomplete expressions. In the first kind a part of the expression is not matched, Laboratoire d’Automatique Documentaire et Linguistique – the tables were created by Maurice Gross and consist in a classification of lexical units according to syntactic and distributional criteria. 3 129 or example in toute la journee de 8h00 a 19h00 (all day long from 8:00am to 7:00pm), only the underlined part is detected. In the second kind of incomplete expressions, each pattern to be matched is detected in two or more matches, for example ouvert tous les jours en juillet et aout (open every day in July and August) is detected in two matches. 16 of the 28 incomplete expressions produced by our system correspond in fact to 5 correct expressions. Horaires Lundi Mardi Mercredi Jeudi Vendredi Samedi Matin 8h30-12h00 8h30-12h00 8h30-12h00 8h30-12h00 8h30-12h00 10h00-11h30Ap-midi 14h00-18h00 14h00-18h00 14h00-18h00 14h00-18h00 14h00- Figure 5: vertical table of opening times A human user would understand both of these tables without the slightest problem. For an automatic treatment, however, it is more complicated. If we do not look at the structure, but only at the text, the first table would then contain â€Å"Horaires lundi mardi mercredi jeudi vendredi samedi matin 08h30 12h00 08h30 12h00 08h30 12h00 08h30 12h00 08h30 12h00 10h00 11h30 ap. midi 14h00 18h00 14h00 18h00 14h00 18h00 14h00 18h00 14h00 †: a text flow that is incomprehensible.The second table would contain â€Å"Horaires Matin Ap-midi Lundi 8h30-12h00 14h0018h00 Mardi 8h30-12h00 14h00-18h00 Mercredi 8h3012h00 14h00-18h00 Jeudi 8h30-12h00 14h00-18h00 Vendredi 8h30-12h00 14h00 – Samedi 10h00-11h30 † it is clearer but it is very different from the text of the first one, for exactly the same meaning. Technical tools that allow a specific markup for headers in the table exist. But the web pages of our corpus are mostly built by professionals from the tourism sector and not by professional web designers: they do not use these technical tools.Consequently, only graphical elements and lexical content allow interpretation of these kinds of tables. In order to take into account these semiotic marks in automatic processing, the structure of the pages must be studied. An analysis of the XML tree is therefore necessary (Tenier et al. 2006). The high number of missed expressions is due to the fact that isolated dates without context are voluntarily ignored in order to avoid incorrect detections (li ke in derniere modification : 25 avril 2006 – last modification: April the 25th 2006).Some pages presenting an event schedule contain more than 10 dates without context that are therefore not detected. 22 out of the 25 missed expressions are concerned by this problem, which will be solved in the near future. 5. The Semiotic Marks For now, only textual information is taken into account, but a web page presents information in many other ways. The visual structure of a web page often informs the user before he has even read the text. For example, the structure could allow him to understand that the page concern one single object and not a collection of objects.In the same way, the formatting style (font, size, colour) can be very meaningful since it can often be assumed that two items written in the same font and colour are linked. One difficulty lies in automatically interpreting these semiotic marks. Many things are understandable at first sight for a human being but are hard to specify for automatic processing. On web pages, tables are commonly used to present information. They need a special treatment since their interpretation is not straightforward. 6. Conclusion In this paper we have presented our work on the detection of temporal information in web pages.We have focused on the differences that exist between extraction from plain textual data and extraction from the web. In addition, we introduced our main linguistic resource, our transducers, which could be used for many different NLP applications. We also presented the results obtained in applying these transducers to our corpus. The transducers that have been presented will be improved. They will be enriched with information concerning the type of tourism object, in order to determine the links between the temporal information detected and what they refer to.The work on semiotic marks will be continued in order to implement the study of the structure of the pages, analysing XML trees. Figure 4: O pening times table The figure 4 is an example of a table of opening times found on a web page. The first row contains the names of the days, the second row contains the opening times in the mornings and the last row contains the opening times in the afternoons. The information could have been presented in a vertical table as the one shown in figure 5: 130 7. Acknowledgements The project EIFFEL (ANR-05-RNTL-007) is funded with an ANR grant. .References Battistelli, D. , Minel, J. -L. , Schwer, S. (2006). Representation des expressions calendaires dans les textes : une application a la lecture assistee de biographies, Traitement Automatique des Langues, 47, 3, pp. 126. Bry, F. Lorenz, B. Ohlbach, H. J. Spranger, S. (2003). On Reasoning on Time and Location on the Web, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Springer-Verlag, Germany, pp. 6983. Noel, L. , Carloni, O. , Moreau, N. , Weiser, S. (2008). Designing a Knowledge-Based Tourism Information System, Int. J. f Digital Culture and Electr onic Tourism, Special Issue on National Tourism Organisations and Exploitation of Information Technologies, to be published. Stern, R. -D. (2007). Expression linguistique du temps et representation ontologique : OWL-Time et etude des adverbiaux temporels, Memoire de Master IILGI, Universite de Paris-Sorbonne. Tenier, S. , Toussaint, Y. , Napoli, A. et Polanco, X. (2006). Instantiation of relations for semantic annotation, In the 2006 IEEE/WIC/ACM International Conference on Web Intelligence WI 2006, pp. 463-472 131

Spartan Military essays

Spartan Military essays I chose to do my final project on the military tactics, techniques, requirements, and lifestyle of the ancient Greek city-state of Sparta. When we discussed this topic in class, I was very interested in how much emphasis the Spartans put on the military. I wanted to learn more about this subject and also answer some of my own questions I had that we may not have covered in class. The word Sparta actually has two separate meanings, which contradict each other. The first meaning of the word is bravery, and the second is barren. I interpret the second meaning in the way that, the Spartan lifestyle was barren in that they focused solely on their military and not on all the other pleasures of life. The city-state of Sparta was located on the Peloponnesus, a peninsula just southwest of its rival state, Athens. Spartans looked at themselves as military powerhouses and all their discipline, from birth to adulthood, was directed toward war. Any child that was born with a deformity, mental illness, or that was physically handicapped was killed. Children first began military training at the age of seven. These boys were organized into small groups and those who were the most courageous were made captains. The boys slept in dormitories on hard beds, and ate black broth and porridge. They wore the simplest clothing and spent very little time learning music or literature. Each day they were drilled in gymnastics and military exercises. These boys were taught that retreat or surrender in battle was disgraceful and dishonorable. They learned to endure pain and hardship without complaint and to obey all orders without question. The boys were allowed to steal food to satisfy th eir hunger, but if they were caught they would be whipped. This was not done to promote dishonesty, but rather to develop slyness among the boys. It is said that a Spartan boy, who had stolen a fox for his dinner, would rather allow the fox to knaw on his f...

American College Essay Assistance

American College Essay Assistance American College Essay Assistance American College Essay Assistance: Choose The One You Can Trust The number of different custom writing services is rather impressive nowadays and sometimes it is rather difficult to make a choice of American college essay assistance that you can entrust your essay writing. Of course, when you turn to some custom writing, you want to get a work that will bring you a high grade. However, far not all of the custom writing services offer qualified American college essay assistance and due to this fact the level of trust to custom writing services has a little bit decreased. Custom Writing Is Not Cheating How is it possible not to come across cheating while using this or that American college essay assistance? Well, as being a customer, you always face some part of danger to come across cheaters, as even when you come to the supermarket you can buy not fresh meat or, for example, expired milk. However, you have some definite ways to protect you from cheating. Trust Our Professionalism and Get 100% Original Custom Essay While you choose American college essay assistance, pay attention to the following details if you want to determine custom writing service you can trust. Thus, never make use of American college essay assistance offered to you for the miserable price. No one will deliver you a qualified content for the low price, as the work of writing academic pieces costs a lot. Of course, no one tells you to choose the most expensive American college essay assistance, however, make use of affordable servicing, but not cheap one. We Deliver College Essays On Time! One more thing to pay attention to is a deadline of completing your order. If American college essay assistance delivers your order in the duration of several hours, well, immediately suspicion arouses that the essay, you are going to receive will not be written from the scratch; just it will be copied/pasted from some source. Of course, plagiarized essay will never bring you a high grade that is for sure. Many of the American college essay assistants provide the guarantee of highly qualified service; some American college essay assistance does not do it. If you want to be sure that custom writing company is really a professional one, ask for the guarantees you have while being a customer. After getting a reply, you will obviously understand whether this or that American college essay assistance is worth of being used or it is better to look for some other American college essay assistance: Our American College Essay Assistance Is Affordable! While choosing custom writing company you either follow all the above-mentioned pieces of advice or make use of our custom writing service that guarantees the best assistance possible for a reasonable fee! Read also: Topics for a Research Paper Proposal Writing Services Report Writing Help AP Biology Essays Term Paper Editing

