Islamic legal system Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Islamic legal system - Research Paper Example It is for this practice of corporal punishment in Islamic countries that they fail to gain membership in the European Union. In the document released by European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia in 2006, focus is given to the status of Muslim population in the European Union. The document states that owing to the reason of Muslim people’s increased participation in terrorist activities a fear has generated in regards to the entire Muslim race, called Islamophobia. Due to this fear even, the Muslim members in the European Union are facing a disadvantageous position. The article ‘World of Islam’ puts focus on a highly controversial issue regarding the Islamic religion. It is held that the religion of Islam has helped itself in spreading rapidly throughout the world through high amount of bloodsheds and a sense of Imperialism. However, the article argues that the religion of Islam condemns forceful transformation of people to Islamic religion. It rather encourages the growth of other religions. In the article on ‘Islam: The second largest world religion†¦and growing’ (n.d.) it is stated that Islamic religion has a huge number of followers spread throughout the world. An estimate is provided which mentions that Muslim population throughout the world ranges from 0.7 to 1.8 billion. In regards to the above fact, it is stated that by the middle of the twenty first century Islam would turn into the world’s largest religion. Author Vicki Gallay in the article ‘The Religion of Muslim’ states that Muslims mainly compose the regions of Indonesia, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Nigeria. Moreover, he also states that amongst the entire Muslim population in the world 25 percent belong to Middle East countries while in America the Muslim population stands at 6 million. In the document of ‘The Ideal Personality of a Muslim’ (n.d.) it is stated

Jehovah’s Witnesses Essay Example for Free

Jehovah’s Witnesses Essay They do this because they consider it an honor to spread the word of god. Their religious practices are generally similar to others they worship God, pray to him, and think that all things good come from him. Jehovah’s Witnesses believe God can not lie therefore what the bible says will come true and earth will someday be cleansed of all the â€Å"wickedness†. In addition, most religions do some kind of baptizing when a child is young however, Jehovah’s Witnesses only baptise those who want to serve as a Jehovah’s Witness. * * Jehovah’s Witnesses have contributed to American Culture in many ways. For instance, they help with education, disaster relief, and parenting. They contribute in many ways and are modest about the history in the making. Jahovah’s Witnesses set out to help people become law abiding citizens that do right by God. They have also won many court battles about religious freedom issues. Other groups that do not have the same beliefs have discriminated against Jehovah’s Witnesses. Jehovah’s Witnesses have been treated poorly or even been victims of violent crimes. Jehovah’s Witnesses have been shunned in many different areas of the world. For instance; in France (2006) the government branded them as dangerous and 71 kingdom halls were burned, firebombed, shot at, and vandalized. In India (2006) door to door Jehovah’s Witnesses were attacked and beaten with fence posts. The Jehovah’s Witnesses were charged with inciting the violence. The sources of this discrimination and prejudice came from governments as well as general population. What I have learned about this religion helps me understand it just as well as I understand any religion. Jahovah’s Witnesses are fighting for what they believe in just as many of us are. They are no different accept their beliefs differ from others. Jahovah’s Witnesses deserve to believe what they want to believe in. Everyone needs to believe in something and they should not be treated differently because the way they practice is not the same as everyone else. Racial/ethnic group: Hispanic and Latino * * Hispanic and Latino culture is different in many ways. Some of these differences include skin color, language, and physical features. Many Hispanic and Latinos speak Spanish and their second language is English. Their culture is defferent in the sense that they try to avoid standing out in their own groups. In addition, Hispanic and Latino children are raised to have a deep connection with family. This group many times has a strong bond with all family including Aunts Uncles, and Grandparents, many times these family members live in the same household or near by. * * Hispanic and Latinos have been treated poorly similar to any other racial group. The efforts to increase border patrol on the Mexican American border have done nothing but increase prejudice and discrimination against Hispanic and Latino people. There have even been reports that women and children are treated poorly as well. Here in Tucson Az. for instance we hear many reports about the border patrol having to work over time to keep them out. Someday I feel it will all come crashing down and anyone who tried to keep them out will have to pay for that in some way shape or form. Hispanics and Latinos should not be told they can not come to the US. Many of them say that the US has better opportunitys and that is why they want to be here. If we can help other countrys organize then why not Mexico as well. Hispanic and Latinos have highly influenced American culture. First and foremost the food thay they showed us is popular all over the world. Tortillas, burritos, chimichangas, and many other dishes that are simply delicious. In addition, the music they have introduced us to has definitely spiced things up in many clubs all over the U. S. Also many students are now required to complete spanish as a second language in school, which at first may have been frowned upon but now is embraced by most parents and students. Some discrimination that Hispanic and Latinos deal with still today is the difficulty to get good paying jobs. Because many of them do not speak english well and have little to no education the jobs they get are in most cases low wage high labor jobs. The sources of this prejudice and discrimination is employers as well as general population. Hispanics and Latinos are looked upon as different especially if they were not born in the US. In addition, in many films Hispanics are often prtrayed as lazy, hyper-sexual, or violent which is simply untrue and not very different from any other ethnic group. What I have learned about this racial and ethnic group does help me understand it. I have never understood why so many of them live under the same roof and now I understand it is because their family is close. In addition, now I know that it is the lack of education the prevents them from getting higher paying jobs and maybe not so much that they are different. The prejedice between my selected racial and ethnic group is similar because it is all in the same category. Prejedice and discrimination is all a way of making a person or a group feel inadequate and that they do not belong. Regardless of the way Jahovah’s wittnesses were beaten and harrassed or the way the Hispanic and Latinos have been cast out and told they are not welcome in the US it is all wrong and should not be tolerated. In conclusion, discrimination comes in all shapes and sizes and can happen to anyone. Jahovah’s Witnesses References: Reference: http://www. jw. org/en/publications/magazines/g201008/what-do-jehovahs-witnesses-believe/ Reference: http://www. knocking. org/ReligiousPersecutionReport. html Reference: http://www. jw-media. org/aboutjw/article44. htm Reference: http://wiki. answers. com/Q/How_have_Jehovah%27s_Witnesses_contributed_to_American_culture Hispanic and Latino Reference: Reference: http://www. coedu. usf. edu/zalaquett/hoy/culture. html Reference:

Perfect Forward Essay -- essays research papers

The perfect forward for hockey is about 6 foot 2, and is about 220 pounds of muscle. They need a good aerobic and anaerobic system if they are to be at the peak of there performance. A normal forward uses 80% of the ATP-PC system and about 20% of their Lactic Acid system. For them to be at there best they need to train in three different programs: 1. They need an off-season program, which will get them into condition to be conditioned and also improve their strength. 2. They need preseason training with will mainly help them improve their ATP-PC system, and that’s where they’re going to get their explosiveness. 3. This is the in-season training, which is simply used to maintain your muscle endurance, muscle strength, your condition and flexibility. Off-Season is the time when hockey players build their base foundation. There is no coach on your shoulder pushing you to the limit and you need to keep that foundation if you are to compete at a high level. This is the only time of year you have to build on your muscle strength, muscle endurance, flexibility and aerobic conditioning. It usually will take about 6-8 weeks, three to five times a week to be at the peak of your performance, but if you are suffering from injury like a aggravated groin or suck, it may take as long as 12 weeks of base training. Aerobic training is probably one of the most important cause not only does it improve your cardiovascular efficiency and recovery but it allows you to train harder to improve your speed, power and quickness which will help you in high intensity games. It also allows you to repeat the movements. All players have done suicides at one point or another and as it goes on your legs start to feel like dead weights, which is because of an inferior aerobic system. If you have a good base between suicides your muscle will replenish themselves, exactly like during a whistle in hockey. This is essential if you want to compete at a high intensity. For this you will need train the system and by doing so you can do some in-line skating, rowing, cycling or even water running. It is suggested that you use more then one of these and at best do as many as possible. The more strength you have available to perform hockey skills, the more likely you are to perform those skills at a high level. For example a weak set of leg muscle result in poor starts and stops. Therefore the more y... ...ating hard to each line stopping then starting and do the same at all three middle lines. Then we will skate around the rink hard at 80% to work on the Lactic Acid system and help improve our speed. These drills should last about 40 minutes. - Now the forwards will work on their shot by rapid fire. Line 10 pucks up and shot after another on net. Do this 3 times and it should take roughly 5 minutes. - This should be followed by pass and shot were there are 5 pucks in the corner with the coach and 2 players out front in a battle to get open for a pass to shot on net. This drill improves power because you have to outmuscle and out skate the other player in order to accomplish this. It will take 10 minutes with a few breaks. - Before the Stretch at the end a cool down skate should be done in order to relax the muscles before the stretch. This will take about 15 minutes for both. There you have it another 52-week hockey training year as gone by and you were the best forward you could’ve been. Now its time for Postseason workouts which mainly rely on eating lots of protein and getting at least 8 hours of sleep a night. In no time it will be time to begin training once again.

