Fear Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Dread - Essay Example It is the comprehension of this understudy the recognizable proof by Phil Barker of the primary purposes behind the foundation and practice of dread inside the current model is totally right. One need look no farther than the hidden explanations behind the upsurge in radical Islamic psychological warfare, the ethnocentric and bigot activities of gatherings that accept their lifestyle is tested, or the manners by which social and additionally strictly minimized networks coordinate the comprehension of dread inside their positions to comprehend and value the manners by which this assists with characterizing practically every single part of human communication and personality. Similarly, Jim Buren, the hero of Cather’s My Antonia, speaks to a reiteration of fears that serve to give a significant and order impact in transit that the character coordinates with his general surroundings. Normally, the story itself is for the most part worked around Jim’s fascination in Antonia ; in any case, the sub plot that overruns the story is with respect to the way in which Jim Buren battles between the portrayal of what others see that he ought to be and what he himself wishes to be. This inspires a lot of fears in Jim concerning how others see him and it is one of the principle reasons why he decides to get hitched rashly and to a lady that he isn't genuinely enamored with. Believing that the riches and status that the lady gives will be more valuable than genuine affection, Jim races into a wedding of accommodation that will at last make him a more disillusioned and less fulfilled individual. At last, the decisions that Jim makes, up to and including until the finish of the novel are intelligent of the dread of reproach and analysis that others may store upon him. This is expected in huge part to the way that Jim is a pariah of the network and has set a high accentuation on the significance of incorporation as a methods for accomplishing what he set out to. At la st, likewise with numerous choices and inquiries of right or wrong, the decisions that Jim made in life assisted with pushing him to a moderately high and significant position and advance him tangibly. This status was the immediate and unchallenged consequence of the way that his inescapable dread of blame and judgment made him place a very significant level of significance upon acknowledgment that an extravagant activity and an all around regarded vocation and lucrative pay could bear the cost of him. In any case, the final product was that he was profoundly bankrupt when contrasted with Antonia. As a component of the twisted character that Jim had worked for himself, the degree of bliss that he had the option to appreciate and acknowledge in this life was lastingly decided dependent on the feelings of dread of acknowledgment and judgment that he conveyed inside him from quite a while ago. As a methods for incongruity, a similar differential that kept Antonia and Jim separated in t heir childhood, their various standpoints and perspectives, keep on giving a wide bay between the two in mature age. The story itself assists with embodying the manner by which fears can rapidly work their way into a person’s life and look to absolutely rethink the manner by which they distinguish themselves and the truth that characterizes life. As an element of

CUBA THE TOTALITARIAN REGIME THAT STILL GOES ON essays

CUBA THE TOTALITARIAN REGIME THAT STILL GOES ON expositions CUBA THE TOTALITARIAN REGIME THAT STILL GOES ON At the point when Columbus came to Cuba in 1492, he and his ancestors would likely never have envisioned of this islands result inside the hundreds of years ahead. from overcoming the nation, to its autonomy, to the authoritarian system put into, everything these significant occasions have made the island what it is today. Prior to giving the entire anecdote about the Communists, one must see how the nation was conceived so heres a smidgen of a foundation history: Spain had vanquished Cuba in 1511 under Diego Velasquez. Visit revolts neglected to end Spains brutal standard. From 1868 to 1878 happened the Armed defiance known as the Ten Years War, drove by estate proprietor Carlos Manuel de Cespedes, a co-creator of Cubas presentation of freedom. After the loss of in excess of 200,000 lives, the revolt finished in disappointment. In 1933, Fulgencio Batista drove a sergeants revolt that toppled the tyrannical principle of Gen. Grarado Machado and it was around then that Batista turned into the most influential man in Cuba. He was chosen president in 1940 and made himself head of state with authoritarian forces. Long stretches of degenerate government, psychological warfare and theft made by the United States prompted a revolt in 1958 under the authority of Fidel Castro. Batista fled to the Dominican Republic and the Fidelistas were in charge of Havana. Castro at that point got head at the youthful age of 32. From the outset individuals cheered the destruction of Batista and trusted that Castro could bring the nation the flourishing it had wanted. Tragically, in a little while, individuals came to acknowledgment that the new system had grasped Communism. At home, Castros system has made the most abusive police state mechanical assembly in the Western Hemisphere. Cuba resembles the George Orwell bad dream anticipated in the book 1984 aside from that this time the nation is set in the tropics with Big Brother brandishing a facial hair and ... <!

Our nations greatest injustice

Our nation’s greatest injustice My hometown is a real-world manifestation of the phrase the wrong side of the tracks. In fact, Im from the wrong side of TWO tracks. In Middletown, NJ, the residents on the south side of Highway 35 look down on the poorer residents from the north side. Those guys sometimes get kind of tired of getting looked down on, so they turn further north and deride the residents on the north side of Highways 36. Obviously not everyone in my hometown is a classist jerk, but more than once have I or a member of my family found ourselves in the following awkward situation while in the center of town: Person 1: The houses south of 35 really are beautiful, its a shame this area of town isnt as nice. Person 2: Yeah, but at least we arent on the other side of 36! Me/family member: Umm.guys? These socioeconomic differences manifest themselves in the townships public education system. The towns 17 elementary schools feed into its 3 middle schools, which feed into 2 high schools. Despite the fact that theyre in the same town and governed by the same school board, Middletown South High School is better funded than Middletown North High School. Period. This is just a fact of life which Ive known since I was a little kid. North is far older than South- several decades ago, back before the township was large enough to need two high schools, there was only Middletown High School. When the district decided to expand, the original building was re-named Middletown North, and the new one became High School South. Since then, South had been renovated numerous times, while North was left in the same dilapidated state it was in when South was built (until about 2001, when it finally got a much-needed makeover). In a ranking of all of New Jerseys high schools in 2008, South ranked 92 o ut of 316, while North ranked 143. It isnt fair, and it doesnt make sense, but thats just the way it is. Ask anyone. Ive known and understood this since I was a little kid. Thats not to say I accepted it, of course. When my mom couldnt explain the rationale for this discrepancy to me in the 7th grade, I declared my ambition to one day run for a position on the Middletown Township Board of Education, claiming to my mother that I, as a 12 year old, could do a better job than the current members. (Sorry to offend anyone out there who might serve on their local Board of Ed, but I rather agree with Mark Twain when he said, In the first place, God made idiots. That was just for practice. Then he made school boards.) Throughout my life I remember instance after instance of hearing about the schools (at the elementary and middle school levels as well) on the richer side of town getting everything first. New athletics uniforms, fancy science labs, you name it, South got it, and North wondered if anyone would ever replace the masking tape holding the plastic covers on the unfriendly fluorescent lights togeth er. In the interest of full disclosure: I never attended Middletown High School North. I would have- I attended its poorer cousins at the elementary and middle school levels, and was all set to enroll in the decades-old building in the fall of 2001. But my mom found a pamphlet in the Sunday newspaper one week about the Monmouth County Vocational School District (MCVSD)- a district of competitive magnet high schools with pre-professional specializations. Students from all across the county could apply to one these magnet schools, which each had a different focus- one in marine biology, one in health and medicine, one in communication technologies, and one in engineering. (Since my high school graduation theyve added another one in biotechnology.) I had absolutely zero interest in these schools, but my mom wasnt going to let me get away so easily. She dragged me to the information session of the engineering school, the dreadfully named High Technology High School. I mean, really. What, do they call it High Tech for short?! Answer: yes. How do I know? Well, after 4 years of being asked the same dumb question, you start answering with Well, what would you call it for short? So what happened? What changed? I started out that sleepy Saturday morning in the fall of my 8th grade year resentful that I had been woken up at some ungodly hour and dragged away from my cartoons, and left the school in the afternoon eager to start filling out my application. Im going to be completely honest: the descriptions of the rigorous academic program werent all that exciting. The list of technology-related classes seemed okay, but I could take them or leave them. The student to computer ratio was insane, which was sort of impressive, but thats not to say I cared much. No, what won me over, Im ashamed to say, was the building itself. It was clean. I had never seen a school building like it before in my life. The hallways were bright, the desks were free of graffiti, and after one fateful trip to the bathroom in which I discovered a door on every stall and actual running water in the sinks, I was sold. (Do as I say, not as I do. This was a stupid way to pick a high school, an d would also be a stupid way to pick a college. Just sayin. =) It had astounding ramifications on my life path, but I do think it all worked out for the best in the end.) High Tech High began my second adventure into the social ill of unequal educational opportunity. The MCVSD practices affirmative access- which means they take one student from each of the middle schools that fall under its jurisdiction, which creates maybe half of the class. (Its sort of like geographic affirmative action.) The rest of each incoming class is filled strictly by merit (meaning mostly grades, standardized test scores, and performance on an admissions exam which all applicants take), with no regard to where the students are from. The result? Holmdel, (median family income $122,785, 2.7% of families below the poverty level), is always one of the most common hometowns in each class. In contrast, Asbury Park (median family income $26,370, 29.3% of families below poverty level) usually sends one student. That student is nearly always black. In my class, he dropped out. Now you tell me: do you think that students in Holmdel are just naturally that much smarter than students in Asbury Park? It must be something in the water, right? The MCVSD is sort of like the Ivy League of public high schools. But it is public, which meant I didnt pay for it. So how did I end up with such a great education, basically for free? Extra funding from the government and, oh yeah, the little detail that each students home school district is required to pay for the students tuition in the MCVSD. I always felt a little weird about that. No doubt the extra expense of my top-notch education meant one more semester without new biology textbooks at North. (I figured South would get along okay). And what about that student from Asbury Park, whose school district had to spend to send him to a school that they hadnt even adequately prepared him for? And just like the Ivy League, my school district had its own particular flaws. I call it the legacy effect. Having a relative who attended the school doesnt give you a boost in admissions, but youre more likely to know about it and apply. If your parents went to college, theyre more likely to see k out extra challenges and programs for you in high school. If your parents are professionals, theres a much higher emphasis placed on something like going to a fancy pre-professional school. My best friend from high school is named Sarah. Her mom is a bank teller and her dad is a truck driver. My mom works in an elementary school, and my dad is a construction worker. We were pretty alone in our lower-middle class upbringings. Most of our classmates parents were doctors, lawyers, engineers, computer scientists, and consultants. It made life sort of difficult right from the start. Teacher: Okay class, today were going to learn about resistor color codes. Friend from Colts Neck (median family income $117,980): Oh, my parents taught me this years ago. Me: Whats a resistor? (For the record, my hometowns median family income is $86,124- but if you look at the neighborhood Im from, that little section off on the north side of Highway 36, that average drops almost 30% to $60,893.) Teachers often assumed a lot of us. They usually taught for those engineers kids, who almost didnt need instruction. They didnt usually notice the handful of us with glazed expressions on our faces. We were High Tech High students, wed been brought up from the crib knowing about the ferromagnetic properties of molecules, right? It got almost surreal when I started to realize that not only were my friend and I fairly alone in having non-professional parents and feeling slightly (okay, completely) overwhelmed by this school, but that we were often alone in realizing it. My richer friends had no idea how much better off they were than me to begin with. I worked hard, happened to have a natural aptitude for subjects like physics, and ended up near the top of my class- so I can almost hear their reactions to this, telling me Im exaggerating and that theres no way that they were better off when I ended up with a higher SAT score or what have you. But the honest truth was that I spent the first half of my high school career in some kind of terrified misery, drowning in math and science. I came through the fires tougher than before, but it wasnt an easy road. One memory that really sticks out in my mind is the discussion that happened during Bullying Awareness Week. My classmates and I found the weeks programs to be pretty silly- sure, bullying is a problem, but when you go to a school full of people who are ALL nerds, its much less of one, and after a week we were getting kind of sick of doing express-your-feelings-positively exercises. A discussion to this effect began on our schools message board system. A good friend of mine chimed in with a bitter and mocking comment: I mean come on, its not like fistfights are a real problem. Name one fistfight that happened in your middle school that wasnt a total joke or quickly broken up by the teachers. Name oneper week? Or per day? Wait, was he serious? Apparently, yes. Apparently, where my friend comes from, fistfights are rare and usually happen between kids who wouldnt know how to do each other damage no matter how badly they wanted to. I asked him what happened if people arranged to meet after school for a fistfight, like at the local park? What if someone brought brass knuckles? What then? Oh come on, were talking about real life, not T.V. Fistfights were a fact of life in my middle school. Meet me at McMahon Park at 3. Notes were passed, word spread, and a crowd of spectators would gather at the chosen baseball field or other landmark. Gossip about brass knuckles or a caged match on the fenced-off tennis courts would be whispered in class or passed through scribbled notes passed in the halls. A general fact of my life from the ages of 11-14, in my mind not good or bad, just the way things are. And only ten miles away, another 11 year old who would one day be one of my closest friends thought that those things only happened on T.V. His hometowns median family income? $109,760. These experiences have really driven home to me, in a pretty personal way, the very real effect that socioeconomic status has oneverything. How you grow up, your childhood experiences, your worldview, and most importantly, your educational opportunities. Well, it turns out that Im not the only person to notice these patterns. Wendy Kopp noticed it too, so she started Teach for America, an organization which recruits top students from prestigious universities and hires them to work as teachers in low income communities. In theory, these students have a double impact. First, they are intelligent and enthusiastic young people fresh out of a college, who really believe they really can make a difference in the short term and on a small scale. Second, participants will have a deep personal understanding of the problem, so when these future leaders end up in powerful positions, theyll use their understanding of the problem of education inequity to affect change on a larger scale. Obviously, the organization has its flaws. Some critics point out that most teachers study to be teachers, whereas members of Teach for America do not. Also, its sort of interesting that the organization plays the system against itself. Which is sort of cool, but the idea of having the rich and priveleged kids who went to the fanciest, most expensive colleges head into the inner city to change thingswell, that doesnt sit perfectly with me. But I ultimately think the organization does a lot of good. In some interviews Ive seen with the founder of the organization, she cites some truly incredible examples of success- like one teacher whose 6th graders entered the year with pre-K level writing skills. By the end of the year, they were on track with 6th grade skill levels. Their parents were amazed, and experienced the first ray of hope that their kids might actually go to college, something they had never considered possible before. That kind of change is incredibly inspiring, which is why Im submitting an application this year. It goes nicely hand-in-hand with my application to the Peace Corps. (Do I sound like a total hippy now? Dont worry, Im eventually going to apply to some real jobs too- you know, with the UN or World Bank. =) I know that my hometown is nothing like the inner city. I dont claim to be from a bad neighborhood, but I do think my experiences show just how pervasive this problem is- it exists in all levels of society. Not only that, but my experiences provide my own personal motivation for (hopefully) joining the organization. Ive known about educational inequality since I was a kid. And its made me mad ever since then. (Man, if only I had kept a blog as a kid. I would love to have a more accurate representation than my own faded memory of the time I went on a crusade against the local Little League for giving unfair preference to the boys baseball teams over the girls softball teams. I was a raging mad 11 year old, circulating a righteously angry petition about gender discrimination. I really havent changed much.) Teach for America considers educational inequality our nations greatest injustice. Thats a pretty hefty statement, but I have to agree that its pretty bogus that despite all of our claims to be a land of opportunity, we have a long way to go for true equality. Luckily there are people out there working for change. Some of todays other blog entries are much more far-reaching in scale. Obviously inner city schoolchildren are much better off than starving kids in Southeast Asia, or AIDS-ravaged families in sub-Saharan Africa. On the other hand, its important to remember that poverty exists in all sorts of forms and at all different levels. But no matter what reference frame youre in, poverty really affects people in many ways, and we cant just turn a blind eye to it. Sources: Top New Jersey High Schools 2008: By Rank American Fact Finder Interview with Wendy Kopp

