Motivational theories applied in the workplace Essay

Within this assignment I will be looking at the various motivational theories that organisations may use in order to more their workforce more efficient. The organisation I will look at is Tesco as they now employ over 468,000 employees worldwide and have adopted various methods in order to give their employees increased knowledge, skills and job satisfaction by using training and relevant rewards and recognition schemes. Motivation is very important within an organisation that relies heavily on their employees as this will determine how efficiently they work. Motivation can be given in many ways such as personal interest in the job they are doing or other factors such as rewards, other factors include recognition of hard work, a sense of achievement, responsibility within the workplace, opportunity of promotion and also a sense of challenge and enjoyment. By motivating employees in this way they will be able to work harder and achieve a high quality of work in less time. If this is applied within Tesco, the same task will take a shorter period of time meaning a reduced labour cost for the business. The first motivational theory I am going to look at is Taylor’s theory which suggests that employee’s main incentive to work is for money purposes only. Although Taylor’s theory is based upon a production line where workers are paid for each item that is produced which creates an incentive to work faster. Although this meant that work would be completed quicker, it may also lead to lower quality work. Some positive aspects of this theory include that people are able to work for longer periods, and workers feel rewarded for putting in more effort although negative features may include not being suitable to everyone as people may feel less secure in their job. This motivational theory has been adopted within Tesco in order to motivate their staff by offering incentives, these incentives are varied according to lifestyle and includes free shares, pension scheme, private healthcare and contract mobile phones. Tesco offer varied incentives so that every employee has something to work towards as there are different rewards for different people. Although one disadvantage of adopting this method within Tesco is that only the floor staff will benefit as it will relate to the amount of work they complete, whereas mangers do not have the same type of work and will miss out on the same rewards, this means Tesco must adopt multiple theories to suit all employees. The next motivational theory I will look at is the Hawthorne study which suggests that there were various factors which created motivation at work and this included; greater communication, good teamwork, showing an interest in others and ensuring work was non-repetitive. This is due to Elton Mayo suggesting that receptiveness will make employees bored and become less motivated. Which means employees should be given freedom to make choices within their workplace. Although a disadvantage of using this theory is that employees will not get any financial benefits such as bonuses. This is apparent within Tesco as communication within this company is an important factor in order to motivate staff, examples of this include 1-to-1 discussions between floor staff and managers and also with the use of the company’s intranet which is used to offer jobs to current employees before they go out to the public. Another motivational theory I will focus on is Maslow, which includes a pyramid style of motivation where basic or physical needs must be met before the other stages can be dealt with. The other stages include security within the business, social needs which include teambuilding and a sense of belonging between employees, self-esteem which may include promotions and also self-fulfilment that may consist of a constant challenge they face within the workplace. This motivational theory is used within Tesco to motivate all employees within the organisation, such as ensuring each worker has a regular monthly pay and the use of facilities such as a restaurant. The next stage Tesco focus on is the need for security at work, this is in the form of formal contracts of employment to ensure employees feel secure in the job they have taken, security within Tesco also includes pension schemes, union options and also health and safety within the workplace. In addition to this, the Herzberg theory is also used within workplaces such as Tesco, and this includes both motivators and hygiene factors. Some motivational factors that are used within Tesco include: 1. Achievement 2. Responsibility 3. Promotion 4. Growth Also including hygiene factors such as: 1. Pay and benefits 2. Company policy 3. Supervision 4. Job security 5. Working conditions Tesco uses each of these factors in order to motivate its staff by delegating responsibility and decision making which will help to improve the communication within the business and ensure staff are working to the best of their ability. Although by following these factors no social needs are looked into which can be important within a large business such as Tesco. The McGregor theory implies that workers are one of two types which are labelled theory X which include: 1. Individuals who dislike work and avoid it where possible 2. Individuals who lack ambition, dislike responsibility and prefer to be led 3. Individuals who desire security For Theory X workers in order to achieve organisational objectives, a business would need to include a management system, control and correct penalties where needed. And Theory Y workers can be described as: 1. Consider effort at work as just like rest or play 2. Ordinary people who do not dislike work. Depending on the working conditions, work could be considered a source of satisfaction or punishment 3. Individuals who seek responsibility The implications for Theory Y workers are that to achieve organisational objectives, various rewards can be used to motivate workers. Although in order for the workers to show development the workplace must create a working environment. The McGregor theory is used within Tesco by providing a management system for workers on the shop floor by offering one to one talks with their own sector manager which will help to establish objectives for their work and also gives the employees a chance to express any enquiries they may have about their job. The next theory I will look at is the McClelland theory which suggests that there are three main types of motivational needs: 1. The need for achievement 2. The need for authority and power 3. The need for affiliation. Tesco makes use of this theory as each employee and manager has differencing levels of needs, and this influences them within their working environment. Tesco do this by ensuring all employees feel a part of a group and a part of the company, this can be achieved by giving employees responsibility to complete tasks and also have a chance at promotion. The final theory I will explore is the Vroom theory which proposes that employees will work harder if they can see that the overall outcome of their work will benefit them more. This is shown using a formula that can be used to show how motivated someone is likely to be. Tesco are able to use this by offering greater rewards for the work that their employees complete, which may include additional discounts on all areas of the company such as food and electronics and also offering their employees’ private health memberships.

