The Pirate Bay Case Study Essay Example

The Pirate Bay Case Study Essay Watchwords: commercial, copyright, advanced, record sharing, theft, The Pirate Bay The Pirate Bay (TPTB) is an online registry of computerized content, established in 2003, that permits clients to look, download and contribute magnet connections and deluge documents, which empowers distributed record sharing. In 2009, the sites four organizers were seen as liable in Sweden for encouraging copyright encroachment and condemned each to one year in jail and installment of $3. 5 million in compensation to the offended parties (significant record mark firms). A few nations have required Internet specialist organizations to square access to the site. Consequently, intermediaries have had the option to give access to the site. TPTB is engaging the court judgment and still can't seem to pay any fines or serve whenever in prison. In 2011, the firm moved its servers to an obscure area in Sweden, just as scattering a few duplicates in different nations (Lauded Travel, 2013). The worldwide web world is loaded with document sharing locales like The Pirate Bay, they work by initiating, empowering and urging clients to share music and different types of copyrighted substance without the consent of the copyright holder. This unlawful trade of copyright material falls supranational on U. We will compose a custom article test on The Pirate Bay Case Study explicitly for you for just $16.38 $13.9/page Request now We will compose a custom article test on The Pirate Bay Case Study explicitly for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Recruit Writer We will compose a custom article test on The Pirate Bay Case Study explicitly for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Recruit Writer S. Organizations, investors and representatives, just as on administrative, State and neighborhood governments. Consequently the U. S. Government, European Union just as a few different nations are attempting to brace licensed innovation insurance laws. Is it workable for The Pirate Bay and other record offering administrations to bear even to results of enormous fines and detainment (for both site proprietors and clients)? Maybe more significantly, will new media stages with the help of copyright proprietors be sufficient to debilitate clients from sharing and acquiring pilfered preliminaries? The Impact of Piracy In 2007, The Institute for strategy Innovation discharged a report expressing that robbery of sound accounts has come about in $12. 5 billion dollars in misfortunes to the U. S. Economy yearly (additionally amazing, $20. 5 billion to the film business); $422 million in lost government, state and nearby assessment income yearly; 71 ,060 lost positions; and $2 billion in lost wages to American specialists (Seek, 2007). Today industry incomes from computerized designs keep on developing, surpassing $4 billion without precedent for 2012, and achieving about $4. Billion of every 201 3 while meaning 64% of industry incomes, advanced music burglary has been a main consideration behind the degeneration in deals inside the most recent 15 years (decrease of 53%). Regardless of the diminishing in the utilization of distributed locales as of late, different arrangements of computerized robbery have been rising, involving unsanctioned advanced extra closets used to dispense c opyrighted music, smoothing out projects, and portable applications that help advanced substance burglary (ARIA 2015). Later examinations held by the Recording Industry Association of America show that from 2004 to 2009 alone, around 30 billion ones were unlawfully downloaded on document sharing systems, similar to The Pirate Bay; just 37% of music procured in the U. S. In 2009 was lawfully paid for; computerized robbery of music, films and other copyrighted substance takes up 24% of worldwide Internet transfer speed and 17. 5% of the U. S. Data transmission; and advanced extra space downloads compensates for 7% of all Internet traffic, while 91% of the connections found on them were from copyrighted material, and 10% of those connections were to music explicitly (ARIA 2015). Battling Piracy The U. S. Government has expanded its center (and energized different sections) on embracing stricter laws, for example, Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property (Protect IP Act). Inauspiciously, these firmer enactments accompany their disparager. The European social and political development, common freedoms bunches also Google, Yahoo, Faceable and a few other enormous Web Companies compete that these proposed laws restrict the free exertion of data and would bring about Internet control. Pundits accept that the two bills are exceedingly expansive and by and large just serve in light of a legitimate concern for Hollywood and the U. S. Music industry. While they concur that new authorization actualizes are important to battle maverick sites committed to copyright encroachment and duplicating, they state the proposed bills go excessively far (Fijian, 201 1). The test rises with how to discover a balance among the privileges of one individual against anothers. Alongside intensified enactment, numerous administrations are assuming a sturdier position on licensed innovation robbery and forcefully indicting coordinators of unlawful downloading. This can be seen inside the decisions and condemning of The Pirate Bay authors. All the more as of late, Limier originator, Mark Gorton, who was seen as blameworthy of copyright encroachment in 2011 and fined $105 million (Lauded T rave, 2013). Regardless of the dangers of fines and detainment, document sharing destinations are as yet thriving significantly more than previously. Despite legalities, these locales can lure promoting dollars from top blue chip brands like Allocate, Chevrolet, Target, McDonalds, and Dominos (Johnson, 2014). The Digital Citizens Alliance directed an examination announcing that 30% of huge sites that traffic vigorously in encroaching media cluster advertisements for these superior brands. Thirty of the biggest substance sharing Sites are creating upwards of $227 million every year in advertisement income, while the littler locales are producing around $100,000 yearly (Benson, 2014). This report likewise demonstrated that these locales that yield entirely from promoting found the middle value of $4. 4 million, with the most vigorously dealt Bitterroot and POP destinations delivering 36 million. The lesser destinations earned more than $100,000 in advertisement income. With net revenues for these locales extending somewhere in the range of 80% and 94%, it shows up wrongdoing pays (Benson, 2014). Insofar as there is cash to be father, document sharing destinations like The Pirate Bay will keep on remaining alive. The Shift Technology stage proprietors and merchants, for example, Apple, Amazon and Google, with the guide and sponsorship of licensed innovation proprietors, have decided to address the transferal from physical to computerized group. Stage proprietors offer buyers momentary and cheap access to a large number of computerized content while justifying content proprietors are compensated for their work. Advantages for shoppers likewise lay in the capacity to secure a superior quality item than could be found in a POP programming download. Apples tunes has men the pioneer in advanced substance deals since its start in 1998. In 2013, Apple reported that in excess of 25 billion tunes had been downloaded from the tunes Store (Apple, 2013). Despite repetitive moderate cost expands, purchasers despite everything keep on using the portable and web webpage. Strikingly, these destinations offer simple mix of buys to the client gadgets. Just as, an ever increasing number of computerized stores are inflowing the market as a methods for achieving a part of the advanced download pie, which consequently gives purchasers more decisions. Sites like Google Play, Amazon Prime and Nettling put forth attempts to separate themselves by representing a month to month or yearly enrollment that grants clients access to boundless moment gushing for a level expense. A significant number of these stage innovation proprietors are offering distributed computing which gives clients to rent circle space to store music and other computerized content. Clients would then be able to get to this information anyplace, whenever without downloading it onto a gadget. Which these innovation in itself is quickly transforming into its own serious market (Mesenteric, 2015).

Poverty and how it links to globalization (Africa) Research Paper

Neediness and how it connects to globalization (Africa) - Research Paper Example African nations are less inclined to profit by globalization because of the way that they are at the most reduced reconciliation level with the remainder of the world (Docquier and Hillel 690). As much as possible influence the development of an area in a positive manner, the case in Africa is extraordinary. For example, African states need to keep up a solid and stable large scale monetary system just as leading major institutional changes like advancement of good administration in the entirety of its edges. This paper is demonstrating why Africa despite everything endures hurtful financial frameworks, strife, natural issues and populace development in spite of being presented to globalization. Progressives see globalization as the best device of assuaging destitution and giving the poor a safe situation from which they can gain further ground in the worldwide economy (Kacowicz 570). In Africa, the patriots battled for autonomy as a result of monetary misuse by their different pioneer powers. In spite of globalization, Africans are as yet stifled monetarily through the European Imperialism, whereby the principal world nations from the west adventure the underdeveloped nations in Africa. This implies African states are as yet constrained by western powers through marking of exchange agreements, some of which have ominous conditions. Most African economies rely upon one a solitary fare, which is horticultural produce; consequently they need expansion (De Janvry and Elisabeth 20). Over the previous decades, the market estimation of Africa’s horticultural produce has been decaying in the midst of the consistent increasing expense of imports to Africa. This shows the current worldwide market drawbacks these mono-economies, as they need to drastically so as to pay for a similar measure of imports. For example, in 1962, it took two tons of sisal send out in Tanzania to pay for the import of one tractor (Cooksey and Tim 1). The case was diverse in 1980 since Tanzania needed to trade six tons of sisal so as to pay for the

25 Ways We Are Getting Dumber

25 Ways We Are Getting Dumber With bullshit, clickbait headlines like that, its little wonder people trust the media less and less each day. Of course, we can do better. As publishers, we can avoid sensationalism, oversimplification, listicles, and advertisements that compromise our work. We neednt employ mediocrity in an effort to aggregate eyeballs. As audience members, we can refuse to reward the nonsense: stop clicking, reading, watching, and listening unless the creator strives to add value. We shouldnt tolerate vapidity just because the content is free. We have two paths forward at this point: meaningful creations or content creation. The former requires rigor, restraint, and principles; the latter is merely a race toward dumber. Subscribe to The Minimalists via email.

Free ESL Business Letter Writing Lesson Plan

Teaching a business English course requires an extremely pragmatic approach to writing tasks. It is necessary to focus on the production of specific documents for specific situations. In order to ensure that the students are attentive while learning language production skills which will be used in the writing of these documents, they should brainstorm on certain company-specific problems that might arise. In this manner, the students are attentive throughout the language productivity process because they will be creating a document that has immediate practical applications. 5-Part Lesson I Listening Comprehension: Shipment Problems from International Business English Listening comprehension (2 times)Comprehension check II Break into 2 groups to brainstorm and write a list of possible problems with your supplier Have each group choose what they feel is an important and or regularly occurring problemAsk groups to write a quick outline of the problem III Have one group generate vocabulary and structures used when complaining, ask the other group to generate vocabulary used when responding to complaints Have two groups write their generated vocabulary on the boardAsk for further vocabulary and/or structures that the opposing group may have missed IV Ask groups to compose a letter of complaint about the problem they have previously outline Have the groups exchange finished letters. Each group should proceed by first reading, then correct and finally, respond to the letter. V Collect student letters and correct reply by pointing out which types of mistakes have been made (i.e. S for syntax, PR for preposition etc.) While correcting the letter have groups mix and discuss their responses to the problemRedistribute corrected letters to original groups and have students try to correct their letters using the cues given by the correction The follow-up would include a written assignment of writing a letter of complaint. Students would then once again exchange letters read, correct and reply to the complaint. In this manner, students would continue working on this specific task over a period of time thus enabling perfection of the task through repetition. Lesson Breakdown The above plan takes the rather common task of the complaint and replies in the business setting as the central focus for ​comprehension and language production skills. By introducing the subject through a listening  exercise, the students are passively encouraged to begin thinking about their own problems at work. Progressing through the spoken production phase, students begin to consider appropriate language for the task at hand. By focusing on specific problems at their own company, the students interest is engaged thereby ensuring a more effective learning environment. Students begin to consider appropriate written production by writing an outline. In the second part of the lesson, students focus more specifically on the appropriate language for the task of complaining and replying to complaints. They reinforce their reading and spoken knowledge of the vocabulary and structures by commenting on the other groups production on the board. The third part of the lesson begins to develop the actually written production of the target area by group work. It continues with reading comprehension by the exchange of letters and further review of the structures by group correction. Finally, written production continues to improve by writing a response to the letter that they have read and corrected. Having first corrected the other groups letter, the group should be more aware of proper production. In the final part of the lesson, written production is further refined by direct teacher involvement, helping the students to understand their mistakes and correct the problem areas themselves. In this way, the students will have completed three different letters focusing on specific work-related target areas that then can then immediately use at the workplace.