Grant Review and Evaluation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Grant Review and Evaluation - Essay Example The scrutiny is necessary because I will not entrust an unknown organization (Sargeant & Lee, 2004) with my money and I need to ensure that I am giving my money to the people who will use it for human welfare only. Frankly speaking I do not trust the organization at this point and will need proof of its effectiveness regarding the ability to serve suffering children in the future. The human value of compassion has compelled me to grant you the money (Canda, 1988) because I have to respond to the noble cause of serving unfortunate children; but I can practice compassion by granting you the least possible amount and my compassion will grow as your operations will expand and become more effective in attainment of the objectives. I am talking openly in this regard due to my sincere intentions and wishes to see your organization in a better and respectable position and I want you to give me more reason to give you more funds. To prove your claim of serving the unfortunate children, you actions and their consequences should bring forth positive results; which are as yet lacking. Furthermore, I pardon about my extremely ruthless behavior but I feel that my actions are necessary in order to make you thrive as an organization. I would like you to work hard in order to win the confidence of donors, thus paving the way for further funding. I wish you good luck in your quest for excellence in the field of humanitarian relief activities. Additionally, I request you to arrange my visit of the facility you are running so that I can evaluate your outlook and performance as it may motivate me to offer more funding in the future. Moreover, to evaluate the living conditions of the children living at your establishment, I need to interview a few children. This will enable me to get a first-hand knowledge of the conditions of the children who are being supported by your

Dissatisfaction with Working Conditions in the New York Bank Essay

Dissatisfaction with Working Conditions in the New York Bank - Essay Example It is evidently clear from the discussion that after the recession, all stakeholders of the Bank of New York expected the situation to turn around and growth to be exponential, which has not been the case. The marketing and customer care departments are responsible for retention of old customers and acquisition of new ones, respectively. These departments fall under the human resource management whose work is to find, train, employ and retain the best human resource. John Doe is the marketing manager for the New York branch of the bank of New York. He is responsible for organizing his team whose work is to attract new customers into the firm. While the customer care department has improved its services and managed to retain a high percentage of existing customers, the marketing manager has failed to organize his team to bring in new ones. At first, John was remarkably effective in disseminating his duties and organizing his team, a task he is failing these days. John has a masterâ₠¬â„¢s degree in management, a degree he acquired after working in the bank for two years. He can successfully organize the marketing team based on his high qualifications and work experience since he has worked in the bank for 4 years. In fact, before the recession, he was doing an admirable job and the bank had new customers flocking it halls resulting in high profits. When the recession hit, it affected John more than any other employee; colleagues suggest that the economic slowdown gave him time to rethink his career path. The management had observed that the marketing department employees were not achieving their set targets, and few of them even cared about it; they seemed to have lost hope in their role at the bank. As observed by all stakeholders, employees in the marketing department always have something to complain about their work, the bank, customers and many other aspects of their jobs. Results revealed that all of them are quite demotivated; they work just to pay their bills. In addition, all employees in a group that should work as a team for maximum productivity work as separate entities, significantly compromise their work due to inefficiency resulting from duplication of efforts. This duplication is because of failure in the set communication channels. The management has to do something about the affairs in the marketing department as the disorganization resulting from John’s inefficiency is jeopardizing the future of the bank. The main proposal is for the management to facilitate changes that will result to improved communication, encourage innovation, increased consultation with employees, and high but sustainable efficiency in use of resources. Little communication, or lack of it, among employees and between employees and management, has caused the situation to reach alarming levels. There should be forums where employees can let the management know about all their concerns on matters affecting them in the workplace, and management should have a way of voicing its concerns while considering employees’ welfare. Members of the group should work together to encourage bonding, ensuring that each of them feels as part of a team rather than work in isolation. Communication of employees with the management should not occur when the former are receiving absolute orders, it should include consultations before the latter makes far-reaching decisions.

