Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Negotiating skills and strategies Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Negotiating skills and strategies - Term Paper Example It is argued that negotiation is unavoidable in life since we need something from others in our daily lives and an agreement based on common understanding can be reached through negotiation. Thus, negotiation broadly encompasses the process by which we arrange exchanges of things we want for the things we have. Negotiation can take place between different parties and this process is at times regarded as â€Å"a zero-sum transaction- what one gains, the other loses whereby their approach to the deal is to give less than they receive,† (Kennedy, 2004, p.13). More often than not, people negotiate because they value things differently. The monitory value is seen as very important when people engage in negotiation and these parties often prefer a win-win situation with the aim of reaching an acceptable agreement. However, it is argued that there are naturally gifted negotiators but when it comes to aspects concerning legal practitioners and mediators, it can be noted that negotiato rs are not naturally gifted and this can be observed from the difference between a ‘Master Negotiator’ and a ‘Novice Negotiator’(Noble, 2001). There are different styles of negotiation and there are also many factors that influence the success or failure of a negotiation process. From this assertion, this report seeks to discuss the factors that influence the negotiation process and measures that can be implemented in order to improve negotiation skills. The report will explain in detail the phases involved in the negotiation process through an analysis of the details of the interview that was conducted by the writer. 2.0 Summary of readings and the interview Negotiation is a process that can be divided into three phases namely: the pre bargain phase, bargain phase and the closure phase (Noble, 2001). This first phase is mainly concerned with gathering information that can be used in the negotiation process and is also concerned with establishing a rapport between the two parties involved. The goals and expectations of the negotiation process are set at this stage. Gathering information about the other partner is advantageous in that one will be better positioned to set realistic goals and plan according to the budget that might be available. The second phase in the negotiation process is concerned with the logistics involved and the tactics that can be used by the negotiator to reach a mutual agreement. Resolutions are made at this stage and the third stage is concerned with implementation of the agreement made. This phase also involves documentation of the contents of the agreement. Since this paper is based on negotiating skills and strategy, the writer chose to interview a manager at Kaiser Permanente who oversees many union employees out of interest emanating from

Monday, October 28, 2019

Alice in Wonderland Essay Example for Free

Alice in Wonderland Essay As the Cheshire-Cat appears and sits on a limb of a tree with his grinning face while Alice is walking in the forest he explains to her that everyone in wonderland is mad even Alice, which is why she is there. Alice did not agree with the Cheshire-Cat but continued on her way to see the March Hare anyways. Being mad or crazy does not always make a person bad. In fact the Cheshire-Cat was right, all the people in Wonderland were indeed mad and they were all there for that reason. In every classic story there are good characters versus bad characters. In the book, Alice in Wonderland written by Lewis Carroll, there is no exception. The characters Alice, the White Rabbit, and the Cheshire-Cat are all positive characters in the story and the Queen of Hearts is the villain or the negative character in Wonderland. Positive characters can be identified in the story of Alice in Wonderland by their personalities and how each character interacts with one another. Lewis Carroll only made one distinctive negative character and the rest he made either positive characters or characters that are Just in the middle. Most of the characters in the ook are middle characters that do not have a good or bad sense of personality. Negative characters can be identified by color and personality as well. The Queen of Hearts for instance is represented by the color red with represents fury and anger. That describes the Queen perfectly. Alice is a positive character in the story of Alice in Wonderland. She is the main character of the story. Lewis Carroll does a good Job of portraying Alice as a young curious and well mannered lady. Youth and innocence can describe Alice as a positive character. Throughout the whole story Alice gets onfused quit easily when talking to the other people in Wonderland, the Mad Hatter and the Caterpillar especially. Although she is in an obscure and crazy world, Alice keeps her cool for the most part and tries to keep her senses. In the world of Wonderland, however, being sane is mad, which allows Alice to fit right in with the others (From Alice on Stage). The White Rabbit was made to contrast Alice in every way. He is timid, old, punctual, and often nervous. The White Rabbit can be seen as a positive character because he is white in color, also because he is somewhat helpful. Although he is shy and nervous he does not do anything that would make him be considered a negative character. I would say he is somewhat of a mediator, neither positive nor negative. The White Rabbit is significant in the story of Alice in Wonderland in order to understand Alice more (From Alice on Stage). Most unique of them all is the Cheshire-Cat. When Alice first comes across the Cheshire-Cat he is in the house of the Duchess and is grinning very widely. From the way he is first described I thought that he was going to be a negative character in the story. His grin seemed some what villainous and because he was mysterious led to the conclusion he was a negative character. After the book goes on the Cheshire-Cat is very calm and sensible in the mad world of Wonderland. He helps Alice when she need someone to talk to and when she has questions about Wonderland. The Cheshire-Cat is the most knowledgeable about Wonderland and fits right in when it comes to craziness (Spark Notes from Alice in Wonderland). Queen of Hearts. Some of the other characters have their moments of rudeness or snappy ways but none of them can be identified as complete negative characters esides the Queen of Hearts. When we first meet the Queen she comes into the yard yelling orders at everyone and being very rude. From the beginning you can tell that the Queen has anger and fury within her. Because she is red in color she can be identified as negative. Red usually has a bad connotation and is usually associated with anger and fire or fury. She makes irrational decisions, most of them affecting everyone but herself. Everyone in her court is afraid of her because she is known for prosecuting and beheading anything and anyone who gets in her way (From Alice on Stage). Of all the characters in Alice in Wonderland the Queen of Hearts and Alice are the most significant. I would not say that in this story there is a hero or villain, but Just positive and negative characters. A lot of the characters in the story were middle characters that had no sense of good or bad, they were Just mad. Everyone in Wonderland was mad, including Alice, that is why she ended up in Wonderland. Lewis Carroll defined each character using their personalities. The Queen of Hearts impatient, loud, and obnoxious and Alice is curious, sensible, and has a sense of uperiority.

Saturday, October 26, 2019

Performance Enhancing Drugs and their Effects Essay -- essays research

Performance Enhancing Drugs and their Effects Sports are America's number one source of entertainment. We often love to see game-winning homeruns, hail marys, eighty yard runs, and records being broken. We want OUR athletes to be at their best. We do not care at whose expense this entertainment comes, we just want our money's worth. How do these athletes perform at such high levels day in and day out? Most of them go to the gym and hit the weights or go to the ball field and practice some hitting. But others take an easier way out. They decide to cheat themselves of becoming a truly better athlete. Those cheating athletes turn to performance-enhancing drugs such as steroids or androstenedione, a.k.a. andro. These players feel the negative consequences of these drugs are out-weighed by the positive consequences. Those players are wrong. As a fan of sports, I want my favorite teams or players to be at their best. I want them to win. No, not just win; I want them to be spectacular in doing it. I want my team to give me heart-stopping action. Whether it is a homerun in the bottom of the ninth to win the World Series or it is a buzzer beater from half court to win the game, either way my team has to be great. I do not care about their practice habits or what is going on in their household; I just want them to perform at their best every night. I know most of you are guilty of this too. We turn on the TV at the beginning of the baseball game and the announcer says, "Joe Schmo won't be playing tonight cause of a broken leg he suffered last night in a terrible car accident." At first you will be shocked and hope he is ok. Then you ask the TV, expecting to get an answer, "When is he gonna be back?!?!" Sports today have become so competitive that players will hurt others to win or at least get an edge. If they do not hurt others, they hurt themselves. Lately there have been many cases of players being caught with some type of performance-enhancing drug. It seems that the pressure for these players to succeed has pushed them to the level of "at all costs". Recently, ex-Major League Baseball (MLB) superstar Jose Canseco admitted to using anabolic steroids while he was in the pros. Canseco was one of the premiere hitters in his time. Canseco a... ...ve to enjoy it. Work Cited Associated Press. â€Å"FDA attempts to stem sale of andro.† 11 March 2004. ESPN. 15 April 2004. . Breeder, Craig E. â€Å"Oral Andro-Related Prohormone Supplementation: Do the Potential Risks Outweigh the Benefits?† Canadian Journal of Applied Physiology 28 (2003): 102-17. â€Å"Caminiti Comes Clean: Ex-MVP says he won award while using steroids.† 28 May 2002 Sports Illustrated.Com. 22 April 2004. . Community Drug Alert Bulletin: Anabolic Steroids. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. National Institute on Drug Abuse. Bethesda, MD. April 2000. Bechtel, Mark: Kennedy, Kostya: Swift, E.M.. â€Å"Bodies of Evidence.† Sports Illustrated. 14 April 2003: 25. Llosa, Luis Fernando: Munson, Lester: Wertheim, L Jon. â€Å"Jolt of Reality.† Sports Illustrated 7 April 2003: 68-76. Research Report Series: Anabolic Steroid Abuse. National Institute on Drug Abuse. National Institute of Health. April 2000. Rushin, Steve. â€Å"Big Man In The Big House.† Sports Illustrated 30 June 2003: 17-19.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Jonathon Swift: A Modest Proposal Essay

