Research Paper Marijuana Legalization - 2495 Words

Abstract Marijuana is the people’s drug of choice; it’s the most popular drug of all the drugs. Made famous in movies (Cheech and Chong), hit an all-time boom in the 60’s when smoke to rebel against law enforcement. It is popular even though it is illegal in the United States; I explain in this paper why we should take advantage of its popularity and help our struggling economy. How we can use the way Amsterdam regulates its recreational marijuana, and implement it in the United States. Violence will drop dramatically especially in the towns close to the Mexican border. These are more than enough reasons as to why we should legalize marijuana, there is nothing but benefits. Jose Silva Brittney Carman English 102-06 Research Paper†¦show more content†¦This is only one violent person that lives among us, just guess how many more live among us. Deaths to United State citizens have occurred during this terrible drug war. According to a MSNBC article (S. O. (2010, April 22) the number of United States residents has increased from the year 2007-2010. In 2007 35 U.S residents died, in 2009 79 died, and in 2010 106 residents died. This isn’t counting the people that have gone missing; the number of deaths can easily be higher. The problem with this is the majority of the people that being killed are innocent people that just happen to find themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time. A perfect example of this is when an â€Å"American missionary Nancy Davis and her husband, Sam, were driving their 2008 Chevrolet pickup on a highway near San Fernando, about 70 miles south of the Mexican border city of Reynosa when killers opened fire on Jan. 26, hitting the 59-year-old woman in the head. Mexican and United State authorities said the gunmen were likely cartel thugs bent on stealing the couple’s truck.† (S . O. (2010, April 22) All this is occurring because drug cartels in Mexico are trying to flex their muscles to the other drug cartels and show how powerful and reckless they are. Killing people for no apparent reason, chopping off heads to show off how strong they are, I find this unbelievable. LegalizingShow MoreRelatedLegalization of Marijuana Research Paper1726 Words   |  7 PagesMarijuana is a very popular drug that many people have used. Over 98 million people over the age of 12 in the United States have smoked marijuana. It is known under many different names such as: weed, bud, ganja, hashish, doobie, reefer, mary-jane and grass. It plays quite a substantial role in modern day pop culture and almost everyone over the age of 16 knows what it is. Despite all this, marijuana is illegal and in most states a person can be sent to jail for the possession of less than a gramRead MoreMarijuana Legalization Research Paper2751 Words   |  12 PagesShould Marijuana be legalized in the U.S.? Grass, skunk, kush, mary jane, chronic: just a few of the slang terms for Marijuana. Marijuana (of Indian origin) is the brown, green and gray assimilation of dried leaves, seeds, and stems. This plant is the most commonly abused illicit drug in the United States of America, and the third most used recreational drug behind only tobacco and alcohol. It has been used by nearly 100 million Americans. According to government surveys, some 25 million AmericansRead MoreAnalysis Of The Editorial Rolling Papers The Denver Posts Fall From Grace 1378 Words   |  6 PagesRolling Papers Film Essay Mitch Dickman’s Rolling Papers documents The Denver Posts fall from grace in the midst of Colorado’s legalization of marijuana. Although some may argue the message behind this film is the promotion and avocation of the legalization of marijuana, it actually depicts just how desperate print journalism is to survive in this age of social media and instant gratification. The film carries itself with a certain novelty as it tries to fit in with the taboo subject of marijuana; asRead MoreEssay about Why Marijuana Should Be Legalized1554 Words   |  7 Pagesof Mexicans immigrated to the U.S., and the marijuana they brought with them was quickly associated with them. In the 1930s, tensions between white Americans and Mexican immigrants were heightened due to the Great Depression, and the use of marijuana was ultimately prohibited for the general public in 1937 with the Marijuana Tax Act (Marijuana Timeline). By the 1960s, marijuana became a symbol of counterculture, and th e government stopped any research involved with its properties. In 1971, PresidentRead MoreShould Marijuana Be Legalized?1405 Words   |  6 PagesAbstract: The legalization of marijuana in the United States is on an upward trend, although, there is much uncertainty if and when we will see National legalization. Legalizing marijuana will have a positive effect on crime, politics, the economy, and provide many health benefits. The negative effects of marijuana being classified as a schedule 1 controlled substance are numerous, including racial profiling and users being labeled as deviant. One of those most prolific findings is that in statesRead MoreLegalizing Marijuana in the U.S. Essay1344 Words   |  6 PagesRunning head: LEGALIZATION OF Legalization of Marijuana: A hot topic Tonie J. Moutra GEN 499 Dr. Curt Sobolewski November 26, 2012 The legalization of marijuana for recreational usage could may be a new trend in America but the Federal government will likely oppose usage through the end of time. The Drug Enforcement Administrations (DEA) stance is that marijuana is an illegal drug and that using this drug whether for medicinal or recreational purposes is illegalRead MoreThe War On Drugs And Its Effects On The United States1413 Words   |  6 Pageswith it a public health issue concerning the use and abuse of illegal drugs. Responding to the crisis, the US department of Justice established the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous drugs, which was designed to control illegal drugs, specifically marijuana. Building on the prohibition, in 1971 President Richard Nixon officially declared a â€Å"war on drugs†, which resulted in an increased federal role in the warfare by providing the federal government with power to institute new mandatory sentencing lawsRead MoreThe Ethics Of Legalization Of Marijuana1506 Wor ds   |  7 PagesAn ethical approach to legalization of Marijuana Within this paper I will ask the reader to consider different ethical aspects of the legalization of marijuana, utilizing data provided and studies from the past, attempting to further convey my stance as being pro-legalization of marijuana. INTRODUCTION The legalization of marijuana has been in dispute since the idea has come into conception. Exists a myriad of stances: legalization strictly for medicinal purposes, decriminalization of possession(treatmentRead MoreBoth Sides of Legalizing Marijuana1316 Words   |  5 Pagesof us know, marijuana has been legalized in Washington and Colorado for recreational use. According to polls and predictions, Oregon may be one of the up and coming states to legalize it next. But here comes to question, Should marijuana be legalized? Why or why not? There are many pros and cons to this situation, and they all affect not just our state but our country as a whole. That is exactly why I chose this topic. Since middle school, there has been talk about whether marijuana should be legalizedRead MoreMarijuana Should Be Legal Essay516 Words   |  3 Pages Marijuana should be legalized. Marijuana’s composition is complex, and has a number of physiological effects. Also, a reason for marijuana legalization is the potential wealth of health benefits that have largely been ignored (www.howardcc.edu). In addition, there are many industrial uses for the cannabis plant (www.sandi.net). Marijuana consists of a mixture of leaves, stems, and flowering tops of the Cannabis sativa plant, or hemp plant (Britannica 7/47). Marijuana is also known

Why Do Business Internationalise. International Trade

Why do business internationalise? International trade can be traced back to ancient years. Our ancestors, with the purpose of increasing the variety of local products, had been trying their best for decades to trade cross border. With the development of international business, international trade theories was developed to explain the benefit nations can get from utilizing free trade pattern and participating in the multilateral trade via opening up strategy by eliminating import control, export support and other types of anti-trade approaches (Georges, 2013, pp213-231). In this essay, two major parts of the evolution of international trade theory (traditional international trade theory and new international trade theory) were compared and†¦show more content†¦Like Smith’s and Ricardo’s theory, Heckscher-Ohlin claims that every country engaging in free trade gain advantage. Unlike Ricardo’s theory, Heckscher-Ohlin stresses that the major determinants that form the law of trade theory is f actor endowment, instead of difference in productivity (Hill, 2012). Compare and Contrast Among New International Trade Theories After World War II, with the appearance of multinational corporations, intra-industry trade and the increase of horizontal trade within developed countries, some situations can no longer be explained by traditional theory. Such as why United State who is abundant in capital imports more capital-insentive goods than its export of that (known as Leontief Paradox). During that time, new international trade theory enslaved the global market, among which, new trade theory points out that a firm’s ability to attain economies of scale and to enter an new market first gain advantage of trading abroad over other countries. Following that, Porter’s new comparative advantage theory states that the competitiveness of a firm in an industry bases on the combination of four mutually reinforcing attributes containing firm characteristics, demand condition, factor endowment, related and supporting industries. New trade theory stresses the role of luck and capacity of innovation, while P orter’s theory states that a firm’s competitive performance results from four componentsShow MoreRelatedWHY do business internationalise1149 Words   |  5 Pagesï » ¿Module Code: MKIB 225 Module Title: International Business Essay Title: Why do business internationalise? Student ID: 200992874 Module leader: Dr.Clases Belfrage Date of Due: 9am ON Thursday 6th of March, 2014 Word Count: 988 Why do business internationalise? The business internationalise means a company’s production and business activity are not only confined to one country, but also integrate the different countries’ raw material and labour and technologies toRead MoreWhat Makes A Firm?2491 Words   |  10 PagesWhen looking at how and why firms internationalise we need to both look at what makes a firm want to internationalize and how they do this. We will look at what defines an international firm and we will look at obstacles, but also things that might help certain firms expand internationally. We are also going to look at different trade theories, traditional approaches and how the theories have developed over time. The general definition of internationalisation is the process of starting involvementRead MoreRetail Internationalisation2393 Words   |  10 Pagesretailers ought to consider, but will rather focus on three of these, specifically: (1) Motives for internationalising; (2) Methods of market entry; and lastly (3) strategic approaches to internationalisation. After a great deal of research into the international approach to retailing, I have compiled the following paper: Retail Internationalisation Moore and Fernie (2004: 3) claim that retailing is a market activity that is principally domestic in nature and is immensely carried out within a single countryRead MorePorters Diamond1657 Words   |  7 Pageshost location strategies of international business? Illustrate your answer with references to at least two case companies† The main aim of International business is to build and sustain competitiveness for economic value creation in both domestic and overseas markets (Besanko et al. 2007). Internalisation business theory however has a variety of models that can identify the environmental analysis of specific countries. These models are used for companies to internationalise and find the right location(s)Read MoreReasons For Multinational Enterprise ( Mne s )2091 Words   |  9 PagesIn present society, many companies are taking the step to establishing themselves abroad. Calof and Beamish (1995, p. 116) defined internationalisation as ‘the process of adapting firms operations (strategy, structure, resource, etc.) to international environments’. There are many motives for internalisation including: home market saturation, a large calling for the product elsewhere, presence in a particular country grants access to improved strategic resources. The decision makers of the companiesRead MoreCul ture Strategy - Alphabet Games2728 Words   |  11 PagesInternational Business Chapter 1 What is international Business Key Concepts In International Business * International Trade - describes the exchange of products and services across national borders * Exchanges can be made through exporting or can also take the form of: * Importing or Global Sourcing - the procurement of products or services from suppliers located abroad for consumption in the home country or a third country. * International Investment - refers to the transferRead MoreFactors Influencing Foreign Direct Environment3224 Words   |  13 PagesMD3042 CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN GLOBAL BUSINESS MANAGEMENT Factors Influencing Foreign Direct Investment The world is becoming a global village and more companies are now operating at an international level. This essay critically analyses some of the factors which influence Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). Morrison (2006) defined FDI as the establishment of a company of a productive nature in a foreign country involving large volume of shareholding in foreign operations. The essay will investigateRead MoreStarbucks in China4917 Words   |  20 Pagesyear of 2011, which is an increase 9.3% over the fiscal year of 2010. In addition, the net profit of the firm was 1,245.7 million dollars in fiscal year of 2011, which rose 31.7% over the fiscal year of 2010. This Company is considered as a great business, which grows rapidly in past two decades. To illustrate this, in 1987 Howard Shultz and David Olsen bought Starbucks Company, and then five year later, it expanded from 6 shops to 165 retail outlets in Pacific Northwest. In 2001, Starbucks has moreRead More Role Of Government In Mixed Econ omies Such As Australia Essay1741 Words   |  7 Pages Role of Government in Mixed Economies Such As Australia What role do governments have in modern mixed economies such as Australia? Using appropriate indicators (macro economic aggregates) outline the present state of the economy. In what ways is the Commonwealth government using fiscal and monetary policies to influence the Australian economy? What are the main features of the governments micro economic policy? Why is the government concerned about microeconomic reform? Synopsis: The role ofRead MoreThis Section Analyses The Internationalisation Process5493 Words   |  22 Pagesbank have internationalised with subsidiaries in several countries outside Nigeria (c) the bank is one of the pioneer of foreign expansion of the Nigerian firms (d) the bank is an example of how firm could grow from being a local bank to an international bank (e) Beta is major player in the Nigerian banking sector ( F) Beta internationalisation process fails within the defined criteria for this study. 3.2 An Overview of Nigerian banking sector The Nigerian banking sector is regarded as one of