Set Up and Operate a Business in Foreign Country Essay Example for Free

Set Up and Operate a Business in Foreign Country Essay This paper deals with the international business. It emphasizes on the means to start the business and the cost associated with the initiation of the business. It also describes the most important aspect of managing human resource. Because of the competitive environment, the need to do the business internationally has increased. This paper provides the overview of the two countries i. e. china and South Africa. Broad description of the legal processes that were supposed to be followed by the company to initiate business in the China has been explained. Apart from this, the staffing of local and expatriate staff along with the labor organization and legislation of the foreign country has been described. Therefore, the paper provides detailed analysis of the conditions that should be kept in mind while establishing business in the foreign country. Introduction International business is a term, which is used collectively to describe issues relating to the firm’s operations with interests in numerous countries. These firms are sometimes referred as multinational corporations. The main area of concern in the international business is the cultural considerations. These considerations include dissimilarity in law and legal systems, living standards, language barriers, climate and many more (Cherunilam, 2005). All these issues need to be overcome for an MNC in order to obtain success in an overseas venture. Nationwide economic growth and globalization of the economy provide an outstanding background for businesses in China as compared to the South Africa. Nevertheless, the growth of the company and sustainability can be hampered by the factors like industry consolidation, economic reform and globalization. The project of building substantial companies and integrating them effectively into the global marketplace is a complicated task. Reasons: Why Company Going Global Many companies and businesses get into international selling because of the existence of competitive environment. This environment compels the company to move further rather than staying at the same stage and size by just focusing on the quality. Another reason of growth and expansion is the fear of loosing the customers. If the company would not show sustainable growth, competitors would move ahead and chances of loosing of customers will increase (Cherunilam, 2005). Other general reasons for going international are: political changes like changes in the regulation of work and safety and economic changes that include cost of production. If there is an increase in the cost of production at home, company looks for places where cost of production is reasonable. The four major objectives that compel the company to go for international business are: to enlarge the sales, to successfully get hold of the resources, to diversify the sources of sales and to look for the diversifying the supplies (Kazmi, 2002). Overview Population China: China is a socialist republic and the most populous country with population over 1. 3 billion. It is having 90. 9% literacy rate (male: 95. 1% female: 86. 5%). The average educational achievement in China is low. South Africa: South Africa is a nation of diverse origins, languages, cultures and beliefs with population over 47-million. It is having 86. 4% literacy rate (male 87% female 85. 7%) of total population. The average educational achievement in South Africa is very low. Geographical Location  China: China is located in Eastern Asia bordering the East China Sea, Korea Bay, Yellow Sea and South China Sea between North Korea and Vietnam. China has mountains, high plateaus, deserts in west and plains, deltas, and hills in eastern region. The geographic coordinates of China are 35 °00N, 105 °00E. The total area coverage of China is 9,596,960 square kilometers (land area is 9,326,410 square km and water is 270,550 square km). China is the worlds third-largest country in total area after Russia and Canada, and the second largest country by land area. The total land boundary is 22,117 km and the border countries are Afghanistan, Bhutan, Burma, India, Kazakhstan, North Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Vietnam. China’s coastline is 14,500 km (China, 2008). South Africa: South Africa is located at the southern region of Africa. The geographic coordinates of South Africa are 29 00 S, 24 00 E. The total area is 1,219,912 sq km. The total land boundary is 4,862 km and the border countries are Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland and Zimbabwe. Its coastline is 2,798 km. South Africa’s northwest region is desert and eastern is well watered. GDP, Per Capital Income, Current Inflation Rate, Unemployment Rate China: The GDP is $3. 42 trillion and officially recorded GDP growth rate is 11. 4% in 2007, per capital income is $ 2000, inflation rate is 7% in 2007 and it has jumped to 8. 7 percent in February after severe winter storms disrupted the economy and worsened food shortages (Chinas inflation at decade high, 2008). Unemployment rate in urban area is 8%-10% (China Unemployment rate, 2008). South Africa: The GDP is $283 billion, real GDP growth rate is 5. % in 2007, per capita income is $ 5700, inflation rate is 7. 1% and unemployment rate is 23% in Sep. 2007 (South Africa: Profile, 2008). Type of Legal System China: The legal system is based on civil law system. It is derived from Soviet and continental civil code legal principles. The legislature holds the power to interpret the acts. There are seven categories of laws in china’s legal system; these are: the constitution and related laws, civil and commercial laws, administrative laws, economic laws, social laws, criminal laws, and litigation and non-litigation procedural laws (The Constitution and Legal System, 2008). South Africa: The legal system is based on Roman-Dutch law and English common law. There is an independent judiciary in South Africa. Constitutional Court and Supreme Court are the highest court in the country. Constitutional Court deals with constitutional matters and Supreme Court deals with the final appeals of all the other matters. The bill of rights provides fundamental political and social rights to South Africas citizens (South Africa, 2008). Type of Economic System China: China is a major economic power and it has great potential of the development. Previously, the public sector was in dominant position, but after 2001, a socialistic market economy is taking place in China and the intensive mode is replacing the extensive mode of economic growth (Economic System, 2008). South Africa: The South African economy is an industrialized and productive economy. It has inadequate distribution of income wealth. Labor is divided into formal and informal sector. Formal sector is more developed, which is based on agriculture, manufacturing, services and mining. South Africa is looking forward for privatization along with free arket economy and favorable investment climate (Economy: South Africa, 2008). Type of Political System China: The National People Congress is the highest authority of state power in China. The people congress system is the fundamental political system in China. The representatives are elected by people at all levels. South Africa: The South African Republic is a federal state constituting of a national government and nine provincial governments. The constitution of South Africa was adopted in 1996 and implemented officially on 4 February, 1997. President of South Africa is the executive head of the state and leads the cabinet. He is elected for a two five year terms by the parliament (South Africa, 2008). Estimates of Future Economic Growth General Economic Projects China: China has become the world’s fastest growing economy after the economic reforms in 1979. It has achieved 11. 4% GDP growth rare in 2007. Industrial manufacturing expansion has contributed in China’s rapid economic growth. European Union, Japan, United States, Hong Kong and ASEAN are the major trading partner of China. Rapid economic growth of China results in an increase in income, which in turn makes China a huge market for a variety of goods and services. So it would be beneficial for any company to start operation in China. South Africa: In previous years, South African economy was not doing well. Government was facing the problem of unemployment and poverty. But in recent years, country is seeking to achieve stable growth rate. To promote economic growth, South Africa is making optimal use of available resources and reducing completer dependence on primary sector industries. South African companies are now investing in retail, banking services, telecommunication and shipping industry. Government is seeking to liberalize its economic policies to attract FDI and increase future economic growth and now outsider companies may think to start its operations in South Africa. Social and Cultural Factors Social factor in China: In China, the main focus of the business entities is on the corporate social responsibility. The Chinese region has become the region full of opportunities for MNC’s in these days because of the rapid rise, elaborating receptiveness and growing consumer market. The social factors reflect the true picture of society’s attitude towards the corporate. The symmetrical society structure stimulates forces on businesses for concentrating on corporate social responsibility (Kyoon, 2007). Cultural factors in China: Understanding the culture of a country is one of the important factors in front of modern organizations. The traditions and customs vary among towns, cities and provinces in China. The social network structures in China assist in understanding the information sharing between the people (Kyoon, 2007). The Chinese environment is now open for the outsiders. The cultural values include the belief in God, unity, optimism and readiness to work together according to the rules of law. Social factor in South Africa: The social environment of South Africa is highly imbalanced and not much developed. It suffers from the problems of increasing population, poverty, illiteracy and lack of resources. The population of South Africa was 40. 6 million in 1996, which is growing rapidly at the rate of 2% per year. If the same trend continues, then by the year 2035, the population of South Africa will be approximately 86 million. This will be a problematic situation as the country has limited resources to support its increasing population. There is already a pressure on the resources to meet the needs and requirements of the people (Social Environment, 1999). Many people in the country live in informal and inadequate houses and just half of the population lives in towns and cities. Many people living in rural as well as urban areas even do not have access to water supply, electricity, sanitation and other services. Nowadays, the urban population of South Africa is rapidly increasing because of factors like growing employment opportunities, land reform and restitution and immigration from other countries. Unemployment and poverty are the major problems in South Africa that affect the social life of the people. The poverty level is the highest among the Black population of South Africa. It has reached up to a level of 60%. The education level of the country has increased as compared to the previous year levels, as the country has reformed its educational system. Almost, all South Africans now have access to education but still about 7. 5 million people are functionally illiterate. Such factors contribute to high crime rates in the country that have noticeably increased in the urban areas. These and other factors contribute to the high crime rates currently experienced in many urban centers. To promote sustainable development and reduce social imbalances such as poverty, unemployment and pressure on natural resources, the Government has developed a number of policies and passed a number of laws aiming at some constructive work in this direction. These include the Reconstruction and Development Programme, a White Paper on Population Policy, and the National Crime Prevention Strategy (Social Environment, 1999). Cultural Factor in South Africa: Africa has a diverse cultural environment with about 800 languages spoken all over the continent. Among these, South Africa have 11 official languages of its own, i. e. English, Afrikaans, Tsonga, Xhosa, Ndebele, Southern Sotho, Zulu, Tswana, Venda, Northern Sotho, and Swati. There are many cross-cultural challenges that are critical to success and organizations should be prepared to face these challenges. Analysis  The company has chosen china for its operations as china has successfully emerged as the best suitable market for the consumer products, especially in terms of the growth rate, potential and the market size. China is providing huge benefits to attract the players from the United States. The growth graph of the china depicts that the market of the consumer electronics is growing with a CAGR of 11. 7 percent from the year 2002 to 2006. Future also shows the greater intensity of market growth. There is a greater possibility of bright future in Consumer Products. The Company is willing to start its operation. Another major factor for establishing operation in china is the population as it is regarded the driving factor for any business. Apart from this, there is a well established market of credit card, which has increased the popularity of the consumer products in the country (Windsor Jones, 1999). China is the highly populous country and demands for consumer products are fuelling with greater pace. In china, urban centers are emerging which are called secondary cities, which comprise of 8 to 10 million people. These cities have huge buying power and industrial development. These cities would be best for the company’s operations and are located interiorly away from the cost. Tsingtao is a city, which is suitable for the operation of the company because its urban area is quickly expanding. It is also having excellent connections with the countryside. The disposable income of the people is quite similar to the people in the bigger cities. Another reason for selecting this place is that the people in this city show greater likeability towards the product of the United States and relate the product with greater degree of integrity. People show positive view and experience towards the U. S consumer products. Operations In order to establish operation in china, company’s chairperson should visit these cities, must talk to the local officials and begin networking. Apart from this, the most important thing is to analyze the competitors’ working and strategies. Another step that the company can adopt is subcontracting, which can be done by forming joint ventures with the manufacturers of china. If the company doesn’t possess enough resources for joint venture, company can go for forming the partnership or consortium in the United States. This consortium acts as the legal entity, which can form partnership with the Chinese manufacturer. The advantage of the consortium is that it reduces risk and the cost for the company (Barron, 2006). While selecting the operations, evaluation should be made based on the analysis of cash accounting and not on absorption accounting. As in absorption accounting, the fixed costs are prorated over small volume of production and thus the number obtained can deter company from moving production to a subcontractor. The other operations include: integrity of product and trade safety, fair balanced economic development, financial sector reform, security energy efficiency, sustainability in environment and bilateral investment. All the above mentioned reforms would help the company to establish business opportunities in china. The agreement between the United States and China that relates to conduction of business with extensive cooperation covers the issue of climate change, environmental sustainability and energy security. This type of agreement would advance the innovation in the technology and the acceptance of extremely-efficient and clean energy technology will encourage the development of technology so as to address the changes in the climate and promoting natural resources. Three major factors, which can determine the success in the Chinese market and should be kept in mind, are: †¢Culture: Understanding of Chinese culture and behavior can provide better option to fulfill the demands of the customers. †¢Value Proposition: This includes having the knowledge of technical know how and understanding the level of competitiveness. †¢Negotiation: The Company should implement negotiation technique as per the way of Chinese. Success of doing business in China depends greatly on the extent of adoption to the requirements of he local customs instead of the value proposition of foreign investors. Legal processes In the process of starting a new business, Legal and regulatory processes play a very vital role. Legal processes include several restrictions, intrusive bureaucracy, dissimilar understanding of regulations from place to place even between authorities and recent formulations of policies that are aimed at safeguarding the domestic companies. Therefore, before starting any operation in the foreign country (china) the company should understand regulations and their applications before entering into any agreement. The company should look for legal proposals from experienced professional firms. Due attention should be given to the financial and legal background and also on the reputation of key partners. Apart from this, partners and employees should be educated on the protection of the intellectual property. If required, the rights can be enforced but for this, all the terms and conditions should be well known. Management Organization Structure Organization structure plays a vital role in determining the success of the company in the host country. Therefore, there is a requirement of change in the organization structure in order to accommodate a firm’s internationalization approach in answer to the worldwide competition. Significant research has shown that the structure of the firm must be conducive to the strategy implementation. In simple words, it can be said that the structure should â€Å"fit† the strategy. Managers should work towards achieving the fit between the structure and the strategy (Gupta, 2007). Management organizational structure refers to the representation of a formal structure, which describes relationship inside an organization. The level to which authorization is assigned ascertains centralization and decentralization. Most of the MNC’s in their initial phases of globalization utilized an international section traversing certain regions of the world to manage the functions in those regions. Matrix organizational structure is very effective for the business. The structure of the organization is decentralized, which merge the advantages of being large with the agility and concentration of smaller organizations. The small segments of the business assist in concentrating more on the needs and equirements of the customers and employees effectively. The company’s employees are associated with the goals and objectives for an established global enterprise. The organization is mainly focusing on the way in which the products and services are delivered to the customers. The development and marketing of products and services in an effective provision provide specialized and quality services to external and internal customers. The autonomous operating companies broaden the geographic reach of the associates around the world and provide larger marketplace and product focus. This way, the employees get closer to the customers and business. The employees would be able to gain more sensation of ownership in driving the business. The employees are authorized to aim their business to fulfill the varying needs of customers inside their regions (Mathew, 2003). The decentralized operating companies, associates and business sections are joined in the organization structure, which ensures that the activities are aligned with the overall strategic objectives. All the employees perform their work systematically with the high ethical standards. As the company rises, the structure also develops, assuring the effective growth of the business portfolio. In recent years, the business sections have constituted shared service groups that raise and confirm the capabilities of the individual companies in the elementary domains of responsibility. The corporate headquarters in the U. S. function with the family of companies for producing great synergism and efficiency by collaboration, dispersion of better patterns and organization of shared business information. The corporate headquarters render direction and services in different critical areas, which include human resources, finance, advertising, and law. The consequences of environmental circumstance (instability of technology), industrial circumstance (production technology) and organization structure on the involvement of customer in product development are the main areas of concentration in China (Windsor Jones, 1999). The earlier results demonstrate that for going through customer orientation in the firms at China, the company has to modulate towards market driven economic entities.

