A study on strategic management as a determinant of organization Dissertation

A study on strategic management as a determinant of organization performance.(casestudy of coca cola plc) - Dissertation Example This is where business strategies or strategic management is required. This report, thus, aims to identify strategic management as a key determinant of organizational performance. The main objective of this research is to understand the importance of the strategic management in a business, so that organizations can utilize them for improving the efficiency of the business, as well of its employees. The report gives a literature review on the topic and also explains the rationale of the study. It discusses the studies and opinions of many analysts, who have clearly mentioned in their views the connection of the use of business strategies and high performance work. The research is believed to provide crucial knowledge on the impacts of strategic management as a factor for organizational performance. Interpretive research methodology has been used in the data collection and analysis. The research approach has been qualitative, where the literature review has been used, and case study me thod has been applied. A case study on the Coca Cola Company in Nigeria has been used for the research purpose, which has helped to answer the research questions. Apart from this, interviews have also been conducted, the records of which have been collected and analyzed. During the entire research program, all the ethical issues have been taken care of, and the purpose and procedures of the study have been clearly declared. The dissertation explains all the procedures applied for data collection, the results that have been obtained, and a clear analysis based on the examinations has been provided. Based on the analysis, a view has been provided on the importance of strategic management in business organizations and its role in determining the organizational performance. Acknowledgements Table of Contents Serial no. Topic Page no. Introduction 7 Limitation of the Study 10 The Research in Detail 11 1 Introduction, Aims & objectives 11 1.1 Introduction 11 1.2 Aims 12 1.3 Objectives 12 2 Literature Review 13 3 Research Methodology 23 4 Findings 28 5 Discussions 41 6 Conclusion 44 7 Recommendation 47 References 51 List of Figures Figure no. Topic Page no. 1 Response to Q.1 29 2 Response to Q.1 29 3 Response to Q.6 33 4 Response to Q.6 34 5 Response to Q.8 36 6 Response to Q.8 36 List of Appendices Serial no. Topic Page no. Appendix A Questionnaire 48 Introduction Different types of managers are present in an organization having different skills and capabilities. It is essential to make these skills work simultaneously to deal with various strategic tensions that an organization encounters (Joyce & Woods, 2001, p.3). A strategy is a cohesive and harmonized set of obligations and actions planned to develop core competencies and achieve competitive advantage (Sadler & Craig, 2003, pp.9-13). Strategic effectiveness is achieved when a firm successfully puts together and applies a value-creating approach. While choosing a strategy firms make choices among viable alternat ives. Such alternative courses of actions are accomplished using the strategic management process. A strategic management process is a full set of commitments, evaluations, and measures essential for a firm to achieve premeditated competitiveness and earn more than average returns (Hitt, Ireland & Hoskisso, 2009, pp.4-6). It was as early as 1916 when Henry Fayol had suggested that planning should be used as a practice to

Application of Statistics in Daily Life Report Essay Example for Free

Application of Statistics in Daily Life Report Essay Inheritance is the process of creating new classes from the existing class or classes. In  C++  and  C,  classes  can be defined as deriving from a  base class. A  derived class  inherits all of the ancestors protected and public  methods  and data  members. With inheritance if a method is made virtual in the base class then the derived class can override it with different behaviour. This makes possible  polymorphism. Types of classes: Definition:  In  C++  and  C#  OOP, a derived  class  is any class that  inherits  from any other derived class or  base class. Definition:  In  C++  and  C#  OOP, the base  class  is the highest class and does not  inherit  from any other class. Other classes can inherit from a base class. They are called  derived  classes. Forms of Inheritance: Single Inheritance: If a class is derived from a single base class, it is called as single inheritance. Multiple Inheritance: If a class is derived from more than one base class, it is known as multiple inheritance Multilevel Inheritance: The classes can also be derived from the classes that are already derived. This type of inheritance is called multilevel inheritance. Hierarchical Inheritance: If a number of classes are derived from a single base class, it is called as hierarchical inheritance Definition of class:When you define a class, you define a blueprint for a data type. This doesnt actually define any data, but it does define what the class name means, that is, what an object of the class will consist of and what operations can be performed on such an object. Classes ;amp; Objects in Detail Class member functions: A member function of a class is a function that has its definition or its prototype within the class definition like any other variable. Class access modifiers: A class member can be defined as public, private or protected. By default members would be assumed as private Constructor ;amp; destructor: A class constructor is a special function in a class that is called when a new object of the class is created. A destructor is also a special function which is called when created object is deleted. | | | C++ copy constructor: The copy constructor is a constructor which creates an object by initializing it with an object of the same class, which has been created previously A  friend   function is permitted full access to private and protected members of a class. | C++ inline functions| With an inline function, the compiler tries to expand the code in the body of the function in place of a call to the function. | The this pointer in C++| Every object has a special pointer  this  which points to the object itself. | Pointer to C++ classes| A pointer to a class is done exactly the same way a pointer to a structure is. In fact a class is really just a structure with functions in it. | Static members of a class| Both data members and function members of a class can be declared as static. ENCAPSULATION Definition:  In  Object Oriented Programming,  encapsulation is an attribute of  object  design. It means that all of the objects data is contained and hidden in the object and access to it restricted to members of that class. C Programming| C++ Programming| C follows the procedural programming paradigm| C++ is a multi-paradigm language(proce dural as well as object oriented)| In C language focus on procedure and steps. | C++ focuses on the data rather than the process| In C data hiding and data security is not possible. Data hiding and data security is present. | C uses Top-Down approch| C++ uses Bottom-Up approach| C is a function driven programming language| C++ is a object driven programming language| C does not support overloading concept| C++ supports overloading concepts like operator overloading and function overloading| C does not support namespaces concept| CPP supports Namespaces concept. | C not support exception handling| C++ supports Exception Handling| C is structured programming language| C++ is object oriented programming language. C does not support inheritance, reusability, polymorphism, data abstraction| CPP supports inheritance, reusability, polymorphism, data abstraction. | C language only support Early binding| CPP supports both Early and Late binding| C uses standard input, output functions like scanf and printf. | C++ uses input fu nction cin and output function is cout. | There are all data is available to end user. No data security| There is data abstraction. Not complete data is available to End user|

media :: essays research papers

-Reaction Paper- Investigative Journalism Media funtions as a overseer when it use its power to expose wrong side of administrative associations. This media’s â€Å"watchdog† feature show itself with investigative journalism. Investigative Journalism has positive and negative effects above all state and private instituons. We have to look at these different aspects. Investigative journalism’s biggest positive effects is to push people work correctly and honestly who work in different instituons. Nobody wants to fall into a trap who composed by a investigative journalists and its hidden camera. Now this hidden cameras mostly using for exposing the misuse of authority or health scandals. Investigative journalism start to function as a survelliance in community in course of time. This type of journalism provides people to work right and prevents them to abuse community or the state. Investigative journalism ensure that justice is done. However there is a problem. Is investigative journalist in a right place to investigate? or does this journalists regards his self-benefits? This compose of the negative sides of the issue. When we look at media bosses in Turkey. There are portraits of people who has different kinds of corporations in industry and market. And we can’t expect that they expose their rotten sides of their corporations. Because this againsts to their self-benefits. They naturally don’t want to lose prestige and profit. So there can be a lot of wrong things which is concealed because of this media bosses self-interests. Another thing about investigative journalism is the hidden camera. This harms people’s personal rights and honours. Sometimes people who is suspicious pulled to trap by a journalist. And this is not suitable for the principles of journalism. Also hidden camera sometimes enters to private places such as houses of people. Exposing them without permission in their private place is not ethical for my opinion. In addition to this, investigative journalism generally exposes small companies which composed with small amount of money and worker. After exposing them, they can’t recover themselves and put an end their business life in the market.

Health Benefits of the South Beach Diet Essay -- Health Nutrition Diet

Health Benefits of the South Beach Diet By promoting only healthy foods and in limited amounts, the South Beach diet proves to be an effective and safe path to weight loss. South Beach permits foods which are high in fiber and low in saturated fat such as whole grain rice, salmon and nuts. The diet does not exclude any particular class of food, fats or carbohydrates for example, but insists that foods high in cholesterol, such as bacon, be avoided. Yet, this is not the only restriction of the diet. South Beach also limits the amount of food consumed each day to 1,500 calories. Based on an average daily intake of 2,000 calories, South Beach ensures weight loss by simply decreasing the overall amount of food (â€Å"2,000 Calories a Day†). In restricting both unhealthy foods and calorie intake, the South Beach diet proves beneficial to one’s health. The foods which South Beach allows promote health, not necessarily weight loss. The diet emphasizes the intake of all healthy foods, some of which can actually lead to weight gain. Carbohydrates, for example, are stored in the body for long periods of time as their complex sugars are difficult to break down. Since they are not quickly processed, they turn to fat. Some carbohydrates; however, such as wheat pasta and multigrain bread, are still encouraged as they contain nutrients which help prevent illness such as heart disease. Phytochemicals, also found in carbs, have been proven to help prevent cancer (â€Å"Atkins vs. South Beach†). In addition to allowing these essential carbs, South Beach restricts foods high in saturated fat. Saturated fats are those which are soaked in fried oils, like bacon. These foods that contain this unhealthy type of fat can clog arteries which... ...s in choosing foods beneficial to one’s health as well. The two South Beach limits of quantity and quality work hand in hand towards healthiness. The restrictions of what foods are allowed ensure the consumption of nutrients needed in the body and prevent the consumption of foods which may be harmful. The calorie limitations aid in both health and weight loss as they encourage healthier foods lower in saturated fat. The South Beach diet thus proves to be an ideal tool when it comes to losing weight and staying healthy. Sources Cited: â€Å"2,000 Calories a Day the Easy Way† November 27, 2004 â€Å"Atkins vs. South Beach: How the Hottest Diets Measure Up† November 10, 2004 â€Å"South Beach Diet† November 28, 2004