The Great Gatsby Essay Free Essays

This book reminds me all too much of a song called â€Å"Pick and Choose† by Stepped. They both are bout a man wanting a certain Woman more than anything in the world, but she always has an excuse to turn the other way. In the first verse of Pick and Choose, the lyrics say, â€Å"If I could pick, could pick and choose, I’d choose you its old news. We will write a custom essay sample on The Great Gatsby Essay or any similar topic only for you Order Now If I could pick, could pick and choose, I’d pick you, yeah, I can’t lose. † (1-6) This to me is how Gatsby feels towards Daisy. For 5 years all he ever wanted was she. She was his missing piece. With Daisy, he would be complete. Gatsby was a man with great wealth and everyone knew his name. He would not have the slightest trouble in finding another woman. But he did not care; he did not ant just any another woman. Daisy was the one he â€Å"chose†, just like the song says. Daisy Buchannan is the kind of woman who looks for security in a man. If her lover is not one to posses much wealth then she, in a way, panics and leaves him. She was madly in love with Jay Gatsby, just like he was with her. When he left to fight in the war, Daisy waited and waited but Gatsby could not return. He wanted to make something of himself before returning home to his one true love. He wanted to be able to support her and give her everything she could have ever wanted. He knew that this was not possible with the money he had at the time. He wrote her a letter asking her to wait because he felt married to her, but of course Daisy knew that he was not stable enough to support her. Her present day husband, Tom Buchannan, then gave her a string of pearls. He was old money, very stable. Daisy knew that with him, she would live a comfortable life full of riches. So she up and married Tom, leaving Gatsby heartbroken. In the song â€Å"Pick and Choose† in the second verse, the song says â€Å"And when ask you if I’m good enough you tell me no. Sometimes feel like can call your bluff, you ought to know† (9-10) This, to me, is how Gatsby feels when she ends up marrying Tom. I think he feels like he must not have been good enough. He had just as much money as Tom; he did all these wonderful things just to get her attention, yet she still seems to Stay with this terribly dreadful man. Gatsby just wants to love her and give her the world, but he is no fool. He knows that Tom is old money; he is stable. This is why Daisy stays with him. In â€Å"Pick and Choose†, the song says, â€Å"Hold on, hold on, I’d give up everything for your admiration. Hold on, Hold on, I wand let you know that I’m never leaving your side. † (23-26) This makes me think of how Gatsby does everything that he does for Daisy. Just like how he made great amounts of money for her, he would give it all up for her as well. He would do absolutely anything to make her understand how much he loves her. Even when they have an affair together, even when she panicked and tried to back out of telling Tom the truth about her and Gatsby, he stayed by her side, hoping to God that she would make the right choice so they could finally be together after so many years apart. In the part of the book where Gatsby and Daisy invite everyone to lunch so they can tell Tom about their deep love for each other and go public, things id not go as smoothly as they both had hoped. Daisy froze and then began to panic just as they were about to reveal their news. Gatsby decided to speak for Daisy to get them out of the sticky situation. There was nothing at this point that was going to stop him from being with his soul mate. In â€Å"Pick and Choose†, the song says, â€Å"You and me, we’re so caught up in awkward situations. Let me be, be the one who kills this contention. Nothing in this world will stop the beating heart for you. Maybe I’m just crazy but I know that you can feel it too, like do. â€Å"(27-30) This, in my eyes, describes the scene so ell: Gatsby trying to get them out of this horrid situation. How to cite The Great Gatsby Essay, Essays

The Evolution of Game Consoles free essay sample

Game consoles have become part of our culture, some people do not know it yet, but in some way they are gamers. In the beginning there was Ralph H. Baer, â€Å"The Father of Video Games†, and he created the â€Å"Brown Box† in 1968. Now the Brown Box was a working prototype. It was the first game console that could connect to ordinary television sets. It could play six very simple games, four of them very similar, which are ping-pong, tennis, handball, and volleyball, and the last two are chase game and a light gun game. Now this brown box is essential to what will happen in the future. First generation of game consoles, now Ralph Baer took his brown box to Magnavox. Right away Magnavox bought it. They change the name and design of the brown box and called it Magnavox Odyssey, and released it in 1972 predating it before Atari’s Pong. It was the 1st official home entertainment system. Now, like the first movies, it did not incorporate sound. It was battery operated, it used cartridges for the built in game to change desired effects, and it came with two overlays to simulate color. This console sparked a fire for the video game industry. In 1975 Atari released Pong, which was scaled down unit of their famous Pong arcade machine in 1973. It included on screen scoring and it included sound when the ball hit the paddle. Now there was competition, so Magnavox released two more consoles the Odyssey 100 and 200. The Odyssey 200 incorporated 2-4 players, when no home console had at that time. Then in 1976 Atari released Super Pong, it had color, built in speaker, and it had 4 built in games. So Odyssey put out three more that year, the Magnavox Odyssey 300, 400, and 500. The Odyssey 500, instead of sticks as paddles, it actually had the igure of the sport you were playing, tennis player, hockey player, and squash player. There were a lot of Pong clones that were being made for a home video console. Some listed are Coleco Telestar, Fairchild Channel F, RCA Studio II, and Wonder Wizard 7702. Now there where such an abundance of Pong clones, that a lot of manufactures were forced to closed, leaving a lawsuit between Magnavox a nd Atari for stealing the Pong idea. Magnavox won, and is now receiving royalties from anyone that used that Pong program. The Second generation of game consoles starts with Atari. They released the Atari Video Computer System (VCS) in 1977. This was a huge step in the video consoles, because Atari made detachable controllers and the first game console to use plug in cartridges. It was slow to sell at first, but when Atari bought the licensing of Space Invaders, it sky rocketed in sales. Magnavox still holding on to the Pong craze put out three new Odysseys, the 2000, the 3000, and the 4000. Odyssey 3000 had detachable controllers. The Odyssey 4000 then included color. Then in 1978, Magnavox released the Odyssey 2, this was sort of small computer which you could do basic programming. It came with a built in keyboard plus joysticks and it used cartridges. Also, trying to take off Atari from their throne, Mattel made the Intellivision. This bad boy was better than the Atari VCS. It had better graphics, color and sound, and plus it was the first game console to use in game voice. But, the one thing they were pushing was that you can play games and do your checking. They were going to incorporate a keyboard. But it never happened due to the keyboard being way expensive. In 1982, Vectrex was released. This was the only game console, even now, that came with a monitor integrated with the console. The Atari 5200 was the comeback to beat the Mattel Intellivision. Atari 5200 was the best in it time to be superior in technology and cost. It was the first to have 4 ports for controllers and the first TV switch, to switch between TV and with the game was turned on. Its competition was the Colecovision and Mattel Intellivision II. A few more consoles from other manufactures were still being made like, Coleco Telestar Alpha, Combat, Colortron, Arcade, and Gemini, and Atari Stunt Cycle, Video Pinball and 400, Bally Professional Arcade, Zircon Channel F System II, and the Emerson Arcadia 2001. Since there were so many game consoles to choose from, many games were being made in a hurry, giving the consumer horrible made games. Two infamous games were E. T. the Extraterrestrial and Pac-man for the Atari, which lead to a crash in the video game industry. Many companies went into bankruptcy, which end the 2nd generation of game consoles. The Third generation of games started with the very famous company Nintendo. The video game crash was so severe, that distributors did not want to mess with video games. The Nintendo Company did step up to the plate to revitalize the gaming industry in 1985. First, Nintendo did have a strict licensing policy that encourages only high quality third party game development. Nintendo knew that because of poor quality games the video game industry crashed. They introduced us to Super Mario Bros. , and The Legend of Zelda, Final Fantasy, Metal Gear Solid. Nintendo dominated the 3rd generation of game consoles. Sega wanted some of the action in North America, so they released Sega Master System in 1986. It was somewhat superior to Nintendo, with better graphics and sound. One difference that Sega had was to type of cartridges, a high and low quality game. If you wanted better detail get the high quality and if you did not want to spend much get the low quality. Atari came out with Atari Jr. and 7800. Jr. appealed to younger gamers and 7800 was the first game console what was backwards compatible. This was the age of the 8-bit processor wars. The fourth generation of game consoles, came in 1989 when NEC made their console with 16 bits, it was called Turbo Grafx 16. This console was the first to support a CD-Rom Drive with allowed for better sound and graphics which could include full motion video. Even though Sega Master System was better than Nintendo, it was not too well received with many American consumers. Also in 1989, Sega released their next game console called Genesis, which also contained 16 bits. It did fairly well with consumers because of arcade game conversions. In 1990 SNK was having a huge success with their arcade games because of their graphics processors. The owner wanted to bring the arcade to peoples’ homes, so they released SNK Neo-Geo. It had the same capability of their arcade machines, so the price on this game console was $650 and a game would cost at least $200. It did not do to well. Nintendo was two years behind with 16 bits processor, but in 1991 Nintendo released Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). Because of its late start, Sega Genesis was beating Super NES in sales, but Nintendo caught up and eventually took over as leader in the 16-bit era. Fifth Generation game consoles contain 32 and 64 bits processor. Since, Sega came over to North America they have wanted to beat Nintendo, so they released Sega CD for Genesis in 1992. And it was all downhill from there for Sega and its popularity. Sega put out three new products in 1994 Genesis 2, which was the same as the first, Sega CD for Genesis 2, which played audio CDs and games, and the 32X, which was said to enhance the game but it did not. These products were so confusing to the consumers that they did not know why Sega was producing because they knew the following year 1995; Sega released the Sega Saturn which had a 32 bit processor. Sega released it four months earlier than intended which failed to sell because there were hardly any games on the launch date. Now in jumps Sony’s Playstation in the year 1995. Nintendo asked Sony to make a CD-ROM add-on for the SNES and Nintendo wanted to name it â€Å"Playstation†. Sony was willing but requested 25% from the profits it made. Nintendo decided to go to Phillips. Sony then decided to make the Playstation themselves. Nintendo took them to court for stealing their name, but lost. Sony Playstation was a 32-bit processor. And Sony did have a successful launch. Nintendo, instead of making a 32-bit processor console, went straight to a 64-bit processor called the Nintendo 64, which was released in 1996. This was a huge success, giving us games like Super Mario 64, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and GoldenEye 007. It redefined 3D games and first person shooter games. With all the success it was receiving there was come cons, since Nintendo was still using cartridges for games instead of CDs which held a lot more information to make games, some of their game developers strayed away to Nintendo’s competitors. The Nintendo 64 was the last game console to use cartridges. Nintendo also introduced a rumble pak that was integrated into controller to feel vibrations of the game. They intro Others mentionable are NEC TurboDuo, which also played audio CDs, Panasonic 3DO Interactive, which promised too much and failed to deliver, and Atari Jaguar. The Jaguar supposed to turn the game console industry, because it boasted of playing 64-bits in the 16-bit era. Nonetheless Atari failed to take over and stopped making game consoles and became a game developer. In the sixth generation came in the year 1998, when Sega released the Dreamcast. It was the first console to have a modem built in to support online play. And it did do fairly well at launch. The reason why it did not do too well was that it could not compensate for the consumers wanting the console. They had made less than expected and the consumers where well to excited for the release of the Sony Playstation 2. Sony release the it in the year 2000. This became the best selling console of all time. The Playstation included backward capability, it played audio CDs and DVDs, and it had internet support, strong games titles, and rumble pak in the controllers. This was a hard item to find anywhere. It also beat the Sega Dreamcast in to submission, forcing Sega to stop making consoles and become a game developer. Sony gain dominancy as the number one home entertainment system. In 2001, Nintendo released the Gamecube, major advancement in graphics from the Nintendo 64, but did not compare to Sony Playstation. Nintendo’s first time using CDs, but they where 8 centimeters in diameter and it read the CD out to in to prevent piracy. Nintendo was label a â€Å"kiddie console† due to the lack of game developers to make games for them. Also in 2001, Microsoft having the computer technology wanted to try a go with the video game industry and released the Xbox. It used Sega Dreamcast idea and the Xbox allowed gamers to play each other online via broadband. It would also allow the gamers to download content to their console. Even though it had the same capabilities of Sony Playstation 2 and a better processor, it could not beat Sony in Sales. Microsoft did push the Nintendo to 3rd place in the console market. The last generation for now is the 7th, with Nintendo Wii, Sony Playstation 3, and Microsoft Xbox 360. The Xbox 360 was released in 2005, a better console design, feature wireless controllers, better graphics, customizable faceplate, and USB ports to connect mp3 players or external hard drives, and etc. It also redesigned their online experience called Xbox Live. Xbox 360 games where being made in high definition and it was backwards compatible with the original Xbox games. A year later in 2006 Sony released the Playstation 3. This had a slightly better graphics than the Xbox 360, wireless controllers which in included a motion gyro, and USB ports for electronic devices. It did have some problems with backward compatibility, so it worked for some games. One thing that differed from the Xbox 360 was that the Playstation 3 was capable of playing Blu-ray Discs. Now the Xbox 360 could play DVDs, but later they made an add-on which connected to a HD DVD player. Now there was a war between the two movie console, to be HD DVD or Blu-ray. But in the end Blu-ray won, and Microsoft was left with a useless add-on and discontinued it. The Nintendo Wii was also released in 2006. Many were skeptical about Nintendo’s next console, because it could not compare to the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 graphically. Nintendo saw an opportunity to connect with the casual gamer and made a revolution with Wii motion. This allowed the gamer so â€Å"get off the couch† and interact with the game. With this new idea, Nintendo appealed to all ages. The Wii was slightly better in graphics from the GameCube. It was backwards compatible and it featured the wireless controller called the Wiimote, which was use for the interacting with the game. You could create an avatar and use the internet browser and download old games from previous Nintendo consoles. Now Microsoft and Sony saw what Nintendo was doing and wanted to cash in that area too, to appeal to the casual gamer. Microsoft made the Kinect which did not require a controller to interact; it used the person’s body as the controller. Sony made the Move which was a combination of the Wii motion and the Kinect; it did use a controller but used the body as well. Nintendo might need to do something to stay strong in the console industry. And thus game consoles have evolved to certain perfection. And console industry does not look like it is slowing down. It is a continuous evolution that cannot be stopped. Until the day game consoles evolve to the holodeck from Star Trek, there will be new advances and evolution to this market.