A Violation of Rights-School Uniforms Essays -- essays research papers

I believe all people have the right to express themselves. However, with rights come responsibility, a concept most people ignore. Having a "right" is to be free to express one's self. Consequentially, having a "responsibility" is doing it constructively, in such a way as to not violate policies, laws, and others' rights. There is a definite difference between a dress code and a school uniform. I support enforcing a school dress code, but is implementing a school uniform necessary? No matter how students dress, they will still pass judgments on their peers, uniforms do not necessarily save money, and children are forced to conform to the same standards. While in school, teachers have a responsibility to teach and students have the responsibility to learn. Both have the right to exist in their environment without harassment and the right to express their individuality. Some people have found some expressions crude, obnoxious, and distracting. To combat the problem , the idea of mandating school uniforms was introduced. This notion of making everyone appear "uniformed" in order to cut down on violence and negativity in school, is absolutely mislaid. School was designed to equally teach all children not only book knowledge but also offer practice in cooperation with others on a social scale. The home was designed to teach children right from wrong, to respect and obey authority, and how to socially function properly with others. Sadly, the parents ...

High School Essay

My freshman year of high school was scary. Two rival middles schools coming together to make one freshman class did not seem like the best idea, the classes were harder, and the stress levels were higher. In eighth grade I was so excited to be in high school, but once I got there I could not wait for that year to be over. Then I realized I still had three more long school years ahead of me. Don’t get me wrong, I had plenty of fun times freshman year. I met so many new people and made a lot of new friends. The majority of my friends then are still my friends now. But I was ready to grow up. I think every teenager thinks like this at one point or throughout every year of high school. Most teenagers are ready to move from home and start a new and more independent life in college during most years of high school. I know that I thought this way for quite sometime. I thought that life in college would be a million times more eventful than life in high school. Sophomore and junior year were also similar to freshman year. Friendships became stronger, classes were continuing to get more difficult, and even though I involved myself more in extracurricular activities, I was ready to get out of town and start college more than ever. I had picked out my dream school and already had so many plans for my freshman year of college. But instead of time speeding up like I wished it would, it felt like it was slowing down. Summer going into senior year I began getting bored with the town and I felt like I was always saying â€Å"there is nothing to do here.† I thought I needed more adventure and was becoming tired of just going through the motions. Although I felt like that then, a few weeks into senior year my mindset had completely changed. Even though senior year has been the toughest year yet, my class has created a culture. There is so many things that define us as a class and set us apart from everyone else. From traditions started at football games, to the things that we do as a group, we have created our own culture and identity. I have realized that even though I have wanted the past three years to fly by, all I want is for this year to slow down. My friends and I have all created extremely close bonds and we have become almost like a family. I feel like throughout the past three years I have taken a lot of things for granted and have not really appreciated all the memories I have had that came from good experiences. I have learned not to take any special moments for granted because I could look back on these days and remember all of the good times and how much I enjoyed my senior year. At times I regret wanting to grow up so fast because I know now that these are some of the best times of my life and I wish I would have appreciated them before. Although I do regret that, I’m thankful I get to spend this year with every single one of my closest friends. I still have a long time to make memories, but as the saying goes, â€Å"time flies when you’re having fun.†

