Hyperion Financial Management: Performance Tuning Guide

For comprehensive tuning information for the PM System, please refer to the [email  protected] Hyperfine PM, Fusion Edition Performance and Tuning Guide. Top of Document This document is written for people who monitor performance and tune the components in an PM/BI environment. It is assumed that readers know server administration and hardware performance tuning fundamentals, web servers, java application servers and database. Introduction to Oracle Hyperfine PM System Performance To maximize Oracle Hyperfine PM System performance, you need to monitor, analyze, and tune all the components.This guide describes the tools that you can use to monitor performance and the techniques for optimizing the performance of Oracle Hyperfine PM System components, for example Financial Management, Sybase, Reporting and Analysis and Planning. Performance Terminology This guide uses the following performance terms: Scalability The system's ability to perform within specification under increasing use r load, data load and hardware expansion. Latency The time between the issuing of a request and the time when the work actually begins on the request. Think time The time a real user pauses to think between actions.Resource utilization A consumption metric, for example, the percent of CPU usage. Response time A time metric, for example round-trip time it takes the server to deliver a Web page. Throughput A rate metric (requests per unit of time), for example, requests per second, bits per second. For example, if an application can handle 20 customer quests simultaneously and each request takes one second to process, this site has a potential throughput of 20 requests per second. Understanding Key Performance Drivers To optimize your deployment, you must understand the elements that influence performance and scalability.A factor that dictates performance is called a key performance driver. Knowing how the drivers behave in combination further enhances your ability to deploy Oracle Hy perfine PM system optimally, based on the unique requirements of each deployment. Hardware Capacity – Factors such as number of servers, quantity and speed of processors, available RAM, network speed etc. Technical Platforms Tuning – Fine tuning other third party software required for installing and running Oracle Hyperfine PM products; for example: relational databases, Java application servers, Web servers, Server / Client Operating System and browsers.Business Application Design – Application design is an important factor in system performance I. E. Structure, size, and use of product features in designing applications' databases, reports, Web data entry forms, calculations and consolidations. Business Process usage – Activities carried out by users in the normal flow of your business cycle. Business process usage has three components: User activity-?Activities available to users for data load or data entry, database processing (consolidations, copy, c lear, and so on), and reporting and analysis. Rate of user activity – A number of transactions executed by one user per one hour.User concurrency-?Number of users for each activity being carried out simultaneously. Tuning Recommendations for Financial Management Performance tuning Oracle Hyperfine Financial Management is a complex and iterative process. To ghetto started, this document includes recommendations to help you optimize your Oracle Hyperfine HEM system reference. Note: tuning has to be done for a particular production workload. Tuning can be conducted when workload is generated by load generation tools like Oracle Application Testing Suite (TATS) or Load Runner by HP.This document touches on several areas that provide a quick start for performance tuning Financial Management, including: Tune Operating Systems parameters Tune HTTP Server parameters Tune HTTP Server Compression / Caching 4 Tune Oracle Database Parameters Hyper-Threading / SMS Considerations Note: whi le the list in each of the above stated section is a useful tool in tarring your performance tuning, it is not meant to be comprehensive list of areas to tune. You must monitor and track specific performance issues within your implementation to understand where tuning can improve performance.Top Of Document Diagnosing Performance Problems When a performance issue arises, it is critical to first determine the cause prior to taking any corrective action. Oracle does not recommend changing performance-related parameter settings or taking other actions until an extensive analysis of the problem has been performed. Using Monitoring Tools Oracle strongly recommends using monitoring tools to collect performance ATA as part of the diagnostic process. Monitoring the WFM application server, web servers, database server(s) and network layers provide useful performance data.The recommended tool to monitor the WFM application process performance on the Windows server side is Microsoft Performanc e monitoring. Steps for configuring Performance Monitor to gather the counters specific for HEM application can be found here: HTTPS://support. Us. Oracle. Com/pop/faces/secure/km/ Documentation's. JSP? Id=953294. 1 Performance counters to monitor include: Us beseem Counter Guidance Memory Memory: Free System â€Å"Warning† when Free System Page Table Entries is Page Table Entries less than 8,000 â€Å"Critical† when Free System page Table Entries is less than 5,000.On WFM systems if you enable KGB without proper tuning as per recommendations stated in section â€Å"Tune Windows /KGB†, you will notice 5000 PET as initial value after the reboot. Memory: Available Should be no lower than 20% to 25% of Installed Maybes physical memory. In these cases, carefully monitor Paging activity. Memory: Page This counter should be below 1,000 at all times. Reads/sec Processor processor: % processor Total processor utilization should be lower than about Time Total to 80%. Pro cessor: % Processor Each processor instance should be lower than about 5 Disk 70% to 80% utilization.