Critical Review of Two Research Articles

Summary Askehave, A. (2007). The impact of marketization on higher education genres – the international student prospectus as a case in point. Discourse Studies, 9(6), 723-742 (qualitative method).Advertising We will write a custom term paper sample on Critical Review of Two Research Articles specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Marketization changes the nature and prospects of higher education. Askenave (2007) suggests that marketization in education means that running schools adopt market practices, which influence and change the nature of discursive practices. The goal of the study is to evaluate the extent to which marketization of education affect discursive practices. Using the principles of genre and Critical Discourse Analysis, Askenave (2007) analyzes the international student prospectus and the extent, to which it reflects free market values. First, the author compares the genres and discursive practices in the intern ational student prospectus from four different countries – Australia, Finland, Japan, and Scotland. Second, Askenave (2007) uses the international student prospectus from the University of Sterling and analyzes its language. The results of Askenave’s (2007) analysis are not surprising. First, the international student prospectus imitates the language and discursive practices of market advertising (Askenave, 2007). Second, higher education facilities use the international student prospectus to promote themselves as the sources of unique experiences and innovative practices for clients (Askenave, 2007). Universities turn into consumer-driven organizations that do not set any standards and do not ask anything in return (Askenave, 2007). Given that language and social practices are mutually dependent, the use of promotional language in the international student prospectus may change the long-term nature and professional position of higher education institutions, which will hardly be beneficial for either students or staff (Askenave, 2007).Advertising Looking for term paper on linguistics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Cheung, M. (2008). ‘Click here’: The impact of new media on the encoding of persuasive messages in direct marketing. Discourse Studies, 10(2), 161-189 (quantitative method). The Internet is gradually becoming the principal mode of communication in organizational and business environments. Therefore, the influence of the Internet on persuasive messages and marketing communication needs to be reviewed. Cheung (2008) examines the impact of the Internet on how persuasive messages in sales letters are encoded. Cheung (2008) analyzes â€Å"the extent to which the use of new media influences the overall interactional or social strategy or credibility enhancement and persuasion in the context of sales promotion† (p.161). The author uses genre analysis to examine pers uasive messages in 160 sales letters (80 prints and 80 emails) that were randomly selected from a large database over a six-month period. Cheung (2008) uses the Lingual-Belief Interaction Model as the basic conceptual framework. Cheung (2008) concludes that texts written for one and the same communicative purpose (e.g. persuasion) display considerable similarities in the discourse structure. Simultaneously, the new media affects the ways in which persuasive messages in sales letters are encoded. First, any act of persuasion always involves the concepts of text, context, and belief; a persuasive message cannot be successful, unless viewers make a favorable correlation between what they see in the text and what is true in the context (Cheung, 2008). Second, new media change the structure and presentation of the sales discourse, which is no longer formulaic or standardized (Cheung, 2008). Users of new media must organize persuasive messages in ways that make key information visible (Ch eung, 2008). New media add dynamism and interactivity to the existing sales discourse strategies (Cheung, 2008).Advertising We will write a custom term paper sample on Critical Review of Two Research Articles specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Method Askenave (2007) describes the research method as the genre analysis of text organization and rhetorical moves, which is followed by an in-depth examination of the most important rhetorical features of the student prospectus borrowed from the University of Sterling. The researcher writes that the genre of international student prospectuses received little professional attention and needs to be examined in more detail (Askenave, 2007). Askenave (2007) writes that, for the purpose of the study, she intends to compare four instances of the international student prospectuses in terms of genre consistency and rhetorical moves. Askenave (2007) further performs an in-depth analysis of the rhet orical features and moves in one specific international student prospectus. The researcher does not involve any human participants but provides a detailed description of the international student prospectuses and their genres. The context plays a crucial role in the analysis of student prospectuses, because Askenave (2007) reconsiders genres, text organization, and rhetoric in the context of marketization of higher education practices. International student prospectuses were the only materials used in the research, and a brief analysis of the procedures followed in the conducting of the study was performed. According to Askenave (2007), Swalesian genre theory was the point of departure in the study. The author defines the key criteria (rhetorical moves) of the scientific analysis but does not explain the procedures used in the examination of the four student prospectuses. Askenave (2007) considers how lay-out and images, lexico-grammar and move structure work together to assign iden tities and relations to the university and its students. The author does not acknowledge any ethical difficulties and does not cite anyone in the methodology and analysis section. The researcher provides little detail and makes the task of replicating the study virtually unachievable. The method answers all research questions, and there is no triangulation of the findings. The four prospectuses are used in a cross-cultural genre analysis, but the criteria by which the author chooses the four prospectuses are unclear. Therefore, the risks of selectivity bias are very high (Patton, 2002).Advertising Looking for term paper on linguistics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The study is well designed but the gaps are obvious: Askenave (2007) should have been more detailed in her discussion of the study design, to facilitate its replication. Also, the method of the study lacks empirical justification, which may be due to the lack of previous findings in the context of international student prospectus analysis. Cheung’s (2008) approach is similar to the one used by Askenave (2007): the author performs genre and rhetorical moves’ analysis of persuasive messages in sales letters. Cheung (2008) assumes that printed sales letters and sales emails belong to one and the same genre, given the similarities in their social function and communicative purpose. In explaining the study approach, the author extensively relies on theoretical and empirical literature relating to genre analysis, including the works of Upton and Connor (2001), Bhatia (2001), and Swales (1990). The author includes the list of the rhetorical moves but does not discuss any spec ific procedures to be followed in the study. Cheung (2008) uses quantitative methods of data collection and analysis. The context plays a very important role: the study is situated in Hong Kong, which serves the gateway and portal for international business in Asia (Cheung, 2008). However, that the study is situated in Hong Kong may limit the reliability and generalizability of the research results, since they may not easily transferable to other cultural and generic contexts. The study participants are specialist informants from 10 different companies (Cheung, 2008). At the time of the study, all informants were responsible for marketing and sales communication in their companies (Cheung, 2008). The choice of the respondents was justified by the fact that they could share some information about the target viewers for their sales texts (Cheung, 2008). The author describes the criteria used to select the texts and provides a detailed description of the data collection and analysis pr ocedures. Unfortunately, how Cheung (2008) develops the list of rhetorical moves to be used in the study remains unclear. Nevertheless, the study is easy to replicate and the method answers the research questions. Cheung (2008) describes the data analysis procedure in detail. Cheung (2008) does not discuss any ethical considerations and concerns, and there is no triangulation of the findings. The study is well designed but the lack of ethical details is one of its major limitations. The study involves human participants, who need the fullest information about the study, its goal and expected outcomes. However, Cheung (2008) does not mention the importance of informed consent, which makes the results of the study less convincing. Cheung (2008) writes that the subjects could provide valuable information about their experiences of working with sales texts. Surprisingly or not, no information regarding ethical considerations or informed consent is included. Cheung (2008) actually suppor ts a thesis that there is a serious gap within ethical practices in applied linguistics research (Fox et al, 2006). Article Critique Language is an ever changing phenomenon. The rationale for Askenave’s (2007) study is clear: marketization imposes new demands on higher education institutions and changes their professional and educational roles. Consequentially, higher education institutions, and universities in particular, borrow and adopt free market practices to meet their needs (Askenave, 2007). The researcher justifies the study by the need to explore the influences of marketization on the discursive practices in higher education. It should be noted, that no comprehensive theoretical framework was used to support the analysis. This is, probably, because the concept and phenomenon of marketization is relatively new. Askenave (2007) provides a brief insight into previous research of the international student prospectus as a genre which, according to the author, is very spor adic and scarce. Askenave (2007) uses Swalesian genre theory, which treats genre as a set of shared communicative practices and explains the ways in which particular genres can unfold. What research questions Askenave (2007) seeks to answer is difficult to define. Generally, any study or research project is designed to define problems and provide solutions or strategies that could be effective in helping to solve those problems (Patton, 2002). However, no effective interventions can be developed, unless research questions are clear. Askenave (2007) suggests that her analysis is a relevant contribution to the debate regarding the changes in higher education practices under the influence of marketization. The research findings contribute to the current knowledge of the international student prospectus as a genre. Yet, Askenave (2007) should have been more specific and detailed in the development of the research goals, questions, and/ or hypotheses. The article is well-structured. The second part of Askenave’s (2007) article is a case study of the international student prospectus from the University of Sterling in Scotland. According to Perry (2002), case studies are frequently used in applied linguistics research and can shed light on complex linguistic phenomena. Unfortunately, Askenave (2007) provides little information about the methodology. As a result, replicating Askenave’s study is virtually impossible. Simultaneously, the thoroughness of the author’s analysis cannot be overstated. Askenave (2007) describes the process and results of the genre analysis in detail. This is particularly the case of the international student prospectus from the University of Sterling, which covers most of the article. Askenave (2007) performs examines the prospectus’s lay-out and design; move structure in the Sterling prospectus is analyzed; the author analyzes its lexical and grammatical structures and experiential meanings. The latter, according to the researcher, play a crucial role in the analysis of the international student prospectus as a genre. The lack of the ethical angle is one of the main gaps in Askenave’s (2007) research. Failure to obtain informed consent is essentially the same as failure to adopt a ‘participant-centered perspective’ (Fox et al, 2006). The author explores multiple modes and phenomena, creating a multifaceted but confusing picture of the international student prospectus and its generic features. Finally, it is not clear what criteria the author used when choosing the four international student prospectuses for a cross-cultural genre examination. The research findings contribute to the existing knowledge of the international student prospectus but leave many questions unanswered. The future research must concentrate on the development of effective measures of validity and reliability in applied linguistics studies. The overall opinion about the article is dubious. On the one hand, the study can serve the starting point in the analysis of the international student prospectus and the changes, which the genre undergoes under the influence of marketization in higher education. The topic is extremely interesting and valid, since more universities want to borrow free market practices from the corporate world and consumer-driven organizations. On the other hand, the study points out the major inconsistencies and pitfalls in applied linguistics studies. Selectivity bias reduces the validity and reliability of the findings, because the criteria for choosing the target texts are unclear. The author does not try to operationalize or standardize the research findings (Patton, 2002). No consideration is given to internal and external validity threats. Whether or not the results of the study can be successfully generalized to other international student prospectuses is unclear. Askenave (2007) does not report any research limitations and, therefore, leaves little roo m for methodological improvements. These problems warrant the need for further research into the international student prospectus and its generic characteristics. These gaps and inconsistencies are also justified by the fact that the current state of literature about the international student prospectus is relatively scarce (Askenave, 2007). Therefore, the best method of the student prospectus analysis is yet to be discovered. The article is just another attempt to shed light on a complex linguistic phenomenon. Unlike Askenave (2007), the methods and results of Cheung’s (2008) study produce a solid scientific impression. One reason for this is that Cheung (2008) employs quantitative methodology, which creates a picture of reliability and validity. Quantitative methods of research, particularly in applied linguistics, are believed to be more reliable and easily generalizable, compared with the qualitative methods of analysis (Davies Elder, 2005). Davies and Elder (2005) sugge st that qualitative studies in applied linguistics are associated with uncontrollable observations and are difficult to generalize to larger populations. Certainly, not all qualitative studies are as bad and unprofessional as Davies and Elder (2005) describe them. However, that most quantitative studies lack subjectivity and provide relevant statistical information cannot be denied. Cheung’s (2008) study demonstrates numerous advantages but, unfortunately, is not without limitations. First and foremost, Cheung (2008) clearly articulates the purpose of study and the main research questions. According to Cheung (2008), the study attempts to examine the differences and similarities between discourse structures in the two corpora. Cheung (2008) tries to relate these differences and similarities to broader, generic considerations. In this study, Cheung (2008) attempts to answer two research questions: what is the impact of new media on the encoding of persuasive messages in sales emails?; how does the use of new media influence the overall interactional or social strategy or credibility enhancement and persuasion in the context of sales promotion? (p.163) The research questions and study goals are clear and easy to understand. The method helps to answer these research questions. Cheung (2008) is extremely detailed in the discussion of methods and their relations to the research questions and objectives. Cheung’s study is beneficial and interesting in the sense that it provides a detailed discussion of the conceptual framework and clearly states the criteria for choosing sales letters and subjects. According to Cheung (2008), there was no limit set for the text length; furthermore, all letters had to exhibit the features of being a unified textual whole; finally, the researcher selected sales and promotion texts that were presented through one of the two methods – either solely through written text or written text supported by graphical illustra tions (Cheung, 2008). In this way, Cheung (2008) created conditions needed to replicate the study in a different cultural context. In many instances, the research methodology in Cheung’s (2008) study is similar to that in Askenave (2007). Like Askenave (2007), Cheung (2008) applies to genre moves, which often serve the main strategic elements of rhetorical analysis. However, unlike Askenave (2007), Cheung (2008) creates a clearer theoretical picture of the rhetorical moves and their implications for linguistic research. Cheung (2008) performs a detailed literature review and evaluates the current theoretical basis. As a result, the author prepares the reader for understanding the theoretical framework, the basic concepts, the results of the study, and their implications for the future research. The research is detailed and well-organized. All information is presented in a comprehensive and coherent manner. The format of the article follows the basic conventions of scholarly w riting, with an introduction, a detailed observation of the conceptual frameworks, theoretical underpinnings, methodology, and results. Unfortunately, neither Askenave (2007) nor Cheung (2008) provides recommendations for the future research. As a result, both studies look static. They do not fit in the continuity of linguistic changes and their relationship to social practices. The lack of an ethical dimension is a common problem in both articles. The absence of ethical concerns in Askenave (2007) is quite understandable, since the author does not involve any human subjects. By contrast, Cheung (2008) conducts interviews with 16 corporate specialists, all of them being either directors or managers in marketing and sales. Another problem is in that the study involved sales and promotional texts coming from 117 companies situated in Hong Kong (Cheung, 2008). Given the specificity of the Korean and Chinese cultural environments, the study results may not be generalizable to other cult ural contexts. Therefore, the future research must examine the generic features and rhetorical moves in sales and promotional texts in other countries/ cultures. Cheung (2008) does not provide any ideas for the future research, although the author’s contribution to the future study of applied linguistics could be of value. The article produces a dubious impression. On the one hand, the study is extremely interesting and unique. The analysis of the rhetorical moves in sales and promotional texts helps to understand how the emergence of new media re-shapes the discursive landscape in organizational and marketing communications. On the other hand, the lack of the ethical dimension and directions for the future research create a vision of incompleteness. The study lacks dynamism, implying that research into applied linguistics is static by nature. When Cheung (2008) concludes that â€Å"a sales discourse is still a sales discourse† (p.184), the study ceases to be a relevan t contribution to language dynamics but turns into a body of information that is separated from the rest of applied linguistics research. Conclusion One question that bothers readers in both studies is how to use their results in practical contexts. There is a persistent impression that both studies produce knowledge for the sake of knowledge – the researchers try to understand how the linguistic world operates and explain various linguistic phenomena (Patton, 2002). Simultaneously, the questions and phenomena under research can hardly be called â€Å"basic†, since the use of language in international student prospectuses (Askenave, 2007) and sales and promotional texts in Hong Kong’s companies (Cheung, 2008) are serious practical problems. Again, the static nature of both studies is too obvious to ignore. Both researchers explore complex linguistic phenomena but do not provide any practical suggestions. How to use their findings to improve discursive practices remains unclear. The researchers explore the concepts and phenomena in a limited space and time but do not link them to broader linguistic contexts. Their studies resemble a one-time practice which has little or nothing to do with the future science. Language is a highly dynamic concept. New media, language and cultural forms cause profound shifts in language practices; the latter, in turn, change the meaning and scope of various social practices. The reciprocal link between language and social practice has been abundantly established (Askenave, 2007). Unfortunately, not all researchers can reconsider their findings in practical terms. Askenave (2007) and Cheung (2008) make an invaluable contribution to applied linguistics research, but the future research must validate their findings in new cultural and media contexts. References Askenave, I. (2007). The impact of marketization on higher education genres – the international student prospectus as a case in point. Discourse St udies, 9(6), 723-742. Cheung, M. (2008). ‘Click here’: The impact of new media on the encoding of persuasive messages in direct marketing. Discourse Studies, 10(2), 161-189. Davies, A. Elder, C. (2005). The handbook of applied linguistics. Wiley-Blackwell. Fox, J., Artemeva, N., Darville, R. Woods, D. (2006). Juggling through hoops: Implementing ethics policies in applied language studies. Journal of Academic Ethics, 4, 77-99. Patton, M.Q. (2002). Qualitative research and evaluation methods. NY: SAGE. Perry, FL. (2002). Research in applied linguistics. NY: Taylor Francis. This term paper on Critical Review of Two Research Articles was written and submitted by user Abigail Dixon to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Crusaders essays

