Research Question Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Research Question - Coursework Example Lastly, the study of supply chain management is important at the society level. In this respect, a well-managed supply chain within the society creates employment and improves the standard of living. The functions of purchasing and logistics tend to contribute positively to the supply chain performance in a number of ways. The purchasing and logistics influence the efficiency of the supply chain by increasing the competitiveness of the organizations (Yang, 2012). Notably, the functions of the logistics and purchasing facilitate supply chain to achieve customer satisfaction, timely processing clients’ orders, and efficient delivery the ordered good and services (Schroeder, 2010). In this respect, timely purchase and delivery of goods and services ensures that companies attract and retain new and existing clients. In essence, purchasing and logistics optimize supply chain. In turn, the effective and well-organized supply chain maximizes operational performance, as well as, profit margins. Moreover, functions of purchasing and logistics augment supply chain to realize sustainable competitive

Workplace Teams Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 107

Workplace Teams - Essay Example As the discussion declares the structural shift from a top-down management system to a team-based management led to the creation of workplace teams. Many companies adopted the team-based approach because it enhances innovativeness and problem-solving abilities of the company. People can brainstorm on problems and propose ideas that are more optimum compared to a single person working. It enables a company that adopts it to be agile as its workforce is agile. Workplace teams are thus, important in a changing environment. Therefore, every student ought to be prepared to be an effective team player. Teamwork skills are important, and thus many companies, usually, consider the ability of its prospective employee to work effectively in a group. From this paper it is clear that a team-oriented structure means organizations or companies rely on small teams to handle and manage a number of tasks. Workplace teams proffer certain benefits because it permits collaboration of a number of employees. As defined by Ahles & Bosworth, a team consists of a small number of persons with matching skills. The persons hold themselves accountable for a common intention, approach, and a set of goals. Therefore according to the definition of Ahles & Bosworth and supported by Cornish, workplace team leads to better solutions, better production, and creativity. The advantages of a team-based approach are due to the ability of the approach to place equal responsibilities on the members of the group.

Nature Of Online Dating And Relationships Psychology Essay

Nature Of Online Dating And Relationships Psychology Essay Early research on Internet self-efficacy focused on the performance of specific tasks such as entering World-Wide Web addresses, creating folders and bookmarks, mailing pages, using File Transfer Protocol (FTP) and telnet, constructing a hypertext index, and moving bookmarks (Nahl, 1996, 1997). Ren (1999) reported a measure of self-efficacy specific to searching for government information sources. Results were consistent with previous self-efficacy literature, with self-efficacy perceptions positively related to task performance (Nahl, 1996, 1997) and the amount of use (Ren, 1999). The prior studies did not yield a measure of self-efficacy suitable for studying overall Internet usage, and rerpoted no information about reliability and validity. In Nahl (1997), scale items confounded distinct behaviors; a single item asked about e-mail, hypertext mark-up language (HTML) scripting, telnet, and file transfer protocol. Nahls measure referred to specific subsidiary tasks (e.g., creating bookmarks) instead of overall attainments (e.g., obtaining useful information) and thus did not properly reflect the constructive definition of self-efficacy. Ren (1999) operationalized self-efficacy in a manner more consistent with its conceptual definition (e.g., search the Internet by yourself), but a single item measure was employed so its reliability could not be determined. Rens measure applied to a specific behavioral domain (i.e., seeking government information) rather than overall Internet use, limiting its future application. In an effort to further understand psychological aspects of the Digital Divide, the present study builds on past research to develop a new measure of Internet self-efficacy. It assesses reliability and analyzes the construct validity of Internet self-efficacy by comparing it to measures of other constructs thought to be positively related, negative related or unrelated on theoretical grounds (Anastasi, 1988). Nature of online dating and relationships Within the popular press and scholarly literature, online dating is referred to as cyber relationships (Joinson, 2003), online romantic relationships (Anderson,2005; Bonebrake, 2002; Levine, 2000), digital dating (Merkle Richardson, 2000) and Internet relationships (McCown, Fischer, Page Homant, 2001). Other terms include computer-mediated relationships (Scharlott Christ, 1995; Whitty Gavin, 2001), Internet dating (Hardey, 2002), online personals and mixed mode relationships (Ellison, Heino Gibbs, 2006; Gibbs, Ellison Heino, 2006) and personal relationships online (Parks Floyd, 1996). Looking at the myriad of terms referring to online dating or online relationships, it is fundamental to elucidate and define the latter. Traditional social psychological definitions and interpretations ofrelationships may contribute to the current understanding of online relationships. Schlenker (1984) believes that the existence of a relationship is a result of the interrelation of identities. M orespecifically, one develops a specific identity within each relationship with exclusive thought and behavioural patterns, which will, with relationship growth, lead to similarity and closeness. Contemporary research pertaining to online relationships presents several interpretations of online dating. First, online matchmaking defines both online dating and online dating service (Houran, 2006). Second, online dating pertains to relationships of a romantic or friendship nature formed online by using online communication (Whitty Gavin, 2002). Third, online relationships refer to relationships initiated and maintained online (Wright, 2004). Fourth, online relationships refer to mixed mode relationships, therefore online relationships develop and migrate to other environments such as the face-to-face environment (Ellison et al., 2006). Taken together, online dating pertains to an intentional, mediated search, meeting and relationship development with a preferred significant other using computer-mediated communication. Having defined online relationships, the focus of the following section is to consider the background of online dating. As noted earlier, conclusions about online relationships in the popular press and scholarly literature are ambiguous. As such, one can expect the same ambiguity pertaining to the nature of online relationships. This section provides a brief outline of the nature of online relationships rather than a comprehensive discussion. Researchers, theorists and academics are still pondering the nature of online dating. Two opposing schools of thought seem to have emerged: those deeming online relations as superficial, distant, unemotional and unsocial, and others classifying online relations as personal, unconventional, and a new alternative (Parks Floyd, 1996). For example, online dating has been referred to as an audition for a real date (Barnes, 2001) and a relevant platform for relationship formation, although insubstantial for online relations (Civin, 2000; Hardey, 2002; Hills Argyle, 2003; Utz, 2000). It is clear that the significance of online relationships is queried rather than the formation of online relationships. Evidence supporting such claims seems marginal. Opposing such claims, some researchers regard online relationships as interpersonal (Barnes, 2001; Ben-Zeev, 2004; Parks Floyd, 1996; Sherman, 2001; Walther, 1995), more significant (Parks Floyd, 1996; Wallace, 1999; Yum Hara, 2005), excitin g (Gwinnell, 1998) and real (Houran, 2006; Houran Lange, 2004; Yum Hara, 2005). Furthermore, online relationships are described as solid (Sherman, 2001) in which trust and commitment are commonly shared (Anderson Emmers-Sommer, 2006; Whitty Gavin, 2001). Subsequently, one can assume that interpersonal online relationships are interactive and personal relations between two individuals. Focussing on peoples expectations and self-presentation, Gibbs et al. (2006) propose a model of perceived success of online relationships in their investigation of online dating relationships that migrate to face-to-face contexts (figure 1 illustrates this model). Figure 1: Perception of successful online relationships model (Gibbs et al., 2006) This model proposes that the perceived success of online relationships depends on the successful use of certain self-presentation strategies online. Three interacting processes contribute to the success of an online relationship: (a) relationship goals these goals include growth and relationship migration (b) self-disclosure pertains to the quantity, the positive or negative nature thereof, future intention and honesty in revealing personal information, (c) online dating experience describes online dating behaviour in terms of the magnitude of relationships initiated online and learning ability (namely, a persons ability to learn from previous experiences and then draw on this information in future online relations). (d) Perception of success, Successful presentation of the self and strategic success. Thus, successful online relationships that migrate to a face-to-face context may be achieved by fostering long-term goals, deliberately disclosing positive and additional personal information, and learning form previous online dating experiences (Gibbs et al., 2006). Research suggests that online relationships are mostly heterogeneous with a romantic or friendship-like nature (Hardey, 2004; Parks Roberts, 1998; Whitty Gavin, 2002; Wolak, Mitchell Finkelhor, 2002; Yum Hara, 2005). Furthermore, online relationships typically progress to other environments such as telephone and face-to-face contact (McKenna et al., 2002; Parks et al., 1996; Sveningsson, 2002). More recently, Wright (2004)identified two types of online relationships, namely primarily Internet-based relationships, that is relationships that are initiated in a face-to-face setting and maintained online, and exclusively Internet-based relationships, referring to relationships initiated and maintained entirely online. Online relationships may migrate to other environments or remain and develop online. This may be an important consideration in investigating the online persona. Ben-Zeev (2004) explains the nature of online relations as contradictory, firstly because of the geographical distance between those involved versus the immediacy of online communication. Secondly, online communication is rich in meaning because of the high level of self-disclosure, but impoverished in terms of a lack of visual cues. Thirdly, despite the higher level of self-disclosure, participants stay anonymous. Fourthly, online relations are emotionally continuous and discontinuous because communication takes place with intervals at any time. Lastly, the intellectual and emotional input by far surpasses the physical effort. In summary, the broad characteristics of online relations include, but are not necessarily limited to, anonymity, self-disclosure and attraction, which include proximity and similarity. An understanding of these characteristics is needed to comprehend the online persona, which follows later. Because two people disclose and share personal information, build trust and interdependence, and develop emotional closeness prior to physical attraction, these online relationships seem interpersonal. Therefore, in uncovering the online dating persona it is important to consider online relationships, specifically their formation, maintenance and success. Subsequently, the discussion turns its focus to online relationship formation. Theoretical perspectives Face-to-face relationship formation has received a great deal of attention from theorists and researchers. In contrast, online relationship formation lacks empirical enquiry, with investigations into this field being very new and recent. This section reviews traditional and contemporary theories pertaining specifically to the formation of interpersonal relationships. In addition, this section examines contemporary research findings pertaining to online relationship formation compared to face-to-face relationships. To conceptualise the formation of close interpersonal relationships within a face-to-face environment, the approach of Chelune, Robison and Kommor (1984) seems comprehensive. This traditional approach regards close interpersonal relationship formation as a mutual process of development. First, this approach assumes that the increased disclosure of personal information facilitates learning about a significant other. Second, continued interaction permits the mutual sharing of personal information, resulting in an enhanced sense of familiarity between those interacting. Third, the reciprocal interrelation of dependence, support and understanding builds a structure of future dependency. Fourth, with the acceptance and anticipation of the indefinite continuation of the relationship, this structure allows for behaviour alterations and develops to include mutual care, affection and trust (Chelune et al., 1984). This approach assumes the stages of face-to-face relationship formation to be self-disclosure, followed by familiarity, interdependence and closeness. These stages mirror those in the formation of online relationships; however, the developmental sequence differs. The relational theory of development (Parks, 1997) is relevant in examining the formation of online relationships. Based on traditional social psychological theories pertaining to social relationships such as the social exchange theory and uncertainty reduction theory, Parks (1997) developed the relational theory of development. This theory specifically addresses online relationship formation with the premise that online relationships either grow or deteriorate on a continuum ranging from impersonal to personal dimensions (Parks Floyd, 1996). Below is a description of each dimension along this continuum (Parks Floyd, 1996): (a) Dimension 1: Interdependence pertains to the mutual influence that increases with relationship growth, thus building a relationship embedded in mutual trust; (b) Dimension 2: Breadth explicates the increasing frequency of communication and social interaction; (c) Dimension 3: Depth refers to the increasing level of self-disclosure that facilitates familiarity and closeness; (d) Dimension 4: Commitment concerns the future predictions regarding the success or failure of the online relationship in accordance with the individuals goals and attitude; (e) Dimension 5: Predictability and understanding pertains to the mutual agreement and understanding of a unique set of rules of preferred, acceptable and desired behaviour and interaction. (f) Dimension 6: Code change pertains to the development of a unique set of cultural and linguistic codes, referring to how the individuals express themselves and communicate, for example, with the use of emoticons. (g) Dimension 7: Online network convergence refersto the snowball effect of the social circle, whereby the relationship continuously expands to significant others and migrates to other communication channels such as telephonic communication. Evidently, this theory captures the core features of online relational formation as a progressive process from the initial meeting, to maintenance and termination or migration to other contexts. Several studies findings support the relational theory of development (e.g., Anderson, 2005; Gibbs et al., 2006; Soukup, 1999; Whitty Gavin, 2001; Wolak et al., 2002; Wright, 2004). 1. It is easy to be fooled by inaccurate signals online. According to Binazir (2011), there are several pitfalls in online dating. If one thinks of him/herself as beautiful. ? What most people call beauty is actually evolutions very thorough system of broadcasting our suitability as a mate. Clear skin, good posture, broad shoulders, sonorous voice, bright eyes, shiny hair, graceful movements, pleasant aroma, facial symmetry, articulate speech: evolution has engineered features such as these into us to signal health, fertility, strength and intelligence. When one goes online, instead of seeing a person up-close, hearing him speak and watching her move, what one gets is a blurry, postage-stamp size series of static photos which cannot be heard, felt, or smelt. Most important of the missing signals may very well be smell, which some scientists believe underlies most of male-female attraction what literally constitutes sexual chemistry. Studies show that we sense immune compatibility through smell one way in which evolution decides whether two people should have kids together or not. This compatibility is vital to the viability of offspring, so its bypassed at our peril. So when you go online, youre subverting a process that has worked just fine for propagating the human species for the past 3 million years. Add to that the fact that pictures can easily lie about age, complexion and physique, and youve got yourself a lot of inaccurate signals to go on (Binazir, 2011). 2. You can waste a lot of time online chasing what you dont want. Heres the timeline of a typical online courtship for a guy: He sees a profile of a woman he likes. He writes her. A day or two later, he gets a response. An online correspondence ensues. If shes receptive, the conversation moves to email after a few exchanges. Binazir (2011) succinctly put it thus, If her interest continues, they speak on the phone, and begin to plan a meeting. A week or two later, after anywhere from three to 10 or more points of online- and phone contact, they meet in person. And it turns out that she has bad skin (which didnt show in the flatteringly lit photos) or her butt is gigantic (which didnt show in her waist-up photos), or hes 6 inches shorter than advertised or some other insurmountable shortcoming that could have been ascertained in the first 30 milliseconds of an in-person encounter. In an instant, all those hours spent on witty emails, all of that effort to be charming on the phone, learning all about him or impressing her go whoosh! down the toilet. In short, it pays to stop chasing shadows. 3. Deception in online dating In an online dating context, users writing their profiles have competing motivations to present themselves as attractively as possible, in order to draw attention from potential dates, and to present themselves accurately, so that people who would find them attractive partners in real life can identify them as such online. Moreover, Fiore and Donath (2004) suggest that users might consider a certain amount of exaggeration necessary if they perceive, as per the popular conception, that everyone else is exaggerating already then they must exaggerate as well just to remain competitive. Stories of deception in online dating are common the date who turns out to be 20 years older or 30 pounds heavier in person than his picture suggested, or one whose verbal charms in email vanish in a face to face meeting (e.g., Epstein 2007, Mapes 2004). Although these stories might indicate willful deception, they could also reflect disappointment in the offline reality as compared to expectations developed online, where a combination of selective self-presentation i.e., strategic self-enhancement and heightened levels of affinity developed through a mediated channel, which Walthers (1996) theory of hyperpersonal interaction predicts, might lead users to see as a soul-mate someone who in fact would make at best a decent tennis partner. Thats not to say online daters dont tell some outright lies. Hancock and colleagues found that 81 percent of online dating users in their sample lied about their weight, height, or age. But many of these lies were small enough that it would be hard to detect the discrepancy between, e.g., claimed and actual weight face-to-face (Hancock et al. 2007). The participants in this study might have been engaging in strategic self enhancement, but nonetheless they kept their descriptions within a few percentage points of reality. Ellison et al. (2006) offer other explanations for why users feel that others are presenting themselves deceptively online. First, users might be viewing themselves through a foggy mirror that is, failing to perceive themselves accurately. Thus, if they report their own self-perceptions, they are not lying on purpose, even though these perceptions might not coincide with those of an outside observer. Second, users might either deliberately or subconsciously describe their ideal selves who they would like to be rather than their actual selves, making the self-presentation more aspirational than factual. As one interviewee put it: In their profile they write about their dreams as if they are reality (Ellison et al. 2006). Whether this is effective is uncertain, though; McKenna et al. (2002) found that those who were able to share their true selves online were more successful in forming close relationships through computer-mediated communication that carried over to the offline world. 4. Online sites present an unhelpful excess of choice. When one logs into a dating website, the site presents one with several faces of prospective clients seeking being patronized. This is referred to as pot of fish (POF). Schwartz (2003) in his book The Paradox of Choice: Why Less is More explained that more choice does not make us happier. More choice actually makes us more miserable. A typical online dating yields thousand of participants who seem to match our choice. Yet, it is not so easy to choose. One ends up been confused. 5. Irrelevant information presented out of context can pre-empt a good match. Binazir (2011) observed that since we are inundated with floods of people beckoning to us on a dating website with amorous smiles there is great chance that we keep up a dating game with a prospective lover with the readiness to do away such opportunity for another one at any flimsy excuse. 6. People online behave more rudely than they do in person. Have you noticed how much sheer hatred and incivility there is online? Under the mask of e-anonymity, people feel they can behave anyhow because to a great extent they are untouchable. As a result, it becomes easy to dismiss summarily a message that an admirer has invested time, effort and emotion to craft in fervent hopes of gaining your attention. A man who would never be ignored in person can be blown off hundreds of times online. And, as the authors of the book Freakonomics pointed out, over 90 percent of men on dating sites never end up meeting a woman. 7. Strangers with low accountability can get away with antisocial behavior. In his book The Tao of Dating: The Smart Womans Guide to Being Irresistible, Binazir (2011) emphasized that women should only date men who are embedded within their social network a friend of a friend at the very least. That social accountability reduces the chances of their being axe murderers or other ungentlemanly tendencies. When you go online, theres no guarantee of anyone having a back-connection into your social network. Especially in a big city, people will do bizarre, rude things under the cover of unaccountability. Stories abound about the girl who ordered everything on the menu at an expensive restaurant, or the guy who showed up to the date already drunk and proceeded to hit on the waitress or far worse. The statements above are straight from heart as the world is full of mentally deranged individuals who get thrilled with cyber stalking and playing on peoples emotion. There is need to extremely carefully. Even though they make great stories in retrospect, these are not experiences that you need to have even once per lifetime. Going out with people whom you implicitly know and trust keeps you safe and reduces the chances of weird shit happening to you.