Obesity in Childhood - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 6 Words: 1704 Downloads: 9 Date added: 2019/03/15 Category Health Essay Level High school Tags: Childhood Obesity Essay Obesity Essay Did you like this example? Obesity in Childhood There are numerous issues that society faces on a daily basis. One of the issues that society faces is obesity. It is one of the leading risks of death and has been ongoing since the 1960s and 1970s. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Obesity in Childhood" essay for you Create order Obesity is an issue that continues to grow not only in the United States but also in developing countries as well. Not only does obesity affect adults but it has become a serious issue for children. According to an article, approximately 12.7 million, or 16.9 percent, of children and adolescents aged two through nineteen years are considered obese (Karson). In addition to how many children are obese, a study has shown that The five states with the highest rates of overweight and obese kids are all in the Southeasttop-ranked Mississippi (44.4%), Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky and Tennessee. Minnesota and Utah were tied with the lowest rates (23.1%) (Adams). Over the past couple of years, childhood obesity has become more of an epidemic as more children become overweight or obese every year. Parents play a huge part in preventing their children from becoming obese. The question is, what are the causes of childhood obesity and how can this issue be addressed? Childhood obesity can lead to many health and social issues which are the reasons why parents should take the initiative to prevent their children from becoming obese. Parents can change the lives of their children by becoming good role models and encouraging them to eat healthy foods and going outside to do physical activity. There are several causes when it comes to childhood obesity. Genetics is one cause that can determine between someone that is more likely to gain more pounds easily than a normal person that has a high metabolism because of their DNA. Another cause for childhood obesity is a poor unhealthy diet. Eating a poor diet can result in gaining extra pounds and excess body fat. A good example of a poor diet is eating food which contains preservatives and low nutrition or drinks that have too much sugar such as junk food, snack foods, sugary beverages. In the article Childhood Obesity: Trends and Potential Causes, the author explains that individuals consuming fast food meals have higher energy intake with lower nutritional values (Anderson 12). Additionally, a lack of physical activity can also result in becoming less active and adding more weight. In the article The Search For Obesitys Causes, the author explains that The likelihood of being overweight or obese was greater if a child has a TV in his bedroom or watches more than two hours a day (41% greater odds) (Adams). This is a good example of how bad parenting can result in less physical activity and spending more time on entertainment such as watching TV and playing video games. Childhood obesity also has an effect on poor academic performance in school. According to a research study, overweight and obese children were four times more likely to report having problems at school than their normal weight peers. They are also more likely to miss school more frequently, especially those with chronic health conditions such as diabetes and asthma, which can also affect academic performance (Sahoo). Other factors that contribute to childhood obesity are parents, depression, anxiety, and eating disorders. Parents can be a factor for obesity because of bad role modeling and not encouraging their children to eat healthy foods and never doing physical activity outdoors. Depression can cause poor eating habits which can increase the chances of becoming obese in the future. Anxiety can cause a lack of energy which can make a person less active and add additional weight. Eating disorders such as unhealthy diet practices can lead to anxiety and depression but can also damage your vital organs such as your brain or your heart. While all these factors contribute to childhood obesity, there are also health issues and diseases that develop. Children who are obese are more likely to develop serious health issues and diseases in the future. Some health issues that develop when a person is obese are type 2 diabetes, heart disease, bone and joint disease, breathing problems, and high blood pressure. These are the most common health issues that can occur for a person that is obese. Although most of the physical conditions that contribute to childhood obesity are preventable if a child reaches a healthy weight when they get older, some are not lucky as it can lead to more issues in the future and possibly death. In addition to these health issues, there are several types of cancer that can develop if a person is obese. These types include breast cancer, colon cancer, endometrial cancer, esophageal cancer, gallbladder cancer, kidney cancer, liver cancer, meningioma, multiple myeloma, ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer, stomach cancer, and thyroid cancer. Additionally, studies have shown that obesity has become the second cause of cancer. Besides the health issues of childhood obesity, there are also social issues that develop. While the health consequences are severe for obesity, childhood obesity can affect a childs social and emotional health. Some of the social issues that contribute to childhood obesity include bullying and discrimination. In the article, Childhood Obesity: Causes and Consequences, the author explains that Obese children are often excluded from activities, particularly competitive activities that require physical activity. It is often difficult for overweight children to participate in physical activities as they tend to be slower than their peers and contend with shortness of breath (Sahoo et al.). This is an example of how discrimination contributes to childhood obesity. Not only do these social issues affect a childs emotions, but these issues can also lead to more psychological issues in the future. Childhood obesity can cause some psychological issues which include low self-esteem, low self-confidence, depression, behavioral issues, ADHD, quality of life, and eating disorders. While these are some of the issues that contribute to childhood obesity, the most common is low self-esteem and depression. Low self-esteem can affect a childs academic performance and affect the quality of life but can also cause loneliness, sadness, and nervousness. This can often lead to depression which can cause a child to lose interest in their activities and become less social with their friends and family. Depression can also cause poor eating habits and overeating which leads to gaining more weight and building fat. These are some the issues that contribute to childhood obesity. As researchers have shown the impact of childhood obesity, it is essential to come up with solutions to resolve the issue. As stated earlier, childhood obesity is an ongoing problem that persists in our society. To resolve the issue of childhood obesity, there needs to be some involvement within the community and government to figure out solutions to rectify the problem. So, what are some solutions that could be used to resolve childhood obesity? Based on the social issue, a research question was formed. What are the causes of childhood obesity and how can this issue be addressed? Some of the options that could be utilized to reduce the issue of childhood obesity are adding warning labels to sugared beverages and foods, improving early education facilities, and providing education programs to children to help control obesity. Adding warning labels to sugary beverages and foods would be a good option to reduce the issue of childhood obesity because it warns children and adolescents ab out the consequences of consuming unhealthy food and drinks. In a research article, Warning Labels Can Help Reduce Soda Consumption and Obesity, New Study Suggests, the author explains that warning labels in locations that sell sugary drinks, including grocery and corner stores, reduced both obesity and overweight prevalence (Warning Labels). This can help change a customers decision when buying sugared drinks or junk food at a grocery store or supermarket. Improving early education facilities such as child care are another great solution for reducing the number of obese children. Some ways that early education facilities can improve are providing organic healthy food and providing education on what foods are good or bad. This can impact what children consume and how physically active they are. It also helps children develop good eating habits that will help them in the future when they become older. The last solution that would be beneficial to the issue of childhood obesity is providing education on obesity to children because it will help them learn the health consequences of obesity as well as other information about fast food and organic food. Not only will this solution help children think about what to eat, but it also creates awareness. Some ways that schools can help provide education on obesity are creating posters about obesity in classrooms and in cafeterias. PowerPoint presentations are also a great way of raising awareness to children about obesity. All of these solutions have benefits as well as hindrances. In conclusion, childhood obesity can be contributed to several causes such as genetics, a poor unhealthy diet, lack of physical activity, and poor academic performance. It is an ongoing issue that has been around since the 1960s and 1970s and has increased in the past years. To reduce the number of obese children, the three solutions that will help benefit in resolving childhood obesity are adding warning labels to sugary drinks and foods, improving the early education facilities, and providing education about obesity to children. Some ways a parent can help prevent their child from becoming obese is becoming a good role model, encouraging their children to eat healthy foods, and encouraging them to stay active by doing physical education outdoors. Works cited Adams, Jill U. The Search for Obesitys Causes. Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, CA), 2010, pp. E.1. SIRS Issues Researcher, https://sks-sirs-com.fcep.ohlone.edu. Anderson, Patricia M. Childhood Obesity: Trends and Potential Causes. Dartmouth, www.dartmouth.edu/~pmaweb/FOCrevisionFinal.pdf. Karson, Jill. Issues in Society: How can the Obesity Epidemic be Controlled? Issues in Society: How Can the Obesity Epidemic Be Controlled?, 2017. SIRS Issues Researcher, https://sks-sirs-com.fcep.ohlone.edu. Sahoo, Krushnapriya, et al. Childhood Obesity: Causes and Consequences. PubMed Central, 2015, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4408699/. Warning Labels can Help Reduce Soda Consumption and Obesity.. Targeted News Service, 2017, pp. n/a. SIRS Issues Researcher, https://sks-sirs-com.fcep.ohlone.edu.