Are Reason and Emotion Equally Necessary in Justifying Moral Decisions Essay

Emotion and reason are two different ways of knowing but can both be used in the same situation. However, does one have a higher weighting than the other when it comes to making moral decisions? Using reason to make a knowledge claim or moral decision requires rationality and is justifiable, meaning that everyone would be able to understand the argument for it. Emotion on the other hand is usually simply a ‘gut feeling’ or an opinion of an individual and therefore has no evidence or points to support a decision. An example could be when it comes to whether it’s right or wrong to murder someone. It’s generally accepted that it isn’t because, using reason to justify this, everyone should have equal rights and it’s unfair for one person to take the life of another. One person may have the opinion that they do have the right to murder someone else but their argument would not be as strong since it would simply be their opinion of the case. Another example could be homosexuality. Many people who are against it claim that it’s wrong because ‘it’s not natural’ but when thinking of the argument rationally, this would mean cars, airplanes and TVs would also be considered wrong since those things aren’t natural either. Arguments made using ethics and emotions are not usually consistent and this is why reason is a better way of knowing because it can be applied to many cases. However, sometimes both emotion and reason can be used equally in justifying a moral decision such as when it comes to abortions. According to ethics and emotions, abortion is murder (since the baby is a human being) and murder is wrong (as all lives are valuable and it’s unjust to take another one’s life). Reason can come in to justify these arguments as well as add the point of the medical complications and effects abortions bring. On the side for the legalisation of abortions, justifiable points includes if the baby has a life-threatening disease or if the mother does that would be pass down and therefore the baby would lead an unhappy and sick life, if the parents are unfit for the responsibility of parenthood (for example, alcoholics, drug-addicts, teenagers), if the mother was unmarried and lived in a strict eligious society, if it was caused by rape and therefore would be unfair to the women as well as cause psychological harm and the fact that the government is intervening and reducing the freedom of choice for women simply goes against basic civil rights. Emotions are involved in the decision to abort a baby because mothers want what’s best for their baby and in most abortion cases, the reason behind it is because they feel their baby would not live the life they deserve . Whether it’s because they’d spend most of the life in a hospital with an incurable illness or because the mother knows that she wouldn’t be good enough for the parenting job. When it comes to making any decisions, whether it’s a moral one or not, reason should be considered more as it uses rationality and therefore is easier to explain and justify a decision to others. Emotions aren’t necessarily permanent or consistent and so it would be more difficult to try to get others to understand why you’ve made a certain decision.

BCOM Syllabus

Other topics Include communication ethics, elaboration, Information utilization, critical thinking, and professional competence and values. Course Dates 35 days Faculty Information Not Available Policies Faculty and students/learners will be held responsible for understanding and adhering to all policies contained within the following two documents (both located on your student website): Academic Policies university policies are subject to change. Be sure to read the policies at the beginning of each class. Policies may be slightly different depending on the modality n which you attend class.If you have recently changed modalities, read the policies governing your current class modality. Get Ready for Class Familiarize yourself with the textbooks used In this course. Course Materials All electronic materials are available on your student website. Weekly Organizational Culture and Communication 7 days Tasks Review the Week One Student Guide 1. 1 Use the tools available to University o f Phoenix students. 1. 2 Explain the relationship between organization culture and organizational communication. 3 Explain how adapting the message to the audience affects business communication. Required Learning Activities Organizational Behavior, Chi. 17 Business Communication, Chi. 1 Business Communication, Chi. 2 Business Communication, Chi. 3 Business Communication, Chi. 4 Week One Electronic Reserve Readings See the student website for additional recommended learning activities that may help you learn this week's concepts. Assignments Assignments will be provided by your faculty and displayed here when class starts weekGroup Communication Review the Week Two Student Guide Objectives/Competencies 2. 1 Describe barriers to group communication. 2. 2 Describe techniques to enhance group communication. 2. 3 Identify the role of? conflict in group communication. Communicating in Small Groups, Chi. 1 Communicating in Small Groups, Chi. 6 Communicating in Small Groups, Chi. 7 Busines s Communication, Chi. 5 Business Communication, Chi. 6 Business Communication, Chi. 7 Organizational Behavior, Chi. 11 Week Two Electronic Reserve Readings weekThe Influence of Leadership on Group Communication Review the Week Three Student Guide 3. 1 Explain the effects of leadership style on group communication. 3. 2 Compare the influence of different sources of power on group and organizational communication. Organizational Behavior, Chi. 13 Organizational Behavior, Chi. 14 Communicating in Small Groups, Chi. 12 Week Three Electronic Reserve Readings Week Information Utilization and Communication Week Four Student Guide 4. 1 Compare different forms of communication and their use in business immunization. . 2 Identify relevant information for communication with a specific audience. 4. 3 Create appropriate forms of communication to meet the needs of a specific audience. Business Communication, Chi. 10 11 Week Four Electronic Reserve Readings week Formal Communication Week Five Stud ent Guide 5. 1 Analyze the role of ethics in business communication. ? 5. 2 Evaluate the effectiveness of business communication. Business Communication, Chi. 16 Business Communication, Chi. 17 Business Communication, Chi.Appendix E Week Five Electronic Reserve Readings Trademark All trademarks are property of their respective owners. University of [email  protected] is a registered trademark of Apollo Group, Inc. In the United States and/or other countries. [email  protected], Window†, and [email  protected] are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other company and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Use of these marks is not intended to imply endorsement, sponsorship, or affiliation.

Love and Suffering essays

Love and Suffering essays The way love and suffering have shaped my life is through my childhood. It was a difficult childhood but I learned as I watched my mother go through trials and tribulations with my father. Being raised in a home where the man ruled the house, at a very young age I witnessed my mothers love for my dad and her extreme suffering because of the way my father reciprocated that love. My mother gave so much only to get nothing in return except infidelity and shame from my fathers extracurricular activities which included cheating on my mother constantly and pilfering money from the family business to spend on his mistresses. I remember waking up in the middle of the night finding my mother in the living room crying because my father didnt come home. She loved him so much and really believed in marriage - that no matter what, you stay married even if you are being treated unfairly. Making things worse, was the fact that my family was living in one of my grandmothers houses. My mother was not allowed to make any decision without my grandmothers approval even when it came to her own children. As I look back while I write this journal about love and suffering, I cannot deny the fact that the way I loved in my past relationship has a lot to do with what Ive observed as a child and experienced. In my past relationship I remember loving someone so much that I was willing to endure whatever difficulties I had to face. I stayed with my boyfriend at that time even though he was not very nice to me. I was pregnant at that time and he was hardly there to help me out. He was always out and about with his friends and other women. Sometimes he wouldnt come home till the next day. I remember the tears I shed over this man, and I will never forget the hurt I felt. At that time, I was willing to suffer not only because I loved him but because of my love for my unborn child. I went through all the heartache and...

How to Read George Saunders “Lincoln in the Bardo”

How to Read George Saunders' â€Å"Lincoln in the Bardo† Lincoln in the Bardo, the novel by  George Saunders, has become one of those books everyone is talking about. It  spent two weeks on The New York Times bestseller list, and has been the subject of numerous hot takes, think pieces, and other literary essays. Not many debut novelists get this kind of adulation and attention. Not all debut novelists are George Saunders.  Saunders has already made his reputation as a modern master of the short story- which explains his low profile, even among avid readers. Short stories usually don’t get much attention unless your name is Hemingway or Stephen King- but the story has been having a bit of a Moment in recent years as Hollywood has discovered that you can base entire feature films on shorter works, as they did with the Oscar-nominated Arrival (based on the short story Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang). Saunders is a delightful writer who combines a sharp intelligence and wit with science fiction tropes and a keen understanding of how people live and think to produce unexpected, unusual, and often thrilling stories that go in directions no one can possibly claim to have predicted. Before you rush off to buy a copy of Lincoln in the Bardo, however, a word of warning: Saunders is deep stuff. You can’t- or at least you shouldn’t- just dive in. Saunders has created a novel that really is different from any other that has come before, and here are a few tips on how to read it. Read His Shorts This is a novel, it really is, but Saunders honed his craft in the field of short stories, and it shows. Saunders divides his story up in smaller stories- the basic plot is that Abraham Lincoln’s son, Willie, has just died of fever in 1862 (which really happened). Willie’s soul is now in the Bardo, a state of being in-between death and what comes later. Adults can remain in the Bardo indefinitely through sheer willpower, but if children don’t shuffle off quickly they start to suffer horribly. When the President visits his son and cradles his body, Willie decides not to move on- and the other ghosts in the graveyard decide they must convince him to go for his own good. Each ghost gets to tell stories, and Saunders further divides the book into other snippets. Essentially, reading the novel is like reading dozens of interconnected short stories- so bone up on Saunders’ short work. For starters, check out CivilWarLand in Bad Decline, which is not at all what you think it is. Two others you can’t miss would be 400 Pound CEO (in the same collection) and The Semplica Girl Diaries, in his collection Tenth of December. Don’t Panic Some folks might be tempted to assume this is too much for them- too much history, too much literary trickery, too many characters. Saunders doesn’t hold your hand, that’s true, and the opening of the book is deep, lush, and extremely detailed. But don’t panic- Saunders knows that what he’s done here might be overwhelming to some, and he’s structured the book with alternating waves of energy- highs and lows. Make it through the first few dozen pages and you’ll start to see how Saunders offers up a moment to catch your breath as he slides in and out of the main narrative. Watch for the Fake News When Saunders dives out of the narrative, he offers up the personal stories of the ghosts as well as glimpses of Lincoln’s life before and after his son died. While these scenes are offered up realistically, with the dry tone of historical fact, they’re not all true; Saunders mixes real events with imagined ones pretty freely, and without warning. So don’t assume that anything Saunders describes in the book as part of history really happened. Ignore the Citations Those historic snippets are often offered with citations, which serve to both burnish that sense of realism (even for the imagined moments) and root the story in the real 19th century. But a curious thing will happen if you simply ignore the credits- the veracity of the scenes ceases to matter, and the voice of history becomes just another ghost telling its tale, which is a little mind blowing if you allow yourself to sit with it a while. Skip the citations and the book will be even more entertaining, and a little easier to read. George Saunders is a genius, and Lincoln in the Bardo will no doubt remain one of those books that people want to talk about for years to come. The only question is, will Saunders come back with another long-form story, or will he go back to short stories?