The Fourth Plinth of Trafalgar Square

The Fourth Plinth of Trafalgar Square is very different from the other three – instead of carrying a grey statue it always surprises one's eye with a contemporary sculptural piece, which is changed every two years. But the question is – does the contemporary art sculptures fit into the classical space of Trafalgar Square? The Fourth Plinth of Trafalgar Square, built in the north-west corner, was designed by Sir Charles Barry in 1841. It was intended, that it would hold an equestrian statue of William IV, however due to insufficient funds the statue was never completed.The plinth stayed empty until 1858, when a statue of Edward Jenner was unveiled. Still, it was removed four years later due protests by anti-vaccinationists. After that, it was unused for more than a century, and became In 1999, when the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) launched the Fourth Plinth Project, three contemporary sculptures by Mark Wallinger (Ecce Homo (1999) – a life-sized figure of a man, wearing a loin cloth and a crown of barbed wire, with his hands tied behind his back, referring to Jesus Christ), Bill Woodrow (Regardless the History 2000) – a bronze sculpture showing the head of a man crushed over a book, both bound to the Plinth by the roots of a dead tree) and Rachel Whiteread (Untitled Monument (2001) – a transparent resin cast of the actual Plinth, standing upside-down on the original) have been commissioned to be displayed temporarily on the Plinth. Regarding the enormous public attention, the Mayor of London began the Fourth Plinth Commissioning Group (a commission of specialist advisers appointed to guide the commissions for the Plinth) and since then the Plinth has been used as a location for exhibiting specially commissioned works by contemporary artists.After standing empty again for a few years, the Plinth was again open for exhibit in 2005, when a controversial statue Alison Lapper Pregnant by Marc Quinn unveiled. This has caused many discussions, since some were questioning on the shock value of disability, as well as lauded for its progressive social values. Also, the statue reactivated the discussions about the purpose of contemporary art in this antique location. In 2007 Marc Quinn's work was replaced by Thomas Schutte's Model for a Hotel 2007 – a model of a twenty-one storey hotel from red, yellow and blue coloured glass.It brought a feel of After two years, the colourful, static sculpture was replaced by presumably most interesting and negotiable project on the Fourth Plinth – Antony Gormley's One & Other, turning the plinth into a â€Å"living monument†. This involved 2400 people, picked from the public after applying on the project's website, standing on a plinth for one hour – 24 hours a day for 100 days without a break. Selected people were allowed to use the Plinth any way they want, do anything they want, including dancing, music , performing, reading poetry, or even just doing nothing at all, making a raw epresentation of both, individuality and the whole of humanity at the same time. The performances were broadcast live over the internet 24 hours a day. The project also caused a lot of discussions, since many people did not consider this as an appropriate act of art for the Trafalgar Square, rather as an act of snobbery. The current sculpture on the Fourth Plinth is Yinka Shonbare's Nelson's Ship in a Bottle. It was unveiled on 24th of May, 2010. This work of a Anglo-Nigerian artist is a replica of Nelson's ship, the Victory, inside a large glass bottle stopped with a cork.The artwork marks the preserved importance of historical symbolism of Trafalgar Square. It is a reminder of the Battle of Trafalgar and is directly related to Nelson – this is one of the reasons which excludes the piece from the others exhibited on the Fourth Plinth. Soon, the turn for a new art piece will come, so at the moment s ix more commissions for the Plinth are being considered. All six of them were exhibited in St-Martin-in-the-Field gallery near the Trafalgar Square until the end of October. The first one is Battenberg by Brian Griffith. The Pink and yellow decorated cake was nvented especially for Queen Victoria's granddaughter – Princess Victoria of Hesse – to Prince Louis of Battenberg wedding anniversary in 1884.The sculpture made of handmade bricks is reminiscent of this little piece of history. Sikandar by Hew Locke echoes the British Army General, Sir George White, a monument standing in Portland Place. â€Å"Sikandar† translates as Alexander in Urdu. A hybrid between the name of a famous ancient conqueror and the image of the British Army General, modernized, studded with medals, jewellery, chains, materials, according to the creator, symbolizes the hero ant the eroic concept of the evolution of today's world. It's never too late and you can't go back – this it th e name of the third piece by Mariele Neudecker, depicting mountains. From ancient times mountains symbolize monumentality, strength, eternity and glory. Looking from below the sculpture, the mountain line forms a map of Britain, so it perception of the work may easily switch from dimensional landscape to territorial The blue Hahn / Cock by a German artist Katharina Fritsch symbolizes the awakening, strength and renovation. This sculpture would easily catch one's eye between the grey statues of theTrafalgar Square – the surrealism of its huge size and ultramarine colouring is inevitable. Allora and Calzadilla's work Untitled (ATM/Organ) is actually a combination between an automated teller machine (ATM), installed in the Plinth, connected to a pipe organ on top of it. It will produce sound by driving pressurised air through pipes selected while pressing the ATM machine keyboard. The last sculpture is Powerless Structures, by the authors Elmgreen & Dragset.Gold coloured boy roc king on a particular childhood symbol – a rocking horse – might symbolize the value of rowth and maturity, at the same time showing a future hero, â€Å"the heroism of growing up†. So for now the dilemma is – the blue rooster, an equestrian decorated with medals, sequins and chains, a sound-producing ATM organ, a golden boy, rocking on a toy horse, a brick cake or a floating mountain-scape – which of these works will be the next one in queue for the Fourth Plinth? Finally, seeing these new brave, exceptional and innovative proposals it is very likely that these six candidates will cause as much arguments as all of the other of their predecessors. It is still ften discussed if the Fourth Plinth is an appropriate location for contemporary art pieces, but since the plinth itself has a meaning of a base for a sculpture that is excluded from the surrounding and defines it as art, once again it leads to the eternal questioning of what is art itself, or i f we should interpretate this enviroment as a for one-art-kind-only space, but residents and guests of London seem to enjoy the Fourth Plinth a lot more than all the grey.Fourth Plinth http://www. london. gov. uk/fourthplinth/ Antony Gormley's Fourth Plinth, Trafalgar Square – Telegraph http:// ww. telegraph. co. uk/culture/4838343/Antony-Gormleys-Fourth-Plinth-Trafalgar- Trafalgar Square – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/ Trafalgar_Square#Fourth_plinth Archinect : Discussion Forum : Culture : The Fourth Plinth (Stop Frame Animation) Day 1 http://www. archinect. com/forum/threads. php? id=90208_0_42_100_C157 Alison Lapper – The Student Room http://www. thestudentroom. co. uk/ showthread. php? p=2723396;highlight=fourth%20plinth BBC News – Trafalgar Square fourth plinth candidates unveiled http://www. bbc. co. uk/ news/uk-england-london-11022665

Tomorrows Technology essays

Tomorrow's Technology essays I have chosen the topic Tomorrows Technology for my I.S.P. I choose this topic because Im interested in the direction in which our technology is expanding. I find new technologies intriguing and fascinating. The technology of tomorrow is expanding in all directions and new technologies are leaving humans with endless possibilities. I have chosen four new technologies to investigate and explain all of which will impact our future greatly. People instinctively react to certain sights or sounds. A key part in helping humans make sense of their surrounding environment is to recognizing noticeable objects. In the world of robotics a discouraging challenge is building robots that can intelligently pick out items of interest using sight or sound. Selective-attention modeling is something which a handful of engineers are working on, this technology helps robots to identify objects of interest. Selective-attention modeling attempts to program robots to be able to evaluate scenes critically, the same way the human mind is believed to. Several research groups are giving robots eyes that allow the robot to pick out unusual objects. Pan-and-tilt cameras are the type of camera used to enable robots to identify objects of interest. The ability to respond to an eye catching sight allows robots to act independently when encountering unexpected sights. An example of how this technology may be used is if a robot is inspecting the surface of Mars it may notice an area of discoloured ground, which the robot would take a sample of. A traditional robot would only detect discoloured ground when instructed specifically to look for discoloured ground. Objects of interest are sensed based on many factors including colour, edges, orientation, light intensity and motion. The robot makes maps for each of these factors which can be scanned for irregularities. This new approach gives robots the ability to identify specific objects, for exam...

Dubai - Ten Geographic Facts

Dubai - Ten Geographic Facts Dubai is the largest emirate based on the population of the United Arab Emirates. As of 2008, Dubai had a population of 2,262,000. It is also the second largest emirate (behind Abu Dhabi) based on land area. Dubai is located along the Persian Gulf and it is considered to be within the Arabian Desert. The emirate is known around the world as a global city as well as a business center and financial center. Dubai is also a tourist destination due to its unique architecture and construction projects like the Palm Jumeirah, an artificial collection of islands constructed in the Persian Gulf to resemble a palm tree. The following is a list of ten more geographic facts to know about Dubai: The first mention of the Dubai region dates back to 1095 in the Andalusian-Arab geographer Abu Abdullah al Bakris Book of Geography. By the late 1500s, Dubai was known by traders and merchants for its pearl industry.In the early 19th century, Dubai was officially established but it was a dependent of Abu Dhabi until 1833. On January 8, 1820, the sheikh of Dubai signed the General Maritime Peace Treaty with the United Kingdom. The treaty gave Dubai and the other Trucial Sheikhdoms as they were known protection by the British military.In 1968, the U.K. decided to end the treaty with the Trucial Sheikhdoms. As a result, six of them Dubai included formed the United Arab Emirates on December 2, 1971. Throughout the rest of the 1970s, Dubai began to grow considerably as it gained revenue from oil and trading.Today Dubai and Abu Dhabi are two of the strongest emirates in the United Arab Emirates and as such, they are the only two that have veto power in the countrys federal legislature. Dubai has a strong economy that was built on the oil industry. Today however only a small portion of Dubais economy is based on oil, while the majority is focused on real estate and construction, trade and financial services. India is one of Dubais largest trading partners. In addition, tourism and the related service-sector are other large industries in Dubai.As mentioned, real estate is one of the major industries in Dubai, and it is also a part of the reason why tourism is growing there. For example, the worlds fourth tallest and one of the most expensive hotels, the Burj al Arab, was built on an artificial island off the coast of Dubai in 1999. In addition, luxury residential structures, including the tallest man-made structure the Burj Khalifa or Burj Dubai, are located throughout Dubai.Dubai is located on the Persian Gulf and it shares a border with Abu Dhabi to the south, Sharjah to the north and Oman to the southeast. Dubai also has an exclave called Hatta which is located ab out 71 miles (115 km) east of Dubai in the Hajjar Mountains. Dubai originally had an area of 1,500 square miles (3,900 sq km) but due to land reclamation and the construction of the artificial islands, it now has a total area of 1,588 square miles (4,114 sq km).Dubais topography mainly consists of fine, white sandy deserts and a flat coastline. East of the city, however, there are sand dunes that are made up of darker reddish sand. Farther east from Dubai is the Hajjar Mountains which are rugged and undeveloped.The climate of Dubai is considered hot and arid. Most of the year is sunny and summers are extremely hot, dry and sometimes windy. Winters are mild and do not last long. The average August high temperature for Dubai is 106ËšF (41ËšC). Average temperatures are over 100ËšF (37ËšC) from June through September however, and the average January low temperature is 58ËšF (14ËšC).