Where you may get it wrong when writing English Essay

Reporting and Paraphrasing Introduction Paraphrasing is the use of different words to express meaning or clarify either written or spoken statement. Paraphrasing is a commonly used feature when writing. It is when one puts another person’s ideas in his or her own words (someone else’s ideas in your own words) and not just rewriting a paragraph. Some of the important words in paraphrasing include: passive this is written from an active sentence. I.e. John drives a car, this active the passive form of this is a car is driven by John. Existential clause in a sentence refers to the existence of something (there exists or there is) (Barkho, 2011). For example, ‘there are girls in the class’ this is an existential clause. Extra-position is the act of putting the keywords at the end of a sentence (Barkho, 2011). For example, ‘how frustrated with their kids are they?’ This can be rewritten as ‘how frustrated are they with their kids?’ cleft sentence is one that contains a main c lause ‘as well as a dependent clause’. I.e. who did Stan see at the party? It was Nick that Stan saw at the party. It was Stan who saw Nick at the party. The three sentences can be written as ‘Alice told me that Stan saw someone at the party that he knew from his high school days. It turns out it was Nick that Stan saw at the party. Fronting or preposing. Is a sentence construction in which a word group that customarily follows the verb is placed at the beginning of a sentence? (Barkho, 2011) For example, the garage was on the right of the house, ‘On the right of the house was the garage.’ Reported speech is the opposite of the direct speech for example I like ice cream (Direct speech). She says she likes ice cream (Reported speech) (Barkho, 2011). Question 2 article                   Mick and his brother Trig are hanging on a rail outside their home enjoying the scene of the neighbourhood. Dressed in their trainers, the caretaker to their estate sees them ordering them down from the rail. 19 year old Mick who himself is a member of the east London gang shouts back at the caretaker and threatens to beat him up. These kinds of confrontation between Mick add the caretaker is the order of the day in the inner-city London, symbolizing broken Britain. Having been raised from a broken family (fronting), his life had gone a mess. He indulged in sex at the age of 14 and at age 15 he was doing drugs. Despite his good performance in GCSE which could have enabled him secure a place in Sixth Form College, he only looked forward to one place that he dreamed of joining was Feltham jail (Reported speech). This urge came from the time he watched a documentary on TV which portrayed young inmates. Mick’s wish was achieved (passive) when he was sentenced (passive) for 14 months after being charged (passive) with robberies in east London. According to Mick, the Feltham turned to be the best place he has ever been. Three meals in a day, TV, private bedroom (existential) and other luxuries are part of what you enjoy in the jail. The impression to the young people outside is that, they want to be jailed as they think it is an honour, and it is even better than school. The mentality in the jail among the youth is that one does not have to hustle for a living as everything is provided. For the rest of boys in the streets and outside there, going to Feltham is a key part in their lives. Moreover, they find it a substitute to their homes and the chaotic life associated to the homes. The main question arising from this perception is ‘if the prisons are no longer deterrent, then what could be to the young ones in the society. Lewis refers to Mick as a head case Mick. This is after saving him from the young gang that hand threatened to him. Lewis got Mick into a plumbing course hoping to turn him round but to no avail. Despite the situation Mick talks of other gangs made of youth such as the Black hawk boys and Asian gang. However, his group is the most feared d in east London. Despite the police being aware of his group, they are not successful in hunting them down as there is no particular group leader. Mick’s day is entailed with taking care of the drug business. He gets the staff from the supplier, and takes to his customers, later in the day he enjoys the evening with his girlfriend. Despite dong the drugs, Mick claims it is easy to sell wind, but it does not make good money as cocaine and heroin do. Despite the rotten life in drugs, Mick has a dream of a good big house and cars and hopes to one day get a job, but he is not sure of the best time to legit. A two year feud with another boy leaves Mick with a gashed lip. Despite respect for Lewis, Mick plans to make it even with the boy by revenging. He likens the life to a video game you either die early or you play to the end. The incident makes Mick always walk around armed with a weapon (9mm Glock pistol). The jail is not solving the purpose intended, and Lewis looks for an alternative to save the at-risk boys in London. He looks forward to coming up with 1000 ‘Capital Men’ to save the boys. However, the menace has greatly the black families which the politicians have all feared to address. After a period of 5years in drugs and city crimes, Mick is tired of it now. However, trig who has all time watched his mentor Mick, says, â€Å"I dint fear Feltham if Mick made it, I can also handle it†. At the end, Mick says â€Å"Young people are like blind people crossing the highway. They cannot be able to tell what coming down road and instead he to me for guidance. Felth am was a good experience but as one gets older, you comprehend there are better places to go on holiday. I can tell Trig that, but I highly doubt he would even listen to me.† (Direct speech). References Barkho, L. (2011).  Where you may get it wrong when writing English: A practical guide for students, teachers academics and professionals. Norderstedt: Books on Demand. Smaby, R. M. (1971).  Paraphrase grammars. Dordrecht: Reidel. Source document

Enrons Cooperation Essay Example

Enrons Cooperation Essay Example Enrons Cooperation Essay Enrons Cooperation Essay Enron The affect of the unethical behavior of the profitability of Enron was that the third party â€Å"outside† independent auditors was not able to backup and have accounting financial statements, some of those auditors and financial institutions may have been misled by the corporation’s net income. If I was an accountant for this company I would have followed regulated federal security laws, and if failed to provide prove of documents or financial statements, I would admit to my mistakes but also come with a plan stating ok I failed to follow policy rules but I have a way of turning things around and finding out exact detail of what went wrong and how to accumulate profits amp; revenue. One thing you learn when in any career of any business always keep track of everything you do, have copies whether it’s via email or hard copy so that when you are audit you are prepared. There are several accounting practices involved, one concern was whether or not Special purpose entities by a corporation should or should not be consolidated with the corporation’s financial statements. Another concern would be the latitude allowing an agreement of non-exchange trade agreement between two parties for energy contracts. And the third concern would be giving out information to be compliance with legal regulations or workplace rules particularly to financial statements or management discussions and analysis. I would believe Derivative could have prevented this because even with all the sub contracts that were taken place little information was available for the profitability between the businesses with no reporting requirements, no supervision of unregulated derivatives markets. The nature of the controversy regarding Enron’s practices was that the auditing firm that was private a partnership with the corporation; both parties arranged financial transactions with banks to keep back a cut of unprofitable investments from the corporation’s financial statements.

Teen Pregnancy Essays (489 words) - Human Development, Midwifery

Teen Pregnancy Essays (489 words) - Human Development, Midwifery Teen Pregnancy Teenage Pregnancy The Truth About Teen Pregnancy Although the rate of teenage pregnancy in the United States has declined greatly within the past few years, it is still an enormous problem that needs to be addressed. These rates are still higher in the 1990's than they were only a decade ago. The United State's teenage birthrate exceeds that of most other industrialized nations, even though American teenagers are no more sexually active than teenagers are in Canada or Europe. (Gormly 348) Recent statistics concerning the teen birthrates are alarming. About 560,000 teenage girls give birth each year. Almost one-sixth of all births in the United States are to teenage women are to teenage women. Eight in ten of these births resulted from unintended pregnancies. (Gormly 347) By the age of eighteen, one out of four teenage girls will have become pregnant. (Newman 679) Although the onset of pregnancy may occur in any teenager, some teens are at higher risk for unplanned pregnancy than others. Teenagers who become sexually active at an earlier age are at a greater risk primarily because young teenagers are less likely to use birthcontrol. African-American and Hispanic teenagers are twice as likely to give birth as are white teenagers. Whites are more likely to have abortions. Teenagers who come from poor neighborhoods and attend segregated schools are at a high risk for pregnancy. Also, teenagers who are doing poorly in school and have few plans for the future are more likely to become parents than those who are doing well and have high educationsl and occupational expectations. Although the rate of teenage pregnancy is higher among low- income African-Americans and Hispanics, especially those in inner city ghettoes, the number of births to teenagers is highest among white, nonpoor young women who live in small cities and towns. (Calhoun 309) In addition to the question of which teenagers become pregnant, interest is shown in the social consequences of early parenthood. Adolescent pare nts (mostly mothers) may find that they have a lost or limited opportunity for education. (Johnson 4) The higher a woman's level of education, the more likely she is to postpone marriage and childbearing. Adolescents with little schooling are often twice as likely as those with more education to have a baby bafore their twentieth birthday. Some 58% of young women in the United States who receive less than a high school education give birth by the time they are twenty years old, compared with 13% of young women who complete at least twelve years of schooling. (Tunick 11) Teens who become pregnant during high school are more likely to drop out. (Calhoun 310) A teen mother leaves school because she cannot manage the task of caring for a baby and studying, and a teen father usually chooses a job over school so that he can pay bills and provide for his child. (Johnson 4) Teen mothers usually have fewer