Jonathon Swift: A Modest Proposal Jonathon Swift’s A Modest Proposal is a parody on the economic situation of the society in which he attempts to â€Å"find out a fair, cheap and easy method† (Swift) for the children in poverty to be put to good use for good of Ireland. This is seen right away in the full title of the pamphlet, â€Å"A Modern Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People from Being a Burden to their Parents, or the County, and for Making them Beneficial to the Publick.† The reader begins to realize that Swift does not actually wish to implement these ideas of a baby being â€Å"a most delicious nourishing, and wholesome food† (Swift) once this extreme idea is proposed. Through this extreme proposal of cannibalism and breeding children to solve poverty and overpopulation, he makes the reader vulnerable while also eager to find out more. As entertaining as this text is, it is more than just a comic. Swift wishes to relay a much deeper meaning to the reader. In Robert Phiddian’s article, Have You Eaten Yet., Phiddian recognizes â€Å"the moral-political argument being carried out by means of parody.† (Phiddian) The moral issue, here, is poverty and the political issue is population, yet rarely do these issues remain as clear and separate as intended. Look more:  satire essay examples essay While Swift initially makes the reader chuckle several times throughout the text, he is venting about the societal ills that go unnoticed daily. He is aggravated by the hypocrisy of the wealthy trying to help the poor by coming up with such outlandish ideas that they think will supposedly solve poverty. Poverty is inevitable in a free market therefore with the money that the poor would receive â€Å"may be liable to distress and help pay their Landlord’s rent.† (Swift) Swift wants the reader to realize that no matter how great the ideas of the wealthy are, their motivation is to make a buck from these plans that they devise in their parlors over a cup of tea. â€Å"There is nothing higher than selfish greed within the terms of economic discourse† as Phiddian points out. Even in society today, there are always those people that wish to solve the issue of poverty, but can’t seem to realize that these implications are not easily resolved and are part of socie ty. Swift had compassion for the Irish people and felt for them in their severe  state, but he also shows disgust with the people of Ireland for not even trying on their own behalf. Prior to Swift writing A Modest Proposal he had written several sermons, which provide a background into the state of Ireland and how the people ended up in this predicament. â€Å"The members of this class are being called to their responsibilities and reminded of the guilt they share for the condition of their country.† (Phiddian) Swift leaves no stone unturned in the text and does not excuse any party from the awful state that Ireland is in at this point in time. Swift manages to target most of the groups in Ireland including the politicians, aristocracy, and even the poor. These and outside causes like that of England are included in the parody. Essentially, Swift trying to get the reader to understand that not one person can solve the problems of poverty and overpopulation. In fact, it is part of society and has been for centuries. The struggles are apparent before Swifts time and even now. He is able to address two sets of readers in a sense; one of his time and one of the future, our time. â€Å"While people continue to starve and to live in abject poverty, an analogy exists between Swift’s readers’ situation and our own.† (Phiddian) The reader is able to identify with the subject and the point that Swift is trying to make of the societal ills of the time through this â€Å"moral-political argument.† (Phiddian) in turn see that behind the gore and obscene ideas that he has come up with, there is a voice that needs to be heard. What would normally be a boring economic update or a political argument over what the country needs to do has been transformed by Swift into a masterpiece that peeks the interest of those other than the politicians. He is able to catch our attention as a reader by many surprises and then able to make us think critically about policies, values, and society as a whole in general. Reference Page Robert Phiddian Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 Vol. 36, No. 3, Restoration andEighteenth Century (Summer, 1996), pp. 603-621 Published by: Rice University