Placebo Effect

Feda Aziz Amy Blitchok ENG 1060-0013 April 30, 2012 Placebo over Mind For years, scientists and researchers have sought to find an explanation for the placebo effect. What many scientists and researchers do not realize is that placebo or â€Å"fake medicine† has been used as early as the revolutionary period in the seventeen hundreds. The mind is a powerful organ, in which controls all our body’s functions and thoughts. Everyday functions such as breathing and walking relies heavily on the most important part of our organ: the mind.However, through the use of placebos, it is becoming clear that the mind may have an even greater influence on our daily lives, influencing our perception of well- being. The placebo, which is Latin for â€Å"to please,† is a sugar-pill that can be taken in many different forms such as injection, liquid intake or by pill. Research conducted by physicians and scientists on placebos revealed that patients who receives treatment for asthm a, irritable bowel syndromes, knee surgery and much more showed improvements and are symptom free which in turn demonstrated how mind is more powerful than the body.The Placebo effect is when the administration of some entirely harmless or inactive drug or pill seems to make people better. It can also reduce the experience of pain by blocking pain signals in the spinal cord from arriving at the brain in the first place. When patients expect a treatment to be effective, the brain area responsible for pain control is activated, causing the release of natural endorphins. The endorphins send instructions down to the spinal cord to suppress incoming pain signals and patients feel better whether or not the treatment had any direct effect.This article explained how the mind and placebo work together in sending messages from the brain to the area of pain. Other problems exist in testing placebos' effectiveness. They cannot be used in studies on life-threatening or degenerative illnesses, si nce taking an inactive treatment rather than a real one could do patients real harm. Tests in which patients know they may be taking placebos show different results from tests in which they are given only a drug.Patients have been shown to react less to real medicine if they know there is a fifty percent chance they are actually getting sugar pills (Amaral) . Very few doctors are this open about prescribing placebos, but most of them do not outright lie to their patients, either. In general, doctors who prescribe placebos often say that they have something that they believe can help, but they do not know exactly how it will work, either. Supporters of the use of placebos point out that this is not lying; placebos are known to be beneficial in some cases.The American Medical Association (AMA) policy suggests that doctors could explain the placebo effect to their patients and receive consent to prescribe them in the course of treating any illness. This way, the patients don't know exa ctly when they might be prescribed a placebo and they could still benefit from the placebo effect (â€Å"http://www. ama-assn. org/†). The Placebo effect refers to the situation where patients feel better after taking a medication even if the drug is ineffective. A study proved the effectiveness of placebo medicine in patients diagnosed with heart failure.When given the placebo to heart failure patients and they took it whole heartedly and faithfully they showed a thirty four percent decrease in death rate. The researchers are unsure about the results but some theories are; mind is as powerful as any organ in the body. People who took their placebo faithfully, and believe it would help, may actually have gotten real help. Also patients who have heart failure have to exercise and cut salt intake so that may have had an important role in the placebo succeeding (Amaral). The placebo effect is a powerful effect that can consistently induce a perceived benefit.Once the placebo was identified as a valid medication able to create a response, such as becoming symptom free, became more widely used as a control in clinical trials. As a result, the placebo effect has been extensively studied throughout history. In a study; four groups of asthma patients were given albuterol inhalers, placebo inhalers, sham acupuncture, or no treatment. When the researchers tested the patients' lung function, the albuterol, a standard treatment for asthma, showed improvement, whereas the placebos had no effect. On the contrary, half of those who used the albuterol reported feeling better.But so did nearly half of those who got the placebo inhaler or the sham acupuncture. Doctors may not fully understand the cause of it but what they do know is two inert pills can work better than one, colorful inert pills can work better than plain ones, and injections can work better than pills (Bates). The perception of the benefits was recognized due to the perceptions of the mind, and not to th e ingredients that makes up the fake treatment. The placebo effect shows us that the mind heavily influences our perceptions of wellness and health.The placebo was also used during the Civil War; nurses often ran out of medicine, in order to keep the soldiers moving they injected them with saltwater, and believed it was morphine. Many scientists began wondering how the solider can feel better and become symptom free without taking the actual morphine. Thus, the scientists came to the conclusion that before simply thinking you can feel better you actually will. However, there is the nocebo effect in which the opposite occurs. A patient thinks he will feel bad, and he then will feel symptoms and pain.Also when a doctor proclaims that the medicine will cause symptoms or pain, the patient is more likely to feel the symptoms (Cloud). While the mind may be labeled as an organ easily fooled by placebos, whose benefit has no physical basis, it is clear that the mind may have an even greater role in behavior. Throughout the world, it is widely believed that the placebo effect simply is of random chance or it temporarily works on symptoms or diseases. To prove the skeptics wrong, a test was conducted with one hundred and eight patients that were divided in half.Half of them received arthroscopy knee surgery, and the other half received fake knee surgery. Arthroscopy knee surgery requires only three tiny incisions through the skin and the fake surgery received a small cut on their knee. The results were astonishing placebo surgery turned out to be just as effective as real surgery. Many people think it is irrational to be cured by fake medicine, but the truth is patients who were successfully healed by fake surgery were in fact healed by the power of their own minds (Easton).Placebos can no longer be thought of as a blind fold covering the eyes. These sugar pills induce the mind to create a very real and physical response that may be specific to the placebo; as a result, use of a placebo can become a very seductive treatment option for many. With the ongoing use of placebos, both as a control, and potentially as an alternative treatment, several issues emerge: Such as if the placebo is ethical or not. Furthermore, can it be guaranteed that placebos will generate a safe, and effective, result.While these pills may seem nonthreatening by being less active than experimental drugs, the risk for harmful and unethical consequences still does exist. Dr. Sobel ,co-author of The Healing Brain, explains â€Å"doctors spend a lot of time prescribing and giving medicine when improvement can be just by giving positive reinforcement†. Dr. Sobel also clarifies that if giving positive feedback made patients feel better then why give a placebo or sugar pill at all when you can prescribe yoga or meditation.For example when a child gets hurt, the compassionate parent would say â€Å"a kiss will make it better† and the child walks away tearless because m ommy made it feel better. Carefully, studies were conducted and on average, if you take one hundred people with certain illnesses and give them a sugar pill; about a third would be expected to improve (Friend). Some doctors believe that instead of ignoring the placebo effect, it may help to enhance it. A study was conducted in which the placebo effect worked on patients who had irritable bowel syndrome or IBS. In 2008, Harvard's Ted J.Kaptchuk wanted to treat IBS but in a safe way. He devised a fake remedy which contained fake acupuncture with no needles and plenty of soft talk. Kaptchuk experiment showed sixty-two percent of them actually got better and for the patients who had fake acupuncture and no soft talk saw a forty two percent improvement. Many mainstream medicine and drug companies try to minimize conducting clinical trials, but Kaptchuk argues that instead of minimizing they should enhance it and use placebos more often because it will lower costs of medicine and produce fewer side effects (Herper).Anesthetist, Henry Beecher, published an article on the use and effects of placebo in treatment of different diseases. Since then, many studies have shown that situations can also trigger the human mind to generate placebo effect. Kaptchuk explains that rituals of treatment activate brain areas in the same way as done by drugs. The newest neurobiological theories on placebos suggest that in some situations the appearance and rituals of treatment activate brain areas similar to when one takes drugs. So, for the drug to work, you may not need the drug at all (Marglin).Freed and his associates conducted a study examining the outcomes of forty patients, ages thirty four through seventy five, who had severe Parkinson's disease. In this study, the patients either underwent neuronal transplantation surgery or sham surgery (placebo). These patients were randomly assigned to the different groups. In the patients who underwent the sham surgery, holes were drilled i nto their skulls, but not penetrated. While all of the patients had hoped to receive this neuronal transplant, only half actually did. The rest had the placebo surgery (Amaral).Freed found that although there was no notable effect among the older patients in either transplantation or placebo surgeries, the younger transplantation recipients showed much improvement as compared with the placebo surgery group. No one from the placebo surgery group benefited from the procedure. Results were measured using the standardized scoring system of the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS). They measure symptoms of Parkinson's disease including mentation/mood and performance in the activities of daily living, respectively.Freed, further analyzed results for growth of transplants by using the PET scans. PET scans use nuclear medicine imaging to produce 3-dimensional color images of the functional processes within the human body. These tests all concluded that the only group that benefi ted from the study was the younger transplantation group, leaving many concerned due to the lack of improvement in their condition. Half of those in the placebo group experienced additional pain, and some experienced trauma. In addition to not benefiting from the procedure, many experienced significant pain from the placebo surgery.In this case, the mind could not be induced into generating the type of physical response that is desired from this surgery. And further, the potential for pain as well as harm are also clear in this example. It is clear that the ethics behind placebos, given that they are active substances that can induce very real physical responses need to be taken seriously. The mind is a complex organ that may not always respond in the way that we hope it will (Amaral). The placebo effect has shed great light on the complex functions of the mind. The mind has the remarkable ability to generate a physiological and real response to placebos.Furthermore, the mind can di scern a placebo from an experimental drug, as we see through the specific activation of the prefrontal cortex by the placebo. The mind has functions and capabilities that are larger than just thinking, breathing and walking. It not only controls our perception of our well-being, but may control the physicalitys of our well-being more extensively than was previously thought. While the placebo effect has yielded important information on the powers of the mind, we need to think more responsibly about the use of placebos, and the potential effects of these active stimuli on the brain.Given that placebos do activate the brain, we need to re-address our notions of these pills as inactive sugar pills. What if placebos could have the potential to affect the mind in a way that is not positive? What if placebo pills, and furthermore surgeries, could be harmful to the patient? The ethics of placebos, and the role of the mind in responding to them, should not be underestimated as we move forwar d in our studies of how the mind works. Our well-being depends on it. There are several recent studies suggesting that placebos themselves are beneficial.According to a paper presented to the American Psychological Association's (APA) 104th annual convention, the placebo effect accounts for fifty percent of improvements in depressed patients taking antidepressants. Listening to Prozac but Hearing Placebo: A Meta-Analysis of Antidepressant Medication, a controversial study done on the effectiveness of using pharmaceuticals in treatment of depression. According to another study, when placebos are given for pain management, the course of pain relief follows that of an active drug The Placebo Prescription, comprehensive non-scientific article on the placebo effect.For both the placebo and the active medicine, peak relief comes about an hour after administration. The placebo effect seems to be acknowledged, perhaps unwittingly, by most medical doctors when one considers that until recent ly prescribing antibiotics for viral colds and flus was a common practice (Ammaral. ) A patient's belief in the treatment and the placebo response are dependent upon a variety of factors. First, the patient's expectations of treatment effects clearly influence the responses.For example, a study in England was done where a hundred men were told that they were taking chemotherapy, when in actuality they were taking inactive saline solution. Twenty percent of these men lost their hair, demonstrating the power of the belief of effects of the treatment. Second, the relationship between patient and care-provider is quite important in determining treatment or placebo results. If there is a positive rapport between the two, then most often there will be a positive enthusiasm for the treatment, and therefore a positive outcome, no matter if a placebo or pharmacologic treatment was used.The friendliness, interest, sympathy, prestige, and positive attitude of the care- provider toward the pati ent and toward the treatment are associated with positive effects of placebos as well as of active treatments. For example, in a double- blind study of dental extractions, two groups were compared: the first, where the doctors knew they would administer a narcotic analgesic, a placebo, or a narcotic antagonistic and the second, where the doctors knew they would administer either a placebo or narcotic antagonist. The patients from the first group who received placebo had significantly less pain.Since the two placebo groups were only different in the doctors' knowledge of possible treatment, this knowledge must have resulted in differences in behaviors by the doctor that influenced patient responses. Third, placebos have time- effect curves and peaks, cumulative and carryover effects after end of treatment which is quite similar to those of pharmacologically active medications. For example, â€Å"when varying doses of analgesic followed by a placebo are administered, patients' placeb o responses correspond in degree of pain relief over time to their original dosage of analgesic† (Turner).In addition, dose-response effects have also been documented where two placebo pills were demonstrated to have more pronounced effects than one. In recent decades studies have confirmed the efficacy of various sham treatments in nearly all areas of medicine. Placebos have helped alleviate pain, depression, anxiety, Parkinson’s disease, inflammatory disorders and even cancer. These studies show that people’s perception of their treatment plays an important role in healing. In other words, people not only think that a drug or procedure will benefit them, but over time, they unconsciously associate the taking of medicine with relief.This essay has stated what the placebo effect is, how it will be used to care for a patient with given evidence and the restrictions of the placebo effect. Up to now medical science has not fully explained what is the cause or causes of the placebo effect. But it seems that it is the result of the patient’s expectation of an effect. The debate will continue concerning what constitutes a placebo, but whether doctors and researchers should continue to use them. Even some supporters of placebo use claim that it is such a loaded word that perhaps we should start using terms like â€Å"mind-body medicine† or â€Å"integrated healing† instead.But as long as many people believe that the placebo effect works, they're not likely to go away anytime soon. Work Cited â€Å"AMA American Medical Association. † http://www. ama-assn. org/. N. p. , 2012. Web. 29 Apr 2012. . Amaral, Julio Rocha and Renato M. E. Sabbatini. Placebo Effect The Power of the Sugar Pill. February 5,the Mysterious Placebo Effect, an article from Modern Drug Discovery Bates, Stephen. â€Å"Nothing helps: a placebo a day. † The Wilson Quarterly 35. 4 (2011): 15. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context.Web. 11 Mar. 2012. Clo ud, John. â€Å"How A Sugar Pill Can Heal (Or Hurt) You. † Time 174. 17 (2009): 59. TOPIC search. Web. 9 Mar. 2012. Easton MD â€Å"The placebo effect an amazing reality. † Sunday Star (Easton, MD) 1 Jul. 2007, Supplements HealthWise: NewsBank. Web. 12 Mar. 2012. Friend, Tim. â€Å"The placebo effect: Gauging the mind's role in healing. † USA TODAY 15 Jun. 1993, FINAL, LIFE: 6D. NewsBank. Web. 11 Mar. 2012. Herper, Matthew, and Robert Langreth. â€Å"The Nothing Cure. † Forbes 185. 5 (2010): 24. TOPICsearch. Web. 11 Mar. 2012. Marglin, Elizabeth. The PLACEBO Effect. † Natural Health 40. 5 (2010): 68-95. Health Source – Consumer Edition. Web. 15 Mar. 2012. â€Å"The Powerful Placebo. † Harvard Men's Health Watch 12. 11 (2008): 4-6. Health Source – Consumer Edition. Web. 15 Mar. 2012. â€Å"Therapeutic Placebo Effect:A Mind/Body Connection. † placeboeffect. com 10 Apr 2012 . Turner, et al, â€Å"The importance of placebo e ffects in pain treatment and research†, JAMA, 1994: http://www. ovid. med. virginia. edu/ovidweb/ovidweb. cgi

