Legalization of Marijuana in the USA Research Paper

Legalization of Marijuana in the USA - Research Paper Example Firstly, it is the drug’s therapeutic effect and a range of implications that make it so valuable. Using cannabis for medical purposes is nothing new. Indeed, the first written references of its medical usage date back more than five thousand years ago. THC in marijuana helps to relieve pain, reduce nausea and promote appetite. In 2010, the Congressional Research Service report indicated that marijuana has positive effects on patients with chronic diseases. In Michigan, for instance, cannabis is used in the treatment of glaucoma and hepatitis C, while in Rhode Island physicians prescribe it for patients with HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis, and cancer. Medical marijuana is highly applicable to relieving various disease-related disorders such as muscle spasticity, nausea, anxiety, and chronic pain. Moreover, marijuana is not as addictive as one might believe. In fact, only 9% of marijuana users become addicted, compared to 15% alcohol drinkers and 32% smokers (Welsh). Secondly, ke eping marijuana illegal is expensive. It is hard to believe, but current marijuana policies cost taxpayers as much as 42 billion dollars per year (Hardy). For instance, Utah laws state that possession of an ounce of cannabis and less can lead to six months in jail. The laws also enforce taxpayers to cover expenses for every individual who is imprisoned for the use, possession, or distribution of marijuana. As it has been estimated in a Harvard study, nearly 7 billion dollars are spent annually on catching marijuana offenders (Miron). On the contrary, if cannabis were legalized and taxed like other commercial goods, the federal government would receive huge amounts of money that then could be used for other important social needs. Overall, the tax revenues drawn from marijuana would exceed 8 billion dollars annually if taxed like alcohol or tobacco (Fairchild). Furthermore, legalization of marijuana would boost the emergence of a highly lucrative industry and create job opportunities .

Hispanic Voting Related Literature Essay Example for Free

Hispanic Voting Related Literature Essay The coming of the 2008 US Presidential Elections has made studies on voting behavior a fad in the scholastic community. Everybody wants to know, especially the candidates, how America or segments of its population will vote or the chances that a candidate will win based on some observations on voting patterns. Unfortunately, and not many people know this, studying voting behavior is not as simple as looking at the voting statistics. As one scholar commented, â€Å"voting is among the acts hardest to explain† (Uhlaner, 1989, p. 390). For one, Samuel Eldersveld (1951), defined voting behavior to connote â€Å"more than the examination of voting records†, but also includes â€Å"analyses on individual psychological processes and their relation to the vote-decision, of group structures and functions and their relation to political action, as well as institutional patterns and their impact on elections† (Eldersveld, 1951, p. 71). Thus, studies on voting behavior have also become multi-disciplinary, and were never confined in the field of political science. Still, studying voting behavior holds so much promise as far as theory construction is concerned, because it is viewed to be an area where theory can be systematically and quantitatively measured and tested. Also, this area offers more valid and reliable statements of causal determinants and a wealth of hypotheses, as voting behavior can be studied with respect to several possible variables. (Eldersveld, 1951, pp. 72-73). In her emphasis on the role of groups, Carole Uhlaner hypothesizes that voters act as part of groups with shared interests† (p. 390). Based on a utilitarian model of consumption benefit, she suggests that a group votes for a certain candidate because it would benefit from the policy positions of that candidate. From here, it is not difficult to presume that ethnic groups vote for candidates coming from their own group because they are expected to represent their interests. Though there has been a debate, in the case of Hispanic Elected Officials (HEOs), on whether Hispanic members of the US House of Representatives substantially represent the interests of their Hispanic constituents (Hero and Tolbert, 1995; and Kerr and Miller, 1997), it is useful to start with the assumption that groups, particularly ethnic groups, play an important role in determining voting behavior as identities and affiliations affect voters’ interpretations of the political world, preferences, and actions. (Uhlaner, 1989) Thus, a very interesting, yet under-studied (Antunes and Gaitz, 1975; Hero, 1990; Arvizu and Garcia, 1996), subject of inquiry on voting behavior would be the Hispanics in the United States. Scholars and politicians alike are interested in finding out how Latinos vote because despite the increasing significance of the group, being the fastest growing minority group in the US (Tanneeru, 2007), there seems to be the absence of consistent or predictable patterns on Hispanic voting across areas and through time. It may stem from the fact that the Hispanic community is diverse and voting interests are not homogenous. A Cuban-American may vote for a Republican because of the party’s long-standing policies toward Cuba, while a Hispanic in a border state may be affected by the stringent immigration policies. The culture of a state can also affect a Hispanic voters behavior: Texas voters may be more conservative in contrast to more liberal Hispanic voters in California. A study on the impact of religion also revealed that first and third generations placed more importance on religion than the second generation Hispanics in the US (Tanneeru, 2007). Socio-economic factors such as social class, occupation, poverty indicators, among others are also seen as significant determinants of voter turnout (Arvizu and Garcia, 1996; Antunes and Gaitz, 1975). In her explanation of the Hispanic low voter turnout, Cassel even suggested that Hispanics vote less than Anglos during presidential elections because they â€Å"tend to be younger, less educated, poorer or less frequently contacted by a political party or candidate† (Cassel, 2002, p. 397-398). In a comparison between the election of Federico Pena as Mayor of Denver, Colorado in 1983 and the bid of Victor Morales from Texas for US Senate in 1996 points to more variables that shaped the two campaigns. These include the size of the constituency, size and demographics of the Hispanic population, ability of the candidates to build coalitions of ethnic groups and sectors, personal qualifications or experience of the candidate, membership in civic organizations, political party support and campaign funds. This also tells us that the mere presence of a large Hispanic population in an electoral district could not ascertain victory for a Hispanic candidate. In a study by Rodney Hero comparing Hispanic political behavior in two Colorado cities – Denver and Pueblo – with other California cities, it appears that the governmental structure plays a significant role in determining different levels of mobilization of Hispanics in the cities. Colorado cities, with their unreformed structure, particularly Denver which has a strong-mayor system, have obtained greater political influence than what can be observed among California cities. This study supports the observation in 1983 in Denver, Colorado wherein Pena was elected into office with the highest Hispanic voter turnout ever recorded in the city. It also proves that it is not always the case that Hispanics are politically â€Å"acquiescent† and politically inactive and/or ineffective. (Hero, 1990) The observed political apathy of Hispanics had been explained by several studies in different ways. A study on voting behavior in Texas from 1960-1970 asserts that discriminatory devices such as the poll tax, the requirement of annual registration, short registration periods, and length of time between the end of registration and general election had restricted qualified electorate in favor of white persons and those with greater education and income (Shinn, 1971). Such means of discrimination, including literacy tests and printing of ballots in English, had also been used by the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), to extend the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to include large jurisdictions where large Mexican American populations live. Arguing that Hispanics never really met the level of discrimination suffered by the blacks, for whom the Voting Rights Act was originally intended, Linda Chavez points out that Hispanic votes had been aggressively courted by presidential candidates since 1960s and that hundreds of Mexican Americans had held office since the 1970s. She contends that in places where Hispanics make up a large segment of the constituency, several other factors, not the absence of safe seat for Hispanic representative, explain why no Hispanics hold office (Chavez, 1992). Complementing the initial observation of Chavez, George Antunes and Charels Gaitz found out in 1975 that in their interpretation of ethnic differences in the levels of participation among blacks, Mexican-Americans and whites, ethnic identification process among minority groups only partially account for the higher level of political participation of the discriminated groups. However, they stressed that compared to blacks, Mexican-Americans have lower participation rates for nine of eleven indicators of political participation, including voting. This is basically because of the cultural norms of participation inculcated in black communities owing to their history of discrimination wherein they suffered more than the Mexican-Americans (Antunes and Gaitz, 1975). Political history is also one of the aspects that Carol Cassel examined in her explanation of low Hispanic political participation as evident in their low voter turnout, compared to the African-Americans. Seeing that Hispanics vote at the same rate with other ethnic groups during presidential elections, Cassel suggests that low turnout in low visibility races can also be attributed to the Latinos’ lack of political networks or just because Latino political leaders prefer to mobilize voters in more competitive elections (Cassel, 2002). Mobilization efforts also figured as a very important determinant in the 1996 elections voting turnout in California, Florida and Texas (Shaw, dela Garza and Lee, 2000). Nevertheless, Harry Pachon and Louis De Sipio recognize that the structural changes such as the extension of the Voting Rights, combined with ethnic political mobilization in Latino communities and efforts of groups such as MALDEF, contributed to the increased electoral and political clout of the Hispanics. In their list of HEOs in the 1990s, they have found out that there were 4,004 Hispanics holding publicly-elected offices nationwide – 1% of the national total; nine states accounting for 96% of HEOs in the US; and that Hispanics were represented at all levels of government, except for the Presidency. The only factors that could mitigate the increasing trend of HEOs in the following years would be young Hispanic population and non-citizenship. (Pachon and De Sipio, 1992). Thus far, the numerous and variegated variables and determinants presented above attest that it is not easy to explain Hispanic voting behavior. Thus it is best to start with a single locality to test which of these – or a combination of these variables could best explain Hispanic voting. (In this case, I have chosen to zero in on Houston, Texas, the fourth largest city in the United States. ) Though in the process, I should be cautious against committing what Eldersveld warned with respect to generalizing from single cases. Nonetheless, I believe that studies such as this could make a good case for comparing with similar political settings, and eventually, in explaining Hispanic political behavior. References: Antunes, G. and Gaitz, C. (1975) Ethnicity and Participation: A Study of Mexican-Americans, Blacks and Whites. The American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 80, No. 5, 1192-1211. Arvizu, J. and Garcia, C. (1996) Latino Voting Participation: Explaining and Differentiating Latino Voting Turnout. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, Vol. 18, No. 2, 104-128. Cassel, C. (2002) Hispanic Turnout: Estimates from Validated Voting Data. Political Research Quarterly, Vol. 55, No. 2, 391-408. Chavez, L. (1992) Hispanics, Affirmative Action and Voting. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 523, 75-87. Dela Garza, R. , Lee, J. and Shaw, D. (2000) Examining Latino Turnout in 1996: A Three-State, Validated Survey Approach. American Journal of Political Science, Vol. 44, No. 2, 338-346. Eldersveld, S. J. (1951) Theory and Method in Voting Behavior Research. The Journal of Politics, Vol. 13, No. 1, 70-87. Hero, R. (1990) Hispanics in Urban Government and Politics: Some Findings, Comparisons and Implications. The Western Political Quarterly, Vol. 43, No. 2, 403-414. Hero, R. and Tolbert, C. (1995) Latinos and Substantive Representation in the US House of Representatives: Direct, Indirect or Nonexistent? American Journal of Political Science, Vol. 39, No. 3, 640-652. Kerr, B. and Miller, W. (1997) Latino Representation, It’s Direct and Indirect. American Journal of Political Science, Vol. 41, No. 3, 1066-1071. Pachon, H. and De Sipio, L. (1992) Latino Elected Officials in the 1990s. PS: Political Science and Politics, Vol. 25, No. 2, 212-217. Shinn, A. (1971) A Note on Voter Registration and Turnout in Texas, 1960-1970. The Journal of Politics, Vol. 33, No. 4, 1120-1129. Southwestern Social Science Association. (1997, March 27) The Victor Morales for US Senate Campaign: Did the Sleeping Giant Notice an Unusual Campaign? Tanneeru, M. (2007, September 28). Inside the Hispanic Vote: Growing in Numbers, Growing in Diversity. Retrieved from : http://www. cnn. com/2007/US/09/28/hispanic. vote/index. html Uhlaner, C. J. (1989) Rational Turnout: The Neglected Role of Groups. American Journal of Political Science, Vol. 33, No. 2, 390-422.

