Introduction Of Prenatal Care For Teenagers - 2731 Words

Introduction to Prenatal Care for Teenagers Even though the teen pregnancy and birth rates have dropped by one-third over the past decade, teen pregnancy in the United States is a growing problem. According to data by the National Center for Health Statistics and other official data, one in three girls still become pregnant by the age of twenty. In the United States one million adolescent girls become pregnant every year causing the U.S. to be the leader of the developed world in teen pregnancy. One in four of these teen girls will have a second baby within twenty four months and in 2010, a survey showed that only one in ten of these unwed mothers, ages fifteen to seventeen, received child support from the father. As citizens of the United States this is a time when we all need to pull together and help to change the future before it is too late. Many things can cause teen pregnancy but many things can prevent it or at least slow it down such as sexual abuse, poor life circumstances, parents attitudes, drugs and alcohol use, and exploitation by older men. Making good decisions and responsible choices about sexual activity during the teenage years can have immediate and lasting implications for overall health outcomes. How teenagers make decisions about relationships, abstaining or participating in sex, and protecting themselves and others from sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy is influenced by numerous factors. Parents, peers, the media, access to education andShow MoreRelatedIntroduction: . In The Community Of The City Of Tempe,1360 Words   |  6 PagesIntroduction: In the community of the city of Tempe, Arizona zip code, 85282, resources for pregnant women are limited. Pregnancy is an amazing, high demand process that the human body goes through. During pregnancy the demands on a woman’s body are increased as the body’s nutrient needs are increased. With the higher health demands it is essential that health care clinics are available to help with progression of the pregnancy. Adolescents face higher demands from a pregnancy. During adolescenceRead MoreTeen Pregnacy2223 Words   |  9 Pageshaving more children. Effects on Mother Teenagers are not as educated about pregnancy as many adults are, because of this they do not understand how important it is to receive prenatal care, and several teenagers do not receive prenatal care until late into their pregnancy and some not at all (Miller, 2006). Most of the time teens are afraid to tell someone their pregnant or even might be pregnant because they are ashamed and afraid. Majority of teenagers are usually in denial about being pregnantRead MoreNurse Family Partnership : A Community Health Based Home Visiting Program1491 Words   |  6 PagesIntroduction Nurse Family Partnership (NFP) program is a community health-based home visiting program which is evidence based. This program is designed for women with no previous births who have low income. It involves the use of nurses or paraprofessionals to pay home visits to vulnerable mothers, usually socially disadvantaged teenagers who are first time mothers. These health professionals pay home visits from pregnancy till the children are about two years of age. The aim of this is to improveRead MoreTeenage Pregnancy Sections I And II1738 Words   |  7 Pagestheir education can be challenging as well. Introduction: o Samantha, a fourteen year old teenager became pregnant in High School. The teen didn’t realize she was pregnant with twins. Samantha’s body was too weak to carry both, so she lost one of them. Burying one of her babies at such an early age was devastating. Samantha was faced with several issues at the same time. Her parents were also on drugs, which didn’t help with being pregnant as a teenager. This was a lot for Samantha to deal withRead MorePrevention of Alcohol Abuse Among Pregnant Women1306 Words   |  5 PagesPrevention of Alcohol abuse among pregnant women Introduction The drug abuse menace has been indicated to be one of the leading factors that negatively affect people at whatever stage of life right from the fetus stage to the fully grown baby and the adulthood. Of greater interest in this case is the persistent and ever increasing abuse of alcohol among other substances among pregnant women and teenagers in particular. There are repercussions that come with the alcohol abuse and there is thereforeRead MoreLiterature Review On Teen Pregnancy1344 Words   |  6 PagesIntroduction This Literature Review gives a deep insight of some of the available literature related to teen pregnancy, neighborhood effects on poverty, and socio-economic effects of teen pregnancies. Teen pregnancy has become a significant issue in society. A large number of teen pregnancy and school dropouts have been recorded in the past and get associated with poverty. To understand teen pregnancy and its association with poverty; this literature review is going to examine some of the academicRead MorePregnant Teens: An Epidemiology2196 Words   |  9 Pagesï » ¿Pregnant Teens: An Epidemiology Introduction: Based on the readily available images broadcast from films, MTV and other mass media, one might assume that the teen pregnancy epidemic is on the rise. In one respect, this health risk condition has rarely been more culturally visible than it is right now. However, it does bear noting that teen pregnancy has actually been on the decline in the United States over the last two decades. According to the source provided by Sheets (2012), from 1990 toRead MoreTeen Pregnancy in the United States Essays3049 Words   |  13 PagesTeen Pregnancy in the United States Introduction Teen pregnancy falls into the category of pregnancies in girls age 19 or younger (NIH). Although statistics have shown a decrease, the number of teen pregnancy in the U.S. is still relatively high compared to the rest of the world. Sexual health is one of the top priorities in early adolescence health in the United States. Consequences of having sex at a young age generally results in unsafe sex practices. The consequences can be due to the lackRead MoreSexual Health in Civilization Essay examples1671 Words   |  7 PagesIntroduction Sexual and reproductive health deals with the state of complete physical, mental and social well being, not just the absence of disease or infrimity. The article points out that there needs to be a social impact on sexual and reproductive health services and for policy makers to be aware of these things so their can be funding for these programs and public education about it too. The reason why this is an interesting topic is because each society around the world has different groupsRead MoreThe New York City As A Major Obstacle For Receiving Quality Health Care3141 Words   |  13 PagesIntroduction New York City is composed of some of the world’s most unique and eccentric neighborhoods the world has ever seen. Amongst these neighborhoods, one can expect to find Bushwick (Community District 4) and Williamsburg (Community District 1), nestled in in the northern tip of Brooklyn borough. The earliest colonizers included the Dutch, French, Scandinavians, and English farmers. Today, however, the spectrum of racial distribution has changed drastically in which the top ethnic groups include

Corporate Social Responsibility A Strategic Concept

Section 1: Introduction Corporate social responsibility is a notable strategic concept whose presence in today’s business world cannot be overlooked. This paper consists of an intricate analysis of corporate social responsibility, as well as an investigation on how Target Corporation is handling this increasingly popular business concept. The background and foundation of this business approach is thoroughly depicted, shedding light on its rising acclaim among firms and the positive effects it has made on our world. The paper is as follows. Section 1 is the introduction, while Section 2 provides insight on the concept of corporate social responsibility and its utilization among firms. Section 3 provides insight on Target Corporation’s implementation of the concept. Lastly, section 4 contains conclusions of the concept in relation to Target Corporation, as well as possible future endeavors. Section 2: Research Background In recent times, the concept of corporate social responsibility has become a prominent business strategy, as countless firms have directed their attention towards leading public interests. It is no secret that businesses hold a tremendous deal of power within the economy. With an abundance of assets and disposable cash at hand, companies have the power to engage in socially conscious expenditures. In result, it has become increasingly popular for companies to devote their time and money to environmental sustainability programs as well as various socialShow MoreRelatedWeek 1 Knowledge Check1287 Words   |  6 PagesKnowledge Check Concepts The Stakeholder Approach to Social Responsibility. 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The unethical behavior of top executives such as Bernard â€Å"Bernie† Madoff and Martha Stewart for example, haveRead MoreCorporate Social Responsibility : Ethical Responsibility1529 Words   |  7 PagesCorporate Social Responsibility: Should we, or should we not. Corporate Social Responsibility (C.S.R.) is a theory practiced in the business sphere since fifty years. It refers to the duty of business organizations to adopt certain activities that will benefit the society in some way. Charity, health-awareness campaigns are few examples that a business undertakes to fulfil its objectives of C.S.R. According to this ideal, it is important for various corporations today to undertake such social activitiesRead MoreDefinition of Csr1234 Words   |  5 Pagesactively involved in is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Some may debate that it decreases company’s profits by spending much money on CSR. However, according to Needle (2004), ‘good’ CSR is also good for business, a firm could benefit from doing CSR. Thus, this paper aims to explain its importance. It begins with the definition of CSR and its four responsibilities, then presents how it influences a business and benefits it can bring. Finally, I am going to describe st rategic CSR and discuss whyRead MoreGlobal Governance And Corporate Social Responsibility855 Words   |  4 Pageswell. A social media campaign asked people to nominate leading women in global health (Devi, 2015). Globally women’s health is important to many and Twitter is a way to engage women across the globe that are in need of support and assistance. Here global governance and corporate social responsibility are core processes between these two institutions. Obviously the cooperation of Wall Street and its interests is necessary in this case. 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What are the arguments for and against the concept of corporate socialRead MoreRole of Ethics and Social Responsibilty Essay1175 Words   |  5 PagesThe Role of Ethics and Social Responsibility Your Name University name Instructor name Date Abstracts Ethics and social responsibility occupy an important place in human value system. Customer confidence in how business operates has been severely shaking by recent corporate scandals and collapses, such as Enron and bank failures. Hence it is important for companies to consider incorporating ethics and social responsibility into their strategic planning. The (term) ethnicsRead MoreCorporate Social Responsibility and Single Strongest Argument1106 Words   |  5 PagesIdentify and explain the major factors in the social environment that create an atmosphere in which business criticism takes place and prospers. dasdasdassadasdasdadadasdadsdadasdasdassssssssssssssssssssss- ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss- ssssssssssssssssssssssscourse? Or is it still a vital reality? 4. Give an example of each of the four levels of power discussed in this chapter. Also, give an example of each of the spheres of business power. 5. Explain in your