A Journal opinion article Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 4

A Journal opinion article - Essay Example Levin acknowledged in the article that the practice of buybacks or companies buying its own stocks is unhealthy and proposed that the general public should be notified beforehand for greater transparency. But as it is, buybacks are still practiced and if one thinks that this helps America’s economic recovery, it does not. The pracitce of corporate America of buying back its stocks will not help to recover but in fact will threaten its economy. It seems that we have not learned our lesson after all as we are again back at manipulating balance sheets to have a perception of value. Corporate America is again practicing the same principle of financial manipulation that precipitated the mortgage criss that brought us the â€Å"Financial Crisis† that took America to recover and this recovery is even questionable today. Buying stocks back is just a convenient way of unloading those excessive cash in the guise of avoiding dilution and increasing stock value. To finally recover from the crisis that we are in, values in terms of productivity has to be created. Coupled with healthy spending that will translate to a robust domestic consumption which will have a ripple effect of encouraging more production. In other words, for us to recover, plants has to be erected, new technology has to be developed, companies has to hire employees or engage in any economic activity that will create â€Å"real value† and not just buyback stocks to increase it value. Buying back stocks does not do this although it will convey the perception that a company is performing well. To explain this further, it will serve us well to cite an example to better understand how stock buybacks create a perceive performance without creating any real value. Let us assume a company buys back a million shares at $ 5 per share with a $10,000,000 cash. Profit is at $1,000,000. Observe how return on assets, return on shares and price earning ratio improve without any increase in profit. Bef ore Buyback After Buying Back Cash $ 10,000,000 $ 5,000,000 Assets 30,000,000 20,000,000 Profit 1,000,000 1,000,000 Outstanding shares 10,000,000 9,000,000 Return on Assets 3.33 % 5.00 % Return per share $ 10 $ 11.11 The above illustrates how a company increases its perceived value without an increased productivity. It just unload the cash of $10,000,000 by buying back a million shares at $10 per share. The cash diminished to $20,000,000 ($30,000,000 cash minus $10,000,000 buyback) increasing the return on assets to 5 % (1,000,000/20,000,000). Above all, the price-earnings ratio (P/E), the ratio which is often used as a measure of value of the company also increased without creating any â€Å"real value† (lower ratio is better). Where before the P/E ratio is 50 ($5/$10), it decreases to 45 ($5/$11.11) by simply unloading its cash by buying back its stocks. This is what Levin is discussing in the article â€Å"Secret Buybacks Are Unfair to Shareholdersâ€Å". Companies are c reating perceived value with the increase in return on assets, improved price earning ratio and higher return on share without creating anything. Companies only intend to give higher dividends to its stockholders which

Development of 3D printing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Development of 3D printing - Essay Example The 3D printing technology is a technology that has undergone quite a series of changes since the period of implementation. It involves the creation of printable 3D models with the use of computer-aided design software (CAD) or through the use of what is called a 3D scanner. The modeling process of 3D geometric data does not have a significant difference from the common plastic applied in different parts of the world today. A process known as 3D scanning is applied before printing, and it involves the collection and analysis of digital data in reference to the shape of a real object. The complexity nature of both the manual and automated 3D printable models to normal consumers is what has caused the emergence of the 3D printing places located in different places. The most interesting part of the concept is the printing part. Before the commencement of the printing, the file that is known as the STL file must under processing that is a task performed using the slicer software. The slicer does the conversion of the model into several systematic thin layers and produces a command or rather instruction known as the G-code that is now sent to the printer. The printer then systematically in accordance to the instructions lays down the layers of the material used t produce the desired object. The major advantage of the technology is that it can produce almost any desired provided the required instruction is well fed to the printer (Lipson & Kurman,  2013). Several changes have taken place in the quest to achieve more efficiency in the application of the technology. The first development is on the provision of low-cost printers. In the past, the 3D printers were extremely expensive, and the majority of the people willing to invest in the same could not be able to afford a printer. The other development is a 3D modeling software. In the past, the software used was complex and tough

What Next For Apple Inc. After Steve Jobs Death Essay

What Next For Apple Inc. After Steve Jobs Death - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that after Steve Job’s death in 2011, most of Apple’s competitors thought that they had a nice opportunity to overtake them in the software industry. Most of Apple’s competitors at the time of Steve Job’s death included Samsung Electronics, Amazon, Google, Nokia, and Sony. The Smartphones and tablets that were being produced by Apple mostly had competition from Amazon’s Kindle Fire and the Nook. However, Apple was the leading firm before 2011 because of Steve Job’s strategies that he had used in the market many analysts believed that it was the end of Apple industry. With Steve’s death, the company had stiff competition from google’s Android system. Furthermore, the iTunes were facing competition from Netfix that wanted to take over the living rooms in the world stage. Facebook had also come into being and wanted to dominate the internet business by coming up with their own windows tha t would an access to the internet while Amazon was entering into the tablet market at Job’s time of death. Cooke had now to battle with google and to maintain the image of the company. The Apple company faced competition mainly on her Tablet industry and the emergency of google Android and the Blackberry’s Smartphones. In the year of Job’s death, Blackberry industry announced the release of a new Smartphone that had quite touching features that changed the way business people operated. The move was intended to edge over Apple’s iPhone that had not been in the market for long at that time. (Stephen, Jerry, & Richard 1993). The blackberry release had nice features such as touch screens, slide-out keyboards that was a clear indication of the of the step they had taken in the production of the phones. This enabled different business people to be in touch with the world. Thus blackberry had a higher power in the production of such phones that posed a greater competition to her competitors mainly Apple (Peter 2012). The use of corporate strategy and strategic outsourcing was vital. Rivalry In the traditional business, the issue of competing firms often drove profits to almost zero. In any competitive environment the competing firms come up with different strategies in order to edge out their competitors. Therefore a firm without any competitive advantage would find herself operating on losses or lost most of their customers to their competitors. Due to the competition from Amazon’s Kindle Fire and Nook tablets, the Amazon had decided to lower her prices in order to outweigh Apple’s tablets (Manjoo 2010). However he continues to assert that Apple decided to attract more customers by increasing the features of the Tablet and coming up with more applications that would be used by the business people (Apple's strategy 2009). Threat of Substitutes These refer to products from other industries apart from Apple that have the same or similar functions to customers. The move by google to produce Android prompted a move by Apple to produce iPhone 5 that would compete with the product that serve the same purpose. The industry faced the challenge of implementing the iPad That had been launched just before Job’s death , in Steve job’s management the Apple company had managed to create Apple 2, Macintosh, the iTunes, the iPod and the iPad in order to deal with other substitute products from other industries (Mary & Robert 1994). They used business level strategy to deal with the threat from other similar products. Buyer Power Most companies and other government agencies mostly issue blackberry to their employees for business transactions a show that the Apple company is really facing much competition to attract her customers in the industry. The blackberry company is though promising new an operating system that would be in much

The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Tolstoy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Tolstoy - Essay Example He has family, friends and a good position that he devoted a major part of his life in cultivating. As a result he has political, personal and social freedom. Ilyich’s free and easy life is pleasant with decorum and lightheartedness, and his nature is agreeable. Through this narrative, Tolstoy studies both life and death, Ivan’s realization about his life not truly lived, and his eventual making of peace with the inevitability of death. Thus, only in his last moments does Ivan Ilyich lose his fear of death, and joyfully perceives the light which replaces it (Tolstoy 56). Great scholars such as Vladimir and Mahatma Gandhi acclaimed the novella as the greatest in Russian literature. The work is interesting to read, rich in insights about human nature, and educative in its content. Thesis Statement: The purpose of this paper is to examine Leo Tolstoy’s story The Death of Ivan Ilyich, and discuss why the main protagonist’s life was not truly lived. Why Ivan Il yich’s Life was not Well Lived Tolstoy through his story insists that Ivan Ilyich is not different from others in the world, and that his extremely simple and ordinary life is â€Å"most terrible† (Tolstoy 9). ... The author depicts his protagonist as a selfish, short-sighted and mediocre person, since the latter’s ideal goal in life was to avoid unpleasantness. Ilyich’s main pleasures in life included playing bridge with his friends, besides liking antiques and living properly and pleasantly. However, it is evident that none of these normal, ordinary qualities can condemn Ilyich as wicked. This is the exact message that Tolstoy wishes to convey to the reader. While Ivan’s existence was akin to living death, his death is a rebirth into a new spiritual life. Therefore, his fatal flaw was that he had lived in a spiritual void (Hobby 34). According to Tolstoy, the fact of living and life ironically includes the certainty of death. Living with pain and illness everyday, Ivan Ilyich suffers for several months while refusing to accept the inevitability of his death (Tolstoy 7). The core of his life had consisted of emptiness, self deception and false values. Most human beings, i n the process of living, we commonly deny the truth of our human condition, pretend to forget about death; and this lie forms a part of the other lies that vitiate our beings. This means that Ilyich had been â€Å"living a literal, physical life but had been spiritually dead† (Hobby 34). Olney’s (p.110) analysis of the story differentiates between â€Å"life as experience† and â€Å"life as meaning†, and states that Tolstoy’s vivid representation through the fictional narrative helps the reader comprehend the truth that was present in the author’s own soul. For Tolstoy the actual meaning of life was different from indulgence in parties, tastefully decorating one’s home, and other

Women and institutions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Women and institutions - Essay Example Most of the societies practice division of labor by sex and age. Traditional western models depict men as economic providers, since their role was dynamic while women were domestic consumers and their role was static (Bosen, 319, 1984). Anthropologist and other social scientist have discovered that men are only partial economic providers. The contribution of men towards women and children vary in different cultures and depends in variations of women work. Women make significant economic decisions not only for children but also for men and the society (Wardlow, 153). Therefore, the important issue in analyzing economic system of any society is by considering the division of labor, and ways the fruits and labor are shared. The early model of hunting society presented man as the chief provider and decision maker in the society. The early model of foragers as the blue print of sexual division of labor has been widely criticized (Merlan, 262, 1991). It was assumed that foragers depended on meat as their only food and men did all the hunting as women stayed in camps with children waiting for men to bring them food. Anthropologist challenged this model when they started analyzing the contribution of women in foragers’ society. After extensive research, there are four changes in the model. Meat was not the staple food in forages society compared to the total food intake (Stivens, 331, 1970). When meat was less important in the meal than plant food, men still went out to hunt while women provided food for their groups through their contributions. Even in the male hunting and women, gathering model contributes sexual separation in food contribution especially between animal and vegetable food. Division of labor between sexes is flexible and changing in individuals and cooperative efforts (Stivens, 330, 1970). There are some difficulties in separating horticultural and agricultural societies. The major difference is the

Religion in Contemporary Societies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Religion in Contemporary Societies - Essay Example The use of religion in such situation to further their anti-west sentiments had threatened the whole world. Fundamentalist elements are the product of totalitarian regimes, which nurtured and developed it for their particular interests. The modern Al-Qaeda and ISIS has been the creation of fundamentalist totalitarian authorities with the aid and support from western powers lead by United States of America. Anti-imperialist sentiments are also part of fundamentalist uprising against the imperialist’s design to divide the region and support anarchies of their own choice after the World War I. The anarchies set at that time on the whims of their imperialist masters sowed the seed of Muslim fundamentalism to legitimize their totalitarian rule as Islam allows such authority under Sharia. The focus of the paper will be on fundamentalism of the organization and its relevancy to their motives and political ambitions. In order to have deep understanding of the nature of organization this paper will also study their history and their religious-political development. Furthermore, the role of Western imperialists and their handpicked regional players and the resulting anti-imperialist sentiments culminating in these organizations will be discussed as a subsidiary part of the research topic. The ISIS and Al-Qaeda are the two fundamentalist organization nurturing terrorism. These organizations also have political ambitions inspired by religious notions. The concept of Islamic fundamentalist contradicts with their activities that are mostly driven by economic and sectarian ambitions. The fundamentalism depicted by these two organizations is too complex; hatred and atrocities on other Muslim and non-Muslim people; relationship between state and religion; and rivalry between th e two bands in application of the same ideology. The Salafist-Jihadism is the ideology of ISIS commonly shared with all other fundamentalist organizations like Al-Qaeda and