Be Warned and Study Justice:The Shifting Definition of Justice in Virgi

Be Warned and Study Justice:The Shifting Definition of Justice in Virgil’s Aeneid A twenty-first century reading of the Iliad and the Odyssey will highlight a seeming lack of justice: hundreds of men die because of an adulteress, the most honorable characters are killed, the cowards survive, and everyone eventually goes to hell. Due to the difference in the time period, culture, prominent religions and values, the modern idea of justice is much different than that of Greece around 750 B.C. The idea of justice in Virgil’s the Aeneid is easier for us to recognize. As in our own culture, â€Å"justice† in the epic is based on a system of punishment for wrongs and rewards for honorable acts. Time and time again, Virgil provides his readers with examples of justice in the lives of his characters. Interestingly, the meaning of justice in the Aeneid transforms when applied to Fate and the actions of the gods. Unlike our modern (American) idea of blind, immutable Justice, the meanings and effects of justice shift, depending on whether its subject is mo rtal or immortal. Before discussing justice in the epic, it is important to establish the meaning of the term. For our present purpose, justice will specifically apply to the social system of moral checks and balances. Acts that are valued in society are rewarded materially or emotionally. Acts that are devalued lead to punishment. Also, recipients of unmerited punishment receive compensation for their injuries. Often, a person is seen as the embodiment of the value of their action, thus a person can be seen as â€Å"good† or â€Å"bad,† and the consequences of justice that affect them are based on the general value of their general actions. The value given to actions is based on a soc... ...are confronted with the question of moral absolutes, we are forced to wonder when and to whom justice truly applies. Hopefully, we will look at our world and our ideas of right, wrong and retribution in different ways, ways that will enlighten and enrich our lives, and the those of the an audience of readers 2,000 years from now. Works Cited Braund, Susanna Morton. â€Å"Virgil and the Cosmos: Religious and Philosophical Ideas.† The Cambridge Companion to Virgil. Charles Martindale, ed. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1997. 204-221. Solmsen, Friedrich. â€Å"The World of the Dead in Book 6 of the Aeneid.† Oxford Readings in Vergil’s Aeneid. S. J. Harrison, ed. New York: Oxford UP, 1990. 208-223. Virgil. The Aeneid. Trans. Robert Fitzgerald. New York: Vintage Books, 1983. Williams, Gordon. Technique and Ideas in the Aeneid. New Haven, Ct: Yale UP, 1983.

Depiction of Native Americans in American Film Essay

In today’s society there are many people living in poverty. All across America there are different projects and reservations where the less fortunate reside. Statistics show that mostly minorities live in these different locations. Native Americans and African Americans are two of the more popular races living in these places. The group suffering the most in these situations is the youth. Although both Native American and African American children living on a reservation or in the projects experience a terrible community, have little to no faith, and a broken family structure, African American youth living in the projects have it worse than Native American children living on a reservation. First, one of the most common living situations for less fortunate African Americans is in the projects. A project is a public living environment that is government owned. Although these buildings are government owned they are far from nice looking. Most of the buildings have no windows, are run down, dirty, and old. The government’s main goal is to maintain affordable housing not to make them the best looking homes in town. The projects aren’t a good environment for a child to be raised. Throughout these neighborhoods different gangs can be found. These gangs are built to defend the different areas in the projects. The gangs bring major violence to the area and are one of the main causes of death. At a young age children join these gangs and are raised to be violent. Many of them decorate the buildings they are living in with graffiti expressing their gang colors, symbols, or motto. In contrast, while Native American youth also live in poor housing, the environment is safer than the projects. A reservation is an area set aside for a specific type of land use or activity, or for use by a particular group of people, mostly Native Americans. Similar to the projects, houses on a reservation are old, beat down, and dirty. The houses on a reservation are government owned as well. Although these two locations are very similar they also differ. The reservation is a safer place then the projects. On the reservation there is a couple cases of mild violence but they aren’t as severe as the violence in the projects. Therefore, the reservations environment is a better environment than the projects. Secondly, many of the young people have no faith growing up in the projects. A lot of them believe their only way out of the projects is to become a basketball or football player or to become a top selling rap artist. At as young as sixteen years of age most African American males end up in jail, deceased, or selling drugs. A lot of them are also lead to believe that if they don’t do what every other man on the streets is doing, then they won’t make it anywhere in life. On the reservation the kids believe their only way out is to become NBA players or â€Å"powwowers†. Powwower’s are traditional Native American cheerleaders or dancers. Much like the African Americans growing up in the projects, the life expectancy rate for those living on a reservation is in the mid forties. Considering that both of these locations are in the United States mid forties is very young of age. Many of these people don’t live very long because they don’t have enough money to take care of themselves as well as their families. They also aren’t able to live a healthy lifestyle which shortens their days. Death is common in the two locations which leaves these two young groups wondering what’s beyond the age forty. Lastly, family structure is very important in a household. In the projects many of the homes lack a very strong family structure. Children growing up in the projects nine times out of ten don’t have both parents in the home. Most of them are drug dealers, alcoholics, prostitutes, or doing any and everything to try and provide for the child. Although these parents are trying to provide for their children a lot of the time they are also on welfare. Moreover, these children’s parents aren’t ever around, they sometimes go days without having anything to eat. Many of the young men follow after the footsteps of their father, older brother, or uncles which is why this cycle has continued for so long. Native Americans typically stick together as a unit. According to Sherman Alexie, an award winning author who grew up on a reservation, â€Å"Native American children are taught to be suspicious of Caucasian people. † Native Americans teach this to their children because there are many people in America that are against minorities and believe that just because they are the majority they’re better. A lot of the parents on a reservation go from job to job not being able to keep one job for a long period of time. Many of these parents are also alcoholics. On the other hand, some of these families on these reservations are very family oriented unlike the African American families in the projects. These Native American families have up to seventeen family members living in one house. They keep their families very close and are very supportive of one another rather then being against each other like African Americans. The parents watch over their children to make sure they don’t go down the wrong path in life. Although these families are experiencing hard times they cheer each other up and manage to smile every once in a while. Therefore, the Native Americans family structure is stronger then African Americans. In conclusion, Native American youth living on a reservation have it better then African American youth living in the projects. Both of these minorities are going through some hardships. From alcoholic parents to not having anything to eat they both are suffering as young children. Native American families provide a safer living environment, work harder, and look after one another, where as African Americans are against one another, on the streets all day, and are strongly associated with violence. As the years go on these families are hoping that the government will separate people in the projects and those living on reservations and provide them both with a better living situation. If these environments are separated the United States will be one step closer to eliminating violence in America.

Important to Treat Patients with Kindness and Respect

In his book, People Care, Thom Dick shows us that while it is imperative to know and perform all the medical procedures well, it is also important to treat patients with kindness and respect. He points out that most people don’t remember much about medical procedures performed, but they do remember how they were treated. Also, he demonstrates that how patients are treated plays a big role in whether or not they decide to pursue malpractice litigation against healthcare providers. If patients are handled with gentleness and respect, they are more likely to forgive mistakes. He begins his book by giving us three major mistakes that the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) has made since its founding. The first mistake was to support hiring people that were inclined to hate their jobs. These people were thrill seekers and just wanted to be heroes. They only cared primarily about themselves and not enough about the patient. In order to enjoy and do well in the EMS profession, Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) need to naturally like people and have a love for helping them. The second mistake was that the EMTs were taught to expect the wrong things. They were led to believe that every call would be exciting. In reality, most calls are routine and are not exciting at all. The last mistake was that many EMS administrators treated their workers with disrespect. They applied manufacturing measures to EMS quality which made the EMTs feel less valuable. Thom Dick wants us to remember that EMS is not manufacturing; it is the most important people business ever. Next, Mr. Dick stresses that the EMT’s personal safety always comes first. He believes that they need to develop safety habits if they are to stay alive and healthy. One of the gifts that EMS gives back is situational awareness. EMTs will be put into many dangerous situations and will need situational awareness in order to stay out of harm’s way. Mr. Dick also believes that another way to stay safe is to never drive the ambulance too fast or in any other irresponsible way. Thom Dick emphasizes the need to respect others no matter how strange or different they may seem to us. EMTs meet a wide variety of people out in the field and must learn to accept them as they are. It is not an EMT’s job to judge other peoples’ personalities. Their job is to provide the best care that they are able to give. Mr. Dick feels that it is important to take the time to understand how patients are feeling. Many of the people that EMTs will meet are scared and need someone to help them feel better. One of the most important things an EMT can do for them is to simply smile. The smile needs to be genuine or the patient will feel like it is all an act and the EMT doesn’t really care. He next expresses the need to develop professional etiquette toward everyone that they meet. Respect and kindness should be shown to every person that EMTs come upon in the field. This includes other medical professionals, first responders, other drivers, co-workers, and patients. EMTs should listen to them and do all they can to cooperate. This will be easiest if they naturally like people and have no problem respecting others. Additionally, Mr. Dick feels that professional etiquette includes maintaining a professional appearance. If EMTs are poorly groomed or go around with an unkempt uniform, it reflects badly on themselves, their colleagues, and their profession. In Mr. Dick’s opinion, most of the so called â€Å"system abusers† are simply people who are overwhelmed in life or just lonely. They become desperate for someone to talk to and they know EMTs will always respond and most likely listen to them. They deserve sympathy however and not distain. Many of these people are homeless, having no one in their lives to talk to or listen to them. The author wants us to remember that, with a couple of bad breaks, we could end up homeless too and that these people should be treated with the same level of respect as everyone else. According to Mr. Dick, another group that deserves respect is the patient’s family members. If a patient is in crisis, the family is most likely in crisis as well. They can be very helpful in such things as giving the patient’s medical history, medications, and other useful information to an EMT. The family can also become formidable adversaries if they feel that the patient is being mistreated. EMTs should always listen to them and show that they really do care about their family member. Furthermore, Mr. Dick believes that being able to give comfort to the family is a required skill for all healthcare providers to have. He further states that the elderly are probably the biggest group of people that EMTs will treat in their careers. The author gives several examples in his book of how the elderly can be different from other patients and how certain things can affect them more. Mr. Dick also wants EMTs to understand how the elderly feel about the current condition of their lives. They have gone from being independent in all areas in their lives to needing elp getting dressed and cleaning themselves. They are people just like everyone else and deserve to be treated as such. Mr. Dick next warns us that EMTs will come in contact with many violent people and that they need to do all they can to stay out of danger. When EMTs come upon these people, they must do their best to keep control of their emotions and not retaliate in any way. Violent patients should still be treated with respect and still need to be cared for. Additionally, Mr. Dick informs us that EMTs may be put in a situation where they will have to â€Å"take-down† and restrain the patient. He believes that if they must do this, proper restraints should be used and they should still listen to the patient. If the patient starts to complain of breathing difficulty, the EMT must do what he can to help them. Thom Dick and his co-authors obviously put a lot of thought into writing this book. It is full of practical ways to treat our patients with respect and how to stay safe while in the field. I strongly believe that all EMS professionals and students should read this book to gain understanding of some of the challenges and dangers they will face in this critical and demanding profession.