I Am Not A Huge Believer On Conspiracy Theories, But There...

I am not a huge believer on conspiracy theories, but there’s something odd about Sandy Hook. The amount of un-answered question, break-ups in the media, and flaws in the timeline. Nothing seemed to add up about this particular â€Å"tragedy†. The farther I dug into the story, the longer I sat there in disbelief. I was scared, confused, and most of all, angry! I couldn’t believe the government I live under, the one that is supposed to keep my family safe from certain situations is staging horrific tragedies to veer the country’s attention away from other issues. The first part of the timeline is what throws everything off. At 10:14am the first gun shots were reported. An hour and one minute later, a code 403 (all EMS personnel) was broadcasted. Let me stop right there. If shots were fired at an elementary school, why did it take an hour for EMS to arrive? Reportedly, the 26 victims were all killed within the first 11 minutes. In my opinion, why would it take the chief of police so long to send all units when reports stated there were several dead with many wounded? Next, the way the media went about broadcasting the report. At 12:39pm, NBC news was the first to arrive. Upon their arrival, the world got the first look of the children exiting the building running to cover as if the shooting was still taking place. Two hours goes by, the children are allowed the exit the building at the exact time the first new chopped shows up. As the media reported, they got mixed reports of what

Racism, Sexism, And Sexism - 889 Words

The last hundred years have brought the world many valuable things; computers, better sanitation conditions, understandings of diseases, vaccines, surgery, education, and so much more. But there are so many social constructs that have made little progress such as racism, sexism, and homophobia. In reality vaccines and sexism are manmade, a vaccine is a manmade invention and sexism is a manmade idea. Neither would exist without human beings backing the idea that they are necessary. Racism is â€Å"prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one’s own race is superior (Oxford Dictionary).† Racism over the last hundred years has been directed towards Blacks, Hispanics, and Asian’s. Looking at the past in relation to racism in the United States, reveals that racism is still alive and well in 2015 just as it was in 1915. In terms of racism as a whole it would be a good point to note the immigration of the African and Caribbean people into the United States and Europe. The integration of people from Africa and the Caribbean was not a choice nor an immigration. Racism has many ties to colonization and slavery. European countries began conquering and colonizing parts of Africa in the 1880s. Colonization was hidden behind seemingly kind-hearted Christian missionaries. Colonization aimed to provide religion and humanitarian help to those in need. These missionaries helped bring European government into Africa (TheShow MoreRelatedRacism, Sexism, And Sexism Essay976 Words   |  4 Pagessocial status, enjoyments, jobs, and even more. People can often figure these things out just based on their clothes without even thinking about it. However, assumptions and stereotypes of any kind can be highly inaccurate. Clothism is as real as racism and sexism. Judging people based on the clothes they wear is the same as judging people based on their race. One thing that can be gathered about someone based on their clothes is their opinions. Political shirts saying to vote a certain way reflect theRead MoreSexism And Racism : Racism And Prejudice Essay1348 Words   |  6 PagesSexism vs Racism Discrimination and prejudice have both been a major problem in our society since the idea of gender and race contacted our brains. Everyone hopes that humankind will change and treat everyone equally and fairly, but this still has yet to happen. Mankind is still treating people as minorities without a second thought. Women are still stereotyped as being too feminine for a â€Å"man’s job†, such as construction or military forces. As well as, men being considered to manly to be ableRead MoreSexism And Racism Essay1301 Words   |  6 PagesAllison Price English 3 12 August 2017 MLA Sexism and Racism within the American Judicial System There is blatant sexism and racism within the American Judicial System shown by a lack of convictions and inconsistent sentencing. Despite many small steps forward towards equality, injustice and systemic racism still find their way into the cases and verdicts we hear on the news every day. The battle for racial and gender equality is a fight that’s been fought diligently for centuries and while stepsRead MoreOppression : Racism And Sexism949 Words   |  4 PagesOppression thrives in America because a majority of its citizens believes forms of oppression such as racism and sexism are relics of the past. What they do not know is that instead of disappearing, racism and sexism have just become so normalized in the United States to the point where people see them as just parts of everyday life. Institution are the rules and establishments put in place to help regulate peoples’ life on a social and global scale. White, straight men have been creating these institutionsRea d MoreRacism and Sexism in Education1166 Words   |  5 Pageswhich produce and maintain racism and racial hatred; the study of the interaction between social class and ethnicity in social stratification, giving rise to both vertical and horizontal segments in the social structure of societies; the sociological analysis of how these issues have contributed to the specific features of social stratification in contemporary societies. 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We al l talk about how important making a change and standing up for what is right, but no one speaks up or says anything when a topic like theseRead MoreRacism, Sexism, And Classism1188 Words   |  5 PagesMerlyn Manoj April 13, 2016 Period 2 Kale Then and Now: Changes of Racism, Sexism, and Classism In To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, Jem and Scout, the protagonists in the book, experience and learn about the problems of racism, sexism, and classism when their father, Atticus, agrees to defend Tom Robinson, an African American, in a trial. Set in the 1930s, most people were treated unfairly because of their race, gender, or social class. Even though problems about race, gender, and classRead MoreReverse Sexism : Reverse Racism And Verse Sexism1308 Words   |  6 Pagesdemonstrate that it is possible to experience some kind of reverse subjugation, right? Well no, not exactly. So, is reverse sexism possible? Is reverse racism possible? With a focus on systemic oppression in this essay, I attempt to answer these questions while defending the position that reverse racism and reverse sexism do not exist. I will discuss how reverse oppression – be it reverse racism, or female privilege – cannot exist because the very nature of oppression will not allow for it. I attempt to doRead MoreRacism And Sexism : A More Serious Issue Than Sexism1535 Words   |  7 PagesRacism and sexism are terms that have been debatable for centuries. Many argue that there is not a difference between the two. Some feel as though racism is a more serious issue than sexism and vice versa. From my perspective, racism and sexism are different, but have equal relevance in society. One factor that makes the two equal is discrimination. Racism is discrimination based on differences in color while sexism is discrimination based on gender. Racism is the belief that members of each raceRead More`` Sula `` : Themes Of Racism And Sexism1657 Words   |  7 PagesDate Word Count Racism and Sexism Throughout Toni Morrison’s novel, Sula, The two themes of racism and sexism are introduced. â€Å"The Bottom† is the African American society of which the novel is based off of. The town, itself, seems to even be a symbol of racism since it was only established because of an act of racism. The people in â€Å"The Bottom† are subjected to racism on a daily basis, however throughout the novel it becomes clear that even they because racist as well. The racism shown in the comments