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

BBC The Next Five Years Essay

Introduction The purpose of this study is to investigate the information strategy of the BBC. Having reviewed the various modes of enquiry, we have decided that the unbounded mode is the most appropriate in this instance. Using this, we have investigated the BBCs’[1] IS strategy, examining the external factors that may have an affect upon its planning and design. In addition we have reviewed other issues pertinent to the BBC to determine the possible negative of these might have on the strategy. Finally we have looked at the next five years to evaluate the relevance that significant advances over that period might have on the BBC IS strategy. Enquiry system   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In compiling this report we need first to decide what method we are going to plan our research upon. There are five basic enquiry modes ranging from the simple to the complex and innovative. Enquiry Modes 1) Inductive-Consensual   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As the words suggest this mode of enquiry relies upon one reaching a single conclusion by using a restricted range of interpretations, for example from previous researches into the subject matter. The result is influenced by the general consent of these opinions. For example if one asked the question â€Å"Is public service broadcasting superior to commercial,† and this was only put to BBC employees, the consensus is likely to answer affirmatively. 2) Analytic-deductive   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This mode approaches the problem or enquiry from a different aspect. In this case the problem is broken down into its component parts. Each one of these parts is then analysed and tested for logic. Once this process is complete a formula is used to build the results from the analysis of those parts into a single solution that addresses the problem. 3) Dialectic   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   One of the more complex of the enquiry modes, the dialectic mode is based upon conflict or different viewpoints. It does not question the data, simply the views that are expressed about it, working on the basis that by discussion of the variance a logical conclusion will be reached. A relevant argument for this mode would be the discussion about whether the BBC should be allowed to sell advertising space in the same way that the commercial media does. 4) Multiple reality   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Multiple reality recognizes that people will approach problems from a predetermined viewpoint, based upon their own experience and training. For example an Accountant will look at the commissioning of a new revolutionary BBC sit-com from a different angle of the program planner. This process therefore relies upon the problem being addressed from a number of viewpoints, which will essentially come up with a range of conclusions. 5) Unbounded systems thinking   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This modes works on the basis that, in any given situation, all modes of enquiry are automatically brought to bear, and therefore cannot be separated. Thus, when addressing a problem every viewpoint and conclusion needs to be taken into account. Similarities and differences   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   All of the modes described above have similarities. All five rely upon the fact that there is a situation to be addressed in the first place. Additionally the point of the exploration, review and analysis of this problem, for all of the modes is to a) gain knowledge and b) reach a conclusion based on that knowledge, or a solution to the hypothesis or problem posed. Modes 1 and 2 above are similar to the extent that they both have a singular approach to the subject matter, relying upon one viewpoint (or consensus) being the input and the result.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   With modes 3 and 4 the similarities are that both look for a range of viewpoints from which to approach a subject and neither attempt or profess to reach a singular conclusion, preferring instead to provide multiple conclusions.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Mode 5, in theory, displays the most similarity to all of the others. This is simply because it works on the premises that, in the real world, none of the enquiry systems and modes described can operate independently.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Equally there are some major differentials between these systems. The key difference is in their approach to a given situation. Mode one differs from the others in that it relies upon a consensus of opinion from a limited range of sources and seeks a single conclusion. Mode two differs from three to five for the same reason, but it also differs from one in the it analyses the component parts of the problem, rather than relying solely on interpretation. Mode three and four differ from each other in that they treat the conclusion in a different manner, three allowing differing conclusions to be presented, and four, seeking argument between different conclusions. Mode fives similarity is also its difference to the others, namely that it does not limit itself to a particular enquiry mode, instead using all formats. Strengths and weaknesses   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Inherent in all enquiry modes are strengths and weaknesses, which need to be recognised. Inductive-Consensual. The strengths of this mode rest in the fact that it is focused in one direction, making it simple to use and relatively quick to apply to a given problem. Its weaknesses lie in the limitation of approach and its reliance upon consensus of opinion. There is no attempt to check the validity of core data. Using the BBC example used in the mode description, there is no guarantee that the consensus of agreement is based on a genuine or, because they are employees of the BBC, biased and inaccurate opinion. Analytic-deductive. In this instance the strength comes from the fact that the component parts have been analysed before arriving at a conclusion. It bases that conclusion on logic. Its weakness comes from the fact that, like mode 1, it relies heavily upon a single source of operator to address the problem or situation. Both modes 1 and two have a strength that is also a weakness. This relates to the fact that both seek to arrive at a single conclusion. This is strength when given a task that asks for a definitive solution and the receiver does not want to input into this, but a weakness when asked for an opinion or range of solution.   Dialectic. The major strength in this mode is that it does allow for differing viewpoints to address a situation, thus relating itself more closely with a real world scenario. Similarly, the fact that it does result in a range of conclusions, and allow these to compete against each other to reach a conclusion is good when seeking a final unified approach. It means that all the options have an opportunity to be considered and discussed. The argumentative aspect can be strength insofar as such an approach can often lead to a tempering of divergent views. Weakness may Multiple reality. Like Dialectic, the multiple approaches have the strength of numerous viewpoints. In this case though, it presents all of the options. This allows the receiver to consider the options from their own particular viewpoint, before they make the final decision. Unbounded systems. The strength of this system is in its unlimited approach to a subject. Using this method ensures that it covers all possible aspects, resulting in a wide range of probable solutions. Its weakness rests in the fact that it is cumbersome and, if used as a tool for a conclusive result, could not facilitate this. In addition it would be a time consuming project. For the purpose of this study we will be using the multiple reality mode. Information Systems strategy – External environment Socio-political   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The BBC is a public service broadcasting organisation. Because of this there are more socio-political factors that impact upon the corporation and its operations than with most other businesses.   From a social point of view one has to look at both society as a whole as well as individual groups. Such groups can consist of ethnic, class and disabled minorities. All of these groups expect to receive equality of service from the corporation. This means that the corporation needs to ensure that it represents each group within all of its programme output. For example, it needs to ensure that within the public face of its broadcasting such minorities are adequately represented, be that in a factual or fictional environment.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   On the political front the BBC also has to deal with a number of factions. In line with other businesses it has to pay heed to governments and judicial legislation, although the difference that exists with the BBC is that has a closer link in that it is a public corporation. Similarly, like other media, regulatory bodies overview its product and output. However, in addition to these, the BBC has two additional political factors to deal with. These are the Royal Charter, which has recently been reviewed (2006) and the BBC Trust.    Technological   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Trust is one of the key issues, which dictates the rate at which new technology is taken up. Often the speed at which technology develops is the one thing that makes trust difficult to achieve. No sooner has a user familiarised themselves with one system than this is rendered obsolete by a new one. Davis (2002) in his paper written for the Joint Information Services Committee posed the question that many users were asking. â€Å"How sure can one be that the outcome of an interaction is what it purports to be?† As it operates within the business medium, the BBC has greater access to technology than other organisations. It is an integral part of their broadcasting environment. This includes such areas as Broadband, digital and interactive technology. Internally it uses similar modern technology to other media businesses, in terms of computers, network systems in addition to the TV and radio broadcasting technology. The latter includes such things as cameras, film equipment and outside broadcast vehicles. However, as Paul Cheesbrough, BBC head of technology for production and technology direction, admitted in his interview with Miya Knights (2004), their internal systems do need updating in a number of areas, where he says, â€Å"Internally, our processes for producing and authoring content have been the same for many years and are still very physical. It’s a very distributed set-up with lots of physically-based processes in between.† The internal technology of an organisation is important (Glasson 1996) Economic – Geographical   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The BBC, unlike the commercial broadcasting media, does not receive money from other businesses in terms of advertising revenue, nor much in the way of sponsorship. It is funded in the main by a system of revenue from the television and radio licence, together with the annual financial support that it receives from the British government. Despite the wish, within some factions of the corporation to change this situation, so far this has been rejected. The only other of funding available to the BBC is the commercial sales it makes of its programmes to other broadcasting media throughout the world, including joint ventures, and sales of its products through other medium, such as books and publications, CDs and DVDs.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   From a geographical point of view, the BBC is predominately a British based broadcaster, although it does have a world service for radio, originally set up with the intention of providing a link for armed forces overseas. Historically it has concentrated upon this limited geographical area through which to develop and market its products. However, it does produce programmes relating to and based upon many areas of the world. Nowadays it is also making use of the Internet through which to extend its audience. To add to its home-based productions, the BBC also buys programmes from other media throughout the world. Impact on IS strategy planning and design â€Å"The social, legal, political, ethical, and ecological issues facing business have never been more complex or more difficult to comprehend,† wrote Stephen Wartick (1997). This statement is particularly applicable to the BBC.   The factors mentioned previously form an intrinsic element of its Information Services at the planning and design stage. From a social point of view the BBC is required to cater for all sectors of society. The means that part of its strategy has to be geared towards minority groups. In addition it has historically been seen as a provider of learning, necessitating part of its information system strategy to be used in that direction. Political issues also impact upon its planning and design because, as a result of the need to divert resources to other areas set within its charter, this means that there are fewer resources available to pursue avenues that it might otherwise wish to develop. There have been instances in the past where the political forces have tried to introduce a modicum of pressure onto the corporation and, knowing this is a possibility, must impact on the corporation strategy. The area where the BBC does appear to both holding its own, and in some respects, making significant advances, is in technology. Whilst internally there are areas that need addressing, from an external and production standpoint the organisation is keeping up to date. Here it has encompassed the changes that have occurred since the Information era began in the 1970’s, using modern technology to maintain its reputation as possibly the best broadcaster in the industry. The planning and designing stages are very important. As Paul Cheeseburgh (2004) observed â€Å"The term ‘digital islands’ means a lot in our industry, but there’s no point in moving from analogue to digital processes if those islands are disconnected.† Nevetherless they have made some of their processes more cost competitive as a result of technology, with the use of digital technology being an example of this. Economics probably has the greatest impact on the businesses IS strategies and their planning. Because its funding is subjected to restrictions than other broadcasters, this means that some of the innovative ideas that the BBC might wish to develop may not be possible due to financial restrictions. Similarly, it has a finite budget from which to take advantage of technology advances in the way that it would like to. Geographical issues have an impact on the IS strategy. Being a media corporation means that they have to plan for communication access sometimes to even the remotest parts of the world, and have a variety of climates to contend with. In the equatorial countries for instance, the corporation has had to make use of refrigerated broadcast vehicles. Impacts on IS strategy Risk Categorization Scales   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As has been widely publicised, Information systems and Technology attract risks and these manifest themselves in a number of ways. In all areas of life and business, there is the risk of sabotage (Stewart 2000) Technology for instance, suffers from hacking, virus and other dangers instigated from outside sources. Then there are the mechanical and accidental risks.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Knowing that these events are likely to happen even in the best protected of systems, it is vitally important that this eventuality is recognised and addressed at an early stage. Kim Andersen (2005) in his book on the subject, shows â€Å"how getting things right† helps the information system. This is particularly relevant in a broadcasting organisation such as the BBC. At all stages of the development of an IS and IT strategy plan a consequence analysis should be carried out, this is relevant at each subsequent change as well. Within this process one needs to identify where the possibility of risks lies, what type of risks could attach themselves to the area in question and what the effect of those risks might be. Figure 1 (see appendices) gives an example of a consequence matrix. Effect/probability/Action Grid   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Having analysed the areas of risks and the types of risks that could occur, one then has to categorise and evaluate the risk. This means that one needs to first work out what the effects of that risk will be. Will it be in favour of the organisations and its IS and IT, or will it be fatal. Or will it be somewhere between the two. The next step it to ascertain the probability factor. What is the likelihood of the risk occurring, negligible or certainly? Armed with this information one can then work out what action to take in terms of prevention, assuming that the risk is not to the businesses advantage. Figure 2 (see appendices) shows a simple grid detail the possible results of this analysis. Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability (CIA)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Following on from the previous analysis, the organisation needs to work out what impact this potential risk will have on the business. This can be categorised in three ways. Firstly there is confidentiality and privacy. The BBC IS and IT systems contain a lot of sensitive data, both from an internal and external point of view, such as staff and financial details. It could be embarrassing and costly if this information were to be obtained illegally, in addition to the fact that it could see the organization facing legal action for breach of confidentiality. This area will impact on the information system, (Mwangama 2006)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The second impact of risk could be to the integrity of accuracy of the data. If information is tampered with or altered in any way this would have serious consequences for the business.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The third area of impact is when the data or system is corrupted of deleted. In this case the system or database would be unable to operate and, in an extreme case the contents and data non-recoverable. Potential Negative Impacts 1) Technical   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   From a technical viewpoint the negative impact of the consequences of risk will attach to the strategy planning and design. For example the BBC would need to ensure that, by the introduction of new and more versatile systems and upgrades, this does not increase the risks. If this appears likely then the direction of the strategy will need to be reappraised. Similarly, if by installing new software the system becomes less secure in terms of the data access, the necessity and cost benefit of new software should be evaluated. This may result in technology and information system upgrades being delayed until such time as the security of the hardware can be guaranteed to be as risk proof as possible. 2) Non-Technical   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The organisation also needs to look at the negative issues that the consequence of risk may raise in relation to human and business processing issues. Employees and others involved with the Corporation have a right to expect personal information to be maintained in a confidential and secure manner. The shoulders of the organisation that has the information, to keep it secure. In addition to this is the damage of such a risk to the business processes. It is not only losing of the programmes, which would prove costly enough, it is also the potential of lost data, which in some areas could be irreplaceable. Ethical Issues   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Added to all of the above are the ethical issues surrounding risk. The BBC, like all organisations that keep sensitive and personal data, is subject to both the data protection ACT and their own professional code of conduct and ethics. These include a duty to not harm those for whom you are responsible for and to respect their right to privacy, which includes ensuring that any personal information that they give to you are kept safe. Thus it cannot be passed to a third party, either by the organisation itself or by the intervention of an outside party. Even if that third party is committing an illegal act it does not absolve the corporation from liability. In the modern legal environment, if such an event occurs, the possibility of legal action being taken the organisation is very likely. The code of conduct for the BBC also states that it sees part of its duty being to respect and honour human rights. This extends to ensuring that the technology that is installed within its systems offers the same rights.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In addition to the rights of the individual whose rights have been violated there is the impact that such a breech will have on the corporations’ own reputation. According to a newspaper report written by Owen Gibson (2005) the BBC recently revised their code of ethics to take account of some of these issues. The Next Five Years   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Strategic planning for the future of information systems is important. (Ward & Peppard 2002) A business needs a â€Å"clear vision of where it is trying to go.† (Andersen 2004) and to produce the correct strategy the BBC needs to know what events will impact on the strategy. External changes In terms of the future, the next five years are likely to produce changes of significance in terms of IS and IT in a number of areas, in hard and software (Mark Haggerty 2006).   The advances in wireless technology are one area where these advances are proving to be particularly rapid. This development will allow both television and computers to become really possible, with consumers able to carry the receivers in pockets. They will then be in a position of being able to view at any time and in any place. Wireless technology development will also have an impact on broadcasting in that it will allow ease of access for people involved in news reporting, such as with the BBC. Using these systems, particularly in their news department, the corporation will be able to achieve instant news reporting from almost anywhere in the world. In addition the reports will be able to be accessed and reported on air in real time, in other words as it happens. Continued development in satellite technology will also improve the ability of the BBC to achieve its strategy of moving closer towards a more â€Å"on-demand† consumer environment. Video conferencing is set to be one of the main growth areas in technology over the next five years. (Laura Hailstone 2006). This technology is already being used and implemented by a growing number of businesses. In addition to the business use, this technology is set to move into the private sector, allow for projects such as games shows to be conducted with participants not having to move from their home. With increasing computer technology being incorporated within television sets, the opportunities are available for television presenters to be able to interact directly with the consumer. There will be continued developments in the field of interactive media. The continuing improvements in this area will eliminate the need for there to be two or three machines in a household in order to give the consumer flexibility and choice. Within the next five years the facility of recording direct from the TV should improve substantially, allowing additional onset recording facilities, improving upon what systems such as sky offer already. Interaction will also affect the BBC’s learning facilities leading to closer interaction between teacher and learner, (G. Conole et al 2000). B. Davies (2002) also showed how modern and future information system developments are impacting on users in the education arena. An area of significant relevance to the BBC is the continued development of compact storage systems, such as the MP3. From an internal point of view this will mean less space utilised for storage of produced material, therefore reducing the corporations costs in the area of storage. With the increase in globalisation, business systems will also witness significant innovation over the next five years. Such programmes as the multi-national, multi-lingual supply chain software could be implemented within the BBC, providing it with more accuracy and accessibility in terms of its global operations, allow it to work more closely with the stakeholders who supply the corporation and ensure that the quality of the product is maintained. Internal changes   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The BBC will see changes in a number of areas of IS and IT. It is expected that within the next five years media broadcasters will need to keep updating their technology and systems to meet the increasing demands from the public in the way in which programmes are presented. Digital development is something that the BBC sees as having a significant effect over their programming abilities over the next five years. From the point of view of the production side of their programmes, a test run on one programme has shown that it produces a significant cost reduction. More developments of this nature are planned. Development of the digital technology for the end user is also seen as a means of being able to extend the ability of the viewer to have more control over the way in which they organise their personal viewing or listening schedules. The corporation is planning to use this to restructure the way in which it produces programmes and extend the range of interaction with the consumer. Further developments on the World Wide Web are also being looked at. This will provide the BBC with the ability to make its services available in a number of new ways, including providing a service where programs can be downloaded and watched for a limited period, thereby avoiding the possibility of this being stored and affecting others possible sales of the programmes. As part of this development they are working with all of the major software organisations in the development of products, which will open new opportunities in terms of programming. The BBC sees, what its Director-General Mark Thompson (2005) â€Å"On Demand† television as the way forward in technology. In addition to this the BBC are also developing ways in which their programmes can be transmitted for screening on a range of portable devices. From an in house perspective the BBC sees that IT developments over the next five years will enable it to integrate all of its in house operations, linking together internal systems that previously have been disconnected. Internally there will also be changes in terms of office systems and other related technology usages. Microsoft’s chief technology officer, in his interview with Chris Nuttall (1999) stated that â€Å"every five years there is a revolution in the computer industry.† Therefore it is necessary that organisations like the BBC have a strategy prepared for it. Evidence Research shows that all of the changes outlined are evidenced. Tafazolli, Rahim (2006) comments â€Å"that the days of the totally wireless technology are close and that soon consumers will be able to access the media wherever they are.† Future Tech (2006), have noted that one organisation is already well advanced on a system of voice recognition for the purpose of media viewing, amongst other applications. The article also reveals that MIT are developing the computer glasses, which will make operation of computers and televisions much less tiresome, allowing the consumer to operate TV and Computer without using hands. The article also reveals that hardware companies are working to make the computer less visible. This means that, instead of the current box on the desk, they may be incorporated in the TV or portable devices, which can be, located and operated from anywhere. The BBC launched â€Å"Creative Future Project†. Part of the remit for this project is to continue to monitor the advances in new technology with a view to using the technology as part of its development strategy for the future. The project, and the BBC’s IT department are working with a number of the largest software houses, such as Microsoft and Apple, to development programmes and systems which can assist in the development of broadcasting. Energy consideration is already an area that the BBC is aware of. In the future the role of Information systems and technology will take on more significance in terms of its contribution to energy conservation, (J & R. Franchi 2004) Bibliography Andersen, Kim Viborg. (2004) The Past and Future of Information Systems. Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd Carpenter, Leona, Shaw, Simon and Prescott, Andrew (eds) (1988) Towards the Digital Library, The British Library, London Conole, G., Jacobs, G., Squires, D (ed) (2000), The Changing Face of Learning Technology. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1-3. Davies, B. (2002), How new technologies are impacting on users, Joint Information Systems Committee.   Retrieved 17 July 2006 from: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/index.cfm?name=pub_inform2 Franchi, John. R. Franchi (2004) Energy, Technology and Directions for the Future. Elsevier Academic Press. Future Tech. (2006) Future Computing. Retrieved 12 July 2006 from http://www.pages.drexel.edu/~jwb24/newtech/integrate.html Gibson, Owen. (2005) New Ethics Code for BBC. The Guardian Glasson, Bernard, C, Vogel, Doug, Bots, Pieter and Nunamaker, Jay (1996) Information Systems and Technology in the International Office of the Future. Chapman & Hall. UK Haggerty, Mark. (2005) GMS Software development. The next five years. Clientside News Hallstone, Laura (2006). VC market set to grow over the next five years. Retrived 16 July 2006 from www.vcunet.com Knights, Miya (2004) Interview with Paul Cheeseburgh: BBC sees new technology horizons. Retrieved 18 July 2006 from http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/analysis/2132111/bbc-sees-technology-horizon Mwangama, Ena. (2006) Information in the Next Five Years. Retrieved 18 July 2006 from http://www.comptechlib.com/326.html Nuttall, Chris. (1999). Windows to lose its crown within five years. Retrieved 10 July 2006 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/253592.stm/ Press Release (2006) Response to the white paper. Retrieved 16 July 2006 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2006/03_march/14/white.shtml Review of the BBC’s Royal Charter. (July 2006). Retrieved 17 July 2006 from http://www.bbccharterreview.org.uk/pdf_documents/BBCRoyal%20Charter_july06.pdf Stewart, R.A. (2000). Dam Risk Management (Invited Paper). Proceedings of the International Conference on Geotechnical and Geological Engineering (GeoEng2000). Melbourne, pp. 721-748. Tafazolli, Rahim (2006) Technologies for the Wireless Future. Wireless World Research Forum. UK Thompson, Mark (Director General) (2005) Creative Future Project. Retrieved 16 July 2006 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/thefuture/text/creative_future.html Ward, John and Peppard, Joe. (2002) Strategic Planning for Information Systems. John Wiley & Sons Wartick, Stephen L. (1997) International Business and Society. Blackwell Publishers [1] British Broadcasting Corporation