When So Becomes Annoying

When So Becomes Annoying When â€Å"So† Becomes Annoying When â€Å"So† Becomes Annoying By Maeve Maddox The tiny English word so has numerous uses. Merriam-Webster gives it separate entries as adverb, conjunction, adjective, and pronoun. Most of the time, little so goes about its business unnoticed, but one of its functions has been provoking heated discussion on the Web: the use of so as â€Å"a discourse marker.† The term â€Å"discourse marker† was coined in the 1960s to describe â€Å"a word or phrase whose function is to organize discourse into segments and situate a clause, sentence, etc., within a larger context.† Here are some words and phrases commonly used as discourse markers in speech: well you know like now I think you see oh I mean OK actually These are words we all interject into speech for reasons that have nothing to do with grammar. For example: Well, I was a little worried. Now, a clever man would put the poison into his own goblet. You know, not everyone shares your opinion on that. OK, let’s take a vote. I think I’ll go now. These markers serve no grammatical function, but they do advance discourse in various ways. As a discourse marker at the beginning of a sentence, so may do any of the following: initiate discourse So, how was the interview? mark a shift in topic or activity So, what should we do now? begin an explanation So, disconnect the power cord and remove the back panel. preface the response to any question Interviewer: What is the focus of your research? Interview subject: So, I study samples of creek water to track pollution. avoid giving a direct answer Interviewer: Why did you lay off so many workers? Interview subject: So, our sales have been stagnant for some time. The use of so as a sentence-starter has provoked numerous discussions on the Web. Business consultant Hunter Thurman gives three reasons for avoiding the practice of beginning a sentence with so: 1. â€Å"So† insults your audience. 2. â€Å"So undermines your credibility. 3. â€Å"So† demonstrates that you’re not 100% comfortable with what you’re saying. PR consultant Cherry Chapell, on the other hand, sees this use of so as â€Å"a good way of giving yourself time to think.† Linguistics professor Penelope Gardner-Chloros suggests that a speaker who starts an answer with so â€Å"is saying what he wants to say, like a politician- but trying to make it sound like it’s an answer to the question.† Like many linguistic targets of criticism, so as a sentence-starter draws extreme reactions from the general public. I’ve seen comments that question the intelligence of speakers who begin sentences with so and accuse them of defiling the language. I’ve seen other comments that cite the fact that Seamus Heaney translated the opening â€Å"Hwaet† of Beowulf as â€Å"So!† as proof that so must be all right in any context. The reality is that sometimes so is an appropriate sentence-starter, and sometimes it is an irritant. When a speaker habitually begins sentences with so, listeners may react in one of two ways. Some are able to filter out the so’s and concentrate on content. Others, however, are distracted by them and may tune out the content as they count the so’s. When beginning a sentence with so becomes a verbal tic, it has lost its usefulness as a discourse marker. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the General category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:100 Mostly Small But Expressive Interjections"Gratitude" or "Gratefulness"?10 Varieties of Syntax to Improve Your Writing

Middle east Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Middle east - Essay Example Middle East is a desert region and thus it receives less than 250 mm of rainfall annually. Israel is characterized by Mediterranean climate with hot summers and short winter. The region receives short rains during winter and day temperatures reaches to a maximum of 39 degrees Celsius. The high temperatures and low rainfall indicates that the region depend on underground water for its domestic and industrial water requirements. The state of Israel is approximately 20,700 kilometer square and its inland water constitutes about 445 km2. Inland water include river Jordan, which has its source in mount Harmon. River Jordan is the main source of fresh water in the region. Other water sources such as Sea of Galilee, Dead Sea and Hula marshes have salty water. The region also has major well where villagers in both the Israel and Palestinian sides obtain water for domestic and agricultural use. Agriculture is significant in the region despite its short rains. Farming in this region is based on irrigation. Thus, water is a factor of national interest to both societies. Israel has attained food stability due to its control of water resources in the region (Eisenzweig, 2000). Water for irrigation constitutes about 70% of water requirements in the region. Israel is also an industrialized country and therefore the country requires water for its industry. The available water is below the water that is required to sustain the region’s water requirements. Due to water scarcity, Israel needed to secure its water resources from the Palestinian people. In addition, Israel needed to secure its water resources from population. Israel occupation of disputed areas such as West Bank and Gaza strip was a way of protecting the water resources. The occupied territories are the main source of conflicts between the Israelis and the Palestinians. However, the conflict has often been associated with other historical factors. Water from

Resistance to Change and Rapid Change Coursework

Resistance to Change and Rapid Change - Coursework Example Once such absenteeism takes place, there becomes lack of consensus to the change agenda and the subjects in turn refuse to see the need to corporate. In another breadth, resistance to change takes place because subjects develop suspicions of unfairness in regards to the changes that take place. Commonly, resistance happens through the development of organizational conflicts (Jim, 2001). Also, resistance may happen through a lack of commitment towards new regulations that are spelt out in the course of the change. What is more, resistance take place through absolute disregard and disobedience to the instructions associated with the change. To address the issues of resistance to change, managers are advised to understand why resistance would take place and a will power to address the issues head-on. A democratic organizational decision making system that takes up the interest of all stakeholders on board is for example suggested as a very useful strategy in addressing the issue of resi stance to change. This strategy is sure to work because it seeks to bring all people on board ahead of the change implementation. Once everyone gets satisfied with the need for there to be change, they are left with no other choice than to heed to the changes (Bill et al,

Marketing Audit Approach Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Marketing Audit Approach - Essay Example retaining and growing the value of existing customers-new internal systems and operations are needed to manage the communication demands of relationship marketing. The relevance of marketing audit is the current Marketing management and performance of the organization - the overall marketing strategy of the business and the assumptions on which the strategy is based. The purpose of a marketing audit is not to determine any weaknesses or inefficient activities, but rather to identify whether there are any working practices that could be more effective. The marketing team within a business is fully involved in the marketing audit. They may carry out the audit themselves, or with the support of an outside consultant. A thorough audit of the external and internal environments impacting on marketing is essential in providing the foundation for the marketing plan. A marketing audit is a series of important questions, such as: Consequently, companies are setting up cross-functional processes and making other structural changes to better manage brand relationships. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of such efforts, there is an increasing need to audit these internal processes to make sure that they are, in fact, integrated, and operating efficiently and effectively. Observation, Impact of the observation on marketing objectiv... Impact of the observation on marketing objectives, Recommendations and Final Action of the management to correct the flaw as pointed out in the observation. This can be used to improve current strategies or introduce more effective activities and working practices. The marketing audit aims at observing the functioning of the marketing and sales departments by objectively analyzing the marketing function of a business, by looking in particular at: Efficiency - how the marketing team is structured, the processes employed, and how outside agencies and services are used; this is measured by looking at the infrastructure of the business. Each marketing function is separated into discrete tasks and key issues that affect the business are identified. Effectiveness - results of marketing activity and by looking at how the budget has been spent in relation to the original objectives; this is measured by assessing the impact of the marketing activity, compared to the size of the marketing budget being spent. The marketing spend is analyzed by service, type of activity and intended result Quality - reviewed, by measuring it against external opinions from clients and other stakeholders; this is measured by comparison with 'best practice'. It can also be done by benchmarking. The "benchmark" provides a standard for future campaigns. The cost and impact of marketing is measured against similar activities in other organizations. This information can be difficult to obtain, as it is often confidential. Benchmarking can reap rewards The methods of conducting a marketing audit could be any of the following: 1. Core Competencies Questionnaire: This questionnaire determines the respondents' knowledge of the marketing and marketing communication plans and practices and their attitudes

How far does the British state conform to, or depart from, the ideal Essay

How far does the British state conform to, or depart from, the ideal of an enterprise association, as opposed to a civil association - Essay Example The Marxist interpretation of Colonialism will be our point of departure, due to its scientific validity in our estimation. Thereafter, the Marxist stand point losses its relevance for our paper as it tends to adhere to a meta-analytical perspective and tends to be clichà ©d, lacking a predictive quality, whereas the paper requires to focus on British Colonialism and its reverse influence on the state structure of Britain. To fascilitate our argument we have appropriated and borrowed David Easton’s Systems’ Approach to comprehend the complexity of the reverse interaction in focus. Thereafter we will further our argument by referring to the useful categorization of Hanrieder to demonstrate that how colonial interests ultimately shaped the British state at the institutional level. Great Britain was a relatively late entrant on the world stage as a colonial power. The Spanish and Portuguese seaborne empires preceded Britain. These colonial empires were built on the linchpin of maritime power and subsequent colonial acquisitions. The dominance of Iberian Peninsula lasted roughly till late 16th century (Brewer.1989). This was what the Marxist call ‘Mercantile Period’. Britain as a mercantile state par-excellence began to dominate world colonial matrix by the end of 16th Century. One reason for emergence of Britain’s dominance was that the ‘industrial revolution had centered on Britain, thereby necessitating an â€Å"organization of production and accumulation†, designed to fascilitate a merchant capitalist economy, looking for raw material, cheap labour and markets for finished products’ ( Luxemberg.1951). Britain’s colonial expansion was propelled by the emerging needs of a nascent political economy which needed co lonies. Thus at the outset of this epoch, British State geared itself to colonize and acquire territories to safeguard the interests of a mercantile state, thereby as a corollary almost canonizing principle of free trade and

National Regional Approach to Innovation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