Cheung Hoi Chang (3259663) Essay Example For Students

Cheung Hoi Chang (3259663) Essay British National IdentityPS: The Lion and The Unicorn is available athttp://whitewolf.newcastle.edu.au/words/authors/O/OrwellGeorge/essay/lionunicorn.htmlOrwell is a committed socialist. He went to Spain at the end of 1936,to write newspaper articles on the Spanish Civil War. The conflict in Spainwas between the communist, socialist Republic, and General Francos Fascistmilitary rebellion. He was astonished by the atmosphere in Spain: classdistinctions did not exist there and everyone was equal. He joined in thestruggle by enlisting in the militia of the POUM (Partido Obrero deUnificacin de Marxista), which was associated with the British LabourParty. For the first time in his life socialism seemed a reality. The Lionand The Unicorn was written by him in 1941 in the period of WWII. He wroteto the British public: And above all, it is your civilization, it is you. However much you hate it or laugh at it, you will never be happy away fromit for any length of time Good or evil, it is yours, you belong to it,and this side the grave you will never get away from the marks that it hasgiven you. He wrote this to arouse national unity to fight against thearmy in the war. Chris Waters is a professor of Modern European History. His research area is The Rise and Fall of the Therapeutic Ideal inTwentieth-Century Britain. Dark Strangers written by Waters, is aboutdiscourses on race and nation in Britain from 1947-1963. Orwell thinksclass division would disappear after WW II and thus there would be nodivision in society. Waters found, however, that although the classdivision disappeared, a new racial divisiofn emerged. Although this newdivision had a negative impact on racial minorities, it did foster aunified national identity amongst nation born whites. In The Lion and The Unicorn, Orwell describes the British charactersin geographical and cultural terms. Britain is a very class-ridden countryand it was very different in living condition between the ruling class andthe working class. Lower class people were used to the unfair wealthdistribution. However, Orwell believed that after World War II, thedifference between classes in Britain should be diminished and the evencondition should be made to all common people. The opposition and tensionbetween two groups of peoples should no longer exist. He is quite positiveon this aspect. However, there was a surge in the number of blackimmigration to Britain after World War II. Due to the innate reluctance ofBritish public to accept foreigners assimilation, it led to a domesticsocial dislocation crisis. In Dark Strangers, Waters points out that agradual erosion of national cohesion was being created because there was ahuge cultural difference between new black immigrants and native Britishpeop le. Black people lived in the quarters which were dirty and unsecured. The fears of unlicensed Black male sexuality generated anxieties for theBritain public about national safety. Even though government agencies triedhard to gain national consent among different ethnic nationals, the countrywould inevitably be split to majority and minority groups. His theory israther different from Orwells post-war social harmonious one. Both writers suggest that social divisions would bring potentialcrisis to the country. On the one hand, in The Lion and The Unicorn, Orwellmentioned But is not England notoriously two nations, the rich and thepoor? They lived in a completely different world but in the same country. The habit and interest of the people from two classes were also different. The huge isolation made the opposition between two classes which endangeredBritain to separate herself. Orwell reminded the British people that if thenations people differentiated themselves, they were not able to defendtheir country from the invasion of other countries. On the other hand, inDark Stranger, the division of the country is between white and blackpeople, from their living places: The cohesiveness of the national in-group, to step into the coloured quarter might indeed have feltstrange. But this rhetoric owed as much to Victorian representations ofthe dangers of the city. (Waters 226) Waters points out that the blackimmigrant was frightening the British because of its strangeness. Somewomen, they believed, had potential danger by insult done by black people. .ud1c436e782a3e643b591e96898a2c5ab , .ud1c436e782a3e643b591e96898a2c5ab .postImageUrl , .ud1c436e782a3e643b591e96898a2c5ab .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .ud1c436e782a3e643b591e96898a2c5ab , .ud1c436e782a3e643b591e96898a2c5ab:hover , .ud1c436e782a3e643b591e96898a2c5ab:visited , .ud1c436e782a3e643b591e96898a2c5ab:active { border:0!important; } .ud1c436e782a3e643b591e96898a2c5ab .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .ud1c436e782a3e643b591e96898a2c5ab { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .ud1c436e782a3e643b591e96898a2c5ab:active , .ud1c436e782a3e643b591e96898a2c5ab:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .ud1c436e782a3e643b591e96898a2c5ab .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .ud1c436e782a3e643b591e96898a2c5ab .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .ud1c436e782a3e643b591e96898a2c5ab .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .ud1c436e782a3e643b591e96898a2c5ab .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .ud1c436e782a3e643b591e96898a2c5ab:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .ud1c436e782a3e643b591e96898a2c5ab .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .ud1c436e782a3e643b591e96898a2c5ab .ud1c436e782a3e643b591e96898a2c5ab-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .ud1c436e782a3e643b591e96898a2c5ab:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Fine Arts EssayMoreover, the new culture will corrupt traditional British culture and theintermarriage between black and white was threatening because it breachedthe eugenic of the white British ideology. However, Waters raises the issuethat in-groups and out-groups relationship could serve to cement thebonds that tied British together because of the external racial blending,inner group people tended to distinguish themselves; hence, the nationalidentity could be sharpen neglecting the class division. In the light of WWII, all classes of people had to be committed andinvolved in the army to defend their country from the invasion of Germany. The distance between the two classes of people were shortened. It was aperfect chance that Orwell wrote in hope to appeal a unison of nationalspirits among different classes. He believes that class division should notexist after WWII, because small businesses tended to merge together intolarge ones; more lower class people became owners to keep properties. Thepeasantry was disappearing but more professional job functions had emerged. The expansion of middle class was a tread: The tendency of advancedcapitalism has therefore been to enlarge the middle class and not to wipeit out as it once seemed likely to do. The traditional class gap wasdisappearing. However, the new racial division seemed not likely to vanishas Waters mentions that immigrant is different from local peoplegenetically. People thought that racial mixing in Britain was leading togenetic chaos. as natural, socially defined groups, again reproducingnotions of essential difference between groups of people based on theirskin color. In addition, native British people would not accept blackimmigrants as British identity. There are three reasons: First, manyimmigrants did not possess sufficient British cultural background to becomea British and the custom is very hard to learn. Second, people prefer theirculture to be honourable and distinguished. They feared that the currencyof national belonging would be devalued if it were made widely available. Third, the norms that bound the national in-group together were somequasi-mystical qualities which are some wordless understandings. Theclosely related group just had an inexplicable cohesion. WWII changed the British character dramatically. Britain was isolatedfrom Europe and British people tended to be xenophobic. They did notwelcome foreigners and likewise, foreigners did not understand British aswell. Britain was a very strange place from other European countries. AsOrwell summarizes the repelling of British character:The insularity of the English, their refusal to take foreignersseriously, is a folly that has to be paid for very heavily from timeto time intellectuals who have tried to break it down havegenerally done more harm than good. At bottom it is the same qualityin the English character that repels the tourist and keeps out theinvader. Even thought he acknowledged that British dislike foreigners, he could notpredict the large population of immigration. However, after WWII, peoplechanged their attitude tried to accept foreign cultures. Much time wasspent by the government to research the racial differences and relationsfor increasing the cohesion of a multi-ethnic country. Moreover, theuniqueness of traditional British character has been mutated by foreignculture influence after WWII. Orwell comments the speciality of Britishcharacteristic:When you come back to England from any foreign country, you haveimmediately the sensation of breathing a different air dozens ofsmall things conspire to give you this feeling. The beer is bitterer,the coins are heavier, the grass is greener, the advertisements aremore blatant. The crowds in the big towns, with their mild knobbyfaces, their bad teeth and gentle manners, are different from aEuropean crowd. Then the vastness of England swallows you up, and youlose for a while your f eeling that the whole nation has a singleidentifiable character. .u65ab4038c9bb676257b84b02aadf8308 , .u65ab4038c9bb676257b84b02aadf8308 .postImageUrl , .u65ab4038c9bb676257b84b02aadf8308 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u65ab4038c9bb676257b84b02aadf8308 , .u65ab4038c9bb676257b84b02aadf8308:hover , .u65ab4038c9bb676257b84b02aadf8308:visited , .u65ab4038c9bb676257b84b02aadf8308:active { border:0!important; } .u65ab4038c9bb676257b84b02aadf8308 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u65ab4038c9bb676257b84b02aadf8308 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u65ab4038c9bb676257b84b02aadf8308:active , .u65ab4038c9bb676257b84b02aadf8308:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u65ab4038c9bb676257b84b02aadf8308 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u65ab4038c9bb676257b84b02aadf8308 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u65ab4038c9bb676257b84b02aadf8308 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u65ab4038c9bb676257b84b02aadf8308 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u65ab4038c9bb676257b84b02aadf8308:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u65ab4038c9bb676257b84b02aadf8308 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u65ab4038c9bb676257b84b02aadf8308 .u65ab4038c9bb676257b84b02aadf8308-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u65ab4038c9bb676257b84b02aadf8308:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: PROJECT MANAGEMENT EssayThe change of national culture is discussed by Waters:they did indeed possess a unique national culture. On closerinspection, however, it seemed no more than a delusion: the onlydistinctive national character the British possessed was theirsusceptibility to the illusion that they had one, and a veryremarkable one at that remarkable as it might have seemed during thewar, a pervasive sense of loss seemed to ensue at the wars end. Because the diversity of British nationality immigrants has created in WWII, the binary opposition of ruling class and working class atmosphere wasconverted. The traditional class division, therefore, also went away. Race, observed from the course of history, could be a critical issueto human peace. For example, Germany used the eugenic issue to unify thepeople in the country to fight for their nation illogical. Britain alsoapplied Darwins Survival of the Fittest theory to create unequal statusbetween people which had deepened class differentiation. Thedifferentiation among different groups is inevitable. However, Britain usedracial issue as a tool to successfully unit all its own white people ofdifferent classes by creating a new division to the foreigners. Theimmigration functioned to highlight the British national identity. Nonetheless the immigration has also changed Britain from a homogenoussociety to a heterogeneous one, but it also victimized the ethnic minoritywho became a group to be despised.

Hamlets Human Nature Essay Example For Students

Hamlets Human Nature Essay Maybe Shakespeares Hamlet is rightfully named after the star of the play. After all, he is not only the key character, but the driving force behind most of the questions that are asked about human nature. Hamlet has many traits that contribute to the success of his chacter and the success of the play in general. The three most important characteristics are his indecisiveness throughout the play, his fatalistic views, and his over dramatic persona. Hamlets indecisiveness is evident throughout the play, especially during his dilemma of whether the Ghost is real or has been sent by Satan to trick him into doing something he shouldnt do. He spends too much time worrying about things that may be and not enough time worrying about the things that matter. In fact, even when it comes down to him trying to figure out why he hasnt already done something to avenge his fathers death, he is confused. Hamlet seems to be a very confused person all around, even before he went crazy, he was misleading to the fact that he hated his mother for marrying so soon after his fathers death. Near the beginning of the play Hamlet says to Gertrude that he knows how he feels, not just merely seems to know. However, by the end he has himself questioning that very same comment, just as his mother questioned him in the opening act. Another of the traits that Hamlet is famous for, and perhaps his most famous trait, would be his fatalistic views, evident when he said, Theres a divinity that shapes our ends. at the beginning of Act 5, Scene II. Shakespeare writes Hamlet in as being very fatalistic because it adds to the intensity of the play. He is more willing to put his life on the line for other people, even if those people are already dead. It is this attitude though, that gets him killed in the end. He is too willing to fight Laertes, even though he knows the odds are against him, there is a special providence in the fall of a sparrow. Lastly, the one thing that makes Hamlet either an exciting or depressing story, is completely over dramatic persona. Granted, part of his drama is due to the fact that it was just Shakespeares writing style, and if it seemed dramatic it was probably due to the fact that the play was a dramatic-tragedy. Beyond that though, Hamlet threw almost every situation out of proportion. By the end of the play, the drama around him seems to finally catch up with his own drama, but throughout the rest of the play he is caught up in his own drama. For instance, when he is yelling at his mom in the bedroom and accidentally stabs Polonius through the curtain, he is over dramatic, whereas he could have just opened the curtain to catch who he thought was Claudius and in doing so would have answered his own questions about if the king was really to blame or not. Additionally, he had just seen Claudius at the altar before he went to talk to his mom, so he should have known that Claudius couldnt have been the one behind the curtain, but to make the whole scene more dramatic he just carelessly thrust his sword into the curtain killing an innocent bystander. Although Shakespeare wrote many plays, he may have intertwined the play with some of his own life experiences. Hamlet was an almost human figure, by living and questioning the existence of everything including his own life. Which he lost in the end over making a simple mistake and killing the one person who might have been able the help him. Therefore Shakespeare may have been insecure about his life, and allowed his life to come out as Hamlet.

Explain The Views Of Locke Essays - Political Philosophy, Rights

Explain The Views Of Locke INTRODUCTION The life-blood of philosophy is argument and counter-argument. Plato and Aristotle thought of this as what they called dialectic discussion. D. W. Hamlyn JOHN LOCKE (1632-1704) Locke was the first of the British empiricists who held that our concepts and our knowledge are based on experience. He forms his system of knowledge with empiricist idioms, namely: all knowledge comes to us through experience. No mans knowledge here can go beyond his experience. There is no such thing as innate ideas; there is no such thing as moral precepts; we are born with an empty mind, with a soft tablet ready to be written upon by experimental impressions. Locke was a believer in God; he accepted the cosmological argument of God as a first cause. Our mere existence proved to Locke that there existed a God, nothing short of an eternal, all powerful, and all knowing Being could possibly have been responsible for the existence of man. It may be, however, that he was not prepared to accept it all in quite this literal way. In his First treatise of Government, for example, he writes: And therefore I doubt not, but before these words are pronounced, if they must be understood literally to have been spoken . He is here referring to Genesis 28:29 at the point at which God confronts Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden: And God said unto them. Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. This may be an indication that, although a devout Christian, he often wrote for those with a faith more simple than his own. The overall aim of the first treatise was to assert the claim that kings did not rule with arbitrary power, nor by right of inheritance in a direct line from Adam. Filmer claimed that God gave Adam dominion over the earth and all other creatures; Locke that God gave the earth to Adam and all his descendants, who were all entitled to a share in its bounty, providing they earned their bread by the sweat of their brows and laboured to make the world even more fruitful. The basis for understanding Locke is that he sees all people as having natural God given rights. As Gods creations, this denotes a certain equality, at least in an abstract sense. This religious back drop acts as the foundation for all of Lockes theories, including his theories of individuality, private property, and the state. He believed that humans were autonomous individuals who, although lived in a social setting, could not be articulated as a herd or social animal. Locke believed a person to stand for, a thinking, intelligent being, that has reason and reflection, and can consider itself as itself, the same thinking thing in different times and places, which it only does by that consciousness which is inseparable from thinking. This ability to reflect, think, and reason intelligibly is one of the many gifts from God and is that gift which separates us from the realm of the beast. The ability to reason and reflect acts as an explanation for individuality. All reason and reflect ion is based on personal experience and reference. In the state of nature, man has a natural liberty to order their actions and dispose of their possessions and persons as they think fit.... (II:4). Such freedom is not freedom to do anything at all; it is freedom to do anything that does not break the law of nature. Freedom in society, Locke argued, can only exist where people act socially. I can only be free if I respect your freedom and vice versa and if we both respect the law of nature. Locke believed that the state of nature would be peaceful, overall. Such a view is the opposite of that expressed by Hobbes in Leviathan (1651). That book holds that in a state of nature people would live in anarchy, violence and a selfish pursuit of their own ends, that men act out of passion, not from motives based on reason and justice. Locke's theory that

Air Quality in Hong Kong Essays

Air Quality in Hong Kong Essays Air Quality in Hong Kong Essay Air Quality in Hong Kong Essay Air pollution in Hong Kong is often so bad that it is impossible to see across Victoria Harbor due to all the haze and smog. The government did endeavor to modify the air quality but, sadly, it still deteriorates continually. Even worse, the Air Pollution Index recently hit a record high, which suggests that the air quality in Hong Kong is far lower than the international standard. It all shows that air pollution is Just a growing problem and Im writing to raise several concerns about air pollution and suggest various ways in which Hong Kong citizens can help reduce air pollution. Let us begin with the cause of the problems, which includes three main aspects: vehicle emissions, unplanned use of land, and cross-border pollution. The first aspect concerns the vehicle emissions. With the increasing number of private cars, and the slow introduction of environmentally friendly fuels, the amount of air pollutants released by vehicles keeps increasing, thereby tarnishing the air quality. Secondly, the unplanned use of land can also account for the problems. Due to the limited land supplied, Hong Kong tends to be densely populated while the buildings are usually designed to be as tall as possible. All the buildings therefore form a physical barrier to block the ventilation of air. Consequently, pollutants like suspended particles are trapped in air, causing the air to be polluted. Cross-border pollution is the third aspect. There are currently numerous factories built in Mainland in Guangdong Province. The industrial air pollutants can be carried to Hong Kong by winds. Especially in winter, when much pollution is brought by the northern monsoon, the air quality is exceptionally terrible. To tackle the problem, we should focus on the causes and design solutions accordingly. To deal with the first cause, which is related to traffic, the amount of vehicle emissions should be controlled properly. Actually, this has been implemented before, for example, the installation of catalytic converters and introduction of unleaded fuels. However, the even worse air quality nowadays has proved these traditional means is not enough. In addition to these, the government should put more efforts into controlling the number of private cars on the road. Raising the registration fee of the newly purchased vehicles and levying heavier tax on vehicle ownership are ffective measures to minimize the number of private vehicles, thereby reducing emission of pollutants. Introduction of electronic cars or hybrid cars also reduce the release of air pollutants by vehicles. Apart from Just introducing these cars, the government should also subsidies the installation of corresponding stations for power supplement so as to attract more vehicle owners to switch their options. Then, the vehicles emission will definitely be lowered gradually. We can encourage citizens to use public transports instead of using private vehicles. This can help to increase he awareness of citizens on air pollution problems. Secondly, to achieve a better land use planning, new measures and laws should be set up for the developers and architects to refer to. For example, in order that the new buildings are surrounded with good ventilation, density and height of buildings should be reasonably limited and be stated in black and white as laws. Besides, in order to keep the air clean with low suspended particles content, a certain percentage should be set as the proportion of green areas in the urban. Good road planning and design can also be achieved with clear regulations and rules. And, without strict enforcement, all the aforementioned laws are Just meaningless. This explains why keen and frequent inspection and execution by the government is always needed to match with an ideal city planning. Government should encourage private sector and community participation to promote greening. The main initiatives being undertaken include active planning and greening program, enhancing opportunities of quality greening, community support and private sector involvement, and tree preservation. Thirdly, cross-border pollution should be solved by cross-border cooperation. It equires Joint effort from Hong Kong and Guangdong governments to develop environmental standards based on international best practices. For example, to decrease industrial emissions by requiring the most polluting industrial processes to upgrade or install control equipment. Setting up monitoring systems, restricting the number of factories in Guangdong and controlling the industrial emission of pollutants can all be included in the agreements. Remember that we are actually living under the same atmosphere with people of different nations. Air pollution is not only the matter of our own city, but a worldwide problem. It explains the importance of cooperation amongst different regions. Last but not least, the problem can be alleviated by discouraging people from smoking. Our government should extend the ban on smoking in parks, playgrounds and school. Also, monitoring can help to cope with the problem. Our government should impose more stringent regulations to the people who are against the law. To conclude, for the bright prospect of our society, on no account that our government and the citizens should not turn a blind eye to the problem, instead, we should go to great lengths to deal with the problem. For example, the government should pose some laws and stringent regulations. The citizens should rethink their attitude not to pollute the air. And I believe that if the government and citizens can take the above mentioned measures, it would be better for Hong Kong and we can build up an ideal environment in the future. The intolerably terrible air is what we inhale every day. We cannot protect ourselves from the polluted air. I believe if the problems continue to worsen, air pollution could be disastrous and tragic. Therefore, from now on, we should be more aware of it and contribute a little every day to improve the air