The Legend of the Double Happiness Symbol

The Legend of the Double Happiness Symbol You may  have heard of the term Double Happiness but know little about what this symbol means, let alone how it came about. With this profile of the Chinese good luck character, get better acquainted with its history and discover if it can be applied to the circumstances in your life. What Is Double Happiness? Double Happiness is a large Chinese character  featured  on red paper. The characters that signify happiness are spelled  xi or hsi in Mandarin  and  pronounced shuang-xi. It is exclusively used in Mandarin  to celebrate weddings. The Story of the Symbol The symbol dates back to  the ancient Tang Dynasty. According to legend,  there was a student on the way to the capital to take the national final examination in which the top learners would be selected as ministers of the court. Unfortunately, the student fell ill halfway when he passed through a mountain village, but an  herbalist and his daughter took the  student to their house and expertly treated him. The student recovered quickly due to their good care. When  the time came for him to leave, he found it hard to say goodbye to the pretty herbalists daughter, and so did she. They had fallen in love with each other. As a result, the girl wrote down half of a  couplet for the student: Green trees against the sky in the spring rain while the sky set off the spring trees in the obscuration. The student replied,  Well, I can make it, though it is not easy. But youll have to wait until I have finished the examination.  The young girl nodded. The young man ended up winning first place in the competition. The emperor recognized his prowess and asked him to finish part of a couplet. The emperor wrote: Red flowers dot the land in the breezes chase while the land colored up in red after the kiss. The young man realized immediately that the girls half  couplet was the perfect fit to the emperors couplet, so he used her words to answer. The emperor was delighted with this turn of events and appointed the young man as a minister of the court. But before the student began his new position, the emperor allowed him to pay a visit to his hometown. He ran into the young woman who gave  him the couplet and repeated the emperors words to her. The half couplets complemented each other, and they soon wed. During the ceremony, they doubled the Chinese character happy  on a red piece of paper and placed it on the wall to express their pleasure with the two events. Wrapping Up Ever since the couples wedding, the double happiness symbol has become a Chinese social custom.  It  can be found  all over  during Chinese weddings. It is also used for wedding invitations. In both contexts, it simply means that the new couple will now be united.

buy custom Information System essay

buy custom Information System essay We now focus on some of the common needs of the enterprise. For all enterprises, there will be a need for monitoring changes, which involves tracking, changes in businesses, people and industries. In the enterprise, there is a need to know about mergers, emerging risks, people moves, and opportunities and the need to build relationships with new prospects, key customers and business partners. There is a need to link with up with the right people, outlook for new business in any economy, collect intelligence, and measure performance. In addition to the above needs, there is also a need to ensure compliance and discover new opportunities from the fast-breaking trades. All these needs vary from one enterprise to the other depending on the size and nature of enterprise and in turn determine the development of information systems (Vasilecas, 2005, p 45). In the development of the information system, the system developers consider a few steps irrespective of the enterprise. The initial step is of the mission development, where missions give the overarching framework for the whole enterprise. The accomplishment of missions by enterprises is by functions and later on refined into database domains. The establishment of all business information systems and database within this enterprise framework makes it work. The second step is the database design, which is built within the enterprise architecture. The basis of database designs is on enterprise-wide data factors, data replicas of concepts, DMBS independent models, and lastly DBMS dependant models. This will ensure total metadata re-use, semantic harmonization, and data interoperability. The following step is prototype generation. Prototypes are usually set in the enterprise architecture and through the generation of these prototypes maximum eforts can be spent on getting a whole set of requirements. Following this step is the specification evolution stage, which is critical as it allows the full set of requirements to be teased out. By using the information system generators, the capability to progress from iteration to the other is straightforward, and one can achieve this in hours. Another major step in the development of the information system is the request for proposals. This refers to a formal specification of what the enterprise desires to implement. The document should have all the prototype and metadata described in the earlier stages (Giachetti, 2010, p.12). The document should show the evolution, methods of development, evaluation methods, and monitoring methods of the development of information systems. In the development of the information system, there is the proposal evaluation. This stage produces an understanding in regards to the implementation procedure, costs, schedules, reviews, and deliverables. The final stages involve the awarding of contracts, contractor management and conformance testing. So what is the later direction of the development of information systems? The future direction of the development of information systems in dependant on the progress of enterprises, their needs, and innovations in regards to elements of information systems. Different enterprises keep changing in terms of their needs as the enterprises grow and these will in turn affect the information system they use in running their businesses. For instance, a sole trader will change a company and will, therefore, have to change the information system it was using. This means that the future direction of development of information systems will grow to accommodate these changes and growing needs of the enterprises. With the growing industries, the enterprises havee many opportunities of expanding the growing demand from the market. In addition, the technology world is rapidly growing, and it is necessary that the enterprises change to contain this change. The software, hardware and other elements of the information system will change with time and the enterprise will need to update these changes in order to ensure efficiency of their services and products. The advancement of these elements of information systems will in turn lead to further development of information systems (Filipe and Cordeiro, 2011, p.63). In the above discussion, we have information on the definition of development of the information system in relation to enterprises. The paper made a research of the tools and methods applicable in the development of the system development, which includes methods and techniques. To understand the development of information systems, the paper gave more information on the types of enterprises and their needs. It is evident from the discussion that the needs of an enterprise vary from one enterprise to the other, which makes them need varied information systems. We have also analysed the steps system developers in the development of information systems. Information system as a field is a wide field, which keeps on growing and changing with time. The more the innovations the more the field of information systems keeps on changing. This makes the enterprises change their information systems with time to meet their growing needs and demands. For example, when a partnership business enterprise increases its number of key customers it will need to acquire new and better elements of information systems to contain the change. Each day researchers are coming up with better elements of information system that will suit the current environment that enterprises operate in and grow. Buy custom Information System essay

What Is Fiat Money

What Is Fiat Money Fiat money is a currency established as money by government law. The term is a derivation from a Latin word fiat (let it become) used in the sense of an order or decree. It differs from commodity money and representative money. Fiat money is a currency established as money by government law. The term a derivation from a Latin word fiat (let it become) used in the sense of an order or decree. It differs from commodity money and representative money. Commodity money is created from a good, often a precious metal such as gold or silver, which has uses other than as a medium of exchange, while representative money simply represents a claim on such a good. The simplest definition of fiat money is:  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Money that exists because a government says so. MONEY MAKES THE WORLD GO AROUND Historically, most money was based on some commodity such as gold, silver, or other important goods, and had a value which could be expressed in terms of some amount of that commodity. Fiat money, by comparison, has no intrinsic value; its value is based on faith in the issuing government. How Fiat Money Works Fiat money is essentially a form of credit. When a government declares a currency to be legal tender, that means it can be exchanged for goods or services equivalent to the value of the currency, and the credit comes in the form of the assurance to the seller of the goods or services that the currency can be exchanged for further goods or services. From a purely theoretical perspective, fiat money reverses the relationship of prices and currency value. With commodity-based currency, one unit of currency is equal to some quantity X of a backing commodity. The price of a cheeseburger (or other product or service) is an equivalent value of some quantity of the same commodity, expressed in terms of units of the currency: So in other words, $1 might be worth 1/1000 ounce of gold, and a cheeseburger – after the maker of the cheeseburger considers his costs to make it, the amount of profit he must make, and what he thinks his market will be willing to pay for it – might be worth 3/1000 of an ounce of gold, which makes the cheeseburger worth $3. The backing commodity is what actually serves as the money, with the coins or paper bills simply representing a sort of â€Å"IOU† for a particular amount of it. HOW TO SAVE MONEY IN COLLEGE? With fiat currency, there is no backing commodity to serve as a common frame of reference, so the value of the currency is expressed in terms of the goods and services purchased with it: This is fine, of course, as long as everyone agrees that the currency represents a certain value. When the cheeseburger maker is reasonably certain that the $3 he charges for it will cover the costs of its production plus provide him a profit, then $1 is worth one-third of a cheeseburger. In turn, his suppliers must be reasonably certain that what he pays for the bun, meat, cheese, condiments, and gas or electric needed to cook it will cover their costs plus a profit, and so on. If confidence in the assumed value of the currency is lost at some point in the whole complex value chain that exists between wheat seeds, cow embryos, and the customer standing at the fast-food counter, the fragile system begins to break down, which we usually experience as price inflation. Are There Any Advantages of Fiat Money? Fiat money is a Keynesian economic concept, so the debate among economists about whether or not it’s a good idea, unfortunately, has a distinctly unhelpful sectarian tone to it. From the purely Keynesian perspective, fiat money provides the government a means to control prices – and by extension, consumption and production – by controlling the money supply. The more money available, the less each unit of money is worth, so prices inflate; remove money from the system and the unit value decreases, thus deflating prices. This is the basic idea behind â€Å"quantitative easing†; the government prints more money to encourage lending by banks and spending by businesses and consumers. If done properly, injecting money into the financial system should hypothetically boost lending and spending enough to increase production, which compensates for the inflation in prices caused by the availability of more money. Commodity-backed currency, on the other hand, cannot be so easily managed because the amount of money is determined by the reserves of the backing commodity, usually gold, and by the price at which that commodity is being traded. Price inflation and deflation in a commodity-backed system are caused by fluctuations in the price of the commodity. For example, let’s say Country A has a reserve of one million ounces of gold and sets the value of its currency (the A$) at 1 A$ = 1/100 ounce of gold when the price of gold is 100 A$ per ounce. As the price of gold changes, the real value of the currency changes, resulting in inflation or deflation: The price of Gold Value of 1,000,000 oz. Gold Reserve Amount of Currency Value of 1 A$ Inflation/Deflation Rate 100 A$ 100 million A$ 100 million A$ 1 A$ +/- 0% 105 A$ 105 million A$ 100 million A$ 1.05 A$ -5% (deflation; 1.05 A$ worth of goods are worth only 1 A$) 98 A$ 98 million A$ 100 million A$ 0.98 A$ +2% (inflation; 1 A$ only buys 0.98 A$ worth of goods) The government can moderate inflation/deflation by either increasing or decreasing the money supply as needed to match the value of reserves, or by buying or selling the reserves themselves. Because of the value of commodities changes rather quickly, and because adjusting either the money supply or a number of reserves also affects the price of the commodity, managing prices in a commodity-backed currency system is much more difficult than it is in a fiat money system. The biggest problem with the Keynesian point of view towards fiat money is that the verdict of history is rather clear that fiat money systems are ultimately catastrophic. One of the earliest examples is the long collapse of Roman currency between 0 and 244 A.D., where â€Å"fiat money† took the form of progressively reduced proportions of silver in Roman denarii coins. In 11th-century China, a shortage of copper for coins led to the issuance of one of the world’s first paper currencies, which devalued quickly as more and more were issued (and in all likelihood, widely counterfeited). Three times in French history – after the death of Louis XIV in 1715, after the French Revolution in 1789, and during the Great Depression in the 1930’s – fiat currency was issued, rapidly over-supplied, and collapsed due to hyperinflation. Germany’s post-WW I Weimar Republic, the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997, Mexico’s â€Å"Tequila Hangover† in 1994, the severe devaluation of the Russian ruble in 1998, the Argentine financial crisis of 1999-2002, and the almost unfathomable hyperinflation in Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe are also examples of financial calamities brought on, one way or another, by the use of fiat money.