National Regional Approach to Innovation - Essay Example It's a very complex thing innovation it doesn't just need an innovative firm to singly do all the work but rather a full innovative firm, and a number of organizations and institutions need to be readily interacting with one another and these should also have many interdependencies to make innovations a success and a complete process. A matrix has been long designed which has been called the innovation matrix in the innovation matrix the key inspiration has been from the traditional manner of the input and output tables but the only different thing is that instead of this matrix making a precise measurement of the flows of intermediate products between countries this matrix makes a It has long been a debate between the theory scholars of innovation that there should be made a systems approach so as to get a better understanding of the dynamics of and that would be more realistic and would provide with more positive ways to make and guide policies than does the linear system of innovation that has long been used. Rosenberg and Kline gave the first initiations towards the systematic approach by putting forth their developed "chain-linked" model this model thus was broadened and deepened and is now what is commonly known as the NIS or the National innovations systems approach. A systematic view is what is presented when the national innovations systems approach is put to use. Various agents, actions and relationships along with interactions with each other on a daily and project based basis are what give rise to innovations. It is a belief of those who follow this system approach that the success of any innovation depends a lot on a long term relationship existing between the various components which would namely be the external organizations and institutions as well and the interaction between innovation organizations. It is also a belief that innovation success would depend on a proper flow of the interaction within the innovation organizations departments, between the colleagues and between the management and the workers, that is also very important. The institutional environment is also believed by the systematic National/ Regional Approach to Innovation 4 National/ Regional Approach to Innovation approach to strongly influence innovative activities and interactions between the innovative agents. REGIONAL INNOVATION SYSTEM

How far does the British state conform to, or depart from, the ideal Essay

How far does the British state conform to, or depart from, the ideal of an enterprise association, as opposed to a civil association - Essay Example The Marxist interpretation of Colonialism will be our point of departure, due to its scientific validity in our estimation. Thereafter, the Marxist stand point losses its relevance for our paper as it tends to adhere to a meta-analytical perspective and tends to be clichà ©d, lacking a predictive quality, whereas the paper requires to focus on British Colonialism and its reverse influence on the state structure of Britain. To fascilitate our argument we have appropriated and borrowed David Easton’s Systems’ Approach to comprehend the complexity of the reverse interaction in focus. Thereafter we will further our argument by referring to the useful categorization of Hanrieder to demonstrate that how colonial interests ultimately shaped the British state at the institutional level. Great Britain was a relatively late entrant on the world stage as a colonial power. The Spanish and Portuguese seaborne empires preceded Britain. These colonial empires were built on the linchpin of maritime power and subsequent colonial acquisitions. The dominance of Iberian Peninsula lasted roughly till late 16th century (Brewer.1989). This was what the Marxist call ‘Mercantile Period’. Britain as a mercantile state par-excellence began to dominate world colonial matrix by the end of 16th Century. One reason for emergence of Britain’s dominance was that the ‘industrial revolution had centered on Britain, thereby necessitating an â€Å"organization of production and accumulation†, designed to fascilitate a merchant capitalist economy, looking for raw material, cheap labour and markets for finished products’ ( Luxemberg.1951). Britain’s colonial expansion was propelled by the emerging needs of a nascent political economy which needed co lonies. Thus at the outset of this epoch, British State geared itself to colonize and acquire territories to safeguard the interests of a mercantile state, thereby as a corollary almost canonizing principle of free trade and

The Present Situations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Present Situations - Essay Example In the ethics of alternatives, there are three theoretical alternatives according to which the existing situation can be resolved. The first one is Utilitarianism in which the main emphasis is on the greatest good for the greatest number. According to this approach, if an act proves to be beneficial for more people than those who are not benefitting from it then that act is moral. In the present situation, it is to be decided that which of the decided alternative promotes the greatest good for the greatest number of the stakeholders. In order to decide which of the alternative provides the greatest good for the greatest number of people, the amount of benefit has to be measured. The benefit would be measured for all the alternatives and then the alternative which maximizes the ratio of benefit to harm to the various stakeholders by the decision would be selected to resolve the problem. If Steffan proceeds with the present situation then there is a great benefit for both Neerson and J ames Monroe. While the respondents and Lauren would be hurt. Furthermore, the amount of worth and value to be placed on covering the cost for future community services at the expense of the ethics of market research also needs to be investigated. Another factor that needs to be analyzed is that which of the alternative will allow the company to maintain its reputation as an ethical marketing research firm. Furthermore, the utility in endangering the personal information of the respondents for future benefit has to be kept in mind.

Intrinsic Properties and Abortion Debate Essay Example for Free

Intrinsic Properties and Abortion Debate Essay The philosophy of intrinsic property rights has created many problems for those who can justify abortion but believe that new born infant has to be treated as a human being. The intrinsic property philosophy also makes it difficult to justify killing animals but not humans. This soul searching debate is the subject of this essay. An intrinsic property is a property within the object or organism. Mass of a body is an intrinsic property, while weight of the body would depend on its location and its gravity and is an extrinsic property. The debate regarding protecting moral and legal rights of a living being when applied to fetuses creates a new set of problems for the pro-abortionists. Is a fetus entitled to the same rights and privileges as a new born? Can we regard a fetus with the same rights and privileges as a living human? It is morally and legally wrong to kill innocent human beings. The fetus is capable of developing within itself, meeting its needs with the ability it has within itself to appropriate nourishment and grow. These intrinsic properties qualify the fetuses as living organism and if we consider this living organism as an innocent human being, the conclusion would be that it is morally as wrong to abort (or kill) a fetus as it is morally wrong to kill an infant. The pro-abortionists argue that the fetus cannot be given the same importance as a newly born infant [McNeil, 2000]. Many feminist philosophers argue [Warren, 1973] that this approach to morality is based on abstract rules and conflict of rights and is inappropriate. Some feminist philosophers have declared that the concept of moral right may be inconsistent with the social nature of persons [Wolgast, cited in Warren, 1973] The philosophical views on the right of fetuses have debated various aspects of the morality or otherwise of abortion. The acknowledgment of intrinsic property rights means that an individual has certain moral rights. The presence or absence of a single determining factor of that intrinsic property which entitles an individual to these moral rights has been open to interpretation. This single criterion [Warren, 1973] which distinguishes between those who have intrinsic property rights and those who do not is in itself a dilemma. Accepting the intrinsic property argument makes the right of the woman carrying the fetus as irrelevant as the moral right of the fetus demands that its right be protected and it is allowed to develop as a separate entity. The single criterion and intrinsic property right taken together give a new born baby the same rights as a nearly mature fetus, if we accept this argument than late abortion tantamount to infanticide. [Summer, 1983] argues that sentience (ability to sense) should be used as the criteria for permissible abortion. Summer uses the sentience argument to limit abortion to first trimester. The problem with the intrinsic property and single criterion becomes more complicated when we find that philosophers like Tooley argue that both infants and nearly mature fetuses are incapable of desiring their own existence as they have no concept or experience of being a person. The conclusion drawn by him are rather shocking as he shows that infanticide in past history was not treated at par with other murders. [Warren, 1973] rightly points out that sentience alone, cannot be considered a criterion for comparing moral equality of the fetus and of an infant, as if we were to give equality on the basis of sentience mice and other animals which have much higher recognizable sentience are not treated as such. Sentience argument unlike fetus viability however draws an identifiable boundary as fetus viability can change with time and place. In developing countries with poor medical resources even a nearly mature fetus cannot be kept in an incubator and have the required life support to survive. In developed countries with excellent health care facilities nearly half term fetuses already have a reasonable chance of survival. Treating infants and fetuses at par as necessary under to doctrine of intrinsic property would subject the women undergoing a miscarriage to investigation for murder. [Warren, 1973] cites an actual example when an irresponsible pregnant woman was charged for negligent homicide as she failed to observe the precautions and suffered a miscarriage. It is clear that an infant and an unborn fetus cannot be treated as equal in terms of intrinsic property rights. Warren rightly concludes that birth marks an important point of distinction of rights for the infant, the fetus and for the woman. An infant can have a life of its own, in mothers care or even with foster organization/parents. Even if the infant is still dependent on others for survival the birth marks the beginning of a socially responsible individual or person. Pregnancy whether in advance term or at the beginning does not award the right of parenthood, the birth is the clear difference between the fetus and infant and while fetuses in advance state of development need to be protected as indeed they are, they cannot be considered equal to infants in their rights. In brief Warrens philosophy is to give people the rights of a moral community and have moral rights. She defines personhood as meeting five important criteria; ability to recognize internal and external objects, ability to feel pain, ability to reason, self motivated activity, capacity to communicate and self awareness [McNeil, 2000] Peter Singers is an advocate of utilitarianism. His views, although though provoking cannot be described as mainstream, he appears to believe in sentience theory but without a species distinction. He believes that species-ism is a kind of racism or gender based discrimination. [Singer, 1999] also refuses to acknowledge that human lives are more precious because of humans are more intelligent. He argues that if intelligence were to be the criterion we would permit medical experiment on mentally retarded! He appears to be less concerned about infanticide or abortion and his theory is that of great moral good. Singer presents very thought provoking debates but several of his arguments would create serious social right issues. He considers experimentation on animals as immoral but the possible benefit to millions by the sacrifice of a few is permitted in Singers logic. This type of logic can be used to justify slavery, genocide of a minority and create many more similar dilemmas. Warrens philosophical views on the moral and legal status of abortion on the other hand are a serious and practicable discussion and presents logical views. Singer defends a quality-of-life view in ethics and has little regard for sanctity-of-life view. Bibliography McNeil, M. A. , (2000), The Real Problem with Abortion, [Online] retrieved from Internet on May 05, 2007, http://www. abortionessay. com/files/realproblem. html Singer, P. , (1999), Practical Ethics, Cambridge University Press 2nd Edition, ISBN-10: 052143971X Tooley, M. (1983), Abortion and Infanticide, Oxford: Oxford University Press, Cited in [Warren, 1973] Warren, M. A. , (1973), On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion, The Monist, LaSalle, Illinois, Vol. 53. Also published in James Rachels’, The Right Thing to Do: Basic Readings in Moral Philosophy (2nd Ed. , McGraw-Hill College, 1999)