Governor General Essay Example for Free

Governor General Essay The United States during the 1890’s wanted to acquire as much control as it could at the expense of other countries. This desire was felt greatly in countries found in Latin America and Asia. The location and size of Latin American and Asian countries caught the attention of the United States where they began to have an interest and desire to conquer the former countries. The influence of Alfred Mahan extended to the manner of conquest that the United States was to undertake. The sea power influence was used by the great country in order to further their objectives of obtaining control over Latin America and Asian countries. (Alfred T. Mahan on Sea Power, 1890) The USS Maine was the first ship constructed to answer the call for battle. The US was able to control the Canal Zone and this was vital to their pursuit for power. The Philippines was one of those Asian countries greatly affected by the US quest for power. The Philippine Insurrection resulted to fierce military battle between these two countries where a lot of lives were lost with many untold sufferings. (Insurrection in the Philippines) The US succeeded in conquering the Philippines where Theodore Roosevelt became the First Governor General. Look more:Â  satire mark twain essay (Theodore Roosevelt: First Governor General of the Philippines) The interest of the US over the Philippines arose as a result of the strategic location of the latter that would be good for business such as trading. The US had an extreme view to conquer the Latin America’s and Asian countries through force. Jingoism was prevalent during the years of 1890 onwards. The United States was able to exert influence, power and control over these countries. The control of this powerful nature ended when the spirit of democracy and independence was awakened in these countries subject to their control. Reference: 1. Alfred T. Mahan on Sea Power, 1890. Retrieved on May 19, 2009 from website http://www. mtholyoke. edu/acad/intrel/protected/alfred. htm. 2. Insurrection in the Philippines. Oregon Coast Magazine Online. Retrieved on May 19, 2009 from website http://www. u-s-history. com/pages/h830. html. 3. Fulton, Robert. Theodore Roosevelt: First Governor General of the Philippines. Retrieved on May 19, 2009 from website http://www. morolandhistory. com/Articles/3. %20theodore_roosevelt. htm. 4. Jingoism. Retrieved on May 19, 2009 from website http://www. worldwidewords. org/weirdwords/ww-jin1. htm.

A Foundation Course Essay Example for Free

A Foundation Course Essay Maslow suggested heredity played a strong role in personality development. The essence of the kind of person was established in the genetic structure, and the environment determined which part to unfold or become actualized. The issue of nature versus nurture was considered in his theory. Maslow adopted a growth-directions theory in that a person grew gradually from one kind of individual toward being a different kind. Another prominent figure is Carl Rogers. Both Maslow and Rogers believed human nature was intrinsically good and embraced self-actualization as the empirical principle. Rogers introduced the person-centred therapy. Therapist offered personal congruence, unconditional positive regard and accurate empathic understanding in a therapeutic relationship. Research methodologies employed by humanistic psychologists were mainly introspection investigative techniques. Individuals were analysed from the inside. Humanistic psychologists were of the view that the perfect example of an individuals personal experience was found in ones thoughts and feelings. They did not claim to be objective. Instead, they were intent on this subjective interchange of a relationship that uncovered the personal knowledge of another individual. Strengths of humanistic psychology were that the theorists proposed a positive, optimistic picture of humans. This was in contrast to behaviorism which was accused of reducing individuals to a system of observable acts, thereby missing the human aspects, and was in contrast to Freuds psychoanalysis SS101-TMA05 Marisa Lee 93512450 11 September 2000 Pg 11/12 which was accused of adopting a negative model of humanity, emphasizing on neurotic behaviour. The humanistic approach was notable for its concern for the individuals hopes and plans for the future, which was being neglected in many other theories. One other major strength of humanistic theory was its insistence on the importance of unique personal experiences. The insistence on the importance of unique personal experiences mentioned above had also become one of humanistic theorys weaknesses in that the unique experience made it imprecise when communicating the essence of one persons experience to another. The theory is lack of falsifiability as instrospection was the principal investigate technique. Humanistic psychologists were subjective in validating their theory. They trusted their own feelings and logic more than objective data. By concentrating on the self, other parts of an individual like bio-electrochemical nature, analytical abilities, memory systems were left untouched. Conclusions Psychologists while attempting to explain behaviour of individuals, adopted a varied basis of assumptions, and different images of mankind evolved. The concept that man acts like a machine and reacts to outside forces gives rise to the mechanistic view of mankind. Another concept that mans behaviour can be explained via bringing out their memories in the unconscious renders the psychoanalytic image of mankind. An alternative view that man seeks to aspire oneself by fulfilling the hierarchy of needs gives rise to the SS101-TMA05 Marisa Lee 93512450 11 September 2000 Pg 12/12 humanistic image of mankind. Man can be viewed differently but there is not a theory that explains all. To have a more comprehensive understanding of mans behaviour, a combined study of all the different images of mankind would be helpful. References : 1. Swales, C. (1991). Social Sciences : A Foundation Course, Psychology 2, Units 17 18. The Open University of Hong Kong. 2. Faw, T. and Belkin, G. S. (1989). Child Psychology. McGraw-Hill, Inc. P. 12-31. 3. Thomas, R. Murray. (2000). Comparing Theories of Child Development. 5th Edition. Wadsworth/Thomson Learning. Chapter 5. 4. Berk, Laura E. (1998). Development through the Lifespan. Allyn Bacon. P. 15-18. 5. Woolf. Theoretical Perspectives Relevant to Developmental Psychology  http://www.webster.edu

Programming Languages for Data Analysis

Programming Languages for Data Analysis R and Python for Data Analysis Abstract This paper discusses the comparison between the popular programming languages for Data analysis. Although there are plenty of choices in programming languages for Data science like Java, R Language, Python etc. With a whole lot of research carried out to know the strengths of these languages, we are going to discuss any two of these. Data Analytics has been the most important and trusted tool for business and markets. Data Analytics is nowadays making use of SAAS (Software As a Service). For this literature review, two popular languages (R and python) have been studied and evaluated the characteristics to decide which one will be the right language for data analysis. Both Languages shows their own strength and weakness and based on that, to understand the data based processing environments in the Distributed File Systems. Keywords-Programming language; Data analytics; R; Python, Big Data; For an industry to grow in a market is not an easy task. With the help of Data Analytics, it can grow bigger and better. It can help to deliver quick corporate results and a value to business. The major challenge with the data is to process it and then make decisions worth value. Data Crunching requires proper tools and powerful analysis. Out of all languages, we choose two popular language i.e R language and Python for data analysis. We are going to discuss the need of using a programming language in Data Analysis and list some of the characteristics of these two languages. In the end, we will conclude which language performs and delivers in the field of Data Analysis. While carrying out research in Data Analytics, we came across multiple programming languages apart from R and Python which are described below- Julia Not a well-recognized language but hackers surely talk of Julia. It is said to be faster than R upgradable than Python. [5] Java In comparison to R and Python, Java seems less capable in terms of Data Visualization but can be the first choice for the prototype of the statistical system. [6] MATLAB Became popular and was used before the release of python and R. To be good fit as a programming language we should consider different aspects of data analysis. For this review purpose we will broadly classify them as follow- Collection of Raw Data Data is available in variety of format. Programming languages were evaluated in terms of support for various data formats and efficiency in handling them. Data processing Once imported into program, datasets might require cleansing in terms of missing values, unrelated or redundant data values etc. Capabilities to deal with such data were evaluated for programming languages Data Exploration Simplicity of applying commonly used statistical methods like grouping, pattern recognition, switching and sorting is evaluated for programming languages. Data Analysis Availability of special purpose in-built functions and various methods of machine learning and deep analysis are used as evaluation measures. Data Visualization Visualization is important aspect of data analytics. Visualization capabilities of programming languages were evaluated on the basis of ease of creation, simplicity and sharing in various formats. In addition to these capabilities we will discuss a bit about history and accolades of every programming language. We will also discuss popular choices for IDE (Integrated Development Environment) for these1 language. Introduced in 1995, by Ross Ihaka and Robert Gentleman, R is implementation of S programming language (Bell Labs). Latest version is 3.1.3 which was released in March, 2015. Rs architectural design and evolution is maintained by R-foundation and R-Core Group. [1] Rs software environment is written primarily in C, FORTRAN, and R. RStudio is very popular IDE used to perform data analysis using R. Primary used for academic research, R is rapidly expanding into enterprise market. [1] A. Collection of Raw Data You can Import data from variety of formats like excel, CSV, and from text files. DataFrames, primary data structure in R, can import files from SPSS or MiniTab. Basically R can handle data from most common sources without glitch. Where R is not so great at is data collection from web. Lot of work is being carried to address this limitation. To name few, Rvest package will perform basic web-scraping while magrittr will parse the information on webpages. [1][3] B. Data Processing It is very easy to reshape dataframe in R. Tasks like adding new columns, populating missing values etc. can be done with just one line of code. Many new packages like reshape2 allow users to manipulate data frames to fit the criteria set per requirements. [3] C. Data Exploration R is built by statisticians. For exploratory work its easy for beginners. Many models can be written with very few lines of codes. With R, users will be able to build probability distributions and apply statistical methods for machine learning. For advance work in analytics, optimization and analysis, users may have to rely on third party packages. [3] Many popular packages like zoo (to work with time-series), caret (machine learning) represent strength of R. Python is loosely bind programming language with very wide user base. D. Data Visualization Visualization is strong forte of R. R was built to perform statistical analysis and demonstrate the results. By default, R allows you to make basic charts and plot graphs which can be saved in variety of formats like jpeg or PDFs. With advance packages like ggvis, lattice and ggplot2 user can extend data visualization capabilities of R program. [1][3] Created by Guido Van Rossum in 1991, Python is inspired by C, Modula-3 and in-perticular ABC. Python software foundation (PSF) is curator for Python language. Current version is 3.4.3/2.7.9 released in Feb 2015/Dec 2014. Python has been popular choice for programmer to build web and multitier applications. In context of data analytics, Python is majorly use by programmers to apply statistical techniques. Coding in python is easy because of nice syntax. [4] IPython Notebook and ANACONDA are popular IDEs used for data analysis using Python. A. Collection of Raw Data In addition to excel, CSV and text data, python also supports JASON and semi-structured data formats like XML and YAML. Using certain libraries, users can import SQL tables into python program [4] Python Request Library facilitates web scrapping, where user can get data from websites to analyze in depth. [2] B. Data Processing To uncover underlying information, Pandas library of python comes handy. Like R, data is held in DataFrames which can be used and reused throughout program without hampering performance. [2] Users can apply standard methods of cleaning data or process data to fill out incompelete information just like R. C. Data Exploration Pandas is very powerful library. Users will be able to group by datavalues and sort them according to timeseries. Comlex grouping clauses like time-series analysis to seconds can be performed on dataframes in python program. D. Data Visualization Using MetaPlotlib [2] library, user can plot basic graphs and chrats from available data-points. For advance visulization, Plot.ly can be used, which is another python library. Users can use powerful IDEs like Anaconda or IPython Notebook to create powerful visualization and convert them into various formats like HTML. In addition to their differences, there are few common positives about both Python and R which make them so popular among data analysts and statisticians. R and Python are distributed under open license which make them free to download and modify per users need. In contrast to other programming tools, like SAS and SPSS, which come with hefty price tag. Being open source, many advancements in statistics will come to python and R first.[6] Both of them are widely loved and supported by big community of statisticians and developers. [6] IDE like IPython Notebook will consolidate your datasets in one file, thereby simplifies your workflow.[2] R has rich ecosystem of cutting edge packages to string your work together which proves useful in particular to Data Analysis.[3] Python is more of general purpose language. Its easy and intuitive, therefor it has simplified learning curve. Pythons testing framework guaranties reusability and reliability of code. R is language developed by statisticians for statisticians while python is easier to learn general purpose programming language.[3] Working through research in programming languages for data analytics, there are many other options which are listed below- Julia Though not yet widely recognized, data hackers talk fondly of Julia. It is regarded as faster than R and more scalable than Python.[5] Java Although java is not as capable as python and R in terms of visualization, it can be primary choice to build prototype for statistical system. [6] KAFKA Developed by linked-in, KAFKA is highly regarded for its real-time analytics capabilities.[6] STORM Storm is framework written in SCALA which saw recent tides of popularity in Silicon Valley MATLAB Excel Used by many statisticians before outburst of python and R. Special thanks to Prof. Oisin Creaner, for presenting this opportunity to dig out for various options available for programming in Data Analytics Ihaka, R. and Gentleman, R., 1996. R: a language for data analysis and graphics. Journal of computational and graphical statistics, 5(3), pp.299-314. Pedregosa, F., Varoquaux, G., Gramfort, A., Michel, V., Thirion, B., Grisel, O., Blondel, M., Prettenhofer, P., Weiss, R., Dubourg, V. and Vanderplas, J., 2011. Scikit-learn: Machine learning in Python. The Journal of Machine Learning Research, 12, pp.2825-2830.. Nasridinov, A. and Park, Y.H., 2013, September. Visual Analytics for Big Data Using R. In Cloud and Green Computing (CGC), 2013 Third International Conference on (pp. 564-565). IEEE. Sanner, M.F., 1999. Python: a programming language for software integration and development. J Mol Graph Model, 17(1), pp.57-61. Bezanson, J., Karpinski, S., Shah, V.B. and Edelman, A., 2012. Julia: A fast dynamic language for technical computing. arXiv preprint arXiv:1209.5145. Fan, W. and Bifet, A., 2013. Mining big data: current status, and forecast to the future. ACM sIGKDD Explorations Newsletter, 14(2), pp.1-5.