ITIL Release process documentation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

ITIL Release process documentation - Essay Example This process helps teams in responding to the irregularity of developing software (release). Notification sent to Release Manager: Information concerning events required conveyed to different users, such as beneficiaries, requesters, or managers. This information conveyed with the assistance of notification service of notification e-mail messages. Define and Priorities Release: The word release is applicable to illustrate a collection of approved changes to an IT system. It is described by the request for comments (RFCs) that it executes (UCISA 1-2). Releases need unique identification according to a system described in the release policy. The identification includes a reference to the change that it denotes and a version digit that will habitually have two or three sections. For instance, major releases: IT_System v.1, v2, v3, and minor releases: IT_System v.1.1, v.1.2, v.1.3 and emergency fix releases: IT_System v.1.1.1, v.1.1.2, v.1.1.3 (UCISA 1-2). Plan and Schedule Activities – Governance: The plan defines the scope and materials of the release, clients or users influenced by the release and risk evaluation and outline for the release. It also defines distribute and deployment approach, group responsible for the release and materials for the release and deployment (UCISA 1-2). Release team roles and responsibilities: The approach to effective team formation is creating harmony while appreciating the individuality capabilities of each team member. Team is accountable for a release; individuals are responsible for their commitments. Release core team consist of change owner, engineering manager, architect, quality assurance manager and program manager (UCISA 1-2). Document training, logistics and communication: Once the release and deployment strategy comprehended, the team develop the logistics and delivery strategies. The document for training, logistics and communication is created to generate harmony among team members. The logistics

What Is Globalisation and How Does It Affect the Multinational Essay - 1

What Is Globalisation and How Does It Affect the Multinational Enterprises - Essay Example This research will begin with the definition of globalization as the process through which isolated regions of the world become more integrated as a result of increased international cooperation in the exchange of knowledge, cultural values, political ideas, and economics. This process has largely been made possible by technology advances with special attention to the internet. Indeed, as the world has become more connected to the internet, people across the world have increasingly become interdependent in such activities as political policy, travel, communications, and trade However, while contemporary assumptions are that globalization is a fairly modern phenomenon as a result of ICT inventions, it has actually been taking place for hundreds of years. For instance, the Silk Road that spanned from East Asia into Europe is early evidence of international trade and cultural exchange, as is the invention of railroads and steamships. What has made globalization especially salient in the last one hundred years is that the invention of road vehicles and airplanes has dramatically eased international trade and exchange? Moreover, digital communication tools invented in the late 20th century have made globalization in the modern sense a reality. One organization that owes much of its success to globalization is Wal-Mart, which has been able to take advantage of cheaper imports, cheaper labor, and improved logistics and ICT capabilities in previously isolated regions like East Asia to gain a comparative advantage. The term globalization is derived from the verb â€Å"globalize† that encompasses the aspect of international influence and interdependence between diverse economic and social systems. The concept of globalization has several definitions and interpretations, which range from such diverse disciplines as anthropology, philosophy, sociology, and business. According to Dehesa, there are four fundamental aspects from a business perspective that define the c oncept, which are trade and transactions, movement and migration of people, investment and capital movements, and knowledge dissemination. Globalization, in essence, is a natural phenomenon that enables for synergy in both markets and cultures through the process of specialization.

Globalisation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Globalisation - Essay Example The opportunity hidden in globalisation has led to the development of globalisation. The first opportunity that globalisation provides us free trade facility and its resultant effect on the global economy (Milward, 2003, p.10). Free trade would lead to an increase in the trade which would increase the financial flows between various economies. Globalisation would result in an increase in free trade which would increase lateral financial flows and the redistributed capital would help to pull up the impoverished countries from their financial woes. The second opportunity provided by globalisation in development of a transnational framework which would help in the development of a smooth trade system. The origin of internationalisation of industry and commerce can derived from both macroeconomic approach and micro economic approach. The macro economics approach consists of expansion of firms' activities beyond the countries where they have their registered offices can be explained with the help of international division of labour theory and the huge circuits of capital. A micro economic approach deals with the theory of product life cycle and Dunning Eclectic Paradigm (Hansen, 2009, p.3). Nation’s now have less control over their individual industries and economies so the global network is assuming more control over the markets around the world. The global network must keep in mind the welfare of both the global community and the individual nations. Globalisation refers to the intensification of the relationship between various countries which has been set with the help of internationalisation. Foreign Direct Investment involves transfer of intangible or tangible assets from one country to another in order to generate wealth in that country through total or partial control over their assets (Sornarajah, 2010, p.8). Foreign Direct Investment is one of the key elements of the rapidly evolving international economy. This is also referred as globalisation. Fore ign Direct Investment helps to create a stable, long lasting and direct link between economies. Under a correct environmental policy the Foreign Direct Investment can serve as an important tool for the purpose of development of local enterprise. Foreign Direct Investment helps in economic development of the developing countries. The level of economic development is higher in the case of FDI than in licensing, franchising or exporting (Jones and Wren, 2006, p.9). Foreign Direct Investment infers when a group of companies or individuals of one country buy assets of another country (OECD, 2009, p.14). The acquisition of the assets happen when foreign companies or individuals to control the means of production as well as distribution. Example- a company in US can purchase a production facility in Australia. By acquiring the production facility in Australia, the corporation can control the entire production process from US. This would help to ensure the quality of the product. A foreign direct investor can have a varying amount of stake in the company invested by him. FDI indicates at least 10% ownership in a company which helps the investor to control the daily affairs of the company as compared to licensing, export and franchising where very control can be exerted (Cohen, 2007, p.38). Some countries have a cap on the equity investment in their country. FDI helps in generating economic growth for a country so it preferred over licensing, franchising and exporting (Neuhaus, 2006, p.42). People who buy stocks in the company own a part of the company and have the ability to control the affairs of the co

Mexico Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Mexico - Essay Example Mexico is situated at around 23 °N and 102 °W in the southern section of North America. The total area of Mexico covers around 1,972,550 square kilometers, where 1,923,040 square kilometers are covered by land and 49,510 square kilometers are covered by water. Northern Mexico is recognized to be dry as well as desert-like while the southern region of Mexico is covered by mountainous jungle. Moreover, Mexico is known as one of the major bio-diverse nations of the world. Mexico’s economy is recognized as the world’s thirteenth biggest economy which is almost the same size as Russia’s as well as South Korea’s economies. Moreover, Mexico is considered as a ‘free market’ economy which comprises a mix industry, services, as well as agriculture (Foreign & Commonwealth Office, â€Å"Mexico: Country Information†). Major Regions of Mexico Mexico consists of nine major topographic regions, these include the ‘Mexican Plateau’, the Gulf Coastal Plain, the Pacific Coastal Lowland, the Southern Highland, the Sierra Madre Occidental, Baja California, the Cordillera Neo-Volcanica, the Sierra Madre Oriental and the Yucatan Peninsula. Moreover, Mexico comprises a wide variety of geographical regions as well as climate variations. The 31 states including Mexico City run the gamut from high desert and scrubland to verdant tropical jungles and stunning sea-coast provinces (Foreign & Commonwealth Office, â€Å"Mexico: Country Information†). Central Mexico is mainly known as a volcanic plateau, which is enclosed by huge mountain ranges. The entire Mexico City is known as â€Å"Old Mexico† for its major agricultural activities which comprise small town and attractive colonial cities that have made Mexico a famous global heritage site. Southern Mexico is renowned as an ecotourism sanctuary which consists of sea coasts, jungles, marshes and mangrove forests that provide adventure as well as beautiful natural s ite for any tourist. Pacific coast is considered as the ‘jewel in Mexico’s crown’ which provides historic attraction such as Acapulco (Foreign & Commonwealth Office, â€Å"Mexico: Country Information†). Groups of People That Make up Mexico According to the present scenario, Mexican people are a blend of descendants from Spanish as well as other various immigrants. From 16th century onwards, people mainly from Europe had started to settle in Mexico and created Mestizos (a group mixed with European and indigenous ancestry). Religion of Mexico comprises 89% of Roman Catholic, 6% of Protestant and 5% inhabitants of other denominations (Foreign & Commonwealth Office, â€Å"Mexico: Country Information†). Languages Spoken in Mexico In Mexico, Spanish is considered as the official language. Moreover, there are around 62 native languages that are still spoken by one-third of the population. The Spanish language which is spoken by native Mexicans is quite dif ferent from the Castilian Spanish which is the original language of Spain (Foreign & Commonwealth Office, â€Å"Mexico: Country Information†). Five Most Popular Dishes in Mexico ‘Cabrito’ is a very famous and traditional dish of Mexico. This dish is prepared with baked baby goat which is gradually cooked over ‘mesquite coals’ which comprise several of Mexican herbs and spices (All about Mexico, â€Å"Culinary†). Another popular dish is ‘