Analysis of Nokias Competitive Policies

Analysis of Nokias Competitive Policies Nokia’s Competitive Policies In Handset Industry in Asia Chapter 1. Introduction The progress of technology has altered our daily life routine dramatically. In recent 2 decades, people have seen the big convenience brought by colour TVà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  telephoneà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  laptopsà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  mobile phone and etc. Among them, the contribution of mobile phone is especially prominent: given the integration of technologies of Internet, laptop, and communication etc, the small and good looking handset will enable us ubiquitous application of modern multi-functions. The advantage of 3G even further attracts our minds with colourful imagination. During the upgradation of our living style, we owe a lot to the companies of the handset industry, especially those popular giants including Nokia, Motorola and Samsung. When they change our living successfully, they realize their developing targets as well. For example, according to the Fortune Global 500 in 2005, Nokia and Motorola ranked 130th and 138 respectively1. Thus, they are recognized by the society. It’s unpredictable for a company to achieve great goals without correct strategies to employ. In the fierce competition of handset industry in China, the correct competitive strategies are required for the participant to win market shares. Surely, sometimes the right strategies are difficult for survival. Nokia, as the no. 1 in the handset industry of China, is certainly the biggest winner through exertion of correct competitive strategies. As is mentioned above, the competition in handset industry in China will become even more fiercer along with the emerging trend such as the advent of 3G, the alteration of distributing channels, and the improved leval of industrial centralization etc. So competitors should promptly adopt relevant changes of their competitive strategies to adapt to new environment. This dissertation aims first to analyze the competitive strategies already employed by Nokia 1 Accessed on Feb.23rd, 2007, The List of Fortune Global 500 in 2005 http://brand.icxo.com/brand500/top500_1.htm During the progress of Chinese handset industry. To confirm whether the competitive strategies are acurate, I use Porter’s 5 forces theory as the frame to anatomize the factors such as Economies of scale, Product differentiation, Capital requirements, Cost disadvantages, independent of size, Access to distribution channels, Government policies, and Competitor’s Retaliation. Thereby, the rationalities of Nokia’s competitive strategies in Chinese handset industry may be authenticated. According to the great lots of evidence collected from website newspapers and catena, new trends of handset industry appear gradually. To grasp the future flux on market share and industrial environment, it is necessary for Nokia to nip in the bud. As a natural extending of the aforesaid analysis on competitive strategies, this paper also expounds the reason causing the new industrial trend in Chinese handset industry and suggests the probable strategies Nokia may adopt. As is well known, according to the Moore’s law, the chips of the handset is developing at a very rapid speed. Moreover, the handset is still influenced by the fluky vanguard fashion. It is not easy to survive in the fluctuate market, and say nothing of being leading company in the industry. I wish textual analysis might benefit the readers to recognize the industrial situation and use Nokia for reference. This text takes a logical sequence to discuss the total analysis, so the chapters are in turn as follows: Introduction to Reportà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Introduction on Nokia Corporateà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  The Mobile Handset Industryà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Industrial Analysis Using Porter’s 5 Forces Theoriesà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  Analysis on Nokia’s Competitive Strategiesà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Evolution of Nokia’s Competitive Strategies and Conclusion. The content of each chapter encircles its name, and the detailed discussion will be deployed in the following chapter. Chapter 2. Introduction on Nokia Corporate With hundreds of years’ development, Nokia has successfully realized its industry transform within the world-wide range, and gradually established its leading position in the handset industry in China as well as in other area of all the world. The whole experience is full of legendary color, as is introduced as follows: Section 1. Nokia’s Developing History 1à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Brief Review on Nokia’s History According to the introduction from Nokia’s autobiography, the roots of Nokia go back to the year 1865 with the establishment of a forest industry enterprise in Southwestern Finland by mining engineer Fredrik Idestam. Other relative events were the foundation of Finnish Rubber Works Ltd in 1898 and in 1912 Finnish Cable Works began operations. After decades of operation, the three companies were merged to form Nokia Corporation in 1967. The worlds first international cellular mobile telephone network, NMT, was introduced in Scandinavia in 1981 and Nokia made the first car phones for it. At the beginning of the 1980s, Nokia strengthened its position in the telecommunications and consumer electronics markets through the acquisitions of Mobira, Salora, Televa and Luxor of Sweden. In 1987, Nokia acquired the consumer electronics operations and part of the component business of the German Standard Elektrik Lorenz, as well as the French consumer electronics company Oceanic. In 1987, Nokia also purchased the Swiss cable machinery company Maillefer. In the late 1980s, Nokia became the largest Scandinavian information technology company through the acquisition of Ericssons data systems division. In 1989, Nokia conducted a significant expansion of its cable industry into Continental Europe by acquiring the Dutch cable company NKF. In 1992, Jorma Ollila became the CEO of entire Nokia Group, who made a strategic decision to concentrate solely on telecommunications in the coming Digital Age. Thus, during the rest of the 1990s, Nokia continued to divest itself of all of its non-telecommunications divisions. This strategic shift consolidated the foundation for Nokia to become a worldwide famous leading company in telecom industry.2 2à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Nokia’s Performance in Recent Years After the strategic shift in 1990s, Nokia has established its leading position in the global telecommunication market. Every business item, especially mobile phone item, has exhibited high-speed of development ever since. At present, Nokia comprises four main business groups: mobile handsets, multimedia, enterprise solutions, and networks. Among them, the mobile handset is the pillar business for entire group operation. According to annual report of 2005, Nokia ´s net sales arrived at EUR 34 191 million3, realizing an increase rate of 12.56% when compared with EUR 30376 million in 20004. Among the total net sales, sales of mobile phones reached EUR 20811 million, occupying 60.87% of the total net sales. In 1992, the mobile handset business only account for 20% of the total sales of entire group. Nokia ´s operating profit for 2005 reached EUR 4 639 million, representing a 2005 operating margin of 13.6%, and Operating profit in mobile handsets decreased 5% to EUR 3 598 million (operating profit of EUR 3 786 million in 20045), representing a 2005 operating margin of 2 Accessed on Feb.23rd, 2007, The History of Nokia 1865-2002, http://r2.nokia.com/nokiahistory/index.html 3 Accessed on Feb. 23rd, 2007, Key data of Nokia http://www.nokia.com/link?cid=EDITORIAL_4026 4 Accessed on Feb. 23rd, 2007, Annual Information 2000, http://www.nokia.com/A4126501 5 Accessed on Feb. 23rd, 2007, Annual Information 2004, http://www.nokia.com/A4126497 17.3%. However, in comparison with the EUR 83 million in 19926, the operating profit of mobile handset in 2005 represents more than 43 times increase. As is recognized by the global consumers, Nokia brand was ranked 16th among The World 500 Most Influential Brands in 2005 by the World Brand Lab. According to the Fortune Global 500 in 2005, Nokia group ranked 130th and represented no. 1 among the Industry of Network and Other Communications Equipment, taking a position higher than any other competitors. From the aspect of mobile handset, till Sept. 2006, Nokia captures 35.1% of the global market. According to the Gartner institute, Motorola was in second place, with market share of 20.6%, and Samsung of South Korea saw its share of the world market fall to 12.2 % from 12.5 in third quarter 2005. 7 Obviously, Nokia has firmly established its leading position in its industry and has become the worlds leading provider of mobile telephones. Section 2. Nokia’s Development in China The year Nokia traded with China can be traced back to 1950s. And later, until 1985, Nokia opened its first branch in Beijing to initiate its development of early stage in China. In 1995, Nokia set its joint venture in China to produce large scale of GSM system equipment. Then, in 1997, Nokia deliver China the first GSM 1800 network. Soon later, in 2000, Nokia started up the Chinese GPRS network that is first one compatible with newest business 6 Martti Haikio (2003) NOKIA THE INSIDE STORY. Published by Edita Publishing Ltd and Nokia Oyj, Copyright 2002, Chinese Edition First Printed in Sept. 2003. pp.272-273. 7 Accessed on Feb. 23rd, 2007, Nokia is top mobile phone maker for Q3-Gartner, Nov. 23,2006 http://telecomasia.net/article.php?id_article=2793 standards in the world.8 In 2001, Nokia invited its main global partners including mainly hardware providers to invest about RMB 10 billion together in Star Net Industry District in order to form integrated production capabilities and to decrease cost.9 During 2003, Nokia released 15 styles of handsets and ranked no.1 of the GSM mobile handset. As is reported, the top 3 brands of GSM in 2003 are Nokiaà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Motorola and Samsung, with market shares respectively 17.23% à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ 16.46%à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ and 11.81%.10 When entering into the new century, Nokia strengthens its cooperation with China in the field of communication technology and takes active part in the development of Information Industry in China. At the same time, Nokia commits itself to employment and cultivating of the local talents. To the end of 2004, Nokia arrived at no. 1 of the whole handset sales in China. In 2005, the rising trend continued. It is calculated that Nokia captures 25.8% of domestic handset market share in 2005, realizing 10.8% more than in 2004. By contrast, the second brand Motorola only gets 8.7% of market share11. After decades of tillage, Nokia has really established its leading position in the handset industry in China; it is believed that Nokia will actualize greater success in the mobile 8 Martti Haikio (2003) NOKIA THE INSIDE STORY: Beijing Strategies of Nokia, Published by Edita Publishing Ltd and Nokia Oyj, Copyright 2002, Chinese Edition First Printed in Sept. 2003. pp.234-236. 9 Accessed on Feb.23rd, 2007, Explore Star Net Industry District, by Wangshucheng, Huoxiaoguang, Yujingzhong, Source from Xinhua Agency. Yesky.com-Chinese IT website, http://www.yesky.com/135/215635.shtml 10 Accessed on Feb.23rd, 2007, Synthesized analysis report on handset in China by YiGuan, Jun. 29th, 2004, http://www.c114.net/zhuanti_simple/3g/Read_3g.asp?action=3gzlkstyptID=3articleID=26 11 Accessed on Feb.23rd, 2007, Domestic Handset Market Share Declines March, 28th, 2006, http://www.chinamobile.gov.cn/200603/61242.shtml communication market in China under the 3G era. Chapter 3. The mobile handset industry As is well known, competitive strategy is the outcome resulting from competitive environment. Without given circumstance, it will become meaningless to discuss whether the employment of certain competitive strategies by some enterprises is successful. Therefore, before anatomizing the competitive strategies of Nokia, we need to describe the notion of mobile handset industry and its main composing elements. 1. Definitions —What is a mobile handset A mobile or cellular phone is a long-range, portable electronic device for personal telecommunications over long distances. Most current mobile handsets connect to a cellular network of base stations (cell sites), which is in turn interconnected to the public switched telephone network (PSTN) (the exception are satellite phones). Cellular networks were first introduced in the early to mid 1980s (the 1G generation). Prior mobile handsets operating without a cellular network (the so-called 0G generation), such as Mobile Telephone Service, date back to 1945. Until the mid to late 1980s, most mobile handsets were sufficiently large that they were permanently installed in vehicles as car phones. With the advance of miniaturization, currently the vast majority of mobile handsets are handheld. In addition to the standard voice function of a telephone, a mobile handset can support many additional services such as SMS for text messaging, email, packet switching for access to the Internet, and MMS for sending and receiving photos and video.12 2. Brief Introduction on Global Mobile Handset Industry Broadly speaking, the mobile handset industry consists of upstream suppliersà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ whole handset 12 Accessed on Feb. 23rd, 2007, Mobile phone Definition Introduction, Sirchin-The Free Encyclopedia And Other Stuff Beta. http://www.reference.sirchin.com/?wiki:directories:mobile-phone manufacturersà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ network operatorsà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  downstream distributorsà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ terminal retailers etc. From raw materials to handset product, from hardware suppliers to software providers, from the handset per se to service and content providers, mobile handset industry can be identified as the whole value chain encircling the handset’s substance concept. From the narrow sense, mobile handset industry consists of the companies engaging in producing hardwareà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ componentsà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ and accessories of handset ¼Ã…’as well as assembling handset. As is well known, the worlds largest mobile handset manufacturers include Audiovox, BenQ-Siemens, High Tech Computer Corporation, Fujitsu, Kyocera, LG, Motorola, NEC, Nokia, Panasonic (Matsushita Electric), Pantech Curitel, Philips, Sagem, Samsung, Sanyo, Sharp, SK Teletech, Sony-Ericsson, TA Alcatel and Toshiba. And the worlds largest mobile phone operators include Orange SA, China Mobile and Vodafone. According to report on global mobile market in Q4 2005, the top 5 manufacturing companies are Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, LG, and Sony-Ericsson, with their global mobile handset market of 35%, 16.3%, 12.1%, 7.2% and 6.9% respectively13. As is calculated, the mobile handset sales continue to grow worldwide, going up from 482.5 million in 2003 to 561 million in 2004. This growth rate is expected to gradually slow down over a period of five years. The estimated growth figures for these five years are—10% in 2005, 7.7% in 2006, 6.4% in 2007, 4.8% in 2008 and 2.6% in 2009.14 Clearly, the global handset industry has been growing fast and will continue to grow for next 3 years. However, the rate of industrial growth will calm down, a status leading to prudential optimism. 13 Accessed on Feb.23rd, 2007, Big Six Dominate Expanding Mobile Phone Market, by John Leyden. Feb.28th, 2006, http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/02/28/gartner_mobile_market_2006/ 14 Accessed on Feb.23rd, 2007, Changing Faces of The Global Mobile Handset Market –2007, Research and Consultancy Outsourcing Services, March 2005, Pages: 95 Researchandmarkets http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reportinfo.asp?report_id=63375 3. Mobile handset Industry in China Since China ushered in mobile handset in 1987, the handset users has reached 0.443 billion people, with the penetration rate of 33.9%; and the business revenue from mobile communication has occupied about 50% of whole revenue from telecommunication. Mobile communication has grown to be the main impetus of industrial development. 