Disabled by Wilfred Owen Essay -- Poetry Analysis

Born 18th March 1893, Owen was raised in Merseyside. His education began at the Berkhamstead institute and continued at the Technical school in Shrewsbury after his family was forced to move there. Owen began experimenting with poetry at the young age of 17. After failing to achieve a place at university, Owen moved to France to teach the Berlitz school of English following a year as a lay assistant. It was during the latter part of 1914 and early 1915 when Owen became increasingly aware of the magnitude of World War One and moved back to England to enlist in the ‘Artists rifles’. 1917 saw Owen’s first post in France, where he witnessed his first taste of the brutality of war. He experienced the horrors of being trapped in a dug out whilst under bombardment; and in May he was caught in a shell explosion and eventually diagnosed as having ‘shell shock’. In June 1918 Owen arrived at Craig Lockhart War Hospital, it was here he met Siegfried Sassoon anoth er patient and poet. The period at Craig Lockhart was in many ways Owens most creative time, where he wrote many of the poems that he is known for to this day. Like many of Owen’s other poems ‘Disabled’ explores the themes of war and the impact on soldiers. This poem particularly focusses on one individual and is interpreted by many as a poem that invites the reader to pity and empathise the above the knee, double amputee war hero for the loss of his legs. However, this interpretation not only disregards the subjects social isolation which Owen directly addresses in this poem, but also fails to acknowledge the subjects identity as a human being as defined by the language throughout the poem. ‘Disabled’ reveals the irony of war, a soldier’s fight for his countries freedom which in tu... ...e the terrible realities of the deaths. it is widely known that prayers and ells represent a celebration to the souls that have ascended into heaven, but Owen points out in this poem that the deaths on the battlefield were so horrific and needless that even religion cannot save these souls. Owen wants readers to recognise that no sort of harmonic music can be enjoyed through the sounds of war. ‘At the end of the day, the battlefield is left â€Å"sad† because the pain is so great that even an inanimate object could empathize and feel the pain of the losses of soldiers’. Works Cited http://dsq-sds.org/article/view/530/707 A Critical Analysis of Wilfred Owen's "Disabled". Copyright 2005 by the Society for Disability Studies. (ACCESSED 30TH 05 2012) http://litxpert.wordpress.com/2012/03/24/poetry-analysis-disabled-wilfred-owen/ litxpert, Disabled analysis,

Dorothy Richardson Essay -- Biography Biographies Essays

Though acknowledged by literary circles as the first writer to use the stream-of-consciousness technique in her writing, Dorothy Richardson is not as widely recognized as the founder of this style. Her mannerisms and thought processes were affected for the rest of her life by her upbringing in a poverty-stricken family. Brought into the world in 1873, Richardson was destined for stereotypical feminine occupations: a tutor-governess in Hanover and London, a secretary, and an assistant. Her mother’s suicide in 1895 completely broke up the family, only adding to the need for Richardson to find a means of supporting herself. Fortunately, Richardson became involved with the socialists in the area, as well with the people living in Bloomsbury, and soon after she abandoned her secretarial work. She became involved in translations and freelance journalism as an introduction to the bohemian lifestyle; from there she met and married Alan Odel, a much younger man who was somewhat of a cult figure in bohemia at the time, with his waist length hair he wore wrapped around his head. Throughout her lifetime, Richardson published a large number of essays, short stories, poems, as well as sketches. Most famous is her Pilgrimage series, a thirteen novel project that was the first in literature to employ what Richardson preferred to call â€Å"interior monologues.† Pointed Roofs was the first novel in the series and consequentially, the first to introduce such a style of writing. She presented the story with a sense of immediacy, rather than from a retrospective view. Instead of telling narratives in the sense that the realists did, Richardson let the current moment monopolize the literature so that the present could prevail over the past. It... ... Hanscombe, Gillian E. The Art of Life: Dorothy Richardson and the Development of Feminist Consciousness. Athens: Ohio Universty P, 1983. Staley, Thomas F. Dorothy Richardson. Boston: Twayne, 1976. Winning, Joanne. The Pilgrimage of Dorothy Richardson . Wisconsin Press. 21 Mar. 2004 . Related Links: Women of the Left Bank http://home.sprynet.com/~ditallop/homepage.htm Modernism: American Salons http://www.cwru.edu/artsci/engl/VSALM/mod/ International Review of Modernism http://www.modernism.wsu.edu/ Eisenstein, Joyce, and the Gender Politics of English Literary Modernism http://www.arts.uwaterloo.ca/FINE/juhde/tiess931.htm â€Å"The Part Played by Women:† The Gender of Modernism at the Armory Show http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MUSEUM/Armory/gender.html

Motivation to Pursue a Healthcare MBA program Essay

Early in life, my family taught me the value of work, the importance of managing, respecting, gratifying the needs of the employees satisfactorily and the rigors of establishing and maintaining a business. For over 20 years, my family has owned and operated a chain of 11 convenient stores and other small businesses. Surrounded and influenced by the ups and downs of daily business life I developed the impetus to succeed in a business setting. With this business experience, the compilation of science courses taken throughout college and the experience gained in the industry, I am determined to further develop my stance on how I could be most valuable in the society; as a healthcare administrator or hospital CEO. Throughout the years I have acquired the basics of understanding the health care set up, but a Healthcare MBA from George Washington University is thus the master key to give me the knowledge and skills necessary to conscientiously and professionally execute the responsibilities of hospital CEO. During my time whilst at UNC, I was involved with the agency, Communities in Schools, whereby I offered to mentor and/or tutor high school students. A particular experience I cherish is when I helped a certain weak student, who had lost hope in school, to build confidence and motivation to study hard and pass his exams. The student is now attending college and attributes his success to my helping him discover his own potential. These endeavors have allowed me to assume the role of a mentor and an instructor, and have further taught me to become a communicative leader who can guide others in their development. Moreover, the sheer amount of pleasure I received from aiding the students in achieving their goals reflects my commitment to a career of service, which your program will steer me towards perfecting. I have perfected my abilities to work well under pressure with minimum supervision throughout the years; the necessary virtues of a good administrator. Perhaps even more important, throughout my experience, I have discovered the importance of sharing and accepting criticism. I understand how to deliver feedback without judging or discouraging others, and I use the advice of others to improve my own behavior. I admit that throughout my college education, my academic performance was sub-par; however, I attribute this to spending ample time participating in various non-academic activities. I was pushed to my limit as I was compelled to balance my time between studying and maintaining involvement in other aspects of my life that I am passionate, serving others and dancing. Although being an active person affected my scholastic performance, it was my involvement in those activities that stimulated my leadership potential, trained me to network with various agencies, and allowed me to give something small back to my community. It takes perseverance, drive and passion to rise above set-backs that we create for ourselves along the way and my long-term goal has served as the light at the end of the tunnel. My goal is simple: intellectual enrichment and to use my knowledge to help build a better society. The experience, knowledge and skills I have accumulated this far, put me in a position to successfully embark on new challenges. I want to pursue a higher degree because I know I have the potential to achieve academic success and thus redeem my undergraduate academic experience. It is my belief and conviction that a person is educated if they constantly strive to attain knowledge while simultaneously recognizing the usefulness of this knowledge towards society. Confident in my ability to adapt well and learn new techniques, I am ready to commit and follow the advice of my mentors; pursue a Healthcare MBA from George Washington University.