Meeting Customer Needs

Content 1. 0 Introduction†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 1 2. 0 Identification and Analysis of the Problems†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 2 2. 1 The Problem of NBAstore-eu†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 2 2. 2 Marketing analysis†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 3 2. 2. 1 Products Analysis†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 4 2. 2. 2 Price & Promotion Analysis†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢ € ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 2. 3 SWOT Analysis†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 9 3. 0 Conclusion†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 10 4. 0 Recommendations†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 10 Reference†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 14 Appendix†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 15 1. 0 Introduction Today’s connected consumers have become far more dif? ult to please. A study by Gartner (2010), Inc, a technology research company, found that a majority of consumers rely to some extent on social networks to guide them in their purchase decisions. This ability to compare competing services and products and interact rapidly with other customers has intensi? ed competition in virtually every market. According to Peters (1987), marketing is about making sure that a business is providing the goods and services that customers want. It involves identifying and anticipating what consumers want today and will want in the future.The marketing department then plays an important role in taking these goods and services to market through all the channels the business sells through. Customer expectations are beliefs about service delivery that serve as standards or reference points against which performance is judge d. Because customers compare their perceptions of performance with these reference points when evaluating service quality, thorough knowledge about customer expectations is critical to services marketers. Knowing what the customer expects is the first and possibly most critical step in delivering good quality service.Being wrong about what customers want can mean losing a customer’s business when another company hits the target exactly. Being wrong can also mean expending money, time and other resources on things that do not count to the customer. Being wrong can even mean not surviving in a ? ercely competitive market (Woodruff, 1987). With the popularity of sports increasing rapidly among the youth of today, the businessmen have devised several different means of boosting their business with the help of the sports.One such way is the manufacturing and sale of sports merchandise, that includes articles like shoes, socks, bags and jerseys that are worn by the popular sportsme n. The game of basketball has also not remained untouched of such aspects. After years of having to search high and low for basketball gear, or pay extortionate shipping fees to get goods sent over from the US, the NBA has announced a new online store will be launched for international customers. NBAstore-eu has been launched in September, 2012, featuring a wide range of NBA-branded goods (NBAstore-eu, 2012).The site is available in English, French, Italian and Spanish with further languages to be developed. Fans will be able to make purchases in local currency and will benefit from a centralized European distribution point saving on transit time and shipping costs. Local language customer service will further enhance the e-commerce retail experience (NBAstore-eu, 2012). This report is to find out a discrepancy is there between what the customer would like and what the NBAstore-eu is providing. This report is from operations and marketing aspects to identify and analyse the problems which might cause the discrepancy.In the end, the report is going to give some recommendations to improve the match between expectation and delivery. 2. 0 Identification and Analysis of the Problems 2. 1 The Problems of NBAstore-eu NBAstore. eu is aiming to put an end to the days that fans only can buy official jerseys or team products from NBAstore in the USA and pay a lot of delivery fees (NBAstore-eu, 2012). On the other side, the fans of NBA in Europe are the target customers of NBAstore-eu, what the expectation of customers is to get the varieties of products from NBAstore-eu and pay less delivery fees to support their favourite team.Therefore, the current market/customer expectations of the NBAstore-eu and the purpose of catering service are coincident. However, the researcher discovers that there is a mismatch between what marketing has identified and operational activity actually delivers. Some fans state that (Appendix) the products that NBAstore-eu provide are much less t han NBAstore in USA and the price of products is even expensive than other NBAstore all over the world. Obviously, there is discrepancy between customers’ expectation and what NBAstore-eu has brought to them. 2. 2 Marketing AnalysisThere is no doubt that the National Basketball Association (NBA) is considered by many sports analysts as a top marketed professional sport (Salzberg, 1998). Nowadays, the fan base in Europe is growing rapidly because of superior performance of the European players in NBA. Such as Dirk Nowitzki, the best european player in NBA who is a German has carried his team Dallas Mavericks to win the 2011 NBA championship. Andrea Bargnani, who is Italian and plays for Toronto Raptors, was selected first overall in the 2006 NBA Draft. Luol Deng is Bristish who plays for Chicago Bulls, and selected for his NBA All-star game during the 2011-2012 season.Tony Parker is a french who plays for San Antonio Spurs, he has helped the team won three championships, selec ted as 2007 NBA Finals’ MVP and 4-time All-star. At last, Spain, provide a lot of greater players to NBA, and the spain national team nearly beat the USA dream team in 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games. According to Ian Whittell’s (2007) report, Today, millions of basketball fans across Europe have a wide range of ways in which they can watch their heroes and favorite teams competing live at the business end of the season – even if there is always the curse of time difference to overcome.The nature of the league means overseas interest is also an ever-evolving and changing entity. Great Britain has never been considered a hoops hotbed, but generations of basketball fans who were attracted to the sport by Michael Jordan and his glory years with the Chicago Bulls have this week been able to watch two players who could star for the British team at the 2012 London Olympics – Luol Deng and Ben Gordon – dismantle the defending champion Miami Heat (Daisy, 2007) . Fans in Europe are watching a lot more basketball now and so they are better educated,† says Rich Sheubrooks (2007), who combines his duties as Nike global basketball consultant with those of global scouting director for the Memphis Grizzlies from his base in Barcelona. As there is millions of fans in Europe and the amount is growing, set up a NBAstore-eu is a wise move for NBA to expand the Europe marketing. But NBAstore-eu now haven’t reached the customers’ expectation due to the products and prices issues. 2. 2. 1 Products AnalysisNBA jerseys were once only for people who religiously followed a particular team whereas nowadays people may just be wearing a jerseys because they like the design. Basketball jerseys have also become a fashion statement and people who don’t even watch NBA can be seen wearing them, it has have the name and reputation of nike with michael jordan backing it up as well as the classic styling that will keep in fashion for a very long time too. To the fans, wearing nba jerseys also helps fans to feel like they belong to a group.It is one of the best ways to distinguish who supports which team and helps fellow fans gather together, NBA jerseys can provide good quality as well as dealing with a reputable. As the major items for sale on NBA stores, the number of jerseys in NBAstore-eu is far less than NBAstore. For some famous team, the number of jerseys on sale in NBAstore-eu is only one-seventh as the number of NBAstore. Figure1 shows the huge mismatch of five famous teams’ jerseys on sale between NBAstore-eu and NBAstore. | |NBAstore. eu |NBAstore. om | |Teams | | | |Stores | | | |Boston Celtics |13 |108 | |Miami Heat |12 |113 | |Los Angeles Lakers |21 |101 | |New Yorks Knicks |5 |85 | |Chicago Bulls |17 |84 | |Total |68 |491 | Figure 1: Comparison the numbers of five famous NBA teams’ jerseys on sale. (Sources from www. nbastore. eu and store. nba. com) There are two main types of NBA je rseys, one is called swingman jersey, and the other is called replica jersey. Replica jersey is cheaper and the numbers and names are ironed on, the swingman jerseys are the ones that the numbers and names are stitched on and they are a little more expensive, most people prefer swingman jerseys because the look a lot better. Jerseys in NBAstore-eu are major make up by replica jerseys, on the other hand, the jerseys in NBAstore are most make up by swingman jerseys.According to a basketball fan who live in England and he said that (Appendix), â€Å"I prefer swingman jerseys, because replica jerseys are for those people who don’t care about basketball and just like to wear it when they go to sleep, and a true baller or people that care about their swagger would never even wear a replica jersey. Also, even though the swingman is a little bit expensive than replica jersey, but the quality is much more better. † The varieties style of jerseys can be seen in NBA games. Normal ly the players are wearing home jerseys or away jerseys. Sometimes, the away team needs to wear secondary away jerseys owing to long time journey.Moreover, some special designed jerseys for holidays are awesome and attractive. For examples, NBA has present special jerseys every year for St. Patrick’s Day and Latin Nights, and for the 2012 Chrismas Day, several new style jerseys called big color jersey have been presented. Also NBAstore provide some fashion jersey, which can’t be seen in the games, but they all have unique nice-looking appearance. Customers can purchase all kinds of jersey on NBAstore, but in NBAstore-eu, there are just a few styles of jersey on sale, even through the advertisement of the big color jerseys for the Chrismas can be seen in each commercial channel of NBA, but there is still no stock of the jerseys in NBAstore-eu.Customize jerseys are the special offer for customers in NBA official stores, customers can buy each team’s jersey or t-sh irt what ever replica or swingman with their own name or number on it. It is an attractive deal for customers, but NBAstore-eu only provide customize jerseys of two teams, and no swingman option. As the target market of NBAstore-eu is the European market, the jerseys of European players must be an important part. Research has found that there is no Jersey of Luol Deng in NBAstore-eu (Appendix), Deng is the best British player in NBA and definitely became an all-star player last season. It is not prudent for NBAstore-eu to miss his jersey on sale.Compare the products on sale in the outlet of NBAstore-eu and NBAstore, the number of products on sale is 503 to 448. NBAstore-eu have more products in the outlet, it seems like NBAstore-eu have beaten the flagship store at this point, but the numbers occasionally can not state the truth. The products in the outlet of NBAstore-eu are most make up by headwears and souvenirs, there are 371 products in these two parts, these products are hard t o stimulate the customers’ desire to buy, and there are only 19 jerseys on sale. On the other hand, the products in the outlet of NBAstore are most make up by jerseys, t-shirts and shorts, there are 140 jerseys on sale, so that the quality of the outlet is easy to identify. 2. 2. Price & Promotion Analysis There is also a discrepancy between customers’ expectation and the price of products in NBAstore-eu. As the NBA is a league in USA, so the price in NBAstore can be the standard price. In NBAstore, the price of standard replica jersey is $59. 99, the price of standard swingman jersey is $89. 99, and the price of customize replica jersey is $54. 99. In NBAstore-eu, the price of standard replica jersey is ? 45. 00, the price of standard swingman jersey is ? 65. 00, and the price of customize replica jersey is ? 55. 00. Research has found that the price of NBA official store in China is also a valuable data to analysis.In China, the price of replica and swingman jersey i s ? 390 and ? 580 respectively. Figure2 shows the price comparison of three NBA official stores. |Type of Jersey |NBAstore. com |NBAstore. eu |NBAstore. cn | |Stores | | | | |Replica Jersey |$59. 99 37. 3 |? 45 |? 390 39 | |Swingman Jersey |$89. 99 56 |? 65 |? 580 8 | |Customize Jersey |$54. 99 34. 2 |? 55 |- | Figure 2: Price comparison of three NBA main official stores. (Sources from www. nbastore. eu, store. nba. com and www. nbastore. cn) As the figure2 shows that NBAstore-eu is the most expensive store, the price of jersey in NBAstore-eu in far more expensive than the other two. Considering the tax fee for overseas products, but NBAstore-eu is still expensive than NBAstore-cn. One of the core ideas to launch NBAstore-eu is aiming to put an end to the days of giving money to friends who are visiting USA to bring back a ton of stuff.Nevertheless, the fact is that with NBAstore-eu has set up for more than three months, ask friends who are going to USA to bring some NBA stuffs back may still save money. Moreover, research has found that sometimes purchase a swingman jersey from NBAstore even cheaper than NBAstore-eu for people living in England. Normally, if customers are living in the UK, to buy a swingman jersey from NBAstore-eu cost ? 65 and ? 4. 95 for shipping fee, total ? 69. 95. Buy a swingman jersey from NBAstore cost total $134. 33 (including international shipping fee and tax), the price is approaching to ? 82. 6, so normally purchase from NBAstore-eu when customers are in Europe is cheaper. Nevertheless, sometimes, like for some holidays, sellers always make discount for promotion.Just like the Black Friday in 2012, NBAstore-eu provided 15% discount of every single product, so the charge of a swingman jersey is simply total ? 60. 2. Meanwhile, NBAstore presented 20% discount promotion code, and the big difference is that the discount is for entire order, so that means the charge of a swingman jersey is barely ? 66 for orders in the UK. Although pur chase a swingman jersey from NBAstore is still more expensive, but the variety of products there is much more than NBAstore-eu. Six pounds differential but considerably more options, and chances to get products that NBAstore-eu do not have. Obviously many customers will prefer to NBAstore, the promotion make NBAstore-eu in an embarrassing positon. [pic] Figure 3: Comparison of the intensity of promotion. Source from www. nbastore. eu and store. nba. com) 2. 3 SWOT Analysis NBAstore-eu have some strengths that the shipping time is shorter than buy goods from other official stores, and the products have guaranteed quality. Additionally, there is more accessories products than retailers. The weaknesses of NBAstore-eu as mentioned before are the products, prices and promotion. NBAstore-eu also have great opportunities to gain more profits because europe is a huge market, and it is merely explored a small part. Moreover, the fan base is growing rapidly. The retailers or similar online st ores in Europe are few, so that there are little competitors.The main threats of NBAstore-eu are the sellers on ebay. co. uk. Because some similar products on ebay are cheaper than the official website. Moreover, basketball is not the most famous sports in most European countries, so other sports will lead to customer segmentation, then the amount of customer will decrease. |Strengths |Weaknesses | |? Faster delivery for European fans |? Far more less products than flagship store | |? Guaranteed product quality |?Higher price than other official stores | |? More accessories than retailers |? Intensity of promotion is low | |Opportunities |Threats | |? Huge explorable market |? Sellers on ebay. co. uk | |? Few of competitors |? Better products from other official stores | |?Fan base growing rapidly |? Other sports led to customer segmentation | Figure 4: SWOT analysis for NBAstore-eu 3. 0 Conclusion The report has analysis the current problems for NBAstore-eu. The principal proble ms are products, prices and promotion. The intent and purpose of set up a NBAstore for European are great, but those problems make NBAstore-eu have a colossal mismatch to the expectation of customers. The types of products there are much fewer than expectation, many customers can’t get what they want from the NBAstore-eu. The prices there are not fair to the customers in Europe.The prices there are more expensive than other NBA stores. That means if the customers are going to buy something in NBAstore-eu, they need to pay more money and get fewer options. Moreover, the promotion intensity of NBAstore-eu is not as good as others. In general, these three big problems led a huge discrepancy to the expectation of customers. If those problems can’t be solved, there will be a giant mess for NBAstore-eu. The report has also used SWOT analysis, the results show that the NBAstore-eu not only have some drawbacks, but also have some strengths, opportunities and threats. The short er shipping time is the core strengths for NBAstore-eu for sure, and the products have guaranteed quality.As the Europe is a huge explorable market with an increasing number of fans, it is a big opportunity for NBAstore-eu to occupy the market. Besides, NBAstore-eu have some threats from the retails in europe, such as sellers on ebay, and other sports will segment the market, that’s also a threat. 4. 0 Recommendations As the intent and purpose of set up NBAstore-eu is providing excellent services and products for customers in Europe. In order to give European customers chance to buy products with minor time and the shipping fee. The expectation of customers is the same as the aiming of NBAstore-eu. As a matter of fact, the NBAstore-eu provide few products and more expensive prices than purpose. In order to solve the problem of products, NBAstore-eu need to import more products.As jerseys are the major commodities for NBA stores, first of all, NBAstore-eu should import more je rseys, specially the jerseys for European players, such as the missing one of Loul Deng. NBAstore-eu as a branch of NBAstore, the amount of products there are no need as much as the flagship, but the jerseys of famous players is still needed, just don’t miss the products for those all-star players though, that can reach the expectation of customers. Second, NBAstore-eu need to import products which are selling well in the NBAstore. Such as new style jerseys, and those hot swingman jerseys. The styles of jerseys in NBAstore-eu are fewer, so NBAstore-eu need some more styles of jerseys in order to create additional profit.NBAstore-eu need to import more swingman jerseys than replica jerseys, because swingman jerseys are more admired than replica jerseys. Third, NBAstore-eu need to offer more options for customers to customize their jerseys or t-shirts. For personal, some customers may want their own name and number on their favourite jerseys, customize products also can be a wi se choice as a special gift. Meanwhile, some sport teams may need the fashion jersey of NBA teams as their team jersey, so customize jersey may become their choice. Furthermore, some fans may like to have a NBA team t-shirt with their own name on it, that’s also opportunities for NBAstore-eu to gain more profits.The price issue is also a barrier for NBAstore-eu to reach the expectation of customers. As Figure2 shows, the prices in NBAstore-eu are extremely expensive than NBAstore. There is approximately ? 8 differential for a replica jersey, ? 9 differential for a swingman jersey and ? 21 differential for a customize replica jersey. Considering the international tax fee, for customers in the UK to buy one swingman jersey from NBAstore, the international handling fee is about $20 (See figure5), it is about 22% as the price of the products for retail. Despite the fact that the international handling fee is existing, but the price there is just 122% or more as the price of produ cts in NBAstore.It’s no doubt the international shipping fee is expensive, but one of the aiming of NBAstore-eu is to provide short shipping time and products with cheaper shipping fee. For customers in the UK to purchase some something from NBAstore-eu, they still need to pay ? 4. 95 for standard delivery or ? 6. 95 for express delivery. The conclusion is the price in NBAstore-eu is higher than customers’ expectation, the NBAstore-eu need to reduce the price. The international tax and shipping fee are two factors that can’t be ignored, but in China, the prices in NBAstore-cn are still cheaper than NBAstore-eu. The price in NBAstore-cn can be a worthwhile indicative price for NBAstore-eu to reach the expectation of customers. [pic]Figure 5: Price details for purchasing a swingman jersey from NBAstore for customers in UK. (Sources from: store. nba. com) NBAstore-eu has just set up for more than three months, it’s a quite new branch in Europe. Promotion is an essential element in the marketing mix. It's a tool used by businesses, both large and small, to inform, persuade and remind customers about the products and services they have to offer. Without business promotion, companies would be stagnant and lack substantial growth because their brands would have low visibility in the market (Miranda, 2012). Promotion can help an organization: ? Increases Awareness ? Increases Product Knowledge and Preference Increases Retailers ? Increases Sales As a new branch, NBAstore-eu need those benefits. Basing on the current situation, the promotion intensity of NBAstore-eu is low, so NBAstore-eu need make reinforce the intensity of promotion. For example, NBAstore-eu can deliver more advertisements through more media in order to increase awareness. Then, NBAstore-eu can provide discounts on festival days to attract more customers, make sure the intensity of discount is not lower than NBAstore. Good promotion also can help NBAstore-eu to get the opp ortunities, mentioned on SWOT analysis, occupy the European market. Reference List: Daisy Caton-Jones. (2007).NBA fans in a London sports bar watch the Bulls beat the Heat on Sunday. [Online]http://sports. espn. go. com/nba/playoffs2007/news/story? id=2854150 [Accessed 3rd Jan, 2013] Gartner, Inc. (2010). â€Å"Gartner Research†. [Online]http://www. gartner. com/technology/research. jsp [Accessed 5th Dec, 2010]. Ian Whittell. (2007). Fans in Europe tune in for NBA action [Online]http://sports. espn. go. com/nba/playoffs2007/news/story? id=2854150 [Accessed 3rd Jan, 2013] Miranda Brookins. (2012). Why Is Promotion Important for a Business? [online]http://www. ehow. com/about_7221403_promotion-important-business_. html [Accessed 3rd Jan, 2013] Peters, T. (1987).Thriving on Chaos: Handbook for a Management Revolution. London: Pan, p. 43. R. B. Woodruff, E. R. Cadotte and R. L. Jenkins. (1987). ‘Expectations and norms in models of consumer satisfaction’, Journal of M arketing Research 24, pp. 305–14. Salzberg, Charles. (1998). From Set Shot to Slam Dunk. New York: McGraw-Hill. p. 203. ISBN 978-0-8032-9250-5. Appendix: (Interview of a basketball fan who always wearing NBA jerseys and plays basketball in Gloucester) Researcher: Do you know there is a new NBA store launched for European customers recently? Fan: Yes, but I haven’t bought anything from there yet. All the jerseys I got are brought from ebay or NBAstore.Researcher: Why don’t you try NBAstore-eu? That store are aiming to provide products for European customers. Fan: I have viewed the website several times, but I didn’t find something I’d like to buy. I’d like to buy a Luol Deng jersey recently, but I can’t find it on NBAstore-eu. I think the products there are scarce, and the styles of products there are out of fashion. There are not many options, maybe that store didn’t import new products very often. Researcher: If you buy jersey s from NBAstore, that will charge you a lot of shipping fee and tax fee, right? Fan: Yes, absolutely. Regardless of the fact that, I prefer to pay a little more to get what I really want.Researcher: Do you ever think about to buy something from NBAstore-eu? You can pay a little delivery fee and get the products in shorter time. Fan: No, the prices there are expensive. I don’t know why, much expensive than the standard price in US. I rather to buy something from ebay, that also will charge me a little delivery fee and shorter time. Researcher: But the products from sellers on ebay are having no assured quality, how about if you buy something that is fake? Fan: I don’t worry about that, the major items I’d like to buy are jerseys, and I have the experience, I know how to identify whether the jersey is authentic or not. Researcher: What kind of jersey do you prefer? Swingman or replica?Fan: I prefer swingman jerseys, because replica jerseys are for those people who don’t care about basketball and just like to wear it when they go to sleep, and a true baller or people that care about their swagger would never even wear a replica jersey. Also, even though the swingman is a little bit expensive than replica jersey, but the quality is much more better. Researcher: How do you think the promotion of NBAstore-eu? Fan: I don’t know. Probably it is a poor effort, I haven’t seen much advertisement of it. The way why I know NBAstore-eu is because I’m a member of NBAstore, and I received a e-mail from NBAstore to notice me that. Researcher: If NBAstore-eu can provide more refined products with smart