British Industrialization Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

British Industrialization - Essay Example Historians have pointed in great detail the changes which occurred in the heights of British population since the 1800s to the improvement in the standard of living of the whole population and groups within it. This is mainly because welfare of the population reflected the ability to produce both agricultural goods on which it can feed and the industrial goods and services which it can sell. Between 1750 and 1850, the population of England and Wales virtually trebled, rising from about 6.5 to about 18 million as the population rose at the rate of 10 percent each decade. (Hall et al., 133) Another result of industrialization which worked in tandem with population growth was the growth of cities. In 1750, there were only two cities in Britain with a population of over 50,000 inhabitants – London and Edinburgh - but by 1801 there would be eight of such cities and by 1851, twenty-nine. (Hall et al. 1996, 133) People, especially disposed agricultural workers, naturally trooped to the cities with its increased opportunities for work. In slightly over one hundred years, the urbanism moved through a cycle of expansion, restructuring and decline, driven by shifts in the capitalist economy and by changing sources of power. Large-scale industry moved along with steam engines into an array of British cities. Manufacturing cities first reaped the benefits of industrial growth because they captured a major share of capital investment. Monumental factories sprang up everywhere to house the huge stationary engines and machines. The new urban working class was relegated to the role of machine minders. Cities were bursting to the seams. For instance, the population in Liverpool reached a density of 3000 people per hectare – people lived anywhere they could, even cellars were packed full. (Girardet & N’Dow, 50) With this kind of urban development came some consequences as

Mexico Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Mexico - Essay Example Mexico is situated at around 23 °N and 102 °W in the southern section of North America. The total area of Mexico covers around 1,972,550 square kilometers, where 1,923,040 square kilometers are covered by land and 49,510 square kilometers are covered by water. Northern Mexico is recognized to be dry as well as desert-like while the southern region of Mexico is covered by mountainous jungle. Moreover, Mexico is known as one of the major bio-diverse nations of the world. Mexico’s economy is recognized as the world’s thirteenth biggest economy which is almost the same size as Russia’s as well as South Korea’s economies. Moreover, Mexico is considered as a ‘free market’ economy which comprises a mix industry, services, as well as agriculture (Foreign & Commonwealth Office, â€Å"Mexico: Country Information†). Major Regions of Mexico Mexico consists of nine major topographic regions, these include the ‘Mexican Plateau’, the Gulf Coastal Plain, the Pacific Coastal Lowland, the Southern Highland, the Sierra Madre Occidental, Baja California, the Cordillera Neo-Volcanica, the Sierra Madre Oriental and the Yucatan Peninsula. Moreover, Mexico comprises a wide variety of geographical regions as well as climate variations. The 31 states including Mexico City run the gamut from high desert and scrubland to verdant tropical jungles and stunning sea-coast provinces (Foreign & Commonwealth Office, â€Å"Mexico: Country Information†). Central Mexico is mainly known as a volcanic plateau, which is enclosed by huge mountain ranges. The entire Mexico City is known as â€Å"Old Mexico† for its major agricultural activities which comprise small town and attractive colonial cities that have made Mexico a famous global heritage site. Southern Mexico is renowned as an ecotourism sanctuary which consists of sea coasts, jungles, marshes and mangrove forests that provide adventure as well as beautiful natural s ite for any tourist. Pacific coast is considered as the ‘jewel in Mexico’s crown’ which provides historic attraction such as Acapulco (Foreign & Commonwealth Office, â€Å"Mexico: Country Information†). Groups of People That Make up Mexico According to the present scenario, Mexican people are a blend of descendants from Spanish as well as other various immigrants. From 16th century onwards, people mainly from Europe had started to settle in Mexico and created Mestizos (a group mixed with European and indigenous ancestry). Religion of Mexico comprises 89% of Roman Catholic, 6% of Protestant and 5% inhabitants of other denominations (Foreign & Commonwealth Office, â€Å"Mexico: Country Information†). Languages Spoken in Mexico In Mexico, Spanish is considered as the official language. Moreover, there are around 62 native languages that are still spoken by one-third of the population. The Spanish language which is spoken by native Mexicans is quite dif ferent from the Castilian Spanish which is the original language of Spain (Foreign & Commonwealth Office, â€Å"Mexico: Country Information†). Five Most Popular Dishes in Mexico ‘Cabrito’ is a very famous and traditional dish of Mexico. This dish is prepared with baked baby goat which is gradually cooked over ‘mesquite coals’ which comprise several of Mexican herbs and spices (All about Mexico, â€Å"Culinary†). Another popular dish is ‘

Critically analyse the midwives role in relation to the administration Essay - 1

Critically analyse the midwives role in relation to the administration of epidural anaesthesia - Essay Example (2004), the concentration of the anaesthetic that is used to prevent or block the propagation of the stimuli from the uterus and birth canal vary from one case to the other.Higher doses are used when the mobility of the stimuli is to be fully blocked. Despite the advantages of this technique that has been commonly used during labour, it is also associated with some problems. Some of the known problems include shivering, fever, cardiovascular depression as well as retention of urine in the patients’ bladder. The anaesthetic can be administered through a bolus, continuous infusion or through PCP.PCP refers to the use of a patent controlled pump. According to Benfield (2002), the last ten years, about 24 % of women have used epidural analgesia during labour in the United Kingdom. In addition to this, about 60 % of those women who underwent assistive delivery also used this technique. Midwives do play an important role during the administration of epidural analgesia. Most of the roles are focused on monitoring the women to ensure their overall well being. The NICE guidelines lay out the duties and responsibilities of the midwives during the administration of epidural analgesia. The midwives work in collaboration with obstetricians and anaesthetist in the maternity clinics. All these three professionals have their specific duties that are concisely and clearly laid down in the NNC guidelines (Nursing & Midwifery Council 2014). The midwife, just like the other professionals always follows these guidelines when caring for the pregnant women in labour who are being given epidural analgesia as a way of relieving the pain that resu lt from the contraction of the birth canal and the uterus. The midwife, working with the obstetrician and anaesthetist may consider epidural analgesia for the expectant women for several reasons. Some of the reasons why this can be done include maternal request, prolonged and painful labour, multiple pregnancy and anticipated instrumental

Time in The Two Poems Essay Example for Free

Time in The Two Poems Essay The titles of these poems alone suggest there will be a theme of time in them; The title Days speaks for itself as days are a way of measuring time, Toads Revisited however is much more subtle but the notion of revisiting, indirectly tells us that he is going somewhere or doing something that he has done before in his lifetime. Days is a poem about Larkins views on death and how our approach on the subject can alter the way we live. Larkin begins his first stanza with the rhetorical question of What are days for?, though this is a question similar to the biggest question of all time What is the meaning of life? Larkin answers it with a simple monosyllabic response, Days are where we live. For such a broad and open question this is a very closed, unrefined answer. This could be a reflection of Larkins view on the meaning of life, that he feels it is not important to search for a complex answer. I get the impression that Larkin is tired of life and its repetitive structure, They come they wake us, time and time over this is shown by his impassionate language and monosyllabic style. Its seems as if he feels time is passing too slowly. Toads Revisited unlike Days is the second poem out of two, the first being similar in subject but written 10 years before when Larkin was at a different stage in his life. Toads Revisited is written in a much more day to day fashion where as Days is written on a more general topic. Toads Revisited is about Larkins distaste for work and his realisation that without it his life would be empty. He looks at the way in which people without jobs spend their time. He comes to the conclusion that without his job he would have too much time and he would become bored. When referring to the unemployed he says think of being them! Hearing the hours chime Toads Revisited is set in 9 stanzas all with four lines each, this repetitive structure is used by Larkin to reflect the content of the stanzas (the dull life of unemployment. ) Towards the end of the poem Larkins words become less monosyllabic which reflects the way he feels about employment, (that is is duller to be unemployed than employed because at least job fills- like syllables!) Days is set in just two stanzas which like its monosyllabic style reflects the simplicity of the message Larkin is sending out in this poem. The second stanza of Days is a response to the second question Larkin asks in stanza one Where can we live but days? in response to this Larkin does not answer but concludes that to tackle such a question will sooner kill you than lead you to an answer, solving that question brings the priest and the doctor in their long coats. This is a sinister image that personifies death. The last two stanzas of Toads revisited show Larkins acceptance of work but not in a way that he embraces the idea of work with love and passion, but that he has not alternatives What else can I answer. Like the poem Days Toads Revisited also end on a sombre note about death, give me your arm, old toad; Help me down Cemetery road, again here death has been personified in the eerie form of a toad. Both these poems send out the message that death is ominous and inevitable.