Chaim Potok Research Paper

The Story of Chaim Potok There have been many innovational authors throughout all of history, from R. L Stein, to Shakespeare, to Roald Dahl to J. K. Rowling. They all have different stories that have seriously impacted the literature world in unique ways. An essential author to add to that list is Chaim Potok, who not only was an outstanding author, but was also a very inspirational religious icon for many Jewish people in the world. Potok was born in New York City in 1929. He was raised in the Hasidic faith of Judaism.He grew up in a household where a high class of edicate and manners were enforced (Newsmakers. Detroit: Gale, 2003). Due to his way of life he later on developed tight grasp of art. His parents highly disapproved of this and did not want him to â€Å"waste his time† with this. In the Jewish household painting is seen as the least acknowledged and ambitious hobby. Potok attended Yeshiva University, and became a rabbi after graduating. He began rabbinical studies at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York. He soon received his master’s degree in Hebrew literature.In 1954 he served as a chaplain for the United States army while posted in South Korea. Later on throughout his life he began a teaching post at the University of Judaism. As years of study flew by this motivated Jew, he managed to earn a doctorate in philosophy in the University of Pennsylvania. The next Two Years flew right by, leading to the event of him writing his very first novel, The Chosen One, which was the very first novel ever to have a Hasidic Jewish setting (Contemporary Authors Online). This was a serious impact and appraisal of the Judaism Religion.This life unique novel was on the New York’s best sellers list for approximately 6 months. Potok elaborated expanded his new style of writing-by-writing more books on the daily life of Jews and child’s stories. Potok had a unique style of writing followed by a look of religious influence as well. H e usually conveyed the theme of Judaism/Hasidic through his precise use of characterization and dialogue. The majority of his beautiful creations were about how everyone should have some sort of faith in their lives and how religion has a huge impact on modern day life.Potok wrote about Jewish culture was viewed directly from the shoes of a very own Jew. He frequently focused on the issues and controversies in the Jewish Culture. Most of his life and works of literature were dedicated to his very own religion and faith, which was portrayed through his own writing. Potok received multiple awards for his unique book (St. James Guide to Young Adult Writers). The Chosen One was on the New York Time’s bestseller’s category for about 6 months, that is some very outstanding time to be a bestseller especially since Judaism is one of the least popular religions in the U.S. As the years passed his literature career slowly declined in success and popularity due to critics claimin g his unique style of writing wasn’t that professional, very mediocre, and not nearly as polished as his original creations. He was criticized according to that manner the following, â€Å"In The Beginning,† â€Å"The Book of Lights,† and â€Å"DaVita’s Harp† (St. James Guide to Young Adult Writers). â€Å"He wrote in a straightforward pose that some critics found unpolished and other likened to that of Hemingway. † said the New York Time’s Fox.On the other hand, many other critics loved and admired Potok’s love for his religion, the need to express his feeling about Jewish beliefs from a first person perspective, and the fearlessness in his writing tone. â€Å"Although his writing angered and scandalized some Jews, others applauded it his belief in the Jewish faith† Said critics from the Los Angeles Times. Chaim Potok died on July 23, 2002 due to the spread and intensity of brain cancer he had been diagnosed with. He di ed at the age of 73 years old. He was a motivating, inspirational, and phenomenal author that will never be forgotten throughout the Jewish culture.His name will be remembered as one of the most inspirational writers of all time, as well as a huge religious icon. Although critics often downsized him, he will always be known as being one of the greatest American Jewish writers of the 20th century. â€Å"Chaim Potok. †Ã‚  Newsmakers. Detroit: Gale, 2003. GaleBiography In Context. Web. 1 May 2012. â€Å"Chaim Potok. †Ã‚  St. James Guide to Young Adult Writers. Gale, 1999. Gale Biography In Context. Web. 1 May 2012. â€Å"Chaim Potok. †Ã‚  Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale, 2007. Gale Biography In Context. Web. 1 May 2012.

Conflict Management

If a conflict should arise over the course of the team project, Group 4 has agreed to mitigate the conflict as soon as possible. Based on the situation of the conflict, whether It Is personal or technical for example, the team will come together and discuss the situation. Once all details of the conflict are known, the team will determine the best way to address the conflict by a majority rules team vote. After a decision is made it will take effect immediately to address the conflict. Note: All conflicts and decisions will be thoroughly discussed with the course instructor along he way for suggestions and ultimate authority. B. Motivation and stability are keys for success in the team project. Group 4 possess these qualities and does not foresee a lack of either throughout the length of the project. However, in an unforeseen circumstance where lack of motivation is identified by the team, it will be addressed immediately. The team will address the team member who Is not performing a t the expected level of commitment.This will either be done In a group setting (weekly team call) or an Individual representing the team reaching out to the member after speaking with the other team members. . Address the situation with the team member (either In a group or Individual setting). 2. Determine if the team member needs additional help or other action to bring their motivation back up. 3. Based on the needs, action will be taken by the team to remedy the situation. *Note: All concerns about motivation of a team member will be thoroughly discussed with the course instructor along the way for suggestions and ultimate authority.Based on the situations that follow, the specific action will be taken to address and mitigate the situation. L. Team member falls Into one or more categories below: Non-responsive: If Group 4 Identifies a team member that has become non- responsive (unless previously notified due to travel, business, etc. ); the team will try to reach out to the mem ber by email several times. If there is still no response after 5 days, the team will then contact the team member by phone (contact phone number for emergencies provided to team).If contact is still not made, the team will get the course instructor involved in the situation. – Disruptive: If a team member becomes disruptive to the team (continually derailing team meetings, email discussions, or deliverables), Group 4 will mom together to address the situation immediately. The individual will be address by the team in a team that the Individual's actions are not meeting or group email. The team will state conducive to team activities and the actions need to stop Immediately.If the situation continues after an Nominal conversation or email, the course Instructor will be notified and action will be taken accordingly. – Not actively contributing: If a team member is not actively contributing, Group be address by the team in a team meeting or group email. It will be determ ined if the individual Just needs extra help that the team can provide r if it is another circumstance not related to the course. If the situation cannot be remedied through added help from the team, Group 4 will consult with the course instructor to determine the best course of action. Not participating in weekly conference calls: If a team member is not attending weekly conference calls on a regular basis (unless previously notified due to travel, business, etc. ); the team will reach out to the team member through email first then the emergency phone number provided to discuss the situation. If the issue is not resolved, – Produces low-quality work: If a team member is providing low-quality work recently, Group 4 will come together to address the situation immediately.The individual will be address by the team in a team meeting or group email. It will be determined if the individual Just needs extra help that the team can provide or some other reason. If the member does no t want team help and still provides low-quality work, Group 4 will consult with the course instructor to determine the best course of action. It. If a team member decides to drop the class, Group 4 will come together to address the situation immediately. The remaining members of the team will reassign the work, so everyone in Group 4 will have a fair amount.Depending at what point a team member may drop, Group 4 will reach out to the course instructor if it will greatly impact a deliverable with an approaching deadline. Iii. If a team member has an emergency and cannot participate, Group 4 will come together to address the situation immediately. The remaining members of the team will reassign the work, so everyone in Group 4 will have a fair amount. If the team member will be able to return at some point, the team will again come together and divide the work up so each team member has a fair amount. Throughout this time, communication with the course instructor will also be in effec t. Conflict management Organizations exist to accomplish sine set goals and objectives. NAMP’s main goals is to offer support to the US navy especially in terms of maintenance to fleet and other navy equipment in various settings including combat missions. In the process of execution of its goals an organization is bound to experience conflict, for NAMP these conflicts are real considering the fact that, the organization is comprised of staff from the diverse US culture and the fact that, operations in NAMP calls for team work as opposed to individual efforts.Therefore, conflicts emerge and how such conflicts are managed determines whether NAMP functions effectively. To ensure that, conflicts are resolved to the advantage of the organization, NAMP should use the following conflict resolution strategies. Such strategies include avoidance, accommodating, forcing, compromise as well as problem solving (win-win) strategy.IntroductionOrganizations exist to achieve some set goals and objective. Organizati onal goals and objectives guides any given organization into the achievement of the specific goals and objectives a set out in the organizational policies and procedures.   To achieve organizational objectives and goals, any given organization engages several resources such as man, money, machine, technology and raw materials and knowledge.   Whenever teams are formed, conflicts emerge. Conflicts if managed well through utilization of conflict resolution strategies can benefit the organization a lot. Unless conflicts in teams are well managed, job performance goes down, as well as employee morale and motivation.Background InformationManagement of an organization is responsible for ensuring that all the resources of an organization are utilized so well so as to ensure that the organization achieves its mission.   Where human beings are involved conflicts always come up.   Navy, like any other given organization, conflicts arise and when they do, there is a need for conflict r esolution by applying conflict management principles such as avoidance, accommodating, forcing, compromise as well as problem solving (win-win) strategy (Valley, 2006.231-245).   Conflicts are important to an organization in that if well managed they result into the birth of new ideas.   The Navy relies on teamwork so as to execute its functions well.Where teams exist there is a need for a spirit of cooperation so as to achieve that synergetic function as teams as opposed to operating like individuals.   The Navy recruits officers from all cultural backgrounds in the US and therefore it naturally occurs that the people who end up joining teams in the Navy are comprised of diverse cultural backgrounds.   This can be a leading source of conflict in the Navy and it calls for careful management, which is non-partisan and geared towards achieving a common good for all.   NAMP is responsible for offering logistical support through aircraft maintenance.By the virtue of maintainin g Navy aircraft, NAMP constitutes an integral part of naval operations and therefore any conflicts, which interrupts morale of workers in this department affects the whole Navy force (Bohrer, 2002.24-65).   The staff of NAMP is divided into 3 levels which include the organizational level also referred to as the O-Level, performs maintenance for aircraft as well as aeronautical equipment services, preventive maintenance, inspections as well as corrective maintenance (Bohrer, 2002.48-66).The other levels, which MAMP is organized around, are the intermediate level responsible for combat maintenance and support also referred to as I-Level. The other level of NAMP is the Depot level involved in overhauling obsolete fleet (Bohrer, 2002.55-68).   The fact that NAMP constitutes of officers in several levels such as O-Level, I-Level, D-Level as well as OMD officers implies that officers at NAMP have to constantly function in support to each other, subsequently conflicts are always bound to happen.   The following are some practical conflict resolution, which are applied at NAMP to ensure that conflicts do not disintegrate teams but on the contrary to make sure that conflicts are resolved to the advantage of the organization.BodyConflict resolution is only effective whereby; all efforts bear in mind the sources of conflicts in teams such as, unresolved conflicts, frustration in team members, which all reduce the effectiveness of teams (Schermerhon, Hunt, & Osborn, 2005.35-79). In terms of value, it is important to align team members’ values so that they are in agreements with organizational values. This ensures that employee behavior is in conformity with organizational galls and objectives. This is important and where individual goals are in conflict with organizational goals the latter should take precedence.Collaboration and problem solving is an effective way of handling conflicts in teams. Collaboration calls for the team members to brainstorm the sour ce of conflicts so as to come up with effective solutions to the emerging problems. Members are allowed the freedom to decide on the best solution to the problem which is task oriented (Cranny, Smith, & Stone, 1992.46-66). Collaboration calls for a give and take attitude in which team members can compromise their opinions and ideas for the success of the team.Collaboration allows room for all teams to work together in harmony with resolutions to conflict being suitable and in line with team’s interests. Collaboration as a conflict resolution strategy is ideal for teams in that, it leads to the participation of all team members in the decision making process (Schermerhon, Hunt, & Osborn, 2005.37-78).Avoidance is another conflict resolution strategy, which is very central and important to teams. Avoidance as a strategy is based on the belief that some conflicts arise out of petty and minor differences which are to easy to resolve as long as employees are willing to sit down and act as groups for the common benefit of the organization (Tajfeh, & Turner, 1979.64-81). Avoidance as a conflict resolution strategy is based on the understanding that, human beings are different and therefore differences are inevitable. Where conflicts are solved well, teams regain and strengthen trust in each other as well as trust in the organization .Avoidance strategy therefore advocates for forgiveness in order to achieve slow healing of differences. Avoidance requires conflicting members of a team to engage in less physical contact in order to allow individual differences to heal (Spector, Fox & Van Katwyk, 1999.12-32). Therefore, avoidance of the source of conflict is an effective means of strengthening interpersonal relations in teams.Authoritative command has been found to be an effective conflict resolution strategy. Authoritative command assumes that, team leaders can effectively solve the differences between employees or team members. This is an easy and faster way of resolving conflicts given the fact that, this conflict resolution strategy is the very fast and does not involve a lot of deliberations which may be time consuming. Given the fact that leaders have authority, arbitrating becomes easy hence speeding up the conflict resolution process. Unlike the collaboration approach, authoritative command does not leave room for brainstorming of issues and decisions are left to the discretion of the team leader (Tajfeh, & Turner, 1979.74-81).The other common conflict resolution strategy is accommodation method. Accommodation is especially useful in resolving conflicts resulting from individual differences. It involves team members giving up the possible gains in a conflict situation to accommodate opinions of other team members (Fox, & Spector, 1999.109-126). This method is useful in building effective teams based on mutual understanding. Finally, comprise is also a conflict resolution commonly used by teams to resolve conflicts.Compromise as a con flict resolution strategy calls for the team members to settle for less, for the sake of the team and the organization. In a compromise situation a team member may accept to suffer in order arrive at solutions to challenges and for the sake of the survival of the team (Cranny, Smith, & Stone, 1992.47-65). Compromise is useful in situations, which threaten the very survival of an organization.Conclusion Team building takes a lot of organization resources and conflicts should not be left to bring down the team spirit. To ensure the survival of teams in organization calls for a good understanding of the nature, types, causes and resolution strategies. Whereby conflicts are resolved well, teams move from strength to strength and the organization achieves goals and objectives.RecommendationsIt is recommendable for NAMP to utilize; avoidance, accommodating, forcing, compromise as well as problem solving (win-win) strategy wherever challenges emerge in the process to running the day to day activities of the organization. Conflict resolution can not be well management unless managers’ are well trained. There is a need for NAMP to train its managers in skills related to conflict resolution so as to make sure that, the organization continues to offer its services uninterrupted, and to maintain high staff morale as well as prevent staff turnover which often results if conflicts are not well managed.ReferencesBohrer, D. 2002.24-65. America’s Special Forces.   Minnesota. Zenith press.Cranny, C, Smith, P. and Stone, E.1992.46-66. Job satisfaction. New York: Lexington.Fox, S and Spector, P. 1999.102-142. A model of work frustration-aggression. Journal of organization at Behavior. 20.Spector, P., Fox, S., and Van Katwyk, P. 1999.12-32. The role of negative affectivity in employee reactions to jobs characteristics: Bias effect or substantive effect. Journal of occupational and organizational Psychology, 72.Schermerhon, S., Hunt, J., and Osborn, R. 2005.35-79. O rganizational behavior. 9ed. John Wiley $ Sons Inc.Tajfeh, H., and Turner, J. 1979.64-81. An intergroup conflict in W.G.Austin & S. Worchel (Eds). The social psychology of intergroup relation. Monterey, CA; Brooks/Cole.Valley, P.H. 2006.231-245. Theory and application of managerial communications. United States: McGraw-Hill / Irwin.