Who Will Write My Term Paper at Affordable Rates

Who Will Write My Term Paper at Affordable Rates Who Will Write My Term Paper at Affordable Rates? Understandably, student who have made their minds to order assistance always look for affordable, but high quality writing services since most of them are not employed or are part-time workers. Hectic student life leaves not much time for out-of-class activities and term papers consume much of their time because they demand adequate exposure on the subject under discussion. Who can write my term paper at affordable rates? desperate students need to submit their term papers before the stipulated deadlines. Term papers contribute a major share on students overall grading. This means that students have to give term papers their best shot in order to advance to the next learning level. College students are always assigned term papers at nearly the same time making it difficult for them to complete the papers in a quality fashion. Completing one term paper and immediately starting another can compromise quality of the subsequent paper. Students therefore need assistance on their term papers in order to score good grades. Our paper writing service agency employs fresh university graduates to assist clients in completing their assignments. Most of the term papers ordered from our paper writing service are from college hence writers find them easy to complete. Doing a term paper requires writers who have good research and writing skills. Term papers are assessments given to students to ascertain whether they have grasped the idea of the course or not. Doing term papers is therefore challenging because it requires the student to remember the concepts learned in class. We offer to help you with your term paper for cost-effective prices. Our writers are very cooperative and will help you any time of the day. Freelance writing agencies recognize that majority of students depend on their parents for upkeep. It is therefore upon the student to save some cash so that he/she can purchase term papers. Therefore, we have done everything possible to provide student in need with affordable, plagiarism free and high quality content. But you should also be considerate of the writers needs, high quality papers cannot be to cheap, as the writers need motivation to produce a good paper. A discouraged writer is likely to produce term papers of low quality, which will be of no use to you. Order with our custom writing service and we will help you with any kind of paper you have a hard time doing. Just fill in the order form in a few simple steps and pay for your order. Now you have some free time to spare on other activities while a suitable writer deals with your order. You wonder Who can write my term paper for me? Visit and order a custom term paper written by professional writers.

What can we learn from the product management of Microsoft Vista, and Essay

What can we learn from the product management of Microsoft Vista, and how to apply the lessons learned in managing digital products in general - Essay Example Product management is an organizational function within a company dealing with the planning or marketing of a product or products at all stages of the product lifecycle. Product management is also a collective term used to describe the broad sum of diverse activities performed in the interest of delivering a particular product to market" (Wikipedia, 2008). The purpose of this paper is to deter what we can learn from the product management of Microsoft Vista, as well as how to apply the lessons learned in managing digital products in general.The features of Windows Vista differ according to the edition: Ultimate, Home Premium, Home Basic, Business, or Enterprise. According to Microsoft, "Ultimate provides the power, security, and mobility features needed for work, and all the entertainment features that you want for fun" (2008). They claim that Home Premium, "provides a breakthrough design that brings your world into sharper focus while delivering the productivity, entertainment, and security you need from your PC at home or on the go" (2008). Their description of Home Basic is that "Easy to set up and maintain, it enables you to quickly find what you're looking for on your PC and the Internet, while providing a more secure environment to help protect you from an unpredictable world" (2008). They argue that with their Business version, users will "spend less time on technology support-related issues-so you can spend more time making your business successful" (2008). Finally, they claim that Enterprise was "Designed to significantly lower IT costs and risks, Windows Vista Enterprise meets the needs of large, global organizations with complex IT infrastructures" (2008). Physical products have several advantages over digital products, but there are also some disadvantages. First of all, pictures or actual representations or examples of physical products can be shown. Second, many shoppers know that they often get a real bargain when they shop for physical items online versus in a store, and the convenience of being able to shop from anywhere is second to none. Finally, physical products that are online appeal to a much larger and diverse pool of shoppers than those that are in stores in any given city. The downsides of physical products include that they are often expensive to ship, some physical products are perishable, and the inventory must be stored somewhere which is often a significant additional expense to the seller (Collins, 2007). Digital products have their advantages and disadvantages as well. First of all, there is no storage space needed other than for electronic storage. There is no need to worry about shipping, as customers can download the products. The downsides of digital products include vulnerability to computer problems, equipment maintenance costs, and the need for Internet with higher bandwidth (Collins, 2007). According to Wikipedia, "In business and engineering, new product development (NPD) is the term used to describe the complete process of bringing a new product or service to market. There are two parallel paths involved in the NPD process: one involves the idea generation, product design, and detail engineering; the other involves market research and marketing analysis. Companies typically see new product development as the first stage in generating and commercializing new products within the overall strategic process of product life cycle management used to maintain or grow their market share" (2008). This concept applies to digital products just as much as it does physical products. The following is a model of the new product development process. It shows the process starting with discovery, and then continuing on to exploration, scoping, building the business case, development, testing and validation, launch and, finally, post launch review. The strategic planning contained in such a

IT Managers, Data Access and Privacy Research Paper

IT Managers, Data Access and Privacy - Research Paper Example Formally speaking, â€Å"protection of  data  from unauthorized (accidental or intentional) modification, destruction, or disclosure† is the definition.† (Its, 2012) as quoted at the Institute of Telecommunication Science Colorado. Data is everywhere around man. Present in different forms, it becomes of utmost importance when it holds value as information. The data pertinent to an organization needs to be kept from any alterations or maltreatment so as to prevent it from being damaged or being misused by unauthorized personnel. Thus the security that needs to be associated with all forms of data is referred to as data security. Privacy â€Å"Freedom from unauthorized intrusion† (Merriam-webmaster, 2012) is the formal way privacy may be explained. It may well be used interchangeably with data security as data also needs to be kept private in order to be secured. It is this Privacy that keeps the level of data and knowledge management at distinct levels within a n organization. The discussion further proceeds with how data security and privacy issues are catered with the IT managers and Project Managers respectively. Bottom of Form IT MANAGERS VERSUS PROJECT MANAGERS: Project managers as compared to IT managers bear limited responsibility. The main role of project managers is to manage and handover a working project to a company, Afterwards the IT managers take over the running and overall execution of that project. Both the managers can be compared in terms of employee volume as project managers maintain and manage a very limited crew throughout their task whereas IT managers manage and fulfill the IT needs of whole organization. The main activities performed through the information system of an organization are always monitored and tested under IT managers. The requirements of business process re-engineering are initiated by the IT management and it always seeks a better IT system for an organization. Project managers on the other hand te nd to reduce the workload by keeping the new requirements from springing up. IT managers are responsible for chipping in and processing the data of whole organization. This role demands imposition of certain ethical obligations regarding data sharing and security. The issue of data security is related to both i.e. organizational data (internal data, like personal data of employee etc.) and business data (external data like trade volumes and bidding details etc.). IT managers are responsible for safeguarding internal and external data. Regarding personal data of employee various hazards can easily be anticipated in case of any mishandling of data. For example all or few of the employee information like, employee history, increments, promotion evaluations, compensation offered by the company, previous employment record, salary amount, social security number and account information if leaked out, can not only be misused against that employee, but would also create a significantly negat ive impact on the whole organization. The usage and sharing of such information must be done under tightest scrutiny. The system designed for the purpose may be highly secure but the usage and sharing of data highly depends on the authorized IT personnel. There may be Standard Operating Procedures for data management and security but what if those rules are not properly enforced or followed.

Improvement of solar thermal collector Research Proposal

Improvement of solar thermal collector - Research Proposal Example Once the best design dimensions are created, anywhere from two to ten prototypes will be built and tested. They will be tested under a variety of light conditions, trying to simulate a range of light beyond the normal expected use of solar panels. The hope would be that this design could, among other advantages, catch light that is more diffuse or at lower intensities, enabling a broader climactic range to employ the technology. There will also be stress testing of the prototypes to test for breaking scenarios and determine if durability is within acceptable parameters. Stress testing will include shaking, simulated geological turbulence, simulated barometric turbulence, falling, heavy weight to simulate snow and hail, and other tests. Parameters being tested for will include potential climactic range; efficiency; spectrums of light absorbed; durability under adverse weather conditions; durability under both normal and extreme circumstances; more compact size; and cost. Once initial testing is completed, flaws will be determined, simulation begun again, until the final working prototype is selected. A literature review shows that this project has promise. Cheshire Innovation uses Fresnel lenses in their solar desalination plants (Patent application Nos. 0511946.6, 0608208.5). McGrew's 1980 Patent No.