15 —3.1 Network operators After many years of evolution, there are now 6 network system operators in China: Chinatelecomà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Chinanetcomà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Chinamobileà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Chinaunicomà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Chinasatcomà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ and Chinatietong. Till May 2004, Chinamobile is No. 1, because it occupied more than 30% market share according to the business revenue. According to the 2005 annual report, Chinamobile achieved revenue of 243.04 billion RMB and net profit of 53.549 billion RMB, with customers covered 0.257 billion16. —3.2 Overview of industrial developing situation Chinese mobile handset industry keeps its rapid development in recent 5 years, and this trend is forecasted to be extended in the coming years. According to the MII, the handset output from year 2000 to 2005 is 52.57à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ 83.97à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ 120à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ 186.44à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ 231.75à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ 303.67 million units respectively. The relevant yearly increasing rate reaches 59.73%à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  42.91%à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ 55.37%à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ 24.30%à £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ 31.03% respectively. Along with the high-speed increase in handset output, the handset users reaches 0.3934 billion people, and the popularization rate of mobile handset increase rapidly, arriving at 30.3 units per hundred people. However, compared with 60-odd units per hundred people in western developed countries, the future increasing space for handset is still optimistic.17 15 Accessed on Feb.23rd, 2007, The address on the Seminar of Constructing Green Handset Culture by Mr. Xiguohua, vice Minister of Mii of China in 21st Nov 2006, Beijing, on Website of Ministry of Information Industry of the People’s Republic of China http://www.mii.gov.cn/art/2006/11/23/art_223_27118.html 16 Accessed on Feb.23rd, 2007, the financial highlight, http://www.chinamobileltd.com/ 17 Accessed on Feb.23rd, 2007, Comment on the 2005 development of handset industry in China, Website of Ministry of Information Industry of the People’s Republic of China http://www.mii.gov.cn/art/2006/03/15/art_62_8307.html 2001-2005 Handset Output in China83.97120186.44231.75303.6759.73%42.91%55.37%24.30%31.03%050100150200250300350200120022003200420050.00%10.00%20.00%30.00%40.00%50.00%60.00%70.00%OutputYearly Increasing Rate(%) (Note: Amounts in millions of units. Source: Comment on the 2005 development of handset industry in China, Website of Ministry of Information Industry of the People’s Republic of China http://www.mii.gov.cn/art/2006/03/15/art_62_8307.html) Simultaneously, China has gradually become the export base of mobile handset. According to the statistics of MII, the handset export in 2005 is 228 million units, occupying 75% of total handset production. Compared to the 43.3% of export rate in 2000, the higher rate for export in 2005 indicates the excess capacities of handset production and the advent of market maturation in China.18 It is estimated that in 2006, the output of handset will arrive at 0.34 billion units including 0.25 billion for export purpose19. Generally speaking, the developing trend of handset industry in China will maintain rapidà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ healthyà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ and harmony progress. 18 Accessed on Feb.23rd, 2007, Comment on the 2005 development of handset industry in China, Website of Ministry of Information Industry of the People’s Republic of China http://www.mii.gov.cn/art/2006/03/15/art_62_8307.html 19 Accessed on Feb.23rd, 2007, Comment on the 2005 development of handset industry in China, Website of Ministry of Information Industry of the People’s Republic of China http://www.mii.gov.cn/art/2006/03/15/art_62_8307.html —3.3 Brand vendors As is reported (Aug.13/2002, People’s Post Newspaper), Chinese mobile market was totally occupied by foreign brand handsets before 1998. According to the result of investigation on consumer products in main cities in China in 1998, the market share of mobile is as follows: Motorola 37.3%, Ericsson 28.6%, Nokia 15.6%, and the left 20% market share was distributed among other foreign brands such as Philips, Siemens, Alcater, and Sony etc.20 Following the market booming of handset, Chinese domestic brand vendors began to dissatisfy their original position of OEM only. In addition, with the reformation of approval system, more domestic powerful competitors enter handset industry. As is reported, there are now about 70 companies granted license to produce mobile21. Although domestic brand vendors showed its competence and achieved brilliant performance in 2003, due to the lack of core technology and small scale of production, their total domestic market shares begin to fall down from the zenith of 60% in 2003 to 40.6% in 2005. And the ranked top 3 domestic brands occupy only 17.5% shares in comparison with 31.6% in 200322. According to the 2005 rank on sale of GSM handset in China, the top 10 brand is in turn as follows: Nokiaà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Motorolaà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Samsungà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Birdà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Amoià £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Sony-Ericssonà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Lenovoà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ TCLà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Koncaà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Haier. Among them, top 3 brands occupy 60.05% of domestic market share, a number overpassing the total result of domestic brands23. 20 Accessed on Feb.23rd, 2007, The competitive situation in handset market in China, http://www.china-qg.com/articleHistory/yingXiao/4/275.html 21 Accessed on Feb.23rd, 2007, Handset Market Increasingly Open, by Zhugangqi, Nov. 29th, 2006, http://www.cww.net.cn/consultation/shownews.asp?nid=207 22 Accessed on Feb.23rd, 2007, Market Shares of Foreign Handset Increasing Rapidly, Mar. 21st, 2006, Source: MII. http://www.ccw.com.cn/news2/mobile/htm2006/20060321_09RRM.htm 23 Accessed on Feb.23rd, 2007, Domestic Rank of Handset Sales, by YiGuan, Source: CNETNews.com.cn, http://www.cnetnews.com.cn/news/review/story/0,3800057985,39445251,00.htm The following is the overview on the major participants, which probably possess potential capacity to challenge Nokia: 3.3.1 Motorola Motorola is known around the world for innovation and leadership in wireless and broadband communications. Motorola came to China in 1987 when it opened a representative office in Beijing. In 1992, Motorola (China) Electronics Ltd. was established in Tianjin, a major manufacturing base where Motorola produces mobile phones, two-way radios, wireless communications equipment for the Chinese and global markets. 24 Today, Motorola has one holding company, three wholly owned companies, five joint ventures, 16 RD centers and 25 branch offices across China. At the end of 2005, the number of employees exceeded 10,000, and the total cumulative investment in China reached US$3.6 billion, making it one of the largest foreign investors in China. Investment in RD has reached US$600 million.25 The goal of Motorolas China strategy is to build China into world-class production and RD bases. While pursuing and maintaining market leadership in both mobile devices and infrastructure equipment, Motorola continues to develop businesses in digital trunking, broadband products, solutions and services. As a runner-up in the mobile industry, Motorola keeps fighting its way for market leading position all the while. Undoubtedly, relying on its high-tech RD and cogent brand, Motorola can be qualified as the strongest challenger for Nokia in the mobile handset manufacture industry, no matter in China or in global market. 24 Accessed on Feb.23rd, 2007, Motorola China is the biggest wholly foreign invested enterprise Source: Tianjin Developing District Investment Net, Jun. 26th, 2003, http://www.investteda.org/zxzx/tdtzdt/t20051025_6324.htm 25 Accessed on Feb.23rd, 2007, Motorola in China, http://www.motorola.com.cn/about/inchina/inchina_en.asp 3.3.2 Samsung Since it’s founding in 1938, SAMSUNG (Group) has maintained a mission statement that responds both to its own change, and to new developments in the world. After unremitting struggle for decades, the company grows from a domestic industrial leader into a global consumer electronics powerhouse. Following its management philosophy-We will devote our human resources and technology to create superior products and services, thereby contributing to a better global society, Samsung achieves quick pace of development. And Samsung’s brand value, a key engine of business growth, increased to US$8.31 billion in 2002 from US$6.37 billion in 2001 and was recognized by Interbrand Corporation as the fastest growing global brand.26 As one of its emphasized fields, Samsung endows mobile handset market with great efforts. It was reported that the expenditure of total RD in Samsung reached 5 billion USD, including 2 billion especially for mobile handset RD. Moreover, as an industrial newcomer compared with Nokia and Motorola, Samsung adopt several special developing strategies to overtake advanced companies, for example: à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Ã‚ º Samsung prefer cooperation with strong technology leader to research alone. Samsung plays more attention on how to obscure know-how in shorter period, and to avoid confrontation with powerful competitors. Then, through reverse engineering, Samsung can absorb the newest technology with high efficiency. à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Ã‚ º Based on owned technology, Samsung inclines not to further dig, but to emphasize on developing additional value of product in order to occupy the market rapidly. It’s not difficult to understand that Samsung’s mobile handset exhibits first design and fashionable appearance, the important feature attracting majorities of users. This feature benefits Samsung to be among global top 3 brands of mobile handset. 26 Accessed on Feb.23rd, 2007, Samsung’s Managing Philosophy, http://china.samsung.com.cn/public/gongyi.asp?sm=menu7 à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Ã‚ º Expand rationally based on technology on hand. At present, Samsung has occupied already 65% of CDMA market in Korea, and the target at 20%-30% CDMA market share in China has become its next step, which means about 7.5-11million handset units. Believably, along with the deeper cooperation between Samsung and Qualcomm Incorporated, which is the owner of CDMA patent, Samsung will achieve more opportunities on market of CDMA handset, which is used by nearly 1/3 of global mobile user. In conclusion, Samsung, as an active and ambition participant in mobile industry, has found a unique way to boom, and has grown to be an important industrial power unable to be neglected. 3.3.3 Indigenous Brands Before 1998, domestic handset comes into the market in the form of joint ventures. During that period, they just assemble international brand handset. After 1998, domestic handset companies began to produce handset through OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturing) for international brands such as Samsung of Korea and SAGEM of France, which still not entered into China at that time. Simultaneously, some companies began to launch its own handset brand such as EC528 of Eastcom. In 1999, the market share of indigenous brand handset is less than 3% in China. However, until 2003, indigenous mobile handset arrived at its height of development, with a market share of 60%. However, indigenous brand soon began to decline all- the- round, with a market share of less than 40% at the end of 2004. During 2005, this declining trend continues, with 10 more percent market share lost than 2004 at the year-end. Relying on indigenous marketing advantage and OEM technology, domestic mobile handset manufacturers, as a whole, have grown up and gradually captured medium and low-end market. Although they encounter fierce competition and face present embarrassment, and even 3 brands that is Kejianà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  Pandan and Gaoke fade away in 200527, certain individual brand still actualize rapid development against the current and emerge. It is Lenovo that achieved 4.1% market share and ranked 7th in 2005; by contrast, its market share rises to 6.5% with a rank of 4th in June 2006 (from IDC report), an achievement invigorating all indigenous brands. 28 Considering the advantages of indigenous brands such as: flexible distributing- channelsà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ sensitive price reflectionà £Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ strong end-user networks and deep understanding of domestic fashion trend ¼Ã…’we have no reason to doubt the future of indigenous handset development. In addition, Chinese government has shown its resolution to support domestic handset companies; surely the relative policies will be improved further. It is believable that indigenous brands, as a whole, will soon rally to enhance their market position. Generally speaking, due to the recent situation of handset industry in China including the advent of 3G, all the brand vendors are adjusting each competitive strategies referring to individual inherent and existing advantages. In a word, new turn of reshuffle on handset industry in China is unveiling. 27 Accessed on Feb.23rd, 2007, March 16th, 2006, by Pengxuzhi, http://mobile.csonline.com.cn/jzsl/200512/t20051228_423095.htm 28 Accessed on Feb.23rd, 2007, Lenovo handset’s market share, Source: IDC, http://telecom.chinabyte.com/243/2576243.shtml Chapter 4. Industrial Analysis using Porter’s Five Forces Analysis Porter’s Five Forces Analysis is arguably the most influential analytical model in analyzing industrial environment. Logically, it will greatly facilitate comprehending the rationality of Nokia’s competitive strategies to use Porter’s Five Forces model to analyze the competitive environment where Nokia is operating in China, before expounding Nokia’s detailed competitive strategies. 1. Theory Brief Five Forces Analysis is a method used to contrast a competitive environment. It has similarities with other tools for environmental audit, such as PEST analysis, but focuses on an industry. It looks at five key forces namely the threat of entry, the power of buyers, the power of suppliers, the threat of substitutes, and competitive rivalry. Porter’s five-force model is arguably the most influential analytical model in strategy. In practice, it is best applied to cases in which strategic decision-making is closely associated with industry conditions. Porter’s Five Forces of Competitive Position New Market Entrants, e.g.: †¢ Economies of scale †¢ Proprietary of product differences †¢ Brand identity †¢ Switching cost †¢ Expected retaliation Supplier Power, e.g.: à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Ã‚ º Differentiation of inputs à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Ã‚ º Supplier concentration à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Ã‚ º Presence of substitute inputs à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Ã‚ º Switching costs of suppliers and firms in the industry à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Ã‚ º Importance of volume to supplier Competitive Rivalry, e.g.: †¢ Industry growth †¢ Fixed costs/value added †¢ Intermittent overcapacity †¢ Product differences †¢ Brand identity †¢ Switching costs †¢ Corporate stakes Buyer Power, e.g.: †¢ Buyer choice †¢ Buyer information †¢ Ability to backward integrate †¢ Substitute products †¢ Buyer switching costs relative to firm switching costs Threat of Substitutes, e.g.: †¢ Relative price performance of substitutes versus firm concentration †¢ Switching costs †¢ Buyer propensity to substitute 29 Henry Mintzberg, Joseph Lampel, James Brian Quinn, Sumantra Ghoshal, (2002) THE STRATEGY PROCESS Concepts, Contexts, Cases FOURTH EDITH Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458, pp95. The only deficiency with his model lies that the same analysis often applies equally well to more than one company (hence, the notion of â€Å"strategic groups†). And Porter’s emphasis on the importance of external context is balanced by Barney’s insistence that sustainable advantage depends as much or more on the internal resources of the firm. As Jay Barney argued that sustainable competitive advantage is not the product of correct position in the external environment but is derived from the firm’s internal resources. More specifically, resources must meet four criteria to confer sustainable comp