Heat temperature and kinetic energy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Heat temperature and kinetic energy - Essay Example As particles of matter are in constant motion even in the coldest voids of space, there is always a measurable amount of heat energy produced. The continuous movements of the atoms and molecules within the body, where they randomly hit each other produce heat or thermal energy. Heat is also like work. It can never be contained within the body. Instead, it is energy in transit, transferring from one body into another. It can also transmit from the system to its environment or vice versa. Heat in the body can be of two forms: potential and kinetic energy (Smith, Van Ness, Abott, 2001). Heat always travels from a body with high temperature to a lower one. Temperature is the main driving force for heat transfer between bodies. According to (Killam, Daou, n.d ), atoms and molecules don’t travel with the same rate of speed. There is a certain range of energy in molecules that dictates their speed whether slow or fast. Temperature therefore is â€Å"the measure of the average heat o r thermal energy of the particles in a substance†. Temperature is measured through thermometers, using a uniform tube filled with alcohol, mercury or some other fluids. There is a reflected numerical values indicated for the degree of hotness and coldness of a certain object (Smith, Van Ness, Abott, 2001). Heat and temperature is closely related to each other. As observed, the presence of heat makes the temperature rise. However, they are not of the same thing. Heat is the energy produced due to the motion of molecules while temperature is the measurement of the energy produced by the body. Heat is dependent upon the rate of movement of the particles such as the number of particles in motion, their speed, mass and the type of particles within the body. Temperature, on the other hand is independent of these things. Heat caused the temperature to rise and the removal of heat cause the temperature to lower down. Object with higher temperature reveals that the molecules in that bo dy are moving with higher energy. To state it more clearly, â€Å"temperature is not energy, but a measure of it. Heat is energy† (Killam, Daou, n.d). Heat has effects to the body from which it is transferred. A certain body is capable of handling such heat energy. This is referred to as heat capacity. As defined by (Smith, Van Ness, Abott, 2001), the smaller the change in temperature within a body that is caused by the transfer of that given quantity of heat, there is greater capacity for it. There are two kinds of heat capacity that can be applied in homogenous fluids: heat capacity at constant volume and the heat capacity at constant pressure. Every type has certain conditions or properties that must be considered with relevance to their differences in volume and pressure. Heat capacity can also be further divided into three different terms: heat capacity, specific heat capacity and the molar heat capacity. According to Jorgensen (n.d), molar heat capacity is the required energy for one mole of substance to raise 1 degree Celcius. Specific heat is the measurement of energy that can raise a material with a certain mass into a difference of 1 degree in Centigrade. They are both intrinsic properties of a certain substance. They are not dependent on the quantity of material present. Heat capacity on the other hand, is an extensive property of

Hypertension Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Hypertension - Research Paper Example Alternatively, there are anti-hypertensive’s drugs to normalize blood pressure levels. It’s very important for individuals to go for a regular medical check up to avoid damage of blood vessels by hypertension. Hypertension Introduction Hypertension, also referred to as high blood pressure has affected a majority of individuals across the globe. It is the principal cause of kidney and cardiovascular diseases and in combination with diabetes; it has been associated with more than half of all deaths in the world (Hypertension often ignored, 1997). Despite its severity and prevalence, if left untreated, high blood pressure is a disease that is extremely unpredictable. Of those suffering hypertension, it is only seventy percent (70%) who are aware of their condition. Accordingly, 59% seeks treatment and 34% have been perceived to have the condition under some control. The major problem being experienced is that, hypertension’s specific linking factors to heart and kid ney diseases are not fully discovered. Hypertension has no clearly defined symptoms, which makes many people to continue leading risky lifestyles even after developing the condition. It can only be detected when it has damaged the blood vessels to the extent of producing devastating symptoms. For this reason, individuals are advised to check their blood pressure regularly. Life style changes with interventional approaches such as exercise, salt restriction, relaxation and the utilization of pharmaceutical products will help in increasing life expectancy of those individuals affected with the condition (Hansson, 1996). These interventions are significant as they help in dilating the artery to decrease blood pressure. The purpose of this paper is to document current statistics of individuals affected with the condition, document how different body systems are affected by the condition and illustrate any treatment/ medications available for dealing with the condition. Statistics of Ind ividuals Affected With Hypertension According to the world Health Statistic (2012), there is a growing concern across the globe on the spread of communicable diseases. This report notes that one in three grownups in the world views hypertension as the principle cause of deaths resulting from heart failure or stroke. Widespread treatment and diagnosis with low cost medication in high-income countries have resulted to the reduction of mean high blood pressure across populations. Furthermore, this has significantly reduced the number of deaths as a result of heart diseases. However, in Africa, more than forty percent (40%) of adults in numerous countries are approximated to have been diagnosed with high blood pressure. A majority of these individuals remain undiagnosed even though the condition can be treated with low-cost medications. Given the fact that the average prevalence of hypertension in the world is approximately 10%, about one third of pacific Island countries population has been diagnosed with this condition. Left untreated, hypertension can damage the body severely and result in certain death. In the United States, about 76.4 million people aged twenty and above suffer from hypertension. According to the High Blood Pressure 2012 Statistical Fact Sheet, high blood pressure is the principal cause of death among the American populace. For instance, in 2008, 61,005 Americans died from the disease. As from 1998-2008, individuals

Marks and Spencer, Method of Operation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Marks and Spencer, Method of Operation - Essay Example It is currently an international company with a whopping over 840 stores in more than 30 countries in the world. This joint venture was not without its challenges especially with its growth and expansion to various other countries other than Britain. It has experienced periods of financial crisis owing to poor sales to a point where they had to sell some of their stores off to other parties among other tough decisions they have been made to make to save the company from crumbling. Nevertheless, they have also had periods of high sales which in turn translated into great profitability and expansion. Their have adopted various strategies in an attempt to maintain and expand their customer base as both external and internal forces are threatening the very core of this business with a history of a long time in operation. Part of these strategies includes the adoption of new marketing strategies that are powerful enough to retain their customers and attract more customers to themselves. Notable also is the expansion of the products they sell where in addition to the traditional engagement in the sale of cloth and food, recent additions to the products base include technological products as well as furniture and homewares. Following is a PEST analysis of the company that will undertake to elaborate the current economic standing of this company and the prospects that are available to it. Marks a Political factors Marks and Spencer have adopted an international inclination towards the attracting of customers to the purchasing of their products. This means that the political factors that affecting their businesses depends on the political environment found in the countries where their stores are based for example the stores based in Britain will operate under the political environment found in Britain while those based in china will operate under china's political environment. Considering that the greatest number of the Marks and Spencer stores (600 out of the approximately 840 in the world) are based in Britain, then I will undertake the pest analysis of the Marks and Spencer stores based in Britain. The political environment in Britain is stable in the sense that Britain is relatively peaceful with no major identified or reported cases of violence making the establishment, growth and expansion of business units realistic and favourable. This contributed greatly towards the establishment and the eventual success of the Marks and Spencer stores as they were offered the chance to grow. It should however be noted that the period of the Second World War gave the growth of this business unit enough challenge. The taxing policy in Britain is relatively low thus allowing for a conducive environment for the establishment and maintenance of a business unit since the business units are hardly suppressed by overtaxing. Adoption of friendly taxing policies is a real plus in the development of business enterprises (Bevan 2001 pp 56-58). Britain is a member of a number of trade unions and other organizations with whom they carry out trade. It is a member of the European Union therefore trades under minimal restrictions with all the other members of this union. This is good for the development of international trade for the business units found in the geographical area covered by it (Richardson 2002p42). At the same time, Britain has developed diplomatic relationships with a great number of nations globally- a stint that makes her

North American Free Trade Agreement Economics Essay

North American Free Trade Agreement Economics Essay The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is an agreement signed by Canada, Mexico, and the United States of American that came into effect January 1st, 1994. This agreement established the worlds largest free trade region involving over 400 million people and 11 trillion dollars in annual production.  [1]  It established a new trading relationship based on more secure and more open access to each others markets. It was supposed to bring benefits to several sectors of the Canadian economy. Overall, consumers in all three countries were supposed to reap the benefits of the more efficient distribution of resources and by paying less for goods and services. NAFTA advocates that capital owners win, workers win, consumers win therefore everyone is better off living under NAFTA. Many government officials, businesses, and citizens however, have debated whether NAFTA has been beneficial to Canada. Proponents of NAFTA claim that because the agreement will increase trade throughout N orth America and moderate product prices, it will lead to creating new jobs in all three countries. NAFTA, while it has brought some disadvantages for Canada, as a whole it has had a positive effect. The positive effects of job creation and higher wages has been outweighed by the negative effects on the manufacturing industry specifically, the auto sector. In addition, Canada has succeeded in maintaining high labour standards and laws compare to its NAFTA partners due to Canadian legislative environment that alleviate against downward harmonization. This paper will examine three aspects of NAFTA and its effects on Canada. First, it will look at labour and discuss the effects of NAFTA on employment and wages. Then it will examine the manufacturing industry, in particular Canadas automotive industry. Finally, the paper will look at why Canada has been able to maintain high labour standards and laws compare to Mexico and the United States. It will conclude that any loss for Canada is outweighed by the gains. One of the main issues by labour rights advocates was that increased trade liberalization would jeopardize the Canadian economy to compete with low-wage workers in Mà ©xico and the southern United States.  [2]  This was supposed to push investments away from Canada, especially from low-skilled industries, leading to plant closures and cutbacks resulting in job losses. It was further argued that the competitive environment would causes wages to decrease. Gunderson simulated the possible impact of NAFTA and analyzed the expected wage and employment impact of trade liberalization. His study showed that the overall impacts are likely to be positive but extremely small for both Canada and the United States, as job created associate with export expansion is slightly higher than job destruction associated with increased imports. He also found that job gains would be at the high end of the wage spectrum, while job losses, which can be significant in some sectors, would be at the lower e nd.  [3]  Opponents may argue that this is not beneficial to the economy as there are more people in Canada working in low-end jobs than there are in high-end jobs. When the low-end job workers are unable to find employment they would be forced to go on social welfare such as unemployment insurance. This would cost the government more because the government would lose a source of income due to the elimination of tariffs, less people paying income tax, and supporting the unemployed through unemployment insurance and other welfare programs. However, this is not the case because studies have shown NAFTA has had no effect on unemployment, instead since NAFTA came into effect Canadas employment rate has increased. In a recent study conducted by the Bank of Montreal involving 109 senior executives in Canada, it concluded that majority of the businesses have either hired more or employed the same number of people since NAFTA came into effect. In addition, most employers reported that NAFTA has not affected their labour costs and it has increased their productivity level.  [4]  This increase in productivity may have to do with fear of relocation to southern United States or Mexico. In Canada, 50 percent of the senior executives reported that they had hired more workers, 39 percent stated no changed in work force size, and merely 11 percent reported they had lost workers.  [5]  This study shows critics that NAFTA has not resulted in unemployment and companies have either hired more or employed the same number of people while increasing productivity levels. A study conducted by Vicario, an economist with the North American Agreement on Labour Cooperation (NAALC), supports the findings of the Bank of Montreal. Using Canada Labour Force statistics, she found that the average growth rate of employment from1994-1998 remained at 1.9 percent per year, or an annual increase of 258,000 jobs. Most of these jobs were full-time, as matters of fact, in 1998, 9 out of 10 jobs created were full-time. What is more surprising is that workers salary increased by 2.6 percent between 1994 and 1997 and 0.3 percent in 1998.  [6]  This study goes a step further because it proves to NAFTA critics that NAFTA has helped create jobs and increased wages for the employees. It is safe to say that employers are making a larger profit because they would only increase wages if their profits increased. This research shows that NAFTA has not only created jobs but also increased company profits and employee wages. Kumar and Holmes conducted a study in the auto industry of Canada, a sector that NAFTA critics feared would have harsh negative impact due to low-wage competition from Mexico and southern United States. Their study concluded that production level and employment in the Canadian automotive parts industry grew significantly between 1991 and 1996. They further claim that there is no evidence to suggest that NAFTA has had any negative effects on the Canadian auto industry.  [7]  Regardless of these positive effects, employers and unions have been pressured to reduce wages and cut jobs in the manufacturing sector.  [8]  This is a small price to pay because overall Canada has become a richer country since NAFTA came into effect. Overall, Canada has had a higher employment rate, higher company profits, and higher wages. According to Canadian unions, companies would invest where there are reasonably low labour and environment standards. These investment decisions, and the threat to re-invest, would consequently force governments to lower their labour standards in order to attract new or retain existing business.  [9]  Although these fears are legitimate, studies have shown when investors choose a country to invest, they place the value of workforce, social, and political steadiness over labour cost.  [10]  They do so because high labour standard result into high levels of productivity and economic performance. Satisfied workers are an outcome of high wages and high work place standards that results in a higher quality of performance. Higher safety standards have proven to reduce costly workplace accidents and save on health care bills. Freedom of association and collective bargaining will result in better cooperation between management and workers, thereby reducing if not eliminating costly s trikes and improve social stability.  [11]  Since Canada has a higher rate of unionization than the United States thanks to Canadas beneficial labour laws, downward harmonization posed a serious threat to Canadian unions.  [12]   There are a number of factors that prevent downward harmonization in Canada. First, labour laws fall mainly under provincial jurisdiction and therefore, ideological forces are more influential.  [13]  For example, the New Democratic Government in Ontario under the leadership of Bob Rae passed several pieces of pro-labour legislation such as, prohibition on the use of replacement workers. The social democratic governments in British Columbia and Saskatchewan have also passed several labour-friendly legislations to protect the interest of workers.  [14]  The successful implementation of these legislations proves that NAFTA has strengthened Canadian labour standards and laws. Secondly, labour boards and independent arbitrators have enjoyed greater autonomy in enforcing their decisions though court orders in Canada. Over time, and with relevant court decisions, a significant body of case law  [15]  has developed, and it would be tough for pressure from free trade to weaken this base. In the United States, employers often use the means of courts to oppose decisions by the National Labour Relations Board (NLRB). This however, is not a problem in Canada.  [16]   Third, unions in Canada are often more cautious and political than in the unions United States. Their constant support from left-leaning New Democratic Party governments has strengthened their agenda on the legislative process. In addition, their vigilance against free trade was in a large part responsible for public dissatisfaction of NAFTA in Canada, as shown in national polls, and making NAFTA an election issue.  [17]  These kinds of tactics will most likely continue to prevent anti-labour laws being passed in Canada. According to research conducted by Gunderson, four relationships must exist for downward harmonization of labour laws and standards to occur because of trade liberalization. First, the labour laws must be implemented and actively enforced. Secondly, the laws must lead to an actual or perceived increase in labour costs to business. Third, the higher labour costs must discourage investments and influence plant location decisions. Fourth, jurisdictions must compete against each other for investments and jobs based on decreasing their costly labour laws.  [18]  Though it is possible for the race to the lowest common denominator, considering the inter-connectivity of these relationships and the political and institutions influence working to prevent downwards harmonization, it is highly unlikely it will ever occur in Canada. Many critics argue that there has been a decline in Canadian social standards, such as cutbacks in employment insurance, pensions, and health insurance since NAFTA came into effect  [19]  However, these cuts back are probably due to fiscal problems facing governments rather than NAFTA. There is also persistent pressure on both provincial and federal governments to cut taxes that may result in less spending on social welfare programs. Thus, the optimistic results of job creating and higher wages have outweighed the negative results on the auto sector. Canada has also been able to maintain its high labour standards and laws compare to Mà ©xico and the United States. Critics have argued that Canada would lose jobs due to re-location to other NAFTA partners this has not been the case as studies have shown NAFTA has not resulted in unemployment. NAFTA has shows to increase company profits, employee wages, crate jobs, and increase productivity levels. Though unions in the auto sector have been forced to reduce wages and cut jobs, it is a small price to pay for higher employment rate, higher company profits, higher wages, and the ability to retain business in Canada. Unions thought Canada would have to lower its labour standards and laws to compete with Mexico and the United States however, studies have shown when investors choose a country to invest, they rank the quality of workforce, political, and social stability above low labour cost. There are also several institutions and ideological forces in place that work against downward harmonization of labour standards. After 16 years of living under NAFTA, it is safe to assume that Canadian consumers will keep reaping up the benefits for many decades to come.