Dasdasdas Free Essays

Smaato is the leading global mobile advertising exchange and helps mobile app developers and p ublishers make more ad revenues worldwide. As an industry pioneer and leader, Smaato provides Ads for Apps – operating the innovative leading mobile advertising optimization platform called SOMA. SOMA’s unique feature is the aggregation of 80+ leading ad networks globally to maximize mobile advertising revenues. We will write a custom essay sample on Dasdasdas or any similar topic only for you Order Now More than 70,000 app developers and publishers use Smaato to monetize their content in over 230 countries. The company was founded in 2005 in USA, Smaato’s global headquarter is in San Francisco. Eu ropean headquarter is in Hamburg in Germany and the APAC headquarter is in Singapore. Smaato is one of the AlwaysOn Global 250 winners in the Mobile category (2012 2011) and was named a â€Å"company to watch in 2010? by Financial Analyst Company GP Bullhound. Currently we are looking for: Java Developer (Hamburg, GERMANY) As a Java developer you will join a team of developers, where you will be taking part in designing, building, testing, and troubleshooting of the software platform SOMA . Currently our platform processes more than 1 billion inbound ad-requests per day. Each incoming request generates multiple outbound requests to Smaato’s partners. SKILLS ? Attention to detail ? Knowledge of relevant procedures and tools ? Teamwork, initiative, flexibility and commitment ? Good knowledge of English ? Motivation to develop themselves personally and professionally ? Desire to work in a fast growing environment ? German language skills are nice to have QUALIFICATIONS ? Minimum Education: Bachelor’s Degree ? Minimum Field of Expertise: Information technology ? Evaluated Experience in Java development ? Preferred Experience 3 years Do you find this challenge attractive? Please send your CV on: mbien@sowelo. eu How to cite Dasdasdas, Essay examples

Impact of Cloud Computing on Healthcare

Questions: 1. Ascertain the importance of information management for the company or industry that you have chosen. 2. Analyze the fundamental impact of IT architecture or enterprise architecture on information management for your chosen company or industry. Determine if IT architecture impacts the effectiveness or efficiency of information management and vice versa. 3. Suggest at least two (2) data storage methods regarding database, data warehouse, and / or date mart for your chosen company or industry. Provide a rationale for your response. 4. Determine the optimal data storage method between the methods that you suggested in Question 3. Provide a rationale for your response. Answers: 1. The chosen industry in this case is Healthcare industry. Its among the most prominent industry where information management is a critical part. In the case of a healthcare organization, their information management is typically handled by a specialized information system known as the Hospital Information System or HIS. Its essentially an information system which is able to manage all kinds of information that allows healthcare providers be able to do their jobs effectively. Such information management practices have existed since a long time albeit in a limited manner. The practice of managing information using information system in healthcare industry dates back to the 1960s. However, both the practice of managing information as well as the information itself has gotten extremely diverse, complicated and large since then. A modern hospital information system typically includes many different applications tied up in a single system that take cares of the needs of different departm ents within the hospital. They are able to manage data related to clinic, the laboratory, the nursing department, the finance department, the radiology, pathology, diagnostic and more such department. These hospitals require information quickly and nearly instantly. Their information needs include retrieving patients data nearly instantly which in itself could include data and infographics such as gender, age, demographics, patients history, data aggregated by different health devices owned by the patient, tests performed by the patient among others. The care provider should be able to retrieve all of these data with one single click including patients data, data from finance systems, distribution of medications among others. Larger hospitals have more than 200 different systems combined and aggregated into one single information system. Benefits of using a capable information management system can be as follows: Enhanced integrity of information. Reduced errors in transcriptions. Optimized reports turnaround time. Reduced duplication of entries. Apart from the above, the following benefits should also be realized: Relieve stress on the current staff Instant retrieval of information Timely decision-making capabilities for effective treatment. Information sharing among different departments, doctors and even other specialists across the world. Ability to quickly access DICOM images Ability to be device independent if the information management system is cloud based. Easy database backup and disaster recovery solutions Stronger encryption and a secured database storage. 2. Impact of IT architecture or enterprise architecture on information management in hospital industry As the implementation of Information management increases in hospitals, the strategic role of IT also gets increased, complexed and demands for change. As a result of which, IT management should be able to deal with uncertainties, complexities and changing requirements. In this case, Enterprise Architecture plays an important role in IT management practice. According to the (Pessi, 2012), the enterprise architecture creates a strong alignment between the capabilities of information system architecture and the ever growing demands and data of hospital business architecture. Enterprise architecture provides in-depth details of AS-IS details of current system. It also provides the insights on future TO-BE system (Loundermon, 2016). In healthcare industry, EA will allow hospitals to find the inefficient patient monitoring systems. The roadmap of EA depicts clear budget, schedules, risks and dependencies of proposed systems. In addition to this, EA provides a better understanding of Infor mation Technology investments opportunities to executive leadership, IT managers and governing teams. EA also helps in formulating the initiative in healthcare industry. IT also facilitates information sharing and management, application development, deployment, ongoing operations and also defines the documentation processes, technical standards, etc. All of them define and maintain the operating environment of company. 3. According to the survey conducted by HIMSS Analytics, following are key data storage methods being used in hospitals and health systems: Storage area network system External storage media i.e. tapes or discs Vendor solution or outsourced storage Network attached storage system cloud computing Direct attached storage system Among the above mentioned methods, Storage Area Network and Cloud computing are best options for healthcare industry (Freewimaxinfo.com, 2016). The healthcare industry contains huge quantity of data which are required to be stored in a way that data retrieval can be carried out in a faster and reliable manner. The Storage area network is created by attaching the data storage medias like disk arrays and tapes to the centralized server. This makes the storage media to be confined to the operating environment known as storage area network. SAN allows sharing of storage devices and also frees user from handling the physical cables and storage devices. In addition to this, servers can be rebooted from SAN independently. This makes the replacement server to use the logical number unit of the defective layer. The cost of implementation of SAN has dropped to a considerable level and now can be afforded by small hospitals as well. Second data storage option is cloud technology. It is defined as the computing being done on internet. It consists of various serves, platform, infrastructure and other computing resources. In the cloud environment, the information is being sent by digitized system in the form of service. Cloud computing allows users to pay only for the service they have used depending upon their requirement. The users are not required to possess any prior knowledge of using them. As result of which users can concentrate more on the business processes rather than focusing on the management of third party concerns. 4. Cloud based database solution is the chosen method of the two method proposed earlier. This is because a cloud based database solution offers many benefits over the second method pertaining to healthcare sector. The doctors clinics, the health clinics, the hospitals all require access to large storage and computing facilities that are not provided via traditional offerings (Cloud-council, 2012). On top of this, healthcare data needs to be available to all in real-time i.e., it should be shared across different facilities and even different geographical regions which makes cloud based database solution the better option of the two. This is because the cloud based solutions offers healthcare organization opportunities to improve upon their services, and allows to share information critical to the hospital and patient almost instantly. Similarly, clinical research which is a big domain within healthcare industry are just now starting to make use of the cloud to improve their research and drug development process. The explosion of data being generated from various sources such as the genome sequencing as well as the growing relevance of biologics in medical research process is opening up a huge opportunity for R D and this is where cloud based database and cloud computing technologies are excelling. Simultaneously, cloud technology is able to support team based care delivery as well as collaboration and also the ability to make use of application based on different model requirements as well as common set of clinical information. Simultaneously, cloud based database solutions and cloud computing are increasingly beneficent for telemedicine which is newer domain in medical field. Cloud technologies are also being used for healthcare analytics purposes. This is because on a large population scale various insights and information is available in real-time. This ensure that most recent and complete clinical insights and knowledge are available to all support care p roviders. This ensures they take quick decisions and are able to focus on value creation which improves outcomes rather than consumption. Lastly, health information exchange which can be enabled by this type of data storage solutions can help healthcare organization to be able to share their data contained in otherwise proprietary EHR systems. References Cloud-council,. (2012).Impact of Cloud Computing on Healthcare. Retrieved 28 January 2016, from https://www.cloud-council.org/deliverables/CSCC-Impact-of-Cloud-Computing-on-Healthcare.pdf Freewimaxinfo.com,. (2016).What is SAN - Storage Area Network - How SAN works. Retrieved 28 January 2016, from https://freewimaxinfo.com/storage-area-network-san.html Loundermon, M. (2016).Exostrategies - When Enterprise Failure Is Not An Option.Exostrategies. Retrieved 28 January 2016, from https://www.exostrategies.com/why-enterprise-architecture/ Pessi, K. (2012).Enterprise Architecture Principles and their impact on the Management of IT Investments.Ejise. Retrieved 28 January 2016, from https://www.ejise.com/issue/download.html?idArticle=700