Modernist Art - A New Approach in Theatre Essay

Modernist Art - A New Approach in Theatre - Essay Example The essay "Modernist Art - A New Approach in Theatre" focuses on modern era and art. Modernity can be understood as a conceptual framework of individual expression at the same time that it can be considered a reflection of society as a whole. This suggests that it is comprised of intellectual ideas as well as by the development of new processes, techniques and materials. Modernity has been described as the â€Å"dialectical relationship ... which modernism consciously or unconsciously, directly or indirectly, positively or negatively reflects the effects of capitalist development.† The modernist ideology is thus revealed to have a number of different contexts bound together and interacting with our social understandings contributing to our intuitive and overt sense and understanding of the world around us. With the arrival of modernism, the realism and humanism of earlier periods melts away as performing artists focus more upon style, technique and spatial form in an attempt t o find a deeper expression of human experience, such as is seen in the ‘radical theatre’ approach taken by Peter Brook. The use of the word ‘radical’ in modern is deliberate when it comes to Brook’s theater. The Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary defines the adjective as â€Å"believing or expressing the belief that there should be great or extreme social or political change† and the noun in terms of â€Å"a person who supports great social and political change.† Toni Sant claims â€Å"radical theatre aims to make extreme changes...".

The Yellow Wallpaper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

The Yellow Wallpaper - Essay Example On the other hand, in case The Yellow Wallpaper indicates a note of terrible warning, Gilman is as well extremely concerned with practical resolutions. The narrative, in this well created compilation, stand on end with ingenious means of balancing creative and domestic imperatives. Whereas Bee Wise is in one way or another too weakly utopian for contemporary tastes, stories for instance making a change in that a stressed young wife and bothered mother in law conspire in a reorganization of their daily lives stand stridently sensitive. Gilman’s narratives are emphasized with stubborn hopefulness which is powerfully moving and significance of her subject matter has not reduced. The compilation comes to an end with a number of odds and ends of autobiography, which includes an agonizing narrative on Gilman’s experience of motherhood and postnatal despair. Despite the fact that she is well regarded equally as a writer and a stern feminist thinker, a number of her works came from painful frustrations. She would be disappointed to learn it but more than a century later, her narratives keep hold of their capability to be on fire. Answer to Question from the Handout=thesis Charlotte Gilman’s narrative, â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† is a feminist tale of a lady who is spoken like a child, neglected like a piece of paper and treated medically in a means that is devastating to every sensibility. The tone of this story is therefore saddening, depressing and depicts the extent which women are discriminated and looked down upon in the society by their husbands. This is a reflection of patriarchal oppression that many women go through from husbands with chauvinistic behaviors and stern power in both at home and the society. The horror she withstands starring at the terrible wallpaper every new day is indeed a side effect of her mistreatment and her exasperating lack of satisfaction/contentment, which was not allowed by a fool hardy psychologist and im posed by the patriarchy of her husband. While typically scrutinized as a feminist piece, The Yellow Wallpaper as well offers the reader with a period piece on the attitudes of the medical community on mental illness. Over and above, Gilman presents the readers to a diary of records that perceive an ongoing descent to insanity. John’s understanding of post-partum despair closely bears resemblance to the psychologists of the present day. Post partum despair or more similarly baby blues is in general related to the short term mood disorder which lasts approximately a month. The fact that John has planned a stay of six weeks is either significantly coincidental or highlighted by the extent of renovations or reveals that he has a little understanding of the disorder. On the other hand, the fact that he offers her phosphates and tonics indicates that his dedication to the physical realm of illness. It is therefore not the unfortunate diagnosis of the mood disorder that brings about the lady’s insanity but to a certain extent the mix of John’s practicality to the acute and social pressures that bars her from recuperating. Quote or example from the story which illustrates your answer (thesis): Briefly describe How does that support the idea in the thesis? Explain â€Å"