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Write a Paper at the Last Minute

Write a Paper at the Last Minute Have you ever put off writing a paper until the day before it was due? You’ll be comforted to know that we all have. Many of us know the panic of settling in Thursday night and realizing suddenly that a ten-page paper is due at 9 a.m. Friday morning! How does this happen? No matter how or why you get into this situation, it’s important to remain calm and clear-headed. Fortunately, there are a few tips that will help you get through the night and still leave time for sleep. Tips for Writing a Paper Right Before It's Due 1. First, collect any quotes or statistics that you can include in your paper. You can use these as building blocks. You can focus on writing descriptions and analyses of the separate quotes first and then tie them all together later. 2. Review the main ideas. If you are writing a book report, reread the last few paragraphs of each chapter. Refreshing the story in your mind will help you tie your quotes together. 3. Come up with a great introductory paragraph. The first line of your paper is especially important. It should be interesting and relevant to the topic. It is also a great opportunity to get creative. For examples of some outstanding introductory statements, you can consult a list of great first lines. 4. Now that you have all the pieces, start putting them together. It’s so much easier to write a paper in pieces than to try to sit down and write ten pages straight. You don’t even have to write it in order. Write the parts you feel most comfortable with or knowledgeable about first. Then fill in the transitions to smooth out your essay. 5. Go to sleep! When you wake up in the morning, proofread your work. You will be refreshed and better able to spot typos and awkward transitions. Good News About Last Minute Papers Its not unusual to hear veteran students claim that some of their best grades have come from last-minute papers! Why? If you take a look at the advice above, youll see that you are forced to zero in on the most impressive or important parts of your topic and stay focused on them. There is something about being under pressure that often gives us clarity and increased focus. Lets be perfectly clear: it is not a good idea to put off your assignments as a habit. Youll always get burned eventually. But once in a while, when you find yourself having to throw together a panic paper, you can take comfort in the fact that you can turn out a good paper in a short amount of time.

Monday, October 21, 2019

Competition in the Chinese Automobile Industry Essay Essay Example

Competition in the Chinese Automobile Industry Essay Essay Example Competition in the Chinese Automobile Industry Essay Essay Competition in the Chinese Automobile Industry Essay Essay Essay Topic: Competition There are many scientific innovations in our universe. Some of these innovations are even in the houses that we live in. There are innovations such as computing machine games. the microwave oven. and even the Moto vehicle. These innovations make our lives much easier but it destroys the universe every bit good. Everything and everyone gets harmed some manner by these innovations. Let’s start off with this. The computing machine is entertaining but yet unsafe to our eyes. Children of our universe love being on the computing machine. But they shouldn’t love it excessively much. because if you stare and are excessively near to the computing machine for far excessively long. your eyes begin to ache and you become changeable sighted. This is so because your encephalon decides that you don’t necessitate to be able to see things far off and merely see thing that are close to you. The computing machine is one of the best innovations because it helps you with a batch of things. Number one is work. It allows us to salvage all our of import papers and keeps them in a private file. The microwave oven. This is a machine that heats thing. It’s great in places for when you want to heat nutrients. About 1/3 of the universe has one. I’ll say this ; micro-cook oven heats your nutrients but besides destroys your wellness. As the microwave heats up. it sends of radiation inside and out. Your nutrients become polluted with radiation and if you’re excessively close to it you every bit good. Who likes eating cold nutrient? I mean we all like nutrient Nices and hot. so we should hold a microwave oven in our houses. I personally can’t travel without a microwave. It one of my favourite scientific innovations. One of the most used scientific innovations would be the motor vehicle. Now this is superb! The motor vehicle or should I say. autos are really common to our modern twenty-four hours lives. EVERYBODY has one. Well if you have a licence of class. Now autos are a complex piece of machinery. It’s like you’re fundamentally keeping a to the full loaded gun. Almost every twenty-four hours there is an accident that occurs. We may non see it. but it happens. Peoples get greatly injured or even decease from auto accidents. On the positive side. autos do hold its advantages. Peoples use autos to transport themselves about. It takes you from one topographic point to another. Alternatively of holding to walk. you drive. Another thing about autos. it pollutes the air severely. This is so because autos give off a great trade of fume sometimes. This affects the nursery gases and even worse. the ozone bed. If the air is wholly contaminated people with die. Peoples that believe these machines are non good for our lives are slightly right but incorrect. I believe that it has made our lives truly easy and less complex. I think it has done admirations to the universe and we should all appreciate the advantage we get from this.