BestBuy case study Free Essays

In pursuit of the new model, the company was making efforts but struggling to shift their focus on marketing operation from selling products to customers (product-out approach) to addressing customer needs (market-in approach) while still leveraging its scale merit in merchandising. Before customer- eccentricity model, Busty was a merchant driven company. Merchant organization primarily had responsibilities for buying, pricing, assorting, and managing Inventory planning (Ala, 2006, p. We will write a custom essay sample on BestBuy case study or any similar topic only for you Order Now 0). With introduction of customer-eccentricity model, Segment organizations were newly formed around key target customer segments to better Inform the merchant teams and store organizations of the customer needs. Although the new model required the three functions to work in harmony, the company was ending it difficult to align different perspectives and goals of the three organizations due to a lack of clarity on which functions was the true owner of customer insight (Ala, 2006, p. 2-13). Eventually, the company found itself getting stuck into â€Å"focus on everything strategy’ being unable to effectively leverage Its scale power to optimize the merchandising strategy (Ala, 2006, p. 14). In order to remain competitive in the market, future challenge for the company after the introduction of customer- eccentricity model was to find a new governance structure (I. E. Introduction of Integrated business teams) that enables alignment of the three organizations to focus resource and scale merit of the company on profitable key customer segments. In sustaining competitive advantage in increasingly competitive consumer electronics market, Best Buy should continue to pursue customer-focused solutions with multi- channel sales strategy by leveraging existing store and distribution network, and online sales platform. Nation-wide store network is one of the biggest competitive advantages of Best Buy. These stores should be fully leveraged to provide customers tit tangible in-store experience (touch products and compare them to other models) as well as differentiated end-to-end solutions by knowledgeable sales force and technical staff (e. G. Geek Squad). In the course, Best Buy should further evolve its marketing strategy to more rigorously narrow down in-store target customer segments to those who look for higher-end products with more quality end-to-end services. This would help put the company In differentiated market positioning among the competitors (e. . Wall-Mart) and help avoid inefficient scale/power game to make profits with efficient use of resources (Figure 1). While continuing to crystallize the in-store operations, Best Buy should also be committed to continue investments in online sales platform, not only to expand access to customer segments which are not covered In the stores efficiently, but also to defend erosion of In-store sales form other online retailers in such cases where customers come in to stores, experience 1 OFF eventually order on-line from one of those competitors. Briggs, 2013) Owning strong network of physical stores, strategically located distribution centers and online sales platform, Best Buy is well positioned to pursue unique new market offerings that average synergies between the two sales channels and distribution networks. For example, Best Buy has launched â€Å"ship from stores† service in 2013 that utilizes existing stores as â€Å"mint-warehouse† to improve the speed of delivery. While Amazon continues to build warehouses nationwide to improve the time for deliveries, Best Buy has Just leveraged existing infrastructures of stores and distribution centers. As a result, Best Buys average total days to delivery became shorter than Amazon (Stella Service, 2014). In another example, Best Buy can consider incorporating a system in TTS online sales platform, with which customers are able to book Geek Squad services for products they purchased on the website. As in these examples, Best Buy has many opportunities to differentiate itself from the competitors by offering customer- focused solutions leveraging its multi-channel sales strategy (Figure 1). In conclusion, if Best Buy can make all these can happen with engaged and customer-focused employees, the level of customer-eccentricity is hard to be imitated by the competitors like Amazon and Wall-Mart. Levels toward strategic use of IT In 2005 Best Buys use of IT was Level 2 â€Å"offensive. In customer-eccentricity model, one of the key competitive advantages was its brick-and mortar stores where majority of sales were generated. To gear up for on-line sales, Best Buy remodeled its website in 2004 (Dickinson, 2004). In distribution system, Best Buy bar-coded and scanned all inventory for tracking purpose, and used a computerized inventory replenishment program for managing inventory level at each store (Best Buy Annual Report, 2005, p. 7). Furthermore, in order to obtain better and reliable information, Best Buy initiated a three-year project to revamp its IT system (Cottrell, 2006). Geek Square, computer purport service in the stores and at home, expanded its service to network installation and server maintenance (Ala, 2006, p. ). Best Buy applied IT system in order to convert some selected stores to customer-eccentricity operating model. However, its adoption was easy to be imitated by competitors and its competitive advantage was short-term. It was neither strategic enough and nor embedded into the core business. The Competitive Forces Framework Out of five forces, Best Buy faced four threats; industry competitors, substitutes, suppliers and buyers. Threat of potential entrants was not partic ularly observed. Industry competitors-High: Best Buys direct rivalry was Circuit City, followed by Wall-Mart and Target, big-box retailers, and DELL, direct on-line computer manufacturer as shown in Exhibit AAA (Ala, 2006, p. 18). Substitutes-High: E- commerce electronic retailers such as Amazon and e-Bay were growing threats to Best Buy. Their use of IT was essential to operate their core business. They provided customers with more detailed product information on a timely manner and offered the discount price. Suppliers-Medium: Both bargaining power of suppliers and its five major suppliers accounted for nearly 33% of the total merchandise offered. Best Buy did not usually have long-term written contracts with these major suppliers (Best Buy Annual Report, 2005, p. 8). On the other hand, products were not differentiated in general, and switching cost was not very high. Since Best Buy owned large number of stores, its bargaining power towards suppliers was influential. As a result, threat of suppliers was medium. Buyers-High: Bargaining power of buyers increased in a great deal. Cost-sensitive buyers could research and buy products at cheaper price on-line. Because consumer electronics became commoditized, prices were more or less the same regardless of whether these were old on line or stores. In other words, switching cost for buyers was very low. Potential entrants-Low: Consumer electronics market was saturated where there were major competitors such as Circuit City, Wall-Mart, and Amazon. While buyers gained increasing bargaining power, potential entrants were hesitate to enter the market. Three strategy models in the context of IT Best Buys three strategies were consistent and strongly supported Best Buys transformation to customer-eccentricity model. Best Buys business strategy was â€Å"to bring technology and consumers together in a retail environment that focuses on educating consumers on the features and benefits of technology and entertainment products, while maximizing overall profitability’ (Best Buy Annual Report, 2005, p. 2). This clear direction was set for the following reasons. First, there was a growing fear of losing competitive advantage over rivalries. Secondly, customer put more emphasis on customer service and support instead of technical aspect of the product (Ala, 2006, p. 3). Lastly, the statistics showed that one third of customers left the stores with dissatisfaction (Citric, 2006). Clearly â€Å"one style fits all† approach no longer irked. IS business strategy was to build loyalty with profitable segments customers and leverage the company’s existing assets (Ala, 2006, p. 4). To provide shopping assistance to customers, Best Buy required better information system on pricing, technical aspect of products, and availability. In customer-eccentricity model, it was crucial to understand unique needs of customers and behavior accurately and quickly. Best Buy also required information system to share their experience with customers among all stores. IT strategy was to give employees flexibility when interacting with customers. First, through reporting system, daily â€Å"chalk talk† helped communicate the sales goal every morning between department supervisors and sales staff (Ala, 2006, p. 9). Secondly, in order to maintain quality service at store, on- line training was introduced to share the best practice. Third, the use of price optimization software helped the stores to make rational pricing decision (Wolf, Bibb, p. 20). Finally, Best Buy re-engineered the global supply chain and technological infrastructure such as RIFF tag. According to Wolf (AAA, p. 20), â€Å"Best Buy invested $200 million in infrastructure, including a new point-of-sale (POS) yester that provides more precise customer data and analytics. † traditional IT in order to connect with customers. Best Buy has been actively using social media such as Twitter, Backbone, Blob, and other platforms. However, it is not recommended that Best Buy develops further its social media strategy because no additional values have been created to generate profits. Best Buys extensive engagement in social media has been well acknowledged. Unlike other companies, Best Buy has multiple Twitter pages, including Best Buy Deals and Best Buy Mexico, to cover different segment of customers. Internally Best Buy has several forums to hare information among employees, which energies the organization as a whole (Bulls, 2010). However, the long tail, as one of the advantages of social media, may adversely affect its customer-eccentricity model. Because the long tail phenomenon contributes to accessing greater audience, Best Buy must understand and analyze broader customers’ needs. A few challenges have been observed in interacting with customers on Backbone. Technology-related issues are difficult to explain. Also Best Buy cannot control the feeds on Backbone. Customers post complains about their bad experiences at stores. Monitoring and responding to such posts are costly. How to cite BestBuy case study, Free Case study samples