Frank Mccourt Angelas Ashes Essay -- essays research papers

Bednarz-Caraballo Sylwia Essay 6 - â€Å"This is life†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Reading â€Å"Angela’s Ashes† was very emotional. One would not believe how people lived in Ireland some years ago. And I’m sure that wasn’t the only place in the world where people were struggling like that. Frank Mc Court, the oldest child who tried to take care of his brothers the best way he knew, tells the story. He didn’t have an easy life. This poor child tried to do anything for him and his siblings to survive. Looking at people I know and comparing their life to Mc Court’s lives, well I think that most of them wouldn’t even know what to do, how to do it, to survive. My main point: how is it that some people have everything they need to live and others have nothing and still find a way to make things work, not on a high level, but still. How is it possible that Frank McCourt and his brothers survived? In my eyes they went through a lot. How anyone would be able to do it now? I can’t see that happening. I don’t know if I could. Although, I’m sure that there are people living this way. The McCourt family moved from New York to Ireland to look for a better way of living, to forget about their dead children, to try to have a regular life. Well, it didn’t work out. The father of the family was to caught up with drinking, instead of giving the money for the needs of the family, which would be just simple - food. When the father left to England to look for a job and never sent any money to his starving family Frank felt ob... Frank Mccourt "Angelas Ashes" Essay -- essays research papers Bednarz-Caraballo Sylwia Essay 6 - â€Å"This is life†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Reading â€Å"Angela’s Ashes† was very emotional. One would not believe how people lived in Ireland some years ago. And I’m sure that wasn’t the only place in the world where people were struggling like that. Frank Mc Court, the oldest child who tried to take care of his brothers the best way he knew, tells the story. He didn’t have an easy life. This poor child tried to do anything for him and his siblings to survive. Looking at people I know and comparing their life to Mc Court’s lives, well I think that most of them wouldn’t even know what to do, how to do it, to survive. My main point: how is it that some people have everything they need to live and others have nothing and still find a way to make things work, not on a high level, but still. How is it possible that Frank McCourt and his brothers survived? In my eyes they went through a lot. How anyone would be able to do it now? I can’t see that happening. I don’t know if I could. Although, I’m sure that there are people living this way. The McCourt family moved from New York to Ireland to look for a better way of living, to forget about their dead children, to try to have a regular life. Well, it didn’t work out. The father of the family was to caught up with drinking, instead of giving the money for the needs of the family, which would be just simple - food. When the father left to England to look for a job and never sent any money to his starving family Frank felt ob...