Information Systems in Business Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Information Systems in Business - Coursework Example Putting catalogs, newsletters and invoices online will save numerous trees. The war game hosting business is an inexpensive way to reach and interact with new markets. Savings will be made on office and transportation costs. War game hosting will also offer unlimited possibilities for the business. The order and payment processes, inventory management and the customer support tasks will be fully automated (Reuvid 2005). The war game hosting is a sign of professionalism and the business will have a global presence 24/7. There are fewer competitors for international war game hosting and for some countries where it is illegal, people who are interested in war games can have an opportunity to play in other countries. The future of hosting war games online looks bright. Currently, both direct and indirect global sales attributed to the internet constitute nearly 5 percent of total sales (Blythe & Megicks 2010). Five years from now, these global sales are expected to rise to 35 percent (Blythe & Megicks 2010). According to the Integrated Management Resources Group (IMRG), online sales in Australia alone will stand at 10 billion pounds by 2011 (Blythe & Megicks 2010). In May 2007 global electronic commerce generated 750 million pounds and in May 2008 it generated 2.3 billion pounds (Blythe & Megicks 2010). During the last three years, internet traffic has doubled every 100 days (Blythe & Megicks 2010). Currently, 40 million Australian devices are connected to the internet (Blythe & Megicks 2010). By 2012, this figure is expected to rise to 65 million (Blythe & Megicks 2010). By 2012, it is likely that 1 billion devices will be linked to the Internet worldwide (Blythe & Megicks 2010). Given the low competition and these figures, the international war game hosting is likely to generate revenue and profits. Building cooperation with war game owners and air soft gun

The real meaning and its impact of characters' symbols in the Great Research Paper

The real meaning and its impact of characters' symbols in the Great Gatsby - Research Paper Example e same time reflects upon the deviation from the American dream in the context of the individual desires of individuals that run counter parallel and counterproductive to the actual goals that may be set forth in life to be achieved (Tyson, 40). A personal way of life, inspired by the social outfit, stands in conflict with the American dream as well as the moral and social values of a respectable society. Gatsby originally had a humble background to his record and he overtook the rich life style to cover it up. While the American Dream was based on values, moral up gradation and standardized living along with the social development, the movie depicts characters that have seen deviation from the core value of the American dream. Money has become the center stone of the attraction and desire of the people. The 20s decade saw progress however at the cost of the moral values (Hobby, 67). The overall script is prepared against a backdrop of a society and environment that was driven by the scientific developments and progress all over. In the wake of such developments, the people’s orientation and desire for acquiring more wealth, parties, expensive life styles, origination of the new music genres, different brands coming forth in the field of clothes and in the domain of car manufacturing industries were few of the progressive elements that were part of the American society at that time. This development in turn led to the people’s desire for collecting money and rising in social status and earning the recognition. Happiness has been always attributed to the accomplishment of the goals in the American Dream. However the American dream set forth the pattern and elements that would allow accomplishment of such goals. In the light of such a nationalistic ideology, there is little space or margin for negative activities and functions which may corrode an individual’s character or ambitions. The 20s decade of the last century was characterized by a totally

Information Systems in Business Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Information Systems in Business - Coursework Example Putting catalogs, newsletters and invoices online will save numerous trees. The war game hosting business is an inexpensive way to reach and interact with new markets. Savings will be made on office and transportation costs. War game hosting will also offer unlimited possibilities for the business. The order and payment processes, inventory management and the customer support tasks will be fully automated (Reuvid 2005). The war game hosting is a sign of professionalism and the business will have a global presence 24/7. There are fewer competitors for international war game hosting and for some countries where it is illegal, people who are interested in war games can have an opportunity to play in other countries. The future of hosting war games online looks bright. Currently, both direct and indirect global sales attributed to the internet constitute nearly 5 percent of total sales (Blythe & Megicks 2010). Five years from now, these global sales are expected to rise to 35 percent (Blythe & Megicks 2010). According to the Integrated Management Resources Group (IMRG), online sales in Australia alone will stand at 10 billion pounds by 2011 (Blythe & Megicks 2010). In May 2007 global electronic commerce generated 750 million pounds and in May 2008 it generated 2.3 billion pounds (Blythe & Megicks 2010). During the last three years, internet traffic has doubled every 100 days (Blythe & Megicks 2010). Currently, 40 million Australian devices are connected to the internet (Blythe & Megicks 2010). By 2012, this figure is expected to rise to 65 million (Blythe & Megicks 2010). By 2012, it is likely that 1 billion devices will be linked to the Internet worldwide (Blythe & Megicks 2010). Given the low competition and these figures, the international war game hosting is likely to generate revenue and profits. Building cooperation with war game owners and air soft gun

Managerial Finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Managerial Finance - Essay Example Any effort that could increase profits above the hurdle will be ignored since the manager after meeting such pre-set goals will relax. Again, setting hurdles will also work against the regional executives since different policies affect investments differently according to the given country. Each country has a different inflationary level, lending rate, political stability and other cultures which together or singly affects investments. Setting a uniform hurdle rate is being unfair to countries with unfavourable investment policies. 2 Investing in Lower risk projects will normally be a favourite of the lower division managers since chances of them losing out on the investment is limited. This however, will always come with unfavourably low or unattractive incomes. While this might appear favourable to the managers, it may turn out to be a dislike of the shareholders. Shareholders would want to maximize profits without regards to risks involved, while the managers are more concerned about the risks involved in each venture. Risk is may be defined as the standard difference of return on an investment or portfolio of assets. It is measured using different methods including Value at risk. It helps business men to get prepared for the potentially turbulent market and is quoted in terms of percentage and fixed time horizon (Kwon Joon Chang, 2008). If a 77% one day of value at risk, and the security of 6%. This means that the estimate for the example is that in the next one day, there is 77% chance that the security will not lose more than 6% of its value. The equation may be written as: VaRÃŽ ± = inf{x Ï µ R: P (L > x) ≠¤ 1 – ÃŽ ±} It does not take into account the downside potential in case the portfolio encounters the one percent chance that it exceeds the loss threshold. In other words, once the losses exceed the threshold,

Romeo and Juliet and Much Ado About Nothing Essay Example for Free

Romeo and Juliet and Much Ado About Nothing Essay Introduction William Shakespeare was noted for his marvellous works in making plays such as Much Ado about Nothing and Romeo and Juliet. It is these two plays that will be analysed, comparing the love scenes, and showing how women, love, power and marriage in the time of Shakespeare, as his plays have a reflection on some aspects of the culture at his time. Romeo and Juliet In Romeo and Juliet, the lovers which were Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet, had a secret, albeit forbidden relationship, due to their families in an ongoing feud with each other. Juliet, at the young age of 13, was pressured, and eventually commanded to (or else she would be disowned), marry Count Paris. This shows that around the time of Shakespeare, parents could make their daughter, even at young ages, marry a man even if they didnt want to. When Romeo and Juliet first glanced eyes on one another, fell in love and got married, showed how Juliet, defied her fathers wishes for her to marry someone. That he had chose for whatever reason. This showed that women were, at the time of Shakespeare, moving from a male dominated system, to a system where females were becoming self-dependant on their choices, showed when she chose Romeo over Prince Paris. As Capulet discovered the body of Juliet (when she faked her death) her father calls it as having it deflowered his daughter. Deflowered can be taken in two definitions as dictated in the dictionary: _1._ _To take away the virginity of (a woman)._ _2._ _To destroy the innocence, integrity, or beauty of; ravage._ _The American Heritage ® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition  copyright  ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2003. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved._ In this situation, it can be taken as both, but is more directed towards the second meaning, that Juliet had not reached the full age of a person, robbing her innocence of her young age, robbing her of lifes pleasures. When Romeo discovered the body of Juliet in the Crypt, not knowing that she was only in a drug induced coma, killed himself, in an attempt to join her in the afterlife with poison, while the same thought crossed Juliets mind when she awoke and saw the dead body of her love, Romeo; suiciding with his dagger in the process. This suicide was against the beliefs of Catholics, (which they were a both part of) who believed suicide will lead to Hell, and instead of the Religion of Love, and how the belief was instead that the suicide of two lovers with the intention of meeting one another will lead them to paradise. This showed the love that Romeo and Juliet had for each other; it went beyond the levels set by their families religion, and them crossing into another. Much Ado about Nothing In Much Ado about Nothing, the main characters, Claudio, Hero, Benedick and Beatrice, are each in a relationship. Claudio, who had recently returned triumph at war, falls in love with Hero, the beautiful young daughter of Leonato (the governor of Messina) and the cousin of Beatrice. Claudio discusses with his friend Don Pedro, the nobleman from Aragon about marrying Hero, within a few days of seeing her. The speed in which Claudio wanted to marry Hero is a demonstration of Love at First Sight, which could show how some people at around Shakespeares time, if they liked someone, asked in a short duration of time, to marry him/her. Marriages in this play were straight-forward, with the to-be Husbands being given a chance to decline marrying the other, which was what Claudio exactly did, after being shown what he believed to be shown Hero having sex with another man. With the constant arguments between Benedick and Beatrice in the play, they exchanged numerous vows, comments, offenses; to each other. But they were, in reality, in love with each other, as they exchanged comments that could easily be linked to admitting love such as this: _BENEDICK: What, my_ _DEAR_ _Lady Disdain! Are you yet living? BEATRICE: Is it possible disdain should die while she hath such meet food to feed it as Signior Benedick? Courtesy itself must convert to disdain, if you come in her presence._ This extract from the play shows that although Beatrice and Benedick are trading with each other negative comments, they are doing it in a playful manner, in a way that does not do that much damage, and expresses love. If Benedick truly did not like Benedick, he wouldve not used the word dear when he was addressing Beatrice In the above extract. The language of the time was in such a manner that it was possible to mix love and distain in the same sentence, something that has unfortunately not being carried on into modern English. Love was expressed also by writing poems, such as when Benedick was writing a poem for Beatrice and vice-versa. Although at the end of the play they spoke as if they did not love each other, the poems they wrote each other spoke for what they really had in their hearts. Shakespeares many poems also showed that people showed affection to each other in many forms, like writing poems to each other at around his time. Comparison of the Two Plays Romeo and Juliets love scenes are of young people falling in love. In Much  Ado about Nothing, a similar view is held between Claudio and Hero, but not in Benedick and Beatrice. Their love was more of a traditional way of loving, by slowly finding out if someone they loved had any sincerity towards them; whereas in Romeo and Juliet, they skipped that principle and went straight into the relationship parts of things, and agreed to be married in only one night. Women were presented in Romeo and Juliet as under men, whilst in Much Ado about Nothing they appeared like they had more rights and privileges. However, in both plays, intentions to marry were both conducted; the differences being that Romeo did not ask permission from either his father or Juliets father to get married, and instead only asked her to marry, whilst Claudio had to ask Leonato, Heros dad for her hand in marriage. This showed some people around Shakespeares time were moving from the idea that you had to ask permission to get married, and instead only asked the person they intended to marry for permission. Saying that, the actual marriage ceremony was similar, the difference being that Romeo and Juliet held their marriage privately with no witnesses except themselves and the Friar due to the situation, whilst in Much Ado about Nothing, there was a large group of people witnessing the marriages. This showed that people around that time could have their marriage conducted privately or publicly. The way the characters from both expressed love to each other was different. Romeo and Juliet expressed their love for each other in a very passionate, and fiery way, while Benedick and Beatrice had theirs disguised in the way they spoke to each other, and how they felt to one another. Claudio and Hero had a relationship, although they had a different way of expressing it. They did not make out with each other, nor did they use disguised words, they had a more indirect relationship. This ultimately shows how love was in Shakespeares time; it could be  expressed in many ways, as it is today. Conclusion Romeo and Juliet, and Much Ado about Nothing, were a reflection of Shakespeares times, the way love, power, marriage and women were at the time. His plays portrayed how he interpreted the customs were of the time, as well as give an insight into the language of the time (although he did invent many words into it).