corporate culture Essay -- essays research papers

Corporate Culture The culture of an organization is the set of values, beliefs, behaviors, customs, and attitudes that helps its members understand what the organization stands for, how it does things, and what it considers important"(Griffin, 49). In other words, "the way things work around here" (Dr. Williams). In order for any small business or large corporation to be successful, the employees must understand what is expected of them. While things might be slightly different in a large corporation versus a small "mom and pop shop", the goal of both is the same. MAKE THE BUSINESS MONEY. The topic of my paper will be on makes a good corporate culture. Running a business is not so much about the particular business but instead about the "sound business philosophies" that are shared by every level in the organization (Chapin, 1). Fortunately for smaller business's, finding those "business philosophies" are not as hard or have the need to be as complex as big corporations. According to Steven Chapin, author of "Building a Sound Company Culture", there are four basic building blocks that serve as a strong foundation for the company. These four blocks are integrity, leadership, dedication, and service. "Integrity is the keystone" (Chapin, 1). Complete honesty is the ethical way and should be the only way that one does business. Without integrity, there would be no trust between your company and the customers. When clients and consumers trust you, they want to do business with you and will continue to do business with you until they feel as though the integrity has been sacrificed. The second &quo t;building block" for a sound corporate culture is leadership (Chapin 1). Leadership is not only a quality that upper management and managers need to have, but instead it is a quality that all members of a business should develop (Chapin, 1). If a company only had one "leader" then the company would not be very successful because that particular person would be only person to incorporate change in the company. With many employees having leadership qualities, a company is able to better itself with by having multitude of ideas to choose from to better the company. If a company wishes to better leadership qualities then the company should encourage and "active participation in technica... ...enefit the company with a good out flow of energy released. Miler’s next principle is the excellence principle. â€Å"Our culture values comfort, both material and psychological† (Miller, 15). â€Å"We feel as though we should achieve personal satisfaction and fulfillment† from our job (Miller, 15). According to miller the only way to encourage excellence is to provide dissatisfaction (Miller, 15). Miller also states that a workers satisfaction is often in conflict with excellence. The average employee would rather not come under any tests and trials and it is this motivation, in part, that keeps them going (Miller, 15). The consensus principle is Miller’s next idea. â€Å"Managers are stuck in the culture of command† (Miller, 15). An organizations ability to bring ideas together and the challenge of making the employees/managers think creatively will be the success of a company (Miller, 16). It is important, according to this principle, for the employee to share his thoughts and feelings. It is also important for the employee to change his efforts from physical energy to mental energy (Miller, 16). It is â€Å"This change in task† that â€Å"necessitates a change from command to consensus† (Miller, 16).

Sir Francis Bacon

A selected annotated bibliography on the personal rights apposing authority Michael Taylor. The Secret Bard. Washington Square Press, 1961. The author’s informative personal views make it understandable that the truth can never be reached by listening to the voice of authority. A stand reflecting Bacon’s views are that laws are made to protect the rights of the people, not to feed the lawyers. For instance, he lead many acts towards helping the state’s individualism through the people and not the laws. A good example the author explains about is how Francis pushed for his way in Parliament for union with the people from Scotland to strengthen England against threats from the continent, and pushed for expansion of colonization in America, mainly Newfoundland and Virginia. DePaul University graduate and philosophical researcher David Simpson informs the general public of Bacon’s development of new arts and inventions, whose ultimate goal would be the production of practical knowledge for â€Å"the use and benefit of men† and the relief of the human condition. Simpson showed the many attributes of Bacon’s reasoning for life revolving around knowledge. Bacon states â€Å"Knowledge is power, and when embodied in the form of new technical inventions and mechanical discoveries it is the force that drives history. † This Article explains the motto he lived his life by.

Future Forms for English Learners

Future Forms for English Learners There are a number of future forms in English, just as there are different forms for the past and present. Lets take a look at examples of the four different forms: Simple Future, Future Continuous, Future Perfect, and Future Perfect Continuous used to speak in English about the future. Peter will be at work tomorrow. - Future SimpleShes going to travel to Hong Kong next month.- Future with Going toJennifer will have finished the report by ten tomorrow. - Future PerfectDoug will be enjoying a good book at this time next week.- Future ContinuousI will have been working for six hours by the time I finish this. - Future Perfect Continuous The following article takes a look at each of these forms, as well as some variations in future tense usage with clear examples to help explain the use of each. Listed below are examples, uses, and formation of Future Forms. Uses of the Future With Will The future with will is used for a number of situations: 1. Used for Predictions It will snow tomorrow.She wont win the election. 2. Used for Scheduled Events The concert will begin at 8 oclock.When will the train leave? Used for scheduled events 3. Used for Promises Will you marry me?Ill help you with your homework after class 4. Used for Offers Ill make you a sandwich.Theyll help you if you want. 5.  Used  in Combination with Time Clauses  (as soon as, when, before, after) He will telephone as soon as he arrives.Will you visit me when you come next week? Uses of the Future With Going To 1. Used for Plans   The future with going to is used to express planned events or intentions. These events or intentions are decided on  before  the moment of speaking. Frank is going to study Medicine.Where are they going to stay when they come?She isnt going to buy the new house afterall. Note: Going to or -ing are often both correct for planed events. Going to should be used for distant future intentions (example: Hes going to study Law) 2. Used for Future Predictions Based on Physical Evidence. Oh no! Look at those clouds. Its going to rain.Be careful! Youre going to drop those dishes! Use of Future Continuous Use the future continuous to speak about what will be happening at a specific time in the future. She will be sleeping at 11:30.Tom will be having a good time this time tomorrow. Use of Future Perfect Use the future perfect to speak about what will have been finished by a time in the future. I will have finished the book by tomorrow.Angela will have fond a new job by the end of the year. Use of the Future Perfect Continuous Use the future perfect continuous to speak about how long something will have been happening up to a point of time in the future. They will have been studying for five hours by six oclock.Mary will have been playing golf for five hours by the time she finishes. Uses of Present Continuous for the Future Its also possible to use the present continuous for planned or personally scheduled events. Usually used with principle verbs such as: come, go, begin, start, finish, have, etc. Note: Going to or -ing are often both correct for planned events. Going to should be used for distant future intentions (example: Hes going to study Law) Hes coming tomorrow afternoon.What are we having for dinner?Im not seeing the doctor until Friday. Common future time expressions include: next (week, month, year), tomorrow, in Xs time (amount of time, i.e. two weeks time), in year, time clauses (when, as soon as, before, after) simple present (example: I will telephone as soon as I arrive) soon, later.

Mesencephalon (Midbrain) Function and Structures

Mesencephalon (Midbrain) Function and Structures The mesencephalon or midbrain is the portion of the brainstem that connects the hindbrain and the forebrain. A number of nerve tracts run through the midbrain that connect the cerebrum with the cerebellum and other hindbrain structures. A major function of the midbrain is to aid in movement as well as visual and auditory processing. Damage to certain areas of the mesencephalon have been linked to the development of Parkinsons disease. Function: Functions of the mesencephalon include: Controlling Responses to SightEye MovementPupil DilationRegulate Muscle MovementHearing Location: The mesencephalon is the most rostral portion of the brainstem. It is located between the forebrain and the hindbrain. Structures: A number of structures are located in the mesencephalon including the tectum, tegmentum, cerebral peduncle, substantia nigra, crus cerebri, and cranial nerves (oculomotor and trochlear). The tectum consists of rounded bulges called colliculi that are involved in vision and hearing processes. The cerebral peduncle is a bundle of nerve fibers that connect the forebrain and hindbrain. The  cerebral peduncle includes the tegementum (forms the base of the midbrain) and the crus cerebri (nerve tracts that that connect the cerebrum with the cerebellum). The substantia nigra has nerve connections with the frontal lobes and other areas of the brain involved in motor function. Cells in the substantia nigra also produce dopamine, a chemical messenger that helps to coordinate muscle movement. Disease: Neurodegeneration of nerve cells in the substantia nigra results in a drop off of dopamine production. Significant loss in dopamine levels (60-80%) may result in the development of Parkinsons disease. Parkinsons disease is a nervous system disorder that results in the loss of motor control and coordination. Symptoms include tremors, slowness of movement, muscle stiffness, and trouble with balance. More Mesencephalon Information: Grays Anatomy: Midbrain Divisions of the Brain Forebrain - encompasses the cerebral cortex and brain lobes.Midbrain - connects the forebrain to the hindbrain.Hindbrain - regulates autonomic functions and coordinates movement.

Is recruiting efforts, promotions, prejudice, and retention of Research Paper

Is recruiting efforts, promotions, prejudice, and retention of minority officers a source of stress within a law enforcement agency - Research Paper Example Therefore, the qualification and experience of such individuals take the center stage of considerations. However, the recruitment, promotion and retention of the minority groups calls for further considerations, other than their suitability; in terms of qualifications and experience. In this case, the vulnerabilities of the candidate, which makes them to be in a meager position than the rest, who have qualifications and experiences are considered, with the aim of giving such candidates the opportunity, since they cannot compete with the rest effectively, owing to their vulnerabilities (Shusta, Levine, Wong, & Harris, 2005). This causes stress because; there are chances that such candidates might fail to perform well in the job, despite having been favored over the others. On the event that such candidates fail to deliver as expected, yet they were favored on the basis of their race, gender or origin, it will cause stress to the other partners at work, since they could feel that the best qualified candidates would have been recruited, promoted or retained (Wirth, 2001). More than to the employer who might feel that they did not get the best qualified candidate for the job, the qualified candidates who lost the job to the minority candidate feel more stressed out. Law enforcement agencies are sensitive and particularly prone to great dangers, on the event that they are not run by qualified and the most suitable candidates (Arnesen, 2007). Therefore, the application of affirmative action, requiring that the minority groups are favored during recruitment, promotion or retention serves to put such agencies at risk of having individuals, who may not be as qualified and experienced with the work, as the other candidates who were disqualified to pave way for the minority. The stress will be borne by both the law enforcement agency and the minority candidate; since the candidates will always feel that they are in the job

Amicus (Friend of the Court) (3rd party) Brief for specified current Research Paper