Price Gouging Essay Sample free essay sample

Abstraction: Monetary value gouging arises when. in the aftermath of a catastrophe. retail merchants approximately increase their monetary values for basic trade goods to derive more gross. The bulk of people believe that monetary value gouging is immoral others that it is a to the full justified behavior. The principle of this papers is to look into a measure of issues environing monetary value gouging. and to reason that the widespread ethical unfavorable judgment of it is for the most portion incorrect. We will write a custom essay sample on Price Gouging Essay Sample or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page I will besides try to exemplify monetary value force outing from philosophical positions of Aristotle and Immanuel Kant. Introduction Monetary values for critical goods are expected to lift when a catastrophe work stoppages. Price gouging is non lawfully prohibited but it is by and large thought to be immoral and exploitative. The principle of this papers is to look into a measure of issues environing monetary value gouging. and to reason that the widespread ethical unfavorable judgment of it is for the most portion incorrect. I will do this statement in four stairss: 1 ) explicating the difference in philosophical positions between Immanuel Kent and Aristotle. 2 ) clear uping The Moral Status of Laws Against Price Gouging 3 ) clear uping The Moral Status of Laws Against Price Itself 4 ) showing moralss of Price Gouging. Difference in philosophical positions between Immanuel Kent and Aristotle The basic doctrine of Aristotle opposed to the modern-day thoughts of Immanuel Kant created a good competition for the most challenging analysis of the human good. Nevertheless. after analyzing each philosopher’s beliefs. Kant’s position spoke about the good in a corporate sense throughout the unconditioned jussive moods of adult male. on the other manus Aristotle stated that. â€Å"Happiness. so. is something concluding and self-sufficing. and is the terminal of action. † ( Nicomachean Ethical motives. 1999 ) In his book â€Å"Nicomachean Ethics† Aristotle invited the reader to give an account of what he believed is good. Aristotle listed assorted frequent illustrations such as holding friends. sing pleasance. being healthy. and so on. Aristotle supplemented his dissension by making to the beginning of every good action. He observed that if a adult male kept oppugning different actions he reasoned every bit good. he would detect that every good action lea d to some form of felicity. Aristotle characterised the extreme good as â€Å"eudemonia† or felicity. To carry through eudemonia. adult male is required to develop virtuousness within in his life. Aristotle explained virtuousness as the inclination and willingness to execute with differentiation in every state of affairs. It is the changeless virtuous activity over the continuance of man’s life that will make eudemonia. In resistance. in â€Å"Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals† ( Kant. 2002 ) Kant declared. â€Å"A good will is good non because of what it effects or accomplishes. nor because of its fittingness to achieve some proposed terminal ; it is good merely through its willing. i. e. . it is good in itself† . Good will is the jurisprudence on which the uttermost moralss rest. allowing adult male to reason actions with the most moral worth. â€Å"†¦good will appears to represent the indispensable status even of the worthiness to be happy† ( Kant. 2002 ) . Kant alleged good will is the lone entity that is really good in itself and non a merchandise of anything else. Kant wrote: â€Å"The Formula of Universal Law: Act merely in conformity with that axiom through which you can at the same clip will that it go a cosmopolitan law’’ ( G 4:421 ; californium. G 4:402 ) † ( Kant. 2002 ) . His concluding being everyone makes their ain felicity but at the same clip if the action can be applied jointly to all worlds. so the action would intelligibly be believed as a good. Immanuel Kant would oppose to Aristotle’s thought of the good through Aristotle’s significance of virtuousness. Kant would declare that if a adult male is overly honorable in every state of affairs. merely to make the mean of his actions. he would necessitate to lie. Therefore the effect of these actionswould be that there is no truth. since everyone was meant to state prevarications. Man tells lies for the consideration of being assumed as it were a truth. On the other manus. Aristotle would oppose to Kant’s thought of the good on the root of eudemonia. In his point of position felicity is at all times the cardinal motivation for any action. Aristotle would besides notice that it’s highly unreasonable to characterize common responsibilities to all of world. since those responsibilities surely can non be kept in every state of affairs possible. The Moral Status of Laws Against Price Gouging The dissension in this portion is intended to show that Torahs against monetary value gouging are ethically undue. Countless sums of people feel that monetary value encouragements for the continuance of exigencies are unreasonable. but policy analysis needs more than a study of public attitude towards the affair. One complexness with anti-gouging Torahs is that there is no easy manner of puting the norm of monetary value gouging for legal grounds. Laws which forbid monetary value sweetening beyond a specific degree charge better on the facet of simpleness. but embark on other complications as a effect of the nonflexible bounds they set. This increases problems from both equality and coherency perceptual experience. â€Å"In footings of equity. it is non clear why the merchandiser should be forced to absorb the increased costs in order to profit her clients. particularly if we think that those merchandisers exercised good foresight and duty in obtaining a ready stock of goods which might be necessary in the instance of a catastrophe. † ( Zwolinski. 2008 ) Although the monetary value they are being charged is highly high and greater than clients would sooner wish to pay. the world is that they are eager to pay it. This states that they rate the good they are geting more than the hard currency they are giving up for it. Even though practical complications may perchance be defeated. yet. there would still stay an of import moral contemplation next to anti-gouging Torahs. The most of import motor why such Torahs are ethically undue is that they forbid every bit good trade in a manner that leaves those who are already incapacitated even worse off. The Moral Status of Laws Against Price Itself †¢ Coercion – theoretical account of coercion differ. therefore it is slippery to give a cosmopolitan denial of this claim. on the other manus we can observe that the bulk instances of monetary value gouging have three features that appear to sabotage anxiousnesss about coercion on approximately any apprehension of that theory. First. the bulk of purchasers in monetary value gouging instances agree to the exchange. Second. by and large instances of monetary value force outing do non prosecute cheating. deficiency of information. or folly from the purchasers. which enter to the exchange voluntarily. Last. in contrast to standard instances of coercion. the loss. which might fall on the victim. is non provoked by the monetary value gouger but instead by the catastrophe or exigency from which the purchaser is seeking to retrieve. †¢ Exploitation- another and much more constituted apprehensiveness about monetary value gouging is that it is wrongfully exploitatory. It is unfair for Sellerss to take benefit from buyers’ liability with the intent of obtaining unequal net income for themselves. even though purchasers are besides profiting from the exchange. There are. nevertheless. some quandary refering the incorrectness of reciprocally good development as contrasted with the actions of most non-gougers. â€Å"The mystifiers have to make with incoherency in our believing about what morality requires of us in footings of helping those in hurt. On the one manus. to the extent that we hold that monetary value gougers are guilty of reciprocally good development. we hold that they are moving wrongly even though their actions bring some benefit to catastrophe victims. On the other manus. many of us do nil to alleviate the agony. † ( Zwolinski. 2012 ) †¢ Monetary values and Efficiency- When runing accurately. markets have a leaning to administer resources toward their most valued utilizations. Those persons who rate a good more will be acute to pay a superior monetary value for it than those who value it less. The valid inquiry is non whether the monetary value strategy is an ideal method for allocating goods to their most valued usage. but whether it is the finest attack than the bing options. â€Å"When it does. and when we have no options available which better fulfill our moral duties. we have good ground to see monetary value gouging as morally allowable. † ( Zwolinski. 2008 ) Ethical motives of Price Gouging Many people consider monetary value gouging as morally incorrect. hence those who are opposed to such activity came up with the set of moral disapprobation of monetary value gougers. which are greedy. heartless. and selfish. A figure of people who choose to take portion in monetary value gouging do so from morally black grounds. The activity of monetary value gouging is well-matched with a measure of diverse ethical motives. A few might prosecute in the activity because they are concerned merely about their ain return. Others. nevertheless. might worry both about their ain prosperity and the torment of others. Maybe it is the right thing to state that moral virtuousness involves more than merely making what is morally acceptable. â€Å"The Aristotelean phronimos doesn’t merely make the bare lower limit that morality permits. Person who to the full instantiates all the virtuousnesss such as justness. beneficence. and liberalness. we tend to believe. would be disposed to bear down less than the market-clearing monetary value. even if bear downing the market-clearing monetary value passes the threshold of moral permissibility. † ( Zwolinski. 2008 ) Sandel characterizes the virtuousness statement for monetary value force outing Torahs as follows: â€Å"Greed is a frailty. a bad manner of being. particularly when it makes people unmindful to the agony of others. More than a personal frailty. it is at odds with civic virtuousness. In times of problem. a good society pulls together. Rather than imperativeness for maximal advantage. people look out for one another. A society in which people exploit their neighbors for fiscal addition in times of crisis is non a good society. Excessive greed is hence a frailty that a good society should deter if it can. Price-gouging Torahs can non ostracize greed. but they can at least keep its most audacious look. and signal society’s disapproval of it. By penalizing avaricious behaviour instead than honoring it. society affirms the civic virtuousness of shared forfeit for the common good. † ( Sandel. 2010 ) Aristotle explained virtuousness as the inclination and willingness to execute with differentiation in every state of affairs. He instructs us that justness means giving people what they deserve. Therefore. in order to hold on who is worthy of what. we foremost need to make up ones mind what virtuousnesss are worthy of honor and wages. Aristotle’s said that every good action leads to some form of felicity. Consequently. he would hold to the statement that if adult male considered monetary value force outing as good. he would detect that it would take him to happiness. By differentiation. modern-day political philosophers Immanuel Kant disagree that the chief beliefs of justness that classify our rights should non rest on any scrupulous thought of virtuousness. As a replacement. good actions should be universalise. allowing adult male to reason actions with the most moral worth. hence if monetary value force outing would fall under it demands adult male would cognize that its good activity way. Decision In this paper. I have offered a justification of monetary value gouging. I have done so by explicating the difference in philosophical positions between Immanuel Kent and Aristotle. clear uping The Moral Status of Laws Against Price Gouging. clear uping The Moral Status of Laws Against Price Itself and showing moralss of Price Gouging. The chief inquiry of this papers was. ‘is monetary value force outing IMMORAL. IRRESPONSIBLE OR FULLY JUSTIFIED BEHAVIOUR? ? ? ’ After showing all the facts. I can easy state that all descriptions apply. Peoples who do non hold full cognition of monetary value gouging will ever categorize it as an immoral and irresponsible activity. On the other manus those who are involved in exchange and addition benefits will warrant their reply as being justified behavior. Still. any legal bar of monetary value gouging will bring forth disheartenment for persons to prosecute in economic activity which helps those made helpless by catastrophe. Therefore. any determinations towards work outing such issues should be carefully made taken under consideration for everyone who might be involved in it. At the terminal of my papers I came to the decision that personally Kant’s position is the most suited attack to exert. He allows adult male to reason actions with the most moral worth. He besides beliefs that everyone makes their ain felicity but at the same clip if the action can be applied jointly to all worlds. so the action would intelligibly be believes as a good. Bibliography ARISTOTLE Translated by W. D. Ross. Batoche Books. Kitchener ( 1999 ) Nicomachean Ethics. [ on-line ] Accessed on 30/11/2012 Available at hypertext transfer protocol: //socserv2. McMaster. ca/econ/ugcm/3ll3/aristotle/Ethics. pdf Michael Giberson ( 2011 ) Consumer Protection. The Problem with Price Gouging Laws. Is optimum pricing during an exigency unethical? [ online ] Accessed on 29/11/2012 Available at hypertext transfer protocol: //www. cato. org/pubs/regulation/regv34n1/regv34n1-1. pdf F. A. Hayek ( 1945 ) . The Use of Knowledge in Society. The American Economic Review. Vol. 35. No. 4. ( Sep. . 1945 ) . pp. 519-530. [ on-line ] Accessed on 29/11/2012 Available at hypertext transfer protocol: //emilyskarbek. com/uploads/The_Use_of_Knowledge_in_Society_-_Hayek. pdf Immanuel Kant. Edited and translated by Allen W. Woodwith essays by J. B. Schneewind. Marcia Baron. Shelly Kagan. Allen W. Wood ( 2002 ) Basis for the Metaphysics of Morals [ online ] Accessed on 01/12/2012 Available at hypertext transfer protocol: //www. inp. uw. edu. pl/mdsie/Political_Thought/Kant % 20- % 20groundwork % 20for % 20the % 20metaphysics % 20of % 20morals % 20with % 20essays. pdf James C. Klagge ( 1989 ) . Virtue: Aristotle or Kant? [ online ] Accessed on 27/11/2012 Available at hypertext transfer protocol: //www. phil. vt. edu/JKlagge/VIRTUE. pdf Keith Reid ( 2005 ) . Who’s to fault? As monetary values hit $ 3 countrywide. was anybody force outing? [ online ] Accessed on 28/11/2012 Available at hypertext transfer protocol: //www. highbeam. com/doc/1G1-139434908. hypertext markup language Jeremy Snyder ( 2009 ) . Efficiency. Equity. and Price GougingA Response to Zwolinski. Business Ethics Quarterly. Volume 19. Issue 2. Pages 303-306 Accessed on 28/11/2012 Michael Spinelli ( 2009 ) . The Differences Between Kant and Aristotle [ online ] Accessed on 27/11/2012 Available at hypertext transfer protocol: //voices. yokel. com/the-differences-between-kant-aristotle-3632521. hypertext markup language? cat=38 Matt Zwolinski ( 2008 ) . THE ETHICS OF PRICE GOUGING. [ on-line ] Accessed on 27/11/2012. Available at hypertext transfer protocol: //facpub. stjohns. edu/~flanagap/3305/readings/Zwolinski_Price_Gouging. pdf

International Business and mergers and acquisitions The WritePass Journal

International Business and mergers and acquisitions Essay question 2 International Business and mergers and acquisitions , imaa-institute.org/docs/ma/bearingpoint_01_avoiding%20post-merger%20blues.pdf Gaughan, P. A. (1991), Mergers and Acquisitions, HarperCollins, New York. Cartwright, S. and Schoenberg, R. (2006), Thirty Years of Mergers and Acquisitions Research: Recent Advances and Future Opportunities, British Journal of Management, vol. 1, issue S1, pp.S1–S5. Ghadar, F. and Ghemawat, P. (2000), The Dubious Logic of Global MegaMergers. Harvard Business Review. Graham, Edward M., and J. David Richardson, eds. (1997), Global Competition Policy, Institute for International Economics, Washington DC. Hill, C. (2010), International Business Competing in the Global Marketplace, (8th Edition) McGraw Hill, London. James, G. (2007), Lessons from Mega-mergers, CBS News, viewed April 27, 2012, cbsnews.com/8301-505125_162-51163246/lessons-from-the-mega-mergers/ Straub, T. (2007), Reasons for frequent failure in Mergers and Acquisitions: A comprehensive analysis, Deutscher Universitts-Verlag, Wiesbaden.