Effects of Website Attributes on Customer Satisfaction

Effects of Website Attributes on Customer Satisfaction ABSTRACT This study investigates the important attributes of online web stores in e-commerce by examining the possible website elements that determine different aspects of the association between customers satisfaction and e-commerce website attributes. A questionnaire consisting of 24 items was completed by 60 respondents. The instrument for this study was developed on the basis of â€Å"SERVQUAL† using a 5 point Likert scale. There were five independent variables used in the study out of which two were included as a result of stepwise multiple regression model which are: websResponse (accounting for 26.3% of the total variance); and webCustomization (accounting for 5.1% of the total variance). Results of a stepwise regression indicated that two website attributes significantly predict customer satisfaction (31.4% of the combined explained variance). Within the five website attributes in E-commerce website dimension, â€Å"website response† correlated highly with customer satis faction (26.3% of the explained variance). The results of the study indicate that the two website attributes of e-commerce (website response and website customization) impact the customers satisfaction and other three do not have a significant influence. The study concludes with related implications and design guidelines to enhancing customer satisfaction of e-commerce. Effects of website attributes on customer satisfaction in E-commerce SECTION 1: INTRODUCTION The Internet is no longer a niche technology it is mass media and an utterly integral part of modern life. As our lives become more fractured and cluttered, it isnt surprising that consumers turn to the unrivalled convenience of the Internet when it comes to searching and buying product. 1.1 INTROduction to E-COMMERCE The rise of the WWW gives birth to new phenomena in our daily lives, one of which is e-commerce. The internet has played a vital and important part to encourage selling products and services online which makes life convenient for the audiences, which in an inter-connected world, is well, the whole world. E-Commerce is a subset of an overall e-business strategy consists of the buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet. E-commerce seeks to add revenue streams using the World Wide Web or the Internet to build and enhance relationships with clients and partners and to improve efficiency. E-commerce has given rise to the concept of completely online shops selling products and services, efficiently catalogued and available for the shoppers convenience. There are several websites that stock everything from lifestyle items, collectibles, books, electronic appliances etc. The level of e-commerce use can be measured by using an e-commerce capability indicator. E-commerce capability indicator by Molla Licker:  § No e-commerce indicates a company without e-mail or an Internet connection.  § Connected e-commerce represents a company that has an Internet connection and e-mail.  § Informational e-commerce indicates a company using a Web site to publish basic information about the company and its products/services in a static manner.  § Interactive e-commerce refers to the ability of users to search the companys product catalogue, make queries, and enter orders.  § Transactional e-commerce allows online selling and purchasing of products or services including online payment and customer service. E-business applications can be divided into three categories. First is an internal business system in which customer relationship management (CRM), Enterprise resource planning (ERP), and Human Resource management (HRM) type of systems are involved. Second is enterprise communication and collaboration such as content management system (CMS), business process management (BPM) and web conferencing etc. Third is e-commerce that includes Business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce and Business-to-customer (B2C) e-commerce. Online shopping comes under this category on which this study is conducted. Several e-commerce service providers are available on web that provides professional customized web designing services that suit their clients needs. Some common applications related to electronic commerce are the following:  § Online Shopping (Web Shop)  § Online Banking  § Online Marketing  § CRM etc 1.1.1 Online Shopping Online shopping is the process consumers go through to purchase products or services over the services over the web. Online shopping is a type of business-to-consumer (B2C) transactions. The term web shop also refers to a place of business where web development, web hosting and other types of web related activities take place (Web refers to the World Wide Web and shop has a idiomatic meaning used to describe the place). 1.2 service quality The level of service received on a web site. Dependent on reliability, responsiveness and availability of staff and the web site service. Service quality is comprised of five dimensions. These are:  § Tangibles: appearance of physical facilities, equipment, personnel, and written materials (Zeithaml, Bitner Gremler, 2006).  § Reliability: ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately.  § Assurance: employees knowledge and courtesy and their ability to inspire trust and confidence.  § Responsiveness: willingness to help customers and provide prompt service.  § Empathy: caring, individualized attention given to customers. 1.2.1 Service quality dimensions in e-commerce systems Lets examine how customers judge the five dimensions of service quality in perspective of e-commerce systems. Tangibles refer to the physical appearance of an e-commerce website, its structure, layout, theme etc and referred as â€Å"website structure†. Reliability represented as â€Å"website adequacy† which provides the relevant and needed information provided by an e-commerce system when customer clicked or requested for. Assurance termed as â€Å"website security† refers as the trustworthy service provider that could include a well reputable website, reliable payments methods etc. Responsiveness is the prompt and relevant response to the specific request of users described by â€Å"website response†. Empathy knows internal customers as individual; understanding individual needs and concerns such as by providing recommendations that matches the customers needs which is termed as â€Å"website customization† in world of web. 1.2.2 service quality framework (SERVQUAL) SERVQUAL was originally measured on 10 aspects of service quality: reliability, responsiveness, competence, access, courtesy, communication, credibility, security, understanding or knowing the customer and tangibles. By the early nineties the authors had refined the model to the useful acronym RATER.  § Reliability  § Assurance  § Tangibles  § Empathy, and  § Responsiveness SERVQUAL has its detractors and is considered overly complex, subjective and statistically unreliable. The simplified RATER model however is a simple and useful model for qualitatively exploring and assessing customers service experiences and has been used widely by service delivery organizations. 1.2.3 customer satisfaction Customer satisfaction refers to the extent to which customers are happy with the products and services provided by a business. Customer satisfaction levels can be measured using survey techniques and questionnaires. Gaining high levels of customer satisfaction is very important to a business because satisfied customers are most likely to be loyal and to make repeated orders and to use a wide range of services offered by a business. The basic definition of customer satisfaction says that Customer satisfaction is a term, is a measure of how products and services supplied by a company meet or surpass customer expectation. Customer satisfaction is an abstract concept and the actual manifestation of the state of satisfaction will vary from person to person and product/service to product or service. The level of satisfaction can also vary depending on other options the customer may have and other products against which the customer can compare the organizations products or services. 1.3 Customer Satisfaction Based on Perceived service quality of e-commerce systems The overall satisfaction of e-commerce customers can be attained by providing the level of service quality that customers perceive in that system. The five dimensions of service quality are tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy. The website structure of an e-commerce websites is all about the tangibility dimension. The reliability dimension in this study is measured by the attribute called website adequacy. The website response variable indicates the responsiveness dimension. Website security as another attribute of an e-commerce system refers to the assurance dimension and the empathy dimension described by the website customization The overall customer satisfaction is based on the five service quality dimensions representing various service attributes: tangibility, reliability, assurance, responsiveness and empathy. The detailed model used in this study is presented in figure A. The website design elements are characterized into five different types which are supposed to influence the five service quality dimensions. This study hypothesizes that some website attributes that are based on service quality dimensions has an impact on an online customer satisfaction. In other words, customers satisfaction level will increase if the e-commerce system provides a higher level of service quality through different website attributes. 1.4 Increased trend of Online surfing and shopping in Pakistan The trend of an online surfing is increasing rapidly due to the increased benefits by the use of e-commerce business environment. People visit e-commerce web sites not only for buying but for several other reasons and the smart retailer just should not only focus on boosting online browse-to-buy conversion rates, but should also try to grab the attention of an online visitors who came in for review so as they could become a customer later. Many people feel it comfortable to review the products through an extensive knowledge provided over the internet before actually buying a particular product. For this purpose, e-commerce website provides an interface to the buyers to write their reviews and share their after-purchase experiences. Thus, the e-commerce systems reduce the time and efforts required for the first step of information search in consumer decision making process. That is, by just few clicks a consumer can have a concise analysis for what matches his/her needs. There are some factors emerged as a results of the changes in lifestyle and habits of consumer which has promoted the trend of online searching and shopping in Pakistan. Some of these factors are lack of time, need of convenience and easy access to the desired object. Moreover, e-commerce websites facilitates the visitor in many ways to boost up online browse-to-buy conversion rate. Whenever a new customer lands on an e-commerce website, he/she must be having many questions in their minds regarding the products and services. A well-framed ecommerce site has an enquiry page for their customers. This gives the chance to the visitor to post an enquiry with your site. Main aim of this page is to gather all relevant and necessary information from the customers so that they can be given response in an apt manner. Within the past decade, e-commerce has matured and grown exponentially. The result: now there are many types of e-commerce payment methods available online. If your credit is bad and you cannot afford a merchant account, there are alternative methods of payments on e-commerce websites which can help you. The e-commerce systems give customers controlled access to the data they need. In other words, not only are you managing your relationship with your customers, you are giving your customers the tools to manage their relationship with you. THESIS STRUCTURE This thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter 1 discusses the problem about which the research was carried out and in general about the trends of online shopping in Pakistan. Chapter 2 is about the literature review and the theoretical background is developed. In Chapter 3, researcher describes the methodology adopted including sources of information and data collection procedure is discussed. In chapter 4, the empirical data collected through questionnaire is analyzed and results are concluded on the basis of a survey. In Chapter 5, Conclusions are drawn and necessary recommendations are suggested. 1.5 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM â€Å"Effects of website attributes on customer satisfaction in e-commerce.† The main purpose of this research is to find out the different attributes which encourage consumers to visit, search and shop on a particular website. 1.6 OBJECTIVE The purposes of this study are as follows: To identify the most important website element of e-commerce with respect to the customer satisfaction. To examine what is important to the customer regarding website attributes in e-commerce with perspective of website builders. 1.6.1 Possible Research Findings The research will also provide the following significances.  § Help the organization to better understand what customers expect in e-commerce and how those expectations impact customer attitude.  § The study will examine what the customer views as major attributes of website in e-commerce.  § Able to investigate the major customer attitudes associated with website structure in e-commerce.  § The study will indicate the link between the website attributes and the customer attitudes. 1.7 HYPOTHESES H1: Website structure has a significant association with customer satisfaction. H2: Website adequacy has a significant association with customer satisfaction. H3: Website security has a significant association with customer satisfaction. H4: Website response has a significant association with customer satisfaction. H5: Website customization has a significant association with customer satisfaction. SECTION 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction to e-commerce: The propagation of WWW has originated few facts in our daily lives, one of which is e-commerce. A transaction between two or more participants through an electronic medium is defines as e-commerce (Kalacota and Whinston 1997). As an e-commerce is rapidly raising field, therefore for accomplishing success in this market, a top quality information system is necessary (Margherio et al. 1998). An e-commerce system is designed by selectively integrating many technical (e.g. search system) or managerial (e.g. the level of information related to product) design elements (Lohse and Spiller 1998). It is still very difficult, if not impossible; to make use of all the design factors presently available for the e-commerce system although many design factors have been suggested to improve the overall quality of e-commerce system (Selz and Schubert 1997, Lohse and Spiller 1998). This is because of the recent arrival of new design factors resulted by an increase in the interest of Internet (Selz and Schubert 1997). The main goal of this paper is to explore important design elements that have significant influence on the customer satisfaction regarding the performance of e-commerce systems. In this paper, the study presents a conceptual model of e-commerce websites that includes concrete design elements, perceived level of website quality and the customer satisfaction (JINWOO KIM and JUNGWON LEE 2002). There is remarkable potential for e-commerce in developing countries. Online shopping makes it easy to find things, merchants and best offerings and thus economical in terms of time and effort offerings (Balasubramanian, 1997). According to the Malone et al (1989) communicating a same piece of information through communication networks results in decreased cost and improved speed. There is tremendous potential for e-commerce in developing countries because the use of an e-commerce can potentially reduce transaction costs. As per Malone et al (1989) observation, the search costs such as cost of identifying a market (from where to buy a product) and /or a product or service are likely to reduce with the use of e-commerce systems and can be defined as potential e-commerce cost savings. From an organizations perspective, e-commerce systems provide the organization with the better market reach and an ability to provide their customer a customized service that suits their individual needs and preferences. For example the exchange between â€Å"richness† and â€Å"reach† can be minimized by e-commerce (Evans Wurster, 2000). Richness refers to the quality and quantity of information in terms of accuracy, relevance, customization, etc. and reach measures the number of people who can be got in touch with that information. 