Medium and Profession Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Medium and Profession - Research Paper Example Their role is thus important during the development stage, just before the system is rolled out. They could therefore be found in the research and development departments of Internet provision firms. The choice of this career is informed by the critical role that network architects play in ensuring that the Internet system works as required. It is a career that combines knowledge in both software and hardware to ensure that the modeling, analysis and planning of the Internet system runs as required. Network architecture career requires a bachelor’s degree in information systems. However, as noted by BLS (130), most employers would prefer applicants with Master of Business Administration with a major in Information Systems. Therefore, an early concentration in information technology, computer science, mathematics and language arts would be beneficial to a prospective network architect. Several years of experience make one a better performer in this profession. Though not repres ented by unions, the California Employment Development Department, EDD (2) observes that network architects’ unionization would vary by industry. For example, those in telecommunications could be members of Communications Workers of America. Such unions do not provide internship or entry level mentorship. This profession is important in the Internet medium as it ensures that the medium runs and executes the input commands as required. Information Security Analyst The roles in this career include planning, developing, implementing, upgrading and monitoring of security measures so as to protect the Internet network systems from security risks (BLS 128). Therefore, this career cuts across the various stages of the process of production, but particularly plays a critical role during distribution, when the Internet system gets exposed to security risks. These professionals would thus be found in the security department. The Internet is a large source of information accessible to p eople from all corners of the world. Thus, the choice of this career was informed by the need to understand the profession that enforces the security of the information shared through the Internet. This career also requires a bachelor’s degree in computer science with a majority of employers preferring applicants who hold a Master of Business Administration degree having majored in Information Systems. Hence, Kim and Solomon (423) advise high school students interested in the career to take keen interest in information technology, computer science, mathematics and language arts. No union represents these professionals, though they could join unions depending on their industry, such as the Service Employees International Union for public sector employees, EDD (2). It does not represent internship interests or provide for entry level mentorship. This profession is important in the Internet media as it provides for the protection of an organization’s content in the Intern et from attack. Additionally, information security analysts teach users on network security precautions and respond to any security breaches appropriately. Telecommunications Specialist The Internet medium provides for various media of communication including audio and visual. A telecommunications specialist plays the role of designing, supervising the installation and providing the

Reacting to Change Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Reacting to Change - Research Paper Example Denial is the principal driving force behind the habit to refuse a change or to deny seeing its importance. Anger or stubbornness is also a driving force which makes many students refuse to give up accustomed ways and welcome something new. Adaptation is also a force behind the reaction when students are convinced to acknowledge the importance of a change and in a response, they try to adjust with the change. Â   Teachers must know how the students react to change. Many teachers are exasperated at the reactions of their students towards different teaching techniques which is why they need to encourage the students to develop a welcoming attitude towards any changes introduced in the classroom. Students cannot modify their antagonistic reactions on their own and teachers’ relentless efforts and consistent support should continue forever. Effective coping mechanisms should be engineered by students and teachers together to modify their reaction to change.

Background History of Burberry Company Assignment

Background History of Burberry Company - Assignment Example The essay "Background History of Burberry Company" concerns the Company of Burberry and its Background History. Burberry Fashion Company started in 1856 by Thomas Burberry who was former learner of the country draper. The 21 year old Burberry opened various outfit shops in Hampshire, England and Basingstoke. The business grew steadily making Burberry to be known as ‘emporium’ due to the development and increased focus of outdoor clothing’s to the sportsmen and local residents who made frequent visits to the store. The invention of breathable fabric gabardine was not only waterproof but it was extremely durable. The opening of London Haymarket in 1891 by Burberry became the Burberry’s corporate headquarters. Further, in 1901, Burberry was commissioned by the British War Office to scheme new service uniforms for British officers. Moreover, in 1904, the Burberry Equestrian Knight logo was developed and registered as a trade mark that led to more opening of the stores in New York and Paris . Various scholars such as Captain Roald Amundsen and Ernest Shackleton were outfitted by the Burberry fashion for their visits towards the South Pole. In 1924, Burberry was checked and registered as a trade mark and introduction of the trench coats lining. The image of the Burberry could start to be seen almost in every fashion including the umbrellas, scarves and luggage in 1967. The mission of the Burberry was based on quality and unique production of various fashions for different outlets.