Copeland Baskin Essays (602 words) - English-language Films

Copeland Baskin Mr. Conville English 1113 VT 25 February 2017 Makeup Artist is the Goal Through my journey of schooling, many of my leaders have asked me these three questions: "What do you want to be when you grow up?" "Why?" "How are you going to get there?" I eventually realized the importance of those three questions. Therefore, as I got older I asked others what they wanted to be when they grow up. Everyone else wanted to become a doctor, nurse, veterinarian, or astronaut, but my dream was to become a Makeup Artist. The first reason I wanted to become a Makeup Artist was that my Aunt Vickie introduced me to makeup at a young age; seeing her apply makeup all the time made me mesmerized. Since then, I have always been intrigued by the way Makeup Artists made actors look in different genres of television. The first artist I respected and appreciated most for their makeup was Jack Pierce. His famous works were "Frankenstein," "The Wolf Man," and "Dracula." Jack Pierce reminds me of myself when applying makeup. He never uses the same scar or effect, and he creates an entirely new one. In addition, he takes a lot of time on his makeup , and so do I. Practice and timing makes perfect. My second favorite artist is Kevyn Aucoin. He worked with many models in music videos and even some actors that played in movies. One of Kevyn's quotes is inspiring not only to me but to many women in the world : "Makeup can be a first step in learning things about yourself you may never had discov ered otherwise." Beauty is more than just skin-deep. The second reason I want to become a Makeup Artist is I want to show the world my creativity. I adore the power cosmetics has to change a person's outlook. Everybody has magnificence; however, individuals frequently overlook that. When somebody does not see his or her beauty, how would anyone else? A touch of cosmetics is frequently all it takes for anyone to see their beauty once more. These little enhancements allow them to stroll through the world with their head held high. Self -confidence is a powerful thing. I accept if everybody felt better about himself or herself, that he or she would all live kinder lives. I would adore having the capacity to show individuals exactly how ravishing they are. The last reason I want to become a Makeup Artist is the traveling. Traveling will allow me to expand more as an artist and see beautiful places to notice the culture for future makeup ideas. An amazing benefit of being a Ma keup Artist while traveling, is all the fees are reimbursed. Who would not cherish a free road trip to different states? I can meet many producers, celebrities, and work with other artist. I will be able to do their makeup before a movie shoot or a music video. Making a name for myself, in many states for my makeup skills, would be a dream come true. The possibilities are virtually endless. In conclusion, I plan on going to cosmetology school, doing side jobs for proms and pageants, and publishing all of my work. Having a plan will push me in the right direction of achieving my goal as becoming a Makeup Artist. Becoming a Makeup artist opens doorways to financial freedom and security. Having fame and fortune in this career would bring me satisfaction but being able to make my visions a reality is what is most important to me.

Case Analysis of Barilla Spa Essays

Case Analysis of Barilla Spa Essays Case Analysis of Barilla Spa Essay Case Analysis of Barilla Spa Essay CASE ANALYSIS OF BARILLA SPA Problem seen in Barilla SpA by Giorgio Maggiali-Director of logistics is the demand fluctuations imposed on the company manufacturing distribution system. Brando Vitali which was an earlier Director of logistics in Barilla SpA proposed an idea of Just- in- time distribution (JITD) for this problem. Instead of Distributors giving orders according to them, company should deliver its products on time by its own logistics system on the basis of end consumer needs. By implementing this idea of JITD, company faces many problems like Barilla customers are unwilling to share their business data with company due to which company is unable to predict forecast demand delivery decisions. -Company own sales marketing people feel that if this idea is successful they will be out of the company as their will be no need of sales marketing team after this JITD implementation. Now scenario was that no one except this idea neither internally by company own employees esp ecially sales marketing people nor externally by its own distributors retailers. In 1875 Pietro barilla started Barilla SpA in Italy . Pietro passed company to his son Ricardo which in 1940, further passed to his sons-Pietro Gianni which were far more successful than their ancestors. Core competency of a company - High quality products supported by innovative marketing programmes. -Marketing practices creating a strong brand name image for its pasta. -Selling pasta in a sealed cardboard box with a recognizable color pattern Pietro Gianni barilla made a pasta plant of 1. 25 million sq. etre which was the world largest most technologically advanced pasta plant in the world which put them deeply into the debt they have to sell this plant to American MNC, W. R. Grace. Now according to me this situation was due to the following factors -Demand was not forecasted as market needed pastas in such a great quantity or not -Logistics system of distribution was also not discussed while making a plant outside Parma city in a rural town which is 5 km away Gurjeet Bhatia - Indore -Such a highly technological plant will definitely be highly costlier may misbalance the financial situation of a company. American MNC was also failed in spite of additional capital investment professional management practices to the company due to difficult economic conditions new Italian legislation at that time. American MNC again sold the company to Pietro Barilla. As crucial time of difficult economic condition passed on new legislation was also been stabilized, the capital investments organizational changes that Grace had brought to Barilla became a powerful tool for a company company now progress a lot through expansion of existing businesses, both in Italy and other European countries. By this we learn that – External factors like economic condition of a country new legislation system plays an important role in a success or failure of a company. -Internal factors like capital investment organizational changes also play an important role in a success or failure of a company Amongst the 35 % of all pasta sold in Italy the traditional barilla brand represented 32 % of the market. It sh ows that -People like traditional Pasta products as these products satisfies their taste most -People of Italy were of traditional culture Half of barilla’s pasta was sold in Southern Italy and half in Northern Italy . Northern Italy has more market share than Southern Italy due to its larger size. Barillas also have a 29 % share of the Italian bakery products market. Manufacturing Distribution system of Barilla SpA (Seven Divisions) -Three pasta divisions -barilla,voiello braibanti -Bakery product division-manufacture medium to long shelf life bakery products -Fresh bread division -manufacture very short life bakery product -Catering division -distributes cakes frozen croissants to bars pastry shops -International division Corporate headquarters were located adjacent to the Pedrignano plant It shows that -Barilla SpA was organized in a systematic way as every different product has their different divisions -To have full control over an organizational structure of a company, company located its headquarters near to the plant. Gurjeet Bhatia -Indore Per capita pasta consumption in Italy averaged nearly 18 kg per year which was far more than Western European countries -This means that Pasta was a highly demandable consumable product in Italy also used for regular meal product People of Italy may like Pasta so much due to Pasta historical picture of being â€Å"Since time immemorial, Italians have adored pasta† -Pasta has a regular or smooth demand round the year because of its use in summer as well as in winter Italian pasta market growth in Italy was only 1 % per year in 1980 by 1990’s only some pasta products like Semolina Fresh pasta shows some growth but the real factor of growth for the company was due to Eastern European countries seeking low priced basic food products like Pasta Products. It shows that consumer in Eastern European countries needs a low priced basic food products Italian Pasta fulfills this need therefore be the big hit in Eastern European countries. â€Å"RIGHT PRODUCT AT RIGHT TIME IN RIGHT PLACE† Barilla plant network is strong as spreaded throughout Italy also seems cost conscious. -Barilla invested in R D facilities for developing testing new products production processes. In Barilla Pasta plants set up cost is low product quality is high as a single product was maintained with high quality. Big lot sizes were manufactured which helps in keeping products price competitive. -Barilla employees used bicycles in big plants due to which there is no wastage of time money by not using fuel consuming vehicles which may also pollute an environment in a plant can ultimately change the product tastes. -Due to the company investments in R D facilities, it became a master in producing specialized products finally results in good tastes, due to which product consumption increases hence company got good sales figures. Even according to the size of the product, particular plant was used to take 100 % output from production facilities. -Even products have been divided into fresh products dry products categories according to their short long shelf lives which may help a product to be sold in its limited time horizon. -As per consumer needs of 5 kg,2 kg,1 kg1/2 kg packing, the most popular pastas being made sold . This may give a full grip to a company over its customers. Barilla has two central distribution centers (CDC) in Northern Southern part of a country which helps a company in controlling monitoring inventories. Fresh products not became obsolescence or wastage, hence distributed quickly within time. Gurjeet Bhatia -Indore -Inventory management is also strong by keeping 3 days of fresh products inventory a 30 days of dry products inventory in CDCs. The entire channel management from plant to warehouses throug h independent agents helps the company in the way that the fresh products to be reached on time through 70 regional warehouses. The main consumption i. e. 2/3 part of barilla dry products was through distributors which supply to the supermarkets. Balance part was distributed through own companies warehouses to small shops. Earlier logistics Director Vitali wants to implement JITD system in this major 2/3 part to get maximum outputs but was not successful. It shows that Barilla wants to make its distribution system stronger. -Small shop owners are directly not linked with the company . Brokers play an intermediary role as numbers of small shops are largely high. For Supermarket chains, the chain’s own Grand Distributors (GD) plays an intermediary role for Independent Supermarkets intermediary are organized distributors (DO). The purchase decision of Barilla product was fully in hands of these GDs DOs as they buy SKUs according to their needs does not prefer pasta products in multiple packing. To replenish orders in supermarket 1-2 days time was taken by distribution centers. Till now, it seems that -Manufacturing Distribution of fresh dry products of the Barilla was fine but Barilla has no control on Sales as major products were sold through GDs and DOs. Barilla advertises strongly its premium products through athletes and celebrities in their respective countries. Barilla wants to make loyal relationship with Italian families. By trade promotions retailers buys in bulk for trade discounts and their future needs. Incentives for Barilla sales representatives were also based on their sales targets It shows that Demand for Barilla products was not stable since Barilla applied push strategy, company want to sell what it makes whether it is demanded or not. Company does not know the actual demand of end consumer. -By giving discounts, incentives, FTL discounts barilla want to maintain its production smooth. Due to sales strategy based on incentives, salesman of the company gives its full attention to stores not towards supermarkets. -Lead time was not constant as Barilla fulfills orders between 8-14 days. -ROP can’t be maintained by distributors as demand rate ‘d’ seems constant but Lead time ’LT’ is not constant(The major fault for uncertain lead time is the delivery schedule of the Barilla which is between 8-14 days) -Company faces fluctuating demand due to its distributor’s unstable demand. To cope up with this problem manufacturing logistics managers want to push more inventories as safety stock to distributors but due to distributor limitations of space or enough regular stock they discarded this idea. Gurjeet Bhatia -Indore Vitali clearly argued that the demand can be stable by knowing distributors sales data replenish orders on behalf on these sales data distribute products on time to keep stock out levels low. This will give more profits to distributors, retailers also to the company -By knowing end-consumers inputs only, the entire supply chain should work on behalf of it. To stream line the entire supply chain small shops are well technologically equipped the retailers distributors should share their current SKUs sales data every day -The entire manufacturing strategy, selling distribution strategy should be on behalf of actual demand of end consumer. Logistics manager Maggiali faces arguments from its company sales representatives also from its distributors. They show no interest in changing their strategies The only distributor Marconi was responsive but its further retailers don’t want to share their sales data does not want to become a part of an entire supply chain. -The top management like sales executives vice president general manager also take interest in JITD but distributors are not ready to be the part of JITD. Now barilla applied JITD in its own Florence depot successful in reducing inventories increasing fill rate also successful in keeping depot manager satisfied with current inventories. -JITD also shows good result in another depot. Now it seems that company got success in JITD within its depot till now. But distributors are not yet ready to apply this JITD -Maggiali was successful to bring all its company top management people like Sales Director, Managing Director ,Logistics Managers, Service Managers, JITD Implementation managers of course the large DO (cortese) closure in implementing JITD in cortese warehouses. In JITD programmes in cortese warehouses company collects its 6 months historical data on basis of it set its shipments. Sales data information was also sent through fax afterwards through EDI. In this way by correct shipments Information, Inventories were reduced Customer retailer service level increases. Now Barilla maintained its customer records through current SKUs, forecast sales, watch carefully stock outs via EDI . Barilla used this information in shipments -Each truck load was cleverly handled on behalf of customer stock-out level loaded truck according to the customer needs. -Heavy products are loaded first than lighter products to maximize truck loading space -Various weighted average are used for forecasting future sales. Gurjeet Bhatia -Indore SOME FINDINGS LESSONS LEARNED It is clear from barilla spa case that to be successful for any project implementation, all the top management should be involved . no project can be successful without top management interest. Though middle level like store managers sales representative also played an important role. ?Technology also play a critical role like EDI, fax etc. in this case in success or failure of any pro ject. ?Transparency and Proof is must like How to handle the project, what benefits we all gain, what effort we have to put ultimately the stream line of Manufacturer, Distributor, and Retailers Employees is strongly required. ? Head of the project like Maggiali in this case should clearly know that what steps should be taken at what time . As Maggiali when unsuccessful in assuring JITD results to its Distributors, Implement JITD in its own depot and successful in reducing inventories and increasing fill rates . Thus gain confidence from its top management and its distributors. ?â€Å"WHERE THERE IS THE WILL THERE IS THE WAY† Maggiali prove this saying never rest until got success. According to me the name of case should be Success story of Maggiali in Barilla SpA. ?Relationship (like with Cortese) +Concept (like JITD) +Technology (like EDI) =Success