2.2 Service quality dimensions: The overall customer satisfaction can be measured by the level of service quality of an e-commerce system that customer perceives. Some researchers (Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry 1988) stated that consumer satisfaction or dissatisfaction is as an ancestor of service quality. Conversely, modern evidence recommends that it is an outcome of service quality (Woodside, Frey and Daly 1989; Cronin and Taylor 1992). Service quality attributes are the most important factors for the success of an e-commerce systems For example Liu and Arnett (2000) found that organizations that involve in e-commerce can only ensure the success of their system by keenly looking for the ways to improve their service quality. The customers decision whether to continue using a particular e-commerce system is based on the perceived quality of service (Bhattacherjee 2001) as the service quality impacts the overall satisfaction of a customer. Tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy are the five dimensions of service quality. (Parasuraman et al. 1985, 1991, Pit et al. 1995). The tool that is being used in this study to measure the dimensions of service quality is SERVQUAL According to Brown et al. this instrument has been proved valid and reliable and hence used in various domains. (Brown et al.1993, Fisk et al. 1993, Parasuraman et al. 1985, 1993). On the basis of previous researches, service quality despite being a main interesting field in services marketing for the past two decades (Zeithaml et al., 2000); electronic service quality is still in its early stages in research area. Reil el al in 2001concluded that there has been no theoretical conceptualization emerged for customer evaluation of electronic services that could have been accepted generally. Cox and Dale (2001) has supported this conception by the fact that most out of the dominant research on service quality cannot even be valid to e-business environment. By the year 2002, the existing studies on the determinants of electronic service quality were based on measuring B2C interactions (Gilbert, 2000; Barnes and Vidgens 2000, 2001 and 2002) and few exploratory researches on website quality and e-service quality by Zeithaml et al. In early stages of service quality research, researcher were required to find out what is service quality from customers perspective (Sasser et al.,1979; Lehtinen and Lehtinen,1982; Gronroos,1982). It was normally approved that the judgment of service quality came from comparisons between what customers feel a service provider should offer (expectations) and the actual service performance of the company (perceptions) (Zeithaml et al., 2000). This view was reinforced by Parasuraman Zeithaml (2000) and Berry (1985) in their study of service quality in different service industries with which they discussed the concept of service quality as a function of expectations-perception gap. Parasuraman et als, identified the 10 dimensions that customer uses in their assessment of service quality. These 10 service quality dimensions then shaped the source for the development of a scale (SERVQUAL) to measure service quality in direct service interactions. Research extended in other context and as a result refined the scale and reduced it to 5 dimensions (reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy and tangibles) Since the SERVQUAL scale has been widely used to measure service quality in many studies across a range of settings (IS Departments; Airlines; Universities; Ocean Freight Shipping; Professional Services; Health Providers; International Markets; Purchasing; Advertising; Banking; E-commerce). Initially the concept of services were created to capture the nature of service encounters (Meuter et al., 2000) which may not be sufficient to capture the characteristics of customer interactions with self-service technologies such as e-services (Dabholkar et al.,1996). Later on, many approaches have been proposed to study online service. (Gilbert, 2000; Gronroos et al., 2000; Parasuraman and Grewel, 2000; Kaynama and Black, 2000; Zeithaml, et al., 2000; ONeill, et al., 2001) proposed the use of existing service theory as a first type. The second type utilizes generated new categories for self-service technologies such as e-services (Szymanski and Hise, 2000; van Riel, et al., 2001; Wang and Tang, 2001; Ruyter et al., 2001). Third type develops information systems and web quality theory (Barnes and Vidgen, 2000; 2001; 2002; Aladwani and Palvia, 2001). These researches have centered on customer interactions with a variety of self-service technologies such as automated call centre technology, ATMs and Web sites and touch screen technologies. A redefined SERVQUAL instrument to measure the service expectations and perceptions of customers of Internet businesses was used by Gilbert in 2000 in which he concluded that to measure online service quality, the altered SERVQUAL scale was a practical instrument. The features that are useful, accurate, relevant and comprehensive information reflect the reliability of quality information (Bailey and Pearson 1983). Bailey and Pearson (1983) also identified that website reliability depends on to what level the information provided on the website about the product or service is true, precise and also depend to what level a customer can rely on a particular website that it provides enough amount of information available regarding each product. (Luedi 1997) stated that website personalization based on the ability of website to deliver individualized interface for a specific user which generated dynamically as per users needs. This may involve making purchase recommendations and /or providing the list of other relevant products that matchs the customer needs. This can be extracted through the previous data available regarding an individual user such as buying behavior, cart items and the current session contents. Providing customized services is the best way to create a loyal customer and make repeat visits on a website Luedi (1997). The concern over security continues to plague the online world. Variables like perceived security, reputation were included in this study to examine the customer attitude towards buying process. Even though the understanding of credit card transactions perceived secure like a waiters and waitresses, still security is the top concern of people who shop online (Salisbury et at. 2001, Luo 2002. Wilson and Abel 2002). Likewise security is the reason why people do not shop online (Luo 2002). The research variable of Security reflects trust in the online system and the variable reputation reflects trust in the specific vendor. Discovering whether vendors receive repeat business reflects the overall buying attitude of consumers. Overall customer satisfaction at online shopping measures which attributes helps the website meets expectations. 2.3 Website elements: The first phase of consumer decision making process that is the information search starts the minute customers look at the interface of e-commerce website and ends until they decide whether to place the purchase order or not (Schmid 1995). The role of website structure remains important during the phase of information search process such as site maps, navigation, content settings and layout of website etc. The content, structure and website elements should be portrayed explicitly on the e-commerce interface. Website structure that includes the presentation of design elements determines how the information is actually displayed on the screen to acquire the customer attention (Morris and Hinrich 1996). Convenient website structure defined as to what extent a customer feels that the e-commerce website is user friendly, simple and instinctive. (Ki-Han and Shin, 2008) Website adequacy describes the quality and quantity of the information provided in the e-commerce system. Content based on usefulness and comprehensiveness involves the type and scope of information to be included in the system (Morris and Hinrich 1996, Kim et al 1997). After the collection of appropriate information regarding the identified products or services, the contents must be placed in a well organized manner so that the customer can understand the interface easily (Gronroos 1982, Rosenfeld and Morville 1998). A well-defined and properly placed content is a feature of website which indicates the ability to made information easily available to visitors (Ki-Han and Shin, 2008). When adequate and reliable information has been properly dispersed across different web pages within the structure of the e-commerce website, an efficient interaction system must be provided to enable the customer to switch between different pages easily (Kim and Yoo 2000, Park and Kim 2000). Ballantine (2005) has found the impact of interactivity and product related information on customer satisfaction in an online trade setting. He argued in his study that the amount of product-related information affected consumer satisfaction of online shopping. An important design element that relates to the interaction system includes the involvement of website response and website customization ability. Website Customization is referred as the extent to which an e-commerce website can identify a customer and then modify the choice of products and shopping experience for that customer (Srinivasan et al., 2002). Cook and Coupey (2001) in their research argued that the improved accessibility of information on internet is likely to result in informed customers. And educated customers are able to make better quality decisions and will then experience more satisfaction with the visits and purchases they make. The connection between all of the five individual variables describes the basic architecture of web pages (Steinmetz and Nahrsted, 1995). The overall satisfaction of e-commerce customers can be attained by providing the level of service quality that customers perceive in that system. Satisfied customers have more potential to spread positive word-of-mouth (Gremler and Brown, 1999), and they avail further services (Zeithaml et al., 1996). The five dimensions of service quality are tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy (Parasuraman et al. 1985, 1991, Pit et al. 1995). Attributes related to the website structure such as physical appearance of e-commerce websites are represented by tangibility dimension. For example, the tangibility measures the appeal of the website design of e-commerce system presents to their customers. The ability of the website to provide the dependable, accurate service is represented by reliability dimension. (Pit et al. 1995). For example, the reliability dimension measures how often an e-commerce system provides useful and comprehensive information regarding the relevant products or services. The responsiveness dimension indicates how prepared the website is to promptly response the customer with the clicked option. (Parasuraman et al. 1991). For example, the responsiveness dimension measures how often an ecommerce system voluntarily provides services that are important to its customers such as less loading time. Or it can be measured by how often a website provides accurate and rich information after a user clicked a particular product. The trust and confidence encouraged in the customer by the information provided on e-commerce system refers to the assurance dimension (Parasuraman et al. 1991). For example, the assurance dimension can be measured by extent to which a website is able to give a secure feeling to an online buyer. The empathy dimension described as the individual attention to the customer that is being provided by the dynamic e-commerce website (Pit et al. 1995). For example this dimension measures how often an ecommerce system voluntarily offers recommendations that match to its customers needs in order to provide the individual customers benefit. In summary, the overall quality of an e-commerce system can be measured by the service quality level perceived by its customers and ultimately leads to the customer satisfaction (JINWOO KIM and JUNGWON LEE, 2002). Parasuraman, Zeithaml et al. (1988, 1991) in study on SERVQUAL found that the interactive elements of e-commerce systems are e-business features that help in building relationships with customer and are fall into five main sets that are tangibles, reliability, assurance, responsiveness and empathy. Due to the consistency of research findings stated in literature, it become easy to propose that the five main determinants of e-commerce include website structure, website adequacy, website security, website response and website customization (D. HORN, R. FEINBERG and G. SALVENDY, 2005). In an e-business structure, the customer interaction with the business is through the e-commerce website. Therefore, several original SERVQUAL items were modified to focus on e-commerce website. The definition of an empathy dimension was extended to include personalization or customization, which is the concept of web gurus as they believe the emotional connection between customer and web business (Peppers et al. 1999). The overall appearance and structure of e-commerce website shows its tangibility. The performance of promised services and adequacy of information explains the reliability of an e-commerce website. Responsiveness is the ability of e-commerce system to help and provide prompt response to the website user. The individualized attention and customized service provided by the e-commerce system to an individual customer is described as empathy. Security is the trust on an e-commerce system in protecting personal and financial information (D. HORN, R. FEINBERG and G. SALVENDY, 2005). The major factors that impact the customer attitude are the five main attributes of e-commerce system. The model in Figure 1 describes how these attributes of e-commerce system work together to achieve customer satisfaction. The satisfaction/dissatisfaction of customer is defined as an emotional response to a specific consumption experience (Swan and Oliver 1989). It is determined by to what extent a consumer perceives that the service fulfills his/her needs, wants or desires. Satisfaction is a â€Å"state† inconsistent in that a consumer can be â€Å"very dissatisfi