Blue Nile Study Questions

Marking Scheme Mid Semester Exams Lecturers: Anthony Oboe Spool and Robert Amok-LIndsay Section A (40 Marks) Provide Short and concise answers 1 Explain the term sustainable competitive advantage and why it is so Important to a winning business strategy. (5 marks) Suggested Answer A company achieves sustainable competitive advantage when an attractive number or buyers prefer its products/services over those of rivals and when the basis for this preference can be maintained over time.Competitive advantage could stem from offering lower prices than competitors for equivalent benefits or providing unique benefits that more than offset a higher price. (3 marks) Sustainable competitive advantage is necessary for a firm to win in the market place. It is required for a strategy to deliver on strategic and financial objectives (2 marks) 2. Using examples briefly explain and state the Importance of each of the following a) Strategic vision Strategic vision represents the destination that mana gement seeks to take a firm.Ford's vision â€Å"A car in every garage† Importance Give the organization a sense of direction Inform company personnel and other stakeholders what management wants Its business to look like Spur company personnel to action Provide managers with a reference point to (2. 5 marks for explanation and any 2 points mentioned as importance of strategic vision) b) Strategic mission Strategic mission of a firm focuses on its present business purpose. Strategic mission highlight the present products and services, types of customers served and how it intends to do that.Examples Beacon Books: â€Å"To inspire and equip business executives and entrepreneurs with essential information and knowledge they require for professional and personal growth† Google: â€Å"To organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful† Importance: It focuses the business by identifying the boundaries of the current business It distinguis hes a firm from others and gives it an identity of its own. (2. 5 marks) (5 marks) 3. Explain the meaning and significance of each of the following: a. Strategic group mapping A strategic group is a cluster of firms in an industry with similar competitive approaches and market positions. Strategic group mapping entails plotting firms in n industry on a two-variable map using pairs of these differentiating characteristics e. G. Product line breadth, distribution channel use, geographic coverage, price, quality etc. It helps firms to know their positions in the industry versus their rivals It helps firms to know which competitors to focus on in their quest to make strategic moves It helps them to know which positions in the market or industry are attractive to players in the market. 2. 5 marks for explanation of strategic group mapping and any of the above points mentioned) b. ) The bargaining power of suppliers Bargaining power of suppliers defines the extent to which suppliers of in puts to competing firms in an industry are able to dictate the price, quality, quantity and even timing of supplies to these firms. The bargaining power of suppliers has an impact on the cost, profitability and a firm's ability to satisfy its customers and for that matter its competitiveness. Powerful 4.Identify and briefly explain any two of the factors that influence the strength or intensity of competitive rivalry among an industry member firms. (5 marks) Factors Competitors are active in making fresh moves to improve market standing and easiness performance Slow market growth Number of rivals increases and rivals are of equal size and competitive capability Buyer costs to switch brands are low Industry conditions tempt rivals to use price cuts or other competitive weapons to boost volume e. . Perishable or seasonal A successful strategic move carries a big payoff Outsiders acquire weak firms in the industry and use their resources to transform new firms into major market contend ers (5 marks for any two of the above factors mentioned and explained) 5†¦ Identify and briefly explain any two factors that lead to strong bargaining power on the part of suppliers. (5 marks)Industry members incur high costs in switching their purchases to alternative suppliers Needed inputs are in short supply Supplier provides a differentiated input that enhances the quality of performance of sellers' products or is a valuable part of sellers' production process There are only a few suppliers of a specific input Some suppliers threaten to integrate forward (5 marks for any two of the above factors mentioned and explained) strength and leverage of buyers. 5 marks) Buyer switching costs to competing brands or substitutes are low Buyers are large and can demand concessions Large-volume purchases by buyers are important to sellers Buyer demand is weak or declining Only a few buyers exists Identity of buyer adds prestige to seller's list of customers Quantity and quality of infor mation available to buyers improves Buyers have ability to postpone purchases until later Buyers threaten to integrate backward (5 marks for any two of the above factors mentioned and discussed) 7.Using examples explain the difference between a core competence, and a distinctive competence. A core competence is a well-performed internal activity central to a company's competitiveness and profitability. It tends to relate to a firm's ability to perform activities that are critical for success in an industry e. G. A better after-sale service capability A distinctive competence is a competitively valuable activity a company performs better than its rivals.For example Toast's low cost, high quality manufacturing of automobiles â€Å"Lean Production† is far superior to that of other automakers, (5 marks for explanation and establishing the difference between core competence and distinctive competence) 8. What is benchmarking and why is it a strategically important analytical tool? (5 marks) Benchmark focuses on cross-company comparisons of how certain activities are reformed and costs associated with these activities. It looks at things such as purchase of materials, management of inventories, getting new products to the market and so on. 2 marks) Identify best and most efficient means of performing various value chain activities Learn what is the best way to perform a particular activity from those companies who have demonstrated that they are â€Å"best-in-industry' or â€Å"best-in-world† at performing the activity Learn what other firms do to perform an activity at lower cost Figure out what actions to take to improve a company's own cost competitiveness (3 marks for NY 2 points identified and explained) Section B (80 marks 1 . Analyze the competitive forces confronting Blue Nile and other online retail jeweler's.Do a five-forces analysis to support your answer. State the relative strength of each competitive force. Below is a representative five -forces model of competition for the online Jewelry business: Rivalry among online Jeweler's?a moderate to strong competitive force that is likely to intensify in the years ahead. Students should conclude that rivalry among Blue Nile and other online Jeweler's is normal to moderate, but it is likely to grow ore intense (owing to the success that Blue Nile is enjoying).Rivalry is centered on such factors as Price and value delivered to customers Selection and breadth/variety of product offerings Ability to customize and customization options The caliber and trustworthiness of the information/guidance provided to online shoppers (educational information, in-depth product information, access to professional grading reports, and so on) Image/reputation Customer service User friendliness of web site?search functionality, ease of browsing through all the selections, finding and understanding the information provided, etc.Refund and return policies Advertising and promotion?Much of the adv ertising/promotion is being done online, but the online Jewelry business is not one that is a heavy user of TV, radio, and newspaper advertising on a regular basis. Word-of-mouth is a fairly big factor Most online Jewelry competitors pursued either a differentiation strategy to try to set themselves apart or else tried to attract shoppers via the appeal of very low prices (which entailed employing a low-cost strategy).Some rivals focused their efforts narrowly on particular Jewelry items/product categories while others had broad reduce lines. Several factors were working to affect rivalry among industry participants: All rivals seem to be actively and busily trying to attract Jewelry shoppers to their websites, partly via online advertising and promotional initiatives (including search engine listings)?fresh strategic initiatives on the part of various rivals heightens rivalry. Low switching costs on the part of buyers?it is simple for people shopping for jewelry online to locate an d visit competitor web sites.Rivalry decreases when the rate of market growth rises?sales of Jewelry online seem o be growing briskly (with the sales increases coming at the expense of brick-and mortar Jewelry retailers). There is reason to suspect that the online Jewelry segment of the overall retail Jewelry industry is in its infancy (an emerging business or industry in its own right); hence, online sales of Jewelry are likely to grow faster than sales of Jewelry in general?a condition which will act to contain rivalry among online jeweler's.Rivalry increases when one or more rivals are dissatisfied with their market position and launch moves to bolster their standing at the expense of rivals. A case can be Dade that Blue Nile and most all of its online rivals are â€Å"dissatisfied† and thus are likely to make further moves to bolster their market standing, image, and sales. Rivalry increases as the product offerings of rivals become more standardized? many of the online J eweler's seems to be offering shopper many of the same things? wide selection, customization, educational information, access to grading reports, and so on.We see the differentiation among online Jewelry rivals as growing smaller/ weaker, not larger/stronger?with the possible exception of reputation/image, where Blue Nile seems to be