Justification of Intellectual Property Protection Essay

Justification of Intellectual Property Protection - Essay Example The paper throws light on intellectual property as any change of mind or innovation. This property, maybe a symbol or a logo, any unique name designated for a company, creative and artistic invention. Intellectual property is secluded or patent innovation. Certain brands use a specific trade mark and music companies copyright their sounds and videos patterns, professionals carry out methods formulas and technologies which are confined in official documents or economic values that are used commercially. Intellectual property is the intangible or insubstantial vague property on the other hand special private and personal property of any individual or a company is tangible is easily and clearly defined. IP is any form of expression, this includes images, symbols, logos, title, label, techniques, methods used in business industry or commerce; software, music rhythms literary. This personal effort is the innovation and creation of mind and displayed and manifested, it has physical existen ce and exclusive property rights. Exclusive property rights include copyrights, trademarks, patents industrial design rights and trade secrets, these rights are intellectual property and protect company’s different types of unrelated legal concepts. The British statue of Anne 1710 and statue of monopolies 1623 are the two patent laws, copyrights that are nowadays used respectively, these laws were originated in the late 20th century and since then the word intellectual property started to be used. ... This absolute protection thus deals intellectual property as real property. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) treaty and other global agreements are based on the fact that the intellectual property rights should be protected as it is essential to the economic growth. The following reasons are given in the handbook published by the World Intellectual Property Organization related to the intellectual property laws. "One is to give statutory expression to the moral and economic rights of creators in their creations and the rights of the public in access to those creations.† Inventions were not the reason to initiate the history of patent, but it was in fact the grants given by the Queen Elizabeth 1 (1558-1603) and other royal family members for the privileges aimed at creating monopoly. nearly 200 years after the end of the reign of Elizabeth 1 a patent now shows and represents a legal status to the rights which are obtained by the person inventing something whic h gives him the right to control that invention exclusively, control and restrict its production, sale or any restricting any other method that might make that invention available for others to use independently. (Mossoff, A, 2001, Vol. 52, p. 1255) The aim of this paper is to study the justifications or arguments that surround the formation of intellectual property law. The paper will open discussion with the aims of intellectual property law and then move to the justifications. The paper will also discuss the limitations to these justifications and in the end, conclude the discussion with a critical evaluation of the intellectual property law terms. Aims of Intellectual Property Law This section will deal with the protection of intellectual property incentives taken for those

Geography Gendered feminism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Geography Gendered feminism - Essay Example Such inner yearnings cause even death of them. (Barbara de Angelis, 1994, pp197). Geologically land is termed feminine. Through time and space, femininity is not given its due recognition. Masochism is construed as a quality of femininity where as the same attitude in men are considered as cowardice or slavery. Millions of clerks of both sexes throughout the world are almost having masochistic attitude only. Painting masochism as the quality of women has added burden to them, leading to a sort of 'gender exploitation' of women. These developments do not have any territorial difference on the earth. However shades of differences in this type of gender exploitation prevails in various manifestations in various lands. In countries like India, there are still many regions where common women cannot occupy an equal status in public places. On boarding a public bus a lady cannot occupy her seat next to a man and nor a man is permitted to sit near a woman. This practice is very slowly fading. People of metro cities are a bit bold enough to break this customary. But small towns and villages are still viewing the scene utterly awkward. In many places the booking counters are provided with separate structural arrangements for eves. The pathetic plight of school going girls, especially those in the verge if puberty who suffer a lot for want of toilets in Ethiopia is a challenge for feministic researchers. The economic and social barriers there are very strong enough to yield to such feministic ideologies. FLUIDITY OF GENDER IDENTITY In fixing identities, unlike other entities like race, color, class and religion, gender occupies a fluid condition. This fluidity in the fixing of gender identity is manipulated in several societies. Thus, geographers find it a bit tricky to fix the gender identity. Wife battering prevails in all countries irrespective of their development and civilization. But the batterer always takes advantage only of the gender. It is the feministic approach that posed question whether such superiority over femininity is natural. To derive an answer to this question, one has to analyze the age-old custom of patriarchy in almost all societies of the world. Geographers all over the world find a healthy tone in such analysis, which tries to evaluate and judge the patriarchy from the viewpoint of both the genders. Eradication or trial to eradicate patriarchy is not a solution. Feminism thus paves way to identify and locate the importance and entitlement of femininity. Feminism in many countries takes its own speed depending upon the cultural and socialistic environments of the nations. Developed countries are fast in this approach. The high speed has led to emergence of gay movement and lesbianism as byproducts. The sex-based lesbianism and gay movements give a picture that male domination or male chauvinism can be countered to some extent. Whether this is true or not is yet to be cleared. Even elite group of societies is not clear in the ideologies of lesbianism and gay movement to such an extent that they can pressurize some political group and governments to legally permit such practices. Homosexuals find it nice to enter into 'civil partnership', which has now been legally permitted in England. Great Britain, which criminalized carnal intercourse during 1860 in one of its colonial regiment, as an act against the order of nature, now permits her gays to get

Was Sir Douglas Haig a Good or Bad Leader?