Amicus (Friend of the Court) (3rd party) Brief for specified current Suprem Court case - Research Paper Example Human Rights Watch also has a role of investigating and exposing incidences of human rights abuse abuses and violation, with an aim of putting the abuses to the task of being accountable. The organization also seeks to challenge the government and other bodies or people who hold powers to observe human rights and to end human rights abuses, particularly with reference to international human rights standards as well as that of the municipal laws. As a leading human rights body, with the aforesaid specific roles, which are highly tangential to the issues of justice , the organization has a legitimate interest to participate in the case and to present an Amicus brief for the same. The organization has a lot of interest in ensuring that justice is done to the defendant. It is the Human Rights Watch that this honorable court safeguards future systematic human rights abuses by the state, and in particular the police, against the citizens. It is the interest of the organization that the pol ice and all government organs concerned are held accountable for human rights abuses that they perpetrate. ... Incarcerated on a disorderly conduct charge, the deputies were hoping to learn more about Fields' relationship with an underage male. Fields was not given his Miranda warnings, but was told he could leave the conference room where the questioning took place at any time. During the 7 hour questioning, Fields repeatedly told the deputies that he did not want to talk about the allegations of sexual misconduct that they had leveled against him. Eventually, however, he did admit to some of the behavior that had been alleged. On the basis of that information, and over the strenuous objection of his counsel, Fields was later convicted of two counts of third-degree criminal conduct and sentenced to a term of 10-15 years.   Fields appealed claiming that when he was first removed from his cell to go to the conference room, he was given no notice of what the deputies wanted. Further, because they had not Mirandized him and continued to question him even after he told them he did not want to s peak to them, the incriminating statements should be thrown out. Throughout his appeals in the state judicial system, his arguments were denied.   Upon making a habeus corpus motion to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, however, Fields' contention that his rights had been violated was upheld. The Sixth Circuit Court affirmed that lower court ruling which contrasted with decisions made in similar cases in other federal courts. The split in the circuits virtually guaranteed that the Supreme Court would take the case. On January 24, 2011, the Supreme Court granted certiorari.   The present case presents a question as to what amounts to being in custody and in particular whether or not a prisoner is always â€Å"in

Summry of any book Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Summry of any book - Essay Example The reaping is a disillusioned period as it determines which boy and girl aged between 12 and 18 gets to serve the district’s tribute during the Hunger Games. The tributes are individuals who come from all of the 12 districts and they face each other in an arena where they must fight until there is only one remaining tribute. The victor ultimately receives a valued gift and in this context, it is food. A shocking turn of events turns up when Prim is the choice at the reaping. However, Katniss volunteers to take up her place as she is too young and she made a vow to protect her family at all costs. Another baffle comes in when a young boy, Peeta Mellark comes into the view of the reader as the other tribute. Katniss recalls that he had saved her by giving her bread and she felt obliged as she now owed him her life and in contrast she was contemplating killing him in the games. Katniss bids her family and friends goodbye and sets out on the train where they experience luxuries b eyond their wildest imagination. The novel ends with the two characters from District 12 going home as celebrated heroes. She knows that she pretended to love Peeta and this saved her from dying although her mind was instantly fixated on Gale. She is at a junction with her feelings as she is not certain who she truly loves, but must abide to the rules least Capitol take a large punishment on her for lying (Suzanne

Stress Related Factors in Different Types of Schooling Essay Example for Free

Stress Related Factors in Different Types of Schooling Essay Abstract The purpose of this research is to determine the advantages and disadvantages of students who attend on ground schools or online schools and to understand the cause and effect with different levels of stress in students who attend both types of schooling. Common stress in students who attend both types of schooling are feeling intense pressure to achieve high grades, trying to establish a romantic/social life, and dealing with the costs of college. Stress in college students can cause negative effects toward grades, health and relationships if it is not managed properly. The advantages and disadvantages of attending either school type depend on a student’s self-perception, personality, learning skills, weaknesses and strengths. A common advantage when attending an online school is that you are able to wear whatever you want, and set your own schedule. A common disadvantage when attending on ground school is rearranging your schedule to fit in and arrive to classes on time. Stress Related Factors in Different Types of Schooling Stress is the bodys way of rising to a challenge and preparing to meet a tough situation with focus, strength, stamina, and heightened alertness. Every individual will stress at some point in their lives. When dealing with education, there are several causes for a student to become stressed. No matter how you choose to obtain your education, stress is inevitable. There are two main ways to receive an education. A student can choose to attend school online, which consists of relying on technology to do research and complete assignments. Another alternative for a student to attend school is the most common among young students. A student can attend school on ground, which is also known as on campus, consists of having interactions with their instructors and peers. However, for each schooling type, the reasons for stress may differ: a student’s ability to handle or manage stress is based  on their personality, strengths, and weaknesses. With stress also come advantages and disa dvantages when attending both types of school. The stress involved in each type is determined more or less stressful based on how a student interprets and deals with the situation. On ground schooling allows for students to experience several situations and factors that could cause stress. This type of schooling involves face to face interaction with teachers and peers. The most common stressor for a student when faced with social interaction deals with social issues. Worry of making friends, fitting in, being judged, and or their appearance can cause a student to have stress which could result in low grades, participation, and attendance. Students that usually have issues with social interactions, usually benefit more when attending online classes. Going to school online has limited to no face to face interaction and allows anonymity. If a student is shy or unable to share an opinion because of time restraints in a traditional classroom, online courses make it possible for all students to participate in discussions. (College Atlas 2004-2011) A student that decides to attend online schooling may have less stress because the lack of social interaction, but could experience drawbacks with not having it as well. An online student receives little or no traditional participation and no interaction with the teacher or their peers. Students who learn by hands on or face to face interaction lose all of this when they take classes online since you can’t physical meet with you teacher or peers. (UK essays 2003) When a student has a question or needs an explanation, they do not have the benefit of simply raising a hand and instantly receiving an answer. Instead, an online student must either e-mail, post on a discussion board or if possible call the instructor. Students could determine whether working at their own pace or working by a set schedule is more beneficial to their learning skills. Depending on the student and their learning abilities, determines which type of schooling would better aid them. Online schooling is more seen to have a self-paced curriculum. An advantage to having a self-paced curriculum is flexibility which allows a student to set their own study time. This could mean after work, at night, before the kids get up, or during your lunch break. Even if you need to log in to the campus Web site at 3 a.m., youll still be able to complete your work. (Amy Brantley 2003-2012) When students follows a set schedule, many of them may find the  structure and regularity found at an on ground school beneficial, as opposed to a self-paced type of curriculum that makes up an online school program. (Degree Directory.org 2003-2012) Though, some students excel better with having set their own schedule this type of schooling allows for procrastination to be more common. When a student follows a set schedule, they are required to attend classes and turn in assignments on the dates and times given by their instructor. Depending on an individual’s preferred type of learning skill will determine which type of schedule is easier or more beneficial for them. When attending an on ground school, a student might be required to work in a group, participate in a class project, or contribute to a knowledge-building enterprise, uses dialogue, hands-on learning, or context. (Marcy Driscoll, 2011) Online schooling does not require a student to learn in these ways, seeing as they are only possible when being physically present. Instead, online students may be required to participate in discussions, complete lab work, or research information on the web. On ground schooling uses more learning activities that involve student and teacher interaction, whereas online schooling uses more independent activities. Choosing to attend school online requires having proper up to date technology and know-how of using this technology. (Education Portal 2003) Many schools offer tech help regarding their online classes and most do have basic help desk support available to distance learners having trouble with an online course or hardware. Failure to meet these requirements could cause stress for the student because their grade/s are given based on completion of the assignment/s. For example, not having internet access will affect your ability to turn in an assignment, which could result in a failing grade. When attending on ground schools, technology is not usually required in order to complete assignments. If and when it is, the technology is made available for use for the students. The advantage to having this technology offered to an on ground student is that there are people there who will help a student better understand how to use the technology if needed. There are different amounts of stress between on ground and online schooling that are primarily based on different forms of teaching and the different causes of stress in each type of schooling. These reasons differ from how a student is taught, how they study, how assignments are completed turned in and instances and occurrences they may encounter  when at school on ground or at school online. A way of doing something is considered stressful to one person, but may be considered less stressful to another. Organizing time, maintaining healthy habits, setting realistic goals, developing good coping mechanisms and seeking help if needed can help a student deal and manage stress when attending either online or on ground schools. References Tan, J., Yates, S., (2009, May 23) Academic Expectations as Sources of Stress in Asian Students Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezp00vi9.lirn.net/psychology/docview/887954857/13A9A6956F874EA0FDC/1?accountid=40833 Rukhsana, K., (2010) Perceived Stress, Academic Workloads and Use of Coping Strategies by University Students –Journal of Behavioral Sciences. Retrieved from: http://search.proquest.com.ezp00vi9.lirn.net/psychology/docview/612887679/13A9A6956F874EA0FDC/2?accountid=40833 College Atlas ‘A World to a Higher Power’ (2004-2011) Retrieved from: http://www.collegeatlas.org/why-online-learning.html Advantages Disadvantages of Classroom Learning and Online classes (2003) Retrieved from: http://www.ukessays.com/essays/education/advantages-disadvantages-of-classroom-learning-and-online-classes-education-essay.php Brantley, A.,(2003-2012) Advantages and Disadvantages of Taking Classes Online Retrieved from: http://colleges.collegetoolkit.com/guides/onlinedegree/advantages_and_disadvantages_of_taking_clases_online.aspx What Are the Advantages of Campus-Based Education Vs. Online Education? (2003-2012) Retrieved From http://degreedirectory.org/articles/What_are_the_Advantages_of_Campus-Based_Education_vs_Online_Education.html

Anne Moodys Involvement in the Civil Rights Movement Essay -- Anne Mo

Coming of Age in Mississippi   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Anne Moody’s Coming of Age in Mississippi, talked extensively about the civil rights movement that she had participated in. The civil rights movement dealt with numerous issues that many people had not agreed with. Coming of Age in Mississippi gave the reader a first hand look at the efforts many people had done to gain equal rights.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Anne Moody, like many other young people, joined the civil rights movement because they wanted to make a difference in their state. They wanted their freedom and the same rights as the white people had. Many other young people joined the civil rights movement because they felt that a change was needed in the way black people were treated. They felt that this change would not come if they did not join the civil rights movement. Anne Moody was a strong believer of black rights and felt that it was important for her to help black people fight for equal rights. These civil rights workers felt that their freedom would only come if most of the black community supported the efforts of the civil rights workers. Anne Moody, and other young people, thought that the only way that they would get equal rights for black people was to prove that they really wanted them. These civil rights workers, for example, showed that they really did care by joining various civil rights orga nizations and engaging in Freedom Marches. These Freedom marches were very organized, and they occurred all over the United States, which proved that black people wanted the same rights as the white people had. Anne Moody, and many other young people, joined the civil rights movement because they felt a change was needed and that it was their duty to fight for equal rights.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Anne Moody had thought about joining the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), but she never did until she found out one of her roommates at Tougaloo college was the secretary. Her roommate asked, â€Å"why don’t you become a member† (248), so Anne did. Once she went to a meeting, she became actively involved. She was always participating in various freedom marches, would go out into the community to get black people to register to vote. She always seemed to be working on getting support from the black community, sometimes to the point of exhaustion. Son after she joined the NAACP, she met a girl that was the secretary to the ... ...tunity Commission that prevented discrimination in the workplace. Anne Moody was very optimistic about the desegregation cases. She always tested the Supreme Court decision of Brown versus the Board of Education numerous times by doing sit-ins and freedom marches. She was determined to fight for her rights, despite numerous threats against her life. When Kennedy was assassinated, she was devastated. Anne really thought that Kennedy was the answer that she and other members of SNCC were waiting for. She walked around in a daze wondering what would happen next. Governmental leaders were essential during the civil rights movement. Without the help of government officials, black people would not have had the same rights they have today. Anne Moody’s Coming of Age in Mississippi, talked extensively about the civil rights movement that she had participated in. The civil rights movement proved successful in achieving equal rights for Black Americans, despite strong opposition. Black Americans got equal rights because of the untiring efforts young people, like Anne Moody, had. Without the efforts of these young people, the role of Black Americans in society may have been different today.

Personal Financial Management Essay

1. You need to hire a receptionist that will be handling cash. What steps would you take to make sure you hire the right person? Inquire about previous cash handling experience, ask about their personal financial management, how they handle their personal finances. 2. Why should you teach your employees the importance of personal financial management? What are some creative ways of doing this? How employees handle their income reflects their work performance, if someone is having financial issues it will most likely cause them to be stressed at the work place. It is important to teach employees how to handle their finances so the overall performance of the company is not affected. Some ways to do this is by having workshops, company meetings, games, or a company lunch. Any setting where a financial manger could come in and answer any questions an employee might have as to how to manage their finances better. 3. What specific steps can you take to improve your spending habits? Some ways I could improve my spending habits would be to assist my want versus need. I can admit that at times I do unnecessary spending. I should make a budget of how much I spend and how much I earn and try to be fugal in my spending habits.