Tech Prep :: Education School Careers Essays

Tech Prep Tech prep has become more widely accepted by educators and the business community as real changes have been made in curriculum, courses, and programs. However, the jury is still outabout whether the anticipated student, school, and community outcomes are being realized. This essay examines the extent to which tech prep is succeeding as a unique effort, living up to the claims that have been made for it. Over the years, educators have been challenged by a number of federal, state, and local initiativesthat profess to result in better educational outcomes for students. Highly marketed at their inception, many of the initiatives ultimately fade into obscurity, some absorbed as part of otherprograms. Examinations of tech prep and its relationship to school-to-work initiatives point to thedistinctions that make each of the two programs unique and highlight the characteristics that makethem similar. Program focus is the most distinguishing feature that differentiates tech prep from school to work.Tech preps focus is primarily on school-based learning, whereas school-to-work programs alsoinclude work-based learning and linkages between the two. The distinction is less clear when thecore elements required for tech prep vary among tech prep consortia, as they are reported to do(Owens 1996). For example, when tech prep adds elements that include work-based and careerguidance components, it becomes similar to school-to-work, which may explain why someeducators are seeing little or no difference between the two. Of the 100 persons surveyed at the1996 American Vocational Association Convention, however, only 15 percent saw tech prep andschool-to-work as being exactly the same (Bragg 1996). Most of the surveyed tech prep consortia did not see the two efforts as synonymous, but perceived tech prep as a component of school to work: 35% of the respondents considered techprep to be the foundation for school to work; 50% considered tech prep to be under the school-to-work umbrella (ibid). However, for funding as well as program issues, most local techprep coordinators believe that tech prep should retain its unique identity to ensure that thebenefits of its processes and procedures are not lost or duplicated by school-to-work (Bragg et al.1997). Survey responses from 42 of 50 state directors of vocational-technical education showedagreement with the view that tech prep is one option within school to work and that its identityneeds to remin strong (Dykman 1995). Imprecision in defining the two reforms can create confusion and frustration among allstakeholders. At one of the five field sites studied during the 1996-1997 academic year, forexample, tech prep was "viewed as a premier approach to STW for more academically talentedstudents, incorporating both school-based and work-based components.

Does Improved Technology Mean Progress? :: Argumentative Persuasive Essays

Does Improved Technology Mean Progress? I feel that there is progress happening everywhere in the world today. Not all progress is from new advancements in science and technology but a lot of it is. There is so much knowledge held amongst people to allow such advancements to occur. Having knowledge is a great tool because without it, there would be no progress of any sort. People need to learn that they should study as much as possible so maybe one day they can contribute to making more progress happen. Achieving progress is a helpful way of improving our standard way of living. Even though progress is a good thing, I also feel that it can cause problems too. People just need to realize that in order to produce new and better things we might have to go through some rough times on the way. New advancements will continually be arising in the future and hopefully somebody one day will find away to make it so these new advancements will not contain new problems. Machinery today keeps on getting better and better. New discoveries in technology allow us to improve the quality of our machinery so their performance level is better than some might have expected. These new technologies also make it a lot easier on people in the workforce. New technologies have a huge affect on society. Farmers, for example, have it a lot easier now than they did in the early 1900's. More advanced farm equipment is the reason for this. Aside from all the good things that arise from new machinery, there is also a few down falls. Many people loose their jobs because of all the new high-tech machinery. For this reason, I am sure some believe that progress is not always for the better. What if in the future, machinery started dominating everyone's job, what would we do then? Also at certain times, new advancements are used in the wrong way. For example, it was stated in Leo Marx's article that because of these new technology advancements, "Hiroshima and the nuclear threat; pollution and other kinds of damage inflicted upon the environment by advanced industrial societies; spectacular accidents like B-mile Island, Bhepal, the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger.