Management of Supply Chains Article Review

Management of Supply Chains Article Review INTRODUCTION This paper critically reviews the journal article titled as â€Å"performance management in supply chains: logistics service providers’ perspective† which published in international journal of physical distribution logistics management. Critical review is done using bullet point approach with respect to following chapters. Introduction Literature review Methodology Analysis and discussion Conclusion, contributions, limitations and future research References Introduction Chapter Research is constructed by incorporating Performance management concepts into Supply chain management process. This study published in International Journal of Physical Distribution Logistics Management Journal Vol. 42 No. 3 in the year 2012. This study was forwarded for publication in March 2011 but it was revised 4 times and finally accepted in November 2011. Latest literatures are used to construct this study. However, most interesting thing is author used her previous 5 studies (Forslund and Jonsson, 2007; Forslund et al., 2009; Forslund and Jonsson, 2009; Forslund, 2010; Forslund and Jonsson, 2010) in to this research to develop most of the concepts. As a result, certain justifications behind choosing certain concepts are not given (conflict of interest) that is also highlighted in following sections. Author primarily used the literature related to supply chain management highlighting its process and importance to increase the weight of this study. Author largely used the term logistics service providers (LSPs) and their contribution towards this supply chain management process such as transportation and warehousing, and supplementary services (ex, order administration and track-and-trace services). After highlighting the nature of LSPs operation, author brought performance management concept to evaluate the Logistics performance in supply chains, such as lead-time, flexibility and on-time delivery. Author clearly highlighted the necessity of performance management to improve the logistic performance, which ultimately encouraged author to conduct this study. After credibly constructing the concept and research gap, the study poses the following research questions: RQ1. How are LSPs handling the performance management process? RQ2.With what scope of the supply chain do LSPs handle the performance management process? Author identified the research gap by claiming that study related to performance measurement in supply chain from the perspective of LSPs is scarce even though studies related to perspective of customer and supplier are done in different aspect. Due to this scarcity, author formulated an additional research question: RQ3. Which obstacles for supply chain performance management are perceived by LSPs? To find answers for all above three research questions, author formulated the aim as â€Å"to explore the handling of the performance management process and its obstacles from the perspective of LSPs†. Author used clear title for this article to communicate readers to what this article about. Hypothesis were not created in this article, instead formulated three research questions to give clear direction towards achieving research aim. If hypothesis were created for formulated three research questions, which would have made the researcher and reader more curious about the research result. Due to exploratory nature of research questions, author wisely chose and adopted following philosophies and research paradigms in to this study, which however not directly mentioned in this journal article. Research Type: Descriptive Role of theory in research: Inductive Epistemological orientation: Interpretivism Ontological orientation: Constructionism This paper mainly focuses on the LSPs’ key account customers and on their most important service (road freight). Overall, sufficient background knowledge is given with proper content. Study makes descriptions from the perspective of LSPs with the encouragement of studies made from customer perspective by Hertz and Alfredsson (2003) and Maloni and Carter (2006). Even though, author claimed that plenty of studies are been conducted from the perspective of supplier and customer, references of such studies are not highlighted in this study. Literature Review Chapter Literature review mainly provided the understanding of concepts such as Performance management, Supply chain management, Logistics service providers and Obstacles. Author properly constructed the concept by highlighting positive and negative findings of previous studies. The term â€Å"LSP† is used throughout this study without a validation, although several synonyms are available for this term such as carriers, forwarding companies, transportation companies, third-party logistics providers and logistics service companies. This research mainly used performance management process model suggested by Forslund and Jonsson (2007) which consists 5 steps such as selecting performance variables, defining metrics, setting targets, measuring and analysing. The literature on Performance management (Kaplan and Norten, 1992; Otley, 1999; Epstein et al., 2000; Ittner and Larcker, 2001) offers various modern integrated models to measure the performance of the organisations, which include Balanced Scorecard (BSC), Business Excellence Model (BEM), Key Performance Indicators (KPI) and Capability Maturity Model (CMM), which are failed to highlight in this study. Moreover, being an author of both this study and as well as in performance management model of Forslund and Jonsson (2007), sufficient justification is required behind choosing this model in this study which creates the situation of conflict of interest. Most of the logistic performance variables are identified from the study solely based on Wilding and Juriado (2004). However, author used multiples studies to support remaining steps of performance management process model. After bringing performance management literature, study shifted the focus to supply chain and highlighted the importance of incorporating performance management model into broad supply chain scope by bringing stacks of previous studies such as (Brewer and Speh, 2001; Busi and Bititci, 2006; Morgan, 2007; Forslund and Jonsson, 2007). Author managed to find out the various obstacles to use performance management model in supply chain with extensive literature. Obstacles such as the lack of understanding, competence and knowledge, difficulties in dealing with performance outside one’s own areas of responsibility, difficulties in developing a collaborative culture with supply chain partners, and lack of trust, conflicting priorities and targets are mainly discovered. Methodology Chapter When considering the research aim and the nature of this research, it is obvious that this study needs careful observation of human interactions and behaviours. According to Smith et al. (2002), ‘Interpretivism’ is one of the philosophies where the reality is determined by people rather than by objective and external factors. Therefore, interpretivism research philosophy is adapted in this research. However, such justification is not mentioned in this research. As per author, â€Å"case study approach† is selected under qualitative method due to high availability of survey based LSP research which justification is not convincing enough on choosing the research approach. Yin (1994) states case study research is useful when, a ‘how’ or ‘why’ questions are being posed, when the investigator has little control over events and when the focus is on a existing event within a real life context. Hence, highlighting such literature behind choosing case study approach would have provided ideal justification. As per Transport Intelligence (2009), mainly three cases (logistic organisations) are selected from Sweden due to their high domination in Swedish LSP market. Three cases are named as LSP1, LSP2 and LSP3 and below table shows the glance of interview respondents. Empirical data collections are carried out through structured interview guide with open-ended questions, which strengthened the construct validity of the study. Mainly Telephone calls of 1 hour to 2 hours and email modes are used to conduct interviews due to high restriction of getting appointments and have meetings with senior level managers. Among three cases, author managed only in LSP 3 to interview respondents who directly deal with performance management process. LSP 2 and LSP1 respondents were partially involved with performance management process due to their different functional activity. Due to high access in LSP 3 organisation, author managed to interview 4 respondents where in other two organisations (LSP 1 and LSP 2), only two respondents were interviewed which resulted high information inflow only from LSP3 that created some biased situation. The structured interview guide eases to develop interview transcript and coding. Hence, cross case comparisons and pattern matching are used as analysis methods. In the methodology, author could have defined and maintained the same number of respondents from selected cases with similar designations to interview and collect data, which could have improved content validity. Analysis and Discussion Chapter With cross-case analysis, author managed to discover how LSPs handling the performance management process. Mainly process such as selecting performance variables, defining metrics and capturing real time data shows plenty of similarities among selected cases that support that performance management process is existed in LSP arena. However, some differences are also found in performance management step such as target setting, measuring, report making and analysing. By highlighting these, author could have emphasised more on the requirement of structured model to maintain the uniformity among LSPs to yield the benefits of performance management that might have added more weight in to this study. The study reveals that having a broad supply chain scope, which is sharing performance related activities among the partners (Suppliers, LSPs and customers) that has the best capabilities of improving efficiency in supply chains. Author identified obstacles such as lack of understanding and knowledge; poor capabilities for incorporating performance metric norms and lack of IT solutions for performance report creation, which are preventing to incorporate performance management in supply chain. The findings are steadily answered the established three research questions that have the proper flow and it supports each other too. Conclusion, Contributions, Limitations Future Research Chapter The author has successfully achieved the research aim through literature and empirical data that is to explore the performance management process and the obstacles for performance management in supply chains from LSPs’ perspective. However, establishing RQ2 that is to find out what scope of the supply chain do LSPs handle the performance management process, which seems bit irrelevant to the research aim. Hence, author could have omitted this and pay more attention on other two questions. In terms of research implication, study mainly contributes to performance management theory from two aspects that are by bringing exploratory knowledge of performance management into supply chain process and its difficulty of usage from the perspective of LSPs. Author acknowledged that due to exploratory nature of this study, prevented the possibility of generalising the findings outside the sample and whatever findings are revealed in the study that certainly can be applied in above three organisations. However, if author conducted a pilot survey prior to case study in Swedish LSPs to check the familiarisation on performance management process in supply chain, this could have generalised at least within Sweden. Author recommended further research on performance management in supply chain from customer perspective. However, further it can be extended to the perspective of other business micro environment such as supplier, employee, competitors, shareholders and media) References Chapter Harvard reference system is used throughout this research. Consistency of the research is presented especially in citations. Author captured most of the references from reliable source like Journal Articles, which correctly presented in bibliography section. Using plenty of author’s previous studies in to this research creating biased situation. __________________________________________________________ Word count: 1889 words REFERENCES Brewer, P. C. and Speh, T. W., 2001. Adapting the balanced scorecard to supply chain management. Supply chain management review, March/April, 48-56. Busi, M. and Bititci, U., 2006. Collaborative performance management: present gaps and future research. International journal of productivity and performance management, 55 (1), 7-25. Epstein, M., Kumar, P. and Westbrook, R., 2000. The drivers of customer and corporate profitability: modelling, measuring and managing the causal relationships. Advances in management accounting, 9 (1), 43-72. Forslund, H. and Jonsson, P., 2007. Dyadic integration of the performance management process: a delivery service case study. International journal of physical distribution logistics management, 37 (7), 546-567. Forslund, H. and Jonsson, P., 2009. Obstacles to supply chain integration of the performance management process in customer-supplier dyads: the buyers’ perspective. Journal of operations production management, 29 (1), 77-95. Forslund, H. and Jonsson, P., 2010. Integrating the performance management process of on-time delivery with suppliers. International Journal of Logistics: Research and Applications, 13 (3), 225-251. Forslund, H., 2010. ERP systems’ capabilities for supply chain performance management. Industrial management data systems, 110 (3), 351-367. Forslund, H., Jonsson, P. and Mattsson, S. A., 2009. An order-to-delivery process performance model for delivery scheduling environments. International journal of productivity and performance management, 58 (1), 41-53. Hertz, S. and Alfredsson, M., 2003. Strategic development of third party logistics providers. Industrial marketing management, 32 (1), 139-149. Ittner, C. and Larcker, D., 2001. Assessing empirical research in management accounting: A value-based management approach. Journal of accounting and economics, 1 (32), 349-410. Kaplan, R. S. and Norton, D. P., 1992. The balanced scorecard- measures that drive performance. Harvard business review, 70 (1), 71-79. Maloni, H.J. and Carter, C.R., 2006. Opportunities for research in third-party logistics. Transportation journal, Spring, 23-38. Morgan, C., 2007. Supply network performance measurement: future challenges?. International journal of logistics management, 18 (2), 255-273. Otley, D., 1999. Performance management: a framework for management controls systems research. Management accounting research, 10 (4), 363-382. Smith, M. E., Thorpe, R. and Lowe, A., 2002. Management research: an introduction. London: Sage publications. Wilding, R. and Juriado, R., 2004. Customer perceptions on logistics outsourcing in the European consumer goods industry. International journal of physical distribution logistics management, 34 (8), 628-644. Yin, R. K., 1994. Case study research: design and methods. 2nd ed. New York: Sage publications. Prepared by Mohamed Aashik 1

Palace of Industry in Paris France Essay -- Architecture History

missing images Paris 1855: The Universal Exposition Interior and Exterior of the Palace of Industry These selected images, an exterior view of the Palace of Industry and a view of the interior of the palace during the distribution of awards, are both detailed views from which much can be observed. Since both images are illustrations, as opposed to photographs, they may not be entirely accurate. The image of the interior is a lithograph, which is approximately thirty-five inches by fifteen inches. Because of the medium employed, the details of the image are not very sharp, but many details are included. Emperor Napoleon III can be seen handing out the awards, and his empress is seen seated behind him. The other image appears to have been taken from a French newspaper article. Today, the actual paper is very old, as can be evidenced by the large tear in the middle of the picture and its worn edges. The actual size of the illustration is about fifteen inches long and eight inches wide. Most significant about the Palace of Industry are its historical precedents, the evolution of its de sign, its successes and failures, and finally its role at the fair. After London hosted the first international exposition in 1851, Napoleon III realized that France needed to seize back the initiative. The motive given for the 1855 Paris exposition was to celebrate forty years of peace in Europe since Waterloo (Findling, pp. 16-17). A hidden agenda, however, was the competition among the major European nations, to establish their industrial and artistic supremacy. Napoleon III decided that France needed a spectacular structure "based on the plan of the Crystal Palace of London" (Lavedan, p. 228). Therefore, in 1852, France held a competition fo... ...e success of the Palace of Industry, it did nothing to promote the careers of either Viel or Barrault. Regardless, the Palace of Industry was an influential step in the integration of this revolutionary material, iron, with traditional architecture. Bibliography Findling, John E. Historical Dictionary of World's Fairs and Expositions 1851-1988. New York City: Greenwood Press, 1990. Lavedan, Pierre. French Architecture. London: Scholar Press, 1956. Mignot, Claude. Architecture of the Nineteenth Century in Europe. New YorkCity: Rizzoli International Publications Inc.,1984. Hautecoeur, Louis. Histoire de l'architecture classique en France. v. 7. Paris: Rue Bonaparte, 1943. Steiner, Frances H. French Iron Architecture. Ann Arbor, Michigan: UMI Research Press, 1984. Tachà ©, J. C. Canada at the Universal Exhibition of 1855. Toronto: Yonge Street, 1856.