British Mistakes During the Revolutionary War Essay

While there are numerous contributing factors to America’s success in achieving independence, the most critical factor can be attributed to the series of British mistakes throughout the conflict. Prior to the onset of the Revolutionary War, the British government faced serious challenges, both politically and fiscally. The conclusion of the French and Indian War coupled with the fighting in Europe, India and the West Indies, left Britain with considerable debt and with few to little allies. The British government saw America as a way to generate revenue in order to assist in its recovery efforts. The fiscal stress in a post-war economy as well as various internal struggles with foreign policy, bureaucratic processes and growing concern amongst its citizens regarding the war set the stage which ultimately ended in America defeating what was the most powerful military in the world. The following paragraphs address specific reasons as to why the British failed to achieve and sust ain a strategic advantage during the American Revolution. Government Organization From the onset of the war, the British failed to provide a cohesive and unified strategic vision for the dispute with America. The organizational structure and political system was not particularly efficient in decision making or policy establishment. Decision making was lengthy and critical information and strategic decisions were done independently and often in a dispersed manner. This process considerably added to the frustrations held by the American colonialists. In addition, the British military never had one sole leader to provide and oversee a clear strategic direction of the war effort (Professor Carpenter, NWC lecture). There were often personality clashes between military commanders, heads of state and other influential roles not to mention the widespread corruption throughout all government entities which further complicated the situation. As a result of the French and Indian War, the British Army had also reduced the number of regiments. Both Naval and Army budgets were slashed resulting in less than half the forces than at the height of the previous war. The demands of maintaining a home guard as well as other critical areas such as Ireland and Gibraltar stretched forces and provided additional challenges (Professor Carpenter, NWC lecture). In addition, recruiting was also a problem, particularly for British regiments stationed in America. â€Å"Throughout the war the government experienced great difficulty in obtaining sufficient men for the ranks. Again and again it was found impossible to complete the augmentation voted by parliament† (Recruiting of Army, Chapter 3). These internal conflicts and issues led to poor command and control and ineffective strategic leadership which lacked coherence and unity. Failure to Understand the True Nature of War In order to adequately assess the British perspective of the American colonists, we must first explore the varying aspects of the environment. The British government struggled on how to sufficiently deal with the uprising in America. King George III, a great believer in preserving the British imperial interests, believed a British operation of brute force would force allegiance and submission. Although he himself didn’t have the authority, he played an active role in persuading Parliament into taking action by overtaking various key American cities. The British assumed this show of force would demolish motivation and compel the Americans to cooperate. This approach proved to be flawed. The British didn’t understand that the American complaints centered on theories of constitution, economic independence and religious concepts. Supply Chain Management In the case of the American Revolution, supply chain management will be approached from two different perspectives, the provisioning of troops as well as the overall communication strategy with regard to logistics and movement of resources. Both play a critical and equally important role in any campaign and during the American Revolution both proved to be a detriment to the British forces. From early on the British were confronted with serious challenges with providing provisions for troops operating in America. During the war, British provisioning strategy relied heavily on sustainment support to come from the homeland. The 3000-mile trip proved to a tactical hindrance in feeding the troops as well as resupplying with ammunition, blankets, shoes and armament. Often taking several months to arrive, the supplies arrived spoiled and unusable. Further amplifying the issue, the U.S. Continental Congress authorized â€Å"legal piracy† which attributed to the seizing of over 300 Bri tish ships during the war. In addition to the resupply of troops, insufficient and ineffective use of transportation resources diminished British effectiveness on the battlefield. Due to poor planning and negligent communication between commanders, the various transport agencies utilized to resupply the British army struggled with prioritizing missions and did not effectively communicate with each other. In addition, independent decisions were made to keep units on-station to move troops vice sending back to resupply. Misaligned campaign plans and the lack of communication and collaboration among commanders resulted in a confused supply chain and complications for command and control. This ultimately slowed logistics support to troops and reduced British sustainment on the battlefield. Failure to Maximize Sea Power Mahan advocates a successful navy must adopt and utilize an offensive strategy. From the onset of the American Revolution, the British did well in meeting this requirement and until the French entered the war, the British displayed an overwhelming naval superiority over the Americans, largely due to the fact that the American colonists did not have any naval forces. In the end, however, the British failed in sustain naval superiority when France and Spain entered the war. Their inability can be attributed to several critical areas; failure to adequately reinvest in the replenishment of its fleet, failure to train and equip its service members, and failure to effectively leverage naval forces in key campaigns; Saratoga and Yorktown in particular. The 3000 mile supply chain, limited resources, piracy and lack of synergy among leadership and shipping agencies did not allow for the British fleet to organize themselves for sustainment purposes nor establish, enforce and maintain sea power . Mahan maintains the two major strategies for a strong sea power is a powerful Navy and a wide reaching commerce (Mahan, Sea Power, p. 539). In order to adequately defeat the enemy, Britain needed to capitalize on the lack of naval power prior to France’s entrance into the war. By not taking appropriate steps to keep France out the war, the British effectively positioned themselves for failure. Mahan completely disagreed with how the British executed naval warfare after the French and Spanish entered the war. He believed that the British should have taken a more active approach in blockading European ports in order to bring the naval fight back to European soil. Mahan stated: â€Å"†¦the whole fortune of the war should at the first have been staked on a concentration of the English fleet between Brest and Cadiz.† (Mahan, Sea Power, 415). It was his belief that this effort would have not only weakened the public support for the war but would also bring the forces of the American allies back to Europe to contest the blockades. In addition, the British naval forces would also benefit from the much shorter supply chain in the event that their naval assets required repair. British leadership once again failed to see the strategic connection between sea power and the unified strategic vision (Carpenter, NWC Lecture). Identifying Centers of Gravity â€Å"A center of gravity is always found where the mass is concentrated most densely† (On War, p.485). Correctly identifying the center of gravity or â€Å"the hub of all power and movement, [for] which everything depends† is ultimately the most critical part of defeating the enemy (On War, p. 596). Flawed identification can prove to be costly in terms of resources, time and effectiveness on the battlefield. The British strategy during 1777-78 was to isolate colonies and systematically destroy the enemy. In order to execute, the strategy involved identifying and targeting large conglomerates of rebels, in other words attacking American cities. The British perception was by capturing cities like New York and Philadelphia the rebel forces would view this overtaking and inevitably force submission to the colonialist. The mistake in the British perception was identifying American cities as the centers of gravity. They failed to understand that the center of gravity was the Continental Army and the overwhelming public support for independence. This misunderstanding was demonstrated by British General Howe when he attempted to seize Philadelphia in order to lure General Washington to fight. The problem was that he attempted this operation independently, diverging from the planned strategy of cutting off and controlling the waterways coming in from Canada. Howe failed to understand that the center of gravity for the American colonists did not lie within a city but more in popular support for independence. In addition, by not supporting the established planned, his actions ultimately contributed to the defeat in the Battle of Saratoga. This example not only exhibits how the British misunderstood the center of gravity but also shows the command and control issues the British had as well. Lack of Diplomatic Process Arguably the most significant factor in Britain’s demise was the failure to negotiate diplomatically from the onset of the conflict and routinely throughout. As the French and Indian War winded down, the British Empire was grand, very pompous and displayed signs of arrogance. This overconfidence contributed to why they didn’t show concern in addressing the needs of the American colonists more diplomatically. This allowed the colonist to shift their focus to complete independence and strengthen their resolve for a representative democracy. Had they better understood the American objections and drive, they could have taken a more proactive approach to amicably reach a consensus and the war may have been prevented. The Americans, on the other, knew the importance of diplomatic relationships. This was demonstrated with the alliances they built with France, Spain and the Netherlands. These relationships proved to be a vital piece of their strategy. The British Army had several advantages over the colonial forces; size, training, experience, financial support, etc. Through the international relations that were forged, America reaped many benefits of financial support, ammunitions, manpower and most importantly naval support. These relationships proved to be a decisive factor in the American victory. Conclusion Overall the British demise during the American Revolution can be attributed to several key areas; lack of a unified strategy, limited to no command and control, lack of synchronization among troops, government organizational structure, untimely and unresponsive decision making and ineffective supply chain management. In addition, the adopted naval strategy failed to establish an effective naval strategy to overpower French and Spanish forces thereby increasing difficulties on the battlefield. By not clearly understanding the nature war and never really defining an overarching objective, British leadership repeatedly encountered logistic and tactical challenges were proved to be fatal for their success. Bibliography Carpenter, NWC lecture Red Team: Britain and the American War for Independence Clausewitz, C. On War. Michael Howard and Peter Paret, eds. and trans. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1989. Mahan, A. T. The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783. New York: Dover, 1987. â€Å"The Recruiting of the Army†. The Organization of the British Army in the American Revolution, Chapter 3. http://americanrevolution.org/britisharmy3.html.

First Opium War Essay

In 1899, right after the First Opium War, China was under the control of European powers and Japan, Qing Dynasty was so weak that hardly could defeat these powers. Each of these powers found out that China was a country which owned variety of resource. Therefore, all of them wanted to trade with China to earn more benefit and robbed various parts of coastal places, unfold Chinese territorial and Administrative integrity and would not interfere with the free use of the treaty ports within their spheres of inference in China. John Hay, the private secretary to Abraham Lincoln, the person who proposed the Open Door Policy. At that time, the United States was just finished the invasion of Philippine with Spanish and turned to China. They also had great interest in China and found out that China was the biggest market in the whole world. The Open Door Policy was declared base on this situation. Hay said,â€Å"Earnestly desirous to remove any cause of irritation and to ensure at the same time to the commerce of all nations in China†¦shall enjoy perfect equality of treatment for their commerce and navigation within such spheres.† The purpose of writing the document was to reduce the power countries had gained from their spheres of influence. The United States had no spheres of influence in China because it had just recently taken interest in Asia. Therefore, John Hay sought to prevent other countries from having more power than the United States. Each power claimed exclusive privileges of investment, and other powers seek to monopolize the trade as well. As the Open Door Policy took into action, each power should have to follow the rule 1. Each great power should maintain free access to a treaty port or to any other vested interest within its sphere. 2. Only the Chinese government should collect taxes on trade. 3. No great power having a sphere should be granted exemptions from paying harbor dues or railroad charges. This policy which showed above has obviously changed both China and the United States. From the United States, they found the biggest market in the whole world which is China. Before America was unable to trade with China and didn’t have time to care about China. No later than they defeated Spain in Philippine. They turned their sight to China, a huge market for trade which had been untapped and allowed America to gain a financial foothold in China. This decision can give them earn the most benefit. United States became China’s largest partner. Therefore, although the tax they need to pay was as the same as all the other powers, they occupied the most market of China, which means they were the largest earner between China and European power. By the way, it was the first time for the United States to expend their market to Asia. It has laid a good foundation for the commercial intercourse between America and China several decades later. On the other hand, this policy has changed China a lot, even much more than America. During that period China was nominally controlled by Qing Dynasty, but actually almost half land of China was invaded by foreign country and divided by France, German, British, Italy, Russia, Japan, and the United States, we call these eight countries as Eight-Power Alliance. Anyway, China was a country with half colonization and half feudalism. Each power was interested in the huge benefit in China. But they all had a fear with others. None of them dared to become the first. As the Open Door Policy proposed by America, the entire problem has been solved. Everyone got the same right to trade with China and had to pay the tax. It looks like everyone received what they want except China. However, just the opposite, China has occupied a huge change during this period. First, it has increased the trade of China and help to develop the economics of China. After the First Opium War, that was the weakest period of China. Drug has poisoned this huge country suffer from paining. Open Door Policy gave China a chance to develop them. Second, this policy gave China to advocate an impartial system of taxation set up a system of equal trading rights, which also helped to prevent European Power and Japan divided China into separate colonies, also intended to lower taxes and gave America an equal chance to trade with China. Third, the United States was the biggest partner effectively stopped countries from colonizing China; this helped to keep China a united, sovereign nation. In recent years, China has developed much faster than before. In 1978, the president Deng Xiaoping took office, China formally cooperated with America. It can be said as America helped to increase China’s economic. The development of trade gives both China and America pretty much benefit. Finally, the Open Door Policy is the most important policy during the whole that period. Without that policy, maybe China would be divided into several parts. Open Door Policy give America more benefit, but actually the biggest earner is China.