Dell Computer

PREFACE We are living in the era of information. The 21st century has come with more than ever powerful working tools: the computer, the Internet, and Information technology. The computer has been playing an increasingly important role in the daily lives of people, families, organizations and businesses. With their huge computing and processing power, computers have boosted up productivity, increased accuracy, saved time, and become essential equipments for almost every business today.Windows 7 Check Your UnderstandingTogether with the widely application of the Internet and Information technology, the computer has become even more powerful tool which improves every aspect of people’ lives. Owning to its power and functionalities, the demand for computer has increased continuously over years, pushing the PC (personal computer) industry become one of the most competitive and dynamic. Within 6 years from 2006 to 2010, the worldwide PC sales almost doubled and stay at more than 30 0 million units in 2010.Large computer companies today spend billions of dollars annually on innovating new technology, developing new products in order to gain the top position on the market. Besides, due to the fast pace of changing, as a feature of the industry, computer firms have to adjust their overall strategies continuously to stay strong. Dell Inc. is one typical example of successful computer enterprise by using appropriate strategies toward technology innovation and operation.With innovation based on standardization, direct sales model, and the support of modern and fast information technology system, Dell keeps in hand key comparative advantages to win the first position in the market for many years. Until now, Dell still remains as the toughest competitor for any PC maker. Being attracted by the eventful computer industry and efficient operation of Dell Inc. , the writer decides to choose the PC industry as the theme and Dell Computer is in the centre for this working p aper. Within the limited volume of this thesis, the writer will go through three parts:The first part introduces briefly about the computer industry, technology development, strategies of enterprises regarding technology innovation and development as well as some short stories of leading companies. The second part talks about Dell Inc. , including its history of development, its strategies of technology innovation and operation, and its global expansion. This part will analyze how the combination of creative technology development policies and business model help this firm becomes one of the leading computer makers in the world.The third part will be about technology development in Vietnam in globalization scenario, Vietnamese technology enterprises and some lessons withdrawn from Dell Computer’s success and failure for them. Due to the limited time and knowledge of the writer, this paper inevitably contains some limitations and shortcomings. Therefore, the writer would like to receive every feedback or comment from teachers and people who interested in this topic to improve the quality of the thesis.Chapter 1: OVERVIEW OF TECHNOLOGY AND DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY OF COMPUTER ENTERPRISES IN GLOBALIZATION 1. 1. Overview of technology development in computer industry in the world: The personal computer (PC) industry is one of the strangest and most dynamic in the world. Probably there is no other kind of product that is so technologically sophisticated, changed so rapidly, sells for so much money, and is sold by so many companies for not much profit. The fierce competition in this industry is the reason why so many problems are encountered by those who deal with PC vendors.Since PC could be assembled from standardized components without much expertise required and the barriers to entry are not as tough as in the past, new computer business is established on a frequent basis. As a result, there are thousands of companies making PCs that perform similar functions pushing the market to be extremely price-competitive. Since the market is so competitive, vendors often sell at very low margins. Computers are not the same as many other products, where the company selling the device is making upwards of 50% of the price of the product as gross profit. For PCs it is often around 10%.Additionally, there is probably no other industry that has prices change as dramatically and frequently as the PC industry. Usually, prices are decreasing. This is good for the consumer but very bad for vendors, because it means that their already low margins get squeezed if prices drop between the time that they buy a product and the time they sell it. Drop in the price of PC comes from both severe competition and rapid changes in technology. As a consequence, PC makers often prefer to keep low inventories. Whenever prices fall, the vendors potentially lose money on every component in inventory at the time.Due to the rapid frequency of changes in technology, functiona lities and capacity of computers are improved continuously, broadening PC’s definition over time. In the dawn of PC industry, a computer was a bulky device, furnished with some simple functions and small volume, but extremely costly. Today, people could possess small handheld devices which are integrated with processing power and functions tens times better than huge mainframes decades ago. The PC industry has a strong connection with the software industry and the application of the Internet.These two peripheral industries have accelerated the speed of technology innovation even faster. In years recent, a computer device has evolved into a centre for all the digital peripheral such as music players, digital cameras, video recorders, internet TV, etc. With the technology evolution, computers have become the ever powerful tools that are essential for any success business and modern families; and the PC industry become one of the most strategic industries in the world in the 21s t century. 1. 1. 1. Velocity of development and innovation:The personal computer industry has grown from a hobbyist industry in the 1970s to a highly profitable industry worth hundreds of billions of dollars worldwide. Driven by consumer demand to access the Internet and the advancements of microprocessor technologies, the demand for PCs for personal and business use has climbed continuously in the early 21st century The PC industry is one among the fastest growing industries in the world. According to a research carried out by Etforcasts, the annual worldwide PC sales has a trend to double every six years. By 2000, the PC sales was 132 million; and almost doubled in 2006.The velocity of increase in this industry is at a staggering rate of around 9% annually compounded. (Table 1) Table 1: Worldwide PC Sales Unit: 1 million PCs |Year |1990 |1995 |2000 |2005 |2010 | |Worldwide PC Sales |24 |58 |132 |207 |325 | (Source: etforecasts) Another noticeable index is the number of PC in use. In 2000, there were more than 500 million units in-use and the figure in 2010 is over 1400 million units almost three times higher. Table 2) Table 2: Worldwide PC in use Unit: 1 million PCs |Year |1990 |1995 |2000 |2005 |2010 | |Worldwide PC in use |100 |225 |529 |910 |1,425 | (Source: Etforecasts) The figure above shows that the computer industry has a huge growth potential. These growth potentials are fostered by the upgrading of obsolete machines, newly established business around the world, new generation or innovation of computer devices integrated with digital functions.Yearly PC sales for the U. S. and the main regions of the world are summarized in the next figure. North America will remain the largest region through 2007. All figures are in millions of units. Figure 1: Annual PC Sales of the main regions of the world [pic] (Source Etforecasts) In 2003, the number of PCs sold in the US was roughly about 30% of the total worldwide sales. This data indicates that the remaining 70% of the PC sales happened outside the US. This shows that there are many opportunities yet to be discovered by firms around the world.According to etForcast , Asia will be the region with the fastest growth in computing devices. This trend is confirmed by the rapid urbanization and modernization of China in recent years, and expected to continue to grow in the next decade. Therefore, it is logical to move the PC manufacturers in the US into the global arena. PC revenue was growing slower than unit growth due to considerable price declines and saw a pause the last two years due to lower unit sales growth than price declines. The worldwide PC revenues were $251B in 2000, which increased to over $333B in 2007. Worldwide PC revenue declined to $320B in 2010.According to experts of Etforecasts, worldwide PC revenue has a trend to grow again in the next five years to around $400B in 2015, which is due to the unit growth boost from the iPad and competing products. To get a clearer pict ure of the potential of IT industry, have a look at the following figure about computer and peripherals industry in the period from 1999 to 2004. This computer and peripherals industry include products which are computer-based and inter-connected to computers. These products are indicators of how well the entire industry is doing in terms of new innovations and future development.Figure 2: Computer and Peripherals Industry 1999 – 2004 Unit: billion Dollars [pic] This figure is a good indicator of the huge potentials in the IT industry. Although the industry had a minor setback in 2001, the net profit and sales remains high for 2004. As mentioned above, IT industry has become a center for computer and peripheral devices. There will be a greater demand in networking because computers are more connected to each other. Wireless technology will continue to grow in range and speed for more and more information need to transmit between computers and across networks. . 1. 2. Overall impact to the development of economies in the world The 21st century comes with more than ever powerful tools which based on the widely use of computers and the Internet. The popularity of PCs is phenomenal because it has revolutionized the way people communicate, how information is stored, and people’s ability to access knowledge at their fingertips. Besides, PCs have become necessities in the corporate world simply because business processes involve heavy use of computers and Internet.In fact, the percentage of population with computer connected to the worldwide network has become one of the key indicators for the level of modernization and human power of economies in the world. Following is the figure for some typical countries: Table 3: Internet users per 100 people |Country |2007 |2008 |2009 |2010 | |US |75. 2 |74. 1 |78. 2 |79. 3 | |Japan |73. |74. 7 |77. 4 |79. 4 | |Germany |75. 4 |78. 3 |79. 7 |82. 5 | |Australia |69. 6 |71. 7 |74. 1 |75. 8 | |China |16. 0 |22. 7 |29. 0 |34. 4 | |Singapore |67. 9 |68. 0 |68. |70. 1 | |Vietnam |20. 9 |24. 2 |26. 8 |27. 8 | (Source: World Bank estimates – World Development Indicators) There are two things that can be easily seen from the above table. First, the advanced economies often have high percentage of population with computer connected to the Internet. Developed countries such as US or Germany have a very high rate, almost four-fifth of the population; meanwhile, developing countries like China or Vietnam stay at much more humble levels.This means that internet connection is one of the indicators for the power and modernization of the economies. Second, the percentage in general has the trend to increase continuously over time which denotes the increased demand for computers and Internet using. People’s job will more and more related to the application of computer and Internet’s functions. Information technology has shifted the paradigm of economies. In a macroeconomic sense, informati on technology affects the patterns of production, investment and employment.Production structure: as the information technology evolves, the world is now in paradigm shift from the industrial age to the information age. As a result, there is a growing demand in the service fields that require expert knowledge and information. Thanks to information technology, existing service industries such as banking and distribution are enhancing efficiency and expanding their business areas. New industries on the basis of information technology such as software industry and information processing service are rapidly growing.The following table is about information and communication technology goods exports include telecommunications, audio and video, computer and related equipment; electronic components; and other information and communication technology goods of some countries. The number is taken as percentage over the total goods exports. Table 4: ICT goods exports (% of total goods exports) |CountryYear |2007 |2008 |2009 | |US |14. 2 |12. |13. 0 | |Japan |15. 7 |14. 3 |14. 7 | |Germany |7. 9 |6. 9 |6. 8 | |Australia |1. 8 |1. 5 |1. 4 | |China |29. 1 |27. 5 |29. | |Singapore |36. 2 |35. 9 |35. 4 | |Malaysia |41. 6 |26. 2 |38. 1 | (Source: United Nations Statistics Division's Commodity Trade) The table shows clearly that ICT products is an important part in the production structure of countries, especially Asian developing countries since the percentage is very high (times higher than developed economies).This can be explained as the trend of outsourcing in big technology firms of developed countries to take advantage of cheap labor force and market potential in Asia-Pacific area. Investment structure: as information technology changes the aspects of competition, investment is made more in the area of information and communications that promotes productivity and efficiency of knowledge-based products. As the demand for high technology goods has increased continuously, th e IT industry becomes a highly profitable but competitive industry.Severe competition in home countries forces computer firms to expand globally, finding new market for their growth. In addition, the pressure of price-competition requires them to find ways to cut cost. As a result, large multi-national technology tend to invest in potential markets such as countries in the Asia-Pacific area or India, changing dramatically the investment structure of both home countries and investment receiving countries. According to OECD Factbook 2010 regarding to investment structure of the world, ICT shares in total non-residential investment doubled, and in some cases, even quadrupled between 1980 and 2000.In 2008, ICT shares were particularly high (at 24% or more of the total) in countries like the United States, Sweden and Denmark, etc. Software has been the fastest growing component of ICT investment. In many countries, its share in non-residential investment multiplied several times between 1980 and 2008. In 2008, software's share in total investment was highest in Sweden, the United States, Denmark, Finland and the United Kingdom. In the recent years, software accounted for 50% or more of total ICT investment in France, Finland, Sweden, Japan, Korea, Denmark, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Switzerland and Netherlands.Communication equipment was the major component of ICT investment in Portugal and Greece. IT equipment was the major component in Belgium and Ireland. Changes in employment structure: In advanced economies, the number of workers in manufacturing sector is drastically reduced by shrinking share of its production. But employment in information and knowledge-intensive service sector is increasing with automation and investment in information technology. In the occupational categories, there are more demands for experts with creativity and information technology.Meanwhile, for developing countries, a large number of people move from the agricu lture sector into manufacturing due to the trend of outsourcing of big technology firms in the world. Investment in infrastructure of high technology firm in developing countries to take advantage of the cheap manufacturing factors has created jobs for millions of employment in the local areas. In a microeconomic sense, information technology changes business activities. It is important today that how much information a company have and how much of them could be converted into useful knowledge.The global modern economy has proved that knowledge itself, not a physical good, is a valuable product. In other words, owning to advanced information technology, knowledge-based workers, who create and utilize information, play a key role in economic activities and knowledge creating organizations like research institutes and universities will find their increased roles as a place for economic activities. Changes take place in every part of the business from the communication system to develo pment of goods and technology, procurement, production, sales, distribution, and after sales services.Enterprises depend heavily on rapid development of diverse goods and technology in order to satisfy customers. Time to market is also getting an important position in today economic environment. Modern communication methods such as email or fax have been widely used in companies since they accelerate the whole business process and save a lot of time. Meanwhile, enterprises have a trend to change production system from mass production under economy of scale into production on demand thanks to the application of E-commerce and advanced communication tools.Keeping a smooth flow of information both internally and externally has become one of the key comparative advantages of companies in technology field. It helps companies save time and keep them updated constantly with information about the real demand of the market. That is the basis for their customization to truly meet the need of theirs customers. In short, the informatics era come with the technology evolution has restructured and speed up people’s lives, business operation, and the whole economic scenario of every countries in the world. The technology power of countries in the 21st century comes with the economic and politic power.Information, communication and computer-related industry have become the strategic focus of development in almost a large number of countries and regions around the world. National policies to promote technology development and innovation: When talking about the countries growing fast and increasing their power with technological means today, people often mention the role of information technology, the widespread use of computers and the Internet. Information technology sector has proven itself to be the most strategic power in the development of national economies due to its productivity, speed, and versatility.As a consequence, countries in the world have set up and cha nged their own policies and strategies to develop their technology power on a continuous basis. On of the main indicator regarding to the policies for technology development and innovation of countries is how much they spend on research and development activities (R&D). The following table shows a brief comparison of this expense in some typical countries in the world. For even a clearer look, the second column takes this expense as percentage over the GDP of those countries. Table 5: Domestic expenditures on R&D by country 2009-2010 (most recent year available) Country |R&D expense (million current ppp) |R&D expense/GDP (%) | |US 2009 |401 576. 