About Addison Mizner and Floridas Resort Architecture

About Addison Mizner and Florida's Resort Architecture Addison Mizner (born: December 12, 1872, in Benicia, California) remains one of the most influential figures of southern Floridas early-20th-century building boom. His fanciful Mediterranean style of architecture launched a Florida Renaissance and inspired architects throughout North America. Yet Mizner is largely unknown today and was rarely taken seriously by other architects during his lifetime. As a child, Mizner traveled around the world with his large family. His father, who became the U.S. minister to Guatemala, settled the family in Central America for a time, where the young Mizner lived among Spanish-influenced buildings. To many, Mizners legacy is based on his early exploits with his younger brother, Wilson. Their adventures, including a stint looking for gold in Alaska, became the subject of Stephen Sondheims musical Road Show. Addison Mizner did not have formal training in architecture. He apprenticed with Willis Jefferson Polk in San Francisco and worked as an architect in the New York area after the Gold Rush, yet he could never master the task of drawing blueprints. When he was 46, Mizner moved to Palm Beach, Florida because of his ill health. He wanted to capture the diversity of Spanish architecture, and his Spanish Revival style homes won the attention of many of the wealthy elite in the Sunshine State. Criticizing modern architects for producing a characterless copybook effect, Mizner said that his ambition was to make a building look traditional and as though it had fought its way from a small unimportant structure to a great rambling house. When Mizner moved to Florida, Boca Raton was a tiny, unincorporated town. With an entrepreneurs spirit, the eager developer aspired to transform it into a luxurious resort community. In 1925, he and his brother Wilson started Mizner Development Corporation and purchased more than 1,500 acres, including two miles of beach. He mailed out out promotional material that boasted a 1,000-room hotel, golf courses, parks and a street wide enough to fit 20 lanes of traffic. Stockholders included such high-rollers as Paris Singer, Irving Berlin, Elizabeth Arden, W.K. Vanderbilt II, and T. Coleman du Pont. Film star Marie Dressler sold real estate for Mizner. Other developers followed Mizners example, and eventually, Boca Raton became all that he envisioned. It was a short-lived building boom, however, and within a decade he was bankrupt. In February of 1933, he died at age 61 of a heart attack n Palm Beach, Florida. His story remains relevant today as an example of the rise and fall of a once-successful American entrepreneur. Significant Architecture 1911: Additions to White Pine Camp/Coolidge Summer White House, Adirondack Mountains, New York State1912: Rock Hall, Colebrook, Connecticut1918: Everglades Club, Palm Beach, Florida1922: William Gray Warden Residence, 112 Seminole Ave., Palm Beach, Florida1923: Via Mizner, 337-339 Worth Ave., Palm Beach, Florida1923: Wanamaker Estate / Kennedy Winter White House, 1095 North Ocean Boulevard, Palm Beach, Florida1924: Riverside Baptist Church, Jacksonville, Florida1925: Via Parigi, Palm Beach, Florida1925: Administration Buildings, 2 Camino Real, Boca Raton.1925: Boynton Womans Club, 1010 S. Federal Highway, Boynton Beach1925: Boca Raton Resort and Club, Boca Raton, Florida1926: Fred C. Aiken House, 801 Hibiscus St., Boca Raton, Florida Sources Boca Raton Historical Society and MuseumDivision of Cultural Affairs, Florida Department of State [accessed January 7, 2016]Florida Memory, State Library Archives of Florida

Information Need For Accounting Information System AIS Research Paper

Information Need For Accounting Information System AIS - Research Paper Example From this paper it is clear that  corporate leaders might consider the accounting information system as a system that can function efficiently independent of the overall management system as long as it is developed in the right manner and in line with the objectives of the company. However, this can lead to improper assumptions of the accounting information system because the accounting information system is one of the important components of the management system and as such must be integrated into business management and its performances as a part of the overall management system function.As the report discusses  improper assumptions on accounting information systems and related information could have the most negative potential impacts in business operations. First, improper assumptions could cost an organization loses in money and time in its business operations. For example, if an improper assumption is made and leads to miscalculation of important calculations required ensu ring that a business operation becomes a success, over-estimation or under-estimation of resources could be caused. A business operation could be overfunded or underfunded because of an improper assumption, something that could be realized later into the project. This could bring about unimaginable loses for the organization.  Improper assumptions could affect planning and lead to incorrect assumptions about the requirements of a business operation.

Central Concerns in John Thompsons Political Scandal Essay

Central Concerns in John Thompsons Political Scandal - Essay Example This is because there was no perception of accountability to the public in many societies in the past. Moreover the dissemination of scandals far and wide, and as frequently as is possible, is made possible by the development of a plethora of media now available. This has resulted in lots of unearthing of covert actions of people in power. There are some people who look at the media coverage of scandals as a form of entertainment available to the people. However many consider the role of media as that of vigilant watch dog that unearths the wrongs in society and brings remedial action and plugs in all loopholes that encourage public figures to circumvent regulations and act in their private interest. Many recent books have come out on this subject and John Thompson's book, Political Scandal has made a significant contribution to the ongoing debate on the subject by an analysis of public scandals as churned out by the media and its effect on accountability of high ranking public figures, the effect of this on the erosion of credibility associated with their office and a host of other illuminating aspects of the problem. Thompson considers political scandals as violations of prescribed process and transgressions of regulations, which have been incorporated, in the democratic system as a measure to avoid misuse or check the deviation to unilateral action by a person who has a public responsibility. After the media has gained such significance as tools that can form the attitudes of people and influence the way they cast the vote, there has been a conscious attempt to throw the weight of the media in competitive politics. Thomson sees the reputation of the individual politician as the key asset that will determine his edge over his opponent in the process of election. The media is on the look out for transgressions committed by an individual as a matter of priority in its reporting due to various reasons. While some media report these transgressions merely to enhance their readership or viewer ship others may be committed to their role as watchdog Page 3 in a healthy democracy. In addition to this, in competitive politics, the motive may be to tarnish the reputation of the opponent by constant bombardment of the opponent by targeting weakest points. In this tendency Thompson sees the dangers of dragging political non-issues related to the personal conduct of public figures into vortex of media reporting. In many democracies, including some of the old and celebrated ones, the narrow-minded struggle for power heavily draws on the repertoire of sex scandals real or concocted to deal a deathblow to the reputation of the other. The mud slinging campaigns and personal vituperation that appear so blatantly in the media, Thompson, warns will undermine the social trust of the democratic system (p.251). The exposure of political scandals if undertaken responsibly, Thompson believes, can strengthen the democratic institutions. What he calls power scandals are those that contravene or seek to circumvent the rules, laws and established procedures that govern the exercise of political power (P.196). In a democratic set up power is to be exercised openly and the role of the media as a watchdog makes the exercise of the power an openly done task and hence accountable. However Thompson does not think