Foreign Language Requirements for College Admissions

Foreign Language Requirements for College Admissions Foreign language requirements vary from school to school, and the exact requirement is often not clear for any individual school. For example, is the minimum requirement really adequate? Do language classes in middle school count? If a college requires 4 years of a language, does a high score on the AP fulfill the requirement? Requirements and Recommendations In general, competitive colleges require at least two years of foreign language classes in high school. As youll see below, Stanford University would like to see three or more years, and Harvard University urges applicants to take four years. These classes should be in the same language- colleges would much prefer to see proficiency in one language than a superficial smattering of several languages. When a college recommends two or more years of a language, they are clearly signaling that language study beyond two years would strengthen your application. Indeed, no matter where you apply for college, a demonstrated proficiency in a second language will improve your chances of being admitted. Life in college and after college is becoming increasingly globalized, so strength in a second language carries a lot of weight with admissions counselors. That said, students who have just the minimum can win admission if their applications demonstrate strengths in other areas. Some less competitive schools dont even have a high school language requirement and assume some students will simply study a language once they get to college. If you score a 4 or 5 on an AP language exam, most colleges will consider that evidence of adequate high school foreign language preparation (and youre likely to get course credit in college). Check with the schools to which you apply to find out exactly what their Advanced Placement policies are. Which Foreign Language Is Best In general, colleges want to see foreign language proficiency, and they dont really care which language you study. Most students, in fact, have few choices. Many schools offer just a couple of languages such as French and Spanish. That said, it can be a plus if your study of a foreign language aligns with your career goals. German and Chinese are both valuable languages for students interested in business, and strong French skills would be ideal for someone who wants to teach English or work in public health in Francophone Africa. In 2018, when Harvard Universitys Dean of Admissions testified in court about the schools admissions policies, he revealed that students who studied Greek and Latin and showed an interest in the ancient classics had a slight edge over many other applicants. On the whole, however, study the language that you are most interested in learning. Let your passions guide you. Where would you be most interested in traveling? What language is most likely to intersect with your future plans? If you might study abroad, where would you go? Examples of Foreign Language Requirements The table below shows the foreign language requirement at several competitive colleges. School Language Requirement Carleton College 2 or more years Georgia Tech 2 years Harvard University 4 years recommended MIT 2 years Stanford University 3 or more years UCLA 2 years required; 3 recommended University of Illinois 2 years University of Michigan 2 years required; 4 recommended Williams College 4 years recommeneded Keep in mind that 2 years truly is a minimum, and you will be a stronger applicant at places like MIT and the University of Illinois if you take three or four years. Also, its important to understand what a year means in the context of college admissions. If you began a language in 7th grade, typically 7th and 8th grade will count as a single year, and they should show up on your high school transcript as a unit of a foreign language. If you take a true college class at a college, a single semester of a language will typically be the equivalent of a year of high school language (and those credits are likely to transfer to your college). If you take a dual enrollment class through a collaboration between your high school and a college, those classes are often a single-semester college class spread out over the course of a full year of high school. Strategies if Your High School Doesnt Offer Adequate Language Classes If youre a high achiever and want to graduate from high school with three or four years of language classes but your high school offers only introductory-level classes, you still have options. First of all, when colleges evaluate your high school academic record, they want to see that you have taken the most challenging classes available to you. They recognize the significant disparity between schools. If upper-level and AP language classes simply arent an option at your school, colleges shouldnt penalize you for not taking classes that dont exist. That said, colleges want to enroll students who are well prepared for college, for these students are much more likely to persist and succeed if admitted. The reality is that some high schools do a much better job at college preparation than others. If youre at a school that struggles to deliver anything beyond remedial education, your best bet may be to take matters into your own hands. Talk to your guidance counselor to see what opportunities exist in your region. Typical options include Taking language classes at a local community college. You are likely to find evening or weekend courses that work with your high school schedule, or you may be able to take an early morning or late afternoon college class during a high school class period.Taking online language classes. If there is no college in your area, you can find many options for online college language classes. You may even be able to get high school credit for an online college course. Ideally, youll want a course that includes audio or video conferencing so that you can develop the listening and conversational skills that are so important to language learning. Be forewarned that many colleges will not transfer language credits earned online.Self-studying to take an AP language exam. There are lots of programs out there such as Rosetta Stone, Rocket Languages, and Babbel that can help you learn speaking, reading, and writing skills. An AP study guide can help guide your self-study so that you are targeting ma terial that is likely to be on the exam. Travel that immerses you in a foreign language can also be extremely beneficial. Ideally, youd want to take the AP exam your junior year so that youll have the score in hand when you apply to colleges. Earning a 4 or 5 on the exam (and perhaps a 3) is a convincing way to demonstrate your language knowledge. Note that this option is only good for self-motivated students. Languages and International Students If English is not your first language, you most likely wont need to worry about foreign language courses as part of your college education. When a student from China takes the AP Chinese exam or a student from Argentina takes AP Spanish, the exam results arent going to impress anyone in a significant way.   For non-native English speakers, the much bigger issue will be demonstrating strong English language skills. A high score on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), the International English Language Testing System (IELTS), the Pearson Test of English (PTE), or a similar exam will be an important part of a successful application to colleges in the U.S. A Final Word About Foreign Language Requirements As you consider whether or not to take a foreign language in your junior and senior years of high school, keep in mind that your academic record is almost always the most important part of your college application. Colleges will want to see that you have taken the most challenging courses available to you. If you choose a study hall or an elective course over a language, the admissions folks at highly selective colleges wont view that decision positively.

Free Essays on Gay Marriges

Gay Marriages: Yes or No? As far back as I can remember I can hear those voices of people that I grew up around bashing gay people. â€Å"Those queers are sick! They should be locked away or shipped off to a deserted island!† And, â€Å"AIDS is God’s answer to the Faggots.† Of course times have changed and most of those people have changed their opinions since they found out that a few of their family members just happen to be homosexual. I have been â€Å"out of the closet,† as they call it, for several years, and too much surprise of peers and loved ones, I am still the same old Lou that they have always known and loved. I recently celebrated yet another Anniversary with my loving companion and I have to say that everyday with him feels like the first day. He has been a Godsend to me and I want nothing more than to spend the rest of my life with this man I love. Although it is not in a legal since, I know him as my â€Å"husband.† We share all of our expenses fifty-fifty. Most everything that we own is in both of our names. Our family members all send Christmas cards to both of us, just like we are a married couple. But, sadly to say, this is only a dream. It seems that in this crazy, mixed up world, people do not have enough issues in their own lives, so they take it upon themselves to discriminate in a totally ridiculous way. In America, also known as, the land of the free, there is a large majority of us that do not feel as free as we should. Some of us have been deprived of our freedom to love, honor, and cherish, till death do us part. I particularly choose the last comment due to the fact, just because a man loves a man or a woman loves a woman, the same way a man loves a woman, we as homosexual couples should have the same marriage rights as heterosexuals. According to ,********* a Sociology instructor for the ************* University, â€Å"Love is love. Love is blind to race, religion, gender, and sexual or... Free Essays on Gay Marriges Free Essays on Gay Marriges Gay Marriages: Yes or No? As far back as I can remember I can hear those voices of people that I grew up around bashing gay people. â€Å"Those queers are sick! They should be locked away or shipped off to a deserted island!† And, â€Å"AIDS is God’s answer to the Faggots.† Of course times have changed and most of those people have changed their opinions since they found out that a few of their family members just happen to be homosexual. I have been â€Å"out of the closet,† as they call it, for several years, and too much surprise of peers and loved ones, I am still the same old Lou that they have always known and loved. I recently celebrated yet another Anniversary with my loving companion and I have to say that everyday with him feels like the first day. He has been a Godsend to me and I want nothing more than to spend the rest of my life with this man I love. Although it is not in a legal since, I know him as my â€Å"husband.† We share all of our expenses fifty-fifty. Most everything that we own is in both of our names. Our family members all send Christmas cards to both of us, just like we are a married couple. But, sadly to say, this is only a dream. It seems that in this crazy, mixed up world, people do not have enough issues in their own lives, so they take it upon themselves to discriminate in a totally ridiculous way. In America, also known as, the land of the free, there is a large majority of us that do not feel as free as we should. Some of us have been deprived of our freedom to love, honor, and cherish, till death do us part. I particularly choose the last comment due to the fact, just because a man loves a man or a woman loves a woman, the same way a man loves a woman, we as homosexual couples should have the same marriage rights as heterosexuals. According to ,********* a Sociology instructor for the ************* University, â€Å"Love is love. Love is blind to race, religion, gender, and sexual or...

An Empirical Comparison of Computer Programming

It is considered to be the compiled and the case sensitive approach which is free form the programming language. It is able to handle the combination of the higher level and the lower level language features. (Sharma et a., 2015). It comprises of the encapsulation, data hiding, inheritance and the polymorphism where there have been building blocks which includes the different variables, data types with the literals. This includes using the writing device drivers with the software that set on direct manipulations of the hardware with the teaching and research. This includes the class, methods, objects and instance variables with the states and behaviours. This has been properly defined as a template with the describing of the objects with the proper typing support. The methods have been based on behaviour with the objects that include set of instance variables. The characters have been based on three character with single character and sequence. The object oriented programming which includes the C and the C++ where the Java has been compiled with the distributed over the web and interpreted by the Virtual Machine with the platform. The Java is designed which includes the mastering of the secured features which enables the developing virus free, tamper-free system. (Eaves, 2016). The authentication techniques with the public key encryption with the architecture neutral generates on architecture based formation with the compiled code execution based on the different processors. With the portable architectural neutral implementation dependent aspects and robust with the multithreaded feature along with construct interactive application. The higher performance with the higher Just-In Time compilers where Java has been able to handle the accessing to the objects. Python has been considered and interpreted to the runtime process which includes the proper handling of the interactive system. (Zhu et al., 2016). This is for the object oriented programming language which encapsulates the code which have been in the object. The support and the development is based on the wider range of the applications to process the different browsers. It is seen that Python is completed easy to learn, read and maintain the system standard library. The interactive modes have been based on holding the debugging of the snippets for the code. The Python has been based on the running of a wider variety of the hardware platforms. This has been for the use of the Practical Extraction and the Report Language where there have been a proper system development, web and the networking programming. (Prechelt et al., 2000). It includes the projects that are for the private and the public sectors that have been able to handle and work on the mark-up languages along with supporting of the Unicode system. The support is based on the procedural and the oriented programming. The set up can be easily embedded into the other system. Prechelt, L. (2000). An empirical comparison of C, C++, Java, Perl, Python, Rexx and Tcl.  IEEE Computer,  33(10), 23-29. Zhu, X., Whitehead, E. J., Sadowski, C., & Song, Q. (2015). An analysis of programming language statement frequency in C, C++, and Java source code.  Software: Practice and Experience,  45(11), 1479-1495. Sharma, S., Sharma, C. S., & Tyagi, V. (2015, January). Plagiarism detection tool â€Å"Parikshak†. In  Communication, Information & Computing Technology (ICCICT), 2015 International Conference on  (pp. 1-7). IEEE. Eaves, H. L. (2016). Evaluating and Improving the Efficiency of Software and Algorithms for Sequence Data Analysis.