00 |2. 90 | |Japan 2009 |137 314. 21 |3. 36 | |Germany 2010 |86 209. 64 |2. 82 | |France 2010 |49 990. 76 |2. 6 | |South Korea 2010 |53 184. 86 |3. 74 | |United Kingdom 2010 |39 137. 82 |1. 77 | |Canada 2010 |23 970. 09 |1. 80 | |Italy 2010 |24 269. 15 |1. 26 | |China 2009 |154 147. 6 |1. 70 | |Singapore 2009 |5 733. 23 |2. 27 | |South Afric a 2008 |4 708. 22 |0. 93 | (Source: OECD, Main Science and Technology Indicators) In general view from the above table, developed countries often have a higher rate of R&D expense over their GDP, more or less of 3%. This is relevant with the result of strong technology power and potential in these countries.Meanwhile, developing countries such as China has also spent a substantial amount to develop its technology power to catch up with developed economies in the world. In deed, the location of R&D investment has a trend to move toward new emerging economies such as India or China. This is considered as the direct consequence of outsourcing activities of many large technology firms in the world in the process of global expanding and cost cutting. According to an estimation of European Commission, between 13 years from 1995 to 2008 the world’s gross domestic expenditure on R&D (GERD) almost doubled in real terms.Over this period real GERD increased by about 50 % in the EU, 60 % in the United States, 75 % in developed Asian economies, 855 % in China, 145 % in BRIS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, South-Africa) and almost 100 % in the rest of the world. As a result, less than 24 % of R&D expenditure in the world was located in the EU in 2008, compared to almost 29 % in 1995. The share of the United States and Japan also decreased substantially from almost 38 % to 33 % in the United States and from 16 % to 13 % in Japan.Moreover, this global trend has been accelerating since 2004, which marked the beginning of a steeper increase in R&D expenditure in China and developed Asian economies. Figure 3: Changes of World GERD in real terms [pic] (Source: DG Research and Innovation Data: Eurostat, OECD, UNESCO Notes: BRIS: Brazil+Russian+India+Singapore) This evolution is expected since rapid economic growth in China and a number of other countries in the world allows for rapid increases in R&D expenditures in these countries. Also, high growth rates are more easily reached when the initial level is relatively low.In that context, the share of the EU and other advanced economies is bound to shrink and the figure below quantifies this shrinkage. This re-balancing in knowledge production has important consequences for the EU in terms of international scientific and technological cooperation and knowledge flows in the world. In the 2002 Lisbon Strategy, the EU set the objective of devoting 3 % of its GDP to R&D activities by 2010. In 2005, with the re-launch of the Lisbon Strategy, Member States set their own national R&D intensity targets to be met in 2010.In the Europe 2020 Strategy adopted in 2010, the EU maintained the 3 % objective for 2020 and in the following months, Member States adopted their 2020 national R&D intensity targets. Despite a 25 % real-terms increase in research expenditure over the period 2000–2008, R&D intensity in the EU has stagnated at around 1. 85 % of GDP between 2000 and 2007 with a slight increase in 2008 and 2009 to 2. 01 % of GDP (Figure I. 1. 2). This late increase in R&D intensity is, however, due to a more rapid decrease in GDP than in R&D expenditure.In the United States, after a continuous decline during the first half of the decade, R&D intensity started to increase from 2005 to 2. 77 % of GDP in 2008, slightly above its 2000 value (2. 69 % of GDP). This quasi-stagnation of R&D intensity in the EU and the United States contrasts with the strong increases observed in Japan, South Korea and China during this period, up to 3. 44 %, 3. 37 % and 1. 54 % of GDP respectively. Part of the very high R&D intensity growth observed in China is due to its low initial position. It is to be noted that this increase slowed down in 2007–2008 in Japan.Of the largest contributors to R&D expenditure in the EU, France and the United Kingdom have followed a similar path to the EU average, while Germany is closer to the US level. 1. 2. Development strategy of technology enterprises: Although th e market for computer is huge and profitable, the competition is truly fierce between leading providers including Dell, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Sony, Toshiba, Acer and Apple. As the demands for computer and computer-related products are getting higher day by day, there is also a pressure for PC vendors to drive the price down to compete with others.It is often down to the level where profits are questionable; as mention in the previous sector, around 10% of price margin. Meanwhile, PC vendors also have to cope with rapid product cycle because high technology is changing so quickly. As the result, IT enterprises have to keep their costs down and try to maximize their market share. The use of information systems to gain competitive advantage becomes very attractive to the companies in this industry. Each firm follows their own strategy of technology innovation and doing business. Dell: The innovative Direct-Sales Business Model eliminates the need for a retail chain.The ability to custo mize PC on an individual customer basis is one of the main comparative advantages of this vendor. Dell’s PCs are built and upgraded based on standardized components of collaborative partners. Hewlett-Packard: It merged with Compaq Computer to compete against Dell. This computer giant still relies on the more traditional retailer channel business model. HP also offers variety of computer products such as printers, scanners, and digital cameras. IBM: Traditionally IBM is in the mainframe and large scale computing market. It holds the most patents in the world as an attempt to stay ahead in the competition.The PCs from IBM are gear towards corporate and business use. Lenovo: Lenovo is the world's second largest PC maker after its 2005 acquisition of IBM's personal computer business. . Lenovo markets its products directly to consumers, small to medium size businesses, and large enterprises, as well as through online sales, company-owned stores, chain retailers, and major technolo gy distributors and vendors. Sony: a Japanese consumer electronic giant becomes a computer maker. Their computers gear toward the consumer market and offer tools for video editing.It is aiming towards the overall design and appearance of the computer. The main Laptop line of Sony is Vaio which tend to concentrate on the high end market. Toshiba: a Japanese diversified manufacturer and marketer of electrical products, information & communications equipment and systems, Internet-based solutions and services. In PC venture, Toshiba focuses on portable computers. Their computers offer a balanced between price and performance. Acer: Taiwan PC maker which has been staying in top 5 PC vendors regarding the market share in recent years after its acquisition of US-based competitor Gateway.In the early 2000s, Acer changed it business strategy a manufacturer to a designer, marketer and distributor of products, while performing production processes via contract manufacturers. Acer’s prod ucts are competitive both in the quality and the price. Apple: Last major PC maker that is not using Microsoft’s Windows operating system. Apple has moved from competing directly with the Wintel market to a more leisure computer market. Their computers focus on design and user-friendliness. The customers for Apple are personal users, educational institutions, and graphics design firms.The following table is about global market share of leading vendors in recent years: Table 6: Global PC Market Share 2008 – 2011 |Rank |2008 |2009 |2010 |2011 | |1 |HP |18. 4 |HP | Customers |Individuals |Corporate |Education |Government | Markets US |Europe |Asia |Latin America | Manufacturing strategy |Customized |Fixed features | Sales and distribution |Direct Sales |Retain Chains | Company’s structure |Alliances |Independent |Any enterprise in the computer industry has to choose at least one primary and perhaps some combinations of the supplementary strategies. The two primary strategies are low cost and product differentiation, and the supplementary strategies include innovation, grow, and alliance. In order to implement the low cost strategy as the primary strategy, the firms have to notice a few important points. In the least-cost competition there is only one winner, and this is to say there is only one company that can achieve the least cost in the production. Low cost strategy emphasizes on ways to cut cost as low as possible.For example, the most popular way is based on economies of scale which means the firms have to sell a lot of the same products to sustain the extremely low profit margin on each item. Other ways include the policies to keep low inventory, direct sales to cut the cost of middleman. Generally, the firms need to use information systems to exploit cost reductions and form strong business alliances with suppliers and other logistics providers. Dell Inc. is the best example of companies successful in applying this strategy. The direc t sales model and the ability to maintain almost-zero inventories have ontributed greatly in the forming of extremely competitive price of its products. On the other hand, the differentiation strategy focuses on separating the product from the industry standard. This is a strategy that focuses on unique products that exceed the industry average in terms of performance and design. The product must be highly customizable so it caters to individuals rather than having a generic form. Firms using differentiation as a strategy need to constantly make adjustments to the product because of the competitor’s imitation.As an illustration, Apple’s primary strategy is in product differentiation. It tries very hard to differentiate itself from the rest of the PC manufacturers through better design and performance. Through Apple’s own brand image, it tries to convince the customers that its computers are superior to other competitors. The PC industry offers a wide range of pr oducts. Desktops and laptops are computers that target at home customers. For business, government, and educational customers, they will find the tablets and servers both very attractive to fit their needs. In the 21st century, the PC industry is truly global.Computers can be shipped to different places around the world with the minimal modifications. The computer itself is the same for all countries; however, the documents and manuals that come with the computer will have to be localized to the specific countries. Besides a clear primary strategy, a good combination of the supporting strategies is also important. Innovative use of information systems in Supply Chain Management will enable the firm to cut costs to support the primary strategy. Total Quality Management allows a company to provide and sustain a good customer service time after time.Strong Alliances are formed to foster a closer relationship with the suppliers and logistics providers. Alliances can also drive the costs down and increase the profit margin on each product. The options for strategy are limitless. The goal for all firms is to make a well-balanced choice – a choice that will ensure the competitive edge of the firm in the industry. Failure in doing so will result in loss of market share and perhaps the end of the business opportunity for the firm. 1. 3. Development strategies of some MNCs in the world and achievements: 1. 3. 1. Globalization of the Personal Computer industry:Table 7: Share of global PC production by region | |1985 |1990 |1995 |2000 | |Americas |53% |32% |32% |34% | |EMEA |24% |27% |20% |19% | |Asia-Pacific |23% |41% |48% |47% | Source: Reed Electronics Research, Yearbook of World Electronics Data Note: EMEA: Europe – Middle East – Africa) The computer industry has long been one of the most global of industries. The Asia-Pacific production network was concentrated in Southeast Asia, particularly Singapore and Taiwan. In Singapore, many U. S. and oth er MNCs set up production of computer hardware, especially disk drives. In Taiwan, entrepreneurial local companies found opportunities supplying the major PC makers, beginning with simple parts and moving up to more sophisticated components, and assembly of PCs and peripherals.Over time, labor-intensive activities were relocated to low-wage locations such as Thailand, Malaysia and China, with Singapore and Taiwan coordinating production in these sites and handling more sophisticated manufacturing processes at home. Japan and Korea were less successful as global PC producers, but were the major suppliers of high volume components such as memory chips and flat-panel displays. As early as 1988, the Asia-Pacific region had surpassed the Americas as the largest producer of computer hardware, even though the largest market was in the Americas and most leading PC vendors were U. S. companies.Asia-Pacific gained production at the expense of both the Americas and Europe/Middle East/Africa (E MEA) until 1990; since then it has grown relative to EMEA while the Americas’ share of production has remained stable. In absolute terms, production has continued to grow in all regions. In Europe, production was concentrated in Germany, the UK, France and Italy during the 1980s. Each of these countries had a â€Å"national champion† computer vendor that had been nurtured through government procurement and other policy measures. However, none of the national champions made a successful transition from mainframes to personal computers.As a result, production stagnated in the mid 1990s in all of the countries except the UK, which attracted IBM and Compaq to locate PC production in emerging industry clusters in Scotland and Wales. In the Asia-Pacific region, production was dominated in the 1980s by Japan, which nearly tripled production between 1985 and 1990 to surpass the U. S. as the world leader. During this time, Singapore and Taiwan also saw rapid growth, followed by Korea. In the early 1990s, Japan continued to see solid growth in production, while Singapore and Taiwan each tripled their production to become the third and fourth largest producers in the world.In the late 1990s, however, Japan’s production declined precipitously, and Singapore and Taiwan saw much lower growth rates. The fastest growth was now occurring in the less developed ASEAN countries of Malaysia and Thailand, and most dramatically in China, which has leaped to number four in world production. This shift to developing countries was driven by investments by U. S, Japanese and Taiwanese firms looking for lower cost production sites and, in the case of China, looking for market access as well. 1. 3. 2. Strategies of some leading PC makers in the world and achievements: Hewlett-Packard (HP):HP is a PC vendor that operates in more than 170 countries all over the world. HP was founded in 1939. Corporate headquarters are in Palo Alto, California. In recent years, HP has re mained as the largest IT company in the world, with revenue totaling $127. 2 billion for fiscal year 2011. In 2011HP stayed at number 11 in Fortune 500 ranking. In 2002, HP and Compaq have merged together to gain the market competing with the main competitor Dell. These steps in the strategy of HP has boosted the market share of this PC enterprise become much larger than Dell and help the company stay at the first place in the world for years.Probably no other company offers as complete a technology product portfolio as HP. The company provides infrastructure and business offerings that span from handheld devices to some of the world's most powerful supercomputer installations. HP offers to consumers a wide range of products and services from digital entertainment and from computing to home printing. This PC vendor divides its products into three groups to meet the need of each market segmentation, including: The Personal Systems Group: business and consumer PCs, mobile computing de vices and workstations.The Imaging and Printing Group: inkjet, laser-jet and commercial printing, printing supplies Enterprise Business: business products including storage and servers, enterprise services, software and networking In order to innovating its technology constantly, at the moment HP scientists are focused on 24 large-scale projects that fall under eight high-impact research areas: printing and content delivery; mobile and immersive experiences; cloud and security; information analytics; intelligent infrastructure; networking; services; and sustainability.However, in recent years, HP has shifted from creating entirely new technology to using standardized components in producing PCs. The clear figure is that this company has reduced it R budget continuously. In 2009, HP spent $2. 82 billion on R, down from $3. 54 billion a year earlier. In 2007, HP’s R spending was $3. 