Synthesis of Mesoporous Silica MCM-41

Synthesis of Mesoporous Silica MCM-41 Results and Discussions The present study included the synthesis of mesoporous silica MCM-41 and its modification by impregnation of different metals on the mesoporous to enhance the photocatalytic activity of metals i.e Cu/MCM-41, Fe/MCM-41, CeO2/MCM-41. FTIR analysis of catalyst MCM-41 has the ability to impregnate numerous metals on its surface. MCM-41 was modified with metal salts in order to dope the metals on the surface of mesoporous material was characterized by FTIR analysis. The FT-IR spectra furnished the information about the incorporation of metals on the surface of MCM-41. The FT-IR spectra of synthesized material in the region of 4000 400 cm-1 in transmission mode using platinium ATR, a single reflection sampling module spectrophotometr, and shown in Fig. 5. The uncalcined MCM41 and calcined MCM41 spectra (Fig. 5A. a, b) show intense band at wavenumber 1100 and 802 cm-1 which accounts for the asymmetric and symmetric stretching of the Si-O-Si bonds, respectively.[i] The bands at 970 cm-1 and 460 cm-1 was assigned to the stretching and bending vibrations of surface Si-O- groups respectively.[ii] The sharp peaks at 2864.72cm-1 and 2922.14 cm-1 were due to the presence of surfactant before calcinations of MCM-41.[iii] For calcined MCM41, the bands at 2852 cm-1 and 2921 cm-1 corresponding to the long chain of alkyl group of the surfactant molecules were disappeared after calcination shows the completely removal of surfactants molecules. The differences of the intensities of the peaks in the FT-IR spectra of MCM-41 and MCM-41/ CeO2, are abserved which resulted from the doping of CeO2. A strong absorption peak at 1,632 cm−1 is observed in the spectra of MCM-41/CeO2, and it indicates the formation of Ce-O-Ce.[iv] About copper and iron also add TGA analysis of MCM-41: XRD analysis of MCM-41: Photocatalytic studies by using the metal dopped MCM-41: The metal dopped MCM-41 was studied for the photocatalytic degradation of commonly used pharmaceutics including salts of diclofenac (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NAID)) and atorvastatin (antihyper lipoproteinemic drug). For this purpose the solutions od these drugs were prepared and degradation potential of metal dopped mesoporous silicate was studied by optimizing various parameters i.e the amount of catalyst, the pH, the light, substrate concentration, metal loading on MCM-41. Effect of pH The interaction between the pharmaceutics and metal dopped mesoporous are dependent on the pH of the solution therefore the optimization of pH is important to achieve maximum degradation efficiency. During the present study, the degradation process was optimized by changing the pH from 3.5 to 10.5 over 10 wt% M/MCM-41(M= Cu, Fe, Ce) with 1 g l_1 of 0.114 mM drug solution. The pH of the pharmaceutic solution is adjusted with 0.1 M HCl and 0.1 M NaOH. The results obtained are shown in Fig. 3d. At acidic pH, the rate of degradation is faster as compared to high and neutral pH. The results clearly show that acidic pH is ideal for the degradation of the pharmaceutics. Effect of light intensity on degradation of pharmaceutic: The photolysis of pharmaceutic was studied under UV irradiation and dark. The log natural decay curves (In Ct/Co) of pharmaceutic versus irradiation time were displayed in (Fig. 3-5). The data for dark control samples were also elaborated in Fig. 6. Photodegradation of diclofenac sodium and atorvastatin under UV light in distilled water and methanol respectively were determined during the summer season (March-september) as displayed in Fig.3. The determined half life of 50 ppm diclofenac sodium in distilled water under UV light was 2.5h and in dark it was observed as 3 h. The rate of reaction varied from 2.8Ãâ€"10-3 to 2.3Ãâ€"10-3 when pharmaceutic was shifted from UV light to dark. Effect of metal loading on MCM-41 The effect of metal loading over MCM-41 on the photocatalytic activity is investigated and the results are shown in Fig. 2a. The degradation studies are carried out with increase of metal (wt%)5, 10 and 15 using 1 g l_1 of catalyst amount in 50 ml pharmaceutics solution. It is observed that 5–10 wt% increase in metal loadings, the photocatalytic activity increases and there is not much degradation rate at higher loadings. Among all the catalysts, 10 wt% M/MCM- 41 (M= Cu, Fe and Ce) showed most efficient photocatalytic degradation of pharmaceutics i.e., complete degradation within 90 min. The loss in the activity with increase in metal percent loading is due to the excess amount of metal oxide dispersed over MCM-41 that blocks the mesopores results a decrease in adsorption capacity. The turbidity of the solution also blocks penetration of light into the solution. Thus, the metal loading over the support clearly shows that one has to optimize the metal content, simultaneously re taining the active sites for adsorption in order to achieve the effective synergism. Effect of catalyst amount To optimize the amount of catalyst required for effective pharmaceutic photocatalytic degradation, different catalyst amounts (0.25–1.5 g l_1) are studied with 10 wt% M/MCM-41 and the results are shown in Fig. 3a. It is observed that 1.0 g l_1 is found to be the optimum. By increasing 0.25– 1.0 g l_1, the photocatalytic activity is increased and at higher contents the activity is not beneficial. This may be due to the fact that higher amount of the catalyst is obstructing the path of light penetration into the solution (i.e., scattering of light) thus reducing the OH radicals formation. Effect of substrate concentration The effect of 0.094, 0.1571 and 0.2829 mM pharmaceutics concentrations are performed over 10 wt% M/MCM-41 catalyst with 1 g l_1 amount for degradation. From Fig. 3b, it is observed that at lower concentrations, the adsorption is more compared to higher concentrations. There is a slight difference in degradation at 0.094, 0.1571 mM concentrations in comparison to 0.2829 mM. Also, it is acknowledged that the degradation is solely depends on the OH radical formation. The production of OH radicals is not sufficient in comparison to the amount of pharmaceutic adsorbed on the surface of the photocatalyst at higher concentrations. In view of this it suggests that, there should be equilibrium between adsorption of reactant molecules and OH radicals generated from the active sites. The 0.1571 mM concentration of pharmaceutic is found to be optimum for 10 wt% M/MCM-41 catalyst using 1 g l_1 amount. The experimental kinetic data are presented in Fig. 3c (inset) and in Table 1, along with time r equired for 50% degradation (t1/2) for each of the fitted lines. The degradation rate of pharmaceutic is decreased while increasing the concentration. The rate constant ‘k’ decreases with increase in initial concentration of drug. The effect of initial concentration of pharmaceutic on the photocatalytic degradation rate is described by pseudo-first order kinetics. The apparent rate constant for 0.114 mM IPU over 10 wt% TiO2/Al-MCM- 41 catalyst is 0.072 min_1 (R2 = 0.994). In the present investigation, 0.1571 mM concentration is found to be the optimum for degradation studies. [i] E.M. Flanigen, H. Khatami, H.A. Szymanski, (1971), Infrared structural studies of zeolite frameworks. In: E.M. Flanigen, L.B. Sand (Eds.). Molecular Sieve Zeolites. ACS Adv. Chem. Ser., 101: pp 201-227. [ii] E.M. Flanigen, H. Khatami, H.A. Szymanski, (1971), Infrared structural studies of zeolite frameworks. In: E.M. Flanigen, L.B. Sand (Eds.). Molecular Sieve Zeolites. ACS Adv. Chem. Ser., 101: pp 201-227. [iii] Taib, I.N., Endud, S., Katun, M.N Functionalization of mesoporous Si-MCM-41 by grafting with trimethylchlorosilane, International journal of chemistry, 3: 3(2011). [iv] Song, X, Qu, P, Jiang, N, Yang, H, Qiu, G: Synthesis and characterization of MCM-41 materials assembled with CeO2 nanoparticles. Coll. Surf. A Physicochem. Eng. Aspects 313–314, 193–196 (2008)

Explain the Centrality of the Dreaming and Its Importance for Aboriginal Spirituality

Explain the centrality of the Dreaming and its importance for Aboriginal spirituality. The Aboriginal Dreaming refers to the religious and spiritual beliefs of the aboriginal people of Australia. The dreaming is what they base their traditional lives around, the dreaming determines their values and beliefs and their relationships with the animals, plants and environment around them. The Dreaming tells the stories that explain their views and beliefs on how the world came to be and its history and the totems which represent each historical factor of the dreaming. The dreaming stories explain how the Spirit Ancestors made the trees, rocks, waterholes, and rivers, mountains and stars as well as the animals and plants, and which spirits represent each of these things along with the other living features in the land. Views on life and death: The aboriginal people believe that there is no heaven or hell after death they believe that they came from the land and once they die they return to the land. Their belief system is based on past, present and future. The past makes it possible to live in the present, and without the past or present there is no future. There are two types of dreaming: ‘the’ dreaming and ‘my’ dreaming, the dreaming is the history but my dreaming is the connection to a life form or totem eg. Crocodile or eagle which connects ‘my’ dreaming to ‘the’ dreaming because of those totems being symbols in ancient rituals. Dreaming stories: The Dreaming stories are of great importance to the aboriginal people in terms of the dreaming because they are the history books verbally, they tell the stories in detail of how the earth came to be from the ancestors and spirits who created the land who created them. The dreaming stories tell what each spirit was able to create and how it happened for example the rainbow serpent or how the moon got in the sky. These stories have been passed on for millions of generations. These stories were either told by the elders or were found in the aboriginal are of cave painting, these cave paintings had the same effect as the spoken, these traditional art forms also tell a story of how something came to be from the spirits and the ancestors. Rituals and ceremonies: The aboriginal people believe that in performing rituals such as carobories tells stories of the spirits forming into what they represent such as the emu or kangaroo. These sacred dances are performed on the coming of age ceremonies and many other significant occasions. The sites where these ceremonies are performed are sacred and can only be accessed by certain groups, women and elders and only for the purpose of initiation. Aboriginal art: The traditional aboriginal art depicts places, events and dreaming ancestors, also incorporating actual events, whereas the temporary was only for initiation ceremonies and funerals. The aboriginal art opens up ways of communicating the close relationship between the ancestral beings and the laws, views, values, ceremonies and obligations of the people. They enable understanding and knowledge within a community and also partcially the outside world. Connections with the land: The land is the centre of aboriginal spirituality, it is the core of their religion. The land is the people and the people are the land. The land is where they believe the ancestors are. To aboriginals their â€Å"god† is not one singular god up in the sky but many ancestors that are part of the earth and formed and are part of everything natural that is seen today. They believe that the ancestors came through the earth and formed mountains and ridges, rivers and lakes, the sky and the dirt, they are everything and the land is their form of communication with the people, they live in a symbiotic relationship. The land dwells from them and they dwell from the land, they work together to keep the other alive and strong. In conclusion, the centrality of the aboriginal dreaming and its importance to the people is based on the land, the rituals and cerimonies, the understanding that they have a strong relationship with the ancestors and the basis of past, present and future. These are all important because they are the basis of life for the aboriginal people and without this they would not live the traditional lifestyle with all the same customs, they would have no dreaming and no core beliefs that give them the power to respect their land. Resources: Class notes. Previous knowledge. Living religion- third edition. Jannet Movissey, Peter mudge, Adam Taylor, Greg Bailey, Paul Rule. Pearsons education Australia; 2005. Pgs. 11-19.