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Disruptive and Disruptor

Disruptive and Disruptor Disruptive and Disruptor Disruptive and Disruptor By Maeve Maddox Until recently, the words disrupt, disruptive, disruption, and disruptor were negative words used to describe actions detrimental to perceived social order. For example: Man in Elbow Room Disruption Fights Police, Damages Cruiser Twelve protesters disrupted a speech by Condoleeza Rice at Norwich University in Vermont. Iranian Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi has announced the arrest of several â€Å"election disruptors† in Tehran. Ideally, chronically disruptive students should be placed in high-quality alternative education settings where they can receive long-term, intensive interventions In the realm of science fiction, a disruptor is a weapon that can destroy a human being in a very unpleasant manner by disrupting cellular structure. Now, however, thanks to Clayton Christensen, a consultant and an entrepreneur whose 1992 Harvard DBA dissertation describes an academic theory of â€Å"disruptive innovation,† the nouns disruption and disruptor have taken on a positive connotation, at least for some denizens of Silicon Valley: Nowadays every corporate executive wants to disrupt; the word has become a mark of forward-thinking decisiveness- though it is sometimes attached to strategies that are more about cost-cutting than game-changing. And in Silicon Valley, belief in disruption has taken on a near religious tinge. All that disrupts is good; all that stands in disruption’s way (such as, say, San Francisco taxi companies or metropolitan daily newspapers) deserves to perish. –Justin Fox, â€Å"The Disruption Myth,† The Atlantic, October 2014. In this context, disruption refers to the phenomenon of old technology being upstaged by newer technology. This new disruption names a situation in which a company that was the leader in a certain field finds itself losing money because another company, with newer technology, takes the lead away from them. An example given in the Atlantic article is what happened â€Å"when electronic cash registers went from 10 percent of the market in 1972 to 90 percent just four years later,† causing the National Cash Register Company to experience big losses. Six years before Christensen’s dissertation, Dick Foster described the same phenomenon in conventional language in a book called Innovation: The Attacker’s Advantage. In Business-speak, disruption is a new word for innovation. Innovators have become disruptors. Spelling note: Both OED and M-W show the spelling disruptor as â€Å"an alternative spelling† of disrupter, but the -or ending seems to be more common. A Google search of â€Å"disrupter† returns about 429,000 hits to 1,020,000 for â€Å"disruptor.† The Ngram Viewer shows disrupter ahead until 1995, when disruptor pulls ahead. For those readers looking for a synonym for innovation that doesn’t convey the negativity of disruption, here are some possibilities: change alteration revolution upheaval transformation metamorphosis breakthrough new measures new methods modernization novelty creativity ingenuity innovation inventiveness Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:English Grammar 101: All You Need to Know8 Types of Parenthetical PhrasesComma After Introductory Phrases

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Ikea-ERP Management Information Systems Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Ikea-ERP Management Information Systems - Essay Example It is evidently clear from the discussion that IKEA leads in the world as a furniture retailer dealing with home appliances, ready-to-assemble furniture and accessories. The company has over 313 stores and operates in more than thirty-eight countries. IKEA launched a project aimed at introducing a Geographical Information System (GIS) into the wood sourcing system of the company in the year 2007. The problems that the GIS aimed to solve involved; availability of forest resource data on sub-country resource level, and region of origin in wood tracing. Using the GIS, the company could solve problems by getting the data, inputting into computers and storing them for reference and retrieval by the managers and other workers interested in using them. Implementation of the GIS by IKEA The company developed a forest tracing system for the regions of origin. According to IKEA, the region of origin referred to a unit of the territorial division of a country, which the company suppliers refere nced in the declarations of wood origin. The territory, in this case, was a forest management unit or had an administrative status. The company failed in the implementation of the system in that there was no clear definition of boundaries of the territories. In addition, the company’s forestry policy implementation failed due to lack of clear characteristics of the territorial divisions chosen. There was not enough information about the forest resources of the territories leading to failure in the implementation of the system. If the units were smaller than they are, data management would have been easy. However, as we have seen, the company used large areas and thus the territories were large. This made reporting from such units irrelevant and reduction in the credibility of doing so. In this case, the suppliers had problems in using the division structure to separate wood flows. Furthermore, there was a large variation in territorial sizes in both territorial division units and territorial divisions of a country. The forest resource, data availability at regional levels should be according to tree species groups or tree species. However, the company failed to implement the system according to this criterion. There was a lack of crucial statistical information such as growing stock and cuttings in some cases. For example, Romania had no reliable data giving the growing stock in the region. These problems, therefore, lead to generalizations. For instance, the data on three groups rather than on individual tree species leads to complete uncertainty and thus difficulties in using GIS successfully. The GIS functionality According to the IKEA Company, there could be three users of the GIS. These users include the forestry staff, suppliers and buyers. The forest staff was to use the technology in the following ways: 1. Entering, visualizing and editing the data of forest tracing system and that of wood procurement planning 2. Performing risk assessment at th e regional level defined for the purposes of audit planning 3. Obtaining summaries of the wood volume from wood procurement planning and forest tracing data 4. Exporting and saving tables, maps, wood procurement planning, and forest tracing data.

Development of Health Care Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Development of Health Care - Assignment Example The British masses willingly bore with the hardships, scarcity and want imposed by the coalition government under Winston Churchill to divert the scarce resources to war efforts. The politicians and the leadership of the times felt a dire need to reward the British working class for its forbearance and sacrifice by ushering in reforms that were to give way to a more egalitarian society (Stevenson 1990). The UK government deputed Sir William Beveridge to draft a report that was to be the basis of a pragmatic policy targeted at helping low-income groups in Britain (Hills, Ditch & Glennerster 1994). The report furnished by Beveridge in December 1942 proposed that all the working age citizens ought to be made to pay a weekly levy. The funds accumulated through the accrual and management of these weekly contributions were to be used by the state to help people who were needy unemployed or retired. Beveridge called for a minimal standard of living that was to be mandatorily extended by the state to all the poor and needy. The Labour government elected in 1945 resorted to the suggestions made by the Beveridge Report to chalk out measures that were to form the basis of a modern welfare state (Hills, Ditch & Glennerster 1994). The concept of a welfare state includes within its ambit the need to resorting to public and statutory measures to extend the agreed upon minimal standards of living to the deprived and marginalized individuals and groups across the society. In an ideal scenario, the objective of any welfare state is to strive to eradicate poverty, to ensure an all-inclusive distribution of resources and national wealth to promote and enhance social cohesion and unity. In consonance with the above-mentioned ideas, the Beveridge exclusively attacked the evils of ill health, lack of education, lack of hygiene, unemployment, and poverty (Hills, Ditch & Glennerster 1994).

Friday, October 18, 2019

About Destination Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

About Destination Management - Assignment Example It is the home for most of the national as well as the international based organisations and is also considered to be a significant commercial centre. It has been ascertained that millions of tourist visit London every year. It is worth mentioning that number of famous attractions dwells in the city. Amongst these Big Ben, Tower Bridge, London Eye, Houses of Parliament, Tower of London and Buckingham Palace among others are the few world renowned places that are located in the city. Apart from these, numerous events are also conducted in the city annually. The city has a good transportation system. It is regarded as among the safest destinations for visitors (Visit England, 2013).Correspondingly, this paper primarily intends to describe the emergence of destination development along with relating various theories and concepts to the city of London. 2. The Emergence of Destination Development and Consideration of Sustainable/Responsible Tourism Development A destination is duly regard ed as an area of tourist appeal which comprises attractions and accommodations along with support services. In other words, it can be regarded as a physical boundary embrace with distinctive images as well as qualities that provides a brand identity to a particular location recognisable by potential visitors (Visit England, 2013). The aspect of destination development is often considered to be a central theme especially from tourism perspective. It is worth mentioning that emergence of destinations, government policies, impact of development and marketing issues among others are the vital components that play an imperative role in destination development. It is strongly stated that a destination possesses the capability to motivate visitors to travel by and entail activities of interest to accommodate wherein visitors feel safe and secure. At the same time, shortage of tourism resources, obstructionist role often play by governments, inadequate infrastructure and ineffective promoti on are the primary determinants for destination development (Henderson, 2006). It is firmly stressed that destination development has viable influence on the notion of sustainable development. Broadly speaking, tourism activity considerably contributes towards the development as well as the growth of a particular location. It can be affirmed that sustainable development has greater interrelation with destination development. Correspondingly, destination development is accompanied with various significant factors such as quality environment, social interaction, cultural distinctiveness, security and welfare of visitors and host communes (European Commission, 2007). Thus, destination development is viewed as an important tool driven with economic development along with enhancing the quality life of tourists as well as host communities. 3. Application of Theories to the City Of London a. Stage of Development The mounting demand of national along with international visitors for spending their holidays has resulted in rapid development of tourist destinations. In order to understand the destination development stage, it is crucial to adopt the model propagated by R. W. Butler. According to Butler (1980), the development of a particular destination typically passes through six major sequences or phases. These stages can be identified as exploration, involvement, development, consolidation, stagnation and decline or rejuvenation (Butler, 1980). Diagrammatic representation of the aforementioned stages of destination development has been illustrated below. Source: (Butler, 1980). With this concern, it can be apparently observed that the city of