Food Cart Businesses Management Practices Essay

A. Environment * Linis Ofis Program Translated as â€Å"clean office†, this internal program is an integrated approach to solid waste management in support of the Philippine Government’s Ecological Solid Waste Management Act (RA 9003). It deals with waste segregation by instilling in SMC employees the 4R discipline – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Recover. It aims to educate its workers to value their environment by practicing segregation, collection, reuse and recycling of disposable waste in the workplace. SMC’s Head Office Complex located in the Ortigas Center hub provided three waste receptacles placed in strategic spots for food scraps or compostable waste, recyclable items (such as plastic bottles and aluminum cans), and nonrecyclable items or disposable waste (such as plastic and tetra-pak containers). This is also being implemented in SMC’s other facilities nationwide. A separate chest of drawers is provided in each department for solid waste with market value, such as used bond p aper, magazines, newspapers and empty ink cartridges. The program generated P26,000 from the sale of recyclable materials on its first month, and an average of P12,000 per month. It has also helped in reducing the amount of solid waste, which normally finds its way to landfills and dumpsites, and easing up on manpower in the collection of waste. * Task Force Hangin Task Force Hangin is responsible for helping plants comply with the Clean Air Act. The word â€Å"hangin† means â€Å"air†. The Task Force is composed of representatives from CTS-EMG, CTS-Engineering, Corporate Planning and Development, and Corporate Purchasing Unit. It is tasked to pinpoint the best available fuel and control technology for the plants’ fuel burning equipment. It conducted numerous studies and came up with recommendations to utilize low sulfur fuel oil (LSFO) and scrubbers as the most effi cient options for solving the problem, and maintain the level of sulfur content in its fuel to about 0.7%S. It also studied the range of fuel cost that determines when LSFO fuel is advantageous to use versus scrubbers, and when a plant needs to shift from LSFO to scrubbers. The study enabled the Task Force to guide the plants in their compliance efforts. All SMC-owned plants are expected to institute the necessary actions congruent with the Clean Air Act. The u se of electric heaters at the Mandaue Glass Plant’s furnace reduced the consumption of bunker fuel oil and the generation of combustion flue gas. B. Human Resources * Benefits Program Employee Protection – Employees are entitled to sick leave benefi ts that will provide fi nancial security even if they have lost the ability to earn in times of sickness or injury. Time Off With Pay – Employees are also entitled to leave benefi ts that will allow for the continuity of their wage earnings even if they are on vacation or have to attend to emergency matters requiring their presence. Health Care – The Corporation provides a comprehensive medical program for employees and their dependents to protect them against the financial burden that comes with illness or injury. Flexible Loan Facilities – The Corporation offers an interestfree loan facility that is tailored to address the various fi nancial needs of the employees. Its fl exibility lies in the loan purpose, amount, and guidelines. Educational Program – This helps meet the fi nancial requirements of employees who desire to pursue further studies. It includes loan facilities for the educational needs of employees’ dependents. Rice and Clothing Allowances – The Corporation provides a monthly sack of rice to each rank-and-fi le employee. Employees also receive a clothing allowance for their proper work attire. Insurance and Death Benefits – Financial assistance is extended to the bereaved family to help defray expenses incurred as a result of the demise of the employee or an immediate family member of an employee. * Employee Relations Sports and Recreation – The program aims to nurture camaraderie and unity among the employees through various sports activities, such as basketball, bowling, aerobics, street dancing, gym workout sessions, volleyball, etc. The Corporation tries to meet the employees’ varied sports preferences. There are also interest clubs being formed for enthusiasts of golf, running, taekwondo, etc. Summer Outing – The Corporation provides a yearly venue for employees and management of each division to interact with one another’s families in an informal environment marked by fun and games. Songfest – This is an annual nationwide search for employees who have exceptional talent for singing, a common trait among Filipinos. Employee Service Awards – The annual recognition program honors employees for their years of service to the Corporation. Baratillo – The monthly event allows employees to purchase various San Miguel products at discounted prices. The venue is the Head Office Complex, and employees from other SMC units and offices come to take advantage of the reasonable offers. Christmas Tiangge – Employees are given the opportunity to develop their entrepreneurial spirit by selling various products during the two-day event. It is held regularly at the Head Office Complex in November before the onset of the Christmas season to allow employees and their families and friends to purchase their Christmas presents early. C. Customer Relations, Productivity and Quality * Customer Care Center By setting up this Center, SMC re-affirms its responsibility to its customers. Advancements in information technology make it possible for the Corporation to establish a more personal communication link with its customers. The integrated SMC Customer Care Center provides alternative channels for easy access and fast response to varying types of customer needs and requests. The Center supports SMC’s businesses in strengthening customer relations, and indirectly market share as well. It is manned by a professional staff using superior technology and employing innovative solutions to ensure customer satisfaction and capture product loyalty. Walk-in customers who may prefer face-to-face interaction feel welcome amidst the Center’s warm atmosphere. The Center’s call handling services take care of both inbound and outbound calls, providing information on the quality, pricing, distribution and availability of a product or service, while operating as a call center. It also handles order taking, telemarketing, sales campaign, promotion of new products, and customer satisfaction surveys. Electronic customer linkages come through e-mail, faxes and SMS (short message services). The Center’s integrated setup makes it easy for SMC’s operating divisions to link up with it for their customer and product concerns. D. Corporate Governance * Compliance System In adherence to corporate principles and best practices, the Chairman of the Board designated a Compliance Officer reporting directly to him. As the position denotes, he is responsible for seeing to it that the organization complies with the provisions in the manual. The Board of Directors is responsible for the long-term success of the Corporation and its sustained competitiveness, consistent with its trusted role exercised in the best interest of the Corporation, its shareholders and other stakeholders. Forming working committees within the Board fosters open discussion, keeping Board members informed, and allowing them to become more sensitive to shareholders’ interests. * Disclosure System All material information are publicly disclosed. These include earning results, Board changes, and shareholdings of directors. The Corporation established an Investor Relations Unit to disseminate timely information to shareholders. SMC practices consistency, accuracy and timeliness in the delivery and communication of information and data. The Unit coordinates with the Compliance Officer and other SMC divisions in effectively communicating with stakeholders. * Monitoring and Assessment Each committee reports to the Board of Directors. The Compliance Officer established an evaluation system to determine and measure compliance against the manual’s guidelines.