Crusaders essays The topic of the essay is whether I think that the first crusade was a war or a religious movement. That is a very hard question to answer. I think that it may have started out as a religious movement with all the religious frenzy that such a movement can convey. However, in my opinion the first Crusade was a war. It was a that was ostensibly using the freeing of the holy land and of helping Alexius as an excuse go to war. It was a grand cover up to gain territory. War has been used throughout most of history as an excuse. It became apparent to me that the first crusade was no exception. It was an excuse to garner land, and excuse to gain power, it was even used as an excuse to kill Jews. Even with the so-called religious leaders such as Peter the hermit. With the other leaders such as Bohemond and Raymond, Baldwin I found it was a much clearer view of their reasoning, at least to my mind. I want to analyze the motivations of the leaders of the crusades. For it is these motivations that lead me to the belief that this was just a war. I further more believe that even Urban himself knew that there would be many that stepped foreword that would use Urbans Crusade for political purposes including to a certain extent Urban himself. The calling of the Crusade was a political opportunity for Urban's pontificate, attracting loyalty from a wide range of disparate countries and asserting the Churchs role as a unifying force. That he was concerned about the leaders of his crusade once they were out of his sight is apparent. Why else would he have made so may statements about for you are also called shepherds see that you are not occupied after the manner f mercenaries (pg 51) or For if because of the sloth of your management (pg 52), and let those he said ,who are accustomed to wage private wars wastefully even against believers(pg 53). However, it is also apparent tha...

Informative paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

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Business Ethics and Consequentialism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Business Ethics and Consequentialism - Essay Example Ethics compliance includes implementing acts that serve the common good for the greater number of recipients. 1.Utilitarian ethics issues in this Case. There are utilitarian ethics issues in the case of the pacemaker case. The electronics company can generate the greater good to the greatest number of people. The principle of consequentialism or utilitiarian ethics states that the end justifies the means. The correct action is that action that brings out the greatest good to the entire community or population (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/utilitarianism-history/#JerBen). For example, it is a common good to kill a convicted felon to prevent individuals from committing the same illegal acts (Portmore, 2011). Jeremy Bentham insisted that correct actions are those that bring about or increase happiness, and reduce pain (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/utilitarianism-history/#JerBen). Applying the above consequentialism theory to the case, producing the electronic parts of the pace maker produces the greatest good for the greatest number of people (http://www.scu.edu/ethics/dialogue/candc/cases/supplier.html). The purpose of the pacemaker is to prolong the life of the dying person. Without a heart, the person will die. The pacemaker helps the heart beat. Without the pacemaker, the person would die a natural death. Consequently, the pacemaker prolongs the life of the pacemaker recipient for several years. By focusing on helping the pacemaker manufacturer improve the functional quality of the pacemakers, the electronics company helps increase the success of the pacemakers. Consequently, there is an increase in the pacemaker’s capacity to keep the failing human heart from stopping its continuous beating motion (http://www.scu.edu/ethics/dialogue/candc/cases/supplier_comments.html). 2) Jeremy Bentham Concept on the Case. Jeremy Bentham, father of utilitarianism, will rightly approve the decision to continue producing the electronic parts of the pacemakers. By helping the pacemaker manufacturers improve the functional quality of the pacemakers, the electronics company increases the functional quality of the pacemakers. Consequently, the pacemaker adds more years to the dying patients’ lives. For the dying person, adding more years to one’s earthly life is a greater good when compared to just letting the patient die a natural death (Bentham, 2009). The popularity of the pacemaker is its capacity to prolong the dying person’s life by stimulating the non-beating heart to beat. Without the pacemakers’ stimulating motion, the patient would have died instantly. The improved pacemakers will increase the patients’ and their families’ pleasure of having their dying relative live additional years on earth and avoiding the pain of losing their dying relative at an earlier date. 3. Utility test. Step A. There are three alternatives. The first alternative is to stop supplying the electronic parts of the pac emakers. Second, the electronics company will continue producing the electronic parts of the pacemakers and coordinate with the pacemaker company to improve the success rate of the pacemakers (Mandal, 2010). Step B. The are consequences and costs of each alternative. In terms of alternative 1, the short term and long term benefits (consequences) include removing the possible of future medical suits from the pacemaker patients and being wrongly blamed for the pacemaker’