Generation of Electricity Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Generation of Electricity - Assignment Example However, the PVs may also be ustilised in the production of alternating current when appropriate appliances are utilised. According to Knier (2002), photovoltaics uses the atomic level to convert light directlt into the generation of electricity. These involve using materials that can absorb light photons and later release electrons, such materials are said to have photoelectric effect. The capturing of the electrons produced by the photoelectric effects helps in the generation of electricity. According to the diagram above, rays from the sun are tapped by the photovoltaic cells. A common photovoltaic cell is a silicon cell that consist of N-type and P-type silicon. Thses silicon are located at the top most part of the material. The generation of electric field takes place at the upper part of the cells where the two silicons are situated. They comes into contact with the junction of the materials (referred to as P-N junction) (McNichol, 2006; Bazilian et al., 2013). The sunlight strikes the electric filed to induce motion of the electron that results in the flow of current. The size of the surface area of the PV cell determines the amount of electricity generated. The intensity of the rays from the sun also affects the amount of current generated. The larger the size of PV cells and the more intense the rays, the higher the amount of electrons generated hence increased electric supply. For instance a cell with an area of 150 cm^2 will generate 2 watts power. When a solar panel is exposed in the sunlight as shown in the diagram below, it will generate electricity that can be measured. The voltage produced is around 100volts on a single day when there is optimal sunshine. This can be stored on batteries arranged in series as shown in the diagram below. The results of such a strategy depends on the size of the panel and the amount of sunshine ( Knier, 2002; Wolfgang, 2013). Primary batteries are cheap because

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Ten Critical Steps for Risk Managers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 3

Ten Critical Steps for Risk Managers - Essay Example These may include services like having political risk intelligence. Next, risk managers as a way to protect their business in Congo DRC should make a list of the expected political risks and combine them in order to reduce the premiums to be paid for them as a way of protection whether in insurance protection or any other form of protection offered for the business in that country. Communication as another step is very important. This is communication by the risk managers to other stakeholders of the company on issues to do with the company including liability and property coverage, regular updates of the political situation and other logistics issues that may come in handy in prevention of losses from political chaos (Cook, Alston and Raia, 2004). Contract on the issue of risk coverage and any terms of payment in that line should be constantly reviewed and updated. This is a necessary step to be taken by the risk managers who really aim at protecting the business and preventing any form of political loss in this foreign country. Other than contract reviewing, it is necessary for a risk manager to have political risk intelligence which incorporates aspects like political risk insurance of economic and also political events that may occur in that country anytime and that may disrupt the business. This may require working with national intelligence services outside Congo DRC and other trade associations to make this step effective. The country has its own market standard policy conditions and rates that have to be followed if political risk is to be avoided for the business. These may include among others policies on currency conversion or licensing. Export market has its shares of risks that have to be addressed by the risk manager and especially in such a politically unstable country. This includes risks like nonpayment or even frustration of contracts and which may prove detrimental to the business if not effectively addressed by the risk

Opening a restaurant Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Opening a restaurant - Term Paper Example These businesses are believed to have certain weaknesses that Lexus will capitalise in in order to compete favourably in the market. The business will employ a marketing strategy where our sales representatives will visit institutions to show case the products and services we offer. Brochures, fliers, and posters will be developed to be used in marketing strategy with most of information to be accessed through the website page. We aim to capture majority of the market share in the 1st one year. The business is also planning to use several others strategies like product differentiation, pricing, place/location, segmentation and growth strategies. Together with these, the SWOT analysis of the business is to be examined in order to know all the areas to improve in. The proposed business is to be registered under the name â€Å"Lexus Unit Restaurant†. â€Å"Lexus† is a term in Germany translated to mean satisfactory and comfortable surroundings. The decision to use the above name is based on the restaurant’s ultimate goal of ensuring maximum client’s satisfaction in terms of meals served, lodging services in a favourable dining environment. â€Å"Lexus Unit Restaurant† a 1,200-square-foot restaurant will be setup at Outer Drive within Sioux City and it will be the only restaurant business located on the 25-acre tract of city-owned land targeting middle level income earners. The site is supposedly convenient for the business because it serves as the central point with good proximity and accessibility to potential customers with a good infrastructure such as good road network, electricity, water and telecommunication services. The Metropolitan area highly secured and exposed to several customers that tours the city projects hence need for quality meals and favourable environment to dine. The proposed business will be a sole proprietorship form of business sponsored by me and who shall also be the manager of the enterprise. I will keep truck of the

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Ten Critical Steps for Risk Managers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 3

Ten Critical Steps for Risk Managers - Essay Example These may include services like having political risk intelligence. Next, risk managers as a way to protect their business in Congo DRC should make a list of the expected political risks and combine them in order to reduce the premiums to be paid for them as a way of protection whether in insurance protection or any other form of protection offered for the business in that country. Communication as another step is very important. This is communication by the risk managers to other stakeholders of the company on issues to do with the company including liability and property coverage, regular updates of the political situation and other logistics issues that may come in handy in prevention of losses from political chaos (Cook, Alston and Raia, 2004). Contract on the issue of risk coverage and any terms of payment in that line should be constantly reviewed and updated. This is a necessary step to be taken by the risk managers who really aim at protecting the business and preventing any form of political loss in this foreign country. Other than contract reviewing, it is necessary for a risk manager to have political risk intelligence which incorporates aspects like political risk insurance of economic and also political events that may occur in that country anytime and that may disrupt the business. This may require working with national intelligence services outside Congo DRC and other trade associations to make this step effective. The country has its own market standard policy conditions and rates that have to be followed if political risk is to be avoided for the business. These may include among others policies on currency conversion or licensing. Export market has its shares of risks that have to be addressed by the risk manager and especially in such a politically unstable country. This includes risks like nonpayment or even frustration of contracts and which may prove detrimental to the business if not effectively addressed by the risk

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Information communication technology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Information communication technology - Essay Example The use of the electronic mails has enabled people to keep in touch from all corners of the world. For instance, a software designer working on a project of the company can cooperate with team members who are situated in different locations. They can communicate through videoconferencing and various groupware programs soft wares. This work configuration is referred to as teleworking. This teleworking has been famous for the past years. It was predicted to gain high adopted but this has not been the case because organizations are not prepared fully for it. This has disempowered employees in many ways. However, teleworking has caused both positive and negative effects which must be studied carefully. In a networked business setup, workers can access all the information they need from the powerful PCs of the company. The presence of Wide web’s opens up the enterprises to the world thus creating more opportunities on their services. The Emergence of the internet as a communication channel has led to the growth of e-business and e-commerce. However, it has been a major issue since a few business enterprise and organization thrive as a result of this change in technology. Employees of many organizations lack a voice in decision making and sharing their thoughts through inventions. The key driver to the success of any business is by using Information Technology in supporting the staff through team works. This step will be a huge milestone since it will give them an opportunity to dream and come up with varieties of inventions (Davenport, 2005 p.51). The rate at which Digital networks is transforming workplace is incredible. The networked business entities have created a virtual business environment where by employees can now work from home. Work groups are distributed around the entire globe in almost all the fields of works. Their convergence is achieved through hosting meetings over the internet through videos and audios, regardless of their location (Davenpo rt, 2005 p.56). The advancement of these efforts has enabled them to share thoughts, goals and common interests of their respective fields of professions. This virtual environment has proven to be a positive impact to businesses since it enhances flexibility of work and duties. Organizations must shun the old and outdated models which they usually engaged in. The tendency of employees converging at the central place of work is boring since a few numbers of employees can keep up with that model today (Regan & O’Connor, 2002 p.8). Teleworking has become realistic today, enabled by ICT through mobile technology making staff members to continuously work from their homes. Studies and research works carried out reported that, regardless of ICT opening this option to an immense range of individuals, there is a much smaller percentage of those who practice teleworking. For instance in Europe, only seven percent of employees work from home on a regular basis. Recently, reports from Au stralia indicate that the numbers might shoot. Forty percent of the respondents confessed that they carried their assignments to their homes for completion. Conversely, that findings maintained there is still a huge percentage of workers who never do this, approximated to be sixty percent. The evidence in these researches points out that few people utilizes this golden opportunity of working from their homes. Telecommuting has benefit both for individuals, the organization for which one is working for and the society at large. Telecommuting allows an individual to effectively balance family demands and affairs and work. A researcher called Gajendran argues that, telecommuting minimizes job verses family feuds due to its positive effects on autonomy. From the