Black Men and Public Space in America - 1804 Words

Black Men and Public Space: An Agent of Change African-American men and white men are born and raised within the continental U.S.; each of their own faculty empowered to change the social injustice of a society. The innate qualities of the African American do not compare to those of the white man, yet - â€Å"empowered† they are with character. The foundation for the concept –â€Å"character† is best defined as â€Å"holistic,† meaning of physical, mental and social qualities – A. Adler’s school of thought, as well as A. Maslow and C. Rogers’ thoughts –â€Å"[a]n equal human being†¦ cognitive, emotional, and volitional† (Ambrus, 33 -34) Jennifer Ritterhouse, author of Growing Up Jim Crow: How Black and White Southern Children Learned Race, explains that†¦show more content†¦This upward mobility is described by Marlon B. Ross in the article, Manning the Race: Reforming Black Men in the Jim Crow Era; persona â€Å"[a]s a reactive identity overdetermined by the hegemony of white masculinity or as a parallel, if marginalized, cultural formation mimetically patterned on white masculinity.† (Clarke, 456) Staples’ behavior resembles a person who is projecting himself in the direction of upward mobility. The difference is that, unlike the white man, Staples says that he â€Å"[t]akes precautions to make [himself] less threatening.† (231) A parallel to Staples’ upward mobility is a typical young white man at high school projecting masculinity. Related to it is upward mobility mastery in a study by Nicolas W. Proctor. In June 2007, at South West High School in Minneapolis, MN, the counselor for students H-Z had stepped out of his office. Since he was out and the door was open, I waited in his office for him to return. The second person to enter the room was a young ethnic student; she sat down beside me. Shortly afterward, the counselor entered and at that time the counselor saw that there were two women in his office. When yet when a third person entered, the white male, he proceeded to direct an inquiryShow MoreRelatedKiese Laymons How to Slowly Kill Yourselves and Others in America and Brent Staples Black Men and Public Spaces967 Words   |  4 PagesIn Kiese Laymon â€Å"How to Slowly Kill yourselves and others in America† and Brent Staples â€Å"Black Men and Public Spaces† both essays deal w ith being an African American man but the authors respond in a different ways. At one point in history being an African American wasn’t always the easiest but two Authors shared their stories about the experiences they had which were very different. Although the color of their skin is the same and how they treated was as well both authors take different precaution’sRead MoreJust Walk On By : Black Men And Public Space1464 Words   |  6 PagesThe portrait of black men that people have had in their mind for many decades has narrowed their vision about black men and has automatically affected black men’s identity. When it comes to black people, one already has a picture in his or her mind and draws a conclusion about how black people have to look and how they will act. After I read the essay entitled, â€Å"Just Walk on By: Black Men and Public Space,† written by Brent Staples, in which he talks about the fearsomeness mistakenly given to himRead MoreRacism In Public Space Essay1287 Words   |  6 PagesLife is very difficult in public spaces. It not only has the twists and turns but, for minorities, is racist. Ever since the slave days, African Americans have known to be cautious around police. 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The oldest of nine children, Staples grew up in Chester, but due to his dad becoming an alcoholic and having financial problems, they moved seven times before he finishing junior high school. Brent was born a year before BrownRead MoreThe Rise Of Awareness Of Police Brutality Towards Black Males965 Words   |  4 PagesAlthough written in the late 1980s with the rise of awareness of police brutality towards black males in America, it is clearly evident that black people are treated differently especially in terms of racial profiling. According to analysis by New York Civil Liberties Union, in 2013 83% of the people stopped in New York for a frisk and search were black or Hispanic with only 12% being white and of all the people stopped 81% were completely innocent. Racial profiling causing an uneasiness to those

MCDONALD Last Name Meaning and Origin

McDonald is a common Scottish patronymic surname meaning son of Donald, a given name meaning world ruler, from the Gaelic Mac Dhamhnuill. McDonald is probably the most famous of the Scottish clan surnames. In Scotland the McDonald surname derived most often from Scottish settlers who arrived in to the Province of Ulster in the seventeenth century. It may also be an anglicization of MacDomhnall, although the McDonnell or ODonnell spelling is more often seen in that instance. Surname Origin:  Scottish Alternate Surname Spellings: MACDONALD, MCDONNELL, MACDONELL, MCDONNALD Where in the World Is the MCDONALD Surname Found? According to WorldNames public profiler, the McDonald surname is most common in Australia, followed by Ireland and New Zealand. The surname distribution maps at Forebears puts the greatest density of people with the McDonald surname in Grenada, followed by Jamaica, Scotland, the Bahamas, and Australia. In 1881 Scotland, the McDonald surname was most common in Inverness-shire. In 1901, it was the 11th most common surname in County Carlow, Ireland. Famous People with the Surname MCDONALD: Michael McDonald -  American singer and songwriterFreda Josephine McDonald - American entertainer and dancer, best known by her married name Josephine BakerRamsay MacDonald -  first Labor Party prime minister of Great BritainFlora MacDonald -  Jacobite patriot who protected Bonnie Prince Charlie after the Battle of CullodenJohn A. MacDonald - first Prime Minister of Canada ​Genealogy Resources for the Surname MCDONALD Clan Donald USAA nationwide organization of nearly 4,000 families who trace their ancestry to any of the branches of Clann Domhnaill.   McDonald Family Genealogy ForumSearch this popular genealogy forum for the McDonald surname to find others who might be researching your ancestors, or post your own McDonald surname query. McDonald Family DNA ProjectThis Y-DNA project includes nearly 2,000 MacDonalds (including variant spellings such as MacDaniel and MacDanold) interested in using DNA and genealogy research to trace their ancestry in Scotland or Ireland. FamilySearch - MCDONALD GenealogyExplore over 8.2 million results, including digitized records, database entries, and online family trees for the McDonald surname and its variations on the FREE FamilySearch website, courtesy of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. MCDONALD Surname Family Mailing ListsRootsWeb hosts several free mailing lists for researchers of the McDonald surname. DistantCousin.com - MCDONALD Genealogy Family HistoryFree databases and genealogy links for the last name McDonald. The McDonald Genealogy and Family Tree PageBrowse genealogy records and links to genealogical and historical records for individuals with the McDonald surname from the website of Genealogy Today. -- Looking for the meaning of a given name? Check out First Name Meanings -- Cant find your last name listed? Suggest a surname to be added to the Glossary of Surname Meanings Origins. ----------------------- References: Surname Meanings Origins Cottle, Basil. Penguin Dictionary of Surnames. Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1967. Hanks, Patrick and Flavia Hodges. A Dictionary of Surnames. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989. Hanks, Patrick. Dictionary of American Family Names. New York:  Oxford University Press, 2003. MacLysaght, Edward.  Surnames of Ireland. Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 1989. Smith, Elsdon C. American Surnames. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1997.

Development And Proliferation Of The European Union

Due to their permeability, national boundaries (symbolic, not physical) have been constantly reconstructed, reshaped and remodelled in order to accommodate the endless flows of information coming from foreign sources, thus allowing the formation of a global society which is no longer defined by ideological, historical or geographical boundaries. This can lead to a phenomenon which can be best described as a â€Å"borderless world† (Allen Hamnett, 1995, cited in Chan and McIntyre, 2002, xv), with prime examples being the European Union, which promotes the values of freedom, equality and unity between its citizens, and, more specifically, the Schengen Area, whose member states have abolished passport and border controls between them altogether.†¦show more content†¦Transnational agents penetrate the symbolic boundaries of a state by means of mediated communication, satellite and cultural flows, therefore making the nation-states vulnerable in the face of globalization, and consequently, lose their autonomous power (Chan and McIntyre, 2002, xvii). The interconnectedness created by globalization results not only in diversity among cultures, but also in the hybridization of those cultures that now coexist under the veil of â€Å"The Golden Digital Époque†. When one considers the field of international communication, or cross-cultural communication, and the interconnectedness that comes with it, the first culture determinant that comes to mind is â€Å"language†. Language is a crucial factor in the development of worldwide communication, the process of â€Å"glocalization† notwithstanding, because it enables its audience to understand the message conveyed in a way that is common to all. Nowadays, the majority of international news or media products are produced in an English cultural milieu on the grounds that the language is taught in schools all around the world from an early age and is regarded as a foreign language of international circulation - BBC, CNN, Fox News Channel are among the channels which convey international and local news in their own language and which