Locus of Control, Optimism Levels, and Perseverance during a Essay

Locus of Control, Optimism Levels, and Perseverance during a Frustration Task - Essay Example According to Strain (1993), the concept of Locus of Control has not yet been applied to the study of college students and their ability to persist at school. Individuals with internal Locus of Control are believed to be mentally more aware, able better equipped for learning, and highly motivated as compared to those with external Locus of Control (Stone and Jackson, 1975). It is hypothesised in this report that a higher degree of optimism will correlate with a greater internal Locus of Control in an individual. And that a higher level of pessimism will correlate with a greater external Locus of Control. An optimist will perceive that many aspects of life are controllable and will therefore make efforts and take risks which will promote this belief, thus turning their Locus of Control internal. Whereas pessimists perceive that they are helpless to affect the events happening around them, so they will avoid taking steps to change things and thereby change their Locus of Control to exte rnal. The study of Locus of Control - both internal and external was found to provide valuable evidences on the behaviour and approach of individuals studied in terms of their reactions to marketing approaches where the factor of luck was involved (Tosi, Rizzo, and Mero, 2000). It was found that individuals with internal Locus of Control were more vulnerable to ideas of luck than those with an external orientation Miyazaki, Anthony, and Sprott, 2001). According to Tosi and colleagues (ibid), internal control is often correlated with better and more efficient work control in terms of adjusting to work environment, satisfaction, coping with stress, as well as level of involvement in one's job. While those with an external Locus of Control might exhibit a highly negative approach towards tasks or jobs that require independent action or decision making. A deeper analysis of such negativity or pessimistic behaviour was more deeply examined by Seligman and Martin (1991), these researchers repor t a strong link between pessimism and depression and suggest that the negative acts or behaviours are most often the results of learned helplessness. In this present study, those with an internal Locus of Control will likely be able to overcome the challenges presented to them. Individuals with an external Locus of Control will be more likely to have a negative outcome during the evaluations. The tasks presented in this experiment have to do with easily solvable "Non-Frustration" puzzles and unsolvable "Frustration" puzzles. It is expected that there will be a greater degree of perseverance for the "Non-Frustration" puzzles than the "Frustration" puzzles. In regards to GESS scores, the hypothesis is that the higher the score the more likely the test subject will be willing to persevere with a Frustration puzzle than those with a lower GESS score. Similarly, with a higher ICI score the hypothesis is that the subject will have greater perseverance with the Frustration puzzle than thos e with a lower ICI score. In summary, three hypotheses will be tested in this study. Hypothesis 1 is that there exists a relationship between Internal versus External Locus of Control and Optimism and Pessimism as measured by the GESS and ICI. Hypothesis 2 is that the GESS and

Relationship between Yoga and Life Satisfaction | Methods

Relationship between Yoga and Life Satisfaction | Methods Criterion-related Validity: Satisfaction With Life Scale correlated with ten other measures of subjective well-being (SWB). Most measures correlated at an r = .50 and above (Diener and Pavot, 1993). Reliability The Satisfaction With Life Scale has shown strong internal reliability of 0.57 – 0.75 in a sample of undergraduate university students and from 0.63 – 0.81 in a sample of elderly persons (Diener et al., 1985 cited in Teasell, 2011) and moderate temporal stability. The test-retest reliability coefficient was 0.82 for a 2-month interval and 0.84 for a 2-week interval. Test-retest reliability of 0.83 was established for 2 weeks to 4 years interval (Diener, 1985 cited in Teasell, 2011). Normative data Normative data is available for a diverse population including older adults, college students, prisoners, brain injury patients and abused women (Diener and Pavot, 1993). 3.3.3. PROCEDURE Stratified random sampling was used where the sample was divided into two strata for the two comparative groups of yoga practitioners and non-yoga practitioners. In order to administer the test, permission was taken from Yoga institutes, yoga classes and companies, and consent was taken from prospective subjects for the sample of this research study. Following their consent, each individual was assured that no information would be disclosed and the same would be used purely for research purposes. On agreement of these terms, demographic details were taken, the standardized instructions were given and the Satisfaction with Life Scale was administered. As such, life satisfaction was not sensitive to testing conditions (Kozma, Stone and Stones, 1997). The sample was also debriefed about the objective of the current research and was appreciated for their co-operation and time. 3.3.4. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN A randomized between-group post-test only design was employed for the study. Life satisfaction of two independent groups will be compared. The graphical representation of the experimental design is as follows: OÄÂ ± R O2 Where R denotes random selection of the sample O denotes the Life Satisfaction scores on the Satisfaction With Life Scale OÄÂ ± denotes the Life Satisfaction scores of Yoga Practitioners on the Satisfaction With Life Scale O2 denotes the Life Satisfaction scores of Non-Yoga Practitioners on the Satisfaction With Life Scale 3.3.5. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS T-test is the appropriate analysis for a randomized between-group post-test only experimental design because it is used to compare the means of two independent samples and to determine if there is significant difference between them. Thus, the statistical analysis of the T-test was used to study if there was significant difference in the means of the two comparative groups on Life Satisfaction measured by the Satisfaction With Life Scale. 3.4. SUMMARY This chapter described the methodology employed for this research. This included the variables under study with their operational definitions, the controlled variables, and the hypothesis formulated on the basis of literature review. It also described the sample under study, the tool employed, the procedure followed for data collection, the experimental design and the statistical analysis. CHAPTER 4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 4.1. INTRODUCTION This chapter comprises of the two sections namely, the statistical analysis of the data obtained and the discussion of the results. 4.2. RESULTS This section entails the statistical analysis of the obtained data for the two groups, yoga practitioners and non-yoga practitioners using Descriptive Statistics and Independent Samples T-test. Table 4.1. (a) showing Descriptive Statistics for Yoga Practitioners and Non Yoga Practitioners on the Satisfaction With Life Scale. From Table 4.1. (a) showing the descriptive statistics for the two comparative groups it was observed that the total sample (N) consisted of 200 individuals, 100 yoga practitioners and 100 non-yoga practitioners. For the group of non-yoga practitioners, the Mean was calculated to be 23.71 with a Standard Deviation of 3.19. For the group of yoga practitioners, the Mean was calculated to be 27.75 with a Standard Deviation of 2.98. Table 4.1. (b) showing Independent Sample T-test for the sample of Yoga Practitioners and Non-Yoga Practitioners on Life Satisfaction. Table 4.1. (b) shows the Independence Sample T-test for the two comparative groups, yoga practitioners and non-yoga practitioners on life satisfaction. In the Levenes Test for Equality of Variances, the F value obtained was 0.51 which was significant at the 0.47 level indicating that the homogeneity in the sample was maintained. Thus, equal variances were assumed. In the T-test for Equality of Means, the t value obtained was 9.22 with df value (degree of freedom) of 198 which was significant at the 0.000 level. The mean difference obtained was 4.04. The significant difference obtained between the two comparative groups thus indicated that yoga practitioners showed significantly higher life satisfaction compared to non-yoga practitioners. 4.3. DISCUSSION The present study is a comparative study of yoga practitioners and non-yoga practitioners on life satisfaction. From the above section, the t value of 9.22 was significant at the 0.000 level. Thus the hypothesis stating that ‘the scores on life satisfaction will be significantly higher for yoga practitioners than non-yoga practitioners’ was accepted because the statistical analysis of the obtained data showed a significant difference between the two groups. In congruence to the above findings, previous researches done on the practice of yoga and satisfaction with life are listed below. Gharote (1982) studied the psychophysiological effects of meditation (Pranayama) and yogasanas on personality and use of yoga in therapy over a period of one year on several individuals who enrolled at the College of Yoga and Cultural Synthesis at Kaivalyadhyama, Lonavala. On various testing grounds, meditation and yogasanas decreased neuroticism, increased extroversion and self-control, self-actualization, happiness and psychological well-being (Gharote, 1982). From the above study it was inferred that practice of yoga increased happiness and life satisfaction. Bhushan (1998) studied the effect of a 14 month yoga course on measures of psychological well-being. The Satisfaction With Life Scale and Spielberger’s State Trait Anxiety Inventory were administered before and after the yoga course to 139 employed individuals. When the pre and post intervention scores obtained for the two variables, life satisfaction and anxiety were compared, an interesting finding was seen. There was a significant decrease for those with initial high levels of anxiety, and life satisfaction had increased after the yoga course (Bhushan, 1998 cited in Thomas, 2008) From the above study it was inferred that yoga increased life satisfaction and reduced anxiety. Jhansi (2007) studied the impact of yoga training on self-ideal disparity (incongruence between real self and ideal self) and psychological well-being on an experimental sample of 19 adults who had completed a yoga training course for six months and a control sample of 19 adults who had newly enrolled for the same. The experimental sample was tested after their yoga course and the control sample was tested before it on self-ideal disparity and on a scale of psychological well-being. Results revealed that the experimental group showed

The Caspian Basin and the Caspian Environment Programme Essay -- Natur

The Caspian Basin and the Caspian Environment Programme The Caspian Basin is a unique ecosystem, the largest inland body of water in the world; and yet its importance in global politics is much more linked to its wealth of natural resources of oil and gas, rather than to any intrinsic environmental worth. This paper will analyse the policy process concerning a regional international regime, the Caspian Environment Programme (CEP). This organisation was initiated by major external donor actors, including the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the World Bank, yet intimately involves the five littoral states of the Caspian: the four ex-republics of the Former Soviet Union (FSU) – Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan – as well as the Islamic Republic of Iran. When considering the area of policy process analysis, it is essential to remember the complexity involved, but most importantly, that the various elements, whether the actors, institutions, or the instru ments involved, are all influenced and shaped by how the process has developed before. It is this interaction of change, a product of policy feedback and learning, together with continuity, which informs the policy process. While the CEP is a new organisation (officially established from mid-1998), it is heavily influenced by the inputs of the aforementioned donor agencies, which are operating within institutional constraints and a contextual process. In addition, when analysing the efforts to safeguard the ecological and environmental aspects of the Caspian, there is the problem of common pool resources, where there is every incentive to exploit the natural resource wealth, while taking little responsibil... ...g/unep/section2.htm UNDP: http://www.caspianenvironment.org/undp.htm World Bank: http://www.caspianenvironment.org/wb.htm Saiko, T. A. and Zonn, I. S. (1996). "Europe’s First Desert." In Glantz, M. H. and Zonn, I. S. (eds.) Scientific, Environmental, and Political Issues in the Circum-Caspian Region. (pp.141-144) Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers. Sievers, E. W. (2001). "The Caspian, Regional Seas, and the Case for a Cultural Study of Law." Georgetown International Environmental Law Review, 13, pp.361-. State Dept on-line sources: http://usinfo.state.gov/regional/nea/mena/caspdip.htm#9 Vinogradov, S. V. (1996). "Toward Regional Cooperation in the Caspian: A Legal Perspective." In Glantz, M. H. and Zonn, I. S. (eds.) Scientific, Environmental, and Political Issues in the Circum-Caspian Region. (pp.53-66) Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Operations Management in Daimond Manufacturing Essay