Monday, October 14, 2019

Should College Athletes Be Paid Essay Example for Free

Should College Athletes Be Paid Essay The System for college athletes isnt perfect, and needs to be worked on, a big problem we cannot seem to agree is how to compensate the student-athletes who drive the NCAA. I would like to start off with a question. Are college athletes being compensated enough for the effort they put forth today? Every Day they wake up early and represent their university whether they are putting in work in class or on the field. Each student-student athlete generates tons of money for their university and they don’t see a dime other than their scholarship that may or may not been renewed every year. Keep that question in mind while reading this essay, and form your own opinion. There is simply not enough money for each athlete to be paid. The NCAA also has a policy called Title IX, which basically states that if one athlete gets money, every athlete at that university has to get compensated for the same amount. Meaning that a women’s field hockey player will be granted the same amount as a starting quarterback who fills up stadiums. Once people hear that this would be the reality if college athletes were paid, their opinions may change. The NCAA is huge on ameatur status and if they ever paid student athletes, they would break the golden rule that college athletes have been running on since the beginning of college sports. A few hundred dollars a month for each athlete isn’t going to stop any of the illicit activities involved with collegiate athletics because this isn’t about needing material things. What primarily causes improper benefit violations is greed. Student-athletes break rules because they want something they normally could not have, not because they needed something most other students had. An article written by a Colorado University professor states that the school has cut funding for research to pay for poorly performing football coaches. â€Å"Rutgers University has subsidized it’s athletic program to the tune of $115 million since 2006, while at the same time foregoing raises across campus last year to save $30 million.† College athletics are a big piece of everyday life of people around the world already, and in reality athletes are already paid. Scholar athletes are paid in form of a full scholarship which includes tuition, room and board, books, and some incidentals. Many  schools across the country have top notch educational tutoring programs, along with top tier exposure that would cost a fortune if it was not provided by the university. There have been coaches such as head football coach at South Carolina, Steve Spurrier, who have provided a plan that pays each of his players $300 for each game they play in. Spurrier says the extra $300 dollars â€Å"would be for game expenses that they could give to their parents for travel, lodging, meals, and even maybe taking their girlfriend out Saturday night and so forth† Spurrier States. Pay for Play is a topic that has gotten much more debate recently with new scandals occurring so frequently. Annually the Pac-12 makes $250 million in T.V. contracts, $150 million for the downsized Big 10, and $205 million for the SEC. So the question must be asked, as these TV contracts grow larger and larger, will the players be granted any money in the near future? There have been recent studies that have come up with estimates that the full athletic scholarship comes up around $3,000 short of all expenses needed for the student. A couple years ago, there were reports that football quarterback Cam Newton who plays for the Carolina Panthers starting as quarterback, was being shopped around by his father for $180,000. Newton denied the reports and these claims were never proven and Newton went on to win the Heisman trophy and national championship. Even if Newton was paid $180,000, that is only a small percentage of the money that he brought to the university for that season at Aubu rn. NCAA president Mark Emmert, on paying players â€Å"There’s a model for paying athletes, and its called professional sports, and I love them. But that’s not what college sports is about. If we were going to pay student athletes, why even have a university-based teams?Just go watch a pro game.† As for right now, pay for play is just a debate, so here are some pros and cons of the idea. Some pros, or why the idea makes sense are: players should be entitled to some form of compensation due to the money they bring to the school and the injury risk they face each time they play their respective sports. Athletes from poor families need money to be able to support themselves since their families cannot do it for them. The money the football and men’s basketball teams should go back to the players instead of paying for sports who make no profits. If the athletes were paid it could help keep kids that aren’t ready  to go pro from going pro early. While pay for play sounds nice, there are also reasons it wouldn’t work. A big question that would come up would be, where would the money come from? A majority of athletic programs don’t make enough of a profit already. Title IX would make it so each athlete, regardless of sport, would have to be paid the same. Many believe that non-revenue sports would have to be abandoned since there wouldn’t be sufficient funds to support them. While people may have the opinion that college athletes should be paid, the debate for them is how they would be paid, and where the money would come from. The main argument is that paying the athletes only seems fair. Since schools don’t have to pay their players, schools are able to pay more and more for their coaches. As of March 2010, almost a dozen schools spent 38% or more on their football offensive or defensive coordinators. Players are the product that everyone comes to see, they are the ones risking their bodies. Everyone can make money off of college athletics except for the athletes themselves. Pay for play would put other schools at a competitive disadvantage. The question would be how would the smaller schools and conferences who only make a fraction of what the larger conferences be able to keep up with the larger schools and conferences? Would you rather play at a small school or play for a larger school and be paid extra towards your scholarship? The obvious a nswer would be to play for a larger school and get more money. Another question would be would you pay every athlete or a select few? These are all important questions that must be asked before we start paying college athletes. People may think that being a college athletes is easy, and anyone can do it, however this is not the case at all. To begin with, the athletes put in loads of their time, everyday of the week. They still have to go to class everyday like normal students, then practice and even sometimes they have a practice after another practice. After these tasks are done they eat dinner, then go study. At the end of the day, they aren’t left with any free time due to their crazy college schedule. You would think that they would by the end of the day, but no time is really given. Coaches can be very demanding by having the athletes stay up late at night watching film for tomorrows game. When they are hurt, they are taken in by physical therapists and athletic trainers. As a student athlete though, you have to stay focused on your studies and make progress on your athletic abilities/performances or  the college might try to get rid of you. One thing that may be surprising is most college athletes do not receive their college degrees. The games they play, and the rigorous workouts are main contributors to this. Theres so much pressure on the athlete to perform well that sometimes their grades slip. College coaches are sometimes the one to blame for this, since sometimes they look the other way and risk their players education just to win some more games. Some people can argue that student athletes are compensated enough already. Over a period of four years a college scholarship could exceed $200,000. Along with that $200,000 in scholarship money the athlete could receive top-of-the-line tutoring, priority scheduling, and excused absences. â€Å"When athletes accept scholarships, they are provided tuition, books, meals, housing, and sometimes graduate assistantships.† With all of this being said, people may have a valid argument that athletes are being compensated enough already. In a recent survey taken by students, they said they supported the idea of paying the athletes at their school. Something shocking was that the students said they would even pay increased tuition if it meant that the money went towards paying the athletes at their school. Both sides of the debate have solid arguments as to whether they should be paid or not. One thing that is certain however is the athletes are being offered a lot with a college scholarship and a excellent learning experience, but the real question is, is that enough? There are 320 athletic programs in Division I each year, with the exception of a few schools. Each university runs on a deficit each year. â€Å"According to the NCAA’s own figures (which generally exclude capital costs, among others), the average FBS athletic program ran a $9.44 million operating deficit in the latest year.† With this being said, here lies the main problem as to why it would be nearly impossible for schools to pay their athletes. There is no logical solution as to how a school would be able to pay a student-athletes salary. So the question must be asked. Where would the money come from, if not provided by the university? Another question would be which athletes should be paid, and how much should they receive? Would there be an open market for the athletes? Would high school recruits go to the highest bidder? There are other things we could do to help out the athletes, such as raises total scholarship money. There could be four year scholarships, rather than stressing out the athletes on whether  their annual scholarship will be renewed. The National College Players Association collaborated with Drexel Universitys sports management program on a research project and came up with some shocking details. The study blames the college sports scandals on the unethical and impractical NCAA res trictions that are on college athletes. The study conducted found the average shortfall of a â€Å"full† scholarship that is supposed to be provided by the university. The study â€Å"compares the room and board portion of players† scholarships to the federal poverty line and coaches’ and athletic administrators’ salaries, and uses NFL and NBA collective bargaining agreements to estimate the fair market value of FBS football and basketball players.† According to the study, the average out of pocket expenses for each player on â€Å"full scholarship† was $3,222 during the 2010-2011 school year. The study concluded the average value of an example of a particular school. Duke basketball players were valued at $1,025,656 while just living $732 above the poverty line and a scholarship shortfall at $1,995. For College football there are many good or even great reasons why pay for play won’t happen. How about paying for a 6 foot 6 inch tall, 325 pound offensive lineman’s meals. We don’t have to because the school does, and that’s at least $500 dollars per month. When an athletes accepts a scholarship, they receive free insurance, and good insurance would generally cost about $400 dollars a month, go ahead and multiply that by the amount of people that are on the team and that’s alot of money. Players get free publicity and it is all provided by the school. It would cost a fortune to hire an agent or get that publicity for yourself. On away games the school pays for everyone’s travel. I personally would love to go to California for free, or Hawaii for example. Free housing is important as well. With all the families with no houses due to foreclosure, there’s no doubt about where the athletes are staying. They can chooses to live on campus for free, or receive a housing allowance they can use to spend on a house/apartment off campus. Bottom line with college athletes is that they are paid, just not like professional athletes . As I have said before housing allowances are built into college scholarships and the amount varies for each school. For Example, a player for South Carolina get $500 per month for off campus activities while a player from South California gets $1000. Let’s say that two players on South Carolina’s football team gets an apartment off campus and it’s $700 for rent  each month. With that being said each player pays $350 for rent and pockets $150 every month. What do you think that player spends his money on? It isn’t food, players get to eat free on campus, and get a meal allowance off of campus. For example, at Boston College the meal allowance is $41 per day. Lets say the player only uses $30 of that, that’s $11 extra everyday and multiply that by the days of the month and there’s roughly another $350 per month in money the player pockets. Athletes do the same thing for book allowances by buying books, then just pocketing the difference and making even more money. Whether or not student-athletes should be paid is the wrong question that’s being asked. The question that people should be asking is, How has the NCAA gotten away with not fully compensating the main attraction to college sports, which is the players? Even people who work at high ranking jobs for the NCAA know the wrongs of the situation. The NCAA preaches amateurism as their most important rule. Walter Byers, former executive director of the NCAA, was quoted saying â€Å"Amateurism is not a moral issue; it’s an economic camouflage for monopoly practice.† The NCAA is well aware of this problem and there is realistically nothing they can do about it. The shame in this situation rides with the highly educated leaders of the NCAA who take advantage of student athletes each and every year. Pay for play will be a strong topic for debate until both sides can agree on a solution. People have their opinions set on their respective sides and valid arguments can be made for each side. With all of that being said, I personally believe that the student-athletes are being compensated enough. Everyone wants to focus on the negatives saying they don’t get this or they don’t get that, but in all reality student-athletes are very fortunate to be in the position they are in.