Deforestation and the Environment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Deforestation and the Environment - Essay Example The first case is about deforestation in Sumatra, an Island in Indonesia (Kuhn). Deforestation on the island is mainly because of papermaking. APP, Indonesia’s largest papermaker runs numerous acacia tree plantations on the Island. These plantations have been set up by clearing a vast majority of forestland. Local dwellers have accused the officials of the company of bringing about dilapidation to the local environment. The second case is based in the United Sates, where Cargill Corporation burns large tracts of forestland in order to pave way for soya plantations (Greenpeace International) in Brazil. This, in the region, is coupled with the fact that cattle ranchers, who in other areas typically move into areas that have already been exploited by loggers, are in this case clearing forestland themselves in a bid to expand their operations. The situation appears bleak; with Greenpeace International projecting that deforestation rates will be rising in coming years.Perhaps the m ost immediately felt effect of deforestation in the Sumatra region is the fact that the activity deprives locals of one of their most important sources of food. They recall a time when they could hunt for deer and birds in the forest, an activity they now cannot undertake since animals of this nature do not create habitats in the acacia forests. Acacia trees do not provide enough shade for animals. Another effect of deforestation in Sumatra is the fact that it is destroying the natural habitat of the Sumatran Tiger.

Marketing Research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 1

Marketing Research - Essay Example Also, the uses of these normally depend on factors such as the research methods used to perform the search. The procedure for selecting an appropriate research method normally depends on factors such as the problem at hand, training and skills that a researcher has nature and amount of available resources and also the audience that will be used during the research. Despite the fact that many of these methodologies used may have components of both qualitative and quantitative techniques, there are certain assumptions that differentiate the approaches given. Qualitative and quantitative methods can be reviewed in the following manner1. Quantitative research This is always regarded as making inquiry over certain problem that has been identified depending on a testing theory. The figures that have been found under this research are normally analyzed further using other statistical means like graphs and charts2. Quantitative research often involves respondents of a large number, and norma lly it has always been predetermined. The measurements used during quantitative research options need to be quantitative, statistically valid, and objective in nature. During this research process, the size of the sample under examination is always calculated with the help of formulas to establish the parameters of the ample that will be required for the research. Most qualitative researchers are always designed 3to produce very low error margins thus even if the exercise is conducted over and over, the results attained will be more or less equal. The aim of qualitative method is always to prove whether prognostic generalization given to a theory may be holding any true or relevant meaning4. During quantitative research, the main question revolves around numbers for instance â€Å"†¦how many people watch football.† During this research, the researcher normally distances him/ herself from the phenomenon under study. And the values attained from the research do not form pa rt of the research. For instance, a research seeking to establish the number of people watching football will not concentrate on the numbers among the research value. Rather, the used sample will represent an entire population that is under study. Most researchers using quantitative resources apply deductive theories, logic and formulate hypothesis that are tested in the area. After all these analyses, the researcher often seek to come up with generalizations that support the underlying theory or hypotheses and will help them understand and explain the behavior pattern of a certain phenomenon. In this way they can even predict the future outcomes of these. There are also certain approaches that have been put in place to help come up with effective quantitative research questions. One of the most recommended means of approaching this is through following certain steps. First, one must establish the nature of quantitative research to be performed. For instance it can be based on relat ionship, comparative or descriptive factors. The next step involves spotting out the various variables that you want to study5. After which a fitting structure is identified depending on the prospect variables. Then finally stating the issues you intend or are trying to address as research questions. Below is an example of a quantitative research question. â€Å"What issues influence the professional choices of American college students?† When do organizations use the quantitative techniques? The quantitative rese

Paradigm Shift and the Evolving Corrections Environment Essay

Paradigm Shift and the Evolving Corrections Environment - Essay Example Management of correctional facilities has no option but to embrace new management techniques in response to evolving issues in correctional facilities. Managers should adapt to new technological advancements especially in technologies aimed at making management easier. Whereas sociological and psychological behavior of inmates has changed with time, (Gladwin, McConnell, & Phillips, 2014) inmate management should go a notch higher as well. However, more importantly, the organizational structure of correctional facilities should be as dynamic as the challenges facing these institutions. It is worth considering that correctional facilities do not work in isolation. Therefore, internal management should work in tandem with other related institutions such as government, judiciary, procurement, IT, and other agencies. A change in any of the related institutions can have an adverse effect on managing correctional facility if it finds a static management not ready for paradigm shift. Whereas a paradigm shift provides opportunities for growth and development, it also poses challenges of uncertainties and backlashes. However, it can be argued that a carefully articulated paradigm shift is much better than a conservative non-dynamic system. This is worthwhile considering private correctional facilities have recorded better management practices compared to state owned

An Approach to Morality Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

An Approach to Morality - Essay Example They are self-conscious, reflecting on their past and future, on life and death. Before discussing them as good or bad it is essential to describe what do we mean by being "good" or "bad". (Gmez-Lobo, p. 1-3) I believe being good means to fulfill the criteria of morality, that is, the customs, habits, aims, and values adopted by a given society, or, stated differently, the quality of rightness or wrongness the society attributes to the acts and attitudes of an individual as these conform or fail to conform to prevailing custom. In a moral sense "Bad" is contrasted with "Good". If an orderly, rational universe is postulated, and particularly if it is assumed that there is an omnipotent and beneficent creator, the bad or evil disrupts the order and results in sorrow, distress, or calamity. In a derived sense, being bad is equated with any suffering or other misfortune. Its cause and what can be done about it are perennial philosophical and theological problems. (Cooley, p. 61-63) Observing the above criteria I believe that nature has created human beings with both negative and positive potentials. He is provided with all awareness of ethics and morality but, somehow, possesses a natural inclination towards bad deeds also. This tug-of-war between good and bad constitutes his life pattern and the ultimate end. Moreover, I have observed that these potentials of goodness and badness may be augmented or mitigated, unknowingly, due to the type of environment and brought up an individual comes across. No child is a born criminal or saint, but most definitely it's his type of environment and the kind of brought up given to him or her by the parents determine his negative or positive responds towards the society. David T. Lykken, a professor of psychology considers the psychopath as a hero and believes that "The psychopath and the hero are the twigs of same branch." He thinks so as both are comparatively daring. He believes such behaviors develop as a result of the t ype of brought up given to a child by his parents. (Akers and Lanier, p. 397-402) In my opinion human beings are not angels. Angels by nature are not inclined towards bad deeds or sins, but human beings have this natural inclination, which he mostly controls successfully but at times these negative desires overwhelms his positivity and compel him towards being bad, this is why, concept of crime has been a part of society ever since people began to live together in groups. Where there is involvement of human mind the potential of crime is there as it is rightly said by a British poet W. H. Auden that "Evil is unspectacular and always human and shares our bed and eats at our table". (Nietzsche & Kaufman, p.167) To conclude I would say that there cannot be love without the possibility of hate, or good without the possibility of evil. One cannot choose to excel unless there is the possibility of failure. To deny the possibility of moral evil is to deny human freedom. Yet in the exercise of freedom, innocent persons are maimed or killed. The consolation of the topic is that although evil is real, God does not will it and actually suffers with humankind, and that a person's faith in God's goodness will be vindicated in the life hereafter. In order to overcome evil people need to fight with the devil inside them instead of blaming and accusing others. Works Cited Akers, Timothy A.,

Content Writing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 7000 words

Content Writing - Essay Example with the English language and being a stranger to the Western education system, these students do require professional assistance for their term papers. Thus it took no time for us to realize that there desperately existed a need for a quality oriented custom research company. Yet, our allegiance to academic and professional standards required us to incorporate certain special features in our services. Some such salient features are; The writers at ***.com do see to it that each and every term paper is customized as per the customer requirements and while taking into consideration the constraints imposed by the topic, context and formatting style. A: Most of the writers serving with ***.com are either serving or retired teachers, meritorious students or the experts having special knowledge in a specific field. Hence they are conversant with the current academic trends and requirements. Besides our writers positively encourage our customers to be open and elaborate with their instructions and concerns. This ensures that every term paper is made to order and strictly in accordance with the customer requirements. A: Our seasoned and experienced administrators make it a point to strictly restrict the third party access to customers’ personal information and identity. Only a select group of our trusted employees is allowed access to the personal data furnished by our customers that is encrypted before being saved. You will be surprised to know that even our writers are never aware of the identity of the customers for whom they draft essays and term papers. Any revelation pertaining to the hiring of our essay writing services is an exclusive prerogative left to our customers. A: ***com’s commitment to furnishing custom written essays and term papers makes it imperative for us to allow our customers an unhampered access to their order status. Customers having an account with us can login any time and as per their convenience to track their order status, to