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc Free Essays

string(93) " to buy microprocessors from both AMD and Intel for its Cobalt server \(Robertson 2001, 3\)\." Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. is ranked as the as the world†s second largest PC chipmaker with a market share of just 17%, far behind Intel Corp. with 81% of the market (Buckman and Williams 2001, 1). We will write a custom essay sample on Advanced Micro Devices, Inc or any similar topic only for you Order Now However, in 2000 AMD†s sales jumped 63% to $4.6 billion, producing $983 million in net income and its first profitable year since 1995 (Streetwalker 2001, 1). AMD owns engineering, manufacturing, warehousing and administrative facilities where it produces not only PC chips but also microprocessors, memory circuits, logic circuits, flash memory devices, telecommunication products and embedded processors (Moody†s 2000, 2520). The company†s headquarters and research and development site are located in Sunnyvale, CA, while the wafer manufacturing plants are located in Austin, TX and Dresden, Germany. The test and assembly facilities are located in Bangkok, Thailand and Penang, Malaysia. The company has also established production at the Singapore†s test and assembly facility as well as an analysis and design plant in Suzhou, China. In addition, a new plant in Japan, a joint venture of AMD and Fujitsu, called AMD Fujitsu Semiconductor Ltd. or FASB, will begin operations in the first half of 2001 (Dum 2000, 2). AMD, like many technological multinational enterprises (MNE), prefers to locate its factories and assembly plants in technology clusters in stable and democratic countries. However, AMD knows that East Asia is one of the best places for setting up factories because of cheap wages, stable countries, proximity to suppliers and potentially large markets. In fact, six out of AMD†s nine facilities are located in East Asia and employ approximately 5,600 people. The company†s consolidated global position produces a very interesting case. This paper will analyze AMD†s international operations, competitors, alliances, legal problems, and its relationship with stakeholders. In addition, the recent meltdown in high-tech stocks and the reduction of PC sales are provoking the semiconductor industry to diversify its business. This analysis will consider the consequences of this problem and the resulting changes in AMD†s corporate business strategies. The personal computer microprocessor market is considered a quasi-monopolistic market in which the largest corporate buyers such as Dell Computer Corp., Compaq Computer Corp., Hewlett Packard Co. and IBM Corp buy almost solely from Intel Corp. (Mathew 2001, 1). For this reason, AMD has had difficulty introducing its microprocessors into the market. For example, in January 1994, AMD and Compaq Computers Corp. formed an alliance in which AMD Am486 microprocessors would power Compaq computers (AMD 2001, 2). Between 1994 and 2001 AMD was not able to convince another large PC vendor to buy its microprocessors. However, in January 2001 AMD got its first contract with a major PC vendor, Micron Electronics Inc., to supply the Athlon microprocessor for the Micro Electronics† ClientPro product line (Konicki 2001, 2). In the same month, AMD also contracted to supply and introduce its first version of the Duron microprocessor for laptops to NEC Corp., Japan (Duron chips for laptops†¦ 2001, 1) In addition, while Intel launched the Pentium IV at the end of 2000, AMD took advantage of the transition from Pentium III to IV to try to convince several of the largest corporate buyers, which were comparing the new Intel†s Pentium IV and AMD†s Athlon, to switch to AMD†s Athlon microprocessors. Although AMD could not change any of the corporate buyers† minds, the company did prove that the Athlon microprocessor is faster, more reliable and cheaper than Intel†s Pentium IV (Letters 2001, 3). This failure was frustrating for AMD, but this is the price a firm has to pay when attempting to enter a competitor†s market. Clearly, Intel has the first-in advantage, although AMD has a better quality portfolio with a cheaper price. However, sooner or later this trend must change because Intel†s marketing cannot hide this reality. Some laboratories have tested both AMD Athlon and Intel Pentium IV and have concluded that while Intel†s Pentium IV is not worth what it costs, AMD†s Athlon costs what it is worth. Thus, AMD does not have to attract customers by resorting to rebates and discount programs, as Intel has to do. Another weapon Intel has is to cut processor prices. In any case, Intel does not want to lose any market share, and AMD wants to get more, so the rivalry and price war will certainly continue this year. They both know that in competitive markets, a market share lost by one company is a market share gained by the competitor. As a result, both companies are preparing to compete with one another. In fact, both AMD and Intel have increased their capital spending for 2001 by about 20% to $1 billion and $7.5 billion respectively, although PC sales growth is expected to slip to 16.6% worldwide, down from 18.8% in 2000 (Hannon 2001, 1). AMD realized that it must diversify in order to maintain its growth rate. The AMD and Fujitsu Ltd. venture, FASB, which includes joint technological development and production of flash memory for cellular handsets, is one way to diversify. Together AMD and Fujitsu have 30% market share of the flash memories sold for cell phones. However, in the short-term FASB will not be able to supply enough flash cards to get a larger percentage of the handset market because of capacity limitations. Therefore, in the year 2000 Fujitsu converted several of its own plants to serve strictly as factories for the joint venture. FASB is also pushing as hard as it can to begin production in its new mega plant in Japan, if possible before June 2001. The main competitor in this market is again Intel, which has about 60% of the market share, so another price war may soon begin (Dum 2000, 2). Customers neither want to depend on only one supplier nor to contribute to Intel market dominance. They want to reduce the risk of insufficient supply of chips that occurred last year. Siemens is now buying flash-memory chips from both FASB and Intel (Accord is set†¦ 2001, 1). Besides Siemens, Sun Microsystems Inc. also decided to buy microprocessors from both AMD and Intel for its Cobalt server (Robertson 2001, 3). You read "Advanced Micro Devices, Inc" in category "Essay examples" In this market war neither AMD nor Intel have ever been very interested in making collaborating. However, AMD has developed other collaborations with many related companies:  · In 1987 AMD and Monolithic Memories Inc. agreed to merge.  · As mentioned earlier, in 1993 AMD started a joint venture with Fujitsu Ltd., Japan.  · AMD collaborated with LSI Logic Corp. and Texas Instruments Inc. to create integrated solutions for digital base band processors (Dum 2000, 2).  · AMD, Dupont Inc., Motorola and Micron Technology Inc. are involved in a joint venture in Texas in which they research and develop photomask technology for future generation semiconductors (Chappell 2000, 1).  · On February 14, 2001 AMD, stated that it will license technology to about 100 companies including Cisco Systems Inc., Nvidia Corp. and Fujitsu Ltd. The licenses do not charge a cash fee, but they swap intellectual property (New AMD system†¦ 2001, 1).  · AMD and Motorola have a strategic alliance to research the copper interconnect technology field.  · At present, AMD is looking for a partner to build in 2004 its first 300-mm factory costing about $4 billion (Advanced Micro is seeking†¦ 2001, 1). The usual warfare between AMD and Intel never seems to change, but analysts expect both firms to begin to collaborate soon. The small semiconductor players are now creating partnerships to improve their positions in the market. In fact, the microprocessor industry accounts for a lot of different technologies that no one company can have in-house (Dum 2000, 3) In the last quarter of 2000, sales of Duron, AMD†s low-cost processor, were not as strong because a chipset used with the microprocessor was not readily available. Therefore, AMD decided to plan for the future and began a two-year multimillion-dollar global SAP project to provide a just-in-time (JIT) inventory program. In addition, SAP tools such as financial, supply chain, production, logistics and e-business software, would give AMD and its suppliers and customers day to day information regarding the chipmaker†s production and supply chain. This project would benefit all three parties (AMD, suppliers and customers) by avoiding upturns and downturns in demand and supply (Konicki 2001, 2). As a technological sector firm, AMD is also deeply involved with the latest technology. For example, the company†s internal website provides employees plenty of information not only for learning purposes but also for safety purposes, such as radiation control, chemical issues, hazardous energy control and waste management issues. In each of the company†s local sites, the firm uses the latest technology in both the production area and in the corporate offices. Although in 1976 AMD and Intel signed a patent cross-license agreement, in the late 80s AMD initiated several arbitration actions against Intel (AMD 2001, 1). The reasons for these arbitrations were Intel†s quasi-monopolistic dominance of the microprocessor market and its unfair market behavior, as fact confirmed by many other companies. The most tedious arbitration action finished in February 1994 after five years of court disputes. The judge finally ruled against Intel and awarded AMD full rights to produce and sell the entire Am386 family of microprocessors (AMD 2001, 2). Besides another court case against Intel in 1994, AMD has never been in court again. Nevertheless, AMD continues to complain about Intel†s market behavior. For example, Intel pressured IBM to backtrack a notebook microprocessor order that IBM had already booked with AMD (Mathew 2001, 2). As a result, AMD lost the contract. The Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS) program provides a safe work place for employees, protects the environment, prevents damage to property, enhances employee morale and assures compliance with applicable laws and regulations worldwide. The program is disseminated from the main team to all AMD†s local sites. Then, local sites apply this information and provide different services to the stakeholders surrounding each site (AMD 1999, 1). Another task of the EHS department is to obtain the (ISO) 14001 certification from the International Organization for Standardization. By the end of 1999, AMD†s Bangkok facility had already been certified. All other AMD manufacturing facilities are expecting to achieve this certification before the end of 2001. The (ISO) 14001 certification develops standard methodology to recognize, identify, evaluate and control hazards in the workplace. The emphasis of this effort is intended to internalize those standards throughout the firm because they have not existed in the past. These standards are one way to improve the moral and physical well being of the workforce. The safety and health policy focuses on reducing occupational injury and illness rates company-wide. To achieve this goal, each local facility must establish:  · Engineering controls and tests such as leak detection, air monitoring and fire detection systems.  · Emergency preparedness plans to learn what to do in case of fire, hazardous material release, earthquake and other natural disasters. .  · Education empowerment at all personnel levels through the internal website and seminars. Moreover, AMD offers additional services in different sites such as:  · The Employee Development Center (EDC) in Bangkok, Thailand and Penang, China which has exercise rooms, fitness programs and relaxation rooms.  · The Repetitive Motion Injury (RMI) in Sunnyvale, CA specializes in adjusting the furniture and equipment to the needs of each individual at his or her workstation (AMD 1999, 17). The safety and health policy has had excellent results considering that in recent years less than three injury and illness cases out of every 100 employees have been reported. In the globalization era, AMD has to adapt to different cultural environments and incorporate different cultures in the organization. AMD operates in four continents, so its work force is a mix of people, cultures and customs. One can find an American working in a Singapore assembly plant or a Bolivian working in a factory in Dresden, Germany. This diversity creates an atmosphere of synergy and creativity that encourages every employee to do his or her best. The mix of cultures also facilitates the international communication between AMD†s locations, suppliers and customers. Under the universal employment policy and procedures that govern AMD†s practices worldwide, discrimination is not welcomed. Job applicants do not need to be concerned about age, color, ancestry, disability, religion, gender, sexual orientation, marital status or national origin (AMD 1999, 1). AMD also cares about employee morale and respect for individuals as well as individual†s values. The environmental policy is an important part of AMD†s EHS program performance. The firm focuses on multimedia pollution prevention and resource conservation. In the last couple of years the firm has not only reduced the amount of hazardous waste generation, electricity use and water consumption but also has enhanced a successful reuse and recycling program. To illustrate, in 1999, at the Dresden factory, its own energy center was able to generate more than 100% of the power the factory consumed. At the same time, the Dresden water recycling plant recycled 20% of the consumed water (AMD 1999, 10). Because of these and many other environmental accomplishments, AMD†s local sites have received several awards. The state of California has awarded AMD headquarters for its commitment to solid waste reduction and recycling programs for five consecutive years. The city of Austin, TX awarded AMD for its excellent compliance with wastewater treatment regulations. AMD†s globalization emphasis has made it possible to begin building supply chain environmental management. To accomplish this project, the AMD EHS department evaluates the worldwide chemical suppliers† EHS program and collects this information to select and evaluate existing suppliers. As AMD evaluates its suppliers, third-party firms also evaluate and audit AMD local sites. Six of the firm†s local sites that have been inspected, usually by local government environmental agencies, have not received any citations or violations. However, AMD headquarters has been inspected 13 times between 1996 and 1999. This location has received five citations related to labeling of hazardous waste. Two other sites that were inspected and received citations were the Suzhou assembly plant because of two releases of diesel fuel and the Dresden plant because of a phosphoric acid release (AMD 1999, 9-18). AMD resolved all issues to the satisfaction of the regulatory agencies without any fines. AMD has been committed to the communities in which it operates. The firm has also been a responsible and good neighbor that has involved the local communities in its corporate contribution programs. Some of the most important contributions done in 1999 directly by the AMD headquarters were; first, a cash gift of one percent of pretax profits to nonprofit agencies and schools that serve the communities where AMD operates and second, $1 million to the Taiwanese government because of the September 21st earthquake. On the other hand, each site contributes to its own community in different ways. For example, in 1999 AMD†s Bangkok site donated 200 computers to the community and cash to the Red Cross of Thailand to support a project that helps mothers with the AIDS virus. AMD Sunnyvale donated $600,000 to organizations and schools in the Sunnyvale area. In addition to financial donations, AMD†s workforce also participates in volunteer opportunities. Some examples are AMD†s Penang employees† blood donations to the Blood Bank Hospital of Penang and AMD†s Dresden EHS personnel factory tours and the monitoring of ecological projects with local schools (AMD 1999, 10-18). This analysis has attempted to prove that AMD has an efficient mechanism to run a global business. The firm not only was able to become a profitable company in the fourth quarter of 2000 but also proved that it can gain more market share from all the markets in which it does business. Moreover, AMD has been a good neighbor to the communities in which it functions, satisfying many stakeholders† desires. AMD†s positive overall performance assures the company a bright path for future growth in the global economy. How to cite Advanced Micro Devices, Inc, Essay examples