Question Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 12

Question - Essay Example Soon after, a boycott ensued with African American refusing to board buses unless everyone would be treated equally. This boycott has since been documented as a pivotal point for civil rights and contributed a lot to awareness of Rosa Parks. The first reason why the boycott succeeded was as a result of the unity among African Americans as they joined hands and refused to board buses; a move that caused serious economic strains on the Montgomery Bus Company. In addition, there had been rising protest by Africans for nearly a decade with most of them asking for fair treatment although these protests were predominantly reserved. At an earlier time, a student had protested like Rosa did but her case was not taken seriously as it involved assault. The act by Rosa can be viewed as one that instigated a boycott that ended as a success. Economic strains due to the action by African Americans refusal to use buses and an backed up insurgence that resulted due to Rosa’s imprisonment greatly contributed to African Americans enjoying equal privileges with

Personal Finance Concepts Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Finance Concepts - Personal Statement Example Based on the list above, the transactions which would result in an increase in the total assets of a business are as follows:Based on the list above, the transactions which would result in an increase in the total assets of a business are as follows:ïÆ'Ëœ Transaction #1 – A company receives a cash investment from the owner. When a company receives an additional infusion of cash from the owner, the total asset specifically the asset account is increased.   This is accompanied by a corresponding augmentation in the stockholders’ or owners’ equity. Transaction #4 – A company purchases machinery for a plant and signs a promissory note in payment. This transaction will result in an increase in total assets due to the increase in the property, plant, and equipment (PP&E) account.   In this regard, the company’s liability will also increase due to the issuance of the promissory note which is tantamount to a promise to pay a specified amount at the sti pulated terms (Meigs & Meigs, 1986). Transaction #8 – A company borrows money from a bank.Similar to the initial transaction, the company’s total assets particularly the asset account increases as it receives the money loaned from the bank.   With this transaction, the company’s total liability also increases since an obligation to pay the bank loan arises. Note that the other transactions do not result in an increase in total assets due to the reasons summarized as follows: When a company makes the cash purchase for a building, there is no movement in total assets because the amount in cash account is just transferred to another asset account which is building or PP&E account.

THe Marketing Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

THe Marketing Plan - Essay Example The company’s major challenge is to develop means of increasing the profits and revenue without altering the demands of their customers and meeting their demands effectively. A SWOT analysis of the company’s strengths and weakness and external opportunities and threats has formed the basis of this marketing plan. This plan focuses on the company’s strategic growth plan, suggest ways to improve profits and revenues and enhance customer relationship through delivery of quality service to the customers to ensure continuity of the business. It also focuses on strategies of developing new products and marketing the products to different market niches that will provide increased sales to the company. Background Venus Software Company came into existence five years ago. It began as a small business that supported the development of Small and Micro Enterprises systems that enable easy management of business. Apparently, it is corporate software development organization. That develops systems for medium and large organizations. For the past five years, the organization has undergone evolution to a marketer of quality and customized made software products that supports all organizations. Sales have gradually grown in the past five years allowing the organization to work on its expansion mechanisms to meet its growing number of customers. The organization is also committed to giving back to the community by undertaking the social responsibilities. General Objectives The overall objective is to produce a marketing plan that would meet the explicitly defined organizations requirements, adhere to recognized standards and be within the organization budgetary and time constraints. Specific Objectives To analyze on the methods and techniques of marketing. To develop a time plan that meets the organization demands and is within the budget. To document all the finding in the development of the marketing plan. TargetMarket. The organization focuses on keeping its commitment to the provision of service and quality products to its customers. This has enabled the organization to develop and implement a differentiation strategy that enable it produce products that is different from the competitors, thus allowing it to have a competitive advantage over a diverse market. Through this differentiation, the organization has been able gain greater annual returns that have enabled it to develop to its current state. The targeted market includes small and medium size enterprises that deal with both manufacturers and retailers. Its biggest revenue earner is software that helps businesses keep track of the records of tractions between the small business, manufacturers and retailers for efficacy. The system has a robust database keep track of all transactions, provide notices in cases of bad and incomplete transactions. It also provides reports to the businesses thus enabling them to under their business. It also provides a means of communication betwe en the trading parties, in cases of shortage of supplies. Current marketing objectives Venus Software Company relies on current customers and potential customer. They give phone call to the potential customers and provide prototype to the customers for demonstration. Once the customer accepts, then specification from the customer obtained and the software customized according to the customer requirements. The customized product is then shipped to

Islam Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Islam - Assignment Example As it is implied by both God and Holy Prophet (PBUH) that only righteous deeds can elevate one person over the rest, all Muslims immensely respect those who strive to do good and achieve noble objectives. Islam assigns different kinds of roles to men and women not on grounds of superiority or inferiority but because they have slightly different physical and emotional traits. Men mostly are physically and emotionally stronger than women so they are encouraged to work harder and support their whole family. The burden of work can be hugely stressful so it is reserved for the emotionally and physically stronger group. But that does not mean that Islam strictly prohibits women from becoming educationally accomplished or going out of their homes to earn money. Islam does not see any harm in women striving to make sure both ends are met when situation gets rough. Quran implies that gender equality should be put into practice (Muslim Women’s League, 2012). Life in Arabian Island befor e Islam reached it: Life in Arabian Island before Islam dawned on it is characterized by scholars as wild, wayward, lawless, undirected, restless, ominous, and demonic. Islam brought with itself the phenomenally relieving messages of peace, discipline, respect, lawfulness, ethics, humanity, and obedience. By emphasizing the presence of a higher being who should be respected and worshipped, Islam erased any possibility of jealousy or discrimination among Muslims. If Quran and Sunnah had implied that anyone among the followers who is virtuous and noble could be worshipped, conflict and discrimination would have resulted and there would have been multiple gods. But Islam put an end to such misery and asked all to observe one being and none else. Life in Arabian Island before Islam reached it was so exceedingly wayward that men and women were made to dance naked in the vicinity of the Ka’bah as part of the rituals and men used to bury their daughters alive out of gross hatred and gender discrimination (Subhani, n.d.). Before the advent of Islam, the Arab people used to treat women as mere sex objects who could be used for pleasure only and were granted no rights or protection. In stark contrast to the ancient teachings of other religions which stress that women are inherently sinful and wicked beings with no sense whatsoever and men are born virtuous and noble, Islam implies in accordance with the revolutionary teachings of Quran and Sunnah that men and women should be considered equal everywhere as they are created from the same soul and both are born innocent (Doi, n.d.). Changes brought by Islam in the Muslim culture: Islam brought multiple revolutionary and commendable changes in the Muslim culture. In fact Islam created the Muslim culture as before this religion dawned, there was no Muslim culture but a disgustful wilderness. General morals and manners of the Arabs before the advent of Islam were very low and fraught with weaknesses so Islam strived to elevate them up to a higher level so that Muslims could be distinguished on grounds of high morals and not on grounds of ignorance and waywardness. Due to lack of proper guidance and prevalence of immorality and ignorance, Arabs before the advent of Islam led a life similar to that of uncontrollable beasts and often breached law. Islam brought the change by creating a strong justice system one

Management and interpersonal relations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Management and interpersonal relations - Essay Example It would not happen overnight, and thus I shall find ways and means to get the tasks reach the finished stage with acumen and intellect, shown by the employees themselves. The management part derives its basis from a number of factors, most significant of which remain the controlling, organizing and leading tenets. The management domains depend a great deal on how leaders are able to re-collect themselves after they had had a difficult time coping up with the employees which have not produced results. What this means is the fact that management comes of age and tells the employees what exactly is required of them, and how they shall go about delivering results with a sense of purpose and hard work on their part. Hence an understanding of the management premise is all the more significant in the time and age of today because employees are giving in their best and producing results that are based on the long term, and finding solutions which bring value towards the business realms. It is always a wise proposition to make sure that business entity remains supreme so that success is managed easily by the employers and the employees in the long term scheme of things. It would settle quite a few scores as far as management’s competition levels are concerned. My philosophy of interpersonal relations are such that these depend a great deal on how the human resources management and the top management in combination with one another depict the aspect of bringing in a change which is for the betterment of the organizational environment in the long range scheme of things. Interpersonal relations always come to the fore whenever a prospective employee wishes to join an organization. He would like to know what kind of environment exists within the organization’s realms and what the organization is doing to make sure that the employees remain cordial and jovial in each other’s company. This is important because interpersonal relations always seem to bring a positive or a negative connotation for the sake of the organization in the long range scheme of things, and is the marked difference between how prospective employees would like to come to terms with such companies in the future. It also speaks highly of the business entities wh ich are renowned for their working conditions and the ones that are not so famous for having the best possible relations amongst its employees (Hayes, 2002). The need is to have the best possible interpersonal relations within an organization’s realms so that people become attracted in joining it within the future. The interpersonal relations are always deemed as significant for any business enterprise because it sets the basis for organizational growth and harmony across the ranks. It makes things easier within an organization because the employers know that their employees would not start fighting with each other, instead they will remain calm and contented with what they have and how they will achieve success for not only their own selves but also for the end goals and objectives that the organization has set for its own self. This is a very quintessential aspect because it is being spoken about more and more in this day and age. Hence my understanding of the philosophy of interpersonal

THe Marketing Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

THe Marketing Plan - Essay Example The company’s major challenge is to develop means of increasing the profits and revenue without altering the demands of their customers and meeting their demands effectively. A SWOT analysis of the company’s strengths and weakness and external opportunities and threats has formed the basis of this marketing plan. This plan focuses on the company’s strategic growth plan, suggest ways to improve profits and revenues and enhance customer relationship through delivery of quality service to the customers to ensure continuity of the business. It also focuses on strategies of developing new products and marketing the products to different market niches that will provide increased sales to the company. Background Venus Software Company came into existence five years ago. It began as a small business that supported the development of Small and Micro Enterprises systems that enable easy management of business. Apparently, it is corporate software development organization. That develops systems for medium and large organizations. For the past five years, the organization has undergone evolution to a marketer of quality and customized made software products that supports all organizations. Sales have gradually grown in the past five years allowing the organization to work on its expansion mechanisms to meet its growing number of customers. The organization is also committed to giving back to the community by undertaking the social responsibilities. General Objectives The overall objective is to produce a marketing plan that would meet the explicitly defined organizations requirements, adhere to recognized standards and be within the organization budgetary and time constraints. Specific Objectives To analyze on the methods and techniques of marketing. To develop a time plan that meets the organization demands and is within the budget. To document all the finding in the development of the marketing plan. TargetMarket. The organization focuses on keeping its commitment to the provision of service and quality products to its customers. This has enabled the organization to develop and implement a differentiation strategy that enable it produce products that is different from the competitors, thus allowing it to have a competitive advantage over a diverse market. Through this differentiation, the organization has been able gain greater annual returns that have enabled it to develop to its current state. The targeted market includes small and medium size enterprises that deal with both manufacturers and retailers. Its biggest revenue earner is software that helps businesses keep track of the records of tractions between the small business, manufacturers and retailers for efficacy. The system has a robust database keep track of all transactions, provide notices in cases of bad and incomplete transactions. It also provides reports to the businesses thus enabling them to under their business. It also provides a means of communication betwe en the trading parties, in cases of shortage of supplies. Current marketing objectives Venus Software Company relies on current customers and potential customer. They give phone call to the potential customers and provide prototype to the customers for demonstration. Once the customer accepts, then specification from the customer obtained and the software customized according to the customer requirements. The customized product is then shipped to