Sunday, October 13, 2019

Definition of Marketing and Marketing Mix

Definition of Marketing and Marketing Mix Application of the marketing mix is no longer relevant for contemporary approaches to marketing. Marketing mix, as a part of marketing strategy, may affect the performance of one company. However, as to whether it still plays an important role in the contemporary marketing, many scholars and academics have various views, and some of them regard it as controversial, see Grà ¶nroos 1994, McCarthy 1960, Kent 1986 for more detail. Based on the previous analysis, this essay mainly discusses the relevance of the marketing mix used in two certain contemporary approaches- customers marketing, and relationship marketing as the limitation study of this essay. The Definition of Marketing and Marketing Mix In order to have a clear idea on marketing mix, first of all, the concept of marketing should be discussed. As reported by Keith Blois (2000, p.517), the American Marketing Association (1985) makes a conclusion of defining marketing as the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing , promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods and services to create and satisfy individual and organizational objectives and UKs Chartered Institute of Marketing(1996) defines the marketing as the management process of planning, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably. In general, these two definitions focus on the transaction approach in marketing rather than relationship marketing, which the latter one plays a more important role in nowadays marketing approach. As supported by Philip Kotler and Gary Armstrongs (2007, p.5), marketing definition is the process of creating value for customers and build strong customer relationships in order to capture value from customers in return. This is also the reason of choosing customers marketing and relationship marketing as the main contemporary approach to discuss in latter parts of this article. After the figure out the definition of marketing, then it seems necessary to draw a clear picture of what marketing mix refers to, for the reason that many scholars and academic now have different views whether it should be change into 4C, or 4R, or add more Ps. Neil Borden (1975) who may first create the term marketing mix, and made a list of 12 subdivisions as the components within marketing mix, which can be divided into 4 categories, namely, consumer attitudes and habits, trade attitudes and methods competition and government control. as explicated by Baker (2007, p.328). He also discusses many types of classifying the elements of marketing mix, for examples the Albert Freys two dimensions (1961), threefold classification of Lazer and Kelley (1975) and Lazer et al (1973) and a four-way classification of Lipson and Darling (1971), but he prefers the idea of 4Ps-product, price, place and promotion as refer to marketing mix, which firstly proposed by McCarthy (1978). As Baker (2007) points out the 4Ps model simplifies the way to make a clear structure as a whole for marketing managers and guide them to achieve a certain task. Philip Kotler and Gary Armstrong (2007) define the marketing mix as the set of controllable, tactical marketing tool s (p.50), in order to get the feedback of the certain markets, and regard the 4Ps as marketing mix. Moreover, according to David Jobber (2001), The strength of the 4Ps approach is that it represents a memorable and practical framework for marketing decision-making and has proved useful for case study analysis in business schools for many years. Therefore, as 4Ps-product, price, place and promotion, are still widely recognized by worldwide scholars as marketing mix, this article will use 4Ps to discuss its relevance of contemporary marketing approach. The Relevance to Customers Marketing The development of the marketing approach and modern technology facilitate the customers to get more chances to be evolved in commercial activities, business communications and collecting data from the internet. Thus, the customer becomes more sophisticated to serve, as E. Constantinides (2006, p.413) illustrates that many researchers agree that modern consumer is demanding, individualistic, involved, independent, better informed and more critical (Capon and Hulbert 2000; Lewis and Bridger 2000). In this case, the marketers need to focus on the individual needs and wants and make the service personalized rather than carrying out the traditional marketing approach as mass marketing. For example, a famous cosmetic band Biotherm makes its products different according to the local markets. A product called corrective make-up base which have four different colors and SPF25 can only be sold in a China. Although it is more related to global marketing, but to some extent, the product is sold based on the local customers need-the skin of Chinese is more sensitive than European country. Another example is Dell Computer Company, which is more concentrate on customizing their products. The company tries very hard to collect as many choices as possible for every single consumer, in order to meet their personalized needs. However, when look into the marketing techniques used by both companies, they all emphasize on customer or consumers needs as the first principles, and it is obvious that marketing mix-product, price, place and promotion, do not contain the element of customer. And according to E. Constantinides (2006), Robins (1991) pointed that 4Ps model of marketing mix concerns the internal elements too much, instead, the external elements such as Customers, Competitors, Capabilities, Company should be also taken into consideration. And Kotler (1984) advocated that as part of marketing strategy, some external and uncontrollable environmental factors are needed to includ e in the marketing mix, namely, Customers Environmental variables Competitive variables. As discussed above, it indicates that, in customers marketing, the markers should think more about how to satisfy their customers, rather than just focus on the product itself. In other words, markers should do something for the customer instead of to them and be more customer-oriented. Today, consumer is no long the one who just buy the mass products, but the one who personalize the products by themselves and even push forward the one companys creativity. Besides, customers marketing requires more consumer interactivity. As argued by Doyle (1994), and Yudelson (1999) in E. Constantinides (2006), that to get higher value is not as the only purpose to consumer, but they also want to affect on the process of communicating. In this case, the 4Ps marketing mix seems not as relevant to the customers marketing as to other marketing, like transactional marketing. The Relevance to Relationship Marketing Evert Gummesson (2008) defines relationship marketing as an approach to develop long-term loyal customers and thus increasing profitability. And he even develops 30R (relationship) to elaborate the core concept-relationship, network and interaction. Gronroos (1994) argues that the 4Ps model marketing mix is much more clinical approach, restrictive and obsolete, which also makes the buyer a passive part rather then an active part as it should be. Patterson andWard (2000) in E. Constantinides (2006, p.417) illustrate that 4Ps Marketing Mix has a clearly offensive character because the strategies associated to the 4Ps tend to be function-oriented and output oriented. In order to solve the problem caused by 4Ps, he advocates the emphasis should be in managing valued customer relationships, and proposes new Cs, namely, Communication Customization Collaboration and Clairvoyance. From the above statement, it is clearly that the limitation of 4Ps marketing mix in relationship marketing. The 4Ps marketing mix is lack of customer orientation, either in interactive communication or in satisfying the consumers needs. Gronroos (1994) even pointed out that the marketing paradigm will eventually shift to relationship marketing rather than marketing mix management. It seems that the function of 4Ps marketing mix in dealing with customers marketing and relationship marketing is limited. It may due to the following reasons: Firstly, marketing mix is mainly coping with transaction marketing, which is product-oriented, as it is focus on mass markets. As Gronroos (1994) demonstrates that 4Ps model was indeed originally developed for consumer packaged goods marketing where transaction marketing is most appropriate. Secondly, marketing mix is as the dominating marketing function in transaction marketing, but just plays a supportive role in customers marketing and relationship marketing. Finally, compare with customers marketing and relationship marketing, in transaction marketing, customers are more sensitive to the price, as the former one may add additional value to the product, to some extent can fulfill other needs of consumers. So does 4Ps marketing mix really irrelevant to contemporary approach to marketing? Not exactly. As the article just picks up two main marketing methods to discuss, so the conclusion is too earlier to draw. However, when Philip Kotler and Gary Armstrong (2007) mentioned about the marketing mix, they indicated that it is better to consider the buyers or consumers view, so they advocate 4C-customer solution, customer cost, convenience and communication, should be thought firstly, then build 4Ps on the basis of 4C, in that case, it will be more successful. Besides this, as discussed above that the marketing mix also supports the interactive marketing as in customers marketing and relationship marketing, so in conclusion, 4Ps is still relevant to the contemporary marketing, but at the same time, we should give priority to the customers wants and the peoples needs. Bibliography: 1. AMA Board Approves New Marketing Definition, Marketing News, 1 March 1985. 2. Christian Grà ¶nroos. (1994) From Marketing Mix to Relationship Marketing: Towards a Paradigm Shift in Marketing, Management Decision, Vol.32, No.2, pp.4-20. 3. David Jobber. (2007) Principles and Practice of Marketing, 5th edition. Maidenhead, Berkshire, UK: McGraw-Hill Publishing Company. 4. E. Constantinides. (2006) The Marketing Mix Revisited: Towards the 21st Century Marketing, Journal of Marketing Management, Vol. 22, Issue 3/4, pp.407-438. 5. Evert Gummesson. (2008) Total Relationship Marketing, 3rd edition. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann. 6. Keith Blois. (2000) The Oxford Textbook of Marketing, Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. 7. McCarthy, E.J. (1960) Basic Marketing, Irwin, Homewood, IL. 8. Michael J. Baker. (2007) Marketing Strategy and Management, 4th edition. Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. 9. Nicole E. Coviello, Roderick J. Brodie and Hugh J. Munro. (1997) Understanding Contemporary Marketing: Development of a Classification Scheme, Journal of Marketing Management, Vol. 13, Issue 6, pp.501-522. 10. N.H. Borden. (1964) The concept of the Marketing Mix, Journal of Advertising Research, Vol.4, June, pp.2-7. 11. Philip Kotler. (1984) Marketing Management: Analysis, planning and Control, 5th edition, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. 12.Philip Kotler, and Gary Armstrong. (2008) Principles of marketing, 12th edition. Upper Saddle River, N.J. Pearson Prentice Hall. 13. Rick Wise and Niren Sirohi. (2005) Finding the best marketing mix, Journal of Business Strategy, Vol. 26, No.6, pp. 10-11. 14. Robins, F. (1991) Four Ps or Four Cs or Four Ps and Four Cs, MEG Conference. 15. Walte van Waterschoot and Christophe Van den Bulte. (1992) The 4P Classification of the Marketing Mix Revisited, Journal of Marketing Vol. 56, No.4, pp.83-93.