Critical Analysis of Shakespeares Hamlet Essay -- Shakespeare Hamlet

Critical Analysis of Shakespeare's Hamlet What is mans' purpose in life? Is there a purpose? If there isn't, then is it wise to end it, despite the fact that there might be nothing better? In Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, Hamlet struggles with these and other issues. He states that the question of life is "To be, or not to be...?" Is existence really worth the troubles of life? In this monologue, Hamlet is wondering what is his purpose. He asserts that the only reason people endure their horrible lives is the uncertainty of what lies after death. "Who would fardels bear, to grunt and sweat under a weary life, but that the dread of something after death..." Is it noble to suffer, and is life worth all its misery? Hamlet must question himself to discover the answers. At the point in Hamlet when this famous soliloquy takes place, Hamlet has many reasons to be questioning his existence. Hamlet is visited by the ghost of his late father, who explains that he was murdered by Hamlet's uncle, who is Hamlet's mother's new husband. His father cannot rest until Hamlet has gotten revenge. Hamlet's father has just been murdered, his friends are sent to spy on him, his lover is forbidden to see him, and Hamlet feels that his life is pointless and miserable. "The pangs of disprized love, the law's delay, the insolence of office, and the spurns that patient merit of the unworthy takes..." These are the miseries that Hamlet must endure. This is why he makes this s...