Management and interpersonal relations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Management and interpersonal relations - Essay Example It would not happen overnight, and thus I shall find ways and means to get the tasks reach the finished stage with acumen and intellect, shown by the employees themselves. The management part derives its basis from a number of factors, most significant of which remain the controlling, organizing and leading tenets. The management domains depend a great deal on how leaders are able to re-collect themselves after they had had a difficult time coping up with the employees which have not produced results. What this means is the fact that management comes of age and tells the employees what exactly is required of them, and how they shall go about delivering results with a sense of purpose and hard work on their part. Hence an understanding of the management premise is all the more significant in the time and age of today because employees are giving in their best and producing results that are based on the long term, and finding solutions which bring value towards the business realms. It is always a wise proposition to make sure that business entity remains supreme so that success is managed easily by the employers and the employees in the long term scheme of things. It would settle quite a few scores as far as management’s competition levels are concerned. My philosophy of interpersonal relations are such that these depend a great deal on how the human resources management and the top management in combination with one another depict the aspect of bringing in a change which is for the betterment of the organizational environment in the long range scheme of things. Interpersonal relations always come to the fore whenever a prospective employee wishes to join an organization. He would like to know what kind of environment exists within the organization’s realms and what the organization is doing to make sure that the employees remain cordial and jovial in each other’s company. This is important because interpersonal relations always seem to bring a positive or a negative connotation for the sake of the organization in the long range scheme of things, and is the marked difference between how prospective employees would like to come to terms with such companies in the future. It also speaks highly of the business entities wh ich are renowned for their working conditions and the ones that are not so famous for having the best possible relations amongst its employees (Hayes, 2002). The need is to have the best possible interpersonal relations within an organization’s realms so that people become attracted in joining it within the future. The interpersonal relations are always deemed as significant for any business enterprise because it sets the basis for organizational growth and harmony across the ranks. It makes things easier within an organization because the employers know that their employees would not start fighting with each other, instead they will remain calm and contented with what they have and how they will achieve success for not only their own selves but also for the end goals and objectives that the organization has set for its own self. This is a very quintessential aspect because it is being spoken about more and more in this day and age. Hence my understanding of the philosophy of interpersonal

The Human Nature Of Christ Essay Example for Free

The Human Nature Of Christ Essay Obvious to all was the need for a saviour. The Gentiles needed a Saviour but the Jews wanted a King that would restore the Kingdom to Israel. Men waited eagerly for divine intervention in the ugly course of human history that has been marred by series of wars and perpetual ‘coups and countercoups’. From the Assyrians, Medo-Persians, the Greek, the Babylonians to the Romans Caesars who laid heavy tax burden on the inhabitants of their territory. Men and women, elders and children earnestly longed for the salvation of man from the shackles of Kingdom leaders and the bondage of sin. Prophecies had being made about this Saviour for the Jews and the whole world: in the synagogues and temples, these were read to them on the Sabbath and many knew that a man would save. (Isaiah 9:6). They went to the Baptism of John with the true assurance and trust in that ministry that announced and prepared the heart and minds of all for the Saviour’s arrival. They knew about Him. They had heard readings about Him in the Scripture and they drew closer to His formal appearing. John the Baptist, made an excellent entrance in the scene preparing their totality to receive their Saviour. (John1: 6-9) But their interpretation of this message was diverse. They asked: When would he arrive? What would He look like? How would He come? How would He save Israel and the world? Soon, the Incarnate Word and Saviour arrived through the Virgin birth. Although born in a manger, He was the Christ, the Messiah. He had a mother Mary and his earthly father, Joseph was a man of integrity with listening hears for God and willing heart to obey. He lived in a family. He even learnt the trade of Joseph: carpentry. He played with the children in the courtyard and so, they knew him as the brother of James and John. Their neighbors in Nazareth saw him a number of times assisting Joseph with orders. He, ate, traveled, and wept, felt hungry, agonized deeply, during his ministry that lasted slightly over three years. Then, he died a shameful death like that of a thief on the Cross. He was also equal with God: He was God himself. He was both Human and divine, but now with a resurrected and unblemished body and seated at the right hand of the Father. He is the Advocate of those who believe in and have confessed His Lordship. He is the Impartial Judge that would judge all men according to the works they have done in the body. (Revelations 22:12) THE NATURE OF MAN Man is a tripartite being with three entities in one: the spirit, soul and body. Different theologians over the years have spent time, engaged in research to fully comprehend the elusive nature of the dichotomy of soul and spirit. Of these, it is important to note that three entities that make a total man are entrenched in His nature. This understanding is important in coming to a reasonable and logical conclusion on the humanity of Christ. Man is a spirit being, he lives in a body and has a soul. The spirit is the quintessence of a man: it is this part that has connection to the spiritual world. It is the core of the living soul. The spirit of a man is the avenue for contact with the spirit of God. A man without this spirit is dead: He is like the molded man without the breath of God. â€Å"In your soulical parts are at least three dominant areas or ‘worlds’. The first world of the soul is the mind, your thought centre. The Second tremendous element within you is your emotional life. The third world of the soul is the area of decision, your willpower† (Sumrall, 1970) The soul of man is made up of mind, emotions and will. These three are interwoven and work in quick succession and sometimes overlap. The mind avails man the opportunity to think; emotions, the ability to feel; and willpower, the capacity to decide and be true to such choices. The Body includes the anatomy of real human body. This is subject to the outputs of the soul. It includes all the parts of the body: eyes, nose, hands, legs, head, abdomen, thorax and neck etc which are used in fulfilling intended desires. THE FALL OF MAN At the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, man experienced a spiritual death: the spirit was cut off from its direct and perpetual contact with the Spirit of God. â€Å"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without from and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters† (Genesis 1: 1, 2) In this vein, man was ‘without form and void’, and darkness was upon his soul. He had lost contact with heaven. He sold his birthright to the devil and was burdened by this darkness. Already within him was already planted a worship tendency. However, God was far from him to worship. As a result, the soul was placed perpetually under the influence of darkness, under the tutelage of the devil and his cohorts. The activities and outputs of the soul antagonized the program of God. Man’s heart was turned against his creator. This necessitated a Saviour to restore man back to his Eden position. PATHWAY OF REDEMPTION Throughout the Old Testament, God sent and used his chosen prophets to teach, warn and instruct the world. A hallmark of the restoration pathway available at that period was the sacrificing of animals as atonement for sins. God has been interested in man’s salvation and his unfailing love made the offering of this sacrifice acceptable as penance for evil acts. It was important to hear God and do his will. In order for this to be achieved, there has to be an entrance into the Presence of God in holies of holies of the temple. Preparations were made so that appearance before God was holy and acceptable. Until this is done, it is difficult to communicate with Heaven. Priests were prepared for this task. Everyone was also involved, having being purged by the blood of the sacrificed animals. THE CLIMAX OF REDEMPTION Man needed more than the blood of goats and ram: God’s love was expressed perpetually through His prophets over the years throughout the days of the New Testament. God shows His Love towards us that while we were still sinners, Christ died for all. To show His love towards us, God sent His Only Begotten in the fullness of time to come and show man the true and only way to live for their Creator and fulfill the Intended Purpose He had for them. (John 3:16) Before the resurrection, Jesus Christ who lived among first with His family and later with His chosen Disciples, demonstrated to man the lifestyle that is truly acceptable to God; He submitted to the father’s will at every and all situations because the Father and Son are one. He did what He heard from the Father . He had embedded in His person the Divine Nature which accomplished supernatural things on Earth. He showed to man the depth and strength of God’s love. THE DUALITY OF CHRIST’S NATURE Let’s start this with the Nicene Creed of 325: ‘We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, and Maker of all things visible and invisible, and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father [the only-begotten; that is, of the essence of the Father, God of God], Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made [both in heaven and on earth]; who for us men, and for our salvation, came down and was incarnate and was made man; he suffered, and the third day he rose again, ascended into heaven; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead, and in the Holy Ghost. † Jesus Christ was divine and human; He expressed His Divinity in diverse capacities: He forgave sins; was omnipotent healing the sick and all that were oppressed of the Devil; was asserted as Messiah by His disciples, was omniscient knowing all things including the intents of the Scribes and Pharisees before they uttered statements; was omnipresent both on Earth and in the presence of the father in heaven; walked on water against the Law of Gravity. He was accused of blasphemy because He claimed to have existed before Abraham (Matthew 26:63) This Claim that Jesus Christ is God was affirmed throughout the writings of the Apostles in the New Testament: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1). He was described as the Creator of the Universe, the soon coming king and the Impartial that would judge the whole world, attributes that are totally divine and belong to God. (Hebrews 1). This was not refuted by Him when Thomas addressed Him as ‘My Lord and My God. (John 20:28). This confirmed His Messianic reality and the indwelling Divine nature. HIS HUMAN NATURE â€Å"Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold our profession. For we have not an high priest which can not be touched with the feelings of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. † (Hebrews 4: 14, 15 ) â€Å"And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory of the only Begotten of the Father,), full of grace and truth† (John 1: 14) â€Å"Let this mind also be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God But made Himself of no reputation and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in the as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient to death, even the death of the Cross. Wherefore God also has highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in Heaven, and things in earth, and things under the Earth. And that every tongue should confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. † (Philippians 2: 5-11). With the two verses sited above, it is sufficient to come to a reasonable conclusion that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Saviour of the Jews and the Gentiles: that Jesus was and is God, the Word of the Father incarnated in the flesh, made like us, lived like us; that Jesus felt all we felt: He was hungry and the fig tree suffered for lack of fruits to quench the hunger. He wept for His friend, Lazarus (John 10:35). He felt the heavy burden of agony in Gethsemane and Golgotha. He felt rejected and forsaken on the Christ; that Jesus had the form of man: He was man, everything man. Although, it was shame for Him to leave a glorious abode in heaven and take the shape of a fallen man, but He had to do to correct the errors of Adam and birth in all men who believe in Him, a new heart and a living soul. He proved to the Devil that God’s Love is His nature and reigns supreme; that the God is both full of Love yet Just, that He is kind, yet impartial, that He is good, yet fearless. Christ Jesus, the Son, took on the form of man to save him. He humbled himself, yet did not deny His Divinity. He Humbled Him even unto the shameful death of the Cross. And the Cross, His death and ultimately His resurrection confirmed His Purpose on the earth. He died and rose: rose up by the power of the Spirit, and so became a quickening spirit. Christ Jesus rose up proving beyond reasonable doubt that He could save man. The Apostles saw this and were strengthened in faith. The Devil and death could not hold Him down like all others who had gone before Him. He won the battle and rose up, and now is seated at the right hand of the Father. He is seated in the place of power and authority, the angle of the Judge of the World. (Ephesians 1:20-23) Let all who believe in Him and live today say He is God. Let all declare that He was man, but now with a resurrected body, seated as the Head of the Church. Let all man proclaim Him as Lord for He is Lord. No greater evidence exists than the writings of eyewitnesses of this Glory. Let all men declare Jesus Christ as Hosanna, to Him is all the glory, honor, power and Majesty. (Revelations 4:11). Having examined different approaches available both in medieval and contemporary times about the Human nature of Christ, I come to this conclusion: the Apostles knew who they believe; they experienced his power and glory and were convinced about His Divinity and Human Nature. They preached Christ as the risen Lord, and even sacrificed their lives for the cause. The significance of the Waiting at the Upper room can not be overemphasized. They obeyed and received power. (Acts 1:8). They were bold and courageous because He that dwelt in them was greater than all opposing forces in the world. They got an indispensable witness, the Spirit of Light that showed them the Past, led them in their writings and comforted them in their times of distress. He quickened their mortal bodies and conformed them to the glorious Image of the Christ. Having fought a good fight of faith, they won, even at the death post. That victory is evidenced by believers all over the world who now declare that Jesus is Lord, to God’s Glory.