How Do Evolutionary Psychologist Explain Male-Female in Courtship and Sexuality?

1. How do evolutionary psychologist explain male-female in courtship and sexuality? Evolutionary psychologist explains the male and female behaviors to sex. They explain what a male wants most from a female and what a female is looking for. For instance, like what a male will do to get what he wants out of a female even if it has to get violent. Along with female, females will take time to look for a male to have sexual intercourse with, Evolutionary psychologist studies appears that males are more disposed in many sexual relationship then females.In other words, it means the males generally want sex more often. They tend to look for the youth and beauty in a women because youthful women are more fertility. Males are also more violent and more pushy then females which in some cases leads to rape. They are more sexually jealous and controlling then females because if his mate was having sexual intercourse with another male, he will never be sure if her child will be 100% genetically h is.In the other hands, women are more committed to being in a relationship. They are less sexually active than men. Women tend to focus on his financial resource when searching for a mate. They will also look into his status. The male has to have the ability to provide the support and resources needed for there off springs later in life and also for her. Women are more cautious when it comes to courtship and sexual relationship because they are more dedicated in parenting then the males.

Classroom †Toelf Essay Essay

In general, most people tend to view things differently, even whether if classrooms environment should be interactive or not. To some people, they may think that classrooms are places where teachers lecture and the students listen. However, in my opinion, I believe that classrooms should be interactive. The following cases and examples will help support my point of view. People have different backgrounds. Students, especially in international schools, have varying backgrounds, which may result in different views. A classroom is a place for learning experiences, therefore, it is crucial that varying opinions are brought to the table. Take the example of a business class. In discussing whether or not coffee stands should be locate within the campus or outside, the teacher may Do you think that students will always understand every single thing the teacher lecture about if they weren’t allow to ask questions? In complicated classes such as math or science there are many things that usually confuse the students. It is nigh impossible for the teacher to be able to make sure that everyone understands, let alone knowing whom doesn’t what. Courage. When your kids grow up, they do not work alone. Courage is an important aspect in working with others, whether it is to lead or just to follow. In the case of Pearson Hardman, an international law firm, they seek not only people with knowledge but also people who have individuality, people who could think for themselves and are not afraid to express their opinion. Where is a better place to develop those traits than in classrooms. Classrooms where students are allowed, and encouraged, to speak out their mind. In conclusion, it is hard to make all people view things in the same way, even in the case of whether or not classrooms should be interactive. Some people may agree that it should not be because discussions may lead to the teacher not being able to teaches everything he intended to. However, to me, I strongly agree that classrooms should be interactive. The examples and cases mentioned above have supported my point of view to the best.

CRM & SharePoint Tools In Management Research Paper

CRM & SharePoint Tools In Management - Research Paper Example In the light of using a combination of or relying solely on the work of management and Information Technology (IT) there is much to be offered about the operations of both. For the most part IT is being established as a necessity of management, but also non-functional without the contributions of management. In connection with the outcome expectancy of either management processes or IT is can be established that the operators of IT would be considered the IT itself and that whatever innovations of IT are made are contributions of the IT personnel. That being said, Rockart establishes the relationship to be â€Å"in an effective relationship, IT professionals and line managers work together to understand business opportunities, determine needed functionality, choose among technology options, and decide when urgent business needs demand sacrificing technical excellence for immediate, albeit incomplete, solutions†¦.These relationships demand that both IT and line managers accept a ccountability for systems projects, which is achievable only when both parties share their unique expertise† (p. 47). CRM is an implementation that allows the organization to synchronize and mechanize all business processes. It utilizes customer support, sales techniques and marketing processes to integrate the companies entire disparate system of operations. It is defined by William, Daniel, and McDonald as â€Å"processes and technologies that support the planning, execution, and monitoring of coordinated customer, distributor and influencer interactions through all channels† (p. 5).... 5). The following is a chart illustrating the ultimate structure implemented by a CRM (CRM, p. 1) In order to justify the orientation of CRM previous factors on success measures must be available. Clarifying the need of the specific technology widens the range of CRM scope and possibilities. For the purposes of this analysis a direct citing of views is provided by William, Daniel, and McDonald below of their views on CRM successful strategy implementations (p. 8): 1. Determine intent: As with other IT applications, top management sponsorship and the presence of a champion to drive the intervention are widely recognized as important. The potentially far-reaching effects of e-commerce lead Dutta (2000) to take the tough position that the Internet should be â€Å"a top strategic priority for your CEO†. If the project’s aim is to add to customer value, this needs to be complemented by a customer or market orientation, or at least by the perception of the need for it (Wilson and McDonald 1996), in which case the project’s scope should aim to increase it. 2. Assess context: The IT context of a project includes the existing set of systems. Leverick et al (1998) emphasize the need for â€Å"compatibility and integration with other marketing IT projects†. Ryals et al (2000) go beyond this to the need for a plan for customer-facing systems to converge so as to give a single view of the customer or competitors. The wider organization also needs to be aligned around the customer, either through the organizational structure (McDonald 1996) or through cross-functional teams (Ryals 2000; Wilson and McDonald 1996). A further element of the

International Migration Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

International Migration - Term Paper Example It is through migration that many international criminals are able to hide their activities. International migration also lead to pressure on social facilities in different countries and this often leads to conflicts between citizens. The entry of illegal immigrants in many countries leads to increase in petty offenders and criminals, when such illegal immigrants are unable to survive or find jobs abroad. The illegal migrants usually hide from the authorities in the host countries and they face cruel treatment but they also are unable to seek justice from the legal systems. Consequently, many criminal activities are committed against them by the citizens of such countries. The security of the host country is threatened when more people that had not been planned for by the security agents in all situations. The security facilities become overstretched and therefore unable to ensure adequate security to all members. Any country may risk capital flight when migrants move resources to th eir countries of origin. Consequently, economic resources are taken out of a country illegally to benefit other countries. Part 2 International migration produces benefits to their home countries and to the host countries depending on many situations. To their countries of origin, the migrants remit finances to their home countries. This often results into large sums of money being sent from well developed counties to developing countries. Such resources help in developing countries from which migrants came. International migration is more hurting to men due to pressure on men to provide in many families. The negative effects of international migration are loss of human resources, and the brain drain when countries lose their highly qualified people to other... The researcher of this term paper discusses international migration, that is the movement of people from one country to another due to many reasons. International migration has consisted of people moving from their country of birth for many reasons and this movement involves millions of people each year. The migrants range from less educated to highly educated professionals who move from their own countries that may have scarce resources. The low skilled workers also move to seek better wages abroad because the benefits outweigh the disadvantages. When people move from one country to another, they enter new countries whose laws they may not understand. Internal migration may also involve individuals whose characters are not known. It is through migration that many international criminals are able to hide their activities. International migration has remained one of the main issues that impact the lives of all people around the globe. International migration, that was discussed in the paper involves many issues that must be considered by those moving to foreign lands. The reseracher then concluds that this international movement of people has both positive and negative consequences to the individuals, their families, and the national economies as well. Legal migration can help boost the lives of individuals when all legal procedures are followed. Iover a million many countries deal with. Many countries have created legal provisions to curb the surge of illegal migrants to their borders.

Energy Conservation Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Energy Conservation - Lab Report Example The output graph 2 for kinetic energy and potential energy vs time is attached herein, for oscillating mass on a spring. The graph is in such way that the curve for potential energy and kinetic energy intersect each other at a particular point, which is consistent. The point at which the two are the same for all the data is 0.5, which is the arbitrary reference level used to measure the y coordinate. Further, it is also worth noting from the graph that at the point where kinetic energy is maximum, the potential energy is found to be at its minimum. There are few uncertainties, as shown by the number of outliers, leading to the conclusion that the experiment was accurate. Part 1 shows that there is conservation of energy in swinging pendulum. This is confirmed by the graph which indicates that at the point when potential energy is highest, the kinetic energy becomes zero. This is an indication that at this point, for the swinging pendulum, all the kinetic energy is converted to potential energy. At the lowest point of the swing, the potential energy is zero while the kinetic energy is at its highest (Teodorescu 11). This also applies to part 2, indicating that there is energy conservation in an oscillating mass on a spring. When the spring is fully stretched, the change in potential energy becomes highest because of increase in length while the kinetic energy remains at zero. In which case, when the y is increased, the kinetic energy reduces to zero while the potential energy rise to maximum. To confirm energy conservation, computing mechanical energy for these systems at various points indicated that the answer remained constant for the various data . Further, for the shot basketball, in part 3, the experiment was successful in confirming the energy conservation witnessed by a basketball. The conservation was confirmed when the ball was dropped from a certain height and bounced back to that similar height. However,