Reflective Journal: Leadership and Management

The Business MilieuSkin Solutions is a clinic that offers medical esthetic services to treat various skin imperfections other than providing remedies for skin diseases. It employs 6 licensed medical estheticians and one doctor of dermatology to look after patients who come for consultation and treatment. Facilities include a spa, and three spacious rooms for performing extractions, facials, and treatments for skin nourishment.To meet the needs and the demand of clients who come to the clinic, investments in the latest technologies for improving and treating skin imperfections have been made. Tools of the trade consisted of state-of-the art equipment and lasers, and computerized analysis of skin imperfections among others to boast of. This was therefore one of the reasons why customers were satisfied that they always came back to avail of other services and even brought with them a friend or two to promote what the clinic could also do for them.The skin clinic has always been full of customers that keeping the clinic open from 9am to 8pm was not enough to accommodate all the patients that wanted to be checked in a day. Some patients would have themselves enlisted at the front desk first and then either wait outside the clinic or just check back a few hours after strolling around the mall. Some patients would also call in and make appointments for the following day so they could be sure that they wouldn’t have to wait in line when they come for consultation and treatment in the coming day.I was a medical intern in dermatology when all this was happening. I observed that many attempts to compete with the style and service of the clinic have been made by others to no avail. They often wondered about what business secret was held by the clinic that allows them to click with the public.My mentor was not only a cousin. She is the clinic’s owner and dermatologist; considered a prime mover in modern medical and cosmetic esthetics in our area. She was an in spiration to others in the same field as well as for others who were not into the esthetics business but who were like her, an entrepreneur who had a vision for her enterprise.What did you learn about yourself: Lessons on maturity?I somewhat felt anxious and uncomfortable by being a protà ©gà © of a cousin. Having a relative for a coach was sometimes embarrassing for we’ve known each other far deeper than anybody else did in the clinic and so, it was easy for the coach to point out my mistakes and weaknesses. I on the other hand would sometimes be too proud to admit them but knew deep inside that the coach was right and that I had to lower my pride and accept her corrections for it was, after all, for my own good.What I admire about my cousin was that she would raise the level of our relationship at work to one that is strictly professional. With this, I learned that her goal was always of maturity – of following a purpose and not the personality who runs with that p urpose. This valuable character I have learned to accept for myself as I observed her ways in leadership.In my case, it seemed that I had the tendency to follow a person for their personality as though I were a teenager. This, I felt was a mark of immaturity that had to be changed. But when one sees a personality’s purpose and follows that purpose, then he or she is likely to succeed. I realized then that being mature entails adopting marks of maturity, one of which is having a sense of purpose for it is this purpose that causes one to act and move a certain way and make decisions that will lead to success.What did you learn about yourself: Lessons on DeterminationAnother key lesson learned was that we don’t just have to be in the business. Rather, we should be in the business in such a way that we want to succeed and win. A winning attitude is what makes businesses flourish and sustain competence in a domain where there seems to be many competitors. I have learned to adopt that attitude and be determined to be and do the best, not settling for the mediocre.What did you learn about yourself: Lessons on DirectionAnother message that proved significant to me was a lesson involving direction. One may be determined to be the best in business but this determination is nothing if one does not have a direction for the business. Two things I realized that will set a person’s direction in life and business are purpose and focus.Purpose gives meaning to one’s life and trade. For the business to grow, advance, and prosper, purpose is an essential ingredient. Focus on the other hand leads the direction towards a goal. Running aimlessly will amount to nothing. Doing many things for the business without focus will not accomplish something laudable. But when one has purpose and focus in pursuing dreams, goals, and visions for the business, then a direction is charted, a course is followed, and a heritage is handed down.What did you learn about you rself: Lessons on HeritageLearning secrets of the trade is a privilege that ought to be cherished. Those closest to my cousin in the business besides me, were the six medical estheticians who have grown to love their work at the clinic. They have become skilled at customer relations, medical dealings, and the dos and don’ts of the industry. The good thing about our mentor is that she was a constant source of business knowledge. She shares with us a knowledge that is not temporary but one that will last. She expects that this knowledge will bear fruit and help establish businesses in the future that will hold the same philosophies.Prerequisites of heritage I then realized while receiving training include focus and the heart to communicate one’s vision. This vision includes making partisans and training them to become future leaders in their desired trade. The goal was to make replicas of one’s self or people who may be better than the mentor. With this, the idea is to focus by fervently believing in the vision and forgetting about things that does not run with this vision of success.I realized that in order for a heritage to be built, a leader must have conviction and learn to communicate something that he or she lives for, and then her protà ©gà © will follow. The second prerequisite was building the right foundation. Mentors are pillars of foundation who are present to support their charges. The values they treasure are priceless, indispensable and effective. Investing these in trainees will be beneficial for the success of the company.What did you learn about yourself: Lessons on DisciplineIn all these things, I also learned the value of discipline. There’s a cost for success. Strict training in all aspects of running the business is important to maintain business and financial health. What we want is to please both our human resources and then of course, our clientele. To achieve this, therefore, is to sacrifice time to learn a bout proper ethics of the trade, people skills and influence, the latest technology involved, and also learn about the rates for effectiveness of each technology and treatment.Mastering the treatment strategies, these tools, and providing customers with quality service is essential in making them come back to avail of more services. The quality of care rendered includes properly informing clients about their skin problems and providing them with treatment options to choose from. Educating them about what is best for their skin, and what alternatives they can do to maintain its health is also crucial for multiplying customers who will come for consultation in the future.What did you learn about yourself: Personal DiscoveriesI thought I knew what it took to run a successful business. I always thought that having the latest technology was enough to draw clients into the clinic. I realized later that this was not enough. Personal qualities also needed polishing and development. Professi onalism is first and foremost an aspect that needs to be learned, developed, and practiced. Without this, one’s business values will be poor and will cause the business to suffer.How did this activity strengthen your self leadership skills?The activity has allowed introspection to be done. As I examined myself regarding my feelings, thoughts, and motives about management and leadership, I found myself dealing with bad habits and replacing them with the principles I gained from training. I’ve learned to be more mature in dealing with people and in running a business. To chart the course of the business and believe that it can be achieved.I’ve learned how to develop and polish a vision with which I can run with and communicate to others so that they may be partners in making the business progress. I also learned the value of discipline and what needs to be done to keep a healthy and happy enterprise. I adopted all these and noticed changes in the way I conducted b usiness deals. Thus far, the feedbacks I’ve obtained were all positive. I am grateful for the lessons and insights I gained from the activity for it has made me a better person and now I swell with pride and would like to share these with others also.How did this activity improve your communication/interpersonal skills?People are important for it is they who can make or break a business. People skills need to be developed to help the business grow. With the strategies I gained from the activity, I was able to expand my people-making skills and increase my influence by maintaining rapport with clients. Being able to inform the clients properly and educating them about dos and don’ts in skin care helped enhance my skills in interpersonal communication. Keeping a smile, greeting customers, providing suggestions, and exchanging ideas with people around me proved a big help for enriching my communication skills.Rough roads, detours or roadblocksThus far, no hindrances or ba rriers have been experienced. The only thing I remember was that uncomfortable feeling on having a cousin for a trainer. But when this feeling is eliminated and pride is lowered to welcome corrections and good instruction, then everything will go well.Comments on personal effectivenessI’ve adopted the principles myself and utilized these every time I go to the clinic. Other than that, I also use the principles of people and influence to my advantage to polish my interpersonal communication skills. Feedbacks have been very positive and I use this as my yardstick for effectiveness.Was this a valuable experience for you? Importance of the ActivityOn the job training is an effective tool in developing a person’s character, business knowledge, and skills. The activity for me was a very valuable experience because I learned first hand what it takes to own and manage a business, be an effective and efficient business leader, and be an exemplary figure for others to follow. It helps if one works side by side with a leader. The leader’s character, life principles, philosophies, and strategies are learned immediately. Other than this, being with such people is encouraging because one gets stimulated to do the same things they do, think the same way they do, and compose one’s self as they do.Leaders are catalysts for improvement. Living by their example will make persons significant in their chosen field of activity in the future.

America by Claude Mckay Essay

â€Å"America† is a poem written by prominent Harlem Renaissance writer Claude McKay. In this poem we are told about life in America through the narrator’s point of view. It is through the narrator’ experience that McKay delivers his message, America will one day lose its greatness if it continues in its evil ways. Personification and diction is used to convey this message. Personification is used to give human-like qualities to America. Diction is used to explain how the hostility he/she experiences in America leads to the narrator’s ominous prediction of America’s future. Throughout the poem the speaker refers to America as ‘her’. By doing this Claude McKay uses personification to give America the human-like qualities of a female. This is shown in lines 1-3: â€Å"Although she feeds me bread of bitterness/And sinks into my throat her tiger’s tooth/ stealing my breath of life†. In the first part of line 1 where it says, â€Å"Although she feeds me bread†, this implies that America is something like a mother figure. However, the fact that America feeds the narrator bread of bitterness, bites his/her throat, and steals his/her breath of life, it’s obvious that America does not treat the speaker well. In line 11, it states, â€Å"Darkly I gaze into the days ahead†. The word ‘darkly’ implies that as a result of the hostility he/she experiences; the narrator has an ominous view of the future. When McKay says, â€Å"her might and granite wonders there† (line 12), it can be inferred that America’s global power and beautiful land are included in the narrators dark future. â€Å"Like priceless treasures sinking in the sand† (line 14). This line best illustrates McKay’s message that America will one day lose its greatness if it continues in its evil ways when you take into account the definition of the word sinking. Sinking means to be failing in health and strength. This led me to believe that line 14 means that America’s greatness and beautiful land that we cherish so much will eventually cease to exist. I believe the treatment the narrator receives in â€Å"America† by Claude McKay, is based on his own experience during the Harlem Renaissance. The use of personification to represent America and clever word choice allow McKay to deliver his message. This message is that America will one day lose its greatness if it continues in its evil ways.