Was Sir Douglas Haig a Good or Bad Leader? The issue of Douglas Haigs role as a general on the Western Front, during the Battle of the Somme in 1916, has been thoroughly questioned by many historians to date. Through different views and opinions, Haigs skills have been both heavily celebrated and criticised. Therefore he has been viewed as both Butcher of the Somme and the Architect of Victory, much evidence supporting both arguments. However the majority of people seem to favour the idea of Haig being a merciless leader, which is completely understandable. For instance, the Battle of the Somme hugely affected almost every person in Britain, many losing family members. For them, it would have been easy to blame the British losses solely on General Haig, and many did just that. However many people saw him as a highly gifted soldier and leader, and there was a good side to Haig, for example, he did manage to eventually wear down the German army, and played a part in the result of World War 1. Therefore this controversial issue will perhaps be continually debated. The Battle of the Somme was a largely Scottish battle, with three Scottish divisions participating. This also applied to Douglas Haig, who was born in Edinburgh and was commander in chief. He was blamed for the enormous slaughter of the Battle of the Somme, during which there were around 60,000 British casualties on just the first day, a third of which were killed. This alone is evidence enough for a lot of people of Haigs failures as a general. However, many of the flaws in Haigs leading of the Battle of the Somme stemmed from the fact that he was commanding a group of sixty divisions, when the usual number was just six. This shows the extreme circumstances under which Douglas Haig was commanding at the Battle of the Somme. The Battle of the Somme was a significant event in history; this is mainly due to the absurd amount of deaths, even though they were no larger than were to be expected, however some people find fault in the fact that Haig kept the army fighting even when he became aware of the continuous height of casualty figures. Just like any general, Haig strove for success, however he had a major fault: he was extremely optimistic, and constantly believed that the German army was close to surrendering, therefore believing that a win was also close. This positive personality is shown by a quote which Douglas Haig himself said at the beginning of the war, The situation is never so good or so bad as first reports indicate. However, even though he felt that his army was fully capable of defeating the Germans, he wasnt correct, in fact, Haigs army didnt have the huge amount of soldiers, which the German army were able to take advantage of this clearly shows that his targets were impossibly to achieve , he was just too ambitious. Haig was also heavily criticised for the ridiculous length of the battle, this was simply because it could have been ended much sooner than it was, and this would have even prevented Britain in constantly finding fault in Haigs leadership skills. The main reason that Haig even allowed the battle to continue because he wished to straighten his trenches, as this would have had a great effect on his armys attacks. However Haig was also criticised for allowing the British army to fight in the appalling weather at the time of the Somme, although technically he cannot take the entire blame for this decision as the idea actually came from the French army officer. Haig was certainly one to override his army commanders, although this is understandable, as if he found their advice questionable then he had to trust himself to make the correct decision alone. However at the beginning of the battle of the Somme, Haig was overruled himself, by the governments of Britain and France, they asked Haig to attack the German army at that point in time, but Haig didnt agree this was because he felt that his armies werent ready; however his argument wasnt effective, therefore he was ignored. Haig understood that he would have to plan an attack quickly, because if he took too much time to do so then the alliance which stopped the French from attacking the British could be put in jeopardy, and that was a risk that Haig couldnt afford to take. At the start of the battle, the British army looked to have no chance in defeating the German army, in fact, Official History wrote that the Somme was the first time that the †¦British line been held with so few men and so few guns†¦. The British army were also overwhelmed by the power of the Germans and after just one day of fighting there were an enormous number of casualties, most of them due to bite and hold attacks. In the beginning, Haig was severely short of forces and, trying to find a solution, ended up having to leave Goughs twelve divisions alone to defend 42 miles of the front, this resulted in some having very few soldiers. Haig could have managed the Somme better, however by the end of the battle, the British were achieving success against the Germans and eventually the Germans did surrender, in fact the German General Ludendorff mentions in his autobiography, My war memories, As a result of the Somme we were completely exhausted on the Western Front. When considering Haigs skill as an army commander it has to be remembered that the situation at the Battle of the Somme was extremely unique, Haig was handling ten times the amount of forces, most of whom were learning the tactics of war as they went along. After the battle ended Haig was compared to other generals who sent hundreds of soldiers to their deaths, he was viewed as uncaring and constantly making horrible decisions. Although Haigs opinion of the turnout of the war was never made clear, it was suggested that he agreed with the result, as in 1919, Haig defended the fact that the Germans were offered a settlement at the end of the war. The relationship between Douglas Haig and David Lloyd George was a cause of major conflict and had an overpowering effect on Haigs reputation. Lloyd George was clear in the fact that he had no trust or liking for Haig, especially during the Somme, when he didnt understand why Haig was allowed the high casualty rates to continue, especially since this didnt give any advantage to the British. He saw Haig simply as a man with no intelligence, and no understanding, although he also never replaced him, or even stood up to him. However, it was no secret that a war was waged between Haig and Lloyd George. An example of the tension between these characters was on the 1st September, when Haig received a telegram from Henry Wilson, marked personal, this carried a warning, that Haig was to stop preventable casualties during the battle of the Somme. The clear reason for the telegram was for the protection of Lloyd George; however Haig took it that he could strike the Hindenburg line if he felt t he need to do so. The tension between them grew when Lloyd George published his war memoirs, in which he unleashed an attack on Haig, both, simply as a man and as part of the army. This was one of the very little books that really cause chaos for an important figures reputation, especially since when it became available, Haig had already passed and therefore he couldnt even protect his own reputation. However Lloyd George isnt the only politician that Haig had a significant relationship with, Haig and Winston Churchill also had a somewhat interesting relationship, in fact Haig helped out Churchill in the writing of his book, The World Crisis, by sending him parts of his personal diaries which he kept during the war. The reason that this is interesting is the fact that Churchill often criticised Haig, especially as a General during the war. However, Churchill did admit that when reviewing the war he began to think a good deal better if Haig than I did at the time. Unlike Lloyd George, Churchill felt that it would be impossible to find as good a general as Haig was to replace him. Haig didnt mind some criticism from Churchill in his book, but it was that criticism which strongly effected Haigs reputation. The conflict between these politicians and Haig meant that Haig had to fight the war against not only the Germans, but also those politicians. It wasnt just Churchills writing that affected Haigs reputation though; there were many different memoirs and accounts released after the war, by many different people, for example, David Lloyd George, Churchill and Gough. However when these records were released Haig mentioned to Foch that he couldnt release a book on the war, as it was too soon to tell the truth. If he had written them however, they would have not only been successful, but would have probably heightened his reputation. However Haigs Final Dispatch, published in 1919 actually had only a small effect on the opinions of the war. Yet, decades later, a revisionist historian, John Terraine revised these arguments and tried to re-build Haigs reputation. In fact, Terraines Douglas Haig: An Educated Soldier strongly defended Haigs reputation, his main point being that it was Haig who eventually wore down the German army. However historian, John Laffin, has the opposite opinion, he feels as though Haig should be accused beca use of his wilful blunders and wicked butchery. This shows clear argument between the two recent historians, both trying to challenge Haigs reputation. Terraine passed away in 2003, however before his death, he did manage to change the way that some people saw Douglas Haig, and he restored Haig to the position of serious commander. Haig was criticised and celebrated by different historians, few ever looking at both sides of things. Haigs reputation was heightened the most due to his input in helping and celebrating ex-servicemen. Haig devoted a large part of his life, after the war, to charity events and war-memorials. This shows that people were even slightly wrong about the fact that he didnt care about the young men fighting in the war. For example, in 1922, Haig travelled to Swansea and 4000 people turned out to see him lay a stone for the city memorial, and in 1925, the Haigs toured Canada; some 10,000 people came to see Haig lay a stone on a cenotaph in Toronto. Also, in Glasgow, in 1924, Haig revealed a monument. These days people may be shocked to find out that in 1925 Haig opened the Newfoundland Memorial Park; this was where the 1st Newfoundland attack took place in 1916. The fact that Haig was sought after to carry out the ceremony by the government, shows that even though there is constant argument over Douglas Haigs reputation, at this time he must have been highly thought of. This is why Haig was overwhelmed with huge amounts of requests to reveal all sorts of different memorials. Haigs speeches at these events were never completely neutral, the issues of sacrifice and the needs of ex-soldiers were constantly highlighted. This made his reputation improve to a lot of people, because they felt as if he was more caring. In the early 1920s Haig began to type up his wartime diary, he wished for this to be published after his death. In 1928 a line of war diaries and memoirs began being published, some attacking Haigs reputation seriously, however Haig wasnt alive to see this, as on the 29th January 1928, Douglas Haig died of a heart attack. This death came as a shock to Britain, many people in disbelief. Haigs wife believed that the strain of wartime command had worn out his heart, and the media began to print headlines, field marshal a war victim, Haig was treated just like any soldier who had fought in the war, and he too was seen as a war casualty. The real surprise after Haigs death was the extent to which the public mourned him; his death was treated much more graciously than any other British general. Therefore his coffin was escorted by the two future kings of England, showing that he was obviously an important member of the nation, even though some people viewed him as a callous butcher. This was reinforced because St Pauls, Wrens great cathedral was suggested as where Haig would be buried and if he had been then hed have been buried with Wellington and Nelson, two heroes from WW1, however Haig had wanted to be buried at home, in Edinburgh, therefore he body was sent north. A crowd of people waited for him to arrive, to pay their respects. Eventually he was buried in the grounds of Dryburgh Abbey. However the event of his death just brought more conflict to the argument of Haigs reputation. Again, Haigs reputation plummeted. Therefore Haigs reputation is constantly debated, going from one extreme to the other, barely ever balancing, or being fair to the actions of Haig. However much argument is presented in favour of Haig, the evidence is overpowered by the casualty figures of the battle of the Somme, by Churchills criticisms of Haig and by the tension in Haigs relationship with David Lloyd George, these are the facts people cant just forget and therefore the points which effect Haigs reputation. Haigs reputation was most significantly analysed through memoirs and accounts, for example of Churchill, Lloyd George, Gough and Terraine, although his reputation took a severe hit after his death also. Its clear that Haig will forever be viewed as heartless general, which is a fair judgement, considering the fact that he was the general in charge during the Battle of the Somme, and allowed the horrific casualty figures to present, and the fact that he let the battle go on for much longer than it should have, fo r personal or no gain, and thats why Douglas Haig will forever be condemned as Butcher of the Somme. Hedging Techniques: Analysis of pros and cons Hedging Techniques: Analysis of pros and cons This report will discuss the basics of hedging, advantages and disadvantages of hedging. There is description of methods and techniques used for hedging. This also discusses the primary need of hedging. Then follows the detailed calculations of the receivables of 500M pesos due in six months time and the best way of hedging to get the most of it. This report then goes on to discuss the forward contracts and futures along with forward options that are available for individual and basic differences between forward contracts and options Introduction: An unexpected change in exchange rates is the economic exposure which is commonly seen as a political disaster or natural disaster. The effect of economic exposures on exchange risks is kept out from this paper on one hand. On the other hand the cross-border firms do not get affected by the volatility of the exchange rates, in terms of the translation transaction exposures. Foreign exchange risk does not exist; even if it exists, it need not be hedged; even if it is to be hedged, corporation need not hedge it. When compared with certain results this hypothesis seems to