Project Management Theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Project Management Theory - Essay Example They had success utilizing this system to develop new products. Currently work breakdown structure is a valuable technique in the project management field. WBS can be defined as a deliverable or product orientated grouping of project work elements shown in graphical display to organize and subdivide the total work scope of a project (U.S. Department of Energy, 2003). It is a tremendous tool that provides a work layout plan that can be utilized for scheduling, budgeting and to create time estimates for different tasks. A project manager has to develop a work breakdown structure with the following characteristics: definable, manageable, estimating capacity, independent, easy to integrate, measurable and adaptable (U.S. Department of Energy, 2003). The WBS is divided in different levels. Each succeeding levels provides more detail about the work to be performed during the project. The Work breakdown structure also provides a numeric value beside each element that represents the proportion of total work for that work task. There is a rule called â€Å"The 100% Rule† which stipulates that the sum of all numeric values can not exceed a 100. The project scope is a descriptive guideline of the overall content of the project. The project scope management plan provides details of the actions necessary to prepare the work breakdown structure (Anticlue, 2007). An organizational project assets is a history log of a company’s previous projects. The WBS dictionary describes individually the meaning of each component. A simple project scope statement for the trade show project could be: The trade show project provides an opportunity to showcase our variety of products to new potential customers, collect valuable customer feedback and obtain sales for the company. The WBS created for the project is composed on five components in the level two diagram. Out of these five work components sales

Functional Assessments and Intervention Strategies Essay Example for Free

Functional Assessments and Intervention Strategies Essay Dewolfe (1997) discusses the relevant points on the book written by Reichle and Wacker (1997) about the effective approaches in terms of assessing challenging behaviors; and what are the intervention strategies that could be employed in order to decrease the risks for the development of a challenging behavior. According to Reichle and Wacker (1997), the most effective venue for the assessment of challenging behavior could be conducted in natural environments such as home, school and local community (para 2). Also, another key factor that must be kept in mind with regards to changing childrens challenging behavior is the idea that when one wants to change a behavior of a particular child, it necessarily follows, that the behavior of those people around her should also be changed. Effective interventions are also very relevant most specially the rate, quality and the effort that is given on the reinforcement (para 3). Reichle and Wacker (1997) also emphasized that Communications Based Interventions are the best approach in terms of dealing with challenging behavior (para 4). Such a type of intervention should be followed by a functional assessment that should be able to understand the child very well. In effect of this, what will one have is a communication based approach that perfectly matches the need of the child. The facilitation of an intervention program has been emphasized by Reichle and Wacker (1997) has to be conducted in natural settings. As such, the traditional notion that interventions should be normally done in clinics are no longer that patronized. Discussion The rate in which challenging behavior has been increasing now a days is understandable. On the advent of the 21st century where everything is in set to be in fast paced, most parents tend to forgot their responsibility to their children. On the first part of this paper, the author was able to enumerate the different causes and various risk factors of challenging behavior. In a nutshell, one could see that majority of the causes stem out because the mother fails to take care of her child during the prenatal stage and even during the early years of the child. Fox, Dunlap and Powell (2002) emphasized the necessity of early intervention during childhood in order to prevent the development of challenging behavior. In addition with this, the perception that problematic behaviors among toddlers and preschool-age children should not be dismissed as mere effects of his or her development stage. Rather, parents should be vigilant to see the patterns and the rate in which challenging behaviors occur and significantly think of a plan in order to address such a problem. The case of June is a good example on how a child develops challenging behavior during her life. June is perceived to be raised in a broken family. It could be implied that the source of family income is solely shouldered by her mother, hence leaving her and her siblings with small amount of time. In addition with this, the fact that June has two other siblings that her mother have to take care and worry about, further decreases the chance that June could be given appropriate attention and guidance. It is clear from the history of June and her other siblings that they somehow share the same patterns of behavior. Although the author could not completely distinguish if such is the result of how they are reared or maybe how did their mother take care of herself during pregnancy; but it could be seen that such a pattern of behavior is clearly evident to be existing within her family circle. The manner in which June was assessed, intervened and treated in her school could be seen as one of the most effective steps in which one could deal with challenging behavior. The team used a Communications Based Intervention (Reichle and Wacker (1997) in order to deal with the problem. One could recall that the manner in which the teacher talked to June allowed her to express her feelings and also allowed her to tell stories that upset her within the family and also within the school. In addition with this, the assessments that were made to June are done in a natural environment, such as her school. It could be recalled that various attempts are also made by Junes residential and community program placements, but such proves to be null. As such, the author perceived that the assessment at the school, wherein June spends mostly her time is a very effective approach because not only that she will be able to properly relate with her peers, such an approach will also pave the way for more understanding and willingness to support among her teachers. Reicle and Wacker (1997) emphasized the need of other people to also change their behaviors if they wanted to help a child with challenging behavior. It could be significantly noted that Laursen (2005) claimed that the team that is taking care and assisting June has also made an effort to make her educators understand the depth of her problem and how their support could help her to overcome her challenging behavior. In relation with this, the author wanted to introduce the notion of Positive Behavior Support (PBS) of Fox, Dunlap and Powell (2002) in order to change challenging behaviors among children. The PBS is tailored to meet the specific needs of the child and also takes into careful consideration all of the contexts in which problems with regard to challenging behaviors emerge. The model devised by Dunlap and Fox (1999) as cited from Fox, Dunlap and Powell (2002) creates an Individualized Support Program (ISP) that seeks to help the family and the childs care givers in order to change his or her difficult behavior. The ISP model revolves on two major steps which is the functional assessment and the person centered planning. The functional assessment focuses on accumulating detailed information about the childs behavior, activities, and other contexts that could be helpful for the family, taking into consideration the cause and effects of a particular behavior. Consequently, the person-centered planning centers on the expression of the childs dreams and other challenges that the child perceived to have within his or her family. After such, a behavior support plan will be created which is perfectly in accordance to the specific needs of the child.