the standout leader. Threat of entry?a moderate to strong competitive force Blue Niles success and growing reputation will almost certainly draw more competitors into online Jewelry sales. The barriers to entry into the online segment of the Jewelry industry are moderately The costs of developing a Web site.Developing supply chain relationships Developing order fulfillment capability and achieving short delivery times Expenditures for advertising and promotion needed to draw visitors to a web site and build a trustworthy reputation/image. In addition, students should see that the pool of entry candidates is probably fairly rage?especially for brick-and- mortar retailers already in the Jewelry business. Hence, the entry threat in upcoming years should be viewed as fairly strong. There would seem to be ample opportunity for new entrants to gain a market foothold and to achieve a level of sales high to be profitable.But the longer a company delays entry, the harder it will be to compete effectively against online Jeweler's like Blue Nile that have built a clientele and that have formidable images/reputations. Competition from substitute sellers of Jewelry?a very strong competitive force. Obviously, Jewelry shoppers have many other options for buying Jewelry than from online retailers. Traditional brick-and-mortar Jewelry retailers have the lion's share of the market and currently are the retailers of choice for the big majority of Jewelry shoppers. Hence, the competition that online Jeweler's face from other Jewelry retailers is quite formidable.In addition, there are hordes of possible substitutes for Jewelry altogether (but most peo ple are unlikely to see these alternatives as good substitutes). Consequently, students should conclude that substitutes for buying Jewelry online re a strong competitive force, given that Acceptable substitute sources for purchasing Jewelry are readily available and the prices charged by some of these substitute types of Jeweler's are reasonably competitive Buyer costs to switch to substitute types of Jewelry retailers are relatively low Many consumers are familiar with and comfortable with buying Jewelry from other than online Jewelry retailers.The bargaining power and leverage of suppliers to the online Jewelry retailers and jeweler-supplier collaboration?a moderately strong competitive force, especially as encores the suppliers of diamonds/gems and other Jewelry items. Students should recognize that the suppliers of gems/diamonds/]leery items have considerable bargaining power and leverage in determining the prices and terms at which they will supply their products.Yes, there ar e many alternative suppliers, and it would seem relatively easy for a it is doubtful that suppliers compete aggressively with one another on price?in other words, switching suppliers is unlikely to lead to acquiring a particular gem of particular quality at a lower price.There is no evidence in the case that suppliers of monads/gems compete with one another on the basis of price (indeed, with the exception of Blue Nile and other online Jeweler's, there is little evidence that price competition is active in the market for fine Jewelry?that is, rival Jeweler's are not aggressively trying to compete with one another by selling a diamond of given cut, clarity, grade, etc. At a lower price than their rivals). Blue Niles lower prices stem from its lower costs of doing business, not from the fact that it obtains diamonds/ gems at lower prices than do traditional retail Jeweler's.What is important for students to recognize here is that Blue Niles close elaboration with its diamond/gem suppl iers has resulted in giving it a lower cost value chain as compared to traditional Main Street Jeweler's. The distinctive feature of Blue Niles supply chain was its arrangements with leading diamond and gem suppliers that allowed it to display the suppliers' diamonds and gems on its web site; some of these arrangement entailed multi-year agreements whereby designated diamonds of the suppliers were offered to online consumers only at Blue Niles websites.Blue Niles suppliers represented more than half of the total supply of high-quality diamonds in the U. S. Blue Nile did not actually purchase a diamond or gem from these suppliers until an order was placed by a customer; this enabled Blue Nile to minimize the costs associated with carrying large inventories and limited its risk of potential mark-downs. Other online Jeweler's seem to have similar collaborative arrangements with their diamond/gem suppliers.These collaborative arrangements offer a sizable cost advantage over Main Street Jeweler's?these cost- saving arrangements put added competitive pressure on traditional local Jeweler's because such collaboration (and the resulting lower cost business model) puts them t a cost disadvantage. The bargaining power and leverage of Jewelry shoppers?a weak competitive force Individuals have little power to bargain for a lower price on the Jewelry items they are looking to purchase (except perhaps in the case of very expensive items where some price haggling is often fairly normal).Individuals can, of course, choose to buy or not buy at the marked price but no one individual is usually in a position to enter into direct negotiations over the terms and conditions under which he or she will purchase a diamond ring or other Jewelry item from an online retailer. Any individual an certainly opt to buy from one retailer rather than another, but this does not equate to bargaining and exerting leverage.Conclusions concerning the overall strength of competitive forces: Competiti ve pressures in online Jewelry retailing are strong but not overwhelming so (the best evidence for this is Blue Niles record of attracting new customers and growing its sales at a rapid clip?a convincing sign that it is able to successfully contend with the prevailing competitive forces). Currently, we see competition from substitute types of forces.The entry of new competitors could also prove to be significant, if one or more f the new entrants have a well-recognized and trusted brand name and if such entrants opt to price their products competitively versus the prices charged by Blue Nile. Moreover, while competition is fairly strong, it is not so strong as to prevent companies like Blue Nile from being profitable. The online Jewelry retailing portion of the Jewelry industry is rather attractive from the standpoint of promising growth and attractive long-term profitability?Blue Nile is demonstrating that its business model and strategy are quite attractive.This is the big reason why new entry can be expected. But online sales of fine Jewelry is likely to remain a relatively small fraction of total sales of fine Jewelry for years to come?traditional brick-and-mortar local jeweler's are not going to be driven out of business by online Jeweler's in the foreseeable future. (5 Marks for each point well discussed with the appropriate verdict or conclusion on each competitive force) 2. Do a SOOT analysis of Blue Nile. What are key conclusions you can draw about the its situation?Blue Niles Resource Strengths and Competitive Assets the current market leader in the online retail Jewelry segment by a wide margin AAA teeter known brand name and reputation than rivals AAA first-rate strategy and business model AAA broad and attractive product line from customers to choose from AAA user-friendly web site with good search functionality and very good educational information A sizable and competitively potent cost advantage over traditional local Jewelry stores due to lean operating costs and a cost-effective supply chain Its collaborative partnership arrangements with important diamond/gem suppliers Good product customization and order fulfillment capabilities (core competencies) Blue Niles ability o grow sales with very little incremental capital investment Blue Niles Resource Weaknesses and Competitive Liabilities Limited brand name recognition?many shoppers for fine Jewelry have never heard of Blue Nile Limited financial resources relative to bigger and better-known retail Jewelry chains There is nothing proprietary about Blue Niles strategy and business model?both are subject to imitation by rivals Market Opportunities Geographic expansion?entry into the markets of foreign countries Lots of room to grow the business by attracting customers away from traditional local Jewelry stores in the U. S. ?Blue Nile still has such a relatively small market share of the total market for fine Jewelry in the U. S. That it can continue to employ its current st rategy for many years. The more that the word spreads about Blue Niles attractive prices and quality the more it stands to steal away customers from traditional local Jeweler's.Product line expansion External Threats to Blue Niles Future Well-Being The entry of more online Jewelry rivals that opt to employ much the same strategy and business model?especially if these new entrants should be retailers that have a brand name that is more widely recognized and trusted than Blue Niles. Diamond/ gem suppliers either become less willing for Blue Nile to display their inventories on Blue Niles web site or decide not to renew their multi-year agreements with Blue Nile whereby certain designated diamonds in their inventories are offered to online consumers only at Blue Niles websites. (Blue Niles suppliers represented more than half of the total supply of high-quality diamonds in the U. S. Untold numbers of people shopping for fine Jewelry are very leery of buying fine Jewel online and thus a re not likely to ever be customers of Blue Nile Key Pointed and Conclusions Blue Niles strategy, business model, resource strengths, and competitive capabilities put it in a very strong market position to succeed in the online retail Jewelry business in the upcoming years?it is easy to understand why the company has been extremely successful in growing its sales over the past several years. Blue Nile would seem to have a sustainable cost advantage over traditional brick-and mortar retailers of fine Jewelry. Blue Nile has no resource weaknesses that make it highly vulnerable to competitive attack from local Jeweler's.