Definition Operation Management is the activity of managing the resources which produce and deliver goods and services (Slack et al, 2010). These activities commences from the very initial production stage of information gathering right up to the final stage of consumer consumption of the product. Every organization does operation management even if they do not notice it. All organizations produce goods and/or services and to create goods and/or services, the organization must perform a number of operations which must be effectively and efficiently managed. 1. 2 Role of Operations Management Operations Management is of prime importance in all sectors, cells, functions, units and groups within the organization. An organization is a system and according to the business dictionary, (http://www. businessdictionary. com/definition/system. html) a system is ‘An organized, purposeful structure that consists of interrelated and interdependent elements (components, entities, factors, members, parts etc. ). These elements continually influence one another (directly or indirectly) to maintain their activity and the existence of the system, in order to achieve the goal of the system’. Read more: http://www. usinessdictionary. com/definition/system. html#ixzz2QSyXAP1f . All employees are part of this system and have a common interest in making the consumer to receive goods and/or services in the best way possible. So I will say every manager in every part of the organization is to some extent an operational manager. According to James (2011), the role of operations manag ement is to manage the transformation of an organization’s inputs into finished goods and services using processes. Processes are actually present in all areas of the organization from Human Resource to Finance to Marketing to Procurement etc. 1. The ‘Input – Transformation – Output’ process Resources can either be transforming resources or transformed resources. After the transformation process is complete, transforming resources give rise to transformed resources. According to James (2011), there are 2 main types of transforming resources: * Facility which comprises of land, building, plant and equipment. * Staff which comprises of everyone involved in the operation process. There are 3 main types of transformed resources: * Material. Transformation can be physical (manufacturing), by location (transportation), by storage (warehousing), or by ownership (retail). Information. Transformation can be by property (accountant’s information), by p ossession (market research), by storage (libraries) or by location (telecommunication). * Customer. Transformation can either be physical (plastic surgery), by storage (hotel accommodation), by location (airline transport), by physiological state (hospital), or by psychological state (entertainment). Input Output Input that will be transformed * Material * Information * Customer Input that will transform * People * Facility * Goods * Services Transformation Input Output Input that will be transformed * Material * Information * Customer Input that will transform * People * Facility * Goods * Services Transformation Figure 1: The ‘Input-Transformation-Output’ process 2 Operations Strategy 2. 1 Definition Strategy is defined by Johnson et al, (2008) as ‘the direction and scope of an organization over the long term: ideally, which matches its resources to its changing environment and in particular its markets, customers or clients so as to meet stakeholder expectations. ’ 3. 2 Levels of Strategy Strategy can be viewed from 3 levels which are: The Corporate level: This level looks at the long term position of the company. It answers questions like ‘where will the organization be in 10 years? Or are we going to launch a new product in a new market? ’ The Business level: This level looks at the market and is concerned with the goods and services which the organization has to offer. It answers questions like ‘how do we compete? ’ The Functional level: This level deals with the functional aspect of the organization like finance, marketing, human resource etc. It answers questions like ‘how do we manage our financial resources’. . 3 Operations Strategy Operations strategy is the total pattern of decisions which shape the long-term capabilities of any operation and their contribution to overall strategy, through the reconciliation of market requirements with operations resources (Slack and Lewis, 2011). A 5 step structure has been designed by Hill (2005) so as to design and understand a goo d operation strategy. The steps are as follows: 1. Define Corporate Objectives Here, long term objectives are set-up so as to give the company balance and a good direction. At this stage, Sparkle does environmental scanning and the company also looks at its core competences, core processes and its global objectives. Performance Indicators (KPIs) are also established here so as monitor the accomplishment of these objectives. Top management uses a number of models which includes PESTEL, SWOT and Porter’s 5 forces. See appendix A. 2. Set Marketing Strategies Here Sparkle identifies the market it wants to compete in and then it looks on how to compete in these markets. Ansoff’s matrix is used. | New Product| Existing Product| NewMarket| Diversification| Market Development| Existing Market| Product Development| Market Penetration/ Market Growth| Figure 5: Ansoff Matrix. Source: Kaplan Financial Ltd, 2008. Sparkle uses the market penetration/market growth pathway for now. With time, they will start manufacturing out of the UK thus implementing the market development strategy. It is yet not known if they are thinking of one day starting up the production of a new product. 3. How do we gain competitive advantage? At this stage of Hill’s structure, the organization is to find ways to make its product win other products in the market. For this to happen, the organization must have a base to make its competition and this base is usually one or more of the following performance objectives: speed, quality, cost, dependability and flexibility. See chapter 3. Sparkle uses the above performance objectives to gain competitive advantage but it must be noted that, competitive advantage must: * Be real * Add value (to the consumer) and * Be difficult to imitate. 4. Choose a delivery system Here, the organization has to choose an appropriate delivery system so as to meet up with speed and maybe dependability. In Sparkle, most orders are icked up by the customer but if not, Sparkle uses their vans which have a high level of security for close distances or they post the jewelry for faraway distances. 5. Choose your Infrastructure The company at this phase has to choose all necessary infrastructures that it has to obtain so as to gain an edge over its competitors in the market. Different organizations in different industries wi ll need different types of infrastructures. But in the diamond manufacture industry, the infrastructures are almost the same and can hardly give competitive advantage. 3 Performance Objectives In the present congested and very competitive business environment, companies must do something extra so as to stand out of the crowd. For them to do this, they must react to what customers value and these fall into the following category. They are called performance objectives. 1. Cost 2. Quality 3. Dependability 4. Reliability 5. Speed Sparkle is aware of the tight competition in the diamond market and it takes its performance objectives very seriously so as to gain competitive advantage. Before achieving the above performance objectives, they must achieve the 4 Cs (see appendix B). * Cost. The principle of cost is doing things cheaply. Sparkle changes its processes, its materials and its suppliers every now and then so as to operate on a lower cost scale. They buy rough diamonds directly from the companies who buy them from the mine and sometimes the make orders directly from the mine so as to reduce cost because the more intermediaries there are, the higher the final price. They sometimes buy more rough diamonds than what the actually need so as to gain discount for bulk buying. They automate most of their processes to reduce the number of hours worked by human beings thus reducing total wages. Quality. This involves producing durable high standard error-free goods that consumers perceived to the good. In the fashion business, quality is king because consumers are becoming more conscious of what they wear. One can say that everything in the diamond industry is of good quality so in this kind of high standard industry, quality is not the issue but superb quality. Spark le buys the best of the rough stones which are hand-picked one after the other so that their final product will be of the best quality and they will have very little waste during production. * Dependability. This is doing everything on time so as to keep commitments and promises made to customers. Sparkle has a track record and reputation of never keeping its customers waiting. Customers’ diamonds are always fully processed before the pick-up date. Customers love coming to this organization because they know they can rely on them when it comes to delivery. There was a scandal in March 2008 in Real Diamonds where a couple arrange for their wedding rings costing thousands of pounds to be manufactured but the company was unable to meet up with the due date so the couple had to use different rings for the wedding. Flexibility. This is being able to change what you produce or how you produce it. Sparkle is very flexible in regards to their products because they produce apparently anything requested by the customer. We pride ourselves on being different, you won’t find our jewelry just anywhere, we appreciate that you want something special to you (Source: sparlediamonds. com/abo ut). They manufacture dressing rings, marriage rings, engagement rings, necklaces, earrings, bracelets, bangles and designers jewelry out of diamond. Over the years, they have come up with different diamond designs thought by others as impossible and have now gained a name as being the company that uses diamond to manufacture anything and everything. On the other hand, their production process is flexible too but not very flexible. They change little bits of their production process all the time to cut down cost and to increase the quality of the diamonds but this change is never a big change (process improvement). Figure 5: Different items made out of diamond. Source: * Speed. This can be described as how responsive an organization is to the customers’ demands and complain. It is a measure of the time between a customer’s order or complain to the time when that customer’s order or complain is sorted out fully. Sparkle is very fast in dealing with complains. Any customer who comes to the company with a complaint is not allowed to leave when the matter concerned has not been resolved. Complains made online take a maximum of 2 working days to be dealt with and those by post takes a little more time. Figure 5: Different colors of diamond. Source: 4 Product Design . 1 Definition Product/service design is the process of defining the specification of products and/or services in order for them to fulfill a specific market need (Slack et al, 2009). According to Russell and Taylor (2009), new product designs can provide a competitive edge by bringing new ideas to the market quickly, doing a better job of satisfying customers’ needs, or be ing easier to manufacture, use and repair. Product design is of great importance in any organization because consumers are becoming more and more conscious of the products they consume and their contents. Almost everybody in the organization is involved in product design because bringing in a new product design is not just about the market requirement but it is also about anticipating future demand and this needs imagination and creativity. In coming out with a good product design, market requirements, technical issues, cost, quality, investment information and the target market must be considered and dealt with appropriately. Diamond design ‘step by step’ Various steps are followed when coming out with a good diamond design. 1. Generating Ideas Ideas to bring up a new diamond designs can come from anywhere and comes from everywhere. Some organizations look only within the organization and come up with a diamond design but this approach is very dangerous because it can easily back fire leading to a poor design. Ideas in Sparkle usually come from: * The customers who will use the product. Most at times, the customer comes to the organization with a design in mind. The design team in the organization then sits with the customer and adds ideas to perfect the customer’s request. * The employees who serve the customers. These groups of persons know exactly what customers wants because they are the people who take customers specifications, demands and complaints. They play an important role in the creation of a new design. * Competitors and any new technology. Sparkle sometimes looks at the designs of its competitors like Avi Paz and tries to modify it so as to create something better than theirs. * Research and Development (R&D) Department. One of their major roles in the organization is to look for new possible designs which will entice customers. It is at this stage that the diamond color, size, weight, cut grade, clarity grade, carat weight, laser inscription and shape is decided. Figure 4: Computer simulated diamond designing in progress. Source: www. sparklediamonds. com 2. Product Screening According to Slack et al (2009), not all concepts and ideas generated will be capable of being developed into products and/or services. Each idea generated is taken and examined to see whether or not they are acceptable, feasible and vulnerable. Fig 5 illustrates. Figure 5| Some typical evaluation questions for marketing, operations and finance. | Evaluation Criteria| Marketing| Operations| Finance| Feasibility| Is the market likely to be big enough? | Do we have capabilities to produce it? Do we have access to sufficient finance to develop and launch it? | Acceptability| How much market share could it gain? | How much will we have to reorganize our activities to produce it? | How much financial return will there be on our investment? | Vulnerability| What is the risk of it failing in the market place? | What is the risk of us being able to produce it acceptable? | How much money could we lose if things do not go as planned? | Fi g 5: Slack et al (2009) Some typical evaluation questions for marketing, operations and finance [e-book] p. 89 3. Preliminary Design At this stage, the design is reviewed by the cutters and polishers to see if the can really produce the diamond and any unnecessary complexity in the diamond’s design is eliminated because such complexities can build cost. For example; there are some unnecessary and unnoticed cuts in a diamond’s design but these cuts could split the whole diamond if not done carefully. Because customers will not even notice the additional cuts and even if they do, they will not be willing to pay an addition for it so the cuts are eliminated. Figure 4: Different diamond designs (drawing). Source: Figure 4: Different diamond designs. Source: 4. Final Design After all the above has been done, a prototype is then created out of glass and tested to see if it meets market requirements, technical requirements and the financial limit. Tangible prototypes are created and virtual (computer simulations) model too to properly assess the diamond before production goes any further. Sometimes, customers are called in to see the prototype and give their feedback from which some adjustments may be made on the product’s design. An after acceptance, diamond cutting commences. Figure 5: Prototype diamond made out of fine glass. Source: 5 Process Design 5. 