be inconsistent. Different ways have been found out by some empirical researches to hinder different exposures. For instance, in some real cases financial instruments or netting was applied. Hedging and Importance Normally foreign exchange rates are dictated based on the supply and demand of two currencies and are persuaded depending on both the interest and inflation rates of the corresponding countries. For entering into a contract both the parties those are going to buy sell must have to be familiarised by the forward exchanging rate. Above all relationship between forward exchange rates, spot exchange rates, inflation and interest have to be introduced. Due to some factors such as government intervening and costs of transaction, relationship should not always be hold in the short run. But however the relationship could be hold on the long run by the four parties: purchasing power, expectations theory, the interest rate parity the international Fisher effect. Types of exchange rate exposures: In an international firm exchange rate losses those are unfavourable are protected by hedging currency exchange risk. Thus hedging currency exchange risk can be considered as one of the factors for eliminating risks. There are basically three forms of exchange rate exposures. Transaction exposure Translation exposure Economic exposure Transaction exposure: It is caused when the organisation is driven into certain financial agreements or obligations. The future gains or losses of an organisation are completely dependent on the changes caused to the exchange rates in the future cash flows of the agreements or obligations. The values that were before after the accounts received paid along with those engagements to buy or leasing financial cash flows do not match. The risk of transaction exposure is completely different from the risk of transaction exposure since the former one contains potential changes regarding cash flows. Translation exposure: Translation exposure is also known as balance sheet exposure or accounting exposure. It is a kind of exposure which occurs when if the financial statements of all the affiliates have been consolidated by the parent company. The denominated currencies of the affiliates are quite different when compared to their parents. Economic exposure: Economic exposure is also known as real exposure or operating exposure. It is mainly concerned about the risk of losses in exchange in association with the changes in future cash flows. It is completely different from the former two exposures which operate by long-term diplomatic decisions. There are mainly three barriers for non-financial organisations hedging currency risks compared to the financial organisations. Firstly, models to forecast forward are not well devised. Secondly, team of management is incessantly hesitant to hedge risks of FX the team seems to risk-averse with respect to FX risks. Lastly, the risk management is less in non-financial firms compared to financial firms. The main purpose of hedging FX risks for most of the non-financial firms is for variance reduction in future cash flows. Some of the advantages of corporate hedging are as below. It can predict the cash flows of the firm that are generated internally can arrange the financing plan of a firm either internally or externally. Also hedging helps for the smoothening of the net income of a firm, which proves to be valuable in the present financial market which focuses attention to quarterly earnings rather than the cash flows in the long-run. Based on the proponents of hedging, some of the many arguments are opposed to hedging. Spending on hedges of currency opt for an exceed in the loss in currency risk exposures. If the management fails in reducing the risks using hedging, rivalry arises between management shareholders, where as the value of the shareholder crumbles. There are several hedging instruments in order to protect our money from getting exposed to the above mentioned exposures/risks. These hedging techniques include spot, forward contracts, options, futures, currency swaps and so on usually referred to as derivatives. The most frequently used instruments are: Forward Contracts: The two parties enter a contract in which they agree on a favourable current exchange rate on a specified future date. Thus this guarantees a customized future payment and maturity date and eliminates future volatility. It is tailor made instrument that it includes and specifies all its parameters like money, date, exchange rate and denomination of payment. Also the cost of forward contracts is low comparing with other instruments and the settlement date is up to one year. Futures: These are similar to forward contracts but are more standardised in terms of volume that is about to be exchanged. This is generally intended to speculating profits. Spots: This allows us to buy or sell a currency at todays exchange price and the day of settlement will be no more than two business days. Currency Options: Options are like contracts but are more costly than contracts. It guarantees a worst-case exchange rate for the future purchase of one currency for another. There is a right to sell or buy but there is no obligation to do so as such giving the options holder substantial benefits. Currency Swaps: These are in general long term high value transactions. By swapping their future cash flow obligations the counterparties are able to replace cash flows denominated in one currency with cash flows in a more desired currency. As requested billing in U.S. dollars, forward contracts and money market hedge are some effective techniques of hedging and safe guarding the firm from any possible fluctuations and risks arising from the same. In U.S. dollar billing we charge the goods at the rate in their home country but enter a contract based on the spot rate on the day of sale, and which means they need to pay the equivalent amount in dollars when the payment is due. Irrespective of the fluctuations of the currency rates the company is bound to make the payment of that exact amount of dollars at the end of contract or due date. Forward contracts are mentioned above lock in the exchange rate on future currency transactions and thus reducing their exchange risk. The payment is due in future but the current exchange rate is used for entering into such a contract. Money market hedge is a technique where in the company relies on borrowing and investing funds via money markets and using the spot rate to lock in the amount from the receivable. We borrow in the home currency the same amount that we are expected to receive ad invest in the other currency. Billing in U.S. Dollars As per our previous exports made to Mexico, we will receive 500 million Mexican Pesos. The spot rate of Peso/USD is 15.3555-15.3561, one of 15.3555 is the bid price at which the trader will buy from us and 15.3561 is the price at which he will sell. So we need to buy 500 million Mexican pesos meaning we need to consider the spot exchange ask rate 15.3561. Thus the 500 million Mexican pesos will come to USD which is $32.5604 M. Therefore we will be receiving a definite sum of $32.5604 M after the end of contract which is 6 months. So what ever is the exchange rate at the end of 6 months or whatever be the range of fluctuations we will get $32.5604 M. But the company has to pay an equivalent of $32.5604M which is $32.5604M*15.3555 = 499.9812M pesos. This is mainly due to the depreciation of peso with respect to US dollars. Forward Contract Since the goods have been exported the importer is now short if 500 million Mexican pesos. By entering into a forward contract we sign an agreement with the importer, which states that the delivery of the equivalent of the amount due should be made after 6 months time at the forecasted forward rate which is 15.0123-15.0134 (peso/USD). So as in the previous case we will be entitled to a sum of USD which turns out to be $33.3036 M. Hence we now entered into a future contract which gives us $33.3036 M at the end of 6 months. While we receive $33.3036 M, as an equivalent to 500 M Mexican pesos, the importer needs to pay the trader an amount of $33.3036*15.0123 = 499.9636 M pesos. However if the future rate increases then the importer is obliged to pay the 500M pesos at the prevailing spot rate. But in case the spot rate goes down then the importer has to meet the previously agreed rate for the payment. Money Market Hedge Here we are expected to receive 500 M pesos, so we borrow the same amount from a Mexican bank at the borrowing rate of 2.6% p.a. and we convert them to US dollars and invest the exact same amount in US dollars at 3.1% p.a. We borrow 500M Mexican pesos at 2.6%, which is = 493.5834M and we convert them into dollars at the prevailing spot rate of 15.3561, which transforms to = $32.1425M and we invest them in US market at 3.1%, which gives us $32.1425*1.016 = $32.6568M. But once we receive the payment of 500M pesos the loan will have to be repaid and we have $36.6568M*15.0123 = 550.3029M pesos, whereas the loan amount is 500M*1.013 = 506.5M pesos. Which means we have a profit of 550.3029M-506.5M pesos = 43.8029M pesos, which in turn is = $2.9176M Best Hedge By observing the figures, it is clear that future contracts method is more beneficial than the rest of them. This hedging earns us $32.5604M by billing in U.S. dollars, $33.3036M in forward contracts and $32.6568M by money market hedging. Derivatives The derivative securities market has become quite large in recent years. In 2007, according to the International Swaps and Derivatives Association the notional value of all financial swaps stood at $587 trillion worldwide. The GDP of the entire world was only about $60 trillion by the year 2008. The swaps and derivatives transfer risk from those who do not want to bear to those who are willing to bear for a fee. It is almost like insurance on property or automobile. For example, a put option is to safeguard if the price of a stock is expected to fall. And, like the insurance industry, both parties are mutually benefitted by this type of transaction; it is called hedging. Bulk of the transactions in derivative securities is mainly based on speculation than for the purposing of hedging against foreign currency risks. These help in providing liquidity in the currency market apart transferring risk. The sizes of banks and stock brokerage firms in derivative securities may give rise to huge loss which may well bring the entire financial system to a standstill. At the same time, some participants in these derivatives markets are reporting huge profits. Swaps The derivatives market involves more than just put and calls options. There are also contracts involving swapping fixed interest rate payment streams for adjustable or floating interest rate payment streams. Simply put its mutual agreement of two parties which satisfy both the parties. Forward Contracts and Futures Swaps, caps, and floors are recent innovations in the derivatives markets. The derivatives market traditionally included forward contracts in addition to options (puts, calls, warrants). A forward contract involved a commitment to trade a specified item at a specified price at a future date. The forward contract takes whatever form the two parties agree to. There is also a market for standardized forward contracts, which is called the futures market. The standardization makes possible a wider market with greater liquidity and efficiency. Often the futures markets eliminate the ties between specific parties, the party and the counter-party, and the risk that the other might not fulfil the contract. In the futures market everyone deals with the clearinghouse who guarantees fulfilment. Forward exchange operations carry the same credit risk as spot transactions, but for longer periods of time; however there are significant risks involved. A forward contract requires delivery, at a fixed future date, of a specified amount of one currency against other foreign currency payment; the exchange rate is fixed at the time of writing the contract. It is to be noted that gain or loss on the forward contracts is irrespective of the current spot rate. The gain or loss exactly offsets the change in currency costs. The major active participants in forward markets are arbitrageurs, traders, hedgers who seek to reduce their exchange risks by locking in the exchange rate on future trade or financial operations. There are differences in even the quoted prices, commercial customers are usually quoted the actual price while the dealers quote the forward rate only as a discount/ premium on the spot rate. These contracts are usually available for 1,2,3,6 or 12 months delivery. However forwards for odd maturities can also be formulated. With the increase in the maturity and volatility of the currency the bid-ask spread rises. Forward Exchange Options Contract In the options market there has developed some terminology that is somewhat intimidating to the uninitiated. A call option is the right to buy a share of a stock, the underlying security, at a specified price, called the exercise price or the strike price. A put option is the right to sell a share of a stock at a specified price, the exercise price or the strike price. There is a limited time for the exercise of the call option. An American option can be exercised at any time up to and including the expiration date. A European option can only be exercised on the expiration date. The value of a call option at any time depends upon: The current market price of the underlying security The exercise price The interest rate Time remaining until expiration The volatility of the price of the underlying security. When any of these change the value of the option will change. The options terminology that is most obscure is the use of Greek letters to refer to the response of the option value to changes in the variables which affect it. Ά Delta = the change in the price of the option per unit change in the price of the underlying; i.e., the increase in option value if the current market price of the stock goes up by one dollar. Delta is important in creating a perfectly hedged portfolio. The rate of change of the delta of an option is called its gamma. à Ã‚  Rho = the rate of change in the price of an option in response to a unit change in the interest rate. ÃŽÂ ¸ Theta = the rate of change in the price of an option with respect to time; i.e., the change as the time until expiration decreases by one unit. Vega (this is not a Greek letter) = the rate of change in the price of an option for a unit change in volatility. Despite having the right to buy a call option or to sell a put option, the rights holder is not obliged to buy or sell but can do so at his will. This will give him total flexibility as to when to buy/sell his options