The Blue Ocean Strategy

The Blue Ocean Strategy Indian bus service industry was extremely unorganized till recently before redBus emerged and took the industry by its neck and brought a sort of revolution never imagined for such an unorganized industry. This was primarily because the information flow and availability in this industry was very difficult and there was a lot of mismatch. The bus ticket industry was highly fragmented with small players active regionally. All these were small small agents competing against each other. Due to lack of any major player there was not much competition for redBus and hence it was able to create a marketspace for itself through entering the bus ticket industry online. By the time redBus entered the horizon there were settled names both in airline and railway ticket booking industry who were operating online. But even for them it was a huge task to enter bus ticketing industry due to the sheer complexity present in the industry and emulating the online model for bus ticketing industry was perc eived to be almost impossible even by these major players in e-commerce. This study deals with how a disruptive model can change the scenario of the complete industry. redBus which at the time of its inception was confined in a small flat of 2 rooms is now a 400 million company with over 400 employees and offices across India. Currently it is the only major player concentrating completely on bus ticketing industry with a market share of over 70%. In this research, I have tried to analyze the bus ticketing industry and how redBus identified the opportunities present in this segment and created a value chain which not only gave them a distinct product but also at competitive cost. It is a perfect example of Blue Ocean strategy where entry of redBus changed the entire landscape of the industry. It revolutionized the way the people buy bus tickets in India. One of the unique bus ticketing system of its kind in the entire world, competitors have leaped in this market but none has receive d success like redBus. This study further covers how redBus has sustained its competitive advantages and what are the challenges and growth opportunities going forward. CHAPTER-1 INTRODUCTION: Blue Ocean Strategy As the authors of the book Blue Ocean Strategy, W. Kim Chan and Renee Mauborgne say: Although the term blue ocean is new, their existence is not. They have been a part of business transformation in past as well as in present. If we look back in the past say a century ago, How many of todays industries were then known? The answer will be majority of todays industries were unknown in their current form. Many industries such as automobiles, aviation, health care, and management consulting were unknown or were just beginning to emerge. Now lets look at the industries 3 decades back. Again, multibillion-dollar industries like mutual funds, computers, mobile phones, smart phones, gas based power plants, discount retail, biotechnology, nanotechnology, express parcel delivery, coffee bars, video games, home videos, and CD player and many other such industries were all non-existent in a practical or popular way. Similarly, lets turn the clock forward a bit and try to look into the future. Lets say after 30 years or say 50 years how many of the now unknown industries will emerge and will exist. If history is any indicator of things to come in future, the answer is there will be many such industries that we cant even think of right now which will emerge. This is the reality; industries are dynamic. They never remain the same over a long period of time. They change continuously and evolve. The participants, the process, the market and the operations everything changes. Operations improve, markets evolve and grow, and non-customers become customers. History tells us that we have huge potential to change the existing industries and recreate them and not only that it teaches us that we underestimate our capability to create new ones. To have an idea of how dynamic things can get, the 50-year old Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system, which was published by the U.S. Census, was substituted by the North America Industry Classification Standard (NAICS) system in 1997. The reason being the number of industry sectors that SIC covered were half the number of sectors that actually existed in 1997. The old SIC system covered only 10 industry sectors. The new NAICS system doubled it to twenty sectors to reflect the emergence of new-age industries. For example earlier the service sector included all that is now fragmented into different specialized industries like IT, healthcare, social assistance, etc. Given that these systems are made to ensure stability, continuity and for keeping standards, such a substitution shows the significance of growth of Blue Ocean industries. Yet the dominant emphasis of strategists has been on competitive strategies also known as red ocean strategies. Part of the explanation for this is that its roots in military strategy heavily influence corporate strategy. Strategy is about fighting different competitors over the same area of land that is constant and not unlimited. Unlike battles though, the history of industry tells us that the universe of market is unlimited and there is a place for everyone; rather, blue oceans have been always in existence. They have continuously been created. To believe and restrict oneself to red ocean is therefore to accept the constraints that are associated with war-limited piece of land and the need to fight and defeat an opponent to succeed-and to reject the unique strength of the business world: the capacity to create new market universe that is uncontested. Blue Ocean v/s Competitive Strategy (Red Ocean) Blue Ocean emphasises the importance of value innovation that can completely negate the competition replacing competitive advantage with value innovation as the firms primary goal thus highlighting the importance of creating demand and exploiting untapped maket rather than risking competition. There is a debate in the academia and research groups as to which strategy is better suited but all evidences are as case studies on different companies which is not enough to define any one of the two strategies as a clear winner. Rather the two strategies co-exist and should co-exist because a firm on the foundation of Blue Ocean strategy may ultimately have to face competition depending on the imitability of the business model and then before they have more value innovation to differentiate themselves and still remain cost competitive, they must also have a competitive strategy to ensure they do not fall behind of competition. Research results of researchers like Andrew Burke Andres van Stel and Roy Thurik suggest that the notion that blue ocean makes competition irrelevant may not be true. When combined, the two provide a more holistic and realistic depiction of economic performance. Thus, in real life the any strategy must be adopted after evaluating the business and market circumstances appropriately as these define the degree of scope for effectiveness of either Blue Ocean or competitive strategy. Furthermore, what emphasis and mix should be given to either form of strategy across short and long-term time horizons is apparent in most innovative companies competing in short term red oceans while significant time and resources are devoted to the long-term goal of developing innovation that creates consumer demand and new markets. Figure 1: Red Ocean v/s Blue Ocean Strategy Source: www.blueoceanstrategy.corporatestrategy.com Blue Ocean and White Space The term white space has been used in business parlance to mean uncharted territory or an underserved market. But as Mark W. Johnson perfectly writes in Seizing the White Space the term is the range of potential activities not defined or addressed by the companys current business model, that is, the opportunities outside its core and beyond its adjacencies that require a different business model to exploit. White space is a subjective valuation: one companys white space may be another companys core. What matters is that it describes activities that lie far outside a firms usual way of working and presents a series of unique and perplexing challenges to that organization. Its an area where, relatively speaking, assumptions are high and knowledge is low, the opposite of conditions in the companys core space. The chance to seize a piece of white space presents a tantalizing opportunity. Success here can bring the transformational growth that so many business leaders seek. Yet understandably, a play for the white space feels risky, and often the numbers dont appear to add up. The market seems too foreign, or core capabilities wont apply. Some executives, having made one unsuccessful foray, just wont risk failing again. Figure 2: White Space Source: Seizing the White Space, Mark W. Johnson Blue Ocean Strategy and Applied Concepts The Strategy Canvas The strategy canvas is the central diagnostic and action framework for building a compelling blue ocean strategy. The horizontal axis captures the range of factors that the industry competes on and invests in, while the vertical axis captures the offering level that buyers receive across these entire key competing factors. There are two purposes that are served here: It captures the current state of play in known market space, which allows users to clearly see the factors that the industry competes on and where the competition currently invests. Then, it propels users to action by reorienting focus from competitors to alternatives and from customers to non-customers of the industry. The value curve is the basic component of the strategy canvas. It is a graphic depiction of a companys relative performance across its industrys factors of competition. A strong value curve has focus, divergence as well as a compelling tagline. Figure 3: The Strategy Canvas Four Action Framework This framework can also be referred to as the Eliminate-Reduce-Raise-Create Grid. To reconstruct buyer value elements in crafting a new value curve, we use the Four Actions Framework. As shown in the diagram, to break the trade-off between differentiation and low cost and to create a new value curve, the framework poses four key questions to challenge an industrys strategic logic and business model. Which of the factors that the industry takes for granted should be eliminated? Which factors should be reduced well below the industrys standard? Which factors should be raised well above the industrys standard? Which factors should be created that the industry has never offered? Figure 4: Four Actions Framework By pursuing the first two questions managers gain insight into how to drop their cost structure vis-à  -vis competitors. Rarely do they systematically set out to eliminate and reduce their investments in factors that an industry competes on. The result is mounting cost structures and complex business models. The other questions provide insights into how to lift buyer value and create new demand. Collectively, they allow exploring how to reconstruct buyer value elements across alternative industries to offer buyers an entirely new experience, while simultaneously keeping your cost structure low. Eliminating and creating are vital as they push companies to go beyond value maximization exercises with existing factors of competition. They prompt companies to change the factors themselves, hence making the existing rules of competition irrelevant. Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) The PDCA Cycle is a checklist of the four stages, which one must go through to get from `problem-faced to `problem solved. This concept was developed by Walter Shewhart, the pioneering statistician who developed statistical process control in the Bell Laboratories in the US during the 1930s. It was taken up and promoted very effectively from the 1950s on by the famous Quality Management authority, W. Edwards Deming. Consequently, PDCA cycle is also commonly known as `the Shewhart Cycle and the Deming wheel. This cycle diagram can be applied in team meetings to take stock of what stage improvement initiatives are at, and to choose the appropriate tools to see each stage through to successful completion. Here is what we do in each stage: Plan to improve operations first by finding out what things are going wrong (that is identify the problems faced), and come up with ideas for solving these problems. Do changes designed to solve the problems on a small scale first. This minimizes disruption to routine activity while testing whether the changes will work or not. Check whether the small scale changes are achieving the desired result or not. Also, continuously Check nominated key activities (regardless of any experimentation going on) to know what the quality of the output is at all times to identify any new problems. Act to implement changes on a larger scale if its successful on small scale. Also Act to involve other persons (other departments, suppliers, or customers) affected by the changes and whose cooperation is needed to implement them on a larger scale. If the experiment was not successful, skip the Act stage and go back to the Plan stage to come up with some new ideas for solving the problem and go through the cycle again. Plan-Do-Check-Act describes the overall stages of improvement activity, but how is each stage carried out? This is where other specific quality management, or continuous improvement, tools and techniques come into play. The diagram below lists the tools and techniques that can be used to complete each stage of the PDCA Cycle. Figure 5: PDCA Cycle VRIO Framework VRIO is an acronym for Value, Rarity, Imitability and Organization. This is also a 4 questions framework where one asks about a resource or capability to ascertain its competitive potential: the question of Value, the question of Rarity, the question of Imitability (Ease/Difficulty to Imitate), and the question of Organization (ability to exploit the resource or capability). The Question of Value: Is the firm able to exploit an opportunity or neutralize an external threat with the resource/capability? The Question of Rarity: Is control of the resource/capability in the hands of a relative few? The Question of Imitability: Is it difficult to imitate, and will there be significant cost disadvantage to a firm trying to obtain, develop, or duplicate the resource/capability? The Question of Organization: Is the firm organized, ready, and able to exploit the resource/capability? The VRIO framework, in a wider scope, is part of a much larger strategic scheme of a firm. The basic strategic process that any firm goes through begins with a vision statement, and continues on through objectives, internal external analysis, strategic choices (both business-level and corporate-level), and strategic implementation. The firm will hope that this process results in a competitive advantage in the marketplace they operate in. VRIO falls into the internal analysis step of these procedures, but is used as a framework in evaluating just about all resources and capabilities of a firm, regardless of what phase of the strategic model it falls under. CHAPTER-2 LITERATURE REVIEW Paper 1: Blue Ocean Strategy versus Competitive Strategy: Theory and Evidence. Burke, Andrew, Andrà © van Stel, and Roy Thurik. ERIM Report Series Research in Management (May 2009) Theme: Empirical analysis of blue ocean strategy versus competitive strategies