Mkt 421 Final Exam

1) According to the text, marketing means: A. Selling. B. Much more than selling and advertising. C. Producing and selling. D. Advertising. 2) For Tesla, a new firm that makes an electric sports car, estimating how many competitors will make electric vehicles and what kinds they will make, is: A. A production activity. B. One of the universal functions of innovation. C. An example of the micro-macro dilemma. D. A part of marketing. 3) Which of the following statements best describes the modern view of marketing? A. Marketing should take over production, accounting, and financial services within a firm.B. The job of marketing is to get rid of whatever the company is producing. C. Marketing is concerned with generating a single exchange between a firm and a customer. D. Marketing begins with anticipating potential customer needs. 4) Professional Dental Supply has been successfully selling dental instruments to dentists for the past 20 years, and has developed strong customer relations. When looking for new marketing opportunities, Professional Dental Supply will most likely look first at A. Market development. B. Diversification. C. Product development. D. Market penetration. ) To compete more successfully with its many competitors offering packaged cookies, Famous Amos added its own line of extra chunky premium cookies. This seems to be an effort at: A. Market development. B. Market penetration. C. Product development. D. Combination. 6) Which of the following statements regarding marketing strategies is FALSE? A. Developing successful marketing strategies does not need to be a hit-or-miss proposition. B. These strategies must meet the needs of target customers, and a firm is likely to get a competitive advantage if it just meets needs in the same way as some other firm. C.These strategies require decisions about the specific customers the firm will target and the marketing mix the firm will develop to appeal to that target market. D. It is useful to think of th e marketing strategy planning process as a narrowing-down process. 7) A firm's marketing mix decision areas would NOT include: A. Price B. People C. Product D. Promotion 8) Which of the following is true? A. The product P in the marketing mix stands for only tangible merchandise. B. The product P in the marketing mix stands for both physical goods and services. C. The product P in the marketing mix stands for both physical goods and tangible D.The product P in the marketing mix stands for only physical goods. 9) Product is NOT concerned with: A. Wholesale price. B. Branding. C. Packaging. D. Quality level. 10) Dell, Inc. wants to offer customers televisions in addition to computers. This is a change in their _____________________ A. personnel. B. promotional. C. product. D. pricing. 11) Hewlett-Packard sells personal computers through specialty computer stores, electronics superstores, and its own Internet site. The marketing mix variable that is being considered here is: A. Product . B. Placement. C. Promotional. D. Pricing. 2) The ______ area of the marketing mix is concerned with decisions about getting the right product to the target market when and where it is wanted. A. Promotion B. Place C. People D. Product 13) The main difference between a marketing strategy and a marketing plan is that: A. A marketing strategy provides more detail. B. A marketing strategy omits pricing plans. C. A marketing plan includes several marketing strategies. D. Time-related details are included in a marketing plan. 14) A marketing plan is: A. A marketing strategy—plus the time-related details for carrying it out. B. A target market and a related marketing mix.C. A marketing strategy. D. A marketing program. 15) Which of the following is part of a complete marketing plan? A. Competitors' marketing strategies. B. What company resources (costs) are required and at what rate. C. How different marketing mixes (for different target markets) relate to each other. D. All of th ese. 16) Marketing strategy planners should recognize that: A. Large firms like General Electric, Target, and Procter & Gamble are too large to aim at clearly defined markets. B. Target marketing is not limited to small market segments. C. Mass marketing is often very effective and desirable. D.Target markets should not be large and spread out. 17) Target marketing, in contrast to mass marketing, A. Ignores markets that are large and spread out. B. Focuses on fairly homogeneous market segments. C. Assumes that all customers are basically the same. D. Is limited to small market segments. 18) Good marketing strategy planners know that: A. Mass marketing is often very desirable and effective. B. The terms mass marketing and mass marketer mean basically the same thing. C. Target marketing does not limit one to small market segments. D. Firms like Nabisco and WalMart are too large to aim at clearly defined target markets. 9) ______________ is the process of naming broad product-markets a nd then segmenting these broad product-markets in order to select target markets and develop suitable marketing mixes. A. Mass marketing B. Market positioning C. Diversification D. Market segmentation 20) Clustering techniques applied to segmenting markets A. Usually require computers to group people based on data from market research. B. Remove the need for managerial judgment. C. Eliminate the need for marketing managers to specify in advance what dimensions might be relevant for grouping consumers. D. All of the above are true. 1) The process of naming broad product-markets and then segmenting them in order to select target markets and develop suitable marketing mixes is called: A. Market development. B. Market penetration. C. Market research. D. Market segmentation. 22) Procedures that develop and analyze new information to help marketing managers make decisions are called: A. Analytical research. B. Strategy planning. C. Marketing research. D. Operational planning. 23) ________ ________ ________________ utilizes qualitative and quantitative analysis procedures to help marketing managers make more informed decisions. A. Marketing structure.B. Marketing planning. C. Marketing research. D. Marketing processing. 24) A ______________ is an organized way of continually gathering and analyzing data to get information to help marketing managers make ongoing decisions. A. Marketing research project B. Marketing information system C. Marketing research department D. Marketing model 25) Marketing research which seeks structured responses that can be summarized is called: A. Qualitative research. B. Focus group research. C. Situation analysis research. D. Quantitative research. 26) One of the major disadvantages of the focus group interview approach is hat A. It is difficult to get in-depth information about the research topic. B. It is difficult to measure the results objectively. C. There is no interviewer, so the research questions may not be answered. D. Ideas gen erated by the group cannot be tested later with other research. 27) Focus groups: A. Always do a good job of representing the broader target market. B. Yield results that are largely dependent on the viewpoint of the researcher. C. Are expensive compared to other marketing research methods. D. Are usually composed of 10 to 15 people as participants. 28) The observing method in marketing research:A. Is used to gather data without consumers being influenced by the process. B. May require customers to change their normal shopping behavior. C. Is not suitable for obtaining primary data. D. Uses personal interviews. 29) The attitudes and behavior patterns of people are part of the A. Competitive environment. B. Social and cultural environment. C. Firm's resources and objectives. D. Political environment. 30) Which of the following statements about consumer products is true? A. Specialty products are those that customers usually are least willing to search for. B.Shopping products are tho se products for which customers usually want to use routinized buying behavior. C. Unsought products are not shopped for at all. D. Convenience products are those that customers want to buy at the lowest possible price. 31) ______________ is the process of naming broad product-markets and then segmenting these broad product-markets in order to select target markets and develop suitable marketing mixes. A. Mass marketing B. Strategic planning C. Market positioning D. Market segmentation 32) Which is the first step in market segmentation? A. Naming a broad product-market of interest to the firm.B. Evaluating market segments to determine if they are large enough. C. Finding one or two demographic characteristics to divide up the whole mass market. D. Clustering people with similar needs into a market segment. 33) The first step in market segmentation should be: A. Finding a demographic group likely to use your products. B. Defining some broad product-markets where you may be able to op erate profitably. C. Deciding what new product you could develop. D. Evaluating what segment(s) you currently serve. 34) Which of the following is NOT one of the text's product life cycle stages?A. Market introduction B. Market growth C. Market maturity D. Market penetration 35) The product life cycle: A. Applies more to individual brands than to categories or types of products. B. Shows that sales and profits tend to move together over time. C. Describes the stages a new product idea goes through from beginning to end. D. Has five major stages. 36) Tom and Sally Jones are preparing to purchase a new car. He currently has a Toyota Camry and she has a Honda Accord. They now have two children under age 5, so they plan to trade in Sally's car to purchase a minivan.Sally and Tom decided on a Honda Odyssey because Sally is familiar with Hondas and thinks they are very reliable. In this purchase situation, Tom and Sally's family life cycle stage is a _____________ segmentation dimension, and the benefit Sally seeks (reliability) is a _____________ segmentation dimension. A. Geographic; behavioral. B. Demographic; geographic. C. Geographic; demographic. D. Demographic; behavioral. 37) Regarding product life cycles, which of the following is NOT true? A. It is usually expensive for a new firm to enter in the market maturity stage. B.Industry profits are likely to level off or decline before sales level off. C. The level of promotion usually decreases in market maturity because there is less revenue to cover the cost. D. Many close substitutes are usually competing in the market maturity stage. 38) An industry's sales have leveled off and profits are declining in oligopolistic competition. Consumers see competing products as homogeneous. Several firms have dropped out of the industry, but a new one entered recently. Firms in the industry are trying to avoid price-cutting by spending on persuasive advertising.These firms are competing in which stage of the product life cycle? A. Market introduction B. Market growth C. Market maturity D. Market development 39) During the market introduction stage of the product life cycle: A. Funds are being invested in marketing with the expectation of future profits. B. Considerable money is spent on promotion while place development is left until later stages. C. Products usually show large profits if marketers have successfully carved out new markets. D. Most potential customers are quite anxious to try out the new-product concept. 40) Advertising allowances A.Set the allowance amount as a percent of the retailer's actual purchases. B. Are price reductions to firms further along in the channel to encourage them to advertise or otherwise promote the firm's products locally. C. Involve intermediaries and producers sharing in the cost of ads. D. Allow for coordination and integration of ad messages in the channel. 41) SGCA is having a sales contest to encourage retailers to quickly reduce the inventory of SuperGam er computers. Retailers with the highest sales during the next month win an expense paid trip to a special dealer meeting at a resort in Hawaii. This is A.An example of a producer using sales promotion in the channel. B. Probably illegal because it might encourage price competition among retailers. C. An example of cooperative advertising. D. The type of promotion that continues to impact sales even after the promotion is over. 42) While watching a television program, Liza gets a phone call just as a commercial is starting. She presses the mute button on the television's remote control and takes the call, so she pays no attention to the commercial. In terms of the communication process, the telephone call is an example of: A. Feedback. B. Noise. C. Encoding.D. Decoding. 43) A producer using very aggressive promotion to get final consumers to ask intermediaries for a new product has: A. A pushing policy. B. A target marketing policy. C. A pulling policy D. A selective distribution po licy. 44) American Tourister, Inc. —a producer of luggage—is planning to introduce a new product line. The marketing manager is having her sales force call on retailers to explain American Tourister's consumer advertising plans, the unique features of the new luggage, how the distributors can best promote it, and what sales volume and profit margins they can reasonably expect.This is an example of: A. A pushing policy. B. Intensive distribution. C. A pulling policy. D. Selective distribution. 45) Integrated direct-response promotion: A. Is not necessary or useful when the channel of distribution involves intermediaries. B. Is usually part of a pushing effort rather than part of a pulling approach. C. Focuses on achieving a measurable, direct response from specific target customers. D. None of these are true. 46) Which of the following statements about positioning is NOT TRUE? A. It helps marketing managers know how customers view the firm's offering. B.It refers to how customers think about proposed or present brands in a market. C. It often makes use of techniques such as perceptual mapping. D. Positioning issues are especially important when competitors in a market are very dissimilar. 47) When segmenting broad product-markets, cost considerations tend A. To lead to a large number of small, but very homogeneous, product-market segments. B. To lead to more aggregating. C. To encourage managers to disregard the criterion that a product-market segment should be substantial. D. To be unimportant as long as the segmenting dimensions are operational. 48) Positioning analysis A.Shows that managers and customers usually view present brands similarly. B. Is not a product-oriented approach. C. Helps managers understand the actual characteristics of their products. D. Is a visual aid to understanding a product-market. 49) A _____ is a market with very similar needs and sellers offering various close substitute ways of satisfying those needs. A. Product-ma rket B. Target market C. Generic market D. Standard market 50) Which of the following is NOT a trend affecting marketing strategy planning in the area of international marketing? A. Decreasing role of airfreight. B. Global communication over the Internet.C. Tensions between have and have-not cultures. D. More attention to exporting by small companies. 51) When a company grows globally, this is an example of: A. Market penetration. B. Diversification. C. Market development D. Product development. 52) Identify the incorrect statement about sales promotions. A. The availability of more ad agencies and specialists has spurred growth in sales promotions. B. Changes in technology have made sales promotions more efficient. C. Sales promotions have increased because of competition in emerging markets. D. Sales promotions can be used as tools to overcome consumer price resistance. 3) Which of the following is a key trend affecting marketing strategy planning? A. Growth of marketing informati on systems. B. Less use of technology in personal selling. C. Senior and ethnic submarkets are getting smaller. D. Slower new-product development. 54) It is usually the _________ job, perhaps with help from specialists in technology, to decide what types of sales technology tools are needed and how they will be used. A. Purchasing manager's B. Marketing executive's C. Sales manager's D. Procurement manager's 55) The future poses many challenges for marketing managers because: A.Social responsibility applies only to firms—not to consumers. B. New technologies are making it easier to abuse consumers' rights to privacy. C. It is marketing managers who have full responsibility to preserve our macro-marketing system. D. The marketing concept has become obsolete. 56) Many Internet sites, such as Autobytel. com and Edmunds. com, have extensive information about the prices of new and used vehicles that anyone can use for free. In light of the availability of this information, what is the responsibility of consumers to use it? A. Consumers should not trust any information they receive from any source except the government.B. Consumers should not use it because it gives them an unfair advantage over car dealers. C. Consumers can use it, but should not feel a responsibility to do so. D. Consumers have a responsibility to use the information and be smarter customers. 57) Which of the following statements about ethical behavior in business is true? A. The legal environment sets the normative standards of ethical behavior. B. The legal environment sets the highest standards of ethical behavior. C. The legal environment sets the minimum standards of ethical behavior D. The legal environment sets the maximum standards of ethical behavior.