Honda Strategy and Marketing Analysis

Honda Strategy and Marketing Analysis Volkswagen was the first company entering the Chinese automobile industry. Faced by a satisfied home market the company had to expand its business and therefore the growing economy of China was their next choice. The Volkswagen Beetle, the first car produced for the Chinese market, was a real success. After several years  competitors, mainly from the Japanese market like Honda, started to enter the Chinese market very aggressively and  due to that Volkswagen had to face the challenge to maintain its market leader position and therefore adopt the  corporate strategy. As a consequence Volkswagen China introduced its Olympic Program strategic plan in 2005. The program is calledOlympic since its aim is to reach the strategic goals set by the end of the Olympic year 2008. In the following we will analyze the strategic plans of Volkswagen and set them in context to the strategic behaviour of  the Japanese competitor Honda. 3.1 Marketing Volkswagen announced to focus more on differentiation. This is due to the existence of two joint ventures and the  planned positioning of the Skoda products. By offering a large product variety the group aims to serve as many different  target customer groups as possible. In opposition to previous product designs the new cars offered by Volkswagen will be adapted to Chinese taste in order  to increase the brands popularity. The former Volkswagen products were designed for the European market but since  Japanese car manufacturers fit better to the Asian taste the company had to react. The Volkswagen products in China  compete on quality but to maintain the companys leading position it is unremitting to produce cars that are both  fashionable and qualitative. 3.2 Sales Sales relationships are going to be restructured and there will be more interaction between the two joint ventures FAW  VW and VWS. These strategic interactions are another way to increase the companys customer orientation and thereby  the attractiveness of the brand. Dealerships will be tailored to the newly-defined customer groups segmentation of the  two joint ventures respectively. Vehicles of the Volkswagen brand will be distributed through two dealer network  channels. By this, Volkswagen aims at its strategic goal to maintain its leading position by serving different customer  groups. 3.3 Research and Development The company focuses more on in-house developments within the Volkswagen joint ventures in China to save costs. Ten  to twelve new models developed in China for the Chinese market should be launched by the end of 2008. 3.4 Sourcing and Supply Chain Historically the two joint ventures VW Shanghai FAW VW in Changchun sourced separately but within the last decade  sourcing became more challenging for the company: the cars are becoming more sophisticated and therefore the  components have to fulfil higher expectations, the technical expertise of the supplier is getting more important and it is  difficult for Volkswagen to find suppliers which meet their requirements, lack of availability of certain raw materials  (e.g. specific kinds of steel) cause sourcing difficulties. As a reaction Volkswagen is trying to introduce a common sourcing process for the global group and bundle the  purchasing volume in China to create economies of scale. Thereby the target is to find one supplier for each platform  part and carry these parts to China. 3.5 Manufacturing In order to decrease production costs the board decided to introduce so called product cost workshops within the  manufacturing departments to communicate cost targets and produce to costs. Also large parts of the manufacturing  process will be done in China and localization in China are planned to be increased to make use of the cheaper labour  wages in China. Besides all plans to reduce production costs Volkswagen tries not to compromise its high engineering  quality and manufacturing standards since this is a very important success factor for the company. 4. Honda strategy in China Honda advocates the spirit of three joys. Because of their belief in the value of each individual, Honda believes that each person working in, or coming in touch  with their company, directly or through their products, should share a sense of joy through that experience. This feeling  is expressed in what they call The Three Joys. Their goal is to provide Joy: for those who buy their products and produce their products. In that regard, their main concern is for people. First, there is The Joy of Buying for every customer who buys a Honda This Joy is a step beyond customer satisfaction. As they define it, there are four steps to successfully creating The Joy  of Buying.   We also pick up another 4 strategy of Guangzhou Honda in China. Firstly, large scales of purchasing; Honda uses their  economies of scale by working with their parts suppliers to order raw materials in large quantities. Secondly, suppliers localization, more than 160 component suppliers around Guangzhou Honda to manufacture some  supports component for automobiles. For example, the glass seat and engine. These parts are supplied not only for  Guangzhou Honda but also sometimes for exporting. Whats more, setting up manufacturing base for transmission in  Guangzhou really makes a record, because this is the first time for foreign-funded automobiles enterprises to set up  transmission manufacturing base in China. And this investment of Honda makes the supplier localization especially the  suppliers for core parts. Thirdly, optimizing logistics process. They use logistics management software from USA.The logistics department of  Guangzhou Honda was demanded to operate according to the pattern in Janpese Logistics Company. They emphasize  importing the service quality in logistics, decreasing logistics cost enlarge market share and competitiveness and import  new technology and methods in logistics from USA. Fourthly, making supply chain perfect. The Honda setting up a local transmission manufacturing base in Guangzhou  makes transmissions no longer popular in importing and components industrial chain in China will develop to perfect. the newly set-up base will provide transmissions to three Honda companies in China(Guangzhou Honda, Dongfeng  Honda and China Honda)In this pattern, the most crucial part of automobileengine production has been promoted a  lot. In the influence of transmission localization. The biggest supplier of clutch in Japan set up a factory in 5 years with the  total investment54million dollars in Nanhai District in Guangzhou and it manufacture clutch for Guangzhou Honda  directly. With the localization of supplier of transmission and clutch the supply chain of Guangzhou Honda has developed into  nearly perfect. Hondas strategy in supply chain can considerably decrease the cost which gives Guangzhou Honda more profits. Then we move on to the comparison of the marketing between Volkswagen and Honda. Firstly, for Honda they launch a  new car later in China compared with in Japan. For example, the Accord in 2008 was launched half a year later in China  than in Japan. But for Volkswagen, a new car will have a same launching agenda all over the world; it means same time  promoting same time marketing. Secondly, Honda adjusts the price to the situation of market nearly every season. Demand fluctuation, price fluctuation. The flexible price strategy is different from Volkswagens steady price strategy which perhaps gives consumers more  reliability. Thirdly, Honda fight for market share and Volkswagen emphasize brand reputation in long term, Honda target  consumers which means flexible strategy will be much easier for company to survive and succeed. While for  Volkswagen, more luxury and exclusive element allow Volkswagen to offer more credence for consumers in order to  gain reputation in long term. Case study : SIAC 6.4.1. General History of SVW and SGM Not only did Shanghai present an advantage as a potential market, but  Shanghais heavy industrial infrastructure also made major contributions to Shanghai  VW (SVW) and Shanghai GM (SGM). A larger number of parts factories, together  with the extant Shanghai car plants and the citys steel and other heavy industries,  cried out for the final ingredients necessary for rapid development: modern  technology and management skills. An automobile cluster began to develop in Shanghai in the 1980s, thanks to  strong government support at different levels. To upgrade the national automobile  industry following international standards and to avoid an influx of automobile  imports, the central government started negotiation with VW in 1978 for the  establishment of a joint auto production firm. During that entire year, the countrys  state-owned auto factories produced only 15,500 vehicles, and the industry was characterized by old-fashioned, low-quality cars that were produced with outdated  equipment in a labor-intensive process (Kiefer, 1998). Chinese official pressed the  idea of building autos for export and insisted on auto-parts localization. The German  counterpart, however, explained the necessity of auto-part import at the first stage and  proposed the idea of localization as China became more experienced in producing  quality part supplies. Within this cooperative atmosphere, the contrac t was signed in  1984. This joint venture was owned 50% by Volkswagen, 25% by SAIC, 15% by the  Bank of Chinas Shanghai Trust and Consultancy Corporation, and 10% by the China  National Automotive Industrial Corporation. The involvement of Chinese partners  revealed careful forethought: The Bank of China could provide or guarantee needed  loans, SAIC would have an interest in solving local problems, and CNAIC could be a  link to the central planner. (Harwit, 1995, p. 153). To reduce its dependence on VW and to stimulate technology transfer after  one decade of cooperation, SAIC decided to engage in the joint venture with GM in  the early 1990s. SAIC and GM signed a contract to jointly set up Shanghai GM  production facilities in Pudong in 1997. GM was anxious to win this joint venture  because it believed that SAIC was the best automobile company in China. Indeed,  SAIC was highly profitable due to many advantages. Notably, the Chinese  government had chosen SAIC to be the primary passenger car producer enabling it to  acquire the most relevant technological experiences, more so than any other domestic  company. However, the obvious disadvantage of working with SAIC was its existing  joint venture with VW which was one of GMs global competitors and which had  dominated the Chinese passenger car market since the mid-80s (see Table 19). Since  its establishment, SGM has grown into one of the largest car producers in China. 6.4.2. Auto Supplier Cluster in Shanghai Area The development of the automobile industry in the city was strongly supported  by municipal policies, including infrastructure development, labor market, and  industrial policies. In addition, to stimulate broad manufacturing competencies and to  integrate Chinese suppliers within the region, the central government enforced local-content regulations on those auto joint ventures to spur the development of a regional  production network with substantial local linkages. Meanwhile, there has been a strong tendency in the international automobile  industry to develop hierarchical supplier networks and shift the developing,  manufacturing, and assembly responsibilities of important modules to the first-tier  suppliers. Along with the globalization strategy of the automobile producers, large  first-tier suppliers were also required to follow their auto assembly partners and set up  production facilities in other nations (Sadler, 1998). As a consequence, VW  demanded that important first-tier suppliers establish production facilities in China,  preferably within the region. However, production volume (less than 20,000 units in 1990) at that time was too small for global suppliers to set up mass production  facilities in Shanghai. In the initial years after production was launched, SVW still imported most parts and components for the production of the VW Santana from overseas, a large part of which was from Germany. At that time, there were basically no firms in the  region that could have supplied the parts that were needed. However, the Chinese  government threatened to impose a production limit on SVW if the firm would not  increase its local content in production. To achieve the 70% local content regulation  but at the same time to ensure global quality standards, VW and the Chinese  government worked interactively in promoting joint venture partnerships in the auto  parts sector. 6.4.3. Joint Ventures Firm Strategy and Competition SAICs strategy is clear-to form multiple auto JVs with different global  firms and to benefit from competitions between those partners, in regard to  technology transfer, new model introduction, and supply market rationalization. SAICs experience with GM and VW proved this strategy, and GM seems to do a  better job in quality control, technology adaptation, and accurate appraisals of  domestic demand market than its competitor VW. While VW and GM are  increasingly going head to head in the marketplace as they expand their product lines,  SAIC may find itself competing with both when its own car goes on sale. At the same . time, VW and GM run the risk of being shunted aside as Chinas domestic auto  industry develops. In July 2004, national auto sales rose only 3.7% over the same period in 2003  (CAAM, 2005). The growth slowdown has had a significant impact on VW who was  losing market shares because of an aging product line and increased competition. In  2002, cars made by SVW had 27.6% of the China market; in 2003 they slipped to  19.6%, and for the first seven months of 2004, they fell further to 15.5% (Xu, 2005). VWs difficulties have created an opportunity for GM, which passed SVW  briefly in June 2004 to become the market leader. Over the past few years, Chinese  consumers have become more savvy shoppers through greater access to information  (The middle class., 2001), said Phil Murtaugh (CEO of GM China) at the 2001  China Business Summit, and they have higher expectations for the products and their  quality. (The middle class., 2001). He pointed to the dramatic increase of internet  usage and the greater number of Chinese auto publications. Chinas growing middle  class itself represents a sophisticated customer base for a broaden product mix and  thus fierce competition, Murtaugh said (The middle class., 2001). A careful  evaluation of changing domestic consumers and a close relationship with Chinese  engineers in its technical center keeps GM consistently in the leading position in  Chinese passenger car market. 6.4.4. Technology Transfer: Good and Bad  Scholars a dvocated that the existing supplier network and industrial  infrastructure were important reasons why GM also decided to set up production  facilities in Shanghai in 1997(Gallagher, 2005; Taylor III, 2004), while the later  success of GM, to a large extent, is attributed to its sincere investment in local  technology development and close cooperation with Chinese engineers. Nonetheless,  problems could rise from inter-JV technology transfer. GM was the first company that actually established a technical center with  additional investment in Shanghai, following the governments promotion of  technology transfer in the 1994 industrial policy. A separate $50 million US joint  venture was established between GM and SAIC named the Pan Asian Technical  Center (PATAC). PATACs main purpose is to provide engineering support to SGM  and other Chinese auto companies. PATAC has also established an in-house  emissions testing center and has employed around 400 Chinese engineers, which,  though not directly training Chinese engineers, gives China the opportunity to work  closely with advanced techniques and learn in the process. According to Porter (1990), only when a foreign company transfers RD  decisions can it add to the host nations competitiveness.  