Public transportation Essay

This essay will focus on some of advantages and disadvantages of public transportation. First of all, I’d like to talk about advantages of public transportation. Using public transportation can reduce the number of people who drive their own car. It can ease traffic jam and improve road condition. We can also reduce air pollution by using public transportation. Public transportation can accommodate a lot of people and send them various destinations. It leads to the reduction of harmful emission gasses such as carbon dioxide. On the other hand, we have some disadvantages associated with public transportation. Using an automobile is more accessible than public transportation when we live in countryside. In most cases, there are few busses, trains and taxes in there. It’s very inconvenient for local people. If they have their own cars, they can drive anytime and anywhere. What’s more, it’s tough for elderly people to use public transportation. They have to go up and down the stairs when they use public transportation. There are many stations which don’t have elevators or escalators in Japan. In my opinion, I can’t live without public train because I can get to the office in time. At any rate, public transportation is essential for our daily life.

OSIM Company Essay

OSIM the well establish Asia healthy life style brand, originated from Singapore. OSIM was founded by Dr Ron Sim Chye Hock in November 1980. Initially derive from R Sim Trading which deal mainly with household appliance. Dr Ron Sim Chye Hock later founded OSIM and eventually changes his focus to creating healthy life style products since he felt a great market potential in home care products in Asia. Dr Ron Sim Chye Hock brought together different equipment manufacturers and introduces OSIM which then receives significant growth to the extent of establishing multiple outlets Asia (straitstime). Having the motto â€Å"Inspiring Life† OSIM company has a significant numbers of outlets all over the world (osim) Situational Analysis on Micro and Macro Factors In the IT and Health conscious era, companies are trying to find opportunities to stay ahead of other rival companies. Companies have to examine and evaluate their environmental forces and take necessary  approaches in order to stay competitive. Micro Factors Microenvironments are factors closely related to company operations and directly impact the customer experience. OSIM has several factors that affect her greatly. A way to show case these factors are by Michael Porter Five Force Model which is: Competitor, Threat of New Entry, Supplier Power, Threat of substitutes and Customers. Competitors Direct: Direct competitors are competitors who have similar products, technology and same target audience. The major direct competitors of OSIM are Ogawa and OTO. Both have a decent market share in the health related appliances. Technologies in their products enable them to remain competitive against OSIM. Their products are much cheaper compared to OSIM, therefore a number of people purchase their products. However by having great marketing senses, consistently earning prestigious award and manufacturing quality products. OSIM is the leading brand of health care appliances. (P) Indirect: OSIM also face indirect competitors such Holistic, Chiropractic, self treatments, Traditional Chinese Medicine and western practices. Indirect competitors offer not just the external but also internal treatments like pills and supplements. However these treatments require an appointment, evaluations and importantly time from your busy schedule which you cannot commit to. OSIM products are made portable and simple enough as not to abrupt our daily lifestyle. Threat of New Entry: The threat of new entry is at a minimal since the market is mainly dominated by OSIM, OGAWA and OTO. For a new brand to enter this market they will have to have significant capital, the tenacity to face reputable brand that have a foot holding in Singapore and technologies that surpasses OSIM. Supplier Power – OSIM has several suppliers that are located main in Asia. They are mainly situated in India, China and Vietnam. The Supplier power here has a moderate control on OSIM as they have been supplying O SIM with her products for the past few years. However by being situated in these developing countries, OSIM is able  to reduce cost on labor works on building and manufacturing of their products while still maintaining their high standard of quality products Threat of substitutes – Technological advancement and new discoveries may pose a threat to OSIM. Since the other two major substitutes are OGAWA and OTO, consumer tends to purchase products that are cheaper with a reputable brand name. However, with OSIM high product quality, achievements and awards the threat of substitute is moderately low as consumers are well aware of what OSIM are known for. OSIM can reduce the threat of substitute by improving her customer loyalty. (osim, http://blog.osim.com/) Customers – OSIM originated from Singapore, a first world country strategically place in South-East Asia, OSIM can use it to their advantage. From word of mouth by someone we know. We are reminded that OSIM offers quality products that had helped people. Having its headquarters in Singapore, OSIM uses this opportunity to exploit Singapore high standards of living and also its world class airport. These customers are the most important resources that significantly affect any company. The issue OSIM is facing is that not every individual need to purchase OSIM products as it can be shared. Most of OSIM massaging chairs are purchased and shared within a household. This causes OSIM some problems as these limits the sales of OSIM products. Macro Factors Political Factors – The political factor that will benefits OSIM is the government intention to increase Singapore population to 6.9 million by 2030 will widen the market and adversely increase OSIM sales (straitstimes). Economic Factors – A growing inflation or recession can all affect the way consumer thinks and hence affect OSIM ability to get a stable profit. Economic factors are usually unforeseen since forecasts and analyses are affected by global changes and natural disasters. Unemployment levels, money value exchange rates, and the state of the global economy can all help or hurt OSIM. (tradingeconomics) Social Factors -As the population is getting more educated, we are more aware of our health and well being of ourselves and those of our family members. Singapore is known for its materialistic culture and Singaporeans push themselves in pursuit wealth and happiness (Janus corp). To do so, we tend  to work long hours and disregarding our own health to achieve wealth. OSIM may benefit from the health issues that arise from this as the appliances will not hinder the hectic and busy work life of Singaporeans. Technological Factors – Can influence how OSIM maintain and improve her business. A new type of machinery or product created can help OSIM stay ahead of the competitions. Other technological trends may include online transaction, ability to give feedback/complaint, purchase online and monitor the shipment. Demographic Factors – Singapore has an ageing population with low birth rate but more elderly. This target audience, the elderlys benefited most from OSIM product s as they often requires health care. The standard of living and health care advances contribute to demographic factors too. (sgplan) Legal Factors – Singapore have a new policy of Levies and quotas for hiring Foreign Workers. These changes may have an effect on OSIM since Singapore is a multicultural country with a big diversity of foreigners working here. The new policy requires a company to pay a certain amount of cash to have the work pass holder to work for them (mom.gov.sg). Lemon law was implemented to Singapore, the idea of lemon law is to protects customers for not up to standards or defectives goods. However it does not affects OSIM products much as OSIM produces high quality products. (Rikvin) SWOT Analysis After gathering the internal and external factors that can affect OSIM greatly, the next step is to do a SWOT analysis. It provides helpful information to make changes in marketing and strategic planning to avoid issues OSIM may face and to exploit the opportunities that may arise. The best way to do so is by reducing the threats and weakness but increasing the strengths and opportunities. OSIM an extremely strong and recognize brand name. Reputable brand compared to competitors, customers has a strong trust and confidence in OSIM OSIM has a good history originating from Singapore, has four outlets in Singapore to reach the target audience efficiently. Regular marketing strategy and involvement with the public and community has strengthen the bonds and trust to OSIM STRENGTHS OSIM products are costly compare to her competitors. Target audience, may shared OSIM products with one another hence lesser sales for OSIM Competitors may come up with products and marketing strategies that could change the customers brand selection. A letdown from OSIM may cause customer have enormous discredit ability of OSIM due to her high reputation and achievements. WEAKNESS OPPORTUNITIES People are getting more health conscious about themselves could be a opportunity for OSIM to increase her profits. Better technology may entice customer to purchase OSIM products online for its mode of convenience. Due to the aging population the target audience for OSIM will be wider as this target audience tends to be in need of health appliance. Government intention of having a population of 6.9 million by 2030, currently Singapore population is at 5.3million. Will significantly broaden target audience. THREATS New changes in the policy and regulations may affects OSIM sales. The rising inflation will limit the spending power of the customers; they will in avertedly reduce OSIM sales of products hence less income for OSIM. New technologies and discoveries can cause OSIM products and machineries to be obsolete Shifts in customers selection away from the OSIM’s products Issue Analysis The issue that I would like to point out is that competitors may come up with products and marketing strategies that could change the brand selection away from OSIM. This can lead to a bad long run effect to OSIM. If the competitors can do so and improves their reputation, OSIM will lose their high market share, target audiences and profitability. Recommendations My recommendations to avoid the issue at hand is by aggressively and regularly market themselves to the public and dominate the advertisement of home health care appliances. OSIM can also promote health related events like marathons to support and ensure the public their commitment of health care of the consumers. By doing so, they will retain their market share and status; eventually with the increase populations in the years come OSIM will have much better sales due to strong solid foot holding in Singapore. OSIM can also achieve this by constantly receiving and retaining their awards this will ensure the public that the quality standards of OSIM are higher tier compared to their competitors. Conclusion I personally consider OSIM to have been a very successful company in establishing themselves in the healthy life style industry. However there are many factors that could positively or negatively affect OSIM, technology in the hand of OSIM may be advantages whereas in the hand of competitor is disadvantages to OSIM. Even so there are certain approaches and ways to ensure OSIM to be ahead of her competitors. Receiving and achieving multiples awards, milestone and expending globally has proven my theory of OSIM being a successful company. Referencing 1. Janus Corporation, Quality of Life in Singapore. http://www.guidemesingapore.com/relocation/introduction/quality-of-life-in-singapore 2. Melissa Tan, Straits Times, 2013 May, OSIM International’s Q1 net profit jumps 13% to $25.1 million. http://www.straitstimes.com/breaking-news/money/story/osim-internationals-q1-net-profit-jumps-13-251-million-20130507 3. Michael E. Porter (1998) Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors 4. Ministry of Manpower, foreign manpower, Levies & quotas for hiring Foreign Workers. http://www.mom.gov.sg/foreign-manpower/foreign-worker-levies/Pages/levies-quotas-for-hiring-foreign-workers.aspx 5. Rikvin Pte Ltd, Singapore (PRWEB) March 13, 2012. http://www.prweb.com/releases/singapore/lemon-law-news/prweb9273922.htm 6. Sudhan P Osim Records Record Profits. http://www.fool.sg/2013/07/31/osim-records-record-profits/ 7. UK Essays, http://www.ukessays.com/dissertations/business/about-osim.php