1 Definition Process design is Sequence of interdependent and linked procedures which, at every stage, consume one or more resources (employee time, energy, machines, money) to convert inputs (data, material, parts, etc. ) into outputs. These outputs then serve as inputs for the next stage until a known goal or end result is reached (www. businessdictionary. com). Read more: http://www. businessdictionary. com/definition/process. tml#ixzz2QTQAtoBi When deciding a product design, it is advisable to simultaneously come up with a matching process design. This will entail the flow of the process and Barnes (2008) said that the design of processes is different in all organizations and these designs will be based on the volume and variety of the demand for the product in the market. He further categorized the processes under project, jobbing, batch, line and conti nuous. Types of Processes There are different production processes namely project, jobbing, batch, line and continuous. See Appendix C. Sparkle is in a business of very expensive products which are very small in size so they do jobbing. Customers usually give orders which are produced by the company (make to order). They usually hold little or no fully-processed inventory. The Production Process Diamond ore is sorted by density using X-rays. Before that technology became available, grease belts were used to separate diamonds from the rest of the ore, due to the diamonds’ greater tendency than other minerals to stick to grease. Rough diamonds are then set to be cut as gemstones in the cutting laboratory. A diamond has different cuts and different professional specialize on different cuts. This is the most daunting task of diamond production because a bad cut will cost the company a fortune. Figure 5: Diamond plan before cutting. Source Cutting produces the facets associated with a diamond. The angles of the facets maximize light, giving the diamond its greatest possible luster (dispersion of white light). The cutting process can take as much as 50% of a rough diamond’s weight. Figure 5: Illustration of diamond facets. Source: A number of factors come into play when deciding how a diamond should be cut. X-rays are employed to analyze the stone’s crystallographic structure, its hardness and ability to cleave. The diamond’s flaws are considered, and the cutter decides which to remove and which can remain. Either a hammer or a diamond saw can be used to split the diamond – the hammer is quicker, but the saw is surer. Figure 5: Diamond cutting. Source: A number of institutes in the diamond industry offer courses for diamond cutters, but the bulk and most crucial part of the training for this delicate trade take place during the cutter’s apprenticeship. A diamond may get its final cut from many skilled hands: the diamond marker or designer; the diamond sawyer; the diamond cutter or brute; the cross-worker; and the brillianteer. After the initial cutting, diamonds undergo the polishing stages, usually performed by a technician as the process is a standard one. Polished diamonds are reexamined for flaws, which can be addressed through enhancement techniques or disguised when set in jewelry. Figure 5: Diamond Polishing. Source: Finally, the polished diamonds are sold to individuals, retailers, wholesalers and jewelry shops. Figure 5: Diamond quality check. Source 6 Planning, Control ;amp; Innovation In any good type of project or manufacture to be successful, it must be planned at the very beginning and at the end, it has to be controlled to make sure that the planned processes and cost is not very different from the actual. Businesses must also continuously innovate so as to move line to line with the changing tastes of consumers and to beat numerous designs from competitors. 6. 1 Planning Eur says this about planning â€Å"It lists the phases and encapsulates all the main parameters, standards and requirements of the project in terms of time, cost and quality/performance by setting out the ‘Why’, ‘What’, ‘When’, ‘Who’, ‘Where’, and ‘How’, of the project. † Planning therefore looks at the entire process, product and project but in an imaginary form which has not yet happened but it is wished that it should happen that way. 6. 1. 1 Advantages of Planning 1. It gives direction of what has to be done and how it has to be done. 2. It assigns responsibilities on every person thus answering â€Å"Who does what? 3. A good plan will see problems a project, product or process will encounter before the problem strikes. 4. A plan helps us to manage cost, quality and design side by side with the profit we will want to make on the product. 5. Plans are used to assess how well a product, process, p roject or person has done. 6. 1. 2 Disadvantages of Planning 1. It is usually made up by top management and given to the employees down the management ladder who just follow it. 2. Plans are usually followed to the latter. Even when some changes have to done, it is not because a plan is being followed. 3. Plans are usually just estimates and it has no use in turbulent economic environments as the plan and the actual are usually very different. 6. 2 Control Control involves measuring the actual results against the plan and then taking action to adjust actual performance so that it moves in line with the plan. So in other words, control is only possible when we have a plan. Control has a feedback phase and this involves adjusting the actual to move in line with the plan or reporting differences between actual and budget so that there may be no such discrepancies in the future. 6. 3 Innovation Innovation is defined by the oxford dictionary as â€Å"changing something established by introducing new methods, ideas or products. † Just like there is no control where there is no plan, there is no innovation where there is no control. They all rely on one another. After control has been done, feedback is sent back and improvement or innovation is made. But in the complex business environment operating now, innovation just not just come from within the company but from outside the company like from competitors and especially from the consumers due to the rapid change in customers taste, design and fashion. In the diamond manufacture industry, there are many different innovative ways manufacturing diamonds and Sparkle has had the following innovations: 1. The Supercut design Sparkle has introduced the innovative supercut design into the industry: a patented ideal emerald cut, with more than twice the facets of a traditional Emerald – providing unparalleled brilliance and fire. The culmination of three years of research, the supercut gives extraordinary brilliance and reflection and this innovation gives Sparkle competitive advantage in terms of having good designs with extraordinary glittering. 2. Precision cutting Since 2010, Sparkle has brought in a technology of cutting the diamonds using computer software and this cut is so exact that less than 0. 000002% waste is created from diamond cutting. Waste use to be about 0. 5% during diamond cutting and this innovation has caused drastic cost saving making Sparkle to be more competitive in terms of cost. 3. Sparkle offers a wide range of jewelry manufacturing processes, including design, modeling, prototyping, grooving, setting, finishing and meticulous quality control; all featuring our own fine diamonds, and designed for clients’ to sell under their private labels. . 4 The ‘Planning – Control – Innovation’ Cycle. From the above notes, it can be seen that planning, control and innovation work together. Sparkle’s cycle looks like this. Plan Procurement of unrefined stones. Process the stones into fine diamond. Sell and make a reasonable gain. Actual Procurement of unrefined stones. Process the stones into fine diamond. Sell and make a reasonable gain. Control Looks at the difference between what was planned and what actually happened. External Information Customer specific design New tastes and fashion Design from competitors Market Research (R&D) Feedback and Innovation Plan Procurement of unrefined stones. Process the stones into fine diamond. Sell and make a reasonable gain. Actual Procurement of unrefined stones. Process the stones into fine diamond. Sell and make a reasonable gain. Control Looks at the difference between what was planned and what actually happened. External Information Customer specific design New tastes and fashion Design from competitors Market Research (R&D) Feedback and Innovation Figure 7. The ‘planning-control-innovation’ cycle. 6. Changes happening in the diamond industry. * Researchers are on the verge of bringing in new materials which reflect light better than diamond and these materials are stronger and more durable than diamond. But, they will be far cheaper than diamonds and this is going to be a big problem to diamond manufacturers as the demand for diamond will surely drop. An example is synthetic stones. * In response to growing concern over illic it trade in conflict or â€Å"blood† diamonds, the United Nations General Assembly established the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme in 2003. This scheme is going to make sure of the source of every single diamond so as to ensure that they are from a genuine source. This happening will increase the price of diamond because more than 55% of diamonds are from Africa and the mines there are operated by very cheap labor and sometimes by slaves, women and children. The UN will come in and stop this practice thus increasing the cost of labor, working conditions and ultimately the price for diamonds. 7 Quality Management Quality is one of the performance objectives and it is taken very seriously by all organizations because if achieved, may give them competitive advantage. Some organizations rely on quality more than others and the fashion and health industry takes quality as primary considering the fact that people want to look good and in good health. Quality is a matter of perception so what can be called quality for A might not necessarily be called quality for B. According to Garvin (1984), the attributes in quality for a product are: * Performance * Features * Reliability * Conformance * Durability * Serviceability * Aesthetics * Other perceptions Parasuraman et al. (1985), on the other hand listed 5 attributes in defining what is quality of a service? nd they are: * Reliability – Are we always going to get on time delivery? * Responsiveness – Are the always going to respond quickly to our demands and complaints? * Assurance – Are we assured of their competence? * Empathy – Does the organization feel and understand customers’ needs and concerns? * Tangibles – Is the physical surrounding conducive? 7. 1 Qu ality in the Organization But in relation to Sparkle, the best definition of quality is that as per Slack et al. (2009) â€Å"quality is consistent conformance to customers’ expectation† and I will say and even surpassing those expectations. Sparkle uses total quality management as their quality management technique. They look for means and ways to maintain and continuously improve quality at each stage of the production process. All employees meet once a month to discuss on how to improve the organization’s present performance. Books by Deming, Crosby, Juran, Hill and other total quality management gurus are in the company’s library and research department for employees to read and be motivated to contribute into the organization’s performance. All employees are made to know that quality and customer’s requirements being met comes before any other thing. The organization has a suggestion box where employees can write any inspiring idea that comes in mind and this box is emptied every day and read by the research staff and it is summarized and sent to the manager examine. 7. 2 The Cost of Quality Quality has a cost which is like a double-edged sword meaning that good quality will have a cost and bad quality will also have a cost. 7. 2. 1 The Cost of Good Quality This is also known as the cost of quality assurance. Sparkle has a lot of this cost because they are continuously always trying to get better in quality all over the organization so as to better serve customers’ needs. The cost of quality assurance is further divided into prevention cost and appraisal cost. * Prevention cost is the cost of trying to make everything right on first attempt and some of this cost are: * Sparkle does not give a command for precious stones and wait for the stones to come. They go to the supplier’s premises and pick the stones one after the other and not in groups to ensure the best stones are taken. The supplier charges more for this. * The cost of designing the jewelry in a computer automated system and running several checks with other very expensive bespoke software before the design is confirmed. Sparkle trains its employees every 6 months and buys books to update them on new technologies and to keep their skills up and awake. * All employees are taught a wide variety of skills so that if a certain employee is not available to do a specific thing, there will always be another to do it. * Appraisal cost is concerned with controlling quality and this is achieved by testing the process before the product is manufactured and testing the product before it gets to the customer. Some of these costs are: * The cost incurred in testing all equipment, machines and ensuring staffs are fit and able before any diamond is processed. The cost of checking the diamond after manufacture by employees and with the use of a computer aided personalized software which is very expensive to make sure that the diamonds are flawless. * The time spent in testing the diamonds ensuring the pass all the set of test before and after manufacture. 7. 2. 2 The Cost of Bad Quality All organizations including Sparkle wants to evade this cost because it is very dangerous and it can even bring down the entire organization in a blink of an eye. The cost of bad quality is divied into internal failure cost and external failure cost. Internal failure cost is cost incurred before the product reaches the customer. Some of this cost are: * The cost of scrap. Diamonds are very expens ive so any little scrap of badly shaped diamond is worth a whole lot. So Sparkle makes sure the best quality diamond is procured and diamond cutting should be not less than perfect. * The cost of reshaping ill-shaped diamonds and gluing broken once. * The resources lost in repairing diamonds. Labor, machine time, and electricity are used which should have if the diamonds were made right the first time. External failure cost arises after the product has been received by the customer and some of this cost include: * The cost listening to customer complaints and responding to them. * The cost of replacing a defective diamond which a customer has rejected. This can cause the organization a fortune. * The customer might have to take the company to court and the organization will pay a huge sum if the lost the lawsuit. Some compensation may run to millions of pounds and could bring the organization to its end. * One of the most dangerous costs is that which we don’t see. An example is the lost sale and contribution. When a customer is dissatisfied, he will most at times not want to come back and he will discourage a potential customer who will discourage another customer to come to us. Saying all this, quality should be treated like an egg in the midst of rocks. 8 Supply Chain Management 8. 1 Definition Supply Chain is the management of the interconnection of organizations that relate to each other through upstream and downstream linkages between the processes that produce value to the ultimate consumer in the form of products and services (Slack et al. 2010). A supply chain is a holistic network starting from the sourcing of material, through its transportation to the organization’s premises, to manufacturing, to storage and warehousing and finally to consumers. So it is a whole system and it works as one therefore is one part of the chain is broken, the whole system will fall apart and consumers’ will not be satisfied. 8. 