Over Expansion Of Money Supply Economics Essay

Over Expansion Of Money Supply Economics Essay Inflation is commonly understood as a situation of considerable and quick general increase in the prices of the currency over a period of time. The general prices are measured through price indices. The trend of prices reveals the course of inflation or deflation. Inflation is statistically measured in terms of percentage increase in the price index- usually a year or a month. Economist Harry Johnson defines as a substained rise in price. Inflation rises because of rise in the price of the imported commodities like oil, gold, etcà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. Effects of Inflation: Middle class family will be in trouble if a price of things rises faster than their income. Inflation reduces the value of an investment if returns are inadequate to compensate. Attack of Inflation often goes hand in hand with inflamed economy. Sustained inflation also has long-term effectsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. If money is losing its value than businessmen and investors will not invest money for long time. This effects on nations productive capacity. It can cause a rapid economic slow-down. Types of inflation: There are main 5 catagories which devides inflation in several parts. According to rate of inflation According to nature of time-period of occurance According to the scope or coverages According to governments reaction According to the causes According to the rate of inflation: Moderate inflation-(a) creeping inflation (b) walking inflation Running inflation Galloping inflation Hyper inflation Moderate inflation: When prices rise by less than 10% (single digit inflation rate) per annum, running inflation occurs. According to Prof. Samuelson, it is a stable inflation and not serious economic problem. it doesnt interrupt the economic balance. Peoples expectations remain more or less stable in moderate Inflation. Interest rate is never too low or -ve in this situation so money plays its role as a future investment tool. Creeping Inflation: When price rises not more than 3% it is called creeping inflation. It is the mildest form of inflation and also known as a mild inflation or low inflation. Walking Inflation: When the rate of rising prices is more than the creeping inflation is known as walking Inflation. When prices rise more than 3% but less than 10% per annum than its walking inflation. Running Inflation: When the movement of prices speed up rapidly, running inflation emerge. Running inflation may record more than 100% rice in a decade. Thus, when prices rise more than 10% a year, it is called Running Inflation. Double-digit inflation of 10-20% per annum is called running inflation. Galloping Inflation: If prices rise by double or triple digit inflation rates it is called galloping inflation. When prices rise more than 20% and less than 1000%, galloping inflation occurs. It is also referred as JUMPING Inflation. India is facing this inflation since second 5 year plan period. It is very serious problem. It causes economic distortions and disturbances. Hyper Inflation: In this case, prices rise every moment and there is no limit to the height to which prices might rise. Therefore, it is difficult to measure its scale as prices rise by fits and starts. In statistic terms when prices rise more than 1000% it is caalled Hyper Inflation. There is atleast a 50% price rise in a month so that in year it rises about 130 times. It represet the pitiable fall in peoples purchasing power. It is generated by immese monetary disorder. It is monetary disease. The velocity circular of money increases very fast. Causes of Inflation: Increase in money supply: Inflation is caused by an increase in the supply of money which leads to increase in demand.higher the growth of nominal money supply, higher the inflation. Increase in disposable income: When disposable demand increases demand will increase which will emerge inflation. Over expansion of money supply: Remarkable degree of correlation between the increase in money supply and the rise in the price level mayb be observed. Increase in Exports: When the demand for domestically produced goods increase in foreign country raises the earnings of the industries producing export commodities. Cost-push Inflation: Here the supply of goods and services are stopped for some or other reason while the demand remains unchanged. This push is cost. Generated by the factors like wages, profit and material cost in turn this increases the cost of production and ultimately the price of product and services. Demand-pull Inflation: Here peoples demand is continuosly rising and the supply is unchanged or same. Here people are ready to pay for the demanded goods to satisfy their need. Calculation of inflation: Inflation can be calculated by many methida but main 3 methods areà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. CPI- Consumer Price Index WPI- Wholesale Price Index PPI- Product Price Index CPI- Consumer Price Index measures changes in the price level of  consumer goods  and  services  purchased by households. It can be used to index the real value of wages, salaries, pensions, for regulagting prices and for deflacting monetory magnitudes to show changes in real value. CPI=updated cost/base period cost*100 WPI- Wholesale Price Index WPI is the price of a representative basket of wholesale goods. The indian WPI figure is released every 10 days and influances stock and fixed priced markets. WPI focuses on the price of goods traded between corporations rather than goods bought by consumers which is measured by CPI. The purpose of the WPI is to monitor price movements that reflect supply and demand in industry, manufacturing and construction. In India WPI is the indicator for inflation rate. PPI- Product Price Index This index measures the pressure on producers due to change in cost of raw -materials. Inflation Rate = (Po-P-1)*100/P-1 Here, Po= the present average price of goods and services. P-1=the price of the products and services existed last year. Trend of inflation since 1991 to 2012 Year Annual Rate 1990-1991 13.81 1991-1992 11.88 1992-1993 6.31 1993-1994 10.24 1994-1995 10.22 1995-1996 8.98 1996-1997 7.25 1997-1998 13.17 1998-1999 4.84 1999-2000 4.02 2000-2001 2.72 2001-2002 3.8 2002-2003 3.4 2003-2004 5.4 2004-2005 6.4 2005-2006 4.4 2006-2007 5.3 2007-2008 4.7 2008-2009 12.44 2009-2010 10.2 2010-2011 9.4 2011-2012 1.4(till July) Reasons of the Inlation in 1990s: Increase in international oil price. Natural disasters like drought or flood showed an ebbing trend. The main problem of inflation came to head in August 1990. When iraq invaded Kuwait the prices of oil doubled in international market. Trade deficit in 1991 rose to 15600 cores. India borrowed from IMF. C:UsersmaitriDownloadsindia-inflation-rate.png (source: www.google.com) Reasons for Inflation in early 20th century: Increase in oil prices twice during the period. Adverse effects of deficiency of agricultural products led to increase in price ofà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Oilseeds and Edible oil. In 2008, Inflation was because of rise in fuel prices, and rise in prices of primary articles. Global food prices also registered a marked rise during this period. Trend of Inflation rates since 1991-2012: In 1990-91, the inflation rate rose by 12.1% and got constant at double digits in consecutive year it means India faced Running Inflation. Similarly Running Inflation India faced until Inflation rate fall to 5% in 1995-96. In 1998-99, there was again rise in prices and inflation was there. In 2002, Inflation was @ its low rating 1.6% but the upward trend become smooth and again the inflation became a cause for concern in the year 2004 when the point to point rise in inflation was 7.7%. In 2006, the Inflation was so high till the starting months of 2007. In 2008, infltion was there because of rose in price of oil and primary articles. Food inflation was there in 2008 as India is the primary importer of the food among the world. In 2009, food grain prices continued to be culprit behind the raising inflation year 2009. There was a great fall from 2008 to 2009 and it was -0.34% if there is negative inflation rate that means purchasing power of people increase but there is lack of supply. In 2010, there was rose in average rate by 1.64% and in 2011 there was rose of 3.16%. Correlation between gold price, crude oil price and dollar: Relation between gold and dollar: Gold and dollar both are global currancies. Many national banks hold dollars as a reserve currency. They both are considered stable and strong. If people are worried for the dollar which will may fall iin future than they should invest in gold. The relationship between both of them is inverse. Buying gold and selling dollar will have the effect of moving both prices inversly. As the dollars exchange value falls, it takes more dollar to buy gold so dollar gold price rises. When dollars exchange value rises due to any reason it takes fewer dollar to buy a gold. Gold and dollar relationship is strategic but not tactical. Dollar weknesses always turn into gold strength (in long term) but (in short term) gold and dollar both may can fall or rise together. When inflation rises people buy gold which make golds price up. Weakness of dollar make gold strong in long term scenerio and in short-term scenerio there maybe a condition that dollar and gold will rise and fall together. Whenever inflation comes people buy more and more gold which automatically rise the price of gold. Realtionship between Crude oil prices and dollar: (Chart from 1977 to 2003) Year Yearly Average 1991 $20.19 1992 $19.25 1993 $16.74 1994 $15.66 1995 $16.75 1996 $20.46 1997 $18.97 1998 $11.91 1999 $16.55 2000 $27.40 2001 $23.00 2002 $22.81 2003 $27.69 2004 $37.41 2005 $50.04 2006 $58.30 2007 $64.20 2008 $91.48 2009 $53.56 2010 $71.21 2011 $87.48 2012 $83.7 (estimated) Recent trend of crude oil and dollar: (8/18/2012) DX_CL_Correlation.jpg Increasing oil price results in increase of inflation. It impacts economy negatively. Higer oil prices are reflected in virtually every finished product as well as food and commodities in general. Crude oil is mainly traded in US dollar and when US dollar prices weakens the crude oil participants push the price of crude higher on the expectations. Effects on demand: Oil purchases are paid in dollars. However demand is dependednt on the domestic price of country which always fluctuate with chnages in dollar. So dollar depreciation reduces the oil price in domestic currancy. This leads to an increase in their real income and an increase in their oil demand. Therefore, the dollar depreciation a priori has a positive impact on oil demand and should contribute to raise the price. Effects on supply: Dollar changes affect the price as supposed by the producers less than the one apparent by demanders. Dollar depreciation can activate inflation and income in oil producer countries, the currencies which are linked to US dolalr. The increase in inflation and the decrease in purchasing power reduce the real disposable income and therefore the income available for drilling, everything else equals. Overall, a dollar depreciation may result in a reduction in oil supply. Overall, depreciation of dollar causes an increase in oil demand and a reduction in supply, mainly on the long run, which tends to boost oil price. Realtionship between Gold, Crude oil and dollar in inflation: An increase in oil price resukts in inflation which affects the countries those importing oil.it affects the prices in general economy. According to a study, the global resource of oil is depleting at an annual rate of 6 per cent while demand is growing at an annual rate of 2 per cent. Era of cheap oil is over now but now we have to see impact of oil prices on dollar and gold. Up to 1971 central banks were giving facility of converting dollar into gold. When this facility was removed, oil producing countries converted dollar into gold. There is positive relation between gold and oil since last 5 years. With recent increase in oil, relationship between gold n oil is not moving in cycle. if the price of oil increase due to supply and demand mismatch and dollar declines than gold/silver price will increase.

GYM PAPER :: essays research papers

Why I signed up for aerobics fitness and what it has done for me.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I decided to sign up for aerobics/fitness because I thought it would do more for me physically and mentally than normal gym would. Personally I believe that normal gym is boring and if you’re not good at some sports like me it can be difficult to concentrate or even really care about gym class. When I took gym I personally didn’t care or really try hard. Now to this day it makes me disappointed, I wish I would have tried harder in what we were doing or what sport we’d be playing but I always felt no interest or left out. I liked some of the sports don’t get me wrong†¦ for example I really enjoyed and tried when we would play Soccer, Basketball, and volleyball. Yet then again I didn’t favor too much Baseball, track, and swimming. I always felt uncomfortable in normal gym to. I was never really comfortable with the people whom I was in class with. But this year everything, my thoughts and ideas about a diff erent kind of gym changed. I singed up for aerobics fitness because I thought it would help me in what I wanted to accomplish. I didn’t want to play sports I wanted to build my muscles. This year singing up for aerobics fitness was one of the best ideas I ever had. I can really say that I enjoyed this class more than most others. Aerobics fitness has helped me physically. I can run with out getting winded right away and I can lift weight I never thought I could lift. I can already tell a difference in my body. My legs are stronger and more muscular along with my arms. I am more active at home. I lost weight thanks to the class. Aerobics fitness has changed me in a couple ways. It though me to try harder in what I do. It thought me to set more goals for my self and beat them. I liked my classmates this year, which I think, helped me with being comfortable with the class. In this class I really enjoyed swimming. The game days are alright but I really like the way we rotate from weight lifting on the benches and on the different machines to the videos, the videos help a lot because after there done some times the next day you can feel it in your legs and arms.