Marks and Spencers Business Strategy and Model

Marks and Spencers Business Strategy and Model Introduction Through a strategic planning an organization defines its strategy, or direction, and decisions making on allocating its resources to practice this strategy such as its capital and people. There are various business analysis techniques that are used in strategic planning such as SWOT, PEST, STEER and EPISTEL. The strategic planning, which indicates the future course of an organization, is the formal consideration involves three key questions; these questions mainly refer to what an organization does, who it deals to and how it excel. Another integral question can be phrased as how to beat competition (Bradford Duncan, 2000). The development of this business strategy is of great importance for organization as the whole structure of organization depends on it. An authentic business strategy development needs an appropriate analysis of the organization and its environment. This analysis must be executed at an internal and external level in order to identify the strengths and weaknesses o f internal environment (organization) as well as threats, opportunities of the external environment. Different factors are assessed in this regard including the economy markets, competition, supplier markets, labor markets, regulatory environment and Technology. Marketing plans and strategies are the tools that are used as helpful in understanding the goals of the business and to develop the activities to achieve them. Strategic Models and tools are employed by marketing participants to analyze marketing decisions. The 3Cs, the corporation, the customer and the competitors, can be employed when beginning a strategic analysis to get a broad understanding of the strategic environment. Different organizations often use it to convey strategic positioning of their market mix. In order to form a market plan to practice a defined strategy, 4Ps, the product, the price, the place and the promotion, can be used. Marketing theories provides the solution for achieving the marketing goals throug h procedure. The basic theory of marketing revolves around Target Audience, Proposition and Implementation. Organizations sum up their objective and goals into mission and vision statement. They are used to formulate objectives and goals. Every organization follows particular organizational ethics, which meant to show how ethically internal or external stimuli are responded by them. Organizational ethics also expresses the values of an organization to its employees and other entities irrespective of governmental and regulatory laws. Organizational Ethics is interdependent with Organizational Culture. Organizational Culture deals with the beliefs and personal and cultural values of an organization, Psychology, attitudes and experiences. This culture is defined as a collection of norms and values shared by group of the people in the organization and the way they interact with each other and with the stakeholders outside organization (Hill and Jones, 2001). A core competency is definit e factor that is seen as being central to the way it by a business, or its works and employees. It carries out three key criteria, it provides consumer benefits, it is not easy for competitors to imitate and it can be leveraged many products and markets. Competitive advantage takes place when an organization acquires and develops an attribute and combination of attributes that allows it to outperform its competitors. A timetable for the implementation of a strategy shows the timing for the each steps of the plan that is pursued to implement the strategies accordingly. The effectiveness, efficiency and economy have to be evaluated so that the success of the timetable can be estimated throughout the implementation of planning and strategy. This paper examines and assesses the different business models, development of strategic planning, its implementation and evaluation of the effectiveness and efficiency of implementation of the timetable of strategic planning of an organization. The chosen organization is Marks Spencer (MS). Marks Spencer is chosen because it is an important and major British retailer, with over 895 stores in more than 40 territories worldwide, over 600 domestic and 295 international stores (MS International Stores MS website, February 2009). It is also the biggest clothing retailer in the United Kingdom, as well as being an up market food retailer, and the 43rd largest retailer in the world as of 2008. (Wal-Mart remains largest global retailer, according to Deloitte survey). Its domestic stores also sell both food and clothing; it has started the store expansion into other ranges including furniture, home ware and technology. In 1998 it was the first and only retailer to make a pre-tax profit of over  £1 billion (BUSINESS | Marks Spencer profits top expectations. BBC News, 1998). The business assessments of such organization of such a big range and with glorious history will definitely be a remarkable addition in the study of business management and business strategic planning. In general terms provide examples (4to 6) and briefly explain them of theories and principles that underlie strategic planning? Every organization comes into being with a strategy, which is called an organizational strategy and aims to provide a guideline to guiding member of the organization. Since the future survival of an organization depends on its strategy, therefore, every organization is commenced with their own strategy. This strategy involves business strategy mainly focusing on development and progress of the organization including internal and external factors as well. An organization needs to analyze the strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities that the organization could face while developing strategy, political, economic, social, and technological environment other socio-cultural, ecological, and regulatory factors and environment, informatics, and legal matter are also as important to be analyzed as above factors. For this purpose, therefore, organizations summarize these strategies into their mission, vision and values, which illustrate their business strategy. Provide in outline form, using a diagram a framework which would enable your choice organization to develop its strategy in general terms? The preparatory phase of a business strategic plan relies on planning. At the first, business plan includes Analysis of the Current Situation and Marketing Plan Strategy and Objectives. Marks Spencer requires having analysis of the current situation including past year. This analysis includes analysis of Business Trends, Market Analysis, Competitive Analysis, Market Segmentation, Marketing-mix, SWOT analysis, Positioning analyzing perceptions and Sources of information. Marketing plan Strategy and objectives for next year should also be analyzed including Marketing strategy, Desired market segmentation, Desired marketing-mix, TOWS-based objectives as a result of the SWOT, Position perceptual gaps and Yearly sales forecast. Describe and critically evaluate a small range (3 to 5) of models tools and techniques that could be used to develop marketing for your chosen organization? There are many Marketing strategic models and tools employed to analyze marketing decisions. In order to find a broad understanding of the strategic environment the 3Cs can be used by Marks Spencer. This 3Cs model points out that focus should be on three key factors for success. Three main players must be considered when planning a strategy for business: Corporation, Customer and Competitors. These 3Cs can sustain a competitive advantage in a strategic triangle. From a corporation point of view, strategies are needed to maximize the strengths of a corporation relative to the competition in the area of function that are critical to achieve the success. The corporation does not have to exceed in every function in order to win. If it can achieve decisive edge in one key function, it will ultimately be able to progress its other functions which are now average. In case of swiftly rising wage costs, it is an important decision for company to contract out a major share of its assembly ope rations. If the competitors are not able to shift production so swiftly to vendors and subcontractors, the outcomes difference in cost structure and in the companys ability to cope with demand fluctuations can have integral strategic implications. The cost-effectiveness can be improved by adopting three ways. At first, reduction in the basic cost, exercise greater selectivity such as products offered, orders accepted and functions performed and share certain important functions with other business of corporation and other organization. Since clients and customers are the base of strategy therefore the basic goal is to be of customers interest rather than of the shareholders. This segmentation appears from a trade-off study of marketing costs versus market coverage. There always appears to be a point of reducing returns in the cost versus coverage relationship. The task of the organization is to optimize its range of market coverage, geographically and channel wise. Competitors are l ikely to be scrutinizing the market in similar ways in fierce competition. The effectiveness of a given first strategic segmentation will tend to decline over an extended period of time. It is useful to pick a small group of customers in such situations and reexamine what it is that they really want. A market segment change takes place where the market forces are changing the distribution of the user-mix over time by affecting demography, distribution channels, and customer size, etc. This kind of change is meant to be the allocation of corporate resources to be shifted and the ultimate level of resources committed in the business to be changed. The strategy based on competitor can be built by looking at possible sources of diversities in functions including purchasing, engineering, design, sales and servicing. The power of image and capitalizing on profit and cost structure differences are the ways to achieve the differentiation. I mage can be the merely source of positive differen tiation when performance of product and form of the distribution are difficult to differentiate. In capitalizing on profit- and cost structure differences, firstly, the difference in source of profit may be oppressed, from new products sales etc. Secondly, difference in the ratio of unchangeable costs and changeable costs may also be oppressed strategically. A company with lower unchangeable cost ratio can lower prices in a lazy market and hence gain market share. Another strategic tool that can be useful for Mark Spencer is Porters 5 Forces Model. Porters 5 Forces Model is structural analysis of the market. It rather focuses view of analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of a Market Segment through analyzing the different threats prevail in the market. It is a framework for the business strategy development and industry analysis. It draws upon industrial organization economics to develop five forces that determine the competitive intensity and in the result attractiveness of a market. Porters 5 Forces Model Structure Threat from potential new entrants Profitable markets that submit high returns attract the new firms. Its consequence is many new entrants, which ultimately decrease profitability for all firms in the industry. The profit rate will constantly fall unless the new entrants are not blocked. This is also known as perfect competition. New entrants can be blocked by the existence of barriers in the form of copyright etc. Attractive segment is the one in which barriers for entrance is high while barriers for exit are low. Thus only few new firm ca enter and only non-performing firm can exit easily. Economies of product difference also make an opportunity for small firms to enhance their businesses thus large firms who have their product out in the market in high price, products of low price can affect them. Marks Spencer has been going through the same situation. Brand equity, which refers to the effects of marketing or consequences that accumulate to a product with its brand name compared with those that would increase if the same product did not have the brand name (Leuthesser, Kohli and Harich, 1995). The threat of substitute products or services The existence of products outside of the sphere of the common product boundaries boost the inclination of customers to switch to substitute including relative price performance of substitute, buyer switching costs, perceived level of product differentiation, number of substitute products available in the market, ease of substitution. Information-based products are more flat to substitution, as online product can easily replace material product. There are many reason cause customers to switch to substitute of the product such as substandard product, and reduction in quality of the product. Increase in the features of the product develops the competitive market. Marks Spencer by increasing the features of its products can make the customers stick with their product. The Bargaining power of customers or buyers The customers bargaining power is also defined as the market of outputs such as the efficiency of the customers to put the firm under pressure; it also affects the sensitivity of customers to price changes. Customers concentration to firm concentration ratio, degree of dependency upon existing channels of distribution, bargaining leverage, specifically in industries with high fixed costs, customers volume, customers switching costs relative to firm switching costs, information availability for customers, ability to backward integrate, availability of existing substitute products, customers price sensitivity and differential advantage and uniqueness of industry products are the actors that increases the bargaining power of customers. Large number of supermarkets will provide better opportunity for the potential customers to reach thus it will decrease the bargaining power of the customers. The Bargaining power of suppliers The suppliers bargaining power is also defined as the market of inputs. Suppliers of materials, components, labor and services such as expertise to the firm are source of power over the firm, when there are a few substitutes. Suppliers may possibly refuse to work with the firm or charge excessively high prices for unique resources. Despite the fact that supplier switching costs is relative to firm switching costs, and degree of differentiation of inputs, impact of inputs on cost or differentiation, presence of substitute inputs, supplier concentration to firm concentration ratio, employee solidarity like labor unions and supplier competition and ability to forward vertically integrate and cut out the buyer and Competition among the existing suppliers mainly reinforce the factor. Number of suppliers across Britain will rather diminish this factor for Marks Spencer. The competitive rivalry within an industry For most organizations, the major determinant of the competitiveness of the industry is the intensity of competitive rivalry. Sustainable competitive advantage by innovation, competition between online and offline companies; click-and-mortar -v- slags on a bridge, Level of advertising expense, Powerful competitive strategy and the visibility of proprietary items on the Web all these factor define the competitive rivalry within an industry (Rainer and Turban, 2009). The situation of competitive rivalry is hhigh because there are majorly three rivals of Marks Spencer that provide it a competitive advantage and change its strategic planning. State a variety 7 to 10 of general and marketing strategic options which have been used or are available to the organization of your choice and evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of four of these Product Branded product helps in capturing market as it creates an identity of the firm with that brand. Marks Spencer has been selling out branded product but there is no single of theirs, because owning the brand can exceed the sell of that product. The advantage of owning a product as a brand is that it allows the customers to identify the organization with a particular name. While mostly brand products are supposed to be accessible for everyone as a result of its price. Price Price is another factor that is integral for Marks Spencer. Determination of price that depends on the market situation very much affects the market situation for the firm. An affordable Price of the product can be more successful for the firm. Affordable price offer of the Marks Spencer will allow to everyone to access them easily thus it will generate demand of the products if it could not maintain the supply and demand of the products it will have to suffer in the market. Place The place of selling also makes a difference in the marketing strategy of a firm. Since e-commerce has been so much in practice Marks Spencer can start e-commerce through which it can sell out its products online. Besides this, variety of distribution outlets can also be an option for Marks Spencer as it is a good promotion tool of the product. Placing the products in every distributions outlet may lead the firm to the low market level due to its order of supply. Promotion Promotion of the products must be designed in the way Across the Line. Across the Line promotion of the product provide the opportunity to access the customers at any length. Promotion of the products Across the Line will cost the firm highly as promotion across the line requires in order to meet the promotion target. People Work force or staff must be well trained and professional because a well trained work force increase the productivity of an organization. Marks Spencer is the 43rd largest retailer if it hires professional and trained work force it will definitely hit its economy. Process The standard of the services offered must be of good and must be integrated with customer support. Physical Evidence Physical evidence of a firm especially like Marks Spencer does matter. The overall environment of the firm can provide a pleasant impression on others and results in good sell. Who are stakeholders in the organization of your choice and state the three major ones of these. What affect have or could the major stakeholders have on the strategy that the organization has or could introduce. What considerations should be taken into account to ensure that the three major stakeholders can contribute to the development of the organization strategy through some form of participation? There are number of group of stakeholders of Marks Spencer: employees, customers, shareholders, suppliers, local communities, pressure groups and local and national government. All these above directly or indirectly influence the Marks Spencer in its strategy making. Employees, who are direct stakeholders of the organization, want secure jobs, well and good pay and fair treatment with all employees. Customers, also a direct stakeholder of the organization, want high quality, good service, and good choice of products. Shareholders look for growth and profit. These direct stakeholders can affect the strategies of the organization. If employees are not satisfied or if feel that they are not enough benefits from the offered strategy they can strongly resist it by so many act of barriers such as resignation or boycott from service. Organization understands that in order to keep the customers stick with product it is important to provide them quality products and services in affordable r ate. The customers who want quality product in affordable price with good services would also reject the strategy if found it not in their favor by rejecting the product or switching to another substitute. Shareholders, who are back bone in the economy of the Marks Spencer, possess the shares of the company; organization will want them to have profit so that the stay with them in the business. Thus there will not be any strategy which in any way annoys the shareholders. The contribution of employees, customers and shareholders is equally important for organizations interest. This contribution by them can part in the development of the organizations strategy through expressing their expectation from the organization. These expectations are not just to be of their favor but in the favor of the organization as well because their benefits and profits are interlinked with the success of the organization. In a laymans language define the term vision, mission statement, objective and value and go to provide professional definitions of these giving the source of these. Every organization comes into existence with a definite purpose which is called objective of the organization. This objective varies from organization to organization such as profitable organization and non-profitable organization. The organization expresses its objective through vision, mission statement. Vision: Vision is the intended or desired future statement of an organization or enterprise in terms of the fundamental objective and strategic direction. Vision refers to a long term view, describing how the organization would like the world in which it operates to be. A vision statement provides the organization with an inspiration that is the basis for all the organizations planning. It explains what an organization wants to do. Mission: Mission is the fundamental purpose of an organization or an enterprise, concise describing the reason of existence and path to achieve its Vision. It also draws a future picture of the organization. Values: Values can be defined as the beliefs of an organization shared among the stakeholders of an organization. Values are the means of driving the organizations culture, ethics and priorities. The vision statement is a realistic, credible, and attractive future for an organization (http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/ndu/strat-ldr-dm/pt4ch18.html). Mission statement broadly describes the presence of an organization present capabilities, customer focus, activities, and business makeup (Glossary, Strategic Management: Concepts and Cases by Fred David). Provide the vision and mission statements and strategy of your chosen organization and explain how the effectiveness if these can be measured. Marks Spencer has defined its Vision, Mission statement and Values as follows: The Vision Statement The standard against which all others are measured. The Mission Statement Making aspirational quality accessible to all. The Values Quality, value, service, innovation and trust. Marks and Spencer has followed a value price strategy from its origin. Since Marks Spencer has focused on middle class customers, it has continued with the value pricing strategy. Although its most of suppliers have been Britain, which has higher textile manufacturing costs than other developing nations, Marks Spencer was able to maintain its value by developing strong economic bonds with its suppliers. Through its economies of scale in buying, MS has been able to require manufacturers to adhere to strict quality standards and to bargain lower prices for its customers (De Nardi-Cole, 1998). The standard against which all others are measured, as a vision statement thoroughly conveys the objective of the organization, as the organization has set up the standard as an objective of the organization to achieve. It is promoting inspirational standard of the organization in term of products, service, and quality and price. This vision has greatly affected the organization output as a consequence of achieving its objective through this vision. The mission statement of Mark Spencer revolves around its marketing strategy telling about the price of the products that are affordable enough to be accessed by everyone. Values of the organization describe the standard quality and value of products and services following innovation and trust of the customers. Define the term organizational g12 cultural and ethical values and explain the culture and ethical values of the organization of your choice. Organizational culture is an idea which illustrates personal attitudes, experiences, psychology, beliefs and values and cultural values of an organization. It is defined as the specific set of values and norms shared by people and groups in an organization. The organizational culture as well as ethical values is also known as beliefs and ideas about the kinds of goals of the organization and ideas about the appropriate kinds and standards of behavior members of the organization use to achieve these goals. From organizational ethical values develop organizational norms, guidelines, and expectations that prescribe appropriate kinds of behavior by employees in certain situations and control the behavior of organizational members towards one another (Hill, and Jones, 2001). Organizational Ethics refers the way an organization ethically responds to an internal or external stimulus. Organizational ethics and the organizational culture are interdependent. Although, it is similar to both org anizational culture and business ethics on the micro and macro levels, organizational ethics is neither Organizational culture, nor is it alone business ethics which includes corporate governance and corporate ethics. Organizational ethics express the values of the organization to its employees and to other entities irrespective of governmental and regulatory laws. The organizational culture of Marks Spencer is characterized as a reflection of taken for granted fashion the attitude that is shared by the all members of the organization. The basic assumptions and beliefs operate unconsciously among the members and also exist at the organizational level. The assumptions and taken for granted fashion have taken its roots from the basis of the success of organization. Marks Spencer strictly follow code of ethics, a detail document of the ethical codes, in order to get on with its internal matter. The document contains the responsibility of all belong to Marks Spencer and Behavior for customers, colleagues, shareholders and environment have been explained. Besides, there are policies about workplace and Business (MarksSpencer, Code of Ethics, 2010). Explain the term core competencies and critical success factor and state whether these are necessary to the success of the organization of your choice. Has the organization of your choice amended its strategy in response to changes in the current business and economic climate? A core competency is a particular factor that an organization looks as being integral to the way it, or its works, and employees. It performs three key criteria: provides consumer benefits, not easy for competitors to imitate and can be widely leveraged to many products and markets. A core competency can take many forms, such as technical or subject matter know-how, a dependable process and close associations with customers and suppliers. It also includes product development and culture, such as employee dedication. The core competencies are specific strengths relative to other organizations in the industry which supply the fundamental basis for the provision of added value. Core competencies are the organizations collective learning, and involve the way to coordinate different production skills and incorporate multiple flows of technologies. It is an involvement, a communication, and a strong commitment to working across organizational boundaries. Core Competencies of Marks Spencer The core competencies are vital for the existence of Marks Spencer; it is in its sourcing methods, gave it the power to deliver high value, reliable, consistent quality, investors and customers has trusted it, its quality of management was ranked very high, consequently feeling of what good for Marks Spencer was good for the Nation and epitomized the most honest face of commerce. Since the revolutionary change in the business world, Marks Spencer had to suffer a lot. After the crisis of 1999, Marks Spencer has remarkably amended its strategies in terms of products, customers, price and marketing strategy. As a result of e-commerce revolution Marks Spencer amended its strategy and started e-commerce which ultimately changed its marketing strategy. A large number of the same product in the market caused the Marks Spencer to adopt a differentiation way such as own brand products and Premium brand appearance. Since there are so many products out there in the market that is decreasing the sell of Marks Spencer, due to the threat of the substitute product Marks Spencer has reviewed its prices of the product in order to create competitive advantage. Explain how your organization has responded to change in its environment and consider whether this response has effective The change in the product price from Marks Spencer creates a competitive advantage fro it and it is much effective for the organization. The enhancement in the place of its firm can also be beneficial in the way that it is in the access of as many people as targeted. All these response to the environment from Marks Spencer could provide it some space to restore its position in the market. List what you would consider to be the major functional area in generally and discuss the three major functional areas of organization of choice and why this is so. Every business have work within certain functional areas, among them there are few general major functions performed in all businesses including finance and accounts, production and operations, administration and IT support, human resource, marketing and sales, customer services, and research and development. The major functional areas of Marks Spencer are sales and marketing, human resource and administration and IT support. They are the major functional areas of the organization because Marks Spencer is a retailer of goods, its business growth very much depends on the sales and marketing, human resource (the people and the staff serve the organization can make difference in the growth of the organization) and administration and IT support make the business process smooth and successful. Since the competition is so tough in the market, Marks Spencer must improve their major functional areas. How have the three major functional areas in organization been developed to provide it with a competitive advantage? Efficient and good sales and marketing strategy can play an important role to develop a competitive advantage for the organization. Decrease in the price by change in the marketing strategy increases the competitive advantage for the organization. Human resource is such a function that works as a back bone for an organization, skilled and trained human resource of the Marks Spencer can provide a competitive advantage through inputting the best to serve the organization. Administration and IT support has come out as one of the vital function of the organization since organization has initiated e-commerce, it can efficiently perform as support to e-commerce to give competitive advantage to the organization. Discuss how a timetable for the implementation of a strategy could be developed around key milestones. The implementation of a strategy roadmap needs a time table that defines milestones in weekly, one month, three month, and six month intervals. Implementation milestones should be established and communicated to all key business partners, the board of directors, stakeholders and investors, customers, and employees, from day one. The best timetable and milestones focus on at least the following dimensions: customers, competitors, finance, communications, and culture, intellectual property