based on data assembled from 655 retail shops through 41 shop types in the retail industry in Holland. Summary: This paper addresses the debate surrounding Red Ocean (competitive strategy) v/s Blue Ocean (New Market) strategy. The authors note that Blue Ocean seeks to emphasise the importance of value innovation that can completely negate the competition replacing competitive advantage with value innovation as the firms primary goal thus highlighting the importance of creating demand and exploiting untapped maket rather than risking competition. This results in increased profitability in the industry. There is a debate in the academia and research groups as to which strategy is better suited but all evidences are as case studies on different companies which is not enough to define any one of the two strategies as a clear winner. Rather the two strategies co-exist and should co-exist because a firm on the foundation of Blue Ocean strategy may ultimately have to face competition depending on the imitability of the business model and then before they have more value innovation to differentiate themselves and still remain cost competitive, they must also have a competitive strategy to ensure they do not fall behind of competition. Research results in this paper suggest that the notion that blue ocean makes competition irrelevant may not be true. To test the superiority of either tools the authors looks at the two strategies from both long term and short term perspectives and outline a theoretical model which suggests that every market will experience new vendors arriving to share the profits that are there on the offering in the industry. Thus the composition of the pie chart of market share will continuously exhibit different set of players with some fading off while others entering the market but only until the saturation point is reached where everyone will break even. Looking at the industry an its players over a period of time in this manner will give us an understanding about whether the new market strategy or the competitive strategy is more viable for the industry. If companies succeed over a long period of time by creating value innovation (new market strategy) as the new companies entered, both the i ndustry profits as well as the firms profit will grow steadily and so will the number of vendors in the strategy. On the other hand, if the profitability of the blue ocean firm went down with increasing number of vendors in the industry, it would be an indication of the dominance of the firms that followed competitive strategy over the firms that followed new market (blue ocean) strategy. After studying the complete data from 1982-2000 of 655 retail shops over 41 shop types in the Dutch retail industry and after testing and analyzing the premise the authors concluded for half the shop types, the firm profits were directly proportional to the number of firms while the blue ocean strategy was dominant over a long term with number of vendors and firm profitability rising/falling together over all shop types in the whole period under consideration. The authors also concluded that in short term Red Ocean strategies were at work. The study highlights that the two strategies co-exist and cross each other throughout the industry life and there is no particular choice that any manager prefers. Paper 2: Synthesizing a Blue Ocean. Master Thesis. Vester, Daniel. Aalto University, 2012. Theme: Applicability of New Market strategy frameworks and techniques in the electronic musical instruments industry for innovating new products. Summary: In this paper, the author targets to show how value innovation could be used in case of an electronic musical instrument company to add value to their product and create new market space. To explain this, he choses to compare the traditional strategies like competitive strategy, Porters 5 forces strategy to the blue ocean strategy. Blue ocean strategy is eventually selected for the process of product development of ArturiaMiniBrute, an analogue synthesizer reason being 1) Its attention on constructing new uncontested market space and at the same time targeting lower cost and product differentiation as well; and 2) The ease with which the analytical tools and frameworks in a Blue Ocean strategy could be blended into the product development process and usability of the instrument thus developed. Blue ocean strategy tools such as the Strategy Canvas, Four Action Framework, Buyer Utility Map and Three Tiers of Noncustomers are applied after quantitative analysis of sales figures in the electronic musical instrument industry for identifying Arturias closest competitors in various synthesizer markets and to design the strategy for ArturiaMiniBrute. The authors observations and interpretations show that the Blue Ocean Strategy techniques and frameworks can aid electronic musical instrument firms add value to their instruments/products/offerings and create new market space. Subsequently, the author advocates that companies should shift focus from technical features of the musical instrument to the emotional appeal of the musical instrument, and urges that companies should get out of the traditional mindset, challenge established rules of the industry by eliminating factors that have been ignored and not given due importance but which may be of great value to the customer. Paper 3: The Impact of Blue Ocean Strategy in Low-cost Transport. Ã…Â  tverkovà ¡, Hana, Michal ÄŒervinka, and Vlasta Humlovà ¡. In 2012 International Conference on Traffic and Transportation Engineering. Belgrade, November 29-30, 2012. Theme: Applicability of blue ocean strategy theory to Ryanair (air transport industry) Summary: This paper illustrates how blue ocean strategy can be vital and have an important influence in the low cost aviation sector. The authors chose to analyze the low-cost air transport industry in the European Union. They report that the market is highly competitive and the regional players fight amongst themselves on the base of cost competitiveness. The authors show that a cordial relationship between regional airports and any carrier firm can enable budget airlines to provide distinguished value for airline passengers at a low cost to the companies. The authors also suggests using the case of Ryanair that infrastructure improvement for non-core activities at the smaller airports might be essential to facilitate such relationships between budget airlines and small regional airports. CHAPTER-3 EXAMPLES OF BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY Air Asia One of the major developments that the airline has experienced has been the evolution of the budget airlines. For instance, emergence of Air Asia in Malaysia is a classic example. Air Asia have avoided the competitive strategy or the red Ocean (competition against Malaysia Airline and other airlines like Tiger Air, Jet Air and other regional airlines) by considering factors that are important to customers but easily taken for granted by most of the other airlines. With the Four Actions Framework proposed by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne, Air Asia have ensured they make Malaysia Airline, Tiger Air, Jet air and regional players irrelevant by implementing many important strategic moves explained below. STRATEGY Eliminate: 1) OTC booking 2) Seating Class booking arrangement 3) Free breakfast/lunch/dinner on the plane Reduce: 1) Number of attendants serving on the plane 2) Luxury facilities delivered 3) Quality of the seats Raise: 1) Increased flight hours for their aircrafts: frequency of flight 2) Selected key endpoints/destinations catered frequently Create: 1) Booking system became online 2) Travel system: point-to-point Through these strategic moves, Air Asia has been able to concentrate on factors that really matter for the customers like better booking channel, point-to-point travel system, etc. that makes customers lives simpler and adds value to them. This is a perfect example of Value Innovation, as not only does this help Air Asia increase the value to the customers but at the same time reduces cost for Air Asia significantly Value Innovation. This also allows Air Asia towards customers who were not traditionally target thus creating a new market space and targeting non-customers in the traditional airline industry. Current Airline Customers: 1) Corporates and business fraternity in Malaysia or ASEAN region. 2) Those individuals who can afford to buy expensive airline tickets from airlines like Malaysia Airline and other regional players. Non-Customers: 1) Officers from the government and other government staff 2) Those individuals who cannot afford to buy expensive tickets such as students or recent graduates or lower middle class and rural people. With effective execution of Blue Ocean strategy, Air Asia has furthered expanded their gamut and has ventured into other businesses like they started Tune Hotel and Tune Money. The model is again towards creating Blue Ocean market space. Crocs Inc. Company Snapshot Crocs Inc. is one of the major players in shoe industry who have been very successful. It designs, fabricates and markets bright-colored, comfy-branded footwear and accessories for all segments men, women and children. Blue Ocean Strategic Move Crocs Inc. with its distinctive lightweight clogs created a blue ocean market space in the shoe industry. These types of shoes gave customers a perfect combination of comfort and fashion at an affordable price point. Crocs shoes have mass appeal because not only are they branded but also in a way they are refreshing, they are different from traditional sandals and casual shoes and add a fun element as well as they come in a wide array of bright colors which provide a funky look. Combined with their new crocodile logo on their shoes it also gives them a bold look. Crocs have been a run-away success also because they provide customer what they never even thought of, they satisfy their customers by adding value to their customers usage by giving features like lightweight, waterproof, ergonomic comfort and anti-microbial and anti-skid. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¨Success Founded in 2002 as a new type of boat shoemaker initially, the company has grown into a global sensation in casual footwear industry with sales across the globe in over 90 countries and reaching 1 billion US dollars in 2011. Figure 6: Crocs Four Actions to create Value Innovation Source: Frontier Strategy, LLC Nintendos Wii The video game business has a huge market and is a multi-billion dollar industry. Video consoles, which form a big portion of this market, were very recently in the past controlled by two major players: PlayStations (PS12 and soon PS3) from Sony and Xbox (Xbox and Xbox360) from Microsoft. Nintendo, however, a distant third player created ripples in the market space with its launch of the Wii. This is an especially interesting case study from a strategy perspective since its a brilliant example of the so-called blue ocean strategy. The graphic below demonstrates Nintendos Wii strategy with the help of the strategy canvas and is quite clear. Figure 7: The Strategy Canvas of Nintendo Wii On giving a closer glance to the above graphic, one will notice that Nintendo is competing on a completely different strategic landscape as the attributes are completely differently focused for Nintendo in comparison with Sony and Microsoft. The Wii is not only affordable for general public, it has no Hard Disk, no DVD, no Dolby 5.1, weak connectivity and comparatively low processor speed, but enthralls the user by its innovative motion control stick. The stick is designed such that it integrates the movements of a player directly into the console of the video game, The user gets an interface where he gets a live feel of himself playing in the screen. With this feature Nintendo not only won the existing customers in the video game world but also brought in a completely new set of customers to the business. We can again think of the Four Actions Framework in all of the above descriptions of features. I will explain here with a couple of those features: Reduction in cost through elimination of some features like Hard Drive, DVD, Dolby 5.1 and low processor speed A raise in demand by creation of motion stick: strong value innovation for new gamers/customers. These 2 features disregard the traditional belief in competitive strategy of either going for cost leadership or product differentiation and not simultaneously for both. In other words, through this example we see that while Sony and Microsoft are fighting in the same old bloody Red Ocean of existent market, Nintendo created a new market space for itself in the form of Wii and is now sailing calmly in this Blue Ocean that it created for itself. CHAPTER-4 BOS: A Case Study on redBus Story of redBus One fine evening an electrical engineer in Bangalore planned to travel to Hyderabad to celebrate Diwali with his family but the answer he got from the agents when he reached at bus stands was that all tickets were sold out and he could inquire about the availability from some other agents. Although the person got frustrated but an appalling question was making rounds in his minds; why werent there other methods to get bus tickets booked rather than moving from one agent to another? He questioned why cant bus tickets be booked online like airlines and railway tickets? The person was Phanindra Sama and his frustration lead way to a revolution in Indian bus industry and redBus was born. Phani discussed the idea with his friends (Sudhakar Pasupunuri and Charan Padmaraju) and they started working on the idea. Initially they decided to develop an IT based inventory system for bus operators but the idea was dismissed by the operators and agents as the task seemed huge to them. Meanwhile they came in contact with the Bangalore chapter of TIE (The Indus Entrepreneurs) which accepted their venture and mentored the team and guided them with various assignments pertaining to market surveys and market research. The TIE mentorship enabled redBus to get venture capitalist interested in them and a VC named Seedfund funded them with $500000. This is how redBus was born on 18th August 2006, Indias first online bus ticketing website, a concept which was in use for airline and railway booking but no one had realized that it could be feasible enough for the bus travel also. Exhibit 1 gives company details. Exhibit 1 The Team Major Milestones Exhibit 2 Company Details Bus Ticket Industry- Overview in India The Indian bus travel industry was highly fragmented with a large number of small operators and agents having very little orientation towards technology. Most of the operators were regional players having small fleets of ten buses where few were long route players having 100 or more fleets of buses. Exhibit 2 gives the details of the industry structure. Long route buses were known as contract carriages and their tickets were to be bought in advance whereas short haul buses known as stage carriers and their tickets were sold in the coach itself. The booking system was agent driven in which each agent had contract with three of four operators and tickets were allocated to them on the basis of quota system by the operators. Each agent used to sell its quota of tickets and all the unsold tickets were informed to the operator before some fixed time of bus departure. No centralized inventory was maintained by either the agents or by operators