?Words are more treacherous and powerful than we think? Essay -- essay

Title: â€Å"Words are more treacherous and powerful than we think† Evaluate the extent to which the characteristics Sartre claims for words affect - negatively or positively - different Areas of Knowledge. The limits of knowledge that the topic implies are the limits of language and how well it approaches truth. There are a number of definitions of language. Everybody has there own term of what language stands for. For example, Chomsky says that language is a system of sounds put together to form phrases, which are then translated into a person’s mind. Adler says that language is a system of sounds that are created to form a way of communication, which can be translated in the human mind. What I found is that language shows the proof of words through thoughts. feelings, and a system of arbitrary signals, such as voice sounds, gestures, or written symbols. Images are also a way of understanding language, which connects to what Adler and Chomsky had said. Because the world’s vocabulary is so limited to the meaning of a word, images are replaced in their meaning. By showing the thoughts of what Chomsky and Adler said, I will show how many others have a different idea about l anguage. Words have been given a belief to have a true meaning to them, but in reality not so many words have a true meaning. In order to find their true meaning we have to look at how they are used and then come up with the true meaning. â€Å"Therefore it was necessary that he should be able to use these sounds as signs of internal conceptions; and to make them stand as marks for the ideas within his own mind, whereby they might be made known to others, and to others, and the thoughts of men’s minds be conveyed from one to another.† What sometimes ends up happening is that the word can mean so many things in many situations, which gets confusing. Rather they have many different meanings, which can only be found through text that can be found through knowledge. Sometimes the meaning of words is so vague it is difficult to understand their meaning at all. Unless we are aware of the exact context in which it is being used, we would probably not agree on the subtle diffe rences. Language is what we humans use as a symbol of communication. ds or language in general were designed by man in to fit articulate sounds, which we call words. Language is considered to be a communication of thoughts and feeling... ...s method an efficient one. By showing the thoughts of what Chomsky and Adler said, I will show how many others have a different idea about language. Words have been given a belief to have a true meaning to them, but in reality not so many words have a true meaning. In order to find their true meaning we have to look at how they are used and then come up with the true meaning. But what sometimes ends up happening is that the word can mean a so many things in many situations, which gets confusing. Rather they have many different meanings, which can only be found through text has to found through knowledge. Sometimes the meaning of words is so vague it is difficult to understand their meaning at all. Unless we are aware of the exact context in which it is being used, we would probably not agree on the subtle differences. Knowledge plays into affect by adding a whole new view to looking at a word. With knowledge, the interpretation of words can be figured out faster and more efficient. The way of interpreting the human language makes this method an efficient one. John Locke, Concerning Human Understanding , The Great Books Of The Western World; The University of Chicago Press, 1952

Company Analysis: Northwest Airlines :: Essays Papers

Company Analysis: Northwest Airlines Introduction Northwest Airlines is one of the pioneers in the airline transportation industry and is ranked at the fourth largest air carrier in the United States today. The success of the carrier depends on the quality and reliability of the service at a reasonable price. Close competitors force Northwest to innovate their services by increasing efficiency. This essay will try to examine different perspectives in the services needed to successfully complete the company’s objectives. The analysis will explain historical and financial perspectives that may give a better understanding of the current market trend of the organization. Services â€Å"Northwest Airlines is engaged principally in the commercial transportation of passengers and cargo.† (5) NWA is a complete full service air transportation carrier that is the forth-largest air carrier in the world that services over 750 destinations located in 120 different countries on 6 continents. They operate 2,600 flights daily around the world and operate more than 200 nonstop between the United States and Asia each week. Headquarters is based in Minneapolis/St. Paul. The main connecting hubs are located at Detroit, Minneapolis, Memphis, and Tokyo. Northwest employs 50,600 employees nationwide as of Dec. 31, 1998. (6) NWA also has 1269 Stockholders as of Feb. 26, 1999. (6) Northwest continues to improve cargo shipping by proudly dedicating 12 Boeing 747 aircraft and easily becoming one of the largest cargo airlines in the world. (4) Cargo is very profitable for Northwest because â€Å"Northwest has predicted cargo revenue will top the 900 million mark in 2000 †. (3) The enormous fleet of aircraft contains 400 airplanes. (1) Northwest has subsidiaries wholly owned (Unless otherwise indicated by NWA) by Northwest Aircraft, Northwest Aerospace Training corps, MLT Inc, Express Airlines, and Express Airlines I. (6) History Northwest Airlines began service on October 1, 1926, flying mail between Minneapolis / St. Paul and Chicago. (2) They started passenger transportation in July 7, 1927. (2) Throughout the years Northwest has grown steadily by acquiring new system routes in the northwestern region of the USA. The year 1930 was a landmark in history because Northwest moved their home base operation to their present headquarters in St. Paul. The air service grew overnight with the acquisition of Southern Airways in 1936. Northwest’s famous red tail was introduced for the first time on February 1948.

Desdemona and Cordelias Love

Doris L Soto Prof Nadita Batra INGL 4025 802 07 8757 Desdemona and Cordelia’s Love The differences between love and tragedies are portrayed in Shakespeare’s Othello and King Lear. The complete relationship between father and daughter is corrupted by an external meaning, which plays an important role. How blind and deft can a father be to not understand? Is it that important for a daughter to die just to prove her point and her extreme emotional intelligence?One man that can provide an example would be a father like King Lear, who denied his daughter Cordelia because she did not use flattering words to make him feel better or out shadow her sisters. The heroines of Shakespeare are born is these plays, they can be great and intelligent for their age, but they were somehow young and naive. Love and sorrow are a part of these tragic relationships; whereas it is too late for denial and repent. Within their actions of love and understanding both of these women convinced their fathers they were completely right.Desdemona was married to Othello without the consent of her father Barbantio, this caused Barbantio to feel indignant and even more so when he knew that Othello, who was more of a friend than anything else, was the man who had courted and married his daughter without his consent. Indirectly, this is one way that Desdemona proves her true love, which is by confronting her father and declaring her love for Othello. Brabantio question her â€Å"Destruction of my head if my bad blame† (Shakespeare p. 38), where Desdemona responds, â€Å" but heres my husband, and so much duty and my mother showed to you, preferring you before her father, so much I challenge that I may profess due to the Moore my lord† (Shakespeare 341). This shows how as a daughter Desdemona admired her father, and felt compelled to explain her actions, although she did not regret them. Brabantio was grasp and put in the same position, he was put when younger. As a fathe r figure, Barbantio realizes this love even though Desdemona was in opposition to his ideals.It was ontly logical that Desdemona would choose Othello since he was the figure that most corresponded with her father, in reference to social status, etc. For what her father has taught her, she had high standards; Brabantio was a very intelligent man. Desdemona had for the two men most important in her life, the one that raise her and the one that completed her. Acting without forethought is what best describes the injustice that is done towards Cordelia by her father and her non-supporting traitor sisters.Cordelia was the daughter that never cared about putting her life at risk in order to prove her point to her father King Lear. Her character was put to a test of love, money, and truth. Cordelia had proven that her love is divided; she cannot love more, she had a greater philosophy, which was that love equals love; none was greater and none was smaller. This could have been because she was royalty and well taught; she understood the danger of dividing a Kingdom. Ironically an intelligent father disinherits her, with her soon to be husband.This action of his came back tenfold when his other two daughters betrayed him and he ended out suffering just as Cordelia, only worst. This king that has been so successful and intelligent was blinded by the love of his daughters and his deception in Cordelias actions. This may prove he did not have knowledge enough of the demon that existed between money, betrayal, and power. Cordelia’s relationship with the King was not acknowledged at that very moment since Lear had made his own pedestal.With Cordelia’s departure, she put Lear on an evaluation, a test where he was the only one that could resolve; she decided to give him the time. Cordelia was willing to make her father understand her love no matter what, but King Lear was to devastated and stubborn to realize that he was being betrayed by the daughters that pret ended to love him and loved by Cordelia, the rebellious one. The moment in which the King understood this was too late. The king reply â€Å"had I your tongue and eyes, I’d use them so that the heaven’s vault crack. She’s gone forever.I know when one is dead and when one live; she is dead like earth† (Shakespeare 704) By the time it came to him that she was the truly good daughter, he saw that the place were she was suppose to be from the beginning was with him. An ignorant father that could not realize his third child was the one with the more knowledge and understanding of life and love. Cordelia died to prove it. Desdemona and Cordelia made the impossible to acknowledge their importance of their existence throughout the play; they were both the heroines for their stories of being strong and liberal women.The ones that made reason within the power that were assigned for men. Desdemona was a very intelligent woman like Cordelia, they were assigned for th ose men to make them understand that love is pain and is not only love. These women tried to make their fathers understand with just words what they intended to do but could not. Cordelia did not lie to her father and Desdemona clarified that she was not stolen. Both of these great women did what they felt it was right.Desdemona’s overconfidence of the world and her own situation drag her to her own murder, she was too naive to understand the evil that her own father planted in Othello’s mind which was going to get her killed. The price that Desdemona and Cordelia had to pay was of silent and death, they had no more options, they both wanted to prove that they were right and that their truth was going to be relevant in some of the point of their situation. Cordelia was not going to rest until she save her father and Desdemona was not going to be complete unless her father approves her relation with Othello.Their father and daughter relationships seemed to correspond wi th one another in both of the plays. These women were from a high class and both had their father as an example of greatness and power, therefore they are as intelligent and powerful as their fathers, the difference between them is that they are women and somehow that makes them see things different and understand from another perspective what men would not. Women are actually stronger, and the both prove it when their love was enough to not want to quit and to prevail in their points. ‘ Work Cited Shakespeare, William. Four Tragedies Shakespeare. April: Bantam Dell, 2005. Print.