2 Sparkleâ⠂¬â„¢s Supple Chain Stage 1 Sparkle’s supply chain starts from the diamond mines in Africa which produce more than 50% of total diamonds to mines in India, Russia, Canada and Australia. The mines usually dug very deep but the deepest diamond mine runs for about 160km passing through sand, rocks, and gravel to be blasted drilled, crushed and processed. It should be noted that only 20% of diamonds from mines can be polised and used for jewelry; the rest is used for industrial use. The stones picked here are very rough still with no beauty (see figure 10). Stage 2 Companies and independent buyers go to these mines and buy the rough stones from the mine owners and take them to their premises for processing. These stones are then processed to make them a little bit more presentable so that diamond manufacturers can then buy them and further process them into diamonds. Diamonds at this stage looks like that in figure 11. Figure 8: Trapping stones to look for diamonds in an African mine. Source: Figure 9: A typical unprocessed diamond. Source: Figure 10: Unprocessed diamonds directly from the mine. Source Figure 11: Diamonds which have been slightly processed. Source: Stage 3 Sparkle buys the diamonds in fig. 11 and examines them with the use of a computer aided personalized software. After a series of checks, rejected diamonds will be sent back to the suppliers and the good ones will be cut into different shapes so as to give the greatest value. After cutting, the diamond goes through computer aided software to confirm its perfection and after this, it is polished and cleaned. Sparkle will also buy what the diamonds are going to be fitted on because people will scarcely buy a chunk of diamond. Diamonds are usually fitted on rings, pens, earrings, belts and many more (see figure 14). These things are usually bought from top manufacturers with good design and quality and they are usually very expensive. Figure12: Diamond cutting in Sparkle. Source: Figure 13: Diamond polishing in Sparkle Source: Stage 4 After polishing and the diamond have an unblemished shine, shape and color, it is then taken by the customers. Some of the customers ordered just a few and sometimes even just one special diamond while other big customers like jewelry shops order bigger quantities at ones. It is either Sparkle delivers the diamond to the place agreed by the customer or the customer comes to the organization’s site on an agreed date and after a phone call to pick up the diamond. The supply chain ends after the diamond has reached the customer. Figure 14: Finished diamond ready for the customer. Source: Figure 15: Diamonds bought by jewelry shops. Source: The Mine The Cutting Company Polishing Customers Jewelry Shops Manufacturing The Mine The Cutting Company Polishing Customers Jewelry Shops Manufacturing The supply chain of Sparkle is a good and effective. Its success can sometimes be attributed to the information technology they use. They use the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system which brings in data from all sources and this is used to know when suppliers have diamonds and the variouse categories, to know when jewelry shops are running short of iamonds, and many more (all discussed in chapter 9). Figure 16: Sparkle’s Supply Chain 9 Information Systems As seen in chapter 1, â€Å"Operation Management is the activity of managing the resources which produce and deliver goods and services† (Slack et al, 2010). For these activities to be properly managed, it needs the help of automated process and compu ter aided techniques. Information systems are found throughout an organization and if used well reduce costs and can be a source of gaining competitive advantage. 9. 1 Computer Aided Techniques Sparkle uses information systems in many ways in its business. Listed below are some specialized computer aided programs used. 1. They use Computer Aided Process Planning (CAPP) which gives an optimum layout of the cutting steps and their sequence (this is different for different diamonds). There are many diamond cutting machines and they all have different cutting styles and they are operated by specialist in the different cutting sectors. So the CAPP examines a diamond and gives different possible steps on which machine to use first and which not to use so as to minimize waste and give the diamond the best possible cuts so as reflect light in an optimal way. 2. They use Computer Aided Designs (CAD) to design the shape of diamonds on a computer and finished diamonds can actually be seen even before processing starts. If an error is made in the design, it can be corrected but this could have been impossible without CAD. 3. The also use Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) which takes the drawings and designs from the CAD and test them for perfection. Different test are administered and the flawlessness of a diamond can be confirmed even before manufacture. 4. Automated Material Handling (AMH) system is also used. Diamonds are very expensive and so care must be taken at each step. The AMH system improves efficiency in diamond movement, storage and retrieval. 5. The Laser Security System (LSS) is used where diamonds are kept be it rough stones, semi-processed diamonds and fully processed diamonds. Invisible laser rays crisscross the diamonds and it needs a password to be deactivated. Only top managers have the password and the password of each of them is different making it easy to know who accessed the diamond safe. If someone tries to pass through the laser rays, it can kill or paralyze them and the security alarm is automatically triggered and an automated call goes to the nearest police station. . Security Camera Systems (SCS) make use of Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) at all times to monitor the whole building especially where inventory is held. 7. The Inventory Control System (ICS) gives detail information about each diamond rough, semi-processed or fully processed held in inventory at any point in time. Management must no go into the safe to see what t hey have in stock because the ICS does it all. This system is also used online to make customers see the diamonds, its specification and all other relevant information. Figure 16: The CAD system used to design a blue diamond. Source: Figure 17: The virtual version of the diamond in fig 16. Source: 9. 2 Pros and Cons of Information Technology (IT) IT is a very necessary tool in any organization be it a big or a small one. IT has advantages and disadvantages. They are listed in Appendix D including ‘Why IT cannot replace Human Beings’. 9. 3 Information Systems ‘Information system can be defined as a set of interrelated components that collect, process, store and distribute information to support decision making and control in an organization’ (Laundon & Laundon, 2006). Most organizations use some form of computer-based technology to accumulate, organize and distribute information’ (Ted, 2011) and Sparkle is not an exception. They use a set of interrelated information systems. 9. 3. 1 Transaction Processing System (TPS) This system is used to account for day by day transactions of Sparkle. It records all sales, purchases, expenses, income, tax, bills paid, equipment bough t and all other transactions performed by organization. This system is also used to account for employee’s attendance, absences, pay, overtime, bonuses, remuneration, and all other things concerning the employees. . 3. 2 Supply Chain System (SCS) This system deals with customers and suppliers. It monitors the stock in the jewelry shops so as to know when to give the shops an offer. It monitors the stocks which are demanded more and those demanded less so as to know when to produce. It tracks frequent and valuable customers and grades them into groups so as know how to give discounts. This system also monitors the stock in the cutting companies. It looks at the new stocks and compares price side by side quality so as to know which supplier to order rough diamonds from. 9. 3. 3 Knowledge Management System (KMS) In Sparkle, all manufacturing processes are recorded and stored in the KMS. Any ideas gotten either by inspiration, customer’s requirement, employees’ suggestions or business intelligence are stored in the KMS for future use. Sparkle is said to be very innovative and has this edge over its rivals because of its mastery of the KMS. When a new employees is recruited, he has 2 weeks probation where he is taught how to operate in the organization and how processes function. Before the implementation and use of the KMS, probation was 3 months so this system has greatly reduces learning time. 9. 3. Management Information System (MIS) This system takes all the information from the above systems and summarizes them into financial statements and reports. It is used by management to make decisions on how to run and control the business. 9. 3. 5 Decision Support System (DSS) This system looks like an advance of the MIS. It takes data from all sources (internal and external) and su mmarizes them for top management to make decisions on the long term plans of the organization. Information from this system appears as statements, reports, charts, graphs, ratios, statistics and trend analysis. . 3. 6 Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) This can be called the overall system. It takes information from all sources of the organization and brings them together in one large database. From there, required information is taken out and implemented or used to make decisions in Sparkle. It should be noted that all other systems deposit their information in ERP. Figure 18: Example of ERP. Source: LSBF MBA Intake 14, SOM Lecture 3, Session 9, Slide 34. 9. 6 Intranet and Extranet Sparkle uses intranets to deal with its employees and management. Staffs all have a particular passcode which the use and your code depends on your position within the company. Some passcodes can access some areas which other codes can’t. They also use extranets to communicate and share information with customers, suppliers, some competitors and the government. This system is more secured and less vulnerable to attacks as compared to the internet. 10 Job Design It is said that the blood stream of any organization is money and I will say the skeleton holding an organization and making it stand up straight is its workforce. An organization manages resources so as to be able to deliver acceptable goods and services to its customers and one of these resources is its workforce. An organization’s workforce is its most valuable and the most complicated of all its resources because unlike other resources, humans have a mind of their own. To be able to deal with human beings, you must know what they like and this is different for different people but these needs though different are similar. In providing this, it motivates the employees and when motivated, they produce better output eventually yielding higher profits, quality and flexibility. 0. 1 Motivation Motivation is the urge to take action to achieve something or to avoid something (BPP, 2010). Motivation can either be intrinsic (wanting to satisfy an internal urge like being happy to be able to help others) or extrinsic (reliant on tangible rewards like money, fame and power). Continues in Appendix E. 10. 2 Empowerment This is the act of delegati ng work to employees making them feel more superior because of the added responsibility and new accountability. This is good motivation for many employees. ‘Job design is about how people carry out their tasks within a process. It defines the way they go about their working lives. It positions the expectations of what is required of them, and it influences their perceptions of how they contribute to the organization. It also defines their activities in relation to their work colleagues and it channels the flows of communication between different parts of the operation. But, of most importance, it helps to develop the culture of the organization – its shared values, beliefs and assumptions’ (Slack, 2009). In designing any job, the following have to be put into consideration. * Safety. Jobs should be design in a way that it will bring no harm to the employee be it physical, psychological, mental or emotional harm. Workers in the mines especially those in Africa are exposed to a lot of risk and still earn less than the minimum wage. The mine owners wanting to make more profits cut down on cost by reducing expenditure on employees’ safety. The employees of Sparkle all have safety equipment like hats and new ideas are being implemented to make the process safer. The organization has also fully insured its entire staff. * Legal and Ethical Issues. Jobs should be design in such a manner that those doing the job will not go against the law or their code of ethics. * Own time. Job design should create time for the employees to catch up on something other than work. For example visiting new places, being with their families or performing other social activities. Employees working in the mines have little of this, but Sparkle’s employees all have right to a paid holiday and taking permission to be out of work if the need arises. * Employee’s Ability. An employee’s ability to do the job or a range of task should be considered before designing the job. For example; only heavy built men carry cargo from the trucks into the warehouse because of their physical ability to carry heavy weight unlike their colleagues. * Wage and Benefits: In designing any job, the wage and benefits to be paid for the job should be considered if not the employee can be over-paid or under-paid for the job. 10. 3 Division of Labor Unlike traditional production approaches that stipulated that one person should know everything in the company so that he can serve any function, Henry Ford came in with the idea that one man should only know one thing and should be an expert in that thing. He suggested that with specializing in a particular function, the whole organization will be specialized and will give the best quality goods and services. So jobs should be broken down into smaller portions and given to different individuals who will specialize and bring forth quality cost-effective products. 10. 3. 1 Advantages of Division of Labor (Slack, 2009) * It is easier to learn. Short and simple tasks are easier to learn compared with long and complex tasks. This will be very advantageous when training new recruits because training will take a shorter time and it will be better mastered. Automating. Short and simple task are easily automated as compared to long and complex task. * Time. More time is spent on one long task compare to time if that task was broken down. This extra time is as a result of picking different tools up and putting them down, looking for equipment, thinking of what to do next etc. 10. 3. 2 Disadvantages of Division of Labor (Slack, 2009) * Monotony. The same small task will be repeated every hour, week, month and year. This will make the job boring and less fulfilling thus resulting to absenteeism, staff turnover and errors. Over-reliance. If one employee is absent, no other will be able to perform his duty and this may bring the whole production process to a halt. * No flexibility. Employees let to do one particular thing over the years turn to lose the skill of being able to learn another thing. So if the production process was to change, many employees will not be able to cope with learning how to perform a new task. * Physical Injury. The repetitive use of one part of your body let’s say arm or wrist will in the long run cause pain to that part. This is known as Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI). Sparkle teaches their employees a wide range of task during their probation but the employees are assigned to do just one thing when they fully start work. Teaching them a wide range of task is to expose them to the processes of the whole organization so that they can contribute ideas in the development of a department or process which does not involve them. Another reason for giving employees holistic training is to make an employee being able to do an absent employee’s work. This tactic was also implemented because the organization did not want an employee to feel indispensable. 0. 4 Job Design Approaches In coming out with a good job designing, the following approaches should be implemented:- 1. Job Simplification: The organization tries to the range of task and their complexities. Polishing diamond use to be a very complex task at Sparkle but with the introduction of DiamondShines TM a specialized software where diamond polishing is programmed with exact details. 2. Job Ro tation: This is periodically interchanging employees performing different task to do the task of the other. Sparkle does a lot of job rotation and this makes the employees’ job more exciting. Job rotation is successful in this organization because they train their employees to perform a number of task but if division of labor was strictly implemented, this approach could have been impossible because employee A will not have a clue of employees B’s task. 3. Job Enlargement: This involves integrating same level tasks to the ones already performed by the employees to make the job more exciting. This is not practiced in Sparkle. 4. Job Enrichment: This involves integrating different level tasks to the ones performed by the employees. The new tasks are usually higher level tasks giving employees more responsibility and decision making power. Sparkle once a week picks an employee randomly and gives him the power of a supervisory manager so as to see the changes and innovations he is going to bring to the organization. Sparkle also makes employees work in small teams and the organization creates a competitive strain amongst the teams. The competition amongst the teams brings a lot of hard work, efficiency and effectiveness.