6 billion. This movement in its strategy has supported greatly to lower cost. HP keeps a balance in its products, good quality PCs integrated with updated technology but at a competitive price level. Apple Apple Inc. , formerly Apple Computer, Inc. is a multinational corporation that creates consumer electronics, computer software, and commercial servers. Apple's core product lines are the iPad, iPhone, iPod music player, and Macintosh computer line-up. Founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak effectively created Apple Computer on April 1, 1976, with the release of the Apple I, and incorporated the company on January 3, 1977, in Cupertino, California. For more than two decades, Apple Computer was predominantly a manufacturer of personal computers, including the Apple II, Macintosh, and Power Mac lines, but it faced rocky sales and low market share during the 1990s.With the introduction of the successful iPod music player in 2001, Apple established itself as a leader in the consumer electronics industry, dropping â€Å"Computer† from its name. The latest era of phenomenal s uccess for the company has been in the iOS range of products that began with the iPhone, iPod Touch and now iPad. As of 2011, Apple is the largest technology firm in the world, with annual revenues of more than $60 billion. The main lesson from Apple’s success, however, is the central importance of focusing on strong products that are well-designed for the market.For years in this century, Apple has become the best leading innovator with continuously updated generation of its products and brand new ones. Steve Job, the company’s leader, is a genius at minimalist designs that integrate technology breakthroughs to fill a newly emerging need with unusual style. The result can be seen in the way he describes the attraction of the iPad â€Å"It’s like holding the Internet in your hands. It’s so much more intimate than a laptop and more capable than an iPhone. It’s truly magical. † The following figure presents the budget Apple has spent on R&D as percentage of revenue.In general, spending on R&D of this company is high, keep this vendor among the top 50 R&D spenders in the world. However, company’s revenue increases faster than this expense (as illustrated as decrease trend of the figure), especially since 2010 with the introduction of the ever successful tablet – Ipad. Figure 6: Apple’s R&D % of sales [pic] (Source: Larry Dignan – ZDNet news) Behind such great products, Apple thrives because it has been described as a well-oiled machine. The company has outsourced its manufacturing operations, while 317 Apple stores are wildly popular and profitable.The Apple music store – iTunes – has expanded into a powerful vehicle for trading videos, movies, and possibly other information products. Lenovo: Lenovo is the world's second largest PC maker in 2011. This Chinese company is established on November 1, 1984. In 1985, the company launched the first Chinese-made motherboard with Lenovo te chnology. The brand name, Lenovo, was born from this. Lenovo operates factories in Chengdu and Hefei in China, Japan, and as of December 2011 has plans to start production in Argentina.Lenovo focuses on vertical integration in order to avoid excessive reliance on original equipment manufacturers and keep costs down. This PC maker offers to the market the ThinkPad, IdeaPad line of notebook PCs and ThinkCentre line of desktops. These brands became part of Lenovo's offerings after its 2005 acquisition of IBM's personal computer business. As its strategy, Lenovo markets its products directly to consumers, small to medium size businesses, and large enterprises, as well as through online sales, company-owned stores, chain retailers, and major technology distributors and vendors.This direct sales model helps the company to reduce cost of middle man and retailers, and form the basis to get instant feedback from its customers. This all reduces the cost of producing and selling products and k eeps this enterprise stay competitive on the market. Besides, Lenovo owns the greatest track record for innovation in the PC industry and remains committed to innovation in its products and technology. As stated in the company’s statement, Lenovo’s innovation strategy is based on a two-tiered approach to solving real-world customer problems: Focus the majority of development on ideas that can be brought to market within 24 months; and, Invest longer term in research targeting â€Å"game changing† big plays† At the moment, Lenovo operates seven research and development centers and more than 46 world-class laboratories, including major research centers in Yokohama, Japan; Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, China; and Raleigh, New York City. The company employs more than 1,700 engineers, researchers and scientists and has received more than 100 major design awards.Lenovo’s R centers have produced some of the world's most important advances in PC technolog y, ranging from the original Bento Box PC notebook design in 1992 to the 2008 launch of the innovative ThinkPad X300, considered as one of the world's lightest, thinnest and most innovative full-featured notebook PCs ever. Lenovo's commitment to innovation introduces more industry breakthroughs and technology that sets the technical standards for business users as well as consumers. Chapter 2: DELL COMPUTER’S TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION AND DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY 2. . Overview of Dell computer’s development: This section of the paper deals with Dell Computer in the PC industry in terms of how they fit in the global PC industry, their technology innovation, their competitive strategy, the significance and the roles of the information systems, and the strengths and weaknesses of Dell Computer in the industry. In 2011, Dell reported $61,494 billions in sales, 16% increased in comparison with the previous year, and employed 100,300 people worldwide in production, development, and customer support of the operation.Dell is truly a global business with products range from desktops, laptop, workstations, servers, networking devices, and computer peripherals such as printers, cameras, LCD TV, mp3 music players, and recently tablet. Each Dell’s product can be further customized to meet the needs of the customers. Dell’s direct sales business model has been refined and modified to support the changing product line and customer service. However, the main idea behind the direct-sale business model remains unchanged.From a statement on Dell’s website, â€Å"Dell is doing business directly with customers, one at a time, and believe we can do it better than any one else in the industry. † The successful direct-sales business model puts much emphasis on the customers. From the beginning to the end of the transaction, Dell understands completely what the needs of its customers are. This results in a satisfied customer with the potential to do b usiness again and again in the future. After two decades of growth, Dell has become the world leading direct-sale computer vendor in the PC industry.As a relatively young company, Dell finds themselves constantly competiting with old, more established companies like Hewlett-Packard and IBM. In many years in the early of this century, Dell reclaimed the title of the number one PCs supplier in the industry. The success of Dell Computer is not possible without the vision of Michael Dell and his innovative strategies of technology development and operation. The following is a brief history of Dell Computer and its development. 2. 1. 1. Introduction to the company: Dell, Inc. s an American multinational computer technology corporation headquartered in 1 Dell Way, Round Rock, Texas, United States. The company is founded on November 4th, 1984 by Michael Dell who at that time was still a student in University of Texas. In 1983, Michael Dell started his computer hardware retail business by s elling hard drives and RAMs for IBM PCs. Dell bought his products from IBM dealers at cost, and later resold it through newspaper and magazines to individuals and businesses at lower cost than the retailers.By April 1984, his dorm room computer business was already making about $80,000 a month, and the success was strong enough to persuade him to drop out of college. As a result, Dell founded Dell Computer with $1,000. In the next few years, he was making IBM clones computers under the name PC-Limited and sold it to customer directly without retailers. This approach allowed PC-Limited to sell computers to its customers at 40% of the price of the IBM computers. The direct-sales business model propelled Dell Computer to the leading PC supplier in the industry.Table 8: Dell market share and rank from 2001 to 2010 |2001 |2002 |2003 |2004 |2005 |2006 |2007 |2008 |2009 |2010 | |Market share |13. 3 |15. 2 |15. 0 |16. 4 |16. 8 |15. 9 |14. 3 |14. 3 |12. 2 |12. 9 | |Rank |1 |2 |1 |1 |1 |1 |2 |2 |3 |2 | |(Data: Gartner Inc. ) For many continuous years, Dell was the number one PC maker in the industry. However the situation has changed dramatically since the merger of HP and the direct competitor Compaq in 2002, together they own the market share bigger than Dell. Besides, bigger size allows HP to foster it low cost strategy due to economy of scale.Some years later come the rise of Lenovo and Acer with the acquisition of IMB and Gateway respectively. As a result, Dell keeps the third position in the market in 2011. The direct-sales business model is just one tool for Dell to do business. If the success of Dell is based solely on this model, Dell would have lost its competitiveness a long time ago. The competitors of Dell can duplicate the model and do business the same way as Dell. There are other factors staying at the core of Dell strength. Following is a summary of Dell comparative advantages based on several analyses about this firm:Leading technologies: Dell always k een to embed latest technology in its products. Following standards-based innovation, Dell PCs are built with standardized components which are well-recognized by the market. Dell has spent much effort and money to push its product to the limit of capacity in order to serve customers with the best computing solution. In addition, due to its direct relationship with customer, Dell is able to introduce the latest relevant technology compared to companies using the indirect distribution channels. Moreover, Dell launches newer technology far more before the other companies that hold inventories.The focus of Dell on technology personnel has helped this firm to catch up with every change in high technology. Customer Direct: one of Dell’s core strength is its firm belief in upholding the direct business strategy. Going direct has benefited this firm in many ways. Since it cut off all the role of wholesalers as well as retailers, it reduces greatly the cost of manufacturing and selli ng computers, resulting in products with very competitive price level. In addition, direct relationship is the basis for its ability of customization.The information and feedback from customers could be collected easily and quickly. And this information will be of help in choosing the most appropriate computing solution to serve the customers. This process results in higher satisfaction and trust of customers on Dell’s products and services. This form of innovation has been of great importance in pushing it from the bottom all the way to the number one supplier of Desktops, notebooks, and server in the world. Information Systems: no one can deny the importance of Dell’s Information Systems as a competitive advantage.Information Technology has been around for some time now and is available to everyone at fairly low costs, so it only makes sense for a company to have one. But by just having Information Systems they do not inherit a competitive advantage. The advantage co mes from strategies built around solid business models. And Dell’s overall implementation of the customer direct business model which uses Information Systems is one of its most powerful competing forces. The efficient Information System at Dell has kept the flow of information run smoothly in the operation of this company.It turns Dell Inc. into an extremely flexible machine which is always up-to-date. Leadership: Michael Dell, the founder of the enterprise is the one who has contributed greatly to Dell’s top position. His innovative vision about the PC industry and market trend has driven Dell to where it is today. Besides Michael Dell, Dell takes on some of the top executives in the world including its own employees such as Kevin Rollins who manages its day to day operations and helped develop strategies around the direct selling of computer systems and services.As Dell Computer is moving towards a multi-products, multi-national, and multi-services business, it beco mes impossible for one entrepreneur to have all the right skills in managing the company. The collaboration of leaders combines the talents of people in a company that is growing at a tremendous rate. Dell most certainly has more strengths than weaknesses as a company, but that just means it needs to keep a closer watch on its weaknesses. Rivalries as weakness: Industry rivalries are perhaps the greatest weakness of Dell. As one of the top PC manufacturer, Dell has everybody as a competitor.HP and Compaq have merged to counter the strength of Dell. The new merger can lower their costs significantly so they can continue to use the retail approach to compete with Dell. In addition, when Dell expands globally, it also faces with strong competition from local region. From previous section, Asia is the area with the highest demand of PC at the moment. Therefore, some Asian computer firms have been emerging strongly; become the direct competitors of Dell. For instance, Japanese and Korean consumer electronics makers are switching to manufacture PC in recent years.Their advantage is the abundant of cheap and skilled workers. They focus on product designs as a differentiation strategy. Especially in recent year, Lenovo has become one of the top PC makers after the acquisition of IBM. In 2011, this firm even overcomes Dell and gains the second position of global market share. That is a clear illustration for the competition from Asia. Another potential problem for Dell is from the suppliers. Dell relies on the suppliers to provide them with the necessary components to build a PC.If the suppliers cannot deliver the components to Dell, Dell will face with a delay in production. It will create a ripple effect to the rest of the business processes. Limited Technological Selection: even the strategy regarding technology innovation has brought Dell a lot of successes; it also causes a minor weakness that Dell is faced with is its choice of technology. Dell has the opportunit y to employ technology as soon as it comes out, but this enterprise usually waits to verify how a technology will perform in the market before implementing it.Dell’s cautious nature of adoption could possibly lead to a loss of market share to other companies willing to take a risk. And sometimes it is not necessarily a risk that it would be taking. One of the illustration could be pointed here is the success of Apple with the famous tablet Ipad in 2010. This enterprise spent 3. 1% of its revenue in 2009 on R&D and come up with the first tablet Ipad in the market. This product become a big success and helps this company gain the main market share for tablets after that.Meanwhile, Dell has waited for a period of technology standardization to release its first tablet Latitude ST. Strategy Mimicking: Dell’s strategies of standards-based innovation and customer direct are well known and its business processes can be duplicated by any company. This is not seen as a direct we akness of Dell but an indirect weakness of Dell’s in relation to the market. In fact, many competitors of Dell have changed some parts of their technology focus when perceived the fact that Dell has born a much lower R&D cost while still gained the biggest bite of the cake.For instance, in recent years, HP has shifted its technology innovation strategy into using some standardized components in stead of building their own technology. On another side, the emerging Taiwan firm Lenovo is also keeping a direct relationship with its customers, lowing down the cost and price of products. Strategies which help Dell stay competitive for years at the same time, could help its competitors, especially with newly emerging firms which do not stuck with any old and complex system need to change.In general, Dell’s innovative strategies regarding technology innovation and direct business model enable it to become and stay competitive in the changing global market. With strong global s ales and growth, Dell will continue to own a large market share in the PC industry. 2. 1. 2. History of development since establishment: Timeline of development: 1980: Michael Dell purchases his first computer-an Apple II-and promptly takes it apart to understand how it was designed and made. 983: Declaring he ultimately wanted to beat IBM, the young Dell conducts a lucrative business out of his dormitory room at the University of Texas, selling upgraded PCs and add-on components. 1984: With $1,000 in startup capital, Michael registers his business as Dell Computer Corporation, doing business as PC's limited, and leaves school in May of that year. The company becomes the first in the industry to sell custom-built computers directly to end users, bypassing the dominant system of using computer resellers to sell mass-produced computers. 986: Dell unveils the industry's fastest-performing computer, a 12 MHz, 286-based system, at the Spring Comdex national computer tradeshow. The system quickly attracts a large number of reviews from the technology press. The company also pioneers the industry's first thirty-day money back guarantee, which becomes the cornerstone of Dell's commitment to expand its service offerings and offer superior customer satisfaction, and offers the industry's first onsite service program. 987: In a bold move for the risky operation, Dell establishes its first international subsidiary in the United Kingdom. Eleven more international operations would open over the course of the next four years. 1989: The fast-growing company experiences its first major stumbles: It accumulates excess inventory of memory components, which results in write-downs, and cancels an ambitious product development program code-named â€Å"Olympic. † 1990: Dell becomes the first computer company to jump into the burgeoning market for computers sold through consumer retail stores such as CompUSA and Best Buy.The company later becomes the first company to exit this segment as well, after determining the retail-store model did not meet its financial objectives. 1992: Dell achieves slightly more than $2 billion in sales for the fiscal year ended January 1993, which represents a remarkable 127 percent increase. 1993: Suffering from the pains of extremely rapid growth, Dell cancels a secondary offering and posts its only quarterly loss resulting from a temporary withdrawal from the notebook market, its exit from retail stores, and a restructuring of European operations. 996: Dell challenges the traditional market for premium-priced servers based on proprietary technology with its introduction of its Power Edge server line. In less than two years, PowerEdge vaults Dell from the tenth position in market share to the third largest server vendor in the world. The company's quiet bid to sell custom-built computers over the Internet quickly becomes a public revolution when the company announces that sales over www. dell. com have exceeded $1 million pe r day. During the same year, Dell introduces its first custom-made web links for customers.Called â€Å"Premier Pages,† the links allow customers to tap directly into the company's own service and support databases. 1998: Dell solidifies its Internet leadership when it tops $12 million per day over the Internet, expands its Premier Page program to more than nine thousand customers and establishes web-based connections with its suppliers to speed the flow of inventory and quality information. Dell opens an integrated sales, manufacturing, and support center in China. 1999: Dell becomes the number one PC company in the United States, the largest worldwide market for personal computers.To accommodate its growth, Dell opens new manufacturing facilities in Nashville, Tennessee and Eldorado do Sul, Brazil. Sales over www. dell. com top $35 million per day. 2001: It's a year of firsts as Dell becomes the No. 1 computer systems provider worldwide, and reaches No. 1 in U. S. Intel-bas ed server shipments. The PowerConnect line of network switches launches Dell into the networking equipment market. Dell signs an agreement with storage leader EMC to enable more affordable enterprise-class storage area network solutions for customers of all sizes. 003: The Company expands its product portfolio with Dell-branded printers and officially enters the consumer electronics